Free Web NovelChapter 438: Chapter 367: Legendary Foundation Establishment Pill
When Yan Qing woke up, he thought he had only taken a short nap.
The Thief Hall was empty except for him, with a food box and a pot of wine placed before him.
The food box was a Warm Jade Food Box, a resource produced from the Second-Turn Secret Realm [Water Curtain Cave] in the Liang Kingdom, almost completely isolating heat exchange. Shang Xinlei had an entire set of Warm Jade Vessels specially used for keeping meals warm. Inside the box was not dog poop, but a bowl of steaming rice with winter mushroom and chicken stew, drenched with chopped braised meat, perfectly soaking into every grain of rice.
Yan Qing once wondered if this Warm Jade material should have greater purposes, but upon further thought, considering that a Messenger could ascend after Foundation Establishment, he felt that spending time researching Warm Jade was utterly foolish as everything would become accessible post-ascension. This world remained in a classical era all along, likely because all intelligent people only chose the greatest paths, right?
The wine had a rich aroma, invigorating Yan Qing with its flavor reminiscent of pineapple beer, seemingly slightly alcoholic but more refreshingly sweet and sour, perfectly suiting his taste.
While sipping pineapple wine and eating the winter mushroom chicken braised rice, he felt entirely awakened. After eating, he washed the chopsticks and bowl before placing them back in the food box. Returning to his room and turning on his game console, he was surprised that it was already mid-morning of the next day; he’d really slept heavily.
Having been out for a full six days, Yan Qing was a bit dazed, like returning from a long trip without having a clue about what to do next. After a while, he decided to start his day by checking on Jiang Shi’s sister to brighten his mood.
Inside her room, Jiang Shi was meditating, and opposite her on the bed was the Rabbit Heroine. As soon as Yan Qing logged on, a message popped up in the lower left chat channel:
「Your Treasure Pavilion listing has completed the transaction.」
「You have received: Exorcism Bell ×1.」
The Treasure Hunting Order has a hidden mechanic; if an item is listed from the inventory, the trade item goes directly into the inventory upon completion; if listed from the hand, the trade item goes directly into the hand.
Thus, although Yan Qing usually carries the Treasure Hunting Order, he mostly lists through an alt account except in emergencies like running out of toilet paper.
With the Whip Mountain and Move Stone Seal and Exorcism Bell gathered, nothing stands in Shang Xinlei’s path to confirm a Perfect Dao Foundation. Even though Yan Qing hasn’t figured out how to acquire the Foundation Establishment Pill for them, possessing the Third Transformation Great Perfection of Celestial Spirits and Earthly Fiends already meets the conditions for forced Foundation Establishment.
However, reality differs from the game. In the game, failure in forced Foundation Establishment results in a seven-day negative buff, reducing all attributes by a third, but even after seven days one can continue with forced Foundation Establishment. In reality, failure usually means immediate death, evaporating one’s Dao!
This explains why there are only about twenty Foundation Establishment practitioners in the Central Plains, but nearly two hundred Third-Turn Messengers—if looking at a longer timeline, the total number of Third-Turn Messengers over the past century likely exceeds five hundred—it’s just that the risks of forced Foundation Establishment are too great. Third-Turn Messengers are essential figures in every country, possessing power, wealth, and beauty. Unless absolutely necessary, who would dare take such a step?
Even with a thirty percent increased probability of Foundation Establishment by gathering Celestial Spirits and Earthly Fiends, it’s still a game probability executed by near-superhuman game characters. The lower limit for game characters might be the upper limit for real people.
Yan Qing had considered having an alt account do a forced Foundation Establishment but never included it as an option for the Thief Women.
But now it’s different, because he has „Tombstone Inscription"!
This is an actual healing divine technique that instantly stabilizes the target’s physical state. Even if forced Foundation Establishment fails, it can prevent deterioration, forcibly restoring the state. Although Yan Qing hasn’t tested it yet, he’s confident he can do it. The Profound Mysterious Divine Techniques he possesses grant not just authority but an almost intuitive and keen judgment, like an experienced old doctor who can determine at a glance whether there’s a chance for recovery.
Of course, this is a last resort. Even if forced Foundation Establishment was necessary, Yan Qing would test it on others first, ensuring everyone says it works fine even for sensitive skin before letting the Thief Women try it.
Additionally, when he opened Jiang Shi’s character interface, Yan Qing noticed a "Divine Techniques" page had appeared. The page was naturally blank, but at the top, there was a golden "+" symbol.
「Transformed Self-Reliance: You can obtain a Derived Image Divine Technique from [Tombstone Inscription]」
「Your current level: 32」
「Would you like to spend 320 hours of game time to acquire the Transformed Self-Reliance Divine Technique?」
Although he knew it wouldn’t be cheap, seeing the 320-hour requirement still made Yan Qing uneasy. With full-day playtime, he only gets 24 hours a day, so gathering 320 hours takes half a month.
This is just a Derived Divine Technique for an alt account! And don’t forget there are many things Yan Qing’s alt account needs that consume game time. They say all real characters under one account can acquire the Derived Image Divine Technique, but only when you try to redeem it do you find so many hurdles. Sigh, it’s just to drag out gameplay time, make you buy big monthly cards, make you contribute to online user data.
Which is why item charges have their sins, time charges have their downsides, and the only way to truly enjoy gaming is by joining the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Sect in a single-player game...
Yan Qing tried creating a new account and indeed found that in "Talent Inheritance," he could directly activate the Transformed Self-Reliance Divine Technique, requiring only 10 hours of game time, making it a barely acceptable half-day accumulation.
Finally, the main event: the "Demon Gathering Land" event interface!
"Would you like to receive the event rewards? Please note that this game character did not participate in the event and can only substitute for another game character to receive the event rewards."
"Please select the character to receive the event rewards: [Yan Qing]"
Seeing this prompt, Yan Qing’s anxious heart finally settled down. Yes, although the event page stated that each account could only receive the event rewards once, it did not specify that other characters under the same account couldn’t claim the rewards. Yan Qing was just taking a gamble. Six days ago, it seemed to him like a joyful outing, and losing the bet would merely result in wandering around the Demon Gathering Land for five days.
Moreover, even taking a step further, he had already participated in the event. Even if he couldn’t claim his own Foundation Establishment Pill, ’Ye Si’ could still receive his Foundation Establishment Pill to give to him, which was originally permitted by the rules. As long as one participated in the event, they are eligible to consume the rewarded Foundation Establishment Pill.
As for why he couldn’t claim ’Ye Si’s rewards, it was probably because Ye Si hadn’t come out yet. Yan Qing, to be safe, deliberately left him inside. Now, everything was settled, and Yan Qing switched to Ye Si’s account, left the Demon Gathering Land, and set the destination for Yanzi Military Town using the automatic evolution program.
"Please select the character to receive the event rewards: [Ye Si], [Yan Qing]"
"Legendary Foundation Establishment Pill – Mechanism Enhancement: 100% Foundation Establishment success rate. During Foundation Establishment, you can consume up to three tokens to arm yourself. Depending on the strength of the tokens, increase your own Qi Blood, spirit, and dexterity, and extract any effect as your permanent attribute. The attribute level is at the Foundation Establishment level. (Ye Si’s reward)"
"Legendary Foundation Establishment Pill – Monster Enhancement: 100% Foundation Establishment success rate. You receive an additional Foundation Establishment Demon Pill with no usage limitations. Consuming the Demon Pill allows you to undergo Foundation Establishment regardless of level, earn all normal Foundation Establishment rewards, and activate Dao Foundation Divine Techniques without expenditure. The Demon Pill lasts for 24 hours, after which the state returns to normal, but experience gained during the period is normally tallied. (Yan Qing’s reward)"
Yan Qing wasn’t surprised that he could obtain the Legendary Foundation Establishment Pill reward. After all, he defeated three-headed eight demons and slaughtered the Transformed Self-Reliance Celestial Demon. However, he didn’t expect Ye Si to also receive a Legendary Foundation Establishment Pill, indicating that the threshold for obtaining Legendary Foundation Establishment Pills in the Demon Gathering Land wasn’t high.
Thinking about it, it makes sense. You can only get the Legendary Foundation Establishment Pill during a few events each year, and everyone aims for this reward. If you don’t provide it, people are going to tear into you on the forums.
I came to play the game, not to become a shooting star for the developers.
Besides, the Foundation Establishment Pill is merely a ticket; cultivating the Dao Foundation, refining divine techniques, seeking ascension are the real challenges. Setting a barrier at the step of the Foundation Establishment Pill would only scare away new players, but it’s when you let them finally obtain the Legendary Foundation Establishment Pill and complete the fourth transition with the ultimate setup that you sweeten the deal to lure them deeper into this big trap.
Yan Qing can only choose one of the two Foundation Establishment Pills as the event reward.
Mechanism Enhancement is undoubtedly more valuable. Consuming three tokens to enhance one’s attributes and extracting random power as a permanent trait is a privilege of Legendary Professions, as seen from the "Martial Extremes Messenger". Moreover, not all Legendary Professions have it, like the "Life-taking Messenger," which doesn’t.
For example, if Yan Qing chooses to consume Bingzi Pepper Forest as his armament and happens to draw [Heaven-Covering], it becomes a strong dispelling skill with ’instant healing’ and ’indomitable’ qualities, which applies even at the Foundation Establishment level due to attribute elevation!
But Monster Enhancement is also quite interesting.
It bypasses the level requirement, directly allowing Foundation Establishment, and can infinite activate Dao Foundation Divine Techniques!
This is like Sect Master Feng Lingyueying giving a nod to opening ’infinite mana’.
Although it lasts only 24 hours, who needs a bike when you can enable a cheat for 24 hours in an online game? Doing this in other games could get your account banned.
Regardless of the choice, his path to Foundation Establishment is already clear of obstacles, with no further challenges!
He only needs to reach level 39 to achieve the Third Transformation Great Perfection.
Thinking of this made Yan Qing feel a little uneasy. In this world, the Third-Turn Messengers are all maxed out and eager to obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill; he might be the only one who has the Foundation Establishment Pill but hasn’t reached the max level yet, and reaching the max level isn’t that simple.
Which one to choose? While contemplating this happy dilemma, Yan Qing had a nagging sense that he had forgotten something.
At this moment, he glanced at the clock on the game console and realized it was nearly midnight, which startled him into action. He quickly put on his mask and headed out.
"Awake? Lazy dog," Shang Xinlei chuckled.
Pharmacist’s Wish tapped the table with his fingers, glanced at him, which served as his greeting.
Ying Rushi first looked at Shang Xinlei and Pharmacist’s Wish, then turned his eyes towards him with a look of hesitance.
Yan Qing finally realized what he had forgotten. He sat down confidently and said, "Before the meeting starts, I’d like to announce something to everyone."
"Everyone present here is a member of the ’Catastrophe Organization’."
