Chapter 17: Ancient and Modern Foundation Establishment

Xu Xing noticed Zhang Yunlu; she had also seen him standing at the counter upon entering.

Huh? Did I missee?

Already ran into him? Zhang Yunlu was dazed—last night she'd been tormented again by that vision, and this morning she'd inexplicably advanced to Qi Condensation Ninth Layer.

So after breakfast, she came straight to the mall, hoping to inspect the medicinal herbs for Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid, to prepare for the upcoming Foundation Establishment.

After hesitating for a few seconds, she still walked up to Xu Xing.

"We meet again, Miss. Though I felt we'd surely cross paths again, I didn't expect fate to arrive so quickly."

"... I didn't expect it either." Zhang Yunlu paused. "The vision I see every night in my mind—is that your doing?"

"In a sense, yes. But witnessing a Dao Union Great Immortal's battle is also a fine opportunity for your current cultivation level." Xu Xing smiled. "How about it? Any insights these past two days?"

"Insights? Does advancing to Qi Condensation Ninth Layer count?"

"Emm..."

Zhang Yunlu: "..."

Alright, now nothing more needs to be said.

At that moment, the sales clerk emerged and handed Xu Xing the empty storage ring: "Hello, customer, the number of spirit stones has been verified. Here is your storage ring."

"Thank you."

Xu Xing took the storage ring and casually tossed it over; Zhang Yunlu quickly caught it.

"You probably don't have a space item yet—this one is a gift for you."

Zhang Yunlu froze. Could this be the "fairly decent gift" he mentioned last time?

The sales clerk, witnessing all this, was filled with envy—storage rings weren't cheap, and the spirit stones inside had barely covered a fraction of the cost.

"Let's go outside and talk. Since I promised you a fairly decent gift, I won't break my word."

Huh? Didn't this storage ring mean the gift?

Zhang Yunlu slipped on the storage ring and hurried after Xu Xing.

At the entrance, the two hostesses bowed slightly.

"Welcome back next time."

Zhang Yunlu paid no attention to their words; she followed behind Xu Xing, heart fluttering with anxiety yet also excitement.

Not far from the entrance, Xu Xing slowed his pace, allowing Zhang Yunlu to walk beside him.

"To be honest, running into you here today surprised me."

Surprised? "Shouldn't high-level cultivators be able to divine fate?"

"Even they don't divine constantly. And if you meet only because of divination, is that still 'fate'?" Xu Xing chuckled lightly. "Back to the matter at hand: with your current realm, even powerful artifacts would be beyond your control. Let me first explain how you should proceed in your cultivation."

Zhang Yunlu listened intently.

"Since you've reached Qi Condensation Ninth Layer, you should now consider Foundation Establishment. Has your school told you about the tiers of Foundation Establishment?"

Tiers of Foundation Establishment... Zhang Yunlu thought briefly, then answered: "My school's teachers haven't taught it yet, but I've heard there are three tiers."

"The lowest tier: after reaching Qi Condensation Seventh Layer, one takes Breakthrough Spirit Liquid to establish Foundation. This foundation is flimsy—some can't even defeat a strong Qi Condensation cultivator, and have no hope of further advancement. Hence, it's called False Foundation."

"The middle tier: after advancing to Qi Condensation Ninth Layer, one takes Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid or Foundation Establishment Pill to achieve Foundation. This is the current orthodox method."

"As for the highest tier: the cultivator must first reach a state of full spiritual energy, then swallow a Spirit Storage Capsule before advancement, while simultaneously using a Spirit Energy Chamber to aerosolize and accelerate absorption of purified Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid. Only when all three conditions are met is there a chance to forge a High-Level Foundation."

That was all she knew.

Xu Xing pondered.

False Foundation, Breakthrough Spirit Liquid, Spirit Storage Capsule, Spirit Energy Chamber, aerosolized purified Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid?

Has Foundation Establishment evolved into such a 'scientific' process now? And Qi Condensation Seventh Layer can establish Foundation? He'd never even heard of that before his seclusion.

"One seclusion, and the mortal world has changed greatly—many things I don't understand have appeared." If Foundation Establishment has changed this much, have later realms also developed more scientific advancement methods?

"Let me tell you about the three types of Foundation Establishment I know—they differ from what you've heard."

"The first type uses external aids—like the Foundation Establishment Pill you just mentioned. That's this category."

In ancient times, some sought heavenly and earthly spiritual substances, refining them into their foundation, or used a divine technique's essence to establish Foundation—these also counted as the first type.

Their combat power wasn't low, but their methods were too singular, so they were abandoned long ago.

"The second type of Foundation Establishment requires gathering solar essence, condensing lunar radiance, refining stellar brilliance, purifying one's bones and spiritual energy, and extracting the divine essence from rare heavenly and earthly treasures. Once achieved, the Foundation is perfect—the Heavenly-Created Foundation."

The Heavenly-Created Foundation is also called the Perfect Foundation. It demands specific cultivation techniques and an extremely perilous process.

After all, solar essence and lunar radiance are violently potent for Qi Condensation cultivators—slight misstep, and one dies, soul and body destroyed.

"As for the third type of Foundation Establishment: one must cultivate the Supreme Marvelous Art and comprehend the rudiments of Principle, Method, and Intention, seize the creative power of heaven and earth, and forge the Divine Creation Foundation."

Principle, Method, Intention.

These are realms accessible only after Dao Union—how many great realms lie between Dao Union and Foundation Establishment?

The difficulty is self-evident.

Thus, very few cultivators in the entire Tai Xuan Realm have ever forged this third type of Foundation.

Seizing the creative power of heaven and earth, invading the mysterious mechanisms of sun and moon.

In myths, this was the Immortal Secret passed by Patriarch Bodhi to the Great Sage Equaling Heaven.

When they originally created this Foundation Establishment method, they drew some inspiration from it—but its profundity certainly fell far short.

Zhang Yunlu sat stunned after hearing Xu Xing's words.

Both were three types of Foundation Establishment, yet the gap between ancient and modern was enormous! Why was her knowledge so different? "Don't overthink it. If I'm right, your school fears you'll reach too high—they're not deliberately hiding it."

Even the divine techniques of the Qidaxian Sect are stored in high school libraries—how could they deliberately conceal a Foundation Establishment method?

Though the human race in the Current Realm has many cultivators, high-level cultivators remain far too few.

"The cultivation system improves with each generation—it will only get better. The methods I described may already be outdated. I suggest you report your realm to your school afterward."

Xu Xing was confident, but never arrogant, and never underestimated the wisdom of cultivators everywhere.

The two of them had by now walked near the main entrance of the mall.

A young man dressed in black athletic wear and wearing sunglasses walked into the mall, followed by two bald, burly men in sharp suits.

The two parties brushed past each other, and Xu Xing and Zhang Yunlu left the mall.

Once inside, the young man took off his sunglasses, turned his head, and ordered, "Split up. Get everything bought as fast as possible."

"Yes!"

At once one man headed off in one direction, while the young man went up toward the second floor.

'Sigh~ what rotten luck.'

He felt deeply depressed inside.

He had only come here to forge a sword, yet he'd run into one headache after another.

First, a cultivator came out of seclusion; then he happened upon a demonic-path elder refining a Ten Thousand Souls Banner, and not only did the banner fail to be refined, the elder's own people were wiped out too; even the Path-Integration old demon who appeared later had an arm chopped off.

The little Xuanjian City had inexplicably become a place drawing the attention of big shots from all sides.

When those two brothers warned him, he had really wanted to flee this godforsaken place!

But the problem was he couldn't escape—the Path-Integration old demon who'd had an arm cut off was watching him, and on top of that he had to help that demon gather spirit herbs and demon-beast essence blood to recover from his injuries.

Damn it!

What kind of nonsense is all this! (End of chapter)