Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

```

Nothing unusual happened in the hall; the whole process went very smoothly.

Zhao Sheng saw this situation and a trace of joy flashed across his face.

His gaze circled several times between the spirit fish in the bamboo basket and that painting of Cold River Old Man fishing.

After hesitating for a moment, Zhao Sheng gave up any riskier actions.

The wooden puppet, following his heart's intent, took the black storage bag from the waist of the charred corpse and walked out of the hall.

Zhao Sheng took the golden imperial tablet and the storage bag, put away the wooden puppet, and then turned to leave the place.

Half a day later, in the cultivation room, Zhao Sheng sat cross-legged on a cushion. Then, a golden imperial tablet about a foot long appeared in his hands.

Looking at this object, Zhao Sheng felt intrigued; the tablet seemed neither gold nor a magical artifact, with a surface as smooth as a mirror and inscribed with neither cultivation techniques nor secret skills.

Zhao Sheng tried many methods but could not figure out what this object was.

He only knew that it was incredibly hard, as neither flying swords nor spells could leave a mark on it.

An hour later, Zhao Sheng blinked and suddenly saw that the originally blank surface of the golden imperial tablet flashed, revealing an extremely complex and odd rune.

This rune, in its entirety, was white gold in color, with intricate and dense lines that were unbendingly rigid with not a single curve.

At first glance, the rune exuded an aura of sharpness unparalleled, giving off a sense of eternity, immobilization, and indestructibility.

However, in the next instant, the rune disappeared without a trace, as if what he had seen had only been an illusion.

No matter how hard Zhao Sheng tried to recall, he could not remember what the rune looked like.

It wasn't just that he couldn't remember; his memory had been wiped clean in an instant, leaving his mind utterly blank; he had completely forgotten the scene that had just unfolded.

Zhao Sheng continued to investigate the golden imperial tablet seriously, as if he had just blinked his eyes.

Another hour passed, and the extremely complex white-gold rune suddenly "emerged" again; Zhao Sheng's face lit up with joy.

However, the next moment, before the joy on his face had faded, his eyes became vacant.

For a full two hours, he forgot the strange rune again, feeling as if he had gained nothing.

With the golden imperial tablet in hand, Zhao Sheng fell into deep thought for a while.

Considering how the charred corpse held onto the imperial tablet till death, it was clear that this object must be very important and probably held some kind of secret.

Thinking this, Zhao Sheng took out the black storage bag, opened the mouth wide, and turned it upside down. A large pile of colorful spirit stones, various boxes, elixir bottles, and other miscellaneous items spilled out.

Zhao Sheng didn't care much for these items; he casually put away the spirit stone and elixir bottles, then opened the boxes to check their contents.

If they contained spirit medicine, refining materials and talismans, he threw them back into the storage bag. But if they were treasures like books, ancient scrolls, jade slips, and magical artifacts, he selected them out and placed them to one side.

After some selection, Zhao Sheng couldn't help but reveal a slight smile on his face.

Not to mention the low-level magical artifacts, there were three spirit artifacts alone: one mid-grade and two low-grade.

The mid-grade spirit artifact was a white-gold flying sword about an inch long, made from the essence of the Five Metals and contained forty-five spirit prohibitions.

The remaining two low-grade spirit artifacts were a palm-sized, dark black shield made from thousand-year-old sea abyss iron, imbued with twenty-seven spirit prohibitions.

The other was a miniature flying boat, forged from light spirit silver, able to extend up to ten feet long and move at incredible speeds, covering ten feet in an instant.

After inspecting the spirit artifacts, Zhao Sheng's gaze turned to the ancient books and jade slips beside him.

...

```

```

Four hours later, Zhao Sheng took the last jade slip from his forehead and fell into deep thought.

As for the ancient books and scrolls, there was nothing extraordinary; they were mostly records about spiritual medicine strange plants, sea beasts and demonic birds, and various secret news from different places.

To Zhao Sheng, they could increase his knowledge and broaden his horizons, but they were not of much use.

However, the jade slips contained some precious knowledge. There were five slips in total, one of which was filled with various tricks and knowledge about artifact refining.

Another jade slip recorded a refining technique called "Refining Device Compendium of Hundred Tools", authored by an artifact refiner called Can Hezi.

The other two jade slips detailed two cultivation techniques: "Golden Spirit Refining Skill" and "Merging God and Separating Thought Technique".

Zhao Sheng examined them twice and discovered that "Golden Spirit Refining Skill" was a halfway Golden Core level cultivation method, which could smoothly take one to the Foundation Establishment Perfection, and outlined two methods for condensing fake pills, but it did not reveal how to refine a true Golden Core.

In terms of value, it was far inferior to real Golden Core techniques like "Mystic Primordial Heavy Water Technique" and "Golden Crow Burning Sky Technique".

In Zhao Sheng's hands, the technique was as good as useless, but for the vast majority of loose cultivators and some small cultivation families, this technique was extremely valuable.

Zhao Sheng was more interested in the secret technique "Merging God and Separating Thought Technique", as it was an extremely rare divine thought technique. In the cultivation world, methods and techniques related to the divine soul are exceptionally precious and are often monopolized by large forces such as cultivation sects.

Acquiring this technique was a stroke of great luck for him.

Nevertheless, Zhao Sheng harbored significant reservations and, after much deliberation, ultimately decided not to cultivate "Merging God and Separating Thought Technique" for the time being.

Why was Zhao Sheng so cautious?

The reason was simple: he feared that the secret technique might be "adulterated". By making one or two critical changes to the technique, what was once a beneficial secret technique could become a harmful one.

The key issue was that some of the harm was very subtle; unless one cultivated to a certain degree, they would not realize the potential trouble.

By the time it was discovered, it was already too late!

Zhao Sheng's apprehension wasn't limited to "Merging God and Separating Thought Technique". Even with "Golden Spirit Refining Skill", he was wary that someone might have secretly added a "cultivation method password".

Without breaking the password, falling into demonhood was inevitable.

Having put away the other jade slips back into his storage bag, Zhao Sheng was left with only one cream-white jade slip in his hand.

This jade slip was only the size of a palm, its material crystal clear and lustrous, radiating bright spirit light, and its essence was actually that of a top-grade spiritual stone.

However, the spiritual energy within this top-grade spiritual stone had been entirely extracted, leaving only the excellent quality jade that was ultimately refined into a jade slip.

Zhao Sheng had just scrutinized the inside of the jade slip, which was empty except for a vague and largely incomplete image. It resembled partly a rune, partly a map, and might even be part of a painting.

Due to its obscurity, Zhao Sheng could not discern exactly what it was.

The fact that someone was willing to record it on a top-grade jade slip indicated its immense importance.

Although Zhao Sheng had not yet determined its value, it was enough to warrant his serious attention.

After examining it a hundred times and deeply etching the image into his mind, Zhao Sheng put away the jade slip and took out two mid-grade Water Storage Spirit Stones. He began to cultivate by operating the "Mystic Primordial Heavy Water Technique".

...

Time flies, the years pass swiftly.

Two years later, Zhao Sheng broke through to the Qi Refining Ninth Layer.

Another five years passed, and he reached Qi Refining Perfection.
Your next read awaits at My Virtual Library Empire

Zhao Sheng consumed a Foundation Establishment Pill and, thanks to his previous life's successful experience, he safely advanced to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

That year, Zhao Sheng was twenty-nine years old, having become a Foundation Establishment Cultivator thirty-three years earlier than in his previous life.

```