Breakthrough to Foundation Establishment

Early the next morning, Chen Nianzhi sat cross-legged in the alchemy chamber, flipping through the Pill Canon in his hands.

This time, he planned to refine an Origin-Gathering Pill. The Origin-Gathering Pill was a Tier 2 Low-grade medicinal pill that could instantly replenish a cultivator's True Essence in great quantities.

According to the Pill Canon, having an Origin-Gathering Pill might increase his chances of breaking through to Foundation Establishment by ten percent.

Although this pill was not particularly difficult to refine, it required a rare Tier 2 spirit fruit. Chen Nianzhi had no Tier 2 spirit fruits, but having lived in a world of information explosion in his past life, he naturally knew how to adapt.

He intended to combine a large quantity of Tier 1 Spirit Peaches to refine a batch of Origin-Gathering Pills. Using quantity to make up for quality, the pills might not match the original recipe, but they should retain fifty or sixty percent of its efficacy, adding another five percent to his chances of reaching Foundation Establishment.

No sooner thought than done. After determining the refining method, Chen Nianzhi began refining the Origin-Gathering Pill.

For this refinement, he took out the more than a hundred Spirit Peaches he had saved over the years, determined to refine them all into Origin-Gathering Pills in one go.

Although the Origin-Gathering Pill was a Tier 2 pill formula, Spirit Peaches were not spirit herbs. They contained no medicinal toxicity and very few impurities, making them among the easiest Tier 2 pills to refine.

Chen Nianzhi slowly simmered them over a gentle flame. It took more than a month before he finally brewed a batch of spirit liquid and reached the moment of pill condensation.

"Five portions of pill liquid."

"It has to succeed."

As the spirit liquid before him gradually took shape, Chen Nianzhi's heart rose into his throat.

After all, this was his first time refining a Tier 2 pill. His cultivation and divine sense were both insufficient, and something went wrong almost immediately. Three of the five portions of pill liquid instantly collapsed.

"Not good."

At the critical moment, Chen Nianzhi made a decisive choice. He abandoned one more portion and focused entirely on condensing the final portion of pill liquid.

The effect of concentrating his efforts was obvious. With all his attention fixed on that pill liquid, no further mishaps occurred, and he successfully refined the Origin-Gathering Pill.

"It's done!"

Overjoyed, Chen Nianzhi lifted the furnace lid, grabbed the Origin-Gathering Pill in one motion, and placed it into the prepared jade bottle.

The successful refinement of the Origin-Gathering Pill not only increased his hopes of reaching Foundation Establishment by another five percent, but also meant that he could now be considered a quasi-Tier 2 alchemist.

"As long as I reach Foundation Establishment, becoming a Tier 2 alchemist will be a sure thing."

Looking at the Origin-Gathering Pill in the bottle, he smiled. More than a month of painstaking alchemy had not been in vain.

When he stepped out of the alchemy chamber, Chen Nianzhi froze slightly. He found his old granduncle waiting outside his door, his expression exceptionally grim.

Rain poured outside, while thunder rumbled without end. Chen Nianzhi quickly invited his old granduncle inside.

"Old Granduncle, what happened?"

His old granduncle's face was stiff as he handed over a letter and said,

"This is news sent from Qingyuan Mountain the day before yesterday."

"Half a year ago, Qingyuan failed to reach Foundation Establishment and passed away in the Azure Sun Sect."

Boom—

Chen Nianzhi felt his mind erupt, as though a primordial bell had struck his soul. He nearly failed to keep his footing.

They had traveled two hundred thousand li, fighting bloody battles along the way against a Foundation Establishment demon ape. The struggle had been so brutal that the Second Elder was gravely wounded and near death—all to reclaim a Foundation Establishment Pill that should have belonged to the Chen Clan.

They had merely wanted to reclaim the Foundation Establishment Pill that a Chen Clan ancestor had purchased with his life sixty years ago. In the end, they had brought back a death warrant.

Chen Qingyuan, the most gifted of the Qing Generation, had fallen. Fire Baleful Force entered his body, shattering his meridians and destroying all his cultivation.

According to the Azure Sun Sect messenger, the agony caused by the power of the Fire Baleful Force had been too unbearable, and Chen Qingyuan had chosen to end his own life.

"..."

Rumble!

The sky was dark, thunder rolling amid flashes of lightning.

Torrential rain lashed the lake like water poured from a bucket.

Chen Nianzhi stood by Lakeheart Island, sword in hand, dressed in robes as white as snow.

He gazed up at the vast heavens, his eyes reflecting the lightning serpents rampaging between heaven and earth.

He stood silently beneath the rain, his long hair drifting in the wind and storm. He remained there in silence for the entire night.

"Azure Sun Sect!"

"..."

Early the next morning, he returned to the cultivation chamber with a blank expression and began secluded cultivation.

He had already decided that he would no longer seek the possibility of obtaining a Foundation Establishment Pill. He would immediately enter seclusion and attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm.

The Beast Turmoil would arrive in a little over thirty years. If he wanted to protect himself and the Lineage, he had to reach Foundation Establishment sooner and become stronger.

This time, Chen Nianzhi was not without confidence. His meridians had been tempered for years by True Qi and Hongmeng Purple Qi, making them more than twice as strong as those of cultivators at the same level. They were nearly comparable to those of Foundation Establishment cultivators who had broken through with a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Together with his deep reserves of True Qi, he had at least a fifty to sixty percent chance of reaching Foundation Establishment.

Even so, compressing True Qi into True Essence was no easy task.

There was an immense qualitative change between the two. Once the compression succeeded, he could nourish his body with True Essence, completing a leap in the level of life and extending his lifespan beyond two hundred years.

Following the experience of his predecessors and his own understanding of his body, Chen Nianzhi compressed his True Qi bit by bit. After a month, he finally compressed it to its absolute limit.

Having reached this point, he had arrived at the most critical moment.

If he succeeded, he could compress his True Qi into True Essence. If his meridians could not bear it, the True Qi compressed to its limit would scatter and instantly blast his meridians full of holes.

However, Chen Nianzhi did not rush to take that final step. He took a deep breath and swallowed the Origin-Gathering Pill.

In an instant, a vast surge of energy rushed into his meridians. The immense pressure drove his True Qi toward completing that final step.

"Now!"

He clenched his teeth and mobilized all the True Qi in his body, attempting to complete the final step.

Yet without a Foundation Establishment Pill to make his True Qi gentler, his True Qi was far more violent than usual and difficult to tame.

Fortunately, the meridians tempered by Hongmeng Purple Qi were extraordinarily tough. They withstood the violent boiling of his True Qi and ultimately allowed him to complete the most crucial step.

The moment the first wisp of True Essence was born within him, a chain reaction naturally followed.

Like a great whale drawing in water, that wisp of True Essence absorbed countless strands of True Qi. Once they had been condensed into True Essence, Chen Nianzhi's meridians became utterly empty.

The vast True Qi that had filled his meridians had been compressed into True Essence, leaving behind less than one-tenth of its original volume.

"It worked."

Smiling, Chen Nianzhi did not immediately leave the cultivation chamber. He took out every Spirit Stone on his person and frantically absorbed spiritual energy to strengthen that wisp of True Essence.

He then used the newborn True Essence to continuously temper his meridians. As they grew stronger, he also used True Essence to nourish his body. Nearly a month passed before he finally completed the transformation in his level of life.

From that day onward, his level of life was utterly different from before. With True Essence constantly nourishing his body, so long as he did not suffer an incurable injury, living to two hundred would be as certain as ironclad truth.