Who knew how much time had passed.
By all reason, dawn should have broken long ago, yet the black clouds overhead showed no intention of dispersing. Instead, they had grown even denser. The sky, where day and night were indistinguishable, gradually made Fat Dragon lose his sense of time.
Yet there was still only the promise of rain, not a single raindrop in sight.
By now, Fat Dragon's legs were already trembling.
"Mother of heaven."
Fat Dragon's eyes were red-rimmed, his face mournful, deep unease filling his gaze as he continuously stuffed Spirit Stones into the storage pouch in his arms, one by one. He no longer knew how many Spirit Stones he had packed away.
He only knew that every storage pouch on him was already full. He had even taken several more storage pouches from Brother Chen Qiu's robes; otherwise, there would not have been enough pouches.
At first, he had been thrilled.
With so many Spirit Stones, they would have more than enough to carve out a place for themselves in this unfamiliar world!
But... as the Spirit Stones piled ever higher, so numerous that they began to frighten him, he realized that if word got out, the two of them would instantly become public enemies. This was enough. They really did not need this many. His stomach simply could not swallow so much.
Meanwhile, Chen Qiu remained seated cross-legged where he was, maintaining that posture for who knew how long. He had already killed every Human-Faced Spider nearby, leaving him with no demon beasts to kill and raise his cultivation progress. He had been preparing to change locations.
But who could have expected it?
Perhaps due to the drastic change in the weather, a massive swarm of Human-Faced Spiders came fleeing from the other side of the depths of the canyon, surging toward him as if for their lives. This batch of Human-Faced Spiders was like fuel, providing him with immense assistance.
Thanks to them, he could remain here without needing to change locations.
At first, every Foundation Establishment failure had made him cough up blood due to the discomfort in his body. Later, after he adapted, failing at Foundation Establishment no longer required him to vomit blood. Yet perhaps because he had failed too many times, he felt somewhat dizzy.
Just as his cultivation once again reached Qi Refining Great Perfection, and he prepared to smoothly proceed with another familiar Foundation Establishment failure—
A misty, illusory voice suddenly rang beside his ears.
"Heavenly Dao Edict": The Heavenly Dao has sensed that within a hundred li of Windward City, Great Xia Kingdom, there is a mortal of unyielding iron bones who has withstood a hundred setbacks without breaking. He has failed Foundation Establishment nine hundred and ninety-nine consecutive times, yet still persistently charges toward Foundation Establishment without yielding! Such perseverance puts all living beings to shame. He is bestowed with 'Heavenly Dao Foundation.' May all living beings take this as their example.
This ethereal voice from beyond the heavens rang across the skies of the entire Great Xia Kingdom. Countless people raised their heads to look skyward, listening carefully to this Heavenly Dao Edict in bewilderment. Many stood frozen in shock, clearly finding it difficult to imagine.
It was just that—
They were not admiring this mortal's perseverance.
They were simply dumbfounded. Was breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm really that difficult? Someone could fail nine hundred and ninety-nine consecutive breakthroughs?
Logically speaking, the more times one failed Foundation Establishment, the narrower one's Dao Foundation would become. That meant it could hold less spiritual energy. They did not dare imagine just how narrow a Dao Foundation would be after more than nine hundred failures, if not for the fortunate Heavenly Dao Foundation.
Perhaps casting a Yellow Grade, Lower Class spell would immediately drain all the spiritual energy in one's Dao Foundation?
They might not even be able to cast that Yellow Grade, Lower Class spell.
Still, he had truly turned disaster into blessing and obtained Heavenly Dao Foundation. Upon seeing those four words, many people throughout Great Xia Kingdom cast somewhat jealous looks toward Windward City.
Had they known that failing Foundation Establishment nine hundred and ninety-nine times would earn them Heavenly Dao Foundation, they would have gone long ago. The minds of some Qi Refining Realm cultivators also began to stir. Would the reward still be available if they failed Foundation Establishment nine hundred and ninety-nine times now?
Heavenly Dao Foundation, as its name implied, was a Dao Foundation built upon the Heavenly Dao itself.
It could only be obtained under an extremely small number of special circumstances, and only one had a chance to obtain it when breaking through into the Foundation Establishment Realm. Since the founding of Great Xia Kingdom, there had been only a handful of people with Heavenly Dao Foundation. Yet every one of them had been a monster among monsters. The last relatively famous person to obtain one seemed to have been a sword cultivator, though he was already dead.
The benefits of Heavenly Dao Foundation were also extremely simple and crude.
Its foundation was exceptionally stable.
Whether in the speed at which it absorbed spiritual energy or the durability of the Dao Foundation in battle, it surpassed ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators by several times. Moreover, if one could break through to the Golden Core Realm in the future, the Golden Core condensed upon a Heavenly Dao Foundation would also be far stronger than an ordinary Golden Core.
There was another exceptionally powerful benefit: Heavenly Dao Foundation could rotate its own Dao Foundation to absorb spiritual energy without operating a cultivation method. Though the speed was somewhat slower than operating a cultivation method, this meant that even while sleeping, shitting, or eating, one's Dao Foundation would continue rotating, absorbing spiritual energy and raising one's cultivation progress.
It was practically a means of production.
After the Heavenly Dao Edict rang out beside his ears, Chen Qiu discovered that the spiritual energy around him began rushing uncontrollably into his body. He was not operating his cultivation method at all, yet spiritual energy still continuously and rapidly filled his meridians.
It almost instantly filled his meridians completely. Then, under his inner sight, his Dao Foundation rapidly solidified.
In the blink of an eye—
Foundation Establishment succeeded.
A Dao Foundation one hundred and ten li wide and one hundred li tall took root above his dantian just like that. The entire Dao Foundation was white jade in appearance, and faint golden flowing light could be seen rippling over its surface. It was precisely this inconspicuous streak of golden light that made the entire Dao Foundation look far from ordinary.
The names of the Traits he possessed were also inscribed neatly across the Dao Foundation's surface.
When he underwent Foundation Establishment, he had not prepared a Foundation Establishment Pill that could improve quality and success rate, nor had he prepared any heavenly treasures. By rights, he should have possessed only the most ordinary hundred-li Dao Foundation.
Yet because he possessed a Trait that could slightly improve Foundation Establishment quality, the width of his Dao Foundation had become one hundred and ten li.
At this moment, the Dao Foundation was slowly rotating, attempting to draw in the spiritual energy from outside.
But—
After spinning for a long while, it had not absorbed even a trace of spiritual energy.
Having reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, Chen Qiu could already release spiritual energy outside his body. He could fully unleash the power of the Yellow Grade, Lower-Class Spirit Treasure, use spells, and sense the density of spiritual energy in the outside world.
And by his senses, there was not a single wisp of spiritual energy in the depths of this canyon right now.
It was like a spiritual energy desert—an exceptionally parched one at that.
When Chen Qiu slowly opened his eyes, he saw Fat Dragon standing nearby, his face full of anxiety and unable to sit or stand still.
"Good heavens, you finally woke up."
Even Fat Dragon's voice trembled. With shaking hands, he passed seven or eight storage pouches to Chen Qiu. "The Spirit Stones are all here. I didn't count them carefully, but there are definitely more than twenty thousand. What do we do next?"
"If anyone finds out about this, they'll rip out both our souls!"
"This is the first time I've seen someone think Spirit Stones were too hot to handle."
Chen Qiu took the storage pouches and tucked all of them into his robes. He rose and stretched his limbs, feeling the strength brought by his First Level of the Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation. For the first time since arriving in this world, he felt a faint trace of confidence. Only then did he grin.
Though he had not counted them carefully, he knew how many Spirit Stones there were.
29,970 Spirit Stones, if nothing unexpected had happened.
At this moment, he could already channel spiritual energy into the Heaven-Slayer Spirit Treasure saber in his hand, thereby unleashing the weapon's full might.
His current Foundation Establishment width was one hundred and ten li.
The demon beasts he had killed before Foundation Establishment had not been counted into it. Otherwise, he would have at least several thousand li by now.
Next, he only needed to do two things—
First, buy a spell whose power he could unleash to the fullest, preferably one produced by the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm, so that he would immediately reach Major Accomplishment upon learning it. Then, buy more talismans, sound-transmission stones, medicinal pills, and other supporting items that could preserve his life and increase his combat strength.
Second, broaden his Dao Foundation as much as possible.
Allow his Dao Foundation to contain more spiritual energy.
Only then would he truly possess a certain degree of say in this world—or rather, the right to remain standing while he lived.
The Lightning-Channeling Art could only draw down a bolt of lightning from the nine heavens to attack an enemy. A First Level of the Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator using this Yellow Grade, Middle Class spell would usually exhaust more than half the spiritual energy in his body. But if his Dao Foundation could contain enough spiritual energy—
Then it would no longer be some Lightning-Channeling Art.
It would be "Hundred-Li Lightning Punishment," "Zero-Frame Strike," "Kill on Sight"!
After steadying his mind, Chen Qiu followed their prior agreement. He pulled a low-grade talisman from his robes, poured spiritual energy into it, and activated it. At once, a scarlet beam shot straight from the depths of the canyon into the sky!
This was a kind of low-grade talisman he had bought at Heaven-Question Market. It was very cheap, costing only one tael of silver. He had casually bought ten at Zhao Family Store. Back when they could not afford sound-transmission stones, this had been the better choice for conveying information.
When the bearded burly man brought the two of them back to the edge of the fissure above the canyon—
Scholar, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, looked at the two with a complicated expression. After a long while, he finally said hoarsely, "Young Master Chen, what exactly were you doing down there?"
"The mortal near Windward City mentioned in the Heavenly Dao Edict, the one who failed Foundation Establishment nine hundred and ninety-nine times—could that have been you, Young Master Chen?"
"This place was already sparse in spiritual energy, but the spiritual energy for dozens of li around has been sucked dry by the canyon below. That commotion was no less than the commotion of breaking through to the Golden Core Realm."
He suddenly felt that Young Master Chen's claim of being the young master of a Hidden Family outside Great Xia Kingdom might not have been a lie.
To create such a huge disturbance, if it was not someone breaking through to the Golden Core Realm, then it could only be someone operating a cultivation method to draw in spiritual energy.
A cultivation method capable of producing such a disturbance had to be at least a Profound Grade, Upper Class Cultivation Method. He had never heard of anyone in Great Xia Kingdom possessing a cultivation method of that level. It was the stuff of legend, recorded in history books.
An existence of that level was not something an ordinary mortal could touch merely by encountering an opportunity. Without the profound foundation passed down through a great Lineage, the chance of a Qi Refining Realm mortal possessing such a thing was hardly any higher than the chance of directly obtaining a Rainbow Trait from their first random Trait in the Qi Refining Realm.
Oh, not a Qi Refining Realm mortal.
Young Master Chen was now at the First Level of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
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