"Thank you, Martial Uncle Tian!"
Only after a long while did Li Wan'er rise from the ground. She took the clothes Shui Yue handed her, flashed into the Huanyue Cave Abode to change, then came back out.
"Congratulations on your breakthrough, Wan'er!"
"Thank you, Master, and all my martial uncles. How long was I in seclusion?"
Shui Yue smiled. "Wan'er, two years have passed since the Seven Peaks Martial Arts Tournament."
"Two years? That's not so long!
"This breakthrough has given me much to think about. I'll continue consolidating my cultivation.
"I also need to sort through what I've learned and understand my new realm."
Daoxuan laughed. "Go ahead, Wan'er."
By absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, one could cleanse the marrow, transform the body, and improve one's constitution. At this stage, a cultivator was still little different from an ordinary person: they could absorb and use spiritual energy, but their lifespan remained roughly a hundred years. Spiritual energy was stored throughout the limbs and meridians, then gathered in the dantian's sea of qi. Once the body had been transformed, Li Wan'er named this stage the Qi Refinement realm.
A cultivator absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, gathered it in the dantian's sea of qi, compressed it, and solidified True Essence. The Five Qi and Five Elements nourished the soul, allowing the cultivation of a Yin Spirit. Lifespan rose to around two hundred years. One could use somewhat more complex spells and magical implements, as well as Innate True Fire to refine pills and artifacts. This was Foundation Establishment.
The chief goal of a Foundation Establishment cultivator was to compress the spiritual energy in the dantian's sea of qi until their True Essence was solid enough to condense a Golden Core. Hence the name: the