Watching the divine beast's blood essence hover quietly in midair, Ye Lin carefully put it into his Spatial Ring.
Then he took out ten Demon Scorpion stingers and headed for the Mission Pavilion. He was going to turn in the quest, and once he had, he would begin his seclusion.
Everything was ready except Dong Feng. He had to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm within twenty days.
When he arrived at the Mission Pavilion, Ye Lin placed the ten stingers on the table before him. Sun Xiao, who had been sleeping soundly, jolted awake.
"Senior Brother, I'm here to turn in a quest."
Sun Xiao looked at Ye Lin, then at the stingers before him. It had only been three hours since Ye Lin accepted the quest.
He'd completed a fifth-grade quest in just three hours? It felt unreal.
"G-Good... I'll get your reward right away."
After checking several times that the stingers were genuine, Sun Xiao gave Ye Lin a long look and headed down the corridor beside them.
A few minutes later, Sun Xiao placed a large cloth sack in front of Ye Lin.
"Eighty Low-Tier Spirit Stones. Count them."
"No need. I trust you, Senior Brother."
Ye Lin smiled, put away the sack, and headed back to his lodgings.
"Hiss. The rumors say he's at Qi Refining Level 8, but seeing him now, I'd say this man's hiding a lot."
Watching Ye Lin disappear from view, Sun Xiao sucked in a sharp breath.
A Qi Refining Level 8 cultivator could venture alone into Demon Scorpion Valley—a place even Foundation Establishment cultivators feared—and kill nine Qi Refining Level 9 Demon Scorpions? He wouldn't believe it even if he were beaten to death.
"I must never offend him."
Sun Xiao thought to himself.
"Whew. Time to break through."
Ye Lin sat cross-legged on his bed, with Low-Tier Spirit Stones spread all around him. Then he took the divine beast's blood essence from his Spatial Ring and swallowed it in one gulp. Dense spiritual energy poured out of the Low-Tier Spirit Stones and flooded into his body.
"Fuse!"
Ye Lin gave a low shout. Beneath his dantian, a Dao Platform slowly took shape, while the divine beast's blood essence gradually fused into it.
In an instant, the previously dull Dao Platform blazed with light, its fiery-red glow illuminating the entire dantian.
Under the effect of the divine beast's blood essence, the Dao Platform shattered, reformed, shattered, and reformed again. Each time it took shape, it became twice as powerful as before.
A series of immensely powerful auras emanated from the Dao Platform.
The transition from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment was a qualitative change, a leap to a higher level of life.
Upon breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, both the purity and quantity of the spiritual energy in one's dantian became dozens of times greater than at Qi Refining Level 9.
What was more, the spiritual energy within a Foundation Establishment cultivator's Dao Platform was of a higher quality than that of a Qi Refining cultivator. The power it contained was like heaven and earth compared to theirs.
The same move, when unleashed by a Foundation Establishment cultivator, was more than ten times as powerful as when used by a Qi Refining Level 9 cultivator.
If a Foundation Establishment cultivator's spiritual energy didn't run dry, they could kill Qi Refining cultivators as easily as dogs.
No matter how monstrous you were at the Qi Refining stage, in front of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, you were still nothing more than an ant.
And so, five days slipped by.
In Ye Lin's dantian, a fiery-red Dao Platform had finally been forged. Light shimmered across its surface as it radiated a series of mysterious auras.
From afar, the Dao Platform looked like something born of the heavens, flawless and utterly otherworldly.
Moreover, five beams of light hovered above the walls surrounding the Dao Platform. They represented the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
Seeing this, Ye Lin was delighted. This was the distinctive feature of a Fifth-Grade Dao Platform: the imprints of the five elements. Only a Fifth-Grade Dao Platform could produce these imprints of the fundamental elements that made up the world.
That meant no Dao Platform below Fifth-Grade could bear the imprints of the five elements, and its owner could never become an immortal in this life.
At that moment, the mass of spiritual energy above the Dao Platform began to compress under its power, condensing little by little.
Drip, drip, drip.
Droplets of liquid began to fall from the mass of spiritual energy onto the Dao Platform.
Like the prelude to a storm, that mass of spiritual energy resembled a dark cloud.
The next moment, the storm broke in full. Droplets poured from the mass of spiritual energy onto the Dao Platform, and soon the liquid filled it completely.
The Dao Platform bore the liquid steadily, utterly firm and stable.
This was the clearest sign of a breakthrough from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment: spiritual energy turning into liquid.
The mass of spiritual energy finally vanished, leaving only the liquid within the Dao Platform. This was spiritual liquid, and the spiritual energy it contained equaled the combined reserves of dozens of Qi Refining Level 9 cultivators.
Then the Dao Platform blazed with light. The spiritual liquid within it rapidly dwindled, and countless streams of terrifying spiritual power swept through Ye Lin's entire body.
This spiritual power began strengthening every part of Ye Lin's body: bones, meridians, skin, and blood vessels.
"That feels amazing."
Though Ye Lin's eyes were closed, he could feel his body slowly growing stronger.
The sensation was utterly blissful.
"Foundation Establishment. I did it."
Three hours later, Ye Lin suddenly opened his eyes.
A wave of air burst outward, sending countless objects in the room tumbling to the floor.
Ye Lin looked over his body. He felt completely brimming with energy.
It was as if he had strength to spare forever.
"No wonder Foundation Establishment cultivators can toy with Qi Refining cultivators."
Ye Lin rose to his feet. Feeling the terrifying power within his body, he murmured to himself.
A Foundation Establishment cultivator possessed dozens of times more spiritual power than someone at Qi Refining Level 9. Their body was several times, even ten times, stronger, and their soul had also been greatly strengthened.
Qi Refining cultivators lived at most a hundred and fifty years, while Foundation Establishment cultivators could live for three hundred—twice as long.
With such a long lifespan, they could watch mortal dynasties rise and fall. That was why mortals called Foundation Establishment cultivators Earthbound Immortals.
"Life and Death Three Swords—Life from One Sword."
Ye Lin's eyes narrowed. He joined the fingers of his right hand into a sword sign and slashed forward. A streak of Sword Qi shot into the courtyard.
A deafening boom rang out. A trench five meters long and half a meter wide appeared in the middle of the courtyard.
"Now, even without a Long Sword, I can unleash Sword Qi."
"And it could easily kill the person I was before, even though I only used thirty percent of my strength."
"Too powerful. This is truly too powerful."
Ye Lin was almost intoxicated by this power.
Until you broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, you could never understand how terrifying it was.
"Whew. I wonder how I'd fare against Lin Zisheng now."
Ye Lin's lips curled slightly.
"Right. I've been in seclusion for eight days, and the Inner Sect Grand Competition is in twelve. I should spend these days consolidating my realm."
Looking at the trench in the courtyard, Ye Lin casually waved a hand. The ground immediately returned to normal.
This was the might of Foundation Establishment. Foundation Establishment cultivators could clearly comprehend the five elements that made up the world and put them to use.
Those with a Fifth-Grade Dao Platform were even more sensitive to the five elements.
After tidying everything up, Ye Lin turned and went inside his lodgings. He took out a Mid-grade Spirit Stone and began absorbing its energy to consolidate his realm.
All the Low-Tier Spirit Stones had been used up during his breakthrough. Now, he was so broke that he had only three Mid-grade Spirit Stones left.
Just like that, twelve days passed in the blink of an eye.
That day, the Azure Cloud Sect's Inner Sect was in an uproar, as if struck by an earthquake. The reason was that the mysterious Tenth Elder of the Azure Cloud Sect had emerged from seclusion.
Rumor had it that this Tenth Elder was a Golden Core cultivator, and might even take on a disciple at the Inner Sect Grand Competition.
The entire Inner Sect instantly erupted. Who wouldn't want to become the disciple of a Golden Core cultivator? Golden Core cultivators were the strongest in a radius of ten thousand miles.
As a Golden Core cultivator's disciple, not only would you never lack resources, you could practically throw your weight around across a radius of ten thousand miles.
Ye Lin had just finished his seclusion that day. After going outside and hearing the news, he fell into thought.
"Golden Core... the mysterious Tenth Elder?"
After pondering for a while, Ye Lin headed for the main hall. Today was the Inner Sect Grand Competition, and as an Inner Sect disciple, he had to attend.
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