80,000 Contribution Points seemed a lot to Fang Hao, until he learned that around a good Foundation Establishment Manual had a cost of around 30,000 contribution points and a Foundation Establishment Pill had a cost of around 12,000 contribution points. Furthermore, a single Foundation Establishment Pill didn't guarantee a breakthrough in cultivation base. Those with average aptitudes usually required at least 2-3 Foundation Establishment Pills. If he wanted to accumulate enough contribution points to buy a Cultivation Manual and a few foundation establishment pills in the safe zone of the sect, it would take him almost a decade!

Even though Fang Hao was promised a Foundation Establishment Cultivation Manual and enough resources to breakthrough by the Great Elder, he decided to save around half of his contribution points for supplementary resources for his Foundation Establishment breakthrough. Buying a few of the better Grade 2 Magic Tools shaved off almost a fourth of his accumulated contribution points. He replaced his present inner armor with a better flexible soft armor which could block dozens of peak Qi Condensation spells or a single early Foundation Establishment Cultivator's attack before getting destroyed. He also upgraded his speed boosting leather boot magic tool for a pair of straw sandals which allowed him to move even faster at the expense of more Qi.

Another purchase was a magic tool which looked like a jute-rope which could be used to bind a single target at range for several breaths of time. It's usage was a bit Qi intensive, but Fang Hao figured it could come in handy for preventing his enemies from running away. Chasing to kill that last straggler was way too annoying sometimes. The last magic tool he shopped for was a ice blue shallow bowl which could rain ice spikes on a target area. If he concentrated the shower area, he could maim and possibly freeze a single target; or hurt multiple weaker targets in a larger area. While the magic tools he purchased weren't the best ones, he felt that they could serve as reasonable distractions ins tricky situations and were overall well rounded.

Another fourth was spent on a variety of powerful Grade 2 consumables and Talismans. Fang Hao was confident that even if he was out of Qi and stamina, with the Grade 2 Consumables alone he could tackle almost any sticky situation involving half a dozen late Qi Condensation Cultivators given that the said cultivators didn't use shitloads of Grade 2 talismans themselves. Fang Hao also bought a couple of new spells. They were Thunder Sparrow and Blood Thorn Whip.

Thunder Sparrow was like the flame snake spell, except that it was of the thunder element and had a chance to stun the target. While the thunder sparrow spell didn't require storm clouds like the Call clouds spell, its potency would be enhanced in stormy weather. The Blood Thorn Whip spell summoned a bloody long tough thorny vine from his hand which he could use to entangle and strangulate someone at mid-range. It was a pretty good spell for a Qi Condensation cultivator, other than the fact that it consumed the Cultivator's blood along with his Qi per cast. This was both its strength and flaw.

A Cultivator with too weak a physique wouldn't dare to use it too frequently in a short duration or risk fainting due to loss of blood. On the other hand, if a cultivator was willing to sacrifice his blood essence, it would greatly empower the spell. The regular version of the spell consumed just some regular blood which Fang Hao didn't care much about, as his Primordial Marrow trait would replenish it quickly enough unless he went full retard and used the blood thorn vine spell dozens of times in succession. While the empowered version of the spell had the potential to be a trump card, it consumed valuable blood essence which was far too difficult to replenish.

If a cultivator depleted too much of his blood essence, his body would be permanently weakened and he would find it very difficult to advance his cultivation. Replenishing blood essence required a length period of seclusion and if the loss was too severe, rare and expensive treasures. Cultivators were reluctant to use up blood essence for spells/magic tools unless driven into a corner. Using up one's blood essence was basically getting a temporary boost in power at the expense of one's foundation. Of Course, Fang Hao wasn't sure how much difficulty he would face replenishing lost blood essence, as he expected his Primordial Marrow Trait to counter it somewhat. But he was in no rush to find out about it any time soon.

He also had a get-together with the fatties from his outer Disciple clique where he shared spirit wine, meat of spirit beasts and gave everyone some Qi Condensation pills to use for their cultivation. He also arranged future get-togethers to be held at least once every couple of months unless they were busy in missions/cultivation. Of-course, with the lure of free spirit wine, meat of spirit beasts and some Qi Condensation pills were more than enough to ensure none of the fatties would miss it.

After his new round of shopping, Fang Hao concentrated on grinding his xp and skills. He would take missions to collect spirit beast carcasses and fight in self defense outside the safe zone for a month or so. He would then spend the next month doing the regular low xp sparring and farming/butchering tasks while diligently grinding his learned spells for farming skill points. In around three and half years, Fang Hao had farmed his Qi and Body Cultivation levels.

He didn't apply himself seriously to the annual tournaments as the rewards weren't lucrative enough to give his all to win. He would put up a show of the fight and give up quickly enough to avoid the limelight. Even in his non-lethal spars and fights, he would avoid using Phantom Aura steps and Aura fists and purposely contain his physical prowess to appear far weaker than he was to hide the fact that no Qi Condensation spell could really harm his body. So he usually gave up on fights if his membrane Barrier dissipated and relied solely on the charging turtle stratagem which wasn't always effective against late Qi Condensation Cultivators who had a greater variety/ higher proficiency with various magic tools and spells.