Achievement of Foundation Establishment

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Within the Cave Dwelling, Lu Xuanji was undergoing a life-and-death tribulation.

After True Qi transformed into True Essence, it became more condensed and far more destructive, relentlessly tearing apart his dantian and Meridians. His dantian was shattering, and so were his Meridians.

Intense agony surged through him. His body was being ripped apart without cease; it felt as though his dantian had been pierced by a sword. His heart hurt, and his body hurt.

Pain existed everywhere in his body, as though he were enduring cruel torture.

Amid the pain, Lu Xuanji circulated his cultivation art, absorbing the spiritual energy outside and transforming it into True Essence to repair his dantian and Meridians.

At the same time, his dantian shattered again, and his Meridians broke apart again.

Thus, his body was endlessly breaking down and endlessly repairing itself, cycling over and over.

Under such excruciating pain, A Voice seemed to say that this was only a dream.

Let go.

Let go.

Why did life hold so much pain? Because one refused to let go.

Learn to let go, and life would become much happier.

Lu Xuanji gritted his teeth, his eyes bloodshot. Drawing a deep breath, he continued circulating his cultivation art. Violent True Essence crashed through his Meridians, while savage pain battered him without end. Every muscle seemed to be tearing apart, as though he were suffering the ten great tortures of the Manchu Qing.

Bang.

At that moment, Lu Xuanji was forcefully knocked unconscious by the pain.

When people suffered intense pain, they would fall unconscious. Unconsciousness was humanity's self-protection mechanism.

While he was unconscious, even without Lu Xuanji's control, his cultivation art continued to operate automatically, endlessly absorbing spiritual energy from the outside. The medicinal power of the thousand-year Nethergrass was being digested, continuously merging into his body, nourishing and repairing his flesh, repairing his dantian and Meridians.

Amid the constant tearing and repairing, his dantian expanded in size, while his Meridians widened.

Time passed. After an unknown amount of time, Lu Xuanji regained consciousness and subconsciously opened his eyes.

Yet the moment he opened his eyes, he felt aching pain throughout his body. He was weak and powerless, as though he had been paralyzed.

At that moment, the spiritual energy outside endlessly nourished his body and repaired his injuries.

"I failed my Foundation Establishment. There are three trials in Foundation Establishment. I only passed the first before falling at the second. I thought I was Long Aotian, but who would have thought I was merely an arrogant fool?" Lu Xuanji said with a bitter smile.

Before attempting Foundation Establishment, Lu Xuanji had possessed inexplicable confidence. Only after truly experiencing it did he realize that he was merely an ordinary man.

"I failed my Foundation Establishment. I can only try again next time..."

"Wait. It seems I never took a Foundation Establishment Pill. Failing Foundation Establishment without one means certain death. But I failed... so why am I still alive?"

"Could it be that I succeeded in Foundation Establishment?"

Even Lu Xuanji could not tell whether he had succeeded or failed.

So he pulled the rope beside his bed.

As the rope moved, a bell rang.

A moment later, the stone door of the Cave Mansion opened. Sorrow flashed through Ye Feixue's eyes, while the Great Elder wore a grave expression, his gaze filled with worry.

But upon seeing Lu Xuanji's condition, he burst into laughter. "Congratulations! You succeeded in Foundation Establishment without a Foundation Establishment Pill."

"That can't be right. When I was facing the Physical Body Tribulation, I was also knocked unconscious by the pain... Doesn't that count as failure in Foundation Establishment?"

Lu Xuanji said.

"No, no. You succeeded."

The Great Elder said, "Sometimes, passing out from pain is a good thing. Aren't you curious why no cultivator ever describes their experience of Foundation Establishment?"

Only then did Lu Xuanji realize something was amiss.

He had read many books of all kinds, covering every conceivable subject, yet none recorded cultivators' experiences of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

At the time, he had assumed the books were incomplete. Now, however, it seemed that was not the case.

There was a great secret hidden within.

The Great Elder said, "Breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm is too painful. No one wishes to recall such suffering. Besides, sometimes ignorance is bliss—at least one dares to challenge the unknown. But if one knows too much, fear takes root in the heart, and one no longer dares to challenge hardship."

"The books only mention the three tribulations of Foundation Establishment, without any detailed descriptions. I can tell you a little about them..."

He drove Ye Feixue out.

It was better not to speak of such things before a girl. Too much talk would easily frighten her.

After Ye Feixue left,

the Great Elder explained some secrets. "The three tribulations of Foundation Establishment are the True Essence Tribulation, the Physical Body Tribulation, and the Spiritual Sense Tribulation. The first step is to compress True Qi, compressing nine True Qi Vortexes into True Essence. This step is extremely difficult; ninety percent of cultivators fall at this stage. If they fail to compress their True Qi, it explodes within their dantian, shattering it and killing them on the spot."

"If one takes a Foundation Establishment Pill, it can make True Qi gentler and reduce its violent nature. Compressing True Qi then becomes relatively easier, increasing the chance of success by another ten percent."

"The second tribulation is the Physical Body Tribulation. As True Qi is compressed into True Essence, the Meridians and dantian cannot withstand the pressure of the True Essence and directly rupture. Yet at the same time, the True Essence repairs the Meridians and dantian. In this process of breaking and rebuilding, if one cannot hold on, the dantian and Meridians will rupture completely, resulting in instant death. But if one endures, the dantian expands, and the Meridians become broader and tougher."

"If one takes a Foundation Establishment Pill, its medicinal power can reduce some of the body's pain, increasing the chance of success by another ten percent."

"The third tribulation is the Spiritual Sense Tribulation. True Qi has transformed into True Essence, and the dantian has expanded, but one is still not a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Further transformation is needed: the divine soul undergoes a slight metamorphosis, allowing the cultivation art to operate automatically without deliberate guidance, with Unceasing Growth, transforming spiritual energy into True Essence."

"If one takes a Foundation Establishment Pill, its medicinal power enters the body and temporarily makes the body compatible with spiritual energy, maintaining a state of Unceasing Growth. If, after the medicinal power dissipates, the cultivation art still operates automatically and absorbs spiritual energy from outside, one has entered the Foundation Establishment Realm. If, after the medicinal power dissipates, the cultivation art stops operating and stops absorbing spiritual energy from outside, then Foundation Establishment has failed."

"The third step is also the hardest."

"But I fell at the second step, under the Physical Body Tribulation, and was forced unconscious." Lu Xuanji said ashamedly.

"It is not only you. Out of a hundred cultivators, ninety-nine will pass out directly from the agony." The Great Elder sighed. "The remaining one does not pass out under the agony, but is instead painfully killed alive."

Lu Xuanji: "..."

The Great Elder said, "You passed out from pain, but while unconscious, your cultivation art operated automatically, with Unceasing Growth, constantly absorbing spiritual energy from outside and transforming it into True Essence. Thus, you naturally passed the second and third trials as well."

A moment later, the Great Elder departed.

Lu Xuanji remained in seclusion, comprehending the mysteries of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Circulating the "Azure Lotus Creation Art," he immediately drew streams of spiritual energy into his body like whirlpools, into his Meridians. Part of the spiritual energy was refined and settled in his dantian, becoming True Essence; another part was refined, nourishing his body and becoming the foundation of longevity.

His cultivation art operated without rest. Even when he stopped actively cultivating, spiritual energy continued to flow into his body and be refined.

If he actively circulated his cultivation art, his cultivation speed became even faster, and he absorbed spiritual energy even more quickly—ten times faster than during the Qi Refining stage.

Too fast. This was the terror of the Foundation Establishment Realm.