Chapter 199: Chapter 199

Inside the cold pool, feeling wave after wave of spiritual energy fiercely washing through all her meridians, An Ning lost track of time. The recurring spiritual energy finally gathered into drops of spiritual liquid in the elixir palace...

The moment she successfully established her foundation, An Ning couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. She slowly got up and draped the outer garment woven from swallow feather over her body. Though as light as a cicada’s wing, it instantly dispelled the chill all over her body the moment she put it on.

She cast a spell to dry the water in her hair before stepping out of the cold pool slowly.

Even after this ordeal, the dense spiritual energy in the pool showed no sign of weakening. Looking at the whole pool glowing a deep blue, An Ning guessed that at least one entire high-grade spirit vein ran beneath this cold pool.

No wonder it was the city lord’s mansion—such extravagance was impressive.

The spirit jade marrow, which was hard to come by even for a fortune, could be used to line the pool.

Thinking back to the hard days at Xuqing Sect when she had to scrimp and save spirit stones, An Ning clicked her tongue quietly and quickened her pace to return.

Thanks to the city lord’s mansion’s abundant resources, An Ning’s foundation establishment accelerated by more than half of the originally expected one year.

At fifteen years old, foundation establishment was considered outstanding even in the talent-filled cultivation world.

Feeling the spiritual breath inside her body expand several times, An Ning thought to herself that indeed, good fortune and misfortune were intertwined.

Though the original body had died three times due to this constitution, on the other hand, without the pure yin physique, neither she nor the original body could have achieved such cultivation speed.

Triple Spirit Root, no matter how pure, was a pipe dream to match the cultivation speed of dual or even single spirit roots without special opportunities.

Especially considering this body had no background and no resources.

Forget about the Golden Core stage; even foundation establishment was fraught with difficulties.

Therefore, even after she arrived, and even if there was a way to solve this constitution, An Ning did not rashly act.

At any time, unless necessary, choosing to harm oneself was the lowest tactic.

Even if she ultimately failed and could only live to the Great Perfection of Golden Core, that would be a hundred years later—still better than spending a lifetime as a low-level cultivator, struggling painfully and groveling before others...

Under the heavy moonlight, An Ning returned to her room late at night.

Upon seeing her mistress return, the maid A-Wan hurriedly brought over freshly boiled medicinal porridge. Seeing the joy on her mistress’s face, the little maid’s eyes lit up:

“Congratulations, Immortal Lady, on successfully establishing your foundation!”

The little maid A-Wan had a round, apple-like face, and her smile carried three parts cheerfulness naturally.

Serving in the city lord’s mansion, even as a maid, she was a proper cultivator with a spirit root, so she could sense some difference.

Coincidentally, An Ning was in a good mood, so while being served, she casually handed a small bottle of elixir she had recently refined into the maid’s hand. Her tone was as gentle as ever:

“This is my newly refined Foundation Strengthening Pill. I noticed your spiritual power seems a bit unstable recently. You can try it out.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the little maid’s eyes brightened further, tightly clutching the pill in her palm.

While helping her mistress wash up, the girl excitedly shared some recent gossip:

“By the way, Immortal Lady, did you know? Next month is the annual auction gala at the Biling Pavilion. This year, not only are there treasures like millennium jade marrow, but also all kinds of powerful spirit medicines and spirit tools.”

“The most important thing is, haven’t you been worrying about not finding a suitable pill furnace recently? Maybe one will appear there!”

An auction did sound interesting. An Ning nodded absentmindedly:

“Will the city lord be going as well?”

“I’m not sure, but every year, they send an invitation to the city lord.”

That meant she could go. She had been bored staying here these past few months. The next day, she mentioned this to Commander Huo, who had come to train with her.

Unexpectedly, Huo Cheng’s first words were: “You’ve already established your foundation?”

“What, is it so rare for me to establish my foundation?”

Being splashed with cold water early in the morning, honestly, An Ning’s expression was hard to describe as anything but displeased.

If this person hadn’t been doing things properly lately and provided complete supplies...

Huo Cheng belatedly realized that she had some emotional intelligence and swallowed the unspoken words about her being Triple Spirit Root.

But the look in his eyes showed undeniable surprise. During their sparring, he seemed distracted.

Normally, with his Gold-Fire Dual Spirit Root, he wasn’t top-notch but considered outstanding. Even with the good conditions in the city lord’s mansion and daily diligent cultivation, he had only just entered the foundation establishment stage at fifteen.

Yet this person, with low-quality Triple Spirit Root and such an environment, was earlier than him.

If not thinking about others in the city lord’s mansion who were worse than him, Huo Cheng would be doubting his entire existence.

Had his comprehension really dropped to this level?

It wasn’t until a sharp sword blade nearly slashed across his chest that Huo Cheng snapped back, barely dodging a tricky sword intent. He stepped back a few paces and exhaled heavily.

Though the sword intent’s spiritual power wasn’t high, if it hit someone, even the best Hemostatic Powder wouldn’t stop the bleeding quickly.

He wondered how this person knew such a precise angle.

Recalling the careless sword wound he had suffered when he first arrived, Huo Cheng rubbed his slightly numb forearm.

On the other side, seeing that her opponent could dodge in such conditions, An Ning hugged her spirit sword and sighed with some regret. The previous sword strike had been meticulously calculated.

Had her brain and hands temporarily disconnected?

Sure enough, any project involving physical movement was clearly not her forte.

No matter how many doubts she had, the next day Huo Cheng relayed An Ning’s words in full.

The next day, just as An Ning was about to go out with A-Wan, Huo Cheng was already waiting at the door. Seeing An Ning, he gave her a complicated glance before speaking:

“Let’s go, the city lord has summoned you!”

A quarter of an hour later, An Ning was once again sitting on a swiftly flying boat, but this time she didn’t feel any discomfort.

Even the wind occasionally brushing her face carried a soft gentleness.

It seemed this world’s artifact refining technology was quite good—she could learn more when she had time.

While thinking this, her gaze involuntarily fell on the person beside her.

Aside from the meeting at Xuqing Sect, this was the first time since arriving at the city lord’s mansion that she faced the city lord in person.

In any case, this was a person whose appearance was hardly attention-grabbing at first glance.

Not because the appearance was unremarkable, but perhaps due to years in high office, even wearing simple dark cyan robes, the overwhelming pressure radiated like earthly emperors she had seen in previous worlds—immeasurably stronger.

Just one look could cause a shudder in the heart, especially now, with a sharp, careless indifference in his brows.

Meeting the city lord’s gaze, An Ning’s expression remained unchanged, but her words almost made Huo Cheng next to her fall to the ground:

“After the Nascent Soul stage, cultivation hardly progresses further. Is this due to your own cultivation method, City Lord, or is it a common problem among all Nascent Soul cultivators in the cultivation world today?”

Though publicly only Xiao Tan had made a breakthrough in recent decades, the cultivation world was vast, and Nascent Soul cultivators could live up to eight hundred years. Ancient veterans still existed.

An Ning was referring to the second category.

Under Huo Cheng’s nearly despondent gaze, surprisingly, Xiao Tan did not get angry. He casually put down the spirit tea in his hand and raised his eyes to look at her lightly:

“Ten years ago, Elder Shi Yu of Shangyang Sect once fought Elder Supreme of Xuqing Sect. After that battle, within a few days, both dropped from early Nascent Soul.”

“What was their previous cultivation?”

Wow, An Ning drew a sharp breath. That meant losing an entire small realm just from a fight. From Xiao Tan’s tone, these two hadn’t even fought to the death, yet they still fell in realm.

It seemed after Nascent Soul, maintaining the current realm was difficult, let alone advancing.

In this light, the city lord’s ability to keep cultivation stable at the peak of early Nascent Soul despite risks in the method was indeed impressive.

No wonder A-Tong had been so secretive about him.

But in another sense, An Ning thought, it showed this body’s danger was even greater.

Whether trying to advance from Golden Core to Nascent Soul, completing the extremely difficult step in a century, or maintaining Nascent Soul status or even advancing further, this body was excellent material.

No wonder despite having sword intent protection, he still humbly accompanied her.

“City Lord, rest assured, once outside, I will not be more than three steps away from you.”

Upon hearing this, Xiao Tan just glanced at her without speaking.

Huo Cheng beside them: “???”

The flying boat’s speed was indeed fast. Though West Flame City was a thousand miles away, it took less than half a day.

As the largest trading place on Xuanzhen Continent, and with the annual auction, Biling Pavilion was bustling.

Before the dazzling pavilion, multicolored spiritual lights flashed frequently. Cultivators in various sect robes came and went nonstop. Even just now, An Ning had seen over a dozen sect uniforms.

As mentioned earlier, An Ning closely followed the city lord. They were quickly invited to a box on the second floor with an excellent view.

From there, they could see the entire pavilion, especially the exhibition stage downstairs clearly.

After a short while, a server brought tea and snacks. An Ning couldn’t help but look up.

Hmm… very good. Even the attendants were foundation establishment cultivators, with cultivation levels higher than hers.

Her excitement for going out vanished completely.

Perhaps sensing her mood, Huo Cheng snorted and almost laughed aloud.

But An Ning clearly had no mind for joking.

On the main stage, melodious music soon played. Accompanied by a group of girls in pink, light dancing started, and the noisy hall fell silent.

From the center of the stage, a graceful beauty stepped out, followed by the first auction item of the event—a mid-level Nascent Soul Pill.

Once this pill was displayed, the originally quiet venue erupted again.

No one expected Biling Pavilion to open with such a grand gesture this year.

A Nascent Soul Pill, as the name suggests, greatly assisted the breakthrough from pill refining to Nascent Soul stage—a high-grade pill.

A mid-level Nascent Soul Pill.

Though countless sect prodigies had failed at this step in recent years, the desire to advance was deeply ingrained in every cultivator’s bones.

Especially those who had reached this point—who wasn’t a prodigy?

Especially under these unfavorable circumstances, external assistance was even more needed for advancement.

Soon, the starting price of ten thousand high-grade spirit stones had already multiplied several times.

Even Huo Cheng quietly started digging into his small treasury.

Pills were hard to find, especially high-grade ones. Who knew when he’d see one again?

Though he was only mid Golden Core now, people had dreams!

Yet, watching the price soar to one hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones, Huo Cheng silently withdrew his hand from his pocket.

An Ning calculated the value of the spiritual herbs needed for the pill and sighed inwardly.

Being an alchemist was indeed a great profession!

A veritable gold mine!

However, the Nascent Soul Pill was still too difficult for her now. The higher the pill grade, the more it required absolute control over one’s spiritual power.

To reach that level, she would need to be at Golden Core and cultivate pill fire.

This was why alchemists were so rare in this world. To become a high-level pill master, one had to be a high-level cultivator first.

Often, talent and spiritual power were both essential.

While An Ning pondered, the mid-level Nascent Soul Pill on stage was bought for 130,000 high-grade spirit stones.

And the buyer was none other than number 223, right next door to them.

Breaking through from pill refining to Nascent Soul!

Recalling the familiar figure flashing by earlier, An Ning lowered her head and gently sipped the spirit tea in her hand.

One by one, more auction items were brought up—800-year-old spiritual blood grass, millennium spirit jade marrow, a protective jade pendant that could withstand a Great Perfection Golden Core strike, high-grade spirit swords—it was dazzling.

Biling Pavilion had indeed spared no expense this year.

Even An Ning couldn’t help but bid on several rare spiritual herbs consecutively.

As for spirit tools and treasured swords, West Flame City had no shortage of these.

But among them, a modest-looking purple-gold Qilin Pill Furnace caught An Ning’s attention.

Starting price: 5,000 high-grade spirit stones.

Sometimes cultivators’ intuition was incredibly useful. At the moment the price was announced, An Ning doubled it without hesitation.

However, just as Huo Cheng reluctantly started to chant his bid, a familiar female voice suddenly rang out from the next room:

“I bid fifteen thousand!”