foundation obsessed cultivator

Gu Zhi went on to take a look at his prizes.

'Hmmm, I'm really excited to try the dragon blood ginseng. It's a shame Gu Xiao doesn't want me to take it. Next we have the 5 qi condensation pills. Let's try them out and see how well they do.'

He then sat down in the lotus position as he took a pill and started cultivating. It had an immediate effect. He could feel his qi condensing, growing stronger while allowing more qi to reside in his body.

It had to be mentioned that qi wasn't always equal. Many times people lost their lives because they underestimated their opponent. Qi was apart of the "Mind" category in terms of foundation. People who focused on improving their qi in various ways were usually ranged spellcasters. However that was only one way to use qi. Their were people who used it to boost their close combat prowess by channeling it to their muscles. Their were support roles where people used it to make talismans, weapons, and formations. This is where the "Mind" term comes from. As people who focus on improving their qi usually have to train their mind by learning new skills to use it effectively. Anyone who wanted to do trade work or sell important services fell into this group. But they weren't limited by just that. Qi had so many uses it was hard to list them all. That is why the "Mind" category was the most popular form of building up ones foundation in foundation establishment. It goes without saying that "body" came next and finally "soul" came last. The most accurate term to describe the ways of building foundation was "qi, body, soul" in that order. Even the Gu clan rich as they were, did not give Gu Zhi anyways to increase his foundation in the soul category. A testament on how rare and hard it was to temper one's soul. 

With all that being said however it still didn't paint the full picture. Besides these three different types, to build up your foundation there were different sub-categories on how to do it. For "Qi" or "Mind" category you could increase the quality of your qi, the size, the element, or the absorption and recovery of your qi. For body it need not be said how many sub-categories there were for improving your body. As for soul, Gu Zhi didn't know much, but he could easily imagine different ways one could increase their foundation in the soul category. Not to mention that he didn't have perfect knowledge about all the sub-categories of all the "mind" and "body" categories as well. They're were even special instances and exceptions for the "mind", "body" and "soul" categories.

The qi condensation pill in this case increased the quality of ones qi and fell into the "mind" category.

Gu Zhi felt his qi grower stronger and stronger, denser, and denser. If he had to compare the quality of his qi in a before and after, his qi was now 20% stronger than before. If all 5 pills brought the same effect then he may have qi that becomes twice as stronger than before. This is a monumental change. It goes to show just how much of an advantage those with resources have against those who don't. Marrying into the Gu clan was probably the best decision Gu Zhi could have made for his future in cultivation.

He was really starting to wonder what the Gu clan's limit was. Just how many more times could they nurture a talent like him. Was there really that much money to be made in divination. It was a little suspicious but at the end of the day he had no knowledge how much money they could be making off of divination. He could be vastly underestimating the value of divination, the size and power of the clan, or there was something else going on. But there was nothing he could do, nor should he do with his current strength. Elder Ming had vaguely hinted at the matriarch being in the nascent soul realm. A realm much much greater than he was at now. It made no sense for him to be sticking his nose into something he shouldn't, and that's even if there is anything.

No, he's priority now was to prepare for the palace of eternal love, and taking the resources from the clan and using them to strengthen himself.

It took him a total of around 4 days to completely digest all the remaining qi condensation pills. Unfortunately they didn't increase his qi quality to double of what it was before hand. Never the less, he was able to increase his qi quality to about 40% - 50% of what it was before. That type of progress could take years for someone else if they just practiced a technique to improve their quality of qi.

With that taken care of it was time for him to move onto his next gift. He had been keen to use this gift before he got back to dual cultivating as it would probably increase his rate of progression in dual cultivation. He was referring to the third item he got from his dowry, the yang fire crystal. For this item you had to slowly channel its energy into your body instead of consuming it directly. It was supposed to increase the strength of his yang essence. This should help with Gu Xiao to keep up as it will be very beneficial to not just Gu Zhi but especially to Gu Xiao when they dual cultivate. 

Gu Zhi slowly went to work as he channeled the energy from the crystal into his body. Nourishing himself with its warm energy. It felt very pleasant, like taking a hot bath with a little bit of pleasure mixed in.

That being said, it was also making him hornier and hornier. It was easy to imagine by the time Gu Zhi was done absorbing all the energy he would have a lengthy dual cultivation session with Gu Xiao. By the time he was done absorbing all the energy he had a raging boner that was not going down. He quickly made his way around the flower garden estate, looking for his wife.