On Frostreturn Peak, Xu Xuan had sat motionless for two days, his aura still and silent. He stood upon the summit like an unyielding stone, and occasionally birds passed through the clouds and alighted on him.
He gazed at the pill in his hand, a crimson Dan faintly shedding rays of bloody light.
A precious Foundation Establishment Dan, the [Spirit-Gathering Blood Pill] could gather spiritual energy and increase cultivation, saving years of bitter practice. It could push Xu Xuan straight to the perfection of the fifth level of Qi Refining.
If Xu Xuan wanted to advance step by step, he would probably need another three years of hard work. Yet the Chen Household had sealed its mountain, and Zhu Yucheng's words still echoed in his heart.
He saw the current situation clearly: whichever household produced a Foundation Establishment cultivator first would gain the advantage.
Forcing his cultivation upward with a pill still carried hidden risks, but Xu Xuan could no longer afford to worry about them.
If the surrounding lands had been peaceful and stable, he could have devoted himself to arduous cultivation without concern. But Lotus Temple and Black Wind Valley were both making moves now. He truly could not wait.
"How could everything be flawless? If I quibbled over such things, there would always be someone with better techniques, a better lineage, or more resources. Would I then do nothing but wallow in self-pity?"
Wen Fufeng had protected the Great Red Abbey for many years. Now that Xu Xuan was its main pillar, it naturally fell to him to pave the way for the next generation.
"For little sects like ours, who knows how many generations of blood and tears it takes to produce someone of worth? Yet one careless move can wipe out the entire sect in an instant. Truly, we're as lowly as weeds by the roadside."
Xu Xuan did not mind trading his own Dao Path for the sect's prosperity. What had kept him hesitating until now was, in truth, the pill's origin.
It had been refined from the blood and vital energy of mortals.
On the very night Wen Fufeng fell, a Daoist at the Foundation Establishment stage had sought out Xu Xuan. After threatening and intimidating him, the man had made him and Wang Xiwei swear not to reveal what had happened.
Xu Xuan still remembered that man's eyes: mocking, scornful, as though he had just watched a splendid show.
Before leaving, the Daoist had left this Dan, claiming it was compensation. But Xu Xuan had gradually come to understand the meaning hidden beneath that gesture.
Didn't you, Wen Fufeng, pride yourself on following the righteous path and protecting the common people under your rule? Then I'll give your disciple a precious Dan refined from mortal blood and vital energy, and see whether he takes it!
Although Xu Xuan had long since resolved to take the pill, he now found it difficult to put it in his mouth.
He watched the bloody energy upon it. That hazy, blood-colored glow seemed to keep shifting, gradually taking the shape of different faces.
There was Liu Shengshui, who had fed him hot soup; relatives from the Xu household, who had invited him inside to eat; Liu Fanhe, who had smiled as he asked him for medicine; and Liu Xiaowen, who had told him his name. Finally, it became a tender young face, resembling Xu Xuan's own as a child.
"In goodness, one becomes a Buddha or an immortal; in wickedness, one wears fur and bears horns. Immortal, demon, fiend, or Buddha-all lie but a single thought apart."
Wen Fufeng's kindly face, with its long brows, surfaced in Xu Xuan's heart. Those words his master had spoken years ago emerged from some forgotten corner, forcing him to think, forcing him to look.
The excuses he had used to deceive himself, the pressures from every side, and the sect's difficulties all vanished like smoke beneath those words.
If I consume this blood and vital energy, I will have betrayed my master's teachings.
Once that thought arose, however, Xu Xuan's mind settled.
A wrong deed is a wrong deed. A thousand excuses are useless. As long as the sect's legacy survives, then if there is another life, let me enter the animal realm. That, too, will be my karma.
The [Spirit-Gathering Blood Pill] entered his mouth. Xu Xuan thought no more, silently dissolving its medicinal power as his cultivation climbed little by little, until he reached the perfection of the fifth level of Qi Refining.
He waited a long time. At last, rain fell.
The dark clouds on the horizon seemed like a thousand mountains crashing down, like ten thousand armies pressing at the border. Lightning faintly surged within them, and thunderbolts exploded, their roars rolling for a hundred miles.
Xu Xuan, Wind-Riding, shot straight upward. Crimson clouds churned, tracing a red line across the darkened heavens. He looked at the ceaselessly trembling thunderclouds, as though Heaven itself were unleashing its wrath, and laughed.
His laughter rang out fiercely and exultantly, like subterranean fire long held under pressure, erupting skyward.
"Come!"
He activated his lightning-drawing method. Within his sea of qi, the [Mystic Prayer Thunderwood] blazed with light, continually changing with the thunder's roar as intricate cloud-and-lightning patterns appeared upon it.
The surging lightning poured down like the Celestial River bursting through its floodgates, drenching him from head to foot. His skin cracked inch by inch and turned charred black.
Xu Xuan felt neither joy nor sorrow. He seemed to have comprehended something. Within his sea of qi, a ray of lightning gradually condensed into shape, its vital force awakening and transforming his sea of qi, giving rise to wondrous properties.
His vitality grew weaker and weaker. At the same time, the lightning within his sea of qi grew ever more solid, changing from bright blue to deep purple as it circled the [Mystic Prayer Thunderwood] as though alive.
After an unknown length of time, the thunder dispersed, leaving the azure sky washed clean. Xu Xuan descended from the heavens.
He took out the [Essence-Nourishing Pill] and swallowed it to mend his injuries.
His charred skin peeled away inch by inch, revealing new skin beneath, like mutton-fat jade. His black hair gleamed, and his presence soared like a rainbow. He felt as though he had lived anew, his blood and vital energy surging straight toward the high heavens.
His sea of qi had now become an entirely different sight.
The [Mystic Prayer Thunderwood] stood rooted at its center. Above it, a streak of deep-purple lightning roamed like a heavenly dragon, constantly refining spiritual energy into a purer, lightning-flecked liquid. This gathered around the thunderwood, gradually forming a small Thunder Marsh.
Having formally attained his [Life Foundation] and broken through to the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining, Xu Xuan now held fully twice his previous reserves of magical power.
More importantly, the most powerful secret art in the Thunder Radiance Spirit-Inquiry Method, [Great Thunder-Prayer Radiance], now had the support of his Life Foundation. Its power had risen sharply, far beyond what it had been before.
If the monks of Lotus Temple come again, I'll at least have the strength to protect myself.
Not a single error, first released in full, all here to read!
With his breakthrough, the crimson cloud that had once borne him had also changed in nature, becoming a mass of dark cloud qi with lightning flickering within. Its speed far surpassed what it had been before.
In an instant, Xu Xuan reached Azure Sky Peak and found Wang Xiwei already waiting for him outside True Abode Hall. He did not know how long his senior brother had waited.
"Congratulations, junior brother! You've attained your Life Foundation. From this day onward, you've stepped through the gates of immortality, and Foundation Establishment is within sight!"
Seeing Xu Xuan unharmed, his presence even more imposing than before, Wang Xiwei knew he had succeeded.
Joy filled the man's brows. His face, usually as cold as iron, softened, and he could not keep a smile from appearing.
"It was all thanks to the spirit wood you prepared for me, senior brother. Otherwise, how could I have succeeded so easily?"
Xu Xuan smiled as well. The two exchanged a glance, everything understood without words, then walked up the mountain path together to offer a stick of incense in the Founders' Hall.
As the incense burned, Xu Xuan looked at his master's dark memorial tablet, thoughts faintly stirring within him. Beside him, however, Wang Xiwei said there was an important matter to discuss, so the two went out to the summit together.
"Your breakthrough to the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining is wonderful news, junior brother, but I have some good news of my own."
A hint of mystery crossed Wang Xiwei's face. Seeing Xu Xuan's surprise, he said in a low voice:
"Below White Stone Mountain, Chiyu discovered a precious tree of Foundation Establishment grade. Qiyun told me about it, saying only that the tree was quite extraordinary."
Upon hearing the news, Xu Xuan first felt a surge of delighted surprise, then worry. His alarm was like that of a child carrying gold through a crowded market.
Spiritual roots born of heaven and earth were mostly exceedingly rare, especially those of Foundation Establishment grade. Even Qi Refining-grade ones were seldom seen. Rejuvenation Mountain had a [Jade Beauty Bamboo], an incomplete Qi Refining spiritual root, yet that alone had allowed it to establish a sect and support countless disciples.
Such a precious tree was a spiritual treasure that could serve as a foundation and be passed down through generations. Its value probably exceeded even that of the abbey's mid-grade Foundation Establishment [Constant Light]. Moreover, it was something money could not buy, rarely seen at all.
"We absolutely must not let word leak out. If another household learns of it, our sect will never be able to hold on to it."
The two fellow disciples discussed the matter and reached a decision. They would find a suitable day to go and inspect it. Meanwhile, they would secretly tighten their surveillance of the people at White Stone, and if anything unusual arose, they would act with thunderous force.
Fierce winds swept across the summit, and birds gave long cries, as though startled.
(End of chapter)
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