[You come to the Pill Hall and find Mu Xinger. Looking at the pure and lovely Mu Xinger before you, she stares at you with stars in her big eyes, making you even more hesitant to speak.]
[You hand her the gift you prepared in advance—an exquisite jade pill bottle you carefully selected. Mu Xinger accepts it with a pleased smile.]
[Mu Xinger asks you if you have any other business coming to find her. She naturally knows you couldn't possibly have just come to give her a gift, and coupled with your earlier hesitant behavior, it makes her even more certain of her guess.]
[You have no choice but to scratch your head, looking at the sprite-like, lively young girl before you, and murmur, "Xinger, I'm going to enter a marriage alliance with the Zhang Family..."]
[Hearing this, Mu Xinger's gaze shocks, but she recovers almost instantly. She steps up to you, first scanning you up and down, and then puts her hands behind her back, saying with a cheerful smile, "Brother Xingqi is so handsome, it seems sister-in-law is in for a treat..."]
[Looking at the smiling Mu Xinger before you, a sudden wave of daze washes over the bottom of your heart.]
[Perhaps, Xinger has always just thought of you as a brother?]
[You want to reach out and pet Mu Xinger's head, but she dodges it as nimbly as a little cat. Turning her back to you, she says, "Your younger sister still has alchemy to do, Brother Xingqi, you should head back first."]
[You turn and leave, but you always feel that Mu Xinger is a bit strange right now, though you don't know what is wrong.]
[You return to your own room and continue to plunge into cultivation.]
[Now that you have persuaded both the Zhang Family Ancestor and your own grandfather, you have broken the Wang Family Ancestor's plan. Next, you should be able to change the fate of the lineage, right?]
[One month later, the New Year arrives.]
[This year, it is still just you alone. Your parents have no time, and Mu Xinger also refused your invitation on the grounds of having alchemy tasks.]
[You do not feel overly lost, just as usual.]
[In the third year, January, with the aid of the Yellow Grade High Rank Qi Gathering Pill taken every month, you successfully break through to the ninth layer of Qi Cultivation!]
[With your current strength, serving as an elder within the lineage would not be overstepping at all.]
[That is because the six elders in the lineage plus your father, the head of the lineage, only total five people at the ninth layer of Qi Cultivation.]
[In the third year, February, the Wang Family Ancestor pays another visit, wanting to invite your grandfather to explore a secret realm. This is already the third time he has come to find your grandfather, as if someone is forcing him to bring your grandfather along.]
[Thinking of this, you guess whether that Fire Cloud Evil God in the secret realm is forcing the Wang Family Ancestor to take your grandfather and the Zhang Family Ancestor there? But if so, what is the purpose of the Fire Cloud Evil God doing this?]
"Blood food!"
Mu Xingqi seems to think of something. He clearly remembers that in one of his simulations, he and his fifth sister entered the third layer of the palace and were eaten as blood food by the Fire Cloud Evil God.
Coupled with the fact that the elder who looks startlingly like the Fire Cloud Evil God is likely a Golden Core demonic cultivator of the Blood Demon Sect, everything makes sense!
He seems to have found the answer!
That elder probably cannot leave the secret realm, so he found the Wang Family Ancestor to help him bring his grandfather and the Zhang Family Ancestor to the secret realm so he could devour them.
Because Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators are definitely supreme nourishing treasures to a Golden Core demonic cultivator like him.
Yet upon closer thought, Mu Xingqi immediately finds a loophole: why doesn't the Fire Cloud Evil God just leave the secret realm? What is he even doing staying inside it?
Is he trapped in the secret realm and unable to come out? Or will something happen the moment he steps out?
These questions are still unexplainable to him now. He had better continue looking at the simulation panel to see if his simulated self can unravel all these mysteries.
He always feels that these questions are getting closer and closer to the truth, and becoming more and more coincidental, just like a game carefully laid out by someone.
[The result, naturally, is that the Wang Family Ancestor is seen off by your grandfather. Before leaving, the Wang Family Ancestor does not forget to shout loudly, "Mu Changde, you will regret the decision you make today! And that old thing from the Zhang Family, just you both wait and see!"]
[The voice of the Wang Family Ancestor is very loud, as if deliberately done so, to the extent that even you—who are just wanting to visit your grandfather—can hear it clearly.]
[You come to your grandfather's side and ask curiously, "Grandfather, the Wang Family Ancestor seems a bit afraid of you?" You can sense that although the Wang Family Ancestor's tone is very strong, it is all just to conceal the fear at the bottom of his heart.]
[Hearing this, your grandfather gives a smug laugh and says, "Of course that old fellow is afraid of me. That's because your grandfather's cultivation and strength are higher than his, and the only one in all of Jinzhou County who can fight me to a draw is the Zhang Family Ancestor."]
[You do not know whether this is your grandfather bragging or the truth. After all, through getting along, you have discovered that your grandfather's and your father's personalities are similar—they both love to brag just a little bit.]
["Oh! My good grandson, you've already broken through to the ninth layer of Qi Cultivation!" Your grandfather immediately turns alarmed upon sensing your leaking spiritual energy.]
[Perhaps because you just broke through, you cannot completely gather your spiritual energy yet, allowing your grandfather to see through it at a glance.]
[You then remember the purpose of your coming here: wasn't it precisely to consult your grandfather about matters concerning the Foundation Establishment Realm? Thus you speak frankly and begin to inquire about the secret of Foundation Establishment.]
[Your grandfather also patiently explains to you: Foundation Establishment is the foundation of establishing the Dao. The Foundation Establishment Realm means that practitioners take a step further on the basis of the Qi Cultivation Realm, needing to compress and liquefy the gaseous spiritual energy inside their bodies to form liquid spiritual energy within the dantian, transforming it into a dantian sea as if converging into a small lake. This is also the main difference between the Foundation Establishment Realm and the Qi Cultivation Realm.]
[The Foundation Establishment Realm can usually be divided into early, middle, late, and perfected stages. The early stage requires opening the sea of qi, condensing the spiritual platform with entry at the first layer and perfection at the third. The middle stage has spiritual platform entry at the fourth layer and perfection at the sixth, while the late stage is the seventh through ninth layers, and the perfected stage is successfully condensing the tenth layer of the spiritual platform.]
[The purity and density of the liquid spiritual energy of a Foundation Establishment cultivator far exceed those of the Qi Cultivation stage, which is the fundamental reason why the Qi Cultivation stage cannot contend with the Foundation Establishment Realm. That is because the purity and density of spiritual energy are directly related to the power of spell techniques. Moreover, Foundation Establishment cultivators possess a spiritual platform, and the spiritual platform can continuously recover spiritual energy for the cultivator; this point further guarantees the absolute superior position of Foundation Establishment cultivators.]
[You nod, simply understanding it as: Foundation Establishment cultivators have enhanced attacking power and spell-casting might, and they also gain an extra mana-regeneration item—the spiritual platform.]
[Furthermore, Foundation Establishment cultivators possess a lifespan of over two hundred years. Don't look at your grandfather as old; actually, I am only sixty-eight, which is considered merely middle-aged in the Foundation Establishment Realm.]
[Having frequently read web novels in your past life, you naturally understand these settings easily.]
[You learn that to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, you need to refine your own spiritual energy, transform gaseous spiritual energy into liquid spiritual energy, and condense it into a spiritual platform. Only then is it considered a true breakthrough to Foundation Establishment.]
[Your grandfather hands you a jade slip, and you obtain the Foundation Establishment cultivation insights summarized by the sages of the Mu Family.]
[In addition to this, you also learn...]
Before you continue