Talk of Foundation Establishment

"A Foundation Establishment Pill!"

Fang Xi's face also showed longing, but as he watched the people who had gradually gone mad, started buying talismans and magic tools, and rushed out of the market, his heart felt like ice.

Going to the secret realm to seek opportunities meant facing not only the dangers of the secret realm itself, but also fellow cultivators and rogue cultivators.

Before the temptation of Foundation Establishment, familial affection, friendship, and even the master-disciple bond might not withstand the test!

Therefore, he avoided the noisy crowd and slowly walked back to his Spirit Field.

At the same time, he was also thinking about the Foundation Establishment Pill!

Foundation Establishment was difficult. Reaching the perfect stage in basic cultivation techniques before the age of sixty was just the most basic requirement.

In addition to this, there were three major hurdles.

The first hurdle was the Blood Qi Gate! At the time of Foundation Establishment, a cultivator's physique must be strong and their blood qi vigorous, with no hidden injuries. It was commonly believed in the cultivation world that cultivators over sixty, even if they reached the perfect stage of Qi Refining, would find it difficult to establish their foundation due to the decline of their blood qi.

The second hurdle was the Magical Power Gate. Their Magical Power must be sufficiently profound; even a slight deficiency would make it difficult to achieve the requirement of condensing Magical Power into liquid.

The final hurdle was the birth of Spiritual Sense!

Qi Refining cultivators only had their own Spiritual Awareness, which could only be used for internal observation, browsing jade slips, and so on, and could not be projected outward.

Foundation Establishment cultivators possessed Spiritual Sense, which could scan dozens of feet, providing great convenience in both combat and cultivation.

Any pill or item that could be useful for these three major hurdles could be called a Foundation Establishment Spirit Item!

"Ancient cultivators dealt with Foundation Establishment by separately seeking Spirit Items suitable for breaking through the three hurdles. For example, Heaven and Earth Sha Qi could temper a cultivator's physique, and pills that strengthened blood qi could be used to overcome the Blood Qi Gate... The Magical Power Gate was similar. As for the Spiritual Sense hurdle, it was rumored that treasures like the Pure Heart Lotus and Warm Jade Heart were also very effective..."

"But Heaven and Earth Spirit Items were ultimately extremely rare, and many were also effective for Core Formation cultivators, making them too wasteful for Foundation Establishment cultivators..."

"Fortunately, a thousand years ago, the Grandmaster of Alchemy, True Lord Shutong, researched the 'Foundation Establishment Pill' formula. This pill not only stabilized blood qi and meridians but also greatly increased Magical Power and stimulated Spiritual Sense. With one pill, the probability of Foundation Establishment increased by thirty percent, and failure would not result in death from ruptured meridians..."

"It should be known that even for ancient cultivators, Foundation Establishment was a matter of life and death, and besides those heaven-defying Spirit Items, using ordinary Spirit Items only increased the probability of Foundation Establishment by two to three percent..."

"Master Shutong can be considered to have benefited the cultivation world for ten thousand years and is a model of the present surpassing the past... It's a bit jarring to consider figures from a thousand years ago as contemporary..."

Fang Xi's mouth twitched slightly, but he thought that Nascent Soul True Lords lived for over a thousand years, and then it seemed reasonable.

They might not even be dead yet, so why couldn't they be considered modern people?

In the bamboo forest.

Emerald-like bamboo leaves fell one by one, and Fang Xi carefully collected them.

The leaves of the Jade Green Bamboo were not of much use; they just looked pretty and resembled jade. Ordinary Spirit Farmers would discard them directly.

However, Fang Xi could take them to the Great Liang World, where they were more useful than gold leaves.

After all, one still needed Spirit Crystals to exchange for mortal gold and silver in the market!

He inspected his Spirit Field again and came to a green jade bamboo. He chopped down with one palm.

Splat!

A bamboo branch fell. He rubbed it with both hands, peeled off the skin, and revealed the crisp inside – Spirit Rice!

This Jade Bamboo Rice grew in bamboo tubes, harvested in spring after winter storage. It was still very tender now.

Fang Xi picked up a few grains of Spirit Rice, put them in his mouth, and chewed like an old farmer, nodding occasionally, "Sweet to the taste, abundant in spiritual energy, no pests. By next spring, it should be worthy of a 'good' rating."

This was his foundation, and he couldn't be careless.

After inspecting the Spirit Field, Fang Xi suddenly felt interested. He took a deep breath and unleashed a series of palm strikes.

Bang bang!

The next moment, crisp sounds echoed in the air.

In the snowy ground, only palm shadows flew.

Suddenly, Fang Xi changed his palms to kicks. His body moved like a phantom, slithering and tumbling like a snake on the white snow, arriving before a pine tree.

Splat!

He raised his right foot high, then, like a boneless snake, brought it down fiercely.

The bark on the surface of the pine tree cracked, and wood chips flew. A whip mark suddenly appeared!

"Is this... Blood Qi Power?"

After a long while, Fang Xi stopped, exhaling a large mouthful of white mist.

Acting on impulse, he practiced martial arts in the heavy snow and seemed to have grasped the flow of blood qi in his body.

This was the introductory stage of the Great Liang Blood Qi Martial Arts!

As long as he persisted, he would definitely master it completely and enter the realm of Blood Qi Transformation One!

"I'm not some martial arts prodigy, but I easily grasped my blood qi just now..."

Fang Xi murmured, his eyes slightly shining, "It seems... in worlds where spiritual energy is abundant, martial arts progress is faster!"

He looked at his fist, recalling the feeling of grasping his blood qi just now, and became lost in thought again.

'According to Master Mu... beyond the Three Changes of Qi and Blood, there are even stronger realms, which are the level of the various Martial Hall Masters... By the realm of Martial Hall Master, one can completely condense their blood qi, remaining as still as a mountain. Normally, they appear like mortals, but when they move, they are like Demon or Demon, under their complete control. Even in their twilight years, their blood qi will not decay in the slightest, only dispersing their cultivation before death...'

'Doesn't this mean...'

Fang Xi's eyes gradually lit up. "As long as I reach the Martial Hall Master's realm, my Blood Qi will be locked in and won't change until I die... meaning I won't have to worry about the requirement to reach Qi Refining Completion before the age of sixty?"

"In other words, even if I attempt Foundation Establishment at seventy, eighty, or even ninety years old, I won't be held back by insufficient Blood Qi. At least the Blood Qi Gate won't be a problem."

"This Blood Qi Martial Arts is equivalent to at least one-third of a Foundation Establishment Pill!"

"As expected, by mastering the resources of two worlds, exchanging what one has for what one needs, and complementing each other's strengths and weaknesses, as long as I lie low and develop in secret, I will eventually grow!"

A smile curved Fang Xi's lips.

Since his transmigration, he had never felt as confident about his future as he did now!

Shantytown.

Fang Xi was stunned to see that this area was also in disarray.

Even Old Mai Tou solemnly took out a slightly damaged low-grade magic artifact, a flying sword, and left his home.

"Old Mai Tou, where are you going?"

Fang Xi couldn't help but ask.

"To Purple Nether Demonuntain, of course!" Old Mai Tou opened his mouth, revealing a smile with several missing yellow teeth, carrying a hint of ferocity. "Cultivating immortality until old age, one must take a gamble... Do you know that I had an opportunity in my youth, but I backed down? Now, every night, I regret it so much it feels like a hundred claws are scratching my heart..."

Hearing this, Fang Xi knew that there was no point in trying to persuade him. The old man had already thought everything through and wouldn't listen to advice.

But he still couldn't help but add, "Then I wish you success in establishing your foundation..."

Given the man's frail physique, he truly didn't have high hopes for Old Mai Tou.

"Haha... This old man has long given up on the idea of Foundation Establishment, but I have a little grandson in the mortal world. He's very clever, unlike me..."

Old Mai Tou waved his hand and left with a carefree air.

As he departed, it seemed he wanted to forge a good connection for his grandson.

"Old Mai Tou..."

Fang Xi exhaled a puff of white air, watching the snowflakes cover the man's footprints.

He didn't know what opportunity the man had lost in his youth, but it seemed he had been regretting it all these years.

And now, if he didn't take a chance, he would truly wish he were dead.

'If it were me without the golden finger, would I go?'

Fang Xi stood at the doorway, like a sculpture, and asked himself silently.

A mundane life, being at the bottom of the immortal cultivation world, fighting for a slim chance at Foundation Establishment, and soaring in the immortal cultivation world... it didn't seem like a difficult choice?

'No matter. I'll spend these few days cultivating in seclusion.'

He sighed, returned home, and closed the door.

Three days later.

Great Liang World.

Fang Residence.

"Hoo!"

Fang Xi, dressed in a short martial arts outfit, with bare arms, his muscles bulging, veins writhing like earthworms.

"White Cloud Palm!"

Suddenly, he let out a light shout and executed a series of palm strikes, hitting the wooden stake in front of him.

Bang bang!

After a series of dull thuds, shallow marks were left on the wooden stake.

Mu Piaomiao stood by, watching this scene, a hint of astonishment in her beautiful eyes. "This progress... is so fast!"

"Master Mu, how is my palm technique?"

After finishing a set of martial arts, Gui Yue, who was standing nearby, immediately came over to wipe his sweat. Fang Xi handed her a handkerchief and asked casually.

Mu Piaomiao took a deep breath. "Young Master Fang, your talent exceeds my expectations even further. You can already sense Blood Qi from time to time, right? Within about a month, you should be able to fully control your Blood Qi and reach the Blood Qi Transformation One stage without any issues."

"That's good."

Fang Xi smiled.

He had already determined that cultivating Blood Qi Martial Arts in the Southern Wilderness immortal cultivation world seemed to have unique benefits, with a cultivation speed at least three to four times faster than here!

"Is it perhaps due to the difference in the density of spiritual energy in the world?"

Fang Xi already had a vague idea in his mind.

"Once you achieve Blood Qi Transformation One, Young Master Fang can become a formal disciple of our White Cloud Martial Arts School, gaining access to cultivation techniques for the second and third transformation stages, and receive support from secret medicines."

Mu Piaomiao said solemnly.

"Thank you, Master Mu."

Fang Xi nodded, letting Demonon Laurel present the gift.

"This is... too valuable?"

Mu Piaomiao gazed at the jade, shaped like a bamboo leaf in her hand, her eye twitching.

Such fine jade was worth at least dozens of taels of silver. A middle-class family in Black Stone City might not even use that much in a year!

Even Mu Piaomiao couldn't help but think, This disciple is alright; she really gives money when there's a need.

"Please don't dislike it, Master."

Fang Xi smiled brightly.

It was just a leaf I picked up anyway. It's good for boosting favorability.

When She Lei arrived that afternoon, Fang Xi did the same.

However, when She Lei received the emerald green bamboo leaf, Fang Xi still caught a trace of greed and malice in his eyes.

As a cultivator, his senses were far beyond those of ordinary people. Everything this martial artist thought he had hidden well was as transparent as glass to Fang Xi.