Foundation Establishment

Jiang Ping An was utterly stunned. He had merely taken a breath, yet he had already touched the barrier of the next realm.

This pill was even more precious than he had imagined.

Holding it in his hand, he saw seven-colored light flickering across its surface. Though he did not recognize the pill, he knew full well how valuable it was.

He quietly took out the Bronze Treasure Accumulation Basin and carefully placed the pill inside.

"I wonder if a high-grade pill like this can be replicated."

Jiang Ping An held his breath nervously.

He had replicated Foundation Establishment Pills and Realm Breaking Pills before, but those pills were not particularly precious.

This strange Seven-Colored Pill was different. Its value was far beyond comparison with those pills.

Just as Jiang Ping An worried, dazzling seven-colored light illuminated the entire room.

Because of the barrier, the light did not spread outside.

Jiang Ping An was overjoyed. Enduring the blinding radiance, he looked into the Bronze Basin.

Pills had appeared!

However, there were not ten of them, but five.

Jiang Ping An froze. This was the first time such a thing had happened.

It had always replicated ten before, but this time there were only five.

The Bronze Basin truly had limits. It could not endlessly replicate resources tenfold.

When replicating something so valuable, this was likely what happened.

Jiang Ping An was a little disappointed. Five pills a day felt somewhat too few.

Fortunately, no one knew what he was thinking. Otherwise, countless cultivators would surely have wanted to smash his head in.

How many families had paid astronomical prices and still failed to find even one? Yet he was getting five a day and still complaining.

Jiang Ping An put away the five pills. Including Meng Jing's, he had six in total.

"I hope this can improve my talent a little."

Jiang Ping An did not hope to become something like a Divine Phoenix Body or Myriad Gold Body. As long as he could cultivate a little faster, that would be enough.

He swallowed a Seven-Colored Pill and began to refine it.

At that instant, a stream of energy rapidly poured into his limbs and bones, while seven-colored radiance burst from his seven orifices.

Jiang Ping An felt as though he had floated into the clouds. His body was light as air, and he had never felt so comfortable.

Crack!

The sound of a chain shattering came from within his body.

Without even using a Foundation Establishment Pill, he had directly entered Foundation Establishment!

The spiritual energy in his body transformed into Spirit Liquid, one of the most obvious changes of Foundation Establishment.

Once spiritual energy became Spirit Liquid, the energy his body could store increased.

The surrounding energy madly converged into Jiang Ping An's body, like water flowing into a great pit the moment one appeared.

Worried that it would affect his breakthrough, Jiang Ping An tossed out ten thousand spirit stones and swallowed an Essence Nourishing Pill.

Meanwhile, on the mountain peak.

A defeated genius descended despondently from the twenty-ninth level and went to the thirtieth level to find a room to rest.

This genius had been famous in his homeland as well, but here, he could only be reduced to the very bottom.

"They're too strong. I simply can't beat them. But I won't give up. I'll definitely keep charging upward!"

The youth's heart was still filled with fighting spirit.

Just as he was preparing to restore his spiritual energy, he discovered that the spiritual energy around him was extremely thin.

"What's going on? Why is there so little spiritual energy on the thirtieth level? It's not even as rich as the energy outside."

He was not the only one. The others who had come down to the thirtieth level also discovered that the energy there was unusually scarce.

"The Princess must have deliberately made the spiritual energy on the thirtieth level so thin in order to encourage everyone to cultivate diligently."

"I'll definitely charge to a higher level of the mountain!"

No one suspected that the spiritual energy had been absorbed by someone, because how could a genius with such ability possibly be on the thirtieth level?

Three days later, the effects of the pill that improved his talent faded.

Jiang Ping An slowly opened his eyes. The ten thousand spirit stones before him had been completely drained and shattered into crystal fragments.

Jiang Ping An was secretly alarmed. Had he broken through to Foundation Establishment, or to the Golden Core Realm?

Wasn't the consumption of spiritual energy a little too terrifying?

Still, he was happy that he had successfully entered Foundation Establishment.

He tried activating the Overlord Body Art. Sure enough, the Overlord Body Art circulated more than ten times faster than before!

The pill Meng Jing had given him truly was extraordinary.

No wonder the Treasure Accumulation Basin could only replicate five of them.

What Jiang Ping An did not know was that the Heavenly Profound Pill had improved far more than just that.

Jiang Ping An suppressed the joy in his heart and forced himself to calm down.

Though he had entered Foundation Establishment, the gap between him and the other geniuses was still enormous.

Defeating those geniuses would not be easy. He also needed to learn techniques.

There were several main reasons why those geniuses were so powerful.

First, they cultivated quickly, breaking through as easily as drinking water.

Second, they possessed abundant spiritual energy. The better one's talent, the greater the energy storage within the body, allowing them to unleash techniques at will without worrying about waste.

Third, they possessed special innate abilities. For example, a Thunder Spirit Body could summon lightning.

Fourth, they had mastered extremely powerful spells.

Jiang Ping An only possessed one of these advantages: abundant energy within his body.

He did not dare say much else, but when it came to the amount of energy within his body, he was confident that he could compete with the Divine Phoenix Body standing at the very top of the mountain.

As for everything else, he was far inferior to that person.

In terms of cultivation speed and special innate talents, he might not be able to match those geniuses. Those things were inborn.

But in the area of spells, he could try to catch up.

He would start cultivating the Limitless Fist later. First, he needed to eat.

He had not eaten for three days and was a little hungry.

Jiang Ping An emerged from his room and looked toward the mountain. The battles above were no longer as fierce as they had been at the beginning.

The rankings had mostly stabilized, with only scattered battles still taking place on a few levels.

Jiang Ping An raised his head and searched for Meng Jing.

In the end, he spotted her on the twenty-fifth level.

At that moment, she was fighting someone.

"You despicable bastard!"

Though he did not know what had happened, Meng Jing cursed furiously as she swung the Blue Flower Saber in her hand.

"Miss Meng, you can't put it that way. The rules allow people on lower levels to challenge those on higher levels."

Although Ma Wei's body was quite round, he was exceptionally nimble. Even Meng Jing's swift saber could not catch up to him.

Bang!

Ma Wei swung his sword, and more than a dozen sword shadows appeared.

Meng Jing's expression changed. She decisively retreated, leaping down to the next level.

"So weak. A Thunder Spirit Body, but nothing more than that."

Ma Wei sheathed his sword and mocked her without restraint.

Meng Jing wanted to retort, but when she saw Jiang Ping An below the mountain, she flashed down from above.

"I'm furious. Come on, let's go eat."

Meng Jing gritted her teeth, visibly enraged.

"What happened?"

Jiang Ping An asked in confusion. He could tell that Meng Jing was not angry because she had been defeated.

"Isn't it that fat man from the Vast Mist Sect? He clearly has the strength to be in the top ten levels, yet he deliberately stayed below and challenged me, knocking me down so I can't climb up."

Because Ma Wei was blocking her way and deliberately refusing to let Meng Jing advance, she had no way to continue upward.

The higher one climbed, the more resources one received. With him blocking the way, she could not obtain more cultivation resources.

What she feared most was failing to secure a place in the top ten in the end.

Jiang Ping An frowned tightly and looked up at Ma Wei.

Ma Wei was targeting Meng Jing like this because Jiang Ping An had offended him.

Ma Wei noticed Jiang Ping An's gaze and shouted loudly.

"What are you looking at? If you're not convinced, come challenge me. Oh, right, I remember now. Trash like you isn't even qualified to come up and challenge me. Hahaha!"

His laughter was loud, drawing the attention of many geniuses.

"This guy actually dared to offend a disciple of the Vast Mist Sect. There must be something wrong with his head."

"How pitiful. If he can't climb up, he'll get fewer resources. With fewer resources, his cultivation will slow down."

"Don't talk to that Jiang Ping An, or Ma Wei might hold a grudge against you."

"Who would talk to someone who has been stuck on the thirtieth level the whole time?"

Some gloated over his misfortune, some secretly sighed, but even more focused on their cultivation and paid no attention to such a trivial matter.

"You..."

Meng Jing was so furious that she was about to rush up, but Jiang Ping An grabbed her and pulled her into the room.