Foundation Establishment Extreme Realm

For the next two days, Qin Yuan had a rather pleasant time on Fifth Peak.

Chen Tianyu was confined to his quarters for self-reflection. Although Enforcement Elder Chen Changqing was unwilling, he dared not trouble Qin Yuan further due to Elder Xu's authority and his grandson's transgression.

The other disciples regarded the newly promoted personal disciple with even more awe. After all, his strength in instantly defeating Chen Tianyu, who was at Foundation Establishment Layer Seven, while Qin Yuan was only at Foundation Establishment Layer Eight, was beyond their comprehension.

Qin Yuan seized this opportunity to thoroughly understand the rules of the Personal Disciple Competition.

The so-called Personal Disciple Competition was, in essence, an important assessment for the distribution of resources among the nine peaks of the Xuan Yuan Sect.

It occurred every three years. Each peak would send personal disciples to lead ten Inner Sect disciples into a secret realm controlled by the sect, the "Xuan Yuan Small Realm," to compete.

The rules were simple and brutal: eliminate disciples from other peaks and collect heavenly materials and earthly treasures from the secret realm.

Finally, rankings would be determined based on the total value of eliminated disciples from each peak and the resources harvested. Peaks with higher rankings would receive a larger resource allocation for the next three years.

"In the last competition, our Fifth Peak came in ninth place, dead last," an Inner Sect disciple named Zhou De explained to Qin Yuan with a crestfallen expression. "Our resource allocation was cut by twenty percent, affecting the cultivation of many junior brothers and sisters."

"With Senior Brother Qin here this time, we're sure to make a comeback!" another burly disciple named Zhao Tiezhu exclaimed excitedly, waving his fist. He was one of the few disciples at Foundation Establishment Layer Four in the Fifth Peak Inner Sect, possessed a straightforward personality, and greatly admired Qin Yuan.

Qin Yuan said nothing, merely noting this information silently.

During these two days, aside from familiarizing himself with Fifth Peak's affairs, he spent the rest of his time cultivating.

He still had forty years of cultivation stored in the System, plus the twenty years extracted daily. He had been attempting to break through his cultivation realm for two consecutive days.

With the aid of the Xuan Yuan Token, his cultivation advanced at an astonishing speed.

By the evening of the second day, he reached Foundation Establishment Layer Nine.

By the morning of the third day, he reached Foundation Establishment Layer Ten.

By the evening of the third day, Qin Yuan sat cross-legged in the Listening Bamboo Garden, preparing for his final breakthrough attempt.

Moonlight poured down like water, illuminating the courtyard.

Qin Yuan took out the bottle of Core Condensing Pills gifted by Elder Xu and swallowed three of them.

The pills melted in his mouth, transforming into a torrent of pure spiritual energy that surged into his dantian. Simultaneously, he moved his mind:

"Extract today's twenty years of cultivation."

BOOM--!!!

The familiar fiery torrent erupted once more from the depths of his dantian, merging with the spiritual energy from the pills. It transformed into a monstrous wave that fiercely battered the barrier of Foundation Establishment Layer Ten!

This breakthrough attempt was exceptionally difficult.

Foundation Establishment Layer Ten was already the peak of Foundation Establishment in conventional understanding. The next step was to condense a Golden Core and truly step onto the threshold of immortal cultivation.

This barrier was as solid as a rock. Ordinary cultivators would need decades of arduous practice to wear down even a sliver of it.

However, under the dual impact of the twenty years of cultivation injected by the System and the Core Condensing Pills, the impregnable barrier began to crack.

Crack... Crack...

Faint cracking sounds echoed within his body.

Qin Yuan gritted his teeth, guiding all his spiritual energy to strike the fissure again and again.

Each strike brought a pain akin to his meridians tearing apart, but he remained motionless.

After an unknown amount of time.

It felt like a century, yet it was also like a single instant.

"RUMBLE--!!!"

A deafening roar sounded in his mind, and the barrier of Foundation Establishment Layer Ten shattered completely!

However, the expected condensation of a Golden Core did not occur.

Instead, there was a peculiar sense of "emptiness"—as if after reaching the summit of a mountain, he discovered an even vaster sky above.

His spiritual energy did not transform into a Golden Core. Instead, it continued to compress, refine, and sublimate within his dantian's sea of energy. The liquid spiritual energy began to emit a faint golden luster, each drop containing immense power far exceeding what he had before. The sea of energy itself expanded, growing from a radius of two zhang to three, four, and five zhang...

Finally, the sea of energy stabilized at a radius of seven zhang, with all his spiritual energy transforming into a pale gold hue, rippling in his dantian like a golden lake.

Qin Yuan opened his eyes.

A flash of golden light flickered in his pupils before returning to their profound depths.

He slowly raised his right hand, opened his five fingers, and then gently clenched his fist. A faint popping sound echoed in the air—the sound of pure power compressing the air.

Foundation Establishment Extreme Realm.

Not the "pseudo-extreme realm" of the Qi Refining Stage, but the true, legendary, and exceedingly rare Foundation Establishment Extreme Realm!

Qin Yuan could clearly feel that he was at least three times stronger than when he was at the peak of Foundation Establishment Layer Ten!

His total spiritual energy, purity, physical strength, and divine sense range... all had improved comprehensively!

What surprised him even more was his divine sense!

Previously, at the Foundation Establishment Stage, his divine sense could at most be projected outwards for exploration and sensing his surroundings. But now, not only had his divine sense range exploded to a thousand zhang, but it also possessed various wondrous abilities—

With a mere thought, his divine sense extended like silk threads, silently "seeing" Zhao Tiezhu in the adjacent courtyard sleeping soundly, his snores like thunder.

Further away, Zhou Ming was studying a cultivation technique jade slip under the lamplight, his expression focused. Even further, the trajectory of Fifth Peak's protective mountain formation was clearly visible within his divine sense.

He could even "hear" every tremor of the wind blowing through the bamboo leaves, and "smell" the faint scent of earthworms turning over in the soil late at night.

This was not the spiritual sense strength a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator should possess!

This had already... touched the threshold of the Golden Core stage!

"As expected," Qin Yuan muttered to himself, "Foundation Establishment Extreme Realm isn't just a realm, but an all-around sublimation."

He felt the surging power within his body, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Tomorrow's direct disciple competition would be interesting.

On the morning of the fourth day, at the main peak plaza of the Xuan Yuan Sect.

When Qin Yuan arrived with the ten Inner Sect disciples of Fifth Peak, quite a few people had already gathered in the plaza.

Looking around, most of them were from mid-tier peaks like Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh. They had arrived early and were gathered together, talking in low voices, their gazes occasionally sweeping towards the plaza entrance, clearly waiting for the truly powerful peaks to appear.

"Senior Brother Qin, over there is Sixth Peak. Their leader is the direct disciple Zhang Hai, at Foundation Establishment Layer eight." Zhou De introduced in a low voice, "Seventh Peak is... oh, Seventh Peak hasn't arrived yet. Eighth Peak and Tenth Peak have also arrived. Their strength is similar to ours at Fifth Peak, both at the bottom."

Qin Yuan nodded, his gaze sweeping across the scene.

As Zhou Ming had said, most of the disciples from the various peaks present were between Foundation Establishment Layer four and eight. The direct disciples were also mainly at Foundation Establishment Layer seven or eight. The occasional Foundation Establishment Layer nine was already the focus of everyone's attention.

"It seems the powerful peaks have some pride and like to make their entrance last," Zhao Tiezhu sneered.

As soon as he finished speaking, a commotion arose at the plaza entrance.

A group of people walked in.

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