Cultivation Starting from Choosing Augments

Chapter 300 - 172: Breakthrough to Foundation Establishment Level 8, Riding the Clouds on Rishan

In fact, when he placed the bet a few days ago, his original plan was to use all his connections to borrow money and go all-in on himself.

That way, he could make a million or so Spirit Stones in one go and achieve true Spirit Stone freedom.

Unfortunately, the Good Fortune Gambling House was far too cautious and refused to accept any larger bets.

「The next morning.」

A rain of swords began to fall outside Li Mountain.

Streaks of multicolored light cut across the sky from afar, landing one after another on the summit.

By noon, over a thousand cultivators had gathered on the summit.

Basically, aside from the cultivators on duty at Seeking Plum Mountain and Luoyan Mountain, every other Foundation Establishment Cultivator in the Lingyuan Sect’s territory was present.

Meanwhile, at the foot of the mountain, tens of thousands of Qi Refining Cultivators had gathered, bustling and jostling shoulder to shoulder.

Most were just there for the spectacle, while a smaller number would participate in the competition among the Qi Refining Cultivators.

The winner would receive a drop of Flowing Cloud Dew and, in doing so, could attract the attention of the various Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Xiao Chen stood with Steward Chen, watching the Qi Refining competition, which was held first, and taking the opportunity to learn the rules.

The rules were quite simple. Li Mountain was home to a unique phenomenon.

At the end of the second month each year, precisely at 1:00 PM, twelve Flowing Clouds would emerge and fly north.

At the same time, they would leave behind twelve drops of Flowing Cloud Dew in their place.

Initially, the Flowing Clouds were incredibly fast, like streaks of light. In the blink of an eye, they could travel for miles, a speed that no Foundation Establishment Cultivator could hope to match.

However, they would then begin to slow down, and the later a cloud departed, the more rapidly its speed would decay.

If not collected by a cultivator, they would eventually come to a complete stop.

The method for collecting a Flowing Cloud was also very simple.

One simply had to guide it with a bit of Magical Power, and within half a quarter-hour, the Flowing Cloud could be sealed inside a Jade Purification Bottle.

The objective of the competition was to see who could leverage their superior Escape Techniques to collect the most Flowing Clouds.

Of course, during the process, cultivators were only allowed to use Magic on themselves. They were forbidden from maliciously interfering with each other, on pain of being ostracized by the entire community.

The current record of six Flowing Clouds was set by the Windwalker Wanderer.

This meant he had built up a lead of a full three quarters of an hour over the cultivators who failed to collect a single Flowing Cloud.

That might not sound like much, but this was a contest of Escape Techniques among top-tier cultivators.

Forget three quarters of an hour—even half a quarter-hour could mean a difference of dozens of miles.

The Windwalker Wanderer was able to achieve this back then thanks to two main factors.

First, many other experts didn’t participate that year.

Second, the Wanderer himself had a new breakthrough that year, which allowed him to set such an incredible record.

In all known records, including those in traceable Ancient Texts from the past several thousand years, this remained the absolute peak performance.

This time, however, the Windwalker Wanderer had been in seclusion for fifty years.

Whether he could break his own record and make history once again was a topic of eager speculation among the crowd.

.

Meanwhile, in the crowd, Han Ziyan was secretly observing Xiao Chen.

She had recently succeeded in getting close to Ye Fei and had been enjoying a rather relaxed time.

But she never forgot the mission Master Yaoshang had assigned her before her arrival.

According to the information Han Ziyan had gathered recently, Xiao Chen was an extremely cautious person.

To the point of being pathologically paranoid, even.

He didn’t just hide himself away on Elemental Magnetic Peak; he almost never went out.

He refused all banquet invitations, even skipping the recent spring reception hosted by the Yao Family.

Countless cultivators were desperate for a way to curry favor with the Grand Elder, yet Xiao Chen, who was clearly available, hadn’t bothered to attend.

If that wasn’t enough, on the two rare occasions he did leave the peak, he chose to go out at noon when crowds were at their peak, traveled with another Foundation Establishment Cultivator, and only went to the heavily populated Lingyuan Market.

He was never, ever alone!

This left Han Ziyan incredibly frustrated. ’How on earth am I supposed to make a move?’

As she racked her brain, her gaze fell upon Ye Fei at her side.

’Maybe I should groom this naive boy and trick him into helping me corner and kill Xiao Chen?’

While Han Ziyan was lost in her plotting, the competition for the Qi Refining Cultivators concluded.

Grand Elder Yao Dehai recalled the Magical Artifact used to simulate the Flowing Clouds and personally greeted the Gu Family disciple who had taken first place.

Watching from a short distance away, Gu Qiu Ling allowed a small smile to grace her lips.

But her smile vanished the moment she saw Xiao Chen and the others step forward to prepare for their own competition.

’What on earth possessed me back then? Why didn’t I pull him over to Wangyan Mountain?’

Especially when she remembered her initial misunderstanding of Xiao Chen, she felt only one thing looking back: regret!

But it was too late for all that.

Since the publication of the monthly report, the Gu Family had invited Xiao Chen twice.

Gu Qiu Ling had even sent a personal invitation, hoping to start over and get to know him properly.

Yet Xiao Chen had refused every time, without offering the slightest courtesy.

If he hadn’t rejected everyone else with the same impartiality, it would have seemed like a deliberate slight against the Gu Family.

At this thought, Gu Qiu Ling couldn’t help but feel a little indignant.

’Although I privately badmouthed Xiao Chen,’ she thought, ’on the surface, I still followed the Grand Elder’s instructions.’

’But Xiao Chen? He couldn’t even be bothered to keep up appearances.’

’Hmph. If he doesn’t want to associate with us, fine. We’ll just go our separate ways from now on.’

"WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!..."

Suddenly, a series of sounds tore through the air.

Immediately following, streaks of pure white light erupted from the mountain peak, vanishing to the north in the blink of an eye.

They moved so fast that by the time the crowd heard the sounds and looked up, all they could see was the final Flowing Cloud shrinking to a tiny dot on the horizon.