Chapter 1072: Chapter 671: Bottleneck_3 Chapter 1072 -671: Bottleneck_3 His Spiritual Power, if measured by such rules, forget reaching eighty Cycles, even sixty Cycles would be difficult, let alone achieving the “perfection” of ninety or a hundred Cycles… He simply cannot afford to cultivate it. It’s just too expensive… Even if he sold himself… No, even if he sold himself from this life to the next hundred and eight generations, he still couldn’t afford it. Mo Hua sighed, feeling somewhat disheartened. But with a shift in his thoughts, he remembered that he is on the path of “Divine Sense Proving the Dao”. His Daoist Foundation doesn’t rely on flesh and Spiritual Power; his strength doesn’t heavily depend on precious Spiritual Artifacts, so he doesn’t need to be so “involved”. Otherwise, even if he twisted himself into a pretzel, he couldn’t surpass them… Mo Hua inexplicably felt happier again. But he was still a bit puzzled, so he quietly asked: “Is there really a point in spending such a huge cost to cultivate just one or two more Cycles of Spiritual Power?” “How could there be no point?” Cheng Mo sighed, “Having one more Cycle of Spiritual Power means you are stronger than others.” “Being a bit stronger is still being stronger.” “And, don’t belittle this bit; if your Cultivation Technique is slightly inferior, your Taoist Skill is slightly inferior, your Spiritual Artifact is slightly inferior… everything adds up to a big difference…” “This is only at the Foundation Establishment stage, the gap only widens further later on…” “And there’s more…” Hao Xuan hurriedly explained to Mo Hua, “When the Sect recruits disciples, and some Feather Transformation or Heaven Void masters take apprentices, they actually pay a lot of attention to the count of Spiritual Power Cycles.” “Spiritual Roots indicate potential, but potential is just potential.” “If you don’t have resources and can’t cultivate enough Cycles of Spiritual Power, it means you are wasting your potential.” “So, the better your Spiritual Roots and Cultivation Techniques, and the more Cycles of Spiritual Power you cultivate, the brighter your future will be.” “These three factors are indispensable.” “This applies to family alliances through marriage as well.” “Even if you are useless, stupid, and only know how to cultivate, but if your Spiritual Root is of Superior-Grade, and your Cultivation Technique is top-notch, cultivating over ninety-five Cycles of Spiritual Power, the family will still value you.” Mo Hua didn’t understand, “If you only know how to cultivate, what use does the family have for you?” Hao Xuan blurted out, “For breeding…” Situ Jian slapped him on the back to remind him not to speak recklessly. In pain, Hao Xuan grimaced and then sheepishly said, “No, not that, I mean… through marriage alliances…” “Marriage alliances?” Mo Hua was stunned. “Yes.” Hao Xuan nodded, “My mother secretly told me, the larger the family, the more ruthless and pragmatic they are in their dealings.” “Even if you are useless, as long as you have good aptitude and a high count of Spiritual Power Cycles, the ancestor won’t mind, and will even choose a beneficial marriage for you, all to produce offspring with even better aptitude.” Hao Xuan sighed, “It’s like when humans breed pigs, choosing good piglets to pair up…” Situ Jian glared at him again. Hao Xuan immediately covered his mouth, thinking: That was close, almost misspoke again… Beside him, Yi Li also sighed, “Sometimes I also feel, the highly cultivated ancestors don’t regard the family’s disciples as ‘people’…” Hao Xuan wondered aloud, “But aren’t the ancestors of your Yi family alright? I haven’t heard anything about forced marriages…” Yi Li muttered, “I wasn’t talking about my ancestors…” … Listening to the conversation, Mo Hua frowned. Seeing this, Yang Qianjun thought deeply and then said, “Of course, these customs are strict in Qian State…” He knew that Mo Hua’s Spiritual Root quality was not good, and his count of Spiritual Power Cycles was also quite… poor, afraid that Mo Hua would feel sad, he consoled: “But our Yang Family is less strict about these requirements…” “Our Yang Family, originating from the Taoist soldiers Court, although also values aptitude, places more importance on military merits. Whoever performs great feats gets the family’s attention.” “On the contrary, if someone has only talent but dares not to fight on the battlefield, they are still looked down upon.” Yang Qianjun looked at Mo Hua and warmly invited, “Mo Hua, next time you have a holiday, why don’t you visit the Yang Family?” Mo Hua was stunned. For a moment, he felt as if Yang Jiyong and Yang Jishan were both embodied in Yang Qianjun. Their Yang family’s bloodline seemed to be inscribed with the words “Recruit people to join us.” Cheng Mo was unhappy, “Yang Qianjun, don’t spout nonsense, there’s no family that doesn’t value Spiritual Root quality.” Yang Qianjun corrected, “It’s not about not valuing, it’s about not being so picky…” Cheng Mo stubbornly said, “It’s still the same thing, no matter what, you still have to consider Spiritual Power, being stronger by one Cycle still matters…” Yang Qianjun shook his head, “That may be true… but if someone’s ninety Cycles of Spiritual Power can’t beat another, would having one more Cycle suddenly make you able to beat them?” “If someone doesn’t face you head-on but sets traps and assassins, all your Spiritual Power is useless.” “In a real battlefield, where butcher knives clash and Spiritual Power battles like a meat grinder, what use is that extra Cycle or two of Spiritual Power?” “If it really comes down to life and death, unless you are marked with a special Eternal Life Rune, whether it’s eighty Cycles or ninety Cycles or even a full talent of a hundred Cycles, you die all the same.” “In my opinion, the Qianxue State boundary is too complacent due to prolonged peace, hence they like to waste a substantial amount of cultivation resources in such insignificant places.” “With so many Spirit Stones and Spiritual Objects spent to achieve just one or two extra Cycles of Spiritual Power, yet they do not go to the battlefield to engage in combat, nor do they eradicate demons to protect the Dao, nor fend off the barbarians, instead they stay and enjoy comforts in Qian State…” Yang Qianjun couldn’t help but speak his frustration. Situ Jian patted Yang Qianjun on the shoulder. Yang Qianjun paused, then with a sigh of resignation said: “I spoke out of turn…” Cheng Mo, recalling the recent battles of the Yang Family in the Southern Wilderness, poured a glass of wine for him, comforting him: “Focus on your cultivation first; the affairs of the Southern Wilderness are not something we can assist with at the moment.” Yang Qianjun took the drink and nodded his head. After that, everyone stopped talking about other matters. The atmosphere relaxed, and they only chatted about the Sect, missions, and some anecdotes, before finishing their meal and drinks and going their separate ways. However, Mo Hua took all these conversations to heart. The Yang Family, the Southern Wilderness, resisting the barbarian tribes. Could this barbarian tribe be related to that so-called “Master of the Great Wilderness”? But the Southern Wilderness… Does that refer to the lands south of Li State? It seems very far from Qian State… Mo Hua shook his head. These matters seemed still too distant from him; maybe it was too early to worry about them. Mo Hua took Yu Er for a walk to digest their food, then returned to his Disciple’s Residence. He lay on his bed, intending to rest for a while, but recalling the discussions with Cheng Mo and others, he suddenly realized an issue: Realm Breakthrough! The foundational issues of Cheng Mo and others were either Blood Qi or Spiritual Power, and breaking through their bottlenecks required a significant amount of Spiritual Objects. The more Spiritual Objects, the better. Thus, they needed to accumulate more points early for preparation. His own practice, the Heaven Yan Jue, did not require additional Spiritual Objects for breaking through bottlenecks, which was an advantage. But that did not mean his own bottlenecks would necessarily be simple. The bottleneck for the Heaven Yan Jue lies in the Divine Sense. The bottleneck in the Qi Refinement Realm is progressive advancement, delving from shallow to deep, solving puzzles step-by-step, eventually unlocking the Mysterious Heaven Great Formation, and breaking through the Foundation Establishment bottleneck. What would the bottleneck in the Foundation Establishment Realm be? Still resolving formations? Having already unlocked the Mysterious Heaven Great Formation, what else is there to resolve? A Second Grade Mystery Formation? Mo Hua frowned. “Possibly…” Generally speaking, it seemed likely. Yet he still harbored some doubts; is the bottleneck of Foundation Establishment really that simple? After all, his Divine Sense was already very strong. With Divine Sense that underwent Sixteen Patterns Quality Change, solving a Second Grade Mystery Formation during the early stages of Foundation Establishment should not be difficult. But what if it is not just that? What other changes could there be? Mo Hua pondered with a frown. “From Qi Refinement breakthrough, reaching Foundation Establishment… Sea of Consciousness reconstructed by the Mysterious Heaven Great Formation, Divine Sense compressed and transformed in quality…” “Quality transformation…” A thought flashed through Mo Hua’s mind. “Could the bottleneck be… the ‘Quality Transformation’ of Divine Sense?” “Does it require me… to further ‘transform in quality’ based on the reconstructed Divine Sense?” How to further transform in quality? Mo Hua considered; currently, the only method for ‘Quality Transformation’ seems to be, just like before, by slaying Sheep-Horned Enforcers, killing Sheep-Horned Demon Monsters, obtaining pale-gold ‘Divine Marrow’ to further ‘transform’ the Divine Sense… Could this mean… Mo Hua pondered. Do I have to continuously “consume” Divine Marrow to “Divinize” my Divine Sense, achieving further quality change, to break through the cultivation technique bottleneck, and advance my cultivation realm? Mo Hua was taken aback, then couldn’t help but inhale sharply. Surely not… There couldn’t be such a preposterous cultivation method in this world… To “consume” the divine, in order to breakthrough?