Making Me Waste All The Excuses

Lei Kongming fell silent, thinking deeply. Normally, it should not be a problem to tell them he wanted to join the 8th Peak, but then he remembered Su Zhiyuan beating Palace Master Duan.

'Eh? It should be Palace Master Duan. But then why does Su Zhiyuan call him Sect Master Duan?'

Lei Kongming started thinking about the issue of different titles, but he then shook his head to dismiss those thoughts.

"So, junior brother has not thought about it. Then senior brother can help you make a decision."

"?"

Originally, Lei Kongming's action of shaking his head was to get rid of his wandering thoughts, but it seemed that Senior Brother Yang took it as an answer from Lei Kongming.

"Senior Brother Yang, I indeed don't know much about it. Please give me some advice."

Senior Brother Yang smiled and nodded. "Junior Brother, for the majority of disciples, the Purple Cloud Palace is divided into two major parts: the Outer Door and the Inner Door. There is also the Core Hall and other important places, but those are for Golden Core cultivators, so I will not talk about them."

Lei Kongming nodded towards Senior Brother Yang to indicate that he was listening and had understood this.

"Most of the people who pass the Purple Cloud Palace trials will go to the Outer Door," Senior Brother Yang continued, "This palace is mainly for people to change their cultivation techniques for better ones and prepare to enter the Foundation Building Realm."

"The Inner Door is different from the Outer Door," he said, "The first thing the disciples should do is select a peak to join. Each peak has a different inheritance and specializes in different fields. For example, if someone wants to become an alchemist, they have to join the 2nd Peak because most of the inheritance related to alchemy is concentrated there."

Lei Kongming looked thoughtful for a moment before asking, "Senior Brother Yang, are there any requirements for joining a specific peak? Or can everyone join whichever peak they like?"

"There are some requirements. Firstly, all the peaks require the disciple to be a foundation-building cultivator. However, there are also some requirements specific to certain peaks. For example, the 2nd peak requires its disciples to know and identify at least 100 herbs. There is also…"

"Wait, wait, Senior Brother Yang…"

Lei Kongming raised his hand to stop Senior Brother Yang from continuing to talk.

"Senior Brother Yang, did you just say that the basic cultivation requirement for all the peaks is to have foundation-building cultivation?"

"Yes," Senior Brother Yang nodded calmly.

At this point, Lei Kongming had black lines forming on his forehead, but he still maintained a smile, thinking,

'I am not a foundation-building cultivator. Why do you want me to decide which peak to join now? Can't you wait for me to enter the outer door first?'

Of course, Lei Kongming will not say this aloud, but Senior Brother Yang can probably guess this from Lei Kongming's expression.

"Junior Brother, although the basic requirement is to have a Foundation Building cultivator, most peaks usually make an exception to accept those talented disciples who have performed exceptionally well in the trials."

This solved Lei Kongming's confusion, but then he became puzzled again.

"Senior Brother Yang, isn't the lower limit for the inner door too low? I mean, won't most people here be able to become Foundation Building cultivators in 4 or 5 years?"

You should know that the lower limit for all the trialists is to be at the 7th level of the Qi Refining Realm, and they are mostly people who will not start their cultivation before their spiritual roots mature, which is usually when they enter their teenage years.

So it is not wrong to say that all of them have been cultivating for only 5 or 6 years, maybe 7 years, which means they can increase their cultivation by 1 Qi Refining level each year.

According to this calculation, they will be able to become Foundation Building cultivators within 4 or 5 years, which is very short compared to the total lifespan of a Qi Refining cultivator of 150 years.

Actually, with the resources of the Purple Cloud Palace, this time can be shortened even more, and it should not be forgotten that this calculation is for the weakest trialists here. Those with better talent, who have a better chance of becoming Purple Cloud Palace disciples, can cultivate even faster.

"Junior Brother, there are many reasons for this. Firstly, there is a huge gap between the Foundation Building and Qi Refining realms, so keeping them in the same category is not reasonable. Another reason is that during the Qi Refining Realm, the main focus of a cultivator is to increase their cultivation, while Foundation Building cultivators need to choose their path."

Hearing this, Lei Kongming understood that each inner door peak inheritance represents a path, and when a Foundation Building cultivator chooses a peak, they are choosing the path they will be walking in the future.

It also made him realize that during the Qi Refining Realm, cultivation is pretty simple and doesn't need to be divided into complex paths.

'Maybe this is the reason I was unable to unlock other sections of the Black Dragon Immortal Arts. I'm not yet qualified to choose a path and should focus on improving my cultivation.'

"Junior Brother, there is another thing you should know: the bottleneck between the Qi refining realm and the foundation building realm is very significant. Even though Purple Cloud Palace selects only the most talented and determined cultivators, only 40 percent of them are able to become foundation-building cultivators. Even these 40 percent of cultivators nearly spend 10 to 15 years to clear this bottleneck."

Hearing Senior Brother Yang's explanation, Lei Kongming fell into deep thought but then nodded to show his understanding.

Encountering bottlenecks in cultivation is very normal, and his previous calculations did not take bottlenecks into account, probably because he has never felt any bottleneck between the Qi refining realm and the foundation-building realm. He feels that as long as he has enough spirit stones, he can easily become a foundation-building cultivator, which makes him think that there is no bottleneck between them.

"Junior Brother, you always hold your sword, never letting it leave your side. This shows you are a dedicated sword cultivator. I think the First Peak is most suitable for you, which is also known as Sword Peak, and nearly all of the sword masters of the Purple Cloud Palace are from the First Peak."

Lei Kongming fell silent, thinking, 'So you are from the First Peak. During the whole conversation, you were using the Alchemist Peak as an example, making me think that you wanted me to join the Alchemist Peak, and now you are advertising the First Peak. Why didn't you say that from the start?' making me waste all the excuses I planned to use to reject you.'

Seeing Lei Kongming staying silent, Senior Brother Yang advised him with a smile again.

"Junior Brother, the First Peak is really the best place for you. A dedicated sword cultivator like you, who always keeps his sword by his side, should not choose another peak and waste his talent."

'I am not a sword cultivator. The reason I am always holding my sword is because I can't use any space ring, they will become a firecracker in my hand,' shouted Lei Kongming loudly in his head, but in front of Senior Brother Yang, he could only show a polite smile.