Just then, a crow flew over, landed in front of Gu Mu, and dropped what it was carrying in its beak in front of him.
Gu Mu picked it up and opened it. Inside was a message from Zhou Lin: "Top-grade Foundation Establishment." It was clear that Zhou Lin was very happy.
Gu Mu couldn't help but clench his fists: "Brother Zhou has finally reached Foundation Establishment, and he's the most powerful top-grade Foundation Establishment expert!"
"This Heavenly Mystery Pavilion is truly giving me more and more surprises! I'm sure I'll be able to reach the highest level of Foundation Establishment in the future, and then I can avenge my senior sister."
At this point, Gu Mu recalled the scene when he first came to the world of cultivation.
At that time, he discovered that the death of his savior, Xia Shuitao, was the work of a Qi Refining stage cultivator, so he came to the cultivation world to seek revenge.
At that time, he killed his opponent with his martial god cultivation, but he was also seriously injured as a result.
He had originally thought he might as well just die and go with his master, Xiaorou, and Xia Shuitao.
But then, a stunningly beautiful face suddenly appeared before him, and she playfully asked, "Need any help?"
Later, Gu Mu learned the other person's name: Yu Anmeng.
The other person helped him heal his injuries and brought him to the sect. From then on, the other person became his senior sister.
From that day on, his senior sister often came to see him and taught him cultivation. Unbeknownst to him, Gu Mu's long-dormant heart began to stir again.
Later, the Tianji Pavilion suddenly appeared in the market, and my senior sister was often sent there to buy Foundation Establishment Pills and other spiritual medicines for the sect.
Over time, my senior sister started exchanging glances with Zhou Lin from the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion.
As a result, Gu Mu got into several fights with Zhou Lin.
Until his sect was destroyed and his senior sister was killed, Gu Mu put aside his hatred and found Zhou Lin.
Because of his senior's death, the two put aside their hatred and became friends who cherished each other.
Seeing that Gu Mu had nowhere to go and knowing that he was heartbroken over Yu Anmeng's death, Zhou Lin asked if the higher-ups needed anyone else.
Gu Mu had long admired the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion, which is why he chose to join it.
As Gu Mu learned more about the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion, he grew increasingly awe of it.
A top-tier Foundation Establishment cultivator! Forged with the highest quality foundation, even a newly established Foundation Establishment cultivator can easily defeat an ordinary mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator.
This gave Gu Mu hope for revenge.
...
In the courtyard of the bamboo house, the water kept making a "ding-dong" sound.
Xu Ning was refining pills on the open ground to the side, while Tie Dan ran around in the courtyard and often jumped into the central pool to swim.
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The whimpering monster was resting on the railing at the bridgehead.
Click—
Suddenly, a sound came from the guardrail at the bridgehead, and then it snapped open.
The whimpering monster fell straight down, instantly waking up and quickly flapping its wings to steady itself.
After regaining his footing, Yingying Guai cautiously glanced at Xu Ning, who was refining pills over there, and then looked at the broken handrail, feeling somewhat at a loss.
It quickly raised its paw to grab it back, but unfortunately, it fell down as soon as it let go.
The whimpering monster looked at the handrail, somewhat bewildered, then quickly grabbed it back, but it still fell.
Finally, it was a little confused and a little scared.
At this moment, Xu Ning finished his alchemy for the day.
Take out a desk, a stool, and the Four Treasures of the Study (writing brush, ink stick, inkstone, and paper).
The stool and the Four Treasures of the Study were all purchased by Xu Ning a few years ago, and now they have all reached the highest level of spiritual grade.
The reason for preparing these is, of course, to draw talismans.
Xu Ning's talisman-drawing technique has now reached the mid-grade of the first rank.
Xu Ning took out a certain proportion of dried medicinal herbs, put them into a mortar and pestle and pounded them into powder, then poured them out and ground them into ink.
Then he took out a top-grade spirit-level calligraphy brush and began to draw talismans.
Making talismans is actually not as difficult as alchemy or weapon crafting.
The difficulty lies in the complexity of the process.
First, special spiritual herbs are needed to make talisman paper, and then a certain proportion of spiritual herbs need to be ground into powder to be used as ink.
Then, the two are combined in pairs, and corresponding patterns are drawn according to the relevant talisman paper, thus forming a talisman.
After learning how to make talismans, Xu Ning kept a few for upgrading, preparing to upgrade them to legendary or even divine quality, as his most important trump card in the future.
Xu Ning plans to upgrade one Fire and Thunder Talisman to Legendary level or higher, along with three sets of Communication Talismans and one each of Defense and Attack Talismans.
The reason for not choosing to upgrade more is that Xu Ning asked the talismans, and they said that once it reaches the divine grade, it will no longer be a disposable item and can be used without limit.
In this way, Xu Ning won't need to upgrade too many things; his current burden is too heavy, as he's raising too many things.
However, the abilities of spirit-level talismans are not very strong. Xu Ning plans to prepare a teleportation talisman or a teleportation talisman once he gets them.
Upgrade all the drawn talismans to the highest grade, then pack them together with the newly refined top-grade pills and have Yingying Monster deliver them to the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion.
Xu Ning now has some ideas about expanding the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion.
Luo Xiu has now reached the Foundation Establishment stage and can begin recruiting Qi Refining cultivators, establishing a business association, and venturing into other businesses.
Once we have the money, we can start building an intelligence network and control information throughout the cultivation world.
However, these things need to be done slowly; the main problem is still the lack of money.
Forget it, let's refine the Spirit Gathering Array first. The sooner we upgrade this thing to Legendary, the better.
As for the teleportation array, Xu Ning had actually considered letting Gu Mu go out and gain some experience.
Characters like this are likely to encounter ancient ruins as soon as they go out, making it easy to obtain teleportation array blueprints.
Well, I'll let this guy go out and gain more experience later. At worst, his Tianji Pavilion will be closed often, since things often happen anyway. And all the goods will be sold through Zhou Lin.
Oh, and make sure to prepare some trump cards and antidotes for him, in case he doesn't go out and never come back, or he dies without the antidote!
Although this situation is extremely rare, if the other party goes out and truly doesn't return due to the poisoning, they will almost always find a way to detoxify, such as having a beautiful woman help them or encountering a legendary healer.
However, we must still be wary.
Over the next two days, Xu Ning refined the Spirit Gathering Array and set it up directly in the courtyard, covering the entire bamboo house and yard. As for upgrading it, that would have to wait for the next batch of materials.
In the following period, Xu Ning focused on upgrading the storage bags.
Xu Ning plans to prioritize upgrading this storage bag to legendary level.
Once living things can be stored inside, the spirit fields can be upgraded to grow a large number of herbs, and then money won't be such a worry anymore.
There are also legendary quality spirit fields that can grow legendary quality spiritual herbs, and Xu Ning has an extremely high demand for them.
In the following period, things began to become turbulent at Tianbao Sect.
A year later, the Tianbao Sect and the neighboring Yunhai Sect clashed, leading to a major battle. It was only after the Foundation Establishment cultivators from both sects intervened that the conflict was finally quelled.
Xu Ning, however, was still cultivating.