At last...

[With the Foundation Establishment Pill in hand, every moment of delay could bring unforeseen complications.]

[Since you had also pushed every aspect of your preparations to the limit, you naturally intended to attempt a breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm immediately.]

[You put away the Jade Box containing the Foundation Establishment Pill and headed for the immortal city's cultivation abode district.]

[Azure Moon Immortal City was divided into the outer city, inner city, and core. The inner city's cultivation abode district offered abodes on a second-tier spirit vein, fulfilling the external requirements for advancing from Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment.]

[Walking along the inner city's streets, your gaze remained calm as you constantly adjusted your condition.]

[This condition referred not to your physical state, but to your state of mind.]

[After two simulations and more than a hundred years, you had finally touched the threshold of the Foundation Establishment Realm.]

[Compared with cultivators at the Qi Refining Stage, Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators were entirely different in status, standing, and strength.]

[Their lifespans alone made that clear.]

[The maximum lifespan of a Qi Refining Stage cultivator was a hundred and twenty years.]

[Some long-lived mortals could also live for more than a hundred years.]

[Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators, however, enjoyed two hundred years of life.]

[Compared with ordinary mortals, they could no longer even be considered the same species.]

[That was to say nothing of the terrifying destructive power Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators could unleash with a mere movement.]

[Traveling through the air, soaring through the heavens, and burrowing through the earth were all within a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator's capabilities.]

[Before long, you arrived at the inner city's cultivation abode district.]

["I'd like to rent a mid-grade second-tier cultivation abode for one month."]

[You looked at the female cultivator at reception and said directly, "For an attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm."]

[Cultivators rented abodes either for their ordinary cultivation or for breakthroughs.]

[The prices for these two purposes were not the same.]

[The latter required far more spirit stones than the former.]

[During ordinary cultivation, cultivators absorbed and released spiritual energy gradually, without affecting their surroundings.]

[Breakthroughs were different, especially breakthroughs between major realms. They stirred up vortices of spiritual energy, affecting the spiritual energy in the surrounding area.]

[Simply put, renting an abode for ordinary cultivation gave you just that one abode.]

[But an abode used for a breakthrough had to have a stable spiritual energy environment around it, which could involve the area occupied by several nearby abodes, or even more.]

["A mid-grade second-tier cultivation abode for a Foundation Establishment Realm breakthrough attempt, for one month, will cost two thousand spirit stones."]

[The female cultivator at reception showed no unusual reaction.]

[Outside, in the various market towns, for instance, years might pass without a single cultivator at Qi Refining Perfection attempting Foundation Establishment.]

[But in Azure Moon Immortal City? Almost every few days, a cultivator at Qi Refining Perfection came to attempt Foundation Establishment.]

[Most cultivators at Qi Refining Perfection chose low-grade second-tier abodes, however. A low-grade second-tier spirit vein environment generally fulfilled the external requirements for attempting Foundation Establishment.]

[You wanted to be safe. Even if it increased your chances by only the tiniest amount, you did not mind spending more spirit stones.]

[You took out the two thousand spirit stones you had prepared long ago and were then led to a cultivation abode.]

[The abode covered several hundred square meters and was rich in spiritual energy. Even mortals could prolong their lives by staying here for an extended period.]

[You sat cross-legged at the very center of the abode and began your final adjustments.]

[Having finished adjusting your condition, you no longer hesitated. You immediately activated the Foundation Establishment method within the Mountain Sea Art, and the rich mountain sea mana in your body began circulating rapidly.]

[Using the Foundation Establishment method to draw in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, you faintly formed a spiritual energy vortex high above the abode in an instant. Vast as an ocean, spiritual energy poured in rapidly.]

[As spiritual energy flooded your body, you had to face the qi-blood trial, one of the three Foundation Establishment trials.]

[The qi-blood trial was also called the physical body trial or the physique trial. What you had to do in this trial was withstand the immense spiritual energy of heaven and earth with your physical body.]

[If you could not withstand it, you would naturally fail the qi-blood trial and your Foundation Establishment attempt.]

[Why were cultivators' hopes of breaking through in their twilight years so vanishingly slim? Because their qi-blood had declined, leaving their bodies unable to withstand the enhancement brought by the transformation of their realm.]

[The immense spiritual energy of heaven and earth poured endlessly into your body.]

[You had already cultivated the Mountain Sea Body Refining Art to its third level. Your physique alone was enough to rival a late Qi Refining Stage cultivator, so withstanding this spiritual energy was naturally effortless.]

[Soon, you passed the qi-blood trial of the three Foundation Establishment trials without a hitch.]

[The second Foundation Establishment trial: the mana trial.]

[How did mana change in the transition from Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment?]

[The mana of Qi Refining Stage cultivators was gaseous, while the mana of Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators was liquid.]

[Thus, the so-called mana trial was the process of transforming mana from a gaseous state into a liquid state.]

[This trial was extremely difficult. If your mana contained even the slightest impurity and could not smoothly transform into liquid, you would fail the mana trial.]

["The mountain sea mana I've cultivated is incomparably rich and pure. This shouldn't be much of a problem."]

[You began controlling your mana, condensing it toward a liquid state.]

[At the same time, you took out the Foundation Establishment Pill and swallowed it in one gulp.]

[The greatest use of a Foundation Establishment Pill was to purify mana and promote its transformation into liquid.]

[Protecting the heart meridians and ensuring a cultivator could survive a failed Foundation Establishment attempt was merely an additional effect of the Foundation Establishment Pill.]

[Cultivators who bought Foundation Establishment Pills did not hope to have any use for this protection of their heart meridians.]

[As strand after strand of mountain sea mana was continually compressed and gathered in your dantian, the first drop of liquid mana faintly began to take shape.]

["Liquid mana?"]

[You carefully sensed the drop of liquid mana condensed in your dantian. An invisible spiritual pressure began to spread.]

[The reason a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator could sweep aside Qi Refining Stage cultivators with any casual spell was that liquid mana stood above gaseous mana.]

[For an ordinary cultivator newly entering the Foundation Establishment Realm, all the gaseous mana in their body could ultimately transform into nine drops of liquid mana. But the Mountain Sea Art was renowned for its richness, allowing it to ultimately transform into thirteen drops of liquid mana...]

[Several days passed. As drop after drop of liquid mana took shape, thirteen drops now floated within your dantian, radiating invisible spiritual pressure.]

[The mana trial, passed.]

[Having passed the qi-

blood trial and the mana trial, more than ten days had already passed in the outside world.]

[Normally, an attempt to advance from Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment would take no more than twenty days if all went smoothly.]

[Because you condensed more liquid mana than ordinary cultivators, you took a little longer.]

["**Divine sense trial!**"]

[Your mind was tranquil as you sank into your sea of consciousness.]

[Across two simulations and more than a hundred years, you had spent no less time refining pills than cultivating.]

[Refining pills required controlling earthfire and blending medicinal properties, placing very high demands on an Alchemist's control of divine sense.]

[Thus, you were also confident about the divine sense trial of the three Foundation Establishment trials.]

[Just as you began undergoing the divine sense trial, outside, the Mountain Sea Ring on your right index finger slowly began to change.]

[Originally, the Mountain Sea Ring had been sky blue overall, with only a negligible trace of crimson radiance flowing through it.]

[But now, those wisps of crimson radiance began churning rapidly. Red as blood and vast as an ocean, they completely transformed the sky-blue Mountain Sea Ring into a blood-red ring in the blink of an eye.]

[The blood-red ring seemed to contain a boundless sea of blood.]

[Wisps of blood-red aura rose from the ring, condensing into an illusory blood-colored figure nearby.]

[Watching you break through with your eyes closed, the illusory blood-colored figure seemed to have spotted an incomparably delicious morsel and let out a long, distant sigh.]

["At last..."]