Two and a half months passed in a flash. During this period, Emily Thompson hardly left the house, except for necessary grocery shopping, devoting all his energy to cultivating the Tiandao Foundation Establishment Chapter. Although Emily Thompson could recognize every character in the book, the obscure and difficult incantations, and the profound meanings hidden within, gave Emily Thompson a hard time. Several times, he nearly suffered from qi deviation because of it.

After a near-miss with qi deviation, Emily Thompson no longer dared to blindly guess the meanings of the incantations in the Tiandao Foundation Establishment Chapter. Instead, he adopted a methodical approach, verifying each part one by one. Fortunately, with the convenience of the internet, during this period, Emily Thompson browsed almost all the Daoist classics, the Dao De Jing, and the works of Daoist leaders throughout history as references. He also frequently posted consultation threads on relevant Daoist forums, uploading some of the incantations he couldn’t comprehend to seek answers.

Because of this, Emily Thompson actually caused quite a stir on several well-known Daoist forums. Although Emily Thompson had broken down the incantations and only posted a small portion that he truly couldn’t figure out, the scholars who had spent their lives studying Daoism, after interpreting the incantations in Emily Thompson’s posts, unanimously concluded that these fragments were precisely the ultimate secrets that the Daoist lineage had always pursued. For a time, the username “William” that Emily Thompson registered on these famous Daoist forums became widely known, something Emily Thompson had never expected.

The wisdom of the masses truly surpasses that of any individual. When Emily Thompson painstakingly annotated the more than three hundred characters of the Tiandao Foundation Establishment Chapter’s incantations, the excitement in his heart was beyond words.

Twenty thousand words—less than three hundred characters of foundation establishment incantations could actually generate twenty thousand words of annotations. Emily Thompson secretly felt fortunate that he hadn’t recklessly forced his cultivation; the consequences would have been unimaginable. He couldn’t help but feel a bit of disdain for the previous owner of the William ring, Henry Scott.

In fact, Emily Thompson only truly began cultivating the Tiandao Foundation Establishment Chapter a month ago; the previous month and a half had all been spent annotating the foundation establishment incantations.

A month is really just a drop in the bucket when it comes to cultivation. Because he had often mingled in various Daoist forums before, Emily Thompson now had some understanding of the Daoist world. It was said that back in the day, Master Qiu Chuji of Changchun took twelve years to complete the first step of cultivation—foundation establishment—after entering Daoism from martial arts. The founder of Longhu Mountain, Zhang Tianshi, secluded himself for nine years to achieve foundation establishment. Although these are all legends—after all, becoming an immortal through cultivation is considered a myth in modern society—Emily Thompson, having experienced it personally, naturally knew that most of these legends were true.

Emily Thompson didn’t think his own aptitude surpassed that of Master Qiu of Changchun or Zhang Tianshi. So he began to consider various possibilities, and finally set his sights on the few items he had taken out from the William ring.

With the bold idea of “eating the dead without paying for their lives,” after taking the first pill from the white jade bottle, Emily Thompson lay on the ground for two days and one night, feeling as if countless ants were biting him all over. The pain and itch deep in his bones made Emily Thompson want to end his life right then and there. But after enduring those two days and one night, the extreme pain and itch transformed into a feeling of comfort throughout his body, a sensation a hundred or even a thousand times more pleasurable than being massaged by a dozen beautiful girls—an indescribably wonderful feeling.

When Emily Thompson finally had the strength to get up again, he realized that despite not having eaten for so long, he didn’t feel hungry at all, and his energy was more abundant than ever. At that moment, Emily Thompson knew he had made the right gamble.

Chapter Four: The Thousand-Gold Ginseng King

Following the dosage of one pill per day, Emily Thompson had already taken ten “Heaven and Hell Pills” (since the pills in the white jade bottle had no name, Emily Thompson, based on his “deep understanding” of the medicine, gave them this name).

His cultivation of the Tiandao Foundation Establishment Chapter had also shown progress. Now, Emily Thompson had passed the most difficult hurdle in the Foundation Establishment Chapter—Cleansing the Marrow and Transforming the Sinews. Of course, this was entirely due to the remarkable effects of the “Heaven and Hell Pills”; otherwise, even if given another ten years, Emily Thompson might not have achieved his current progress.

“It seems this stuff doesn’t have any effect anymore. From now on, it looks like I’ll have to rely entirely on myself.” Emily Thompson sat cross-legged at the head of the bed, holding the white jade bottle still containing more than half of the “Heaven and Hell Pills,” muttering to himself.

Having achieved some success in cultivating the Tiandao Foundation Establishment Chapter, Emily Thompson had fully grasped the incantations recorded in the book. He knew that if he wanted to achieve mastery, the “Heaven and Hell Pills” would no longer be of any help. The reason was simple: starting from the ninth pill, Emily Thompson no longer experienced any of the extreme pain or pleasure—taking them was like eating candy. Previously, every pill would make him break out in a foul-smelling sweat, but now that was gone too.

Staying cooped up at home cultivating like this wasn’t a solution! Emily Thompson knew that without the help of the pills, it would be absolutely impossible to achieve mastery in less than a year or two. Now that he had passed the hardest hurdle, as long as he proceeded step by step, spending two hours a day on energy circulation and cultivation, it was time to go out and take a look around.