Foundation Establishment

The days passed one by one, until, on the eighth day, Zhang Erhu finally reached minor mastery in Xingyi Quan and successfully advanced to the Houtian Realm.

Of course, that achievement also owed much to the various spiritual treasures Su Ye had given him. As far as aptitude went, Zhang Erhu's could only be described as truly ordinary.

That day, Zhang Erhu was practicing Xingyi Quan beside the shelter as usual. He had now thoroughly mastered the Three-Body Stance, and whenever he had spare time, he would help water the orange grove and do other such tasks.

Now that Zhang Erhu had entered the Houtian Realm, he could vaguely sense that there was something different about the farm. At the very least, he felt comfortable here.

That was clearly because of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Su Ye had set up two small Spirit Gathering Arrays on the farm alone (later, another pool was built in the center of the greenhouse, and Su Ye carved a Spirit Gathering Array into it as well).

As a result, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth on the farm was denser than elsewhere.

All sorts of fruits and vegetables had now been planted in the greenhouse, and Su Ye watered them with water from the spirit pool almost every day.

Seemingly tired from practicing, Zhang Erhu walked under the shelter and poured himself a cup of spirit tea brewed with spiritual energy water.

At that moment, Su Ye was watering the vegetables in the greenhouse. A person with an ordinary physique naturally wouldn't have been able to endure the heat inside, but Su Ye hardly felt it.

After finishing the watering, Su Ye emerged from the greenhouse and came under the shelter. As he poured himself a cup of tea, he said to Zhang Erhu:

"How's your Xingyi Quan practice going?"

Zhang Erhu took a sip of tea and answered Su Ye:

"Brother Ye, I've learned the Three-Body Stance, but I can't quite find my way into the second stage, the Five Elements Fist."

The Three-Body Stance in Xingyi Quan dealt mostly with one's positioning in a fight, with very little instruction on methods of attack.

Once one reached the Five Elements Fist stage, however, it was mostly about various methods of attack.

"The Five Elements Fist in Xingyi Quan consists of five fists: splitting, drilling, crushing, cannon and crossing. They correspond to metal, wood, water, fire and earth among the five elements. Try to bring the five elements of heaven and earth together with your own Five Elements Fist."

Su Ye explained this to Zhang Erhu.

"Take splitting, for example. You should connect it with metal. Metal is about the momentum of striking decisively and pressing forward without hesitation. Try it as I've described in a moment."

With that bit of guidance from Su Ye, Zhang Erhu basically understood.

He then took a great gulp of tea, set the cup on the table and rose to practice his fists nearby.

That's the kind of drive I want... Su Ye murmured in his heart.

Seeing Zhang Erhu so full of drive, Su Ye drank a few more sips of tea and walked somewhere Zhang Erhu couldn't see him.

With a flash, Su Ye vanished from the real world and appeared in the Immortal Spirit Space.

Su Ye took a spirit stone from his storage bag and held it in his palm. Then he sat cross-legged, circulated the Taihe Sixteen Grotto-Heavens cultivation technique and began absorbing the spiritual energy within the stone.

Two months passed in this manner. During those two months, unless something important came up, Su Ye absolutely didn't go out and have fun. He even turned Xiao Xiao down when she called to invite him out.

That day on the farm, Zhang Erhu was unusually not practicing his fists. Instead, he was playing with the four little black dogs under the shelter nearby.

Just now, he had successfully mastered all the Five Elements Fists in Xingyi Quan. He was now a Xiantian-level expert.

However, he had advanced so quickly entirely because he had been eating Su Ye's various spiritual treasures as though they were meals.

Zhang Erhu was clearly aware of the immense kindness Su Ye had shown him, and he had come to share his joy with Su Ye as soon as he broke through.

But he searched the entire farm without catching sight of Su Ye, so he sat under the shelter and played with the puppies.

Only a little over two months had passed, but the four little black dogs had grown considerably. Their eyes were bright and lively, and they were full of spiritual energy.

Su Ye guessed that, if they continued developing like this and were still fed various vegetables and water containing spiritual energy, they might just advance into spirit dogs.

After playing with the puppies for a while, Zhang Erhu headed back to Su Ye's house, unaware that the Su Ye he had searched so hard for was cultivating in the Immortal Spirit Space.

After two months apart, Su Ye's bearing had changed considerably, becoming more restrained. Unless someone observant studied him carefully, they would probably have thought he was just an ordinary person.

But Su Ye was no ordinary person now. At this moment, he was in seclusion, drenched in sweat as he tried to break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage.

It was said that, in the era before spiritual energy had been depleted, people with poor aptitude could take a Foundation Establishment Pill to increase their chances of successfully establishing their foundation.

Su Ye knew the formula for refining the Foundation Establishment Pill, but he didn't know how to refine pills. He couldn't even recognize more than a few of the ingredients.

Where was he supposed to find a Foundation Establishment Pill?

In the end, Su Ye consumed a great quantity of spiritual treasures and prepared a large number of spirit stones to substitute for the effects of a Foundation Establishment Pill. The vast, pure spiritual energy rampaged through his body as though it were about to burst him apart.

Su Ye circulated the Taihe Sixteen Grotto-Heavens, struggling to keep himself from passing out. Only just now had the spiritual energy finally calmed down.

Having absorbed the spiritual energy from a great quantity of spiritual treasures, Su Ye now felt as though his entire body held an inexhaustible supply of strength.

Su Ye gathered his spiritual power and charged at the threshold of the Foundation Establishment Stage, but the gate was like solid steel and didn't budge. He then gathered his spiritual energy and slammed into it again and again.

Finally, after countless collisions, a crack appeared in the gate. By then, however, Su Ye had little spiritual power left in his body, enough to support at most three more attempts to break through the Foundation Establishment threshold.

He couldn't allow himself to be distracted during a breakthrough, so he couldn't interrupt his state and withdraw to absorb spiritual energy. Otherwise, not only would all his previous efforts be wasted, but he would also be very likely to suffer a cultivation deviation.

Su Ye gathered his spiritual energy once more and slammed it against the gate.

"Boom!!!"

The crack in the gate grew considerably larger, but Su Ye had only enough strength left for two more impacts.

Su Ye gathered a second surge of spiritual power and sent it charging at the gate. The cracks grew even larger, covering nearly a third of it.

This is the final strike. Whether I succeed or not depends on this, Su Ye said inwardly.

Seemingly having made up his mind, Su Ye gathered the last of his spiritual power and sent it charging at the gate.

"Boom!!!"

The spiritual power struck the gate. By now, cracks covered it from top to bottom, but it still refused to break.

Su Ye knew that one more strike would surely shatter the gate, but he was already at the end of his strength. He couldn't squeeze another trace of spiritual power out of his body.

Su Ye felt despair.

"Crack!!!"

The instant Su Ye fell into despair, the cracked gate suddenly collapsed, shattering into pieces on the ground.