Foundation Establishment, Storms in the Dark Night

Watching Gu An suppress Meng Lang with a single leg, Xiao Chuan, Lu Jiujia, and Ye Lan were incredibly pumped.

Usually, Meng Lang always bragged about being the strongest in Medicine Valley, so no one expected him to lose control today and be forced to his knees by a single kick from their senior brother!

No wonder the senior brother isn't Meng Lang!

Master has a discerning eye!

Gu An looked down at Meng Lang, who was kneeling before him, and said, "Are you not waking up yet?"

His spiritual power flowed through his right leg into Meng Lang's body, forcibly smoothing out the chaotic spiritual energy within him.

Meng Lang's breathing gradually steadied, the bloodshot veins in his eyes began to fade, and his ferocious expression slowly returned to normal.

Seeing him wake up, Gu An slowly withdrew his leg and then helped him up.

Meng Lang jolted awake, looking up at Gu An while gasping for air.

"Gu An... I... what just happened?" Meng Lang asked with difficulty, his internal energy in such turmoil that speaking was a struggle.

Gu An replied, "It seems you suffered a qi deviation."

Upon hearing this, Meng Lang's eyes widened as he asked, "I didn't hurt any of you, did I?"

The expressions of Xiao Chuan and Lu Jiujia turned strange in an instant.

Ye Lan instinctively wanted to answer, but Gu An stepped in and spoke firmly, "It's fine, you restrained yourself at the critical moment."

Meng Lang couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief, forcing a smile as he said, "That's right... I am the true senior brother, how could I ever hurt you all..."

Ye Lan looked at Gu An, her eyes filled with adoration.

The senior brother is not only powerful but also so gentle!

Xiao Chuan and Lu Jiujia felt the same way, while simultaneously feeling disdain for Meng Lang.

Talk is cheap; he looked like a demon just a moment ago!

Gu An dismissed the three of them and helped Meng Lang back to his room.

"What kind of technique are you practicing? It's too wicked," Gu An asked. Although he had a poor opinion of Meng Lang, they lived together day and night, and if possible, he still hoped Meng Lang would be safe and sound.

Meng Lang chuckled, "It's a divine technique, naturally... It's just that my aptitude and comprehension are lacking, making it easy to go astray. But I have no choice; I must become an outer sect disciple..."

Gu An asked in confusion, "Why must you become an outer sect disciple? Didn't you say you didn't care before?"

Meng Lang's face darkened instantly, and he fell into silence.

Seeing that he didn't want to talk, Gu An didn't press the issue. After helping him onto the bed, Gu An turned and left.

To Gu An, this incident was just a minor interlude. He couldn't control the fate of others; everyone had their own pursuits, and if they died on the path of immortality, it wouldn't be a pity.

Returning to the courtyard, Gu An continued to practice the Eight Directions Step.

Winter passed and spring returned, bringing another year of beautiful scenery.

In the early morning, with ice and snow still lingering in Medicine Valley, Gu An led his junior brothers and sister up the mountain.

"Chopping trees and pulling roots is also a form of cultivation. You can use your own spiritual power to do it, and once your power is exhausted, you can cultivate to recover it; this helps improve your cultivation base."

Gu An, dressed in green robes, stood in the forest and smiled softly, his hands clasped behind his back, exuding the demeanor of an expert.

That day, he had subdued the qi-deviated Meng Lang with a single leg, successfully establishing his image as an expert in the hearts of his junior siblings.

Gu An even felt that his junior sister was starting to have other ideas about him, clinging to him more and more. Fortunately, he guided Ye Lan to focus on her cultivation in time, successfully diverting her attention.

How can one talk of romance while seeking immortality?

In this life, Gu An didn't want to fall into a whirlpool of emotion too early; that would only lead to losing his way.

Xiao Chuan turned back and asked, "Senior brother, should we use our hands or our legs?"

Gu An maintained his smile and said, "Use whatever is convenient. Cultivation is one aspect, but completing the task is another; you must find the right direction."

Is this how Zhang Chunqiu felt in the past?

Spouting nonsense is quite satisfying!

"Junior Brother Xiao Chuan, let's race to see who is faster!" Lu Jiujia said, rubbing his palms together.

Xiao Chuan agreed immediately, and Ye Lan also clamored to join, though she was ignored by the two; they didn't like competing against girls.

Gu An watched them pull up trees while planning the new garden area.

What kind of medicinal herbs should be planted on this hillside?

Gu An fell into deep thought.

Although the three of them were cultivators, their cultivation levels were low, and it took them half a day to clear a patch of land. Gu An brought out the seeds of the third-grade herb, the Soul Shaking Herb, and had them plant them.

After finishing, the senior brothers and sister headed down the mountain together, chatting and laughing. As the sun set, their shadows stretched long across the hillside.

Gu An asked his junior siblings about their goals, and all three aimed to enter the outer sect, though their motivations differed.

Xiao Chuan simply wanted to become stronger, Lu Jiujia wanted to prove himself to his family, and Ye Lan seemed to have some unspeakable secret, speaking vaguely.

Gu An listened with great interest, believing that everyone should have their own story.

Listening to the stories of different people also helped enrich his own life.

A month had passed since the Soul Shaking Herb was planted, and on this day, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse.

Gu An sat cross-legged on his bed inside his room, staring at his attribute panel while lost in hesitation.

[Name: Gu An]

[Lifespan: 20/3163]

[Spirit Root: First-class Wood Spirit Root, four other decent Spirit Roots (Can invest lifespan to evolve cultivation)]

[Cultivation: 9th Level of Qi Refining (Can invest lifespan to evolve cultivation)]

[Techniques: Fire Control Art (Not mastered), Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique (Mastered), Dragon Force Divine Origin Technique (Mastered), Alchemy (Beginner) (Can invest lifespan to evolve cultivation)]

[Ultimate Arts: Gale Absolute Shadow Leg (Proficient), Li Family Seven Swords (Not mastered), Eight Directions Step (Not mastered) (Can invest lifespan to evolve cultivation)]

Should he invest his lifespan to push for a breakthrough in his cultivation realm?

Cheng Xuandan possessed the ability to refine Foundation Establishment Pill, and since he had been treating Gu An so well lately, perhaps he could seek a pill from him.

However, Meng Lang's strange behavior made Gu An wary of Cheng Xuandan.

Meng Lang had no prominent background; if he possessed a divine technique, he could have practiced it long ago. Why did he wait until Li Ya and Zhang Chunqiu had left before he started practicing?

With Gu An's current senses, he could be certain that Meng Lang had not come into contact with any strangers over the past two years, at most being summoned by Cheng Xuandan. As for the conversations between those two, he didn't bother eavesdropping every single time.

Forget it.

Better to rely on oneself than others; it's safer that way!

On the path of immortality, the slightest carelessness could lead to being smashed to pieces!

Gu An immediately invested one year of his lifespan into his cultivation to evolve his practice.

[Special Reminder: Cultivation is a physical reality. The evolution process turns the illusory into the real, and its consumption will exceed the lifespan used in actual practice.]

[You focused on absorbing Qi and practicing for one year. Because you lack a Foundation Establishment Pill and the necessary opportunity, you failed to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm.]

Two lines of prompts appeared before Gu An's eyes. Because the breakthrough failed, his cultivation did not increase.

Gu An's expression remained unchanged, and he continued to invest year by year.

Failure, failure, failure...

After nine consecutive attempts, he could no longer keep his composure.

Damn it!

I don't believe this!

Invest one hundred years!

Fired up with frustration, Gu An directly invested one hundred years of his lifespan into his cultivation for evolution.

[You absorbed Qi and practiced for ten years. You forcibly attempted to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm with your deep mastery of the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique, but ultimately failed.]

[You absorbed Qi and practiced for twenty years. You forcibly attempted to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm with your deep mastery of the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique, and ultimately succeeded.]

[You absorbed Qi and practiced for thirty years. Your cultivation broke through to the 2nd Level of Foundation Establishment.]

[You absorbed Qi and practiced for fifty years. Your cultivation broke through to the 3rd Level of Foundation Establishment.]

[You absorbed Qi and practiced for seventy years. Your cultivation broke through to the 4th Level of Foundation Establishment.]

[You absorbed Qi and practiced for one hundred years. Your cultivation broke through to the 5th Level of Foundation Establishment.]

Lines of prompts flashed frantically before Gu An's eyes.

He didn't even have time to be happy before he realized something was wrong. Breaking through so many levels at once—how much of a commotion would that cause?

The moment this thought crossed his mind, his body began to heat up, and the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique started running automatically. He hurriedly stood up and leaped out of the open window.

His footsteps were extremely fast and silent. In less than three breaths, he rushed into the mountain forest, his feet kicking against the cliff face like a monkey as he quickly climbed to the summit. By then, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was already surging toward him.

He took a leap and plunged into the dim woods. His right foot stepped onto a branch, using the momentum to vault upward, and after a few more leaps, he landed easily.

Spiritual energy poured into his body frantically, causing a vortex to form around him.

The speed at which he absorbed the spiritual energy grew faster and faster, leaving him secretly terrified. Fortunately, his reaction had been quick; if he had broken through in the Medicine Valley, he would have surely disturbed the others.

Cheng Xuandan and Meng Lang might not have dared to come out, but those two blockheads, Xiao Chuan and Lu Jiujia, definitely would have.

Gu An thought to himself while sprinting forward, as fast as a spirit fox. Under the cover of night, the forest swayed, emitting a rustling sound.

Relying on the Gale Absolute Shadow Leg, Gu An's running speed was incredibly fast, crossing mountains and ridges along the way.

He was getting further and further away from the Medicine Valley.

Before he could even stop, his cultivation realm began to break through again. The spiritual energy violently surged through his meridians while simultaneously transforming his dantian.

It hurts!

Gu An frowned, but his pace did not slow down.

After sprinting wildly for over ten miles, he finally stopped in a patch of forest and sat cross-legged under a tree to circulate his energy.

He circulated his energy while sighing with emotion.

He hadn't expected that a hundred years of lifespan would allow him to break through from the ninth level of the Qi Refining realm to the fifth level of the Foundation Establishment realm.

It seemed the stolen lifespan was truly effective; of course, the main reason he could break through so quickly was his mastery of the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique.

If he were to invest a thousand years of lifespan, he wondered if he could reach the Golden Core realm in one go, or perhaps even touch the Nascent Soul realm?

Gu An fell into endless daydreams.

As he absorbed more and more spiritual energy from heaven and earth, the mountain forest seemed to be caught in a gale, shaking violently as leaves fell in droves, appearing like the clawing limbs of demons and monsters under the cover of night.

This commotion is a bit exaggerated...

Gu An secretly lamented; the drawback of using lifespan to evolve his cultivation had appeared, as such a large disturbance was bound to attract trouble.

After the evolution, his cultivation didn't just grow out of thin air; instead, it compressed all the required spiritual energy into a single window of time to facilitate a rapid breakthrough.

If the jump from the ninth level of Qi Refining to the fifth level of Foundation Establishment caused such a stir, wouldn't his breakthrough from the Golden Core realm to the Nascent Soul realm be earth-shattering?

If he were to attract other cultivators during the breakthrough process, it would be disastrous.

Gu An was accustomed to considering the worst-case scenario.

No!

He would have to be even more careful in the future!

Gu An decided that from now on, he would only invest one year of lifespan into his cultivation each day, progressing step by step.

Time passed rapidly; under the night sky, the wind howled, Gu An's robes billowed and snapped, and the spiritual power within his body grew swiftly.

After a while, his aura changed abruptly.

Foundation Establishment successful!

His dantian underwent a transformation, generating spiritual power at a much faster rate while simultaneously stimulating his bones and marrow to grow stronger.

It wasn't over yet!

His cultivation continued to soar, with rolling dust and grass clippings swirling around him, creating a massive spectacle.

Foundation Establishment second level!

Foundation Establishment third level!

Foundation Establishment fourth level!

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