Is it really that difficult?

Chen Mobai expressed his doubts. Could it be that the Four Great Dao Academies had some cultivation secrets that they were hiding and not sharing?

However, he didn’t feel it was appropriate to ask such a question. After all, he had already enrolled and had ten years ahead of him to slowly investigate.

Qu Hongyu then explained to him some of the limitations of the “Critical Method”.

The longer the stagnation, the more difficult the subsequent transformation steps would be.

According to the five hundred years of samples from the Immortal Gate, it was best not to stagnate for more than ten years. It was best to complete all the steps of transformation within ten years.

The Medical Palace specifically offered a course on Foundation Establishment to study this process.

Their latest research suggested that the reason why the three steps of Foundation Establishment spontaneously interacted was due to a special frequency that affected the final ascension transition.

If the stagnation lasted too long, this frequency would be interrupted, causing the cultivator to fail at the final ascension, even if they had completed the three major steps.

Chen Mobai accepted all of this with an open mind.

Then, under Qu Hongyu’s guidance, he arrived at the library of the Weapon Dao Academy.

After swiping his student ID, he found a bookshelf related to Foundation Establishment, which contained various books on the “Critical Method”.

“Critical Method Detailed Explanation”, “Critical Insights”, “Exploring the Original Critical Method – Jade Lock Golden Barrier”, “How to Stagnate”, “Critical Method”…

Chen Mobai felt like his eyes had been opened. However, with so many books, he estimated that it would take at least a month to read and comprehend them all.

Sigh, there was just too much knowledge at the Immortal Gate.

He didn’t even know where to start.

He could only borrow the most basic original book on the “Critical Method”.

After borrowing the book, Chen Mobai went to the cave where his mentor, the Taoist master Shaoyang, was in seclusion. He left a message on the message board at the entrance to indicate his visit, then returned to his rented wooden house.

Since there were still three days before school started, Chen Mobai teleported to the Shenmu Sect to complete his wood chopping task.

Upon arriving in the Tianhe Realm, the first thing he did was take out his phone, switch accounts, and enter the keyword “Critical Method” into the auxiliary cultivation software.

The software did not disappoint him, and quickly displayed more than a dozen related posts.

Chen Mobai browsed through them and found that many were anonymous. One person claimed to have practiced for ten years without making any progress, expressing great indignation and advising newcomers not to waste their time.

Another claimed to have made some progress, but felt that it took too much time to practice and was not worth it.

After reading, only two cultivators from the Four Great Dao Academies gave fair and objective accounts of their experiences practicing the Critical Method.

But after reading them, Chen Mobai was still in the dark.

This method relied solely on comprehension and had nothing to do with spiritual roots or natural talent.

Once one could comprehend how to lock the essence blood, close the qi gate, and open and close the purple mansion, the task would be considered complete.

Another cultivator from the Medical Palace provided a learning approach: first read the original text, then the detailed explanation, then compare with the insights, learn how to stagnate, and finally, if you really can’t practice, you can explore the ancient method of Jade Lock Golden Barrier.

“Huh, there’s even a member level restriction for the follow-up.”

At the end of this post, Chen Mobai found that there was a page that required the highest level of membership to view.

Coincidentally, he was at that level.

With a curious heart, Chen Mobai clicked on it, unlocking the page that the post owner had deliberately hidden, seemingly not wanting anyone to see its content.

“I achieved the Critical Method under very coincidental circumstances. At the time, I was researching how to ensure that my primordial yang would not leak after intercourse, so that I could forever maintain the body of a virgin while also enjoying the pleasure of union.”

“For this topic, I conducted in-depth investigations and field research. After countless self-funded special services, I suddenly had an epiphany during one of them.”

“I practiced the ancient method of Jade Lock Golden Barrier.”

“Then I reversed the Critical Method, and it no longer posed any difficulty for me. I easily mastered it.”

“Unfortunately, by the time I mastered it, it was too late. My primordial yang was already lost. But being able to achieve the Critical Method and successfully establish my foundation in the end, I was still very happy.”

“I dedicate this to commemorate this somewhat absurd topic.”

The final signature was [Medical Palace – Tian Wenguang]!

After reading this, Chen Mobai couldn’t help but admire him.

There weren’t many people he admired in his life. Qingping Shangren, the practitioner of the Five Elements Method, was one, and this Tian Wenguang was the second.

Those who could have such profound insights in such matters had an unheard-of level of understanding.

However, despite his admiration, Chen Mobai, as a person who valued purity, would definitely not follow Tian Wenguang’s path.

Even if he failed to establish his foundation, fell from grace, was ridiculed, or even advised to leave the Weapon Dao Academy, he would absolutely not seek special services!

However, he could learn from Tian Wenguang’s learning approach.

But his current priority was the Longevity Sutra and the Two Phases Method.

Chen Mobai showed his face in front of Yuan Chiyi and his fellow disciples, then picked up his axe and went to the Red Sun Forest to chop wood.

The Red Sun Wood was tough and hard. Even with the Sharpness Charm applied to the iron axe, it took ten to twenty swings to barely cut through.

After chopping down a tree, it had to be sawed into one-meter-long sections, and then split into long strips three fingers wide.

It took Chen Mobai nearly four hours to barely split a tree into one hundred and twenty pieces of Red Sun Wood that met the Shenmu Sect’s standards.

This won’t do!

Chen Mobai put down his axe, used the Gathering Technique to neatly stack the Red Sun Wood, and when he transported it to the Bud Hall, he couldn’t help but pant, thinking to himself.

He didn’t have so much time to waste on chopping wood.

Regardless of exposing himself, he immediately ordered a portable chainsaw and a table saw cutting machine online after returning to his wooden house on Red City Mountain.

A chainsaw for cutting trees, a table saw for chopping wood.

Although these two items were the cheapest, they still cost Chen Mobai nearly eight hundred Good Deeds.

Unfortunately, because they were offensive mechanical artifacts, he had to state their purpose and register his identity before they could be delivered.

Luckily, Chen Mobai lived in the mountains and had a legitimate excuse, wanting to renovate his wooden house.

The shopkeeper didn’t scrutinize too much and directly stated that the goods would be delivered early the next morning, but they would need to be assembled by the buyer.

Since he had chosen a local shop in Chicheng Dongtian, the goods were delivered in the afternoon. However, because Chen Mobai’s place was a bit hard to find, a path-finding talisman was wasted.

Once the goods arrived, Chen Mobai immediately assembled the chainsaw and table saw according to the video tutorial provided by the shopkeeper.

Then, he returned to Shenmu Sect at night, when everyone was practicing Qi Refining. Alone, he took the two machines to the place where he usually chopped wood.

After sticking a silence talisman on the machines and using a spirit-seeking talisman to confirm that no one was nearby, he picked up the tools and started sawing vigorously.

The next morning.

Yuan Chiyi looked at the two thousand one hundred pieces of Chiyang wood that Chen Mobai handed in. They were even more standard than the standard, as if they had been measured with a ruler before being chopped. He was left with his mouth agape.

“Brother Yuan, this is my quota for seven days. I will take another seven days off for closed-door cultivation.”