Stuck in the early/midgame (and some questions)

[SeraphLance]

I've played through and restarted a few times, and I'm running into a progression issue right around the time I get my first low-tier golden core. I've reached up to about day 150, and I end up at this seemingly insurmountable wall where I can't get any decent materials because they're all in sect territory, and I can't find any elixir or talisman laws to actually develop any of my characters, so I'm just kind of dumpstering myself while my reputation goes up and stronger enemies attack me. I'm trying a restart with the manual perks to at least give me some stat-boosting talismans (though the elixirs are all just temporary boosters it seems).

A few questions if anyone can help:
- Where do I get materials/manuals for permanent stat boosts? I've seen stuff like bane pills at auctions for like a thousand spirit stones a pop, but I'm guessing I'm not supposed to be taking that route since I have to grind out like 50 iron sword artifacts to sell to merchants for a single one.
- Should I be adventuring constantly? Right now I only adventure to go on an auction or respond to an event, but I noticed in my last playthrough that it's not *always* resource collection generic events (which are pretty worthless in the initial available areas) so I'm unsure if they're worth doing. Likewise, for repetition is it just a case of "adventure close, camp far" or is there more to it than that?
- Where do I get more beast blood? I killed the beast that spawns in my territory, but I need a ton of it for the temperature control metals.
- How do I actually advance the story? I went to the Taiyi sect ruins and it mentions a person to investigate, but I haven't actually found the person yet, and I'm guessing I'm not supposed to confront a suspect behind the destruction of the sect directly anyhow. Or do I need to bribe my way into their sect and talk to them after all?
- For feng shui stuff, when should I be pumping the object element vs. pumping the element that begets it? I've been doing the latter for cultivation and just kind of ignoring feng shui for everything else (as I can usually get auspicious just with good materials and room crowdedness).

[Lsprotoss]

Awesome answers! Thanks guys, you are really cultivators beyond our imagination.

[Sirian]

Originally posted by SeraphLance:

I can't get any decent materials because they're all in sect territory

You have to unlock access by gifting something to a sect (any random item will do), and then trade with them. At the bottom of their list of items you can select "access" which costs 200 spirit stones at base rep.

Originally posted by SeraphLance:

- Where do I get more beast blood? I killed the beast that spawns in my territory, but I need a ton of it for the temperature control metals.

If you camp at other locations and then enter, you can usually find 2 beasts per map, from which you'll get beast hide and blood.

[SeraphLance]

Originally posted by Sirian:

You have to unlock access by gifting something to a sect (any random item will do), and then trade with them. At the bottom of their list of items you can select "access" which costs 200 spirit stones at base rep.

I'll try that again next time I get on, but IIRC it said I had to have "common" affiliation with them, and wasn't selectable. Thanks for the info though, I should be able to fumble my way around it knowing that it should be that easy.

[Darx]

how do i go to one the auctions? i have the invitation bought but i cant figure out how to use it or where to go with it

[SeraphLance]

Originally posted by Darx:

how do i go to one the auctions? i have the invitation bought but i cant figure out how to use it or where to go with it

Examine it with someone and it will unlock a place on the map for the auction, as well as tell you when it starts.

[Exothermically Eclectic]

Originally posted by SeraphLance:

Originally posted by Sirian:

You have to unlock access by gifting something to a sect (any random item will do), and then trade with them. At the bottom of their list of items you can select "access" which costs 200 spirit stones at base rep.

I'll try that again next time I get on, but IIRC it said I had to have "common" affiliation with them, and wasn't selectable. Thanks for the info though, I should be able to fumble my way around it knowing that it should be that easy.

Talk to people that visit, find out what the Sect Leaders favourites are, gift those.

[Silberfuchs]

Using spirit stones to craft for example bows (ideally with a craft 60+ outer disciple) is the best way to farm spirit stones from merchants i know about.

Not only can you multiply your spirit stones this way, nope, the ebst thing about it: you onyl need a few of the earned stones to craft even more bows... rinse and repeat.

Other weapons are viable too, but they usually need a mix of materials.

[Halfshell]

I just turn basic materials into timber, blocks, etc. Turning things into clothing barely pays for the fabric used. Making weapons is a bit better since they cost less to make and its a good way of training up a crafter and export it all. Can also grow herbs to turn into pills, alchemy is one of the rare inner disciple tasks you can automate and a good alchemist makes basic pills by the dozens (per batch). It would be nice if you could batch craft artifacts but I guess that would be a bit OP.

Edit: To automate pill crafting click the furnace and change how many pills are being made. Using two furnaces helps productivity.

[NixBoxDone]

A couple of things:
- There's a free Earth Flux in a map you can uncover at Mt. Shou. Send someone to adventure there until you uncover the That item gives you a massive max Qi boost and you can find it on the adventure map of Gemspring cave.
- Red Ginseng and Ganoderma also enhance your max Qi. All three of them have diminishing returns and the diminishing returns of Earth Flux is massive (90 %, so it's almost entirely wasted if you use it on the same disciple again instead of on a new one)
- The beginning laws all have nice passive nodes that will increase your max stats, max qi, qi absorbtion and the like. Copy them into your manual library and you can learn them all so long as your disciple has the minimum cultivation requirement. This is especially useful if you picked one of the special laws to start with (like Myriad Artifact for example) because that means you start with one extra pool of abilities.
- You can get further manuals as random drops from enemy cultivators now and then.
- There are talismans that can further boost your qi replenishment, which will help with the golden body breakthrough because unlike other breakthroughs, that one depends on how much Qi you can suck up in a limited time period.
- It's for that same reason you really want to use medicines and cultivation drugs before doing it, eating a spirit stone and Qi regen pill at the very least.
- Using one life extending drug (some of them are really cheap during auctions/from the merchant) and sacrificing some to boost your stats by 10 % with a bane pill will also help, as one of the stats increases max qi as well.

I did most of those and ended up well over 10k qi in the end. After that it's just a matter of advancing your clan far enough to get access to a Qi cushion (60 qi gathering on the cushion) and surrounding it with a grid of Qi gathering items - this is easiest for fire Laws, as they can use the cheap and plentiful spirit wood for most of those slots and still get a really decent return.

Do the breakthrough at 100 mood, during the right time of day and season and you should get a top class Golden Body out of it.

[SeraphLance]

^ I've gone a ways since posting this that I'm starting to get a good grasp on the game. still haven't gotten a Grade 1 GC (even with a max-statted cultivator for the lulz) but definitely getting there. I think I might need the advanced laws or spirit tree for that extra Qi (still not sure if the spirit trees are worth it yet, I guess I'll find out eventually). I haven't found a reliable way to get early bane pills yet but that's definitely something I plan to abuse for later GCs.

I want to add that you don't have to wait for a qi cushion, and IMO you shouldn't. You can copy the altar of magic from Kunlun, which is a 5x3 cushion with 600 Qi gathering. The amount of space this cushion takes up is far more than worth it, and you can pick it up the moment you're allowed into Kunlun.

[NixBoxDone]

Huh, never heard about that one. Then again I never visited Kunlun map - or is it one of the events during the Kunlun cultivator meet thingy?

[SeraphLance]

Originally posted by NixBoxDone:

Huh, never heard about that one. Then again I never visited Kunlun map - or is it one of the events during the Kunlun cultivator meet thingy?

Nope, just walk in and examine the altar of magic in the main lobby thing of the sect. You can copy a lot of items to add to your build menu this way, but only a few are useful (one of the guides mentions the kunlun gate for farming anguish crystals off mortals, since it's freaking huge and has a lot of slots).

[NixBoxDone]

Ohhh. Nice, that's pretty cool! ^^

[sknnr]

One thing I noticed - you can adventure in their territory without buying access, you just have to give them that initial gift to open up the option to trade. From what it seems, buying access is only for entering their sect not for adventuring. I am not sure if this is a bug or not.

[Halfshell]

Seemed like I had more negative events being in their territory when I didn't have access, such as disciples being attacked. So makes sense that you can sneak into a map they just might retaliate.