Immortal Palace of Eternal Life

Chapter 264: Golden Core Conversations (Combined Chapter)

It appeared lamentable, having lost due to a slight misstep in strategy, which made many observing cultivators sigh at this person's unfortunate fate.

“If he had encountered an opponent with slightly less strength, he might have advanced.”

This was the thought in the minds of many observing cultivators.

“Junior Brother Liu does not need to feel disheartened; victory and defeat are commonplace.”

“Moreover, the rankings in the duel only serve as a reference; in the end, it still depends on the choices of the elders.”

Seeing Liu Yu, who had just come down after losing and looked “downcast,” Senior Brother Qian comforted him.

However, he had successfully advanced in the first round due to several excellent magical artifacts his father had purchased for him, so he was still unable to conceal his joy.

“Senior Brother, there’s no need for many words; I understand all of this.”

“It's just that the difference between being in the top thirty and the top fifteen is still too great.”

Liu Yu sighed, seemingly feeling disappointed as a result.

“Junior Brother’s performance has already been quite remarkable; I believe the elders will surely recognize your talent.”

Senior Brother Qian restrained his joy and offered some comfort.

Second-tier elixirs are not something one can easily acquire, and there are often shortages.

In order to be able to purchase elixirs at relatively favorable prices in the future, Liu Yu, who is able to refine second-tier elixirs, naturally needed to form a good relationship, so Senior Brother Qian was very approachable now.

“Hmm, I’ll do my best.”

It seemed that the comforting words had an effect, as Liu Yu’s spirits lifted, and he finally stopped feeling down.

The two then fell silent and quietly watched the duel.

The apprentice recruitment ceremony allowed participation for those who had been at the foundation establishment stage for less than forty years, but among the sixty participants this time, or rather among the cultivators participating in each session, the proportion of mid foundation establishment cultivators was not high.

On one hand, the cultivation at the foundation establishment stage is much more difficult; it’s like replacing a small water bottle from the qi refinement stage with a large bucket, meaning more “water” needs to be accumulated, and the quality of the “water” has also changed from gas to liquid, making it even harder to gather.

On the other hand, the cost of seeking external assistance has also risen. To accelerate the accumulation of “water” using various cultivation resources requires more spiritual stones, which many foundation establishment cultivators simply cannot afford.

The cultivation resources used during the foundation establishment stage can be several times more expensive than those used in the qi refinement stage. For example, the most ordinary Vitality Pill at the early foundation establishment stage is nearly six times more expensive than the Azure Spirit Pill, which is one of the most expensive cultivation pills during the qi refinement stage.

Thus, many cultivators who were relatively “wealthy” during the qi refinement stage and could regularly take elixirs for cultivation suddenly found that they could not afford elixirs anymore.

Families or masters that could once provide substantial assistance had also become much less helpful during this time, unless they had connections to golden core level families or masters.

As a result, the frequency of using elixirs or other resources to enhance their cultivation decreased significantly, and most of the time, they could only rely on their spiritual roots to painstakingly accumulate magical power.

For dual spiritual root cultivators, it is not easy to progress from the early to the mid foundation establishment stage in just twenty or thirty years, let alone for ordinary three spiritual root cultivators.

Moreover, newly established foundation cultivators also need to prepare cultivation techniques, supreme magical artifacts, and a series of other things, requiring time and spiritual stones to gather.