Chapter 74: The Water Flows and the Channel Forms
Half a month later.
Inside the cave abode.
Lin Chang'an entered a meditative state, adjusting his essence, energy, and spirit. The surging power of the Evergreen Art within his body gathered at his dantian.
"Foundation Establishment at fifty-four! Evergreen Art! Three Foundation Establishment Pills, ninety-five percent chance of success!"
Lin Chang'an opened his eyes, revealing a calm expression. Without the slightest hesitation, with a flick of his finger, the second-rank Spirit-Calming Incense before him was already ignited.
"Gulp!"
A premium-grade Foundation Establishment Pill was swallowed. Lin Chang'an focused on returning to his origin, closed his eyes, and began the charge toward Foundation Establishment.
The first trial: the physical body!
During the breakthrough to Foundation Establishment, imperfections in the body, insufficient blood essence, or even simply advanced age could all impact success.
Fortunately, Lin Chang'an hadn't spent recent years battling spirit beasts. Combined with the nourishment from the Evergreen Art, there were not many hidden injuries within his body.
"At this moment, the advantage of the Evergreen Art truly shows itself."
Lin Chang'an sat cross-legged on a jade cushion. The medicinal power of the Foundation Establishment Pill took effect within him, and his body began to absorb the external heaven and earth spiritual energy without restraint.
The spiritual power in his body transformed into a continuous flood, surging and cleansing within.
His skin turned red, and his internal meridians endured the rampaging spiritual power.
The second trial: spiritual power.
Over the years, his cultivation had advanced one solid step at a time.
Especially since his foundation was solid, and he cultivated the Evergreen Art, known for its emphasis on fundamentals.
If Qi Refinement spiritual power was gaseous, then a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s was liquid.
This was the crux of Foundation Establishment — the qualitative transformation of spiritual power.
If one had consumed too many pills before, their spiritual power would be impure.
"My supreme-realm Evergreen Art is renowned for its purity of spiritual power. Though I’ve taken pills to advance my cultivation, the issue is minor!"
Lin Chang'an clenched his teeth. Each wash of spiritual power inside his body was like a giant wave sifting through sand, purging impurities. At this point, a faint layer of filth had begun to appear on the surface of his skin.
As the surging spiritual power continued to circulate, it had begun to show signs of condensing — the prelude to transformation.
The third trial: divine sense.
The rampaging and transforming spiritual power required his divine sense for the final step — control and compression — to complete the transformation.
His divine sense may have been ordinary, but with the aid of pure spiritual power and the premium-grade Foundation Establishment Pill, the power within was relatively easier to control.
The misty spiritual power in his dantian circulated rapidly, growing increasingly dense. Body, spiritual power, and divine sense — the three elements of essence, energy, and spirit — combined to form the final transformation.
Divine sense controlled and compressed spiritual power.
Spiritual power remained potent.
The body endured smoothly and perfectly.
At last, the transformation began!
[Realm: Ninth Level of Qi Refinement +1 (98/100)]
At this moment, under Lin Chang'an's tightly furrowed brow, his attribute panel showed that the experience of Ninth Level of Qi Refinement had reached 98 at the instant of spiritual power's transformation.
滴答!
Time passed without clear measure. Lin Chang'an could distinctly feel the first drop of pure liquid spiritual power appear within his dantian.
With the appearance of the first drop, the second and third slowly began to condense as well.
Just as Lin Chang'an charged toward Foundation Establishment, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth outside the cave abode suddenly surged. However, this was Tianxuan City, where the rich and vast spiritual energy continuously flowed in through the formations.
Someone outside exclaimed, "Look, someone’s charging toward Foundation Establishment again!"
The spiritual energy in Tianxuan City — even a hundred people breaking through to Foundation Establishment at once wouldn’t affect it. It was merely a slight fluctuation in the local heaven and earth spiritual energy.
...
However, inside the cave abode, Lin Chang'an was frowning deeply, gritting his teeth and enduring.
"The strength is faltering!"
[Realm: Ninth Level of Qi Refinement (99/100)]
Lin Chang'an happened to be stuck at the final step. He gritted his teeth and held on without the slightest panic, directly swallowing the second Foundation Establishment Pill.
At this moment, he finally understood why spiritual roots were divided into various grades.
"The grade of spiritual roots and the speed of cultivation seriously affect the efficiency of transformation during breakthrough."
Had he possessed a high-grade spiritual root, he might have already broken through. However, as someone with a low-grade spiritual root, Lin Chang'an now found that the qualitative transformation of spiritual power within his body had obviously slowed, unable to complete fully.
"The jade slip from Yun Yao once mentioned that different grades of spiritual roots also result in different quality and speed of spiritual power transformation, along with differences in cultivation techniques."
These minute differences that might usually go unnoticed became shackles at the critical moment of breakthrough.
Even so, Lin Chang'an cultivated the Evergreen Art — it might not stand out in the early stages, but as his cultivation deepened, its purity was no less than others.
Especially since he practiced the supreme-realm Evergreen Art, this had already raised his chances of success.
...
Several days later!
Inside Lin Chang'an’s cave abode, the vortex of spiritual energy gradually dissipated. Immediately afterward, a surge of pressure from the Foundation Establishment Realm swept out.
[Realm: Early-stage Foundation Establishment (2/100)]
"Thirty bitter years of cultivation, and I’ve finally reached Foundation Establishment!"
The cave abode echoed with Lin Chang'an’s hearty laughter, and in the end, he even let out a long howl to release the oppression in his chest.
His path to Foundation Establishment hadn’t been as full of twists and legendary experiences as those other geniuses of the cultivation world.
It was simply a matter of accumulation — until the water flowed and the channel formed.
Even due to the effect of two premium-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, the surplus spiritual power in his body allowed his cultivation to advance slightly after reaching Foundation Establishment.
"I'm terrifyingly strong now!"
With a smile of excitement, Lin Chang'an felt the transformation in his body. In this chaotic world of cultivation, he finally had some power to protect himself.
"Now that I’ve become a Foundation Establishment cultivator, I shouldn’t end up as cannon fodder anymore."
He was no longer an ant in the Qi Refinement stage, but a powerhouse of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
In a small place like the Bamboo Mountain Marketplace, he was enough to be called a Foundation Establishment Ancestor.
As Lin Chang'an stepped out of the secret chamber, a cold wind swept past, and the scenery of Tianxuan City caused him to pause in surprise.
Snow was already falling heavily outside, and Tianxuan City was draped in a layer of silver frost.
"Congratulations, senior, on attaining Foundation Establishment. May your immortal path be evergreen."
As he came out, the late-stage Qi Refinement steward responsible for this place approached with a face full of envy and offered congratulations with practiced ease.
"How long have I been in seclusion?"
Lin Chang'an gazed blankly at the changed world. He remembered that before he went into seclusion, it was still the crisp winds of autumn outside — now, in a blink, the world had turned into one of wind and snow.
He felt dazed for a moment, as if he had just emerged from a cave where a day passed like a thousand years in the world outside.
"Senior, you’ve been in seclusion for two months and twenty-seven days since you began your breakthrough."
Nearly three months!
Lin Chang'an sighed inwardly. So this was the life of a cultivator.
The Qi Refinement stage still fell within the realm of normalcy — at most superior to mortals — but after reaching Foundation Establishment, even heaven and earth felt different.
Even this most basic form of seclusion had shown him the true difference between immortals and mortals.
A Foundation Establishment cultivator’s seclusion lasted at least several months, sometimes even several years.
"So it’s already been that long."
Lin Chang'an tossed two spirit stones to the steward, who immediately grinned and cupped his hands flatteringly:
"Many thanks for senior’s reward."
After all, he was the first to offer congratulations. Lin Chang'an smiled lightly and nodded, then strode off in the direction of Yun Yao's cave abode.
After all, Yun Yao had helped him greatly during this Foundation Establishment — not only with refining the Foundation Establishment Pills, but also by vouching for his earlier formation purchases.
Especially that insight on Foundation Establishment — that was a priceless treasure.
...
"He succeeded in Foundation Establishment!"
After Lin Chang'an left, nearby people came over to inquire, and were soon filled with envy and yearning.
Naturally, there were also some who couldn't help feeling jealous.
"Fifty-four years old, a premium-grade first-rank Talisman Master — no wonder he succeeded."
"Exactly. We common rogue cultivators don’t get opportunities like that."
A group of rogue cultivators murmured to each other. Fifty-four years to reach Foundation Establishment wasn’t all that rare. It was said that Master Lu of the Blackwater Turtle reached Foundation Establishment when he was already in his seventies.