Foundation Establishment

After Fang Xiao returned to the encampment, Linyuan City had already sent someone over with the Spirit Stones for purchasing the demon beast materials and Demon Souls. There were a full 180,000 Spirit Stones. He was quite satisfied with the price.

After seeing off Linyuan City's representative, he reported to the Outer Court that he would be entering seclusion. Once back at his residence, he sealed the formation and officially began his closed-door cultivation.

The Meridian Protection Pills he had bought from the Myriad Treasures Pavilion this time—twenty first-grade pills and three Second Grade Meridian Protection Pills—were more than enough to last him until he broke through to Foundation Establishment.

As for the Monkey Wine he had obtained, it should have been mid-grade Spirit Wine. As a Spirit Wine Master, he naturally coveted such Spirit Wine greatly and wanted to reverse-engineer its Spirit Wine Recipe.

After studying it himself, he found that the required spirit fruits and spirit herbs were easy enough to deduce; they merely needed to be aged. Yet there was one strange force within it that he had never seen before, serving as a balancing medium. He concluded that it was likely a unique power belonging to Vajra Apes. Looking at the Vajra Young Ape sleeping inside the Spirit Beast Bag, he decided that once he broke through to Foundation Establishment, he would place a restriction on it and raise it as a spirit beast.

Having settled these thoughts, he reined in his mind and devoted himself wholly to cultivation. Sitting cross-legged upon the Meditation Cushion, he arranged the various Spirit Wines and pills before him one by one.

After swallowing a Meridian Protection Pill, Fang Xiao directly grabbed the Monkey Wine and took a small sip. He then began circulating his cultivation method and closed his eyes for Inner Vision. The pill and Spirit Wine took effect almost simultaneously. Spiritual energy surged through his meridians and into every part of his body like floodwaters bursting through opened gates. Before long, the meridians throughout his body slowly swelled like inflated balloons. He ignored it all and focused solely on circulating his cultivation method to refine the spiritual energy.

After some time, when he noticed the raging spiritual energy within him beginning to subside, he picked up the gourd of Azure Origin Wine before him and drank deeply from it. Even that was not enough; he poured out a Qi Condensation Pill and swallowed it.

The spiritual energy produced by the Monkey Wine had forcibly expanded his meridians severalfold, sustained entirely by the Meridian Protection Pill. Once that spiritual energy faded, the Spirit Wines and pills he normally used could flow through his meridians without the slightest obstruction, as though they had entered a four-lane highway. In theory, as long as he could refine spiritual energy quickly enough, he could now swallow pills like mad.

Though he had to endure the pain of his meridians tearing each time, Fang Xiao had become somewhat addicted to the sensation of racing at high speed as his cultivation soared. It truly was pain and pleasure intertwined.

There was no sense of time in cultivation. Fang Xiao felt that five months had passed in the blink of an eye. Perhaps once his cultivation realm grew higher, entering seclusion for years, decades, or even centuries at a time would become ordinary. Perhaps a single period of seclusion would end with all his loved ones already gone, leaving him with a sudden sense of melancholy and loss.

After a long while, he suddenly awakened. Was this not the way of cultivation? If he wished to stand above the nine heavens, he had to endure the solitude of walking this road alone. He only needed to cherish the present.

Having stepped beyond the obstacle in his heart, it was as if the mist before him had been swept away. His eyes were now exceptionally bright, and his state of mind had improved. The dust upon his Sword Heart had been wiped away; the sword body was like a bright mirror, reflecting himself completely, while sword light swept through and severed every stray thought.

This reminded him of what was written in the Sword Cultivator's Insights: a Sword Cultivator must not only practice sword techniques and understand Sword Principle, but also regularly polish their Sword Heart. Only with a clear and unstained Sword Heart could one preserve the Dao Heart.

His cultivation had now astonishingly reached the Qi Refining Peak. The vast spiritual energy within his Dantian intertwined and spun, already showing signs of liquefying.

Foundation Establishment was the forging of one's foundation for the Great Dao. One had to temper one's essence, energy, and spirit to the utmost limit of the Qi Condensation Stage, then seize the opportunity of breaking through the Foundation Establishment bottleneck to bring about a qualitative transformation, thereby forging one's own foundation and completing the metamorphosis of life.

The Cultivation World had always referred to the three requirements of essence, energy, and spirit as the Three Passes of Foundation Establishment: spiritual power liquefaction, the outward release of Spiritual Sense, and cleansing the meridians and marrow.

The quality and quantity of Fang Xiao's spiritual power had long surpassed the standards of an ordinary Qi Condensation Stage cultivator and already showed signs of liquefaction. When the time came to break through the bottleneck, he would only need the immense spiritual energy of a Foundation Establishment Pill to give his spiritual power a tonic; liquefaction would follow as naturally as water flowing into a channel.

As for Spiritual Sense, only by reaching the level of outward release could one control liquefied spiritual power. The Upper Elixir Condensing Spirit Refining Method was originally a top-tier spirit-refining method. In addition, his soul had continuously been tempered through the special effects of the Soul Nurturing Gourd. When he broke through to the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, he had already been able to release his Spiritual Sense fifteen meters outward. One had to know that even at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage, Spiritual Sense could only be released one to fifty meters outward. He had already passed this hurdle.

Lastly came cleansing the meridians and marrow. Its purpose was to transform the physical body so that it could withstand more powerful liquid spiritual energy. At its root, it still came down to the meridians. The strength of Fang Xiao's meridians was absolutely already above that of someone at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage. Yet he clearly understood that, with the intensity of his spiritual power at present, his meridians had only been passively improving all along. Liquefied spiritual energy would be stronger still, and his meridians absolutely would not be able to bear it. This was why he had prepared Second Grade Meridian Protection Pills.

There were also rumors that one's state of mind was extremely important during Foundation Establishment. Yet his state of mind had just improved; it was now clear and pure, while his cultivation was stable to the extreme. If he did not establish his foundation now, he could not imagine a more suitable time.

With this thought, Fang Xiao closed his eyes and steadied his mind, adjusting himself. Memories of his time on Blue Star, as well as everything since he had transmigrated to the Taichang Realm, flashed through his mind one scene at a time before finally returning to stillness.

He suddenly opened his eyes. The moment had come. He poured the Foundation Establishment Pill granted by the sect into his palm. The spiritual energy dispersing into the air grew ever denser, while the spiritual power within his body seemed to sense something and became restless, as though it desperately craved the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Without further delay, he swallowed the Foundation Establishment Pill in one gulp, immediately circulated his cultivation method, and began refining it.

As he refined it, the Foundation Establishment bottleneck gradually revealed itself. At that very moment, the first drop of liquid spiritual energy appeared within Fang Xiao's Dantian. As if triggering a chain reaction, liquid spiritual energy began to gather rapidly, hanging within his Dantian like raindrops. He had actually completed spiritual power liquefaction before breaking through.

The moment he saw this, he knew he could not delay. He swiftly seized a crystal box before him. Inside was precisely a Second Grade Meridian Protection Pill, which he quickly swallowed. A sensation entirely different from that of a first-grade Meridian Protection Pill immediately rose within him. The meridians suffused with its medicinal power were like the tendons of a demon beast—no matter how they were torn and pulled, they remained tough as ever.

The medicinal effect would not last long. He immediately circulated his cultivation method, using Spiritual Sense to guide the liquefied spiritual energy into his meridians. Wherever the silver-white spiritual energy passed, his meridians felt as though they were being scraped by sword blades. Though the pain was excruciating, the Second Grade Meridian Protection Pill's effects were powerful enough that his meridians were not injured.

The spiritual energy completed cycle after cycle, moving faster and faster. Pain twisted Fang Xiao's face into a grimace, sweat drenched his entire body, and he felt as though he could crush his molars to pieces.

At this point, he felt it was about time. Using his Spiritual Sense, he condensed more than a dozen droplets of liquid spiritual energy into the shape of a sword. The bottleneck lay within arm's reach. At the instant of collision, he seemed to hear something shatter inside his body, yet it also seemed as though something was reforming.

The instant the spiritual energy shattered the bottleneck, its remaining force had yet to fade. The meridian at that point was pierced until it bulged outward entirely. His face instantly turned deathly pale, and the pain nearly made him pass out. Fortunately, he endured through sheer willpower. The remaining medicinal effect of the Meridian Protection Pill began gathering there, forcing back the out-of-control spiritual energy. After steadying himself, he immediately used his Spiritual Sense to guide the spiritual energy back into his Dantian.

It had been a close call, but no danger came of it. Now that the bottleneck had shattered, there were no further obstacles. A silver flame quietly formed within his Dantian—the True Fire possessed only by Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators. From this moment onward, Fang Xiao had officially become a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.