Top-tier Unruly Master-Chapter 1648 - 1685: Cultivation at Will
Ding Fan heard the village chief’s words, and couldn’t help but wholeheartedly agree. Although he didn’t have as much time as the village chief to try many things, Ding Fan always believed that in the journey of cultivation, the foundation is a crucial element. Ding Fan knew that many people, having cultivated to the Nascent Soul or the Embryonic Breath stage of cultivation, simply stopped progressing.
Ding Fan believed these cultivators lacked more than just innate talent; he believed many cultivators did not lay a solid foundation during their early years of cultivation, which led to them not being able to fully extract all of their potential. Otherwise, these cultivators would certainly improve further in their cultivation.
Ding Fan hadn’t expected the village chief’s viewpoint to so closely align with his own. It seemed to Ding Fan that he truly had a connection with the village chief. During his cultivation, he always focused heavily on his foundational cultivation, and whenever breakthroughs occurred, they often were natural and fluent.
The reason Ding Fan held this belief isn’t particularly grand—it stems from knowing that breakthroughs are the most critical and challenging period for a cultivator. Therefore, Ding Fan wanted to make breakthroughs simpler or easier for himself so that he wouldn’t have to suffer as much. That’s why he chose this method of focusing on foundational cultivation.
This method of cultivation might appear simple, but it’s not easy to execute. Many people cannot endure the lengthy ordeal—it tests one’s self-control, particularly for cultivators from well-off families. Due to favorable conditions at home, they can achieve breakthroughs simply by consuming rare spiritual materials, rather than patiently cultivating until breakthroughs happen naturally. After all, breakthroughs lead to a noticeable change in strength, which is hard for these family-privileged cultivators to resist.
Moreover, focusing on foundational cultivation demands much more effort than simply consuming spiritual material and medicine pills for breakthroughs, resulting in more trials and tribulations. Thus, most cultivators, if given the chance to acquire spiritual materials, will immediately use them to break through, never delaying even till tonight, let alone tomorrow.
As a result, while these cultivators appear to break through quickly and enhance their cultivation speedily, they sacrifice the ultimate realm they could have reached—those cultivating to Nascent Soul Mid Stage ultimately reach only the Late Nascent Soul Stage, unable to break through further.
Although this foundation-focused cultivation method is rarely accepted, Ding Fan isn’t alone in this belief. Some cultivators, while urgently rushing to their bottleneck, finally come to understand the importance of foundation; it’s not too late. These cultivators compensate their inadequate foundation to achieve breakthroughs.
It’s indeed a good strategy, being much stronger than those entirely unaware of foundational importance. But even after breaking through the bottleneck, they still cannot reach the position they should have achieved through cultivation, barely making ends meet.
Reflecting on this, Ding Fan feels deeply moved, having made the same mistake in his previous life. Fortunately, in this lifetime, Ding Fan pays great attention to cultivating his foundation, ensuring that he doesn’t waste his cultivation talent.
At this moment, Ding Fan feels genuinely fated with the village chief. If he inherits the chief’s legacy, he saves considerable foundational time, given his usual focus on the basics. Evidently, this strategy of foundational cultivation has considerable benefits.
Following this, Ding Fan continued listening to the village chief:
"If your foundation is strong, it means you are suited to cultivate what I possess. This volume titled ’Basic Martial Arts’ encapsulates all my lifetime learning of cultivation techniques and martial arts. Some martial arts, I found meaningless or uninteresting, thus I did not cultivate them. Nevertheless, acquiring even a single martial art isn’t easy, so I documented all martial arts I obtained in this ’Basic Martial Arts’. Among them, the ones I cultivated, including the two volumes of ’Sword Drawing Technique’ and ’Sorcery’, were carefully selected. I deleted the useless parts among them and noted extensively on the useful ones, hoping it would aid future cultivators. Of course, this ’Basic Martial Arts’ is my life’s highest achievement—it’s more than just simple martial arts. It also holds my perspectives and insights on cultivation, though not necessarily correct, providing reference for future generations, along with detailed records of my cultivation insights, hoping to benefit fated individuals.
When you hear this, my life has reached its closure and will completely vanish from this world. There will be no trace of me left. I have no last wishes needing fated individuals to accomplish. I only wish for fated people to cherish time and the loved ones around them, leaving no regrets behind. Ultimately, even reaching the pinnacle of cultivation doesn’t guarantee happiness. I hope that after inheriting my legacy and cultivating to a certain realm, fated individuals will also leave these world-originating things for future generations after their demise."
The village chief’s aged voice finally faded completely in Ding Fan’s ears. Ding Fan knew the village chief’s last words had been spoken. In his heart, Ding Fan admired the village chief even more, discerning from his last words that the village chief was a very humble person.
This is evident merely from naming his volume ’Basic Martial Arts’—such a grandmaster creating martial arts chose such a modest title, low-key and reserved, making Ding Fan highly educated. His heart filled with immense respect for the village chief.
Ding Fan especially admired the village chief’s broad-mindedness. Instead of selfishly hoarding the martial arts knowledge he had researched throughout his life, he chose to leave it for the world, hoping that what he had obtained from this world could remain in it, with no selfish desires of his own.
Ding Fan knew that, for any cultivator, this was a difficult thing to achieve. Many powerful cultivators who obtained a precious martial arts book either left it for their families or took it to the grave. Future generations would need to find ancient tombs or trace the descendants of such forebears to uncover their secrets.
Such behavior as demonstrated by the village chief was rare and genuinely moved Ding Fan.
Additionally, the advice from the village chief was very important to Ding Fan. Clearly, the village chief did not want future generations to miss many people and events around them due to blind pursuit of cultivation, ultimately leaving regrets. He hoped the future cultivators wouldn’t focus all their thoughts on cultivation but also follow their hearts.
If Ding Fan didn’t have the experience of a previous life, he might not understand the village chief’s words. But now, Ding Fan understood deeply and acted accordingly. He knew that although this world was one where the strong prey on the weak, the only way to thrive was to reach a certain level of cultivation.
However, people shouldn’t live just for survival; there are many other important things, just as the village chief said. Care for those around you, especially loved ones and friends, and cherish the events around you. Some things, if left undone at the time, will definitely lead to regret later. For Ding Fan, the matter concerning the Great Ocean Sect was such a thing. If he didn’t find a way to get revenge for the Great Ocean Sect, he would surely regret it.
Even if he reached the pinnacle of cultivation, it wouldn’t matter. If he died, how could he face those sect leaders, elders, disciples, brothers, and friends of the Great Ocean Sect who sacrificed their lives for him? Ding Fan wouldn’t be able to face them. He knew that if he didn’t avenge the Great Ocean Sect and rebuild a new one, he would undoubtedly regret it in the future.
Ding Fan calmed himself. The village chief’s last words were fading away, yet Ding Fan felt the village chief’s solitude and loneliness in his final moments. Ding Fan hoped he wouldn’t end up like the village chief. Therefore, he knew he needed not only to improve his own cultivation level but also help improve the cultivation level of those around him.
Currently, by Ding Fan’s side were Ye Ningbing, Zhou Ruoran, Gusu Qingwen, his brother Wang Hu, and the siblings of the Great Ocean Sect, along with his wise younger brother who provided him the opportunity to enter the Xuantian Secret Realm, Long Ren. Of course, Ding Fan knew he didn’t need to worry about Long Ren’s cultivation; his level might not be much lower than his own.
After all, Long Ren was the Lake Master of the Thirty-Six Caverns. Ding Fan believed Long Ren had his unique methods, so he need not worry too much. Moreover, the Thirty-Six Caverns had abundant resources, making it apparent that his brother could elevate his cultivation level with relative ease.
However, Ding Fan felt somewhat anxious about Zhou Ruoran and others. Nonetheless, he knew Zhou Ruoran and others possessed considerable cultivation talent, especially Ruoran. Ding Fan knew her cultivation talent was even better than his own; it’s just that she had been cultivating for a shorter time. Otherwise, her cultivation would likely surpass his.
As for Ningbing, Ding Fan was indeed a bit worried. He had arranged for her to go to the Divine Realm, but he wasn’t sure how she was doing there. However, Ningbing was accompanied by two junior divine warriors, who were no ordinary beings. Ding Fan felt a bit more at ease knowing that Ningbing was under their care.
Ding Fan was still a bit curious if Ningbing had started cultivating spiritually in the Divine Realm. After all, he himself was already a Fourth Grade divine warrior. But even if she hadn’t started spiritual cultivation, it wouldn’t be too difficult to arrange. Ding Fan believed in his ability to help her advance.
Considering he was an Alchemy Master, a Nine Grade Alchemist, such masters were rare and valuable even in the Divine Realm. Moreover, Ding Fan possessed a prescription to open divine veins, although some spiritual materials were not found in the Cultivation World. Ding Fan believed these materials would be available in the Divine Realm, allowing him to refine such a medicine pill. Ningbing’s issue wouldn’t be much of a problem then.
Currently, what worried Ding Fan the most was Qing Wen’s situation.
