Chapter 3577 — Foundation Establishment Pills!

Yet eager as he was, the Foundation Establishment stage was, after all, an entirely new realm—one Wei Zhao had never even heard of before, let alone possessed any experience or insight into. No matter how he groped about for a way to break through, for the moment he simply could not find the right approach.

"Heh heh, I always figured you were a clever one, kid. Now it looks like it was all just a convincing front!" A teasing chuckle suddenly sounded from beside him—the work of Ghost Thing.

Wei Zhao blinked, turned to Ghost Thing, and said, "Senior Ghost, whatever do you mean by that?"

"Sitting atop a mountain of treasure, yet blundering about like a headless fly—tell me, kid, could you be any more of a fool?" Ghost Thing's tone dripped with the weariness of one instructing the unteachable.

"Sitting atop a mountain of treasure?" Something stirred in Wei Zhao's heart. "You mean there's something right beside me that could help me break through quickly?"

"Of course there is! What do you think that thing next to you is? To try and break through by sheer brooding, without relying on any external aid—do you really fancy yourself a god?" Ghost Thing laughed at the absurdity.

"Next to me?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. His first instinct was that Ghost Thing meant the spirit jade, so he said, somewhat puzzled, "Fine as this spirit jade is, it's rather useless to me—not even one hundredth as good as the jade pendant's space!"

"Who said anything about outside? I mean inside the jade pendant's space, in the storage space right next door!" Ghost Thing prompted, a touch exasperated.

In truth, it was not a meddlesome creature by nature. It had rarely interfered in Wei Zhao's affairs before; only after Wei Zhao set foot on Cloudstep Island had it begun to take the initiative in conversing with him.

After all, it too had need of Wei Zhao. The stronger Wei Zhao grew, the closer it came to the matter it sought his help with!

In the mortal realm, that had still been a distant, uncertain prospect, so naturally Ghost Thing had felt no urgency. But now they were on a Heavenly Realm island—it was right before their eyes, and it could not help but feel anxious!

At these words, Wei Zhao swiftly began rummaging through the storage space beside the jade pendant...

The space was his own to begin with, so he searched with remarkable speed. In no time at all he had gone through every item in the jade pendant's space, and at last his gaze came to rest upon a pill formula.

It was one he had obtained long ago, in the mortal realm, from the ancient tomb of Zhang Lifeng—the method of heavenly breakthrough left behind by the Pill God Zhang Lifeng: the refinement of the Heavenly Dao Golden Pill!

The so-called Heavenly Dao Golden Pill, also called the Foundation Establishment Pill, was the golden pill used by a cultivator at the peak of the late Heaven Rank, at the very fullness of his powers, to break through into the early stage of Heaven Dao Foundation Establishment!

It was much like the Qi Gathering Pill taken by those at the peak of the late Earth Rank to break through to the Heaven Rank—the same principle, differently applied.

Likewise, just as with the Qi Gathering Pill, the Heavenly Dao Golden Pill—that is, the Foundation Establishment Pill—was effective when taken at the Foundation Establishment stage and below.

The catch was that after taking it, one had certain weaknesses to contend with: one needed to draw in vast quantities of heaven-and-earth spiritual energy to consolidate one's cultivation. Just like the Extreme Qi Gathering Pill, if one could not draw in enough spiritual energy to match it, the result would be a depletion of heaven-and-earth spiritual energy—at best, qi deviation; at worst, the utter ruin of one's cultivation.

In that respect, its effects were rather similar to the Extreme Qi Gathering Pill Kang Jingming had given him before! Of course, Wei Zhao had the jade pendant's space, so such weaknesses did not exist for him!

For anyone else, however, the spiritual energy within a cave dwelling was no longer sufficient to supply what the Heavenly Dao Golden Pill required; a great quantity of spirit jade had to be used in concert to accomplish it.

And so the cost involved was terrifyingly high. Even a cultivation scion like Xu Lingchong could only afford to take the Foundation Establishment Pill together with a great deal of spirit jade once or twice; use it too often, and even he could not bear the expense!

For both of these things were precious, none more so than the Foundation Establishment Pill—not just anyone could refine it. It took a pill refiner, and even then the success rate was exceedingly low.

The pill refiners of the northern island of the Heaven Rank could succeed perhaps once in a hundred attempts; only those on the central island enjoyed a somewhat higher rate of success.

Never mind the grandson of the Soaring Heaven Pavilion's third elder—even the grandson of the Pavilion Master was held in check by the other two pavilions. He could not use the Foundation Establishment Pill without limit; such a matter had to be decided by a joint council of the three pavilions.

"Senior Ghost, do you mean this formula for the Heavenly Dao Golden Pill? It's true that Jingjing once modified the Divine Farmer's Cauldron for me, and with my present strength I could refine this Foundation Establishment Pill—but the crux is that I don't have the raw materials!" Wei Zhao said, somewhat perplexed.

"They may be lacking in the mortal realm, but that doesn't mean Cloudstep Island lacks them. Keep an eye out while you're here—you may well stumble on an unexpected harvest!" Ghost Thing advised.

"Oh? So that's how it is. Thank you for the guidance, Senior Ghost." Wei Zhao was suddenly enlightened. He truly had been sitting atop a mountain of treasure without knowing it; he had not yet grown accustomed to thinking in terms of Cloudstep Island, and was still stuck in the ways of the mortal realm. Since the materials could be gathered here, and he already had this ready-made formula for the Heavenly Dao Golden Pill in hand, then all he had to do was collect the herbs and fire up the cauldron.

His mind made up, Wei Zhao rose at once and left his cave dwelling.

Wei Zhao was a complete newcomer now, a stranger in a strange land. He had no idea where in this place the materials might be found—but though he did not know, the long-suffering senior brother surely did.

The long-suffering senior brother might hold no real authority, but matters of common knowledge like this were certainly within his ken.

At that thought, Wei Zhao hurried down the mountain and made his way to the mountain opposite. That mountain did not hold merely nine cave dwellings but more than a dozen; the dwellings after the ninth, however, stood unused.

Wei Zhao came to the entrance of the ninth cave dwelling. With his present strength, he could have forcibly broken its prohibition and stormed in, but he did not do so—he could not afford to reveal his power just yet.

Assuming the bearing of a cultivator at the peak of the late Heaven Rank, in the fullness of his powers, Wei Zhao knocked on the ninth cave dwelling, then settled in to wait.

Sure enough, after a moment the long-suffering senior brother emerged from the cave dwelling, a look of puzzlement on his face.

Under ordinary circumstances, no one ever came looking for the long-suffering senior brother; no one sought him out over matters great or small. Apart from the occasional routine event, he simply stayed in his cave dwelling to cultivate.

Seeing that it was Wei Zhao, the long-suffering senior brother came to a realization. "So it's Junior Brother Lin. Is there something you need?"

So the poor senior brother truly had no visitors at all—his reputation as the long-suffering one was indeed well earned!