Cultivation Starting from Choosing Augments-Chapter 121 - 118: Breaking Through to the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment

Chapter 121: Chapter 118: Breaking Through to the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment

Time flew by, and soon it was late in the twelfth lunar month.

That day at noon, several Servant Disciples from the Miscellaneous Peak arrived, carrying red lanterns to decorate Cuiwei Valley in a festive blaze of red.

During a break in his cultivation, Xiao Chen heard the commotion outside and came out to have a look.

The three Servant Disciples immediately greeted him in unison, "Greetings, Steward Xiao."

"Is it the New Year already? This year has gone by so fast."

Xiao Chen remarked with a sigh, but no one responded.

One of the three was a female disciple wearing a red dress.

She suddenly reminded him of last year at Bishui Peak, when Shen Siyue had asked him to hang lanterns with her.

’Will she be hanging red lanterns all over the mountain herself again this year?’

"Give me six lanterns."

Xiao Chen took the initiative and asked for the lanterns. He leaped onto the roof and, a bit unpracticed, tied them under the pointed eaves, hoping the six lanterns would bring him good fortune.

He then stepped back a bit to get a better look, then shook his head. "This year’s lanterns aren’t as pretty as last year’s."

With that, he took out a bottle of Qi Nourishing Pills. "Never mind, I should get back to my cultivation. I’ll leave the decorating to you. Please, take this bottle of elixirs as a token of my gratitude."

The three disciples, pleasantly surprised, immediately bowed. "Thank you, Steward Xiao!"

Only after he had gone back inside did one of them look at a lantern in his hand curiously. "Strange. Aren’t these the same style of lantern as last year?"

Another disciple shot him a look. "You just don’t get it, do you?"

"Everything looks best the first time you see it."

"We already saw this style of lantern last year. Seeing them again, of course they seem lacking."

...

The Li Huo Sect was already preparing for the New Year festivities.

Meanwhile, in the Northern Mountain Range, a large group of people was working around the clock, racing to finish a task.

Their leader returned, travel-worn and weary.

He gathered his people at once and asked, "Is the Blood Plague Secret Realm open yet? How much longer?"

Another man replied, "We’ve found a way to open it. At most, it will take one more month to stabilize the exit with a Talisman Array."

"That’s too slow!"

The leader was clearly dissatisfied. "Faster. We need to leave enough time to spread the Blood Plague."

"The New Year festival is almost upon us. The Li Huo Sect’s defenses will be at their weakest. That’s when it will be easiest for us to capture our sacrifices."

"Once the festival is over, we’ll lose our best chance."

His subordinate immediately replied, "Understood. We’ll speed up the process."

Another subordinate asked, "Boss, we’ve heard that the Li Huo Sect recently established a Demon Extermination Hall."

"They’re following up on every clue very tightly. Should we proceed with our plan to capture sacrifices as scheduled?"

The leader waved his hand dismissively. "That’s not your concern. I’ll arrange for it to be handled."

Of course, he had already considered this.

The exhausting trip he had just returned from was precisely to deal with this so-called Demon Extermination Hall.

He had already bribed two local Foundation Establishment Cultivators to help obstruct the Demon Extermination Hall’s investigation.

As long as they could buy enough time, there would be no threat.

After delegating the tasks, the leader went up the mountain alone.

He stood alone, contemplating their plan.

’As long as we can capture enough Cultivators and use their Essence Blood to release the Blood Plague Demon, we can secretly spread the Blood Plague throughout Li State.’

’If all goes according to plan, I’ll earn the primary credit for taking Li State. When I return, I’ll be able to exchange it for a Tier Three Blood Pill.’

’With the help of a Blood Pill, I can reach the Golden Core realm myself.’

He lifted his head, his gaze fixed on the lands beyond the mountains.

That was the direction of the Li Huo Sect, the closest major power.

The mere thought of the Li Huo Sect filled him with rage.

They had set out early, intending to come here and search for the Blood Plague Secret Realm’s location.

But for some insane reason, the Li Huo Sect had dispatched numerous Foundation Establishment Cultivators to sweep their entire territory for Demon Cultivators.

Many of their newly recruited contacts were completely wiped out.

If they hadn’t fled quickly, they might have been captured as well.

And for the next two months straight, the Li Huo Sect’s purge not only continued unabated but actually intensified.

It was as if they wouldn’t rest until they had dug three feet into the ground to uproot every last Demon Cultivator.

Left with no choice, he had led his men on a massive detour, entering the Northern Mountain Range from the Four Seas Sect’s territory and then trekking over treacherous mountains to get here.

As a result, they had endured countless hardships, evading pursuit from all kinds of Demon Beasts.

They even got lost at one point before finally reaching the correct location with great difficulty.

But then they suddenly heard that the Li Huo Sect had halted its purge just two days after they had entered the mountains.

In other words, their arduous trek through the mountains was a complete waste of time. They would have been better off just waiting a couple of days and taking the easy and much faster route through Li Huo Sect territory.

’This damn Li Huo Sect, you bunch of idiots! Once the Blood Plague Demon is out, I’ll be the first to come for you!’

His thought wasn’t entirely baseless; there was a real chance of success.

The Blood Plague Demon was, in essence, a special type of flesh-and-blood puppet.

By spreading the Blood Plague, it could devour flesh and blood to absorb power, allowing it to grow rapidly from the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment to the Great Perfection of the Golden Core realm.

Furthermore, any excess flesh and blood could be stored within its body to serve as a potent elixir for healing its injuries.

A fully-formed Blood Plague Demon would require at least three Late-stage Golden Core cultivators working together to defeat.

According to the intelligence gathered by the Divine Fire Sect, the Li Huo Sect not only had a mere three Golden Core True Men, but their most powerful one wasn’t even in Li State.

Of the remaining two, one was only at the Middle Stage of Golden Core and was in year-round seclusion, unlikely to emerge unless it was a life-or-death situation for the sect.

The other, while more active, was only at the Early Stage of Golden Core.

As long as they couldn’t arrive in time to stop the Blood Plague Demon, once it had grown a little, that single cultivator would be powerless to turn the tide.

From then on, every Cultivator in Li Huo Sect territory would be nothing more than walking food.

Of course, the Divine Fire Sect didn’t expect a single Blood Plague Demon to throw all of Li State into chaos.

But as long as it could shatter the tripartite balance of power between the three major sects in Li State and create enough chaos to distract them from Hezhou, that would be enough for the Divine Fire Sect.

Once they finished devouring Hezhou, Li State, tucked away in its remote corner, would be next.

...

On New Year’s Eve, Xiao Chen was once again invited to celebrate with the Chen Family.

This time was different from the last. The moment he walked through the door, he received a boisterous welcome, with an endless stream of people coming to offer him toasts.

Fortunately, once word spread that he had reached Foundation Establishment, the would-be matchmakers fell silent.

A Foundation Establishment Cultivator this young would surely marry a daughter from the direct lineage of a great family; he wouldn’t even consider someone from a branch family like theirs.

After the New Year’s vigil, Xiao Chen returned directly to Cuiwei Valley to focus on his cultivation.

The effects of the Five-Colored Profound Water were even better than he had anticipated.

By the fourth day of the new year, Xiao Chen could feel he was on the verge of a bottleneck.

On the thirteenth day of the new year, after nine straight days of effort,

the seedling within his Dantian finally produced a small flower bud.

This meant he had successfully broken through to the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment.