Rumble—rumble—rumble! Several thunderclaps rang out in succession. Countless beads condensed from the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi suddenly appeared throughout the air. Within dozens of miles around Tranquil Valley, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was instantly drained dry, drawn by an immense suction force and pouring into the mountain.
Inside the cave within the mountain, the dense blood-red mist had already been forced into the cave's four corners by a hurricane formed from Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. Zhang Qingxiao sat cross-legged, his face neither joyous nor sorrowful. As the pressure radiating from him steadily increased, the surging Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi poured in through the crown of his head and entered the meridians within his body. Those tiny droplets slowly revolved around him as well, and many of them would occasionally merge into his body.
Several more days passed before the cave gradually returned to calm. The dense blood-red mist once again spread toward the cave's center, but an invisible restriction seemed to surround Zhang Qingxiao's body, forcing the mist several zhang away so that the blood mist could not approach him.
"Hahaha~" Zhang Qingxiao's body stirred, and he rose from the ground with a look of intoxication. "Good heavens, so this is what Foundation Establishment is like! Li Zongbao, Li Zongbao, I've established my foundation too! One day, I'll make you take a sword from me! Ah, no, that fellow who gave me a sword seemed to be Xiao Hua. My little junior brother... if I stabbed him once, wouldn't his soul scatter and spirit dissipate? Forget it!"
"Hmm, counting on my fingers, it's been over a year. Going from the twelfth layer of Qi Cultivation to Foundation Establishment really is an exceedingly difficult step. If not for Tiānqì's accumulated foundation, I could never have set