[Your father has completely liquefied his spiritual power, and is only a Spirit Platform Condensation away from breaking through to Foundation Establishment. It's a pity that your father's karmic fortune is not very good; after spending several years and attempting it many times, he still failed to condense it successfully.]
[The Grand Elder in the lineage is also working on liquefying his spiritual power, but up until now he has only liquefied eighty percent of it, stubbornly falling short by twenty percent.]
[The Second Elder's spiritual power liquefaction hasn't even reached the halfway mark...]
[As for the Third Elder, your grandfather just let out a sigh and left it unmentioned.]
[You guess that the Third Elder must have done something to make your grandfather so disappointed, possibly related to the Third Elder's pitch-black panda eyes. Of course, this is still just your intuitive guess.]
[It seems that the path to breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm is bound to be extremely difficult; otherwise, the Grand Elder and Second Elder would not remain stuck at liquefying their spiritual power, and your own father would not have continuously failed to successfully condense his Spirit Platform...]
[In March of the third year, everything remains calm and peaceful. This makes you even more certain of your idea: the Fire Cloud Evil God is trapped within the mystic realm and unable to break free.]
[This month, you practice diligently, attempting to liquefy your spiritual power, only to discover that after all of your own spiritual power is liquefied, you are unable to condense even a single drop of Spirit Liquid.]
[You learn from the Foundation Establishment insights obtained from your grandfather that this is because the time since your breakthrough to the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining is too short, and you have not settled your spiritual power, consequently leading to floaty spiritual power.]
[You spend another month stabilizing your own spiritual power.]
[In June of the third year, you successfully condense Spirit Liquid, but you only succeed in condensing thirty percent of your spiritual power.]
[In December of the third year, you remain behind closed doors, because you are busy condensing your eighth percent of spiritual power.]
[Speaking of which, being able to condense Spirit Liquid this quickly is largely thanks to the help of your parents and grandfather. Over the past few months, every month your parents give you an extra two Yellow Grade High Rank Qi Gathering Pills, which you guess are precisely your parents' own monthly cultivation resources.]
[You originally do not wish to accept them, but your mother specially comforts you, saying that neither of them is in a rush to break through their cultivation realms right now—your mother has just broken through to the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining and needs time to stabilize her cultivation, while your father currently needs to condense his Spirit Platform and has no use for these pills either—so they are giving them all to you, who needs them most right now.]
[You have no reason to refuse, and cup your hands in gratitude. Your mother smiles, saying that you are still so courteous, and that you should know they are your parents, the people in this world who wish for you to become better the most.]
[You are deeply moved.]
[Your grandfather also gives you a bottle of Yellow Grade High Rank Qi Gathering Pills, totaling five pills, saying that he sorted them out and has no use for them now that he has already reached Foundation Establishment, so he is bestowing them upon you.]
[You see at a glance that these were specially prepared for you by your grandfather; he likely used his own contributions to exchange for them in the lineage, yet he speaks of it so offhandedly. Truly, no one else is quite like him.]
[You accept them with a wry smile and keep it tucked away in your heart.]
[In January of the fourth year, a piece of news shakes the entire lineage!]
[Your father successfully condenses his Spirit Platform, breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm!]
[Your Mu Family now has two Foundation Establishment Realm powerhouses holding down the fort!]
[You make a special trip to see your father, and find him beaming with smiles, chatting happily with your grandfather and a crowd of elders.]
[It is rare to see your father so happy, as if he has laid down some heavy burdens.]
[You also go forward to offer congratulations.]
[Your father even takes the initiative to chat with you at length about his own unique experiences in condensing his Spirit Platform, and you listen with rapt attention.]
[Your grandfather decides that a month from now, he will hold a Foundation Establishment Ceremony for your father, and simultaneously host an engagement banquet for you and Zhang Yutong of the Zhang Family.]
[You suddenly feel whether it might be too fast, seeing as you have not even laid eyes on Zhang Yutong's appearance, and have only heard that she is a favored daughter of the heavens and possesses a strikingly pretty appearance.]
[However, before you can even open your mouth, your father and the crowd of lineage elders agree on your behalf. You know that perhaps in the face of lineage interests, your own personal thoughts long ago ceased to matter.]
[Yet you profoundly understand that for you, this is both a shackle and equally a responsibility.]
[You do not overthink it, transforming all your displeasure into the motivation to cultivate diligently.]
[A month later, under your day-and-night cultivation, you successfully condense ninety percent of your spiritual power, but you feel that this final step is even harder to walk, as if countless hands are dragging at your footsteps, unwilling to let you move forward.]
[In February of the fourth year, the lineage does not hold the Clan Competition as usual, because there are more important events to hold: namely, your father's Foundation Establishment Ceremony and the engagement banquet for you and Zhang Yutong.]
[For the Mu Family, this is the most jubilant day.]
[In the daytime, Muye Mountain throws open its mountain gates, widely inviting all factions in Jinzhou County to come and attend your father's Foundation Establishment Ceremony.]
[Major and minor factions arrive upon invitation, and you are responsible for greeting the guests alongside your mother. Representatives from Qi Cultivation factions, big and small, keep you endlessly busy.]
[You see an old acquaintance, the Zhang Family Ancestor, with a pretty young woman following by her side.]
[That young woman possesses an exceptionally soft appearance; her brows and eyes curve gracefully, with the outer corners of her eyes carrying a trace of natural upward tilt. When she is not smiling, she looks as though she holds three parts of coy charm, and when she smiles, the outer corners of her eyes fall into the light, bringing even the tiny tear mole by the corner of her eye to vivid life. Her hair is not combed into a complicated bun, but simply pinned loosely into a hanging bun with a red-gold hairpin inlaid with red jade, the tail of the hairpin dangling three delicate silver chains, the ends of which hang tiny silver paulownia leaf ornaments. With every step she takes, they jingle softly, setting off her pace to be all the more brisk. Her earrings are a pair of mutton-fat jade paulownia leaves, the edges polished round and smooth, resting against the side of her neck and swaying gently with the movement of her turning head, reflecting that section of her neck as both white and slender.]
[She wears a newly made goose-yellow soft satin dress, with pale cyan paulownia leaf patterns embroidered along the collar and cuffs, the stitches fine and dense, and the tips of the leaves studded with a few strands of silver thread that glitter with tiny shards of light in the corridor's shadows and shifting lights.]
[You can sense that her every movement reveals the refined elegance unique to a young lady of a prominent family.]
[You guess her identity: Zhang Yutong!]
[You sigh inwardly; she is indeed beautiful and moving.]
[After you greet the Zhang Family Ancestor, you immediately invite her to walk inside. A trace of imperceptible purple light flashes across the depths of the Zhang Family Ancestor's eyes, and she speaks lightly: "Good kid, you must not be far from the Foundation Establishment Realm, right?"]
[You are not particularly shocked, after all, previously you had learned from your grandfather that this Zhang Family Ancestor possesses pupil techniques. Seeing through the cultivation of a Qi Cultivation kid like you—isn't that just a simple matter?]
[However, the Zhang Family Ancestor's words cause the body of Zhang Yutong beside her to tremble slightly. Naturally, she also guesses your identity; anyone who can make their own ancestor pay special attention must surely be that Mu Xingqi betrothed to her!]
[Yet she never expects that you are actually about to reach Foundation Establishment at such a young age? Previously in the Zhang Family, everyone said her natural talent was peerless, and that she had a great chance of breaking through to the Golden Core Realm in the future, but even she only broke through to the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining not too long ago, alright?]
[Is this Mu Xingqi even human?]
...Mu Xingqi in reality wears a face full of dark lines...
Before you continue