The more Su Yun thought about it, the more excited he became, and his gaze grew increasingly resolute.
There were still more than two months until the sect tournament.
For others, that might be far too short—not even enough time to break through half a level.
But for him, reaching the ninth Qi Refining level would be a piece of cake.
Even rushing straight to the tenth level in one go would pose no problem.
In the world of cultivation, the ninth Qi Refining level was the threshold for breaking through to Foundation Establishment.
The vast majority of cultivators began preparing for Foundation Establishment as soon as they reached the ninth level.
They searched for spirit medicines, refined Foundation Establishment Pills, and went into seclusion to break through.
Very few were willing to keep piling on more levels.
Qi Refining did not stop at nine levels.
Beyond the ninth were the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth.
The thirteenth level was the pinnacle of Qi Refining.
It meant tempering the body, meridians, dantian, and soul to their utmost, bringing them all to complete perfection.
Then one could break through to Foundation Establishment in the most perfect, most complete state.
The Dao Foundation laid down that way was incomparably solid and profound.
The steadier the foundation built in the early stages, the higher one's cultivation ceiling would be later, the stronger one's bursts of power, and the greater one's advantage in fights against opponents of the same level.
If two people had both reached Foundation Establishment, but one had broken through from the ninth level and the other from the thirteenth, the gap between them would only grow wider as they advanced.
Yet in the world of cultivation, it was almost impossible to find cultivators above the tenth Qi Refining level.
There were three deadly obstacles.
First, the limit imposed by one's lifespan.
For Qi Refining cultivators, the golden age for breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm was before the age of fifty.
Once they passed fifty, their qi and blood began to decline and their meridians hardened, causing their chances of breaking through to plummet.
If they tried again at sixty, they would have virtually no hope for the rest of their lives.
The vast majority of cultivators simply could not afford to wait.
Each additional level took several more years, sometimes even more than a decade, of arduous cultivation.
If they ran out of time, it was all over.
Second, the resources required were staggering.
The farther one progressed, the more the spiritual energy needed for each breakthrough grew exponentially.
Breaking through from the ninth to the tenth level required more spiritual energy than the first nine levels combined.
Ordinary cultivators simply could not afford it.
Third, there was the talent threshold.
Ordinary and mid-grade spirit roots had limited meridian capacity.
Forcefully pushing past the tenth level would strain and tear their meridians, leaving lifelong internal injuries. It just wasn't worth the cost.
Only cultivators with high-grade or supreme-grade spirit roots were qualified to attempt the levels beyond the tenth.
On top of that, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth had grown thin, far weaker than it had been ten thousand years ago.
Ten thousand years ago, spiritual energy had been abundant, and opportunities could be found everywhere.
Cultivators at the tenth and eleventh Qi Refining levels had been everywhere.
Everyone wanted to break through to Foundation Establishment in their strongest possible state and forge the strongest possible Dao Foundation.
Now, spiritual energy was depleted and resources were scarce.
Anyone who could safely reach the ninth level and establish their foundation already counted as talented.
Who would dare risk their life piling on more levels?
There was one other, far more practical problem.
Breaking through to Foundation Establishment from the ninth Qi Refining level required a Foundation Establishment Pill.
Without one, more than ninety-nine percent of cultivators remained stuck at the bottleneck for the rest of their lives.
Only a tiny fraction of cultivators with high-grade spirit roots had any chance of enduring the impact of heaven and earth's spiritual energy and forcing their way through without pills.
For ordinary cultivators, that simply wasn't realistic.
Dao Foundations came in different grades.
Low-grade Dao Foundation, mid-grade Dao Foundation, high-grade Dao Foundation, supreme-grade Dao Foundation, and Perfect Dao Foundation.
If Su Yun was going to do it, he would aim for the very best: the Perfect Dao Foundation!
Su Yun's gaze sharpened as he made up his mind.
He would spend the next two months in seclusion, cultivating with all his might.
First, he would steadily break through to the ninth Qi Refining level.
Then he would keep pushing higher, all the way to the thirteenth level!
He would enter the sect tournament, secure a Secret Realm entry slot, and scour the Magneto Secret Realm for resources.
When the day came for him to break through to Foundation Establishment,
he would forge the Perfect Dao Foundation in the strongest state possible.
Time passed, and the sixth day arrived.
Su Yun remained immersed in cultivation the entire time, with piles of spirit stones heaped around him like mountains.
Dense spiritual energy gathered without dispersing, flowing slowly through the cramped secret chamber like a faint white mist.
Su Yun sat cross-legged at the very center of the piles of spirit stones.
The Golden Spirit Art circulated at a steady pace, cycling endlessly without pause.
Vast amounts of spiritual energy surged into his body through every pore, as well as his mouth and nose.
For the first five days, he had focused on tempering the foundation of his eighth Qi Refining level.
He had pushed the spiritual power, meridians, and dantian of the eighth level to complete perfection.
Then, at noon on the sixth day,
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A faint tremor suddenly came from deep within his dantian.
The bottleneck that had held him at the peak of the eighth level began to loosen.
The countless reserves of saturated golden spiritual power instantly found an outlet.
The spiritual power, which had been flowing steadily, abruptly sped up.
The torrent of spiritual power in his meridians surged several times over.
It washed through, compressed, tempered, and widened them.
Su Yun's mind was perfectly clear. He could sense every change in his body.
He could feel his dantian and qi sea expanding little by little, growing wider and deeper.
The lake of spiritual power, already filled to the brim, expanded once more.
The stagnant barrier blocking his cultivation shattered at once.
Crack.
The invisible wall between realms broke apart.
He had reached the ninth Qi Refining level!
In an instant, his whole body felt clear and light, almost weightless.
A vast power far surpassing that of the eighth level filled his limbs and bones.
His reserves of spiritual power, bodily strength, and soul perception all surged to a new level.
The range of his spiritual sense expanded several times over.
Within a hundred zhang in every direction, he could see every stir of wind and grass with perfect clarity.
The most obvious change was the emergence of an opportunity to establish his foundation.
The moment he broke through to the ninth level, a new understanding naturally appeared in his mind.
He could clearly sense the threshold of Foundation Establishment.
As long as he wished,
he could stop accumulating spiritual power at any time, gather his aura, stabilize his dantian, and attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
For him, Foundation Establishment was already within arm's reach.
Ordinary cultivators would have been ecstatic at this point, immediately stopping to stabilize their cultivation and prepare for Foundation Establishment.
After all, for ninety percent of cultivators, the ninth level was the end of the road.
The sooner they established their foundation, the safer it was, and the less of their lifespan they wasted.
But Su Yun felt no stir in his heart. He was utterly calm.
His goal was complete perfection at the thirteenth Qi Refining level!
Su Yun suppressed the urge to establish his foundation without a moment's hesitation.
He forced the restless spiritual power stirred up by his breakthrough to the ninth level back under control.
His cultivation stabilized completely, without the slightest hint of instability.
Then he once again began absorbing spiritual energy at a frenzied pace.
His eyes remained tightly shut as he sank his mind into his dantian.
The Golden Spirit Art circulated at full speed, with nothing held back.
A portion of the spiritual energy in the entire chamber was instantly sucked away.
The piles of spirit stones on the ground flashed wildly.
Threads and wisps of pure spiritual energy were continuously drawn out, turning into visible white streams that poured frantically into Su Yun's body.
The spirit stones visibly dimmed, lost their power, and crumbled.
Under the constant rush of vast spiritual power, Su Yun's meridians slowly expanded, widened, and toughened.
The meridians of ordinary Qi Refining cultivators were narrow and delicate, with limited capacity.
Even Foundation Establishment cultivators had their limits when it came to the width and resilience of their meridians.
But Su Yun was different.
As a Heaven's Spirit Root, he already had top-tier meridian aptitude.
On top of that, Thousandfold Amplification continuously tempered him, while vast quantities of spirit stones flooded him without restraint.
In just one hour,
the width, resilience, and capacity of his meridians had completely transformed.
They had far surpassed the limits of a Qi Refining cultivator.
Their foundation now rivaled that of an ordinary cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Early Stage!
Golden spiritual power surged through his widened meridians like rivers pouring into the sea, flowing with perfect ease.
It washed, tempered, and expanded them.
The cycle repeated endlessly, renewing itself without end.
If any ordinary cultivator had tried this,
absorbing spiritual energy so violently and without restraint,
their meridians would already have been torn apart and blown open by the raging spiritual power.
At best, they would have suffered severe injuries and lost all their cultivation.
At worst, they would have exploded and died.
No one would dare cultivate this way.
It was pure suicide!
But Su Yun could withstand it completely.
What was the limit for others was only his starting point.
The cultivation methods others feared to touch were, for him, just the most routine way to grind out levels.
Inside the secret chamber,
spirit stones continued to crumble.
Spiritual energy continued to run dry, gather again, and surge into him.
Su Yun's aura grew increasingly profound and steady.