Chapter 103: The Era of Foundation Establishment Method Creation

Some rules may seem absurd, but behind them must have occurred even more absurd events.

Zhang Yunlu returned with water to her desk, sat down on the sofa, and inserted three crystal cards into their slots.

The content of one of the crystal cards was quickly read, projecting a light screen—《Chi Jiuyu's Reflections on Establishing the Creation Dao Base》.

As the name suggests, this was Chi Jiuyu's personal reflections after establishing his Creation Dao Base.

After flipping through it for a while, Zhang Yunlu found the content surprisingly good.

It not only detailed Chi Jiuyu's own sensations after Foundation Establishment, but also compared them with the reflections of other Creation Base cultivators.

The writing was fluent, concise, and to the point.

How to put it…

Many people, the moment they saw this reflection, the first thought that popped into their minds was…

Did Xiao Shu Zu really write this?

Didn't she hire someone to ghostwrite it? But Zhang Yunlu never thought so.

With a light tap, the content of another crystal card was projected beside Chi Jiuyu's reflections.

This time, it was not the reflection of any Creation Base cultivator, but an essay written by a senior elder of the Transmission Hall, summarizing most of the Foundation Establishment reflections within the hall.

Because its content was far longer than Chi Jiuyu's reflection, it took her over an hour to finish reading it all.

Without pausing, Zhang Yunlu drank some water and opened the book 《On the Three Tiers of Foundation Establishment》.

Since all these books were about Foundation Establishment, she planned to skim through them first, compare their content, then reread them carefully.

《On the Three Tiers of Foundation Establishment》, author unknown, this book describes the origins and cultivation methods of the three types of Foundation Establishment: External Artifact, Heaven-Born, and Creation.

According to the book, originally there were no External Artifact or Creation Foundation Establishment methods—only Heaven-Born Dao Base, the perfect Foundation Establishment.

Absorbing starlight, solar essence, and lunar essence was mandatory for every cultivator seeking Foundation Establishment.

Later, a group of exceptionally gifted cultivators emerged and, building upon the Heaven-Born Dao Base, pioneered the further advancement of Creation Foundation Establishment.

Its essence was replacing the "brine curdling tofu" effect of heavenly treasures and divine essences with principles one had personally comprehended, gaining greater combat power and longer lifespan.

But whether Heaven-Born or Creation, both were too difficult, causing the number of cultivators to remain low.

Thus, the first group of cultivators who established Creation Dao Bases gathered to discuss and created a less difficult method with slightly reduced combat power—the "External Artifact Foundation Establishment Method."

During that time, a hundred schools contended, and bizarre, strange Foundation Establishment methods emerged endlessly.

There was the Divine Ability Foundation Establishment Method, which condensed a divine ability seed to form the Dao Base through a single overwhelming divine ability.

The Spirit-Planting Foundation Establishment Method, which implanted heavenly spirits into the body.

And the Demon Blood Foundation Establishment Method, which hunted demonic races and absorbed their essence blood.

But later, people discovered that cultivators using the Demon Blood Foundation Establishment Method were influenced by the beastly nature within the demonic blood; the most severe cases lost their true selves, so it was abolished.

Besides the Demon Blood Foundation Establishment Method, some extreme cultivators devised the brutally cruel Spirit-Refining Foundation Establishment Method.

Strip a thousand skins, extract ten thousand bones, seize souls and refine spirits, nurture in a blood pool, sit within it for ninety-nine days to forge the foundation.

Until later, Hehuan Laozu of Jishigu created the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Cultivators who used the Foundation Establishment Pill not only avoided hindering their future progress, but also faced far lower difficulty than those bizarre methods.

Although their initial combat power was weaker than top-tier Divine Ability Foundation Establishment cultivators, it could be compensated through later learning.

In later stages, their combat power would surpass the single-minded Divine Ability Foundation Establishment cultivators.

One could say, the appearance of the Foundation Establishment Pill truly ended that absurd era of Foundation Establishment method creation.

Even today, the superior Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid used during Foundation Establishment remains an improvement built upon the Foundation Establishment Pill.

"So that's it—Creation Foundation Establishment replaces the 'heavenly treasure divine essence' effect with one's own comprehended principle," Zhang Yunlu murmured softly as she closed the book, closing her eyes, "the Foundation Establishment Method Creation Era…"

Though only fragments from the book, she could imagine the cruelty and absurdity of that era.

One thing she didn't understand: why were Creation Foundation Establishment cultivators so obsessed with increasing the number of cultivators, when the broad road was already before them?

She had always liked studying the history of the Ancient Cultivation Realm; after reading this, she couldn't help but ponder. "Was it because of external enemies?"

It seemed only this possibility made sense.

After resting a while, she turned her gaze to 《A New Compilation of the Human Body as a Microcosm of Heaven and Earth》.

"How do you feel?"

At that moment, a withered voice suddenly came from her ear.

Looking up, she saw the old woman she had met before had somehow arrived inside and was quietly watching her.

Wrinkled skin, aged face, and hunched posture made her appear no different from any ordinary elderly person.

Zhang Yunlu did not dare to be negligent; she immediately rose and bowed respectfully.

"Elder."

"No need for such formalities," the old woman continued. "After reading 《On the Three Tiers of Foundation Establishment》, how do you feel?"

How do you feel?

"… " After a moment of thought, she chose to speak honestly: "It was an absurd yet deeply admirable era."

"Absurd…" the old woman laughed, her expression less gentle than the Sect Master's, even somewhat terrifying. "Indeed, it was an absurd era."

"But as you said, that era also had many admirable people."

The old woman lifted her head; unlike her aged appearance, her eyes were extremely bright.

"What principle have you comprehended?"

The Master Jianzu brought this young girl back but did not take her as a disciple, so she had developed interest.

A young girl who comprehended a principle—leaving her unguided would be a waste.

"Disciple…"

"I am the head of the Transmission Hall; you need not be nervous," the old woman said gently, perhaps sensing her tension.

"The principle I have comprehended is the principle of peril—life born from facing death."

The principle of danger? The meaning of life through facing death?

The head of the Transmission Hall paused, and in an instant understood the reason.

So that's how it was—no wonder the Master Jianzu never took him as a disciple.

…………

Inside the Inner Sect's Great Hall of the Master Jianzu.

Xu Xing sensed something, and glanced downward.

"So it's Senior Sister Ji…"

When the Sword Sect was founded, besides Xu Xing and Bie Xuening, there were other like-minded companions who also practiced the sword.

The old woman who met Zhang Yunlu was one of them.

Because she had lived so long, she had held nearly every position in the sect except that of Sect Master.

When Xu Xing entered seclusion, she was not yet the head of the Transmission Hall, but the Silutangtang.

Moreover, she disliked the Inner Sect, finding it too desolate.

Compared to her contemporaries among cultivators, she preferred to associate with younger junior cultivators.

Who would have thought she now took interest in Zhang Yunlu?

Second update; another chapter coming later.

(End of chapter)