Chapter 418 Family Heavenly Spiritual Root (Spiritual Root)

Once the formation was completed, the old clan leader exclaimed excitedly, "With this array activated, can it truly preserve our clansmen's lives even if they fail to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage?"

"According to the deduction, there shouldn't be any issues." Eldrin murmured thoughtfully before saying, "Let's try it first and see."

Equipped with this set of array artifacts, Eldrin teleported back to Yu County, then rode his sword to Verdant Chariot Mountain.

Setting up this formation required a fourth-order spirit vein, so he decided to deploy it atop Verdant Chariot Mountain (Location).

In truth, the Chen Clan possessed several spirit veins capable of sustaining this formation. However, both Tianxu Lake and Dishiling were situated perilously close to demon territory. Given the formation’s immense value, deploying it on such a vulnerable frontline seemed rather unwise.

Spirit Isle Lake (Location) served as the secluded cultivation ground for Eldrin (Person Name) and Lyra (Person Name), who naturally had no desire to be disturbed by frequent breakthroughs from cultivators. As for Pingyang City, the overwhelming mortal population there would inevitably be affected if Foundation Establishment breakthroughs occurred daily.

Verdant Chariot Mountain (Location) housed the highest number of family cultivators among all training grounds. With its sparse mortal population, it proved most suitable for deploying this formation.

To return to our story, Eldrin personally took charge of the task. After 7 full days of meticulous effort, he finally completed the deployment of this formation array.

After setting up the formation, he personally activated it. Seated cross-legged upon the formation disk, he closed his eyes to sense its workings, continuously calculating and deducing the formation's effects.

A long while later, he emerged from the formation. The old clan leader couldn't resist stepping forward to ask, "How did it go?"

"With this formation's protection, the physical strength of low-level cultivators, as well as the resilience of their meridians, should increase by a full 50 percent."

Eldrin adjusted the formation while speaking.

When he finished the adjustments, the old clan leader stepped forward with 10 family cultivators.

Eldrin’s eyes flickered as he observed the 10 cultivators before him. Gazing at 2 strikingly beautiful young women among them, he remarked, “Nian Xuan, Si Yan, what brings the 2 of you here as well?”

Greetings, Ancestral Master.

Chen Nianxuan and Chen Siyan promptly bowed, their voices crisp and lively as they spoke.

This Chen Siyan was a cultivator with a Thunder Spiritual Root (Spiritual Root), a rising star within the clan, and a direct descendant of Chen Seraphina's (Person Name) bloodline. She could be considered a golden core candidate, with no small potential for the future.

Chen Nianxuan was the daughter of Lior (Person Name) and Chen Qingwan, though high-level cultivators were more likely to bear exceptionally gifted descendants.

Yet it must be admitted that the children of Lior (Person Name) and his wife possessed talents that truly surpassed ordinary limits.

Back then, their eldest son had possessed a Wind Spiritual Root (Spiritual Root), but unfortunately met his demise after failing his Foundation Establishment. This Chen Nianxuan, however, far surpassed even that.

Chen Nianxuan was a cultivator with a Heavenly Spiritual Root. Blessed with a Fire Spiritual Root, she was a peerless genius whose exceptional aptitude gave her immense potential to forge a superior Golden Core in the future and a high likelihood of breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage.

Chen Nianxuan, merely 16 years of age, had already reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. With a trace of youthful innocence in her tone, she declared, "I shall undertake Foundation Establishment through my own cultivation."

Seeing her say this, Eldrin said gravely, "This formation of mine is being used for the first time. There may be imperfections, so you must consider carefully."

"I understand."

Chen Nianxuan nodded, her expression resolute as she spoke.

Seeing his agreement, Eldrin could only say, "You may begin."

Once the group had stepped into the formation, Eldrin activated the Spirit Gathering Protection Array and quietly observed their progress in building the foundation.

This breakthrough did not take long. After just over 2 months, they emerged from their secluded cultivation chambers 1 after another.

Among these 10 individuals, a total of 3 achieved breakthroughs: Chen Nianxuan, Chen Siyan, and a youth from the Zu generation named Chen Zuqian.

This was well within Eldrin’s expectations. With a Heavenly Spiritual Root like Chen Nianxuan, breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm presented almost no bottleneck—the chance of failure was less than 10 percent.

With a Thunder Spiritual Root (Spiritual Root) like Chen Siyan's, her chances of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage exceeded 50%, making her success well within expectations.

Chen Zuqian, however, gambled on a mere 1-in-10 chance of success. Yet as a rare bearer of the 4 Spiritual Roots, his ability to breakthrough through sheer willpower alone demonstrated extraordinary determination.

However, for Eldrin, these 3 who had successfully broken through were not his primary focus of observation.

He nodded, then took out a few trinkets and handed them to the 3 of them. With an encouraging smile, he said, "You've done fairly well. Take these and devote yourselves to cultivation."

"Many thanks, Ancestral Elder."

All 3 of them revealed expressions of delight, especially Chen Zuqian (Person Name). As a cultivator with 4 spiritual roots, his financial standing was far poorer compared to the other 2 women who had the backing of a Golden Core (Cultivation Realm) and a Purple Mansion (Cultivation Realm).

Even the most trivial trinkets Eldrin casually produced were worth 10 years of his official stipend—enough to smooth his cultivation path for years to come.

After the 3 had departed, Eldrin turned his gaze toward the 7 who had failed in their breakthrough.

Just as he had anticipated, although the 7 had failed in their breakthrough, they had ultimately managed to preserve their lives.

But when Eldrin probed their bodies with his divine sense, he deeply furrowed his brows after a long moment.

The elderly clan leader stepped closer and, after a brief examination, shook his head. "Though his life has been spared, the meridians within his body are nearly completely severed."

"This injury is far too severe. His path of cultivation will likely be completely severed from this point onward."

"It appears this technique still has significant flaws."

Eldrin shook his head and produced several Grade-3 Healing Pills to treat their wounds.

However, the energy contained within a third-rank spirit pill is too immense; even Foundation Establishment cultivators must exercise extreme caution when consuming it.

Back in the day, when Eldrin consumed the Mysterious Jade Pill (Spiritual Object) of the third-tier lower grade, he only dared to do so when his magical power approached the ninth level of Foundation Establishment. Let alone these Qi Refining cultivators who were severely wounded.

Left with no alternative, Eldrin could only dissolve the energy with his magic power, gradually channeling it into their bodies to slowly mend their injuries.

A long while later, when their injuries had improved considerably, Eldrin let out a heavy sigh and said, "There are far too many broken meridians. Even with a third-grade spirit pill for healing, it will take 10 years of recuperation to fully recover."

The old clan leader also shook his head and said helplessly, "Although a Golden Core cultivator could dissolve medicinal pills to heal their wounds and truly extend their cultivation path, this method is far too troublesome."

Moreover, third-grade elixirs are worth tens of thousands, making the cost of mending 1’s Dao path prohibitively high and impractical for widespread application.

Eldrin nodded, finally understanding why for countless years, no 1 had ever been able to completely resolve the fatal flaw of perishing from failed self-initiated Foundation Establishment.

Low-level cultivators lack sufficient physical strength and spiritual power, as many high-level techniques are far too intense.

A single low-grade Tier-3 pill contains nearly 1 100 times more energy than the total reserves of a low-level cultivator. Even if it were given to heal your wounds, you simply lack the capacity to endure it.

Although high-level body refinement techniques and treasures or elixirs for tempering the physique produce extraordinary effects, their excessively high grade renders them utterly unusable by low-level cultivators.

A single second-tier, medium-grade pill was enough to cause a Qi Refining cultivator to burst completely, let alone the myriad other extraordinary methods at his disposal.

At this thought, Eldrin pondered for another moment before saying, "The path of formation arrays has nearly reached its absolute limit."

"Perhaps we can employ alternative methods to enhance a cultivator's meridian strength."

The old clan leader's eyes flickered slightly. "What do you mean?"

Eldrin nodded slowly, and after a long pause, responded, "A Qi Refining cultivator's physical body has limited tolerance—they can only consume, at most, lower-grade second-tier elixirs."

The most widely circulated second-tier, low-grade Marrow Tempering Elixir (Pill) currently available in the Chu Kingdom can enhance meridian strength by approximately 30 percent.

"I'll give it another try, and see if I can push the deduction a step further."