Chapter 68: Are Natural Dao Foundations Hard to Achieve?

No one would have thought that Chi Jiuyu would actually bother to learn about these things.

This unexpected preparation will surely become an advantage for her when she runs for Sect Leader! She's already imagining the scene where someone tries to trap her during the election, only for her to turn it around and humiliate them!

Hahaha!

"Auntie, you absolutely must keep this secret—I haven't told anyone else." Chi Jiuyu added.

"What about your Senior Sister?"

"My Master knows."

After all, my Master won't be competing with me for the position of Sect Leader, so I just sneak beside her to watch.

That way, no one else will notice! Besides, my Master isn't like Auntie—she only has me as a disciple; wouldn't she support me?!"

Hmm…

She probably will, right? …………

Miscellaneous Affairs Hall, Foundation Establishment Comprehensive Service Center.

Still in Chamber Nine of the Harvesting and Refining Method, the staff member kept her eyes locked on Zhang Yunlu, seated dead center, not daring to let her guard slip for an instant.

Around her, a thin layer of frost continuously spread outward, filling the entire training chamber with chilling cold.

Zhang Yunlu's own face was pale and bluish; her breath and heartbeat had become nearly imperceptible, her blood flow slowed to an extremely low rate, and frost coated her hair, eyelashes, and every part of her body.

Had it not been for the Spirit-Observing Technique still detecting the flickering flame of life within Zhang Yunlu, the staff member might have thought she was dead.

"Truly remarkable."

She had now reached the most critical stage: "Refining." But what impressed the staff member was that she still chose that violent Harvesting and Refining Method.

Having worked here for over a decade, she had overseen many practitioners undergoing Harvesting and Refining Method training.

But someone like Zhang Yunlu—she had never seen such a one before.

After a long while, the gradually fading breath and heartbeat finally began to return.

Success!

She had truly completed the second stage of the Harvesting and Refining Method! The staff member held her breath and did not rush forward immediately.

Then Zhang Yunlu slowly opened her eyes; the tiny white frost on her eyelashes fell away. She tried to move, but found her body utterly rigid.

"Please wait a moment," the staff member hurriedly said.

She ran to Zhang Yunlu's side, took out a red medicinal pill, the pill was translucent, like a piece of red jade carved with a faint pill vein.

Chi Yang Dan.

Every practitioner preparing for the second stage of the Harvesting and Refining Method keeps one on hand.

"Can you open your mouth?"

Zhang Yunlu couldn't speak, but she managed to open her mouth with great effort.

The staff member slipped the pill into her mouth, then gently closed her lips.

The Chi Yang Dan dissolved instantly upon entry, becoming a warm stream that spread through her body; under the medicine's power, her rigid limbs slowly regained sensation.

When Zhang Yunlu closed her eyes again, the staff member stepped back to the side and returned to her workstation.

Watching the figure in the center adjusting her breath, the staff member couldn't help but feel a flicker of envy—and also a sense of relief.

Since beginning work here years ago, she had watched countless practitioners undergo Harvesting and Refining Method training; the more she watched, the more convinced she became that choosing an external foundation had been the right decision.

She hadn't even survived the first stage back then, let alone endured what this was—essentially walking through life and death.

Ah~ Natural Dao Foundations are rare; only someone with such a spirit could forge one.

The frost on the ground receded; the layer of white frost covering Zhang Yunlu began to melt, and her bluish-white complexion gradually turned rosy.

She slowly rose, water droplets clinging to her face, drops falling from the ends of her long hair, her clothes soaked through. Since she wore little, the fabric clung to her skin, revealing the color of her flesh.

But fortunately, she had prepared spare clothing.

Several minutes later, Zhang Yunlu changed into fresh attire and walked out of Chamber Nine with the staff member.

"Congratulations on completing the second stage of the Harvesting and Refining Method." This time, it wasn't just out of duty or bonus incentive—it was genuine heartfelt congratulations.

"Thank you."

"Do you intend to join the Xiang Jianzong? If so, I will report your information to the Sect."

Practitioners like Zhang Yunlu—who successfully complete the second stage of the Harvesting and Refining Method and are highly likely to forge a Natural Dao Foundation—are still uncommon within the Xian Sect.

According to regulations, they may be considered for recruitment into the Ru Sect.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yunlu's eyes rippled slightly.

Join… the Xiang Jianzong? …………

The next morning.

The thin mist dissipated; dawn's first light emerged.

Sunlight pierced through the clouds; Xiao Fan, who had trained all night, slowly opened his eyes; his clear black-and-white pupils flashed a hint of seven-colored luster.

He picked up the Dan Hua Cup beside him, filled with a translucent, faintly glowing white liquid—Su Po Zhen Hua! Like Yang Jing Dan Xi, it was the purest condensed moonlight.

The surface shimmered faintly, carrying a subtle chill.

Xiao Fan drank it in one gulp, feeling as if he'd swallowed a glass of ice water on a scorching day—exquisitely refreshing.

Immediately, he turned inward and saw the Zhen Hua dissolve, forming a brilliant white glow that descended, arriving above his dantian, like a luminous full moon suspended above his golden spiritual sea.

Puh! A faint, almost inaudible sound—the entire white glow exploded into countless tiny specks.

Moon-condensed cold stars: each minute white particle trailed a faint tailfire as it plunged into the vast golden spiritual sea.

The gold slowly faded; the spiritual energy within the sea began to solidify.

Within mere minutes, the entire spiritual sea had become crystal-clear, transparent to the bottom.

The transformation of the spiritual sea did not stop there; a strange symbol rose from within it, its meaning being…

Pasture all beings, take their spirits, nourish my divine essence!

"It's done."

The cultivation process of the first layer of the *Spirit-Pasturing Self-Nurturing Scripture* was even easier than he had imagined.

This first layer could seize the spiritual nature of wild beasts, minor ghosts, and Qi Refining cultivators to nurture one's own body, but as for the plants, trees, all things of creation, and even the stars — that was not something he could do at present.

He spread his hand, and a wisp of crystalline, almost formless spiritual power flowed out, swimming ceaselessly in his palm.

Its essence was so strong it was nearly on par with the Foundation Establishment true essence of an ordinary external-object Foundation Establishment cultivator.

He had already drunk enough Yang Jing Dan Xi earlier, and now, tempered with this cup of Su Po True Essence, it was equivalent to having passed through all three stages of the human race's Essence-Gathering Refinement method.

If he could obtain one more rare treasure of heaven and earth and draw out its divine essence, he could lay down a Heaven-Forged Dao Foundation.

A realm that many people only achieved after narrowly escaping death and enduring tremendous agony — he could now obtain it with a flick of the wrist.

"And… it's not just this one path."

Bearing the bloodline of the Cang race, he only needed to use the *Spirit-Pasturing Self-Nurturing Scripture* to seize spiritual nature, and could do so without the divine essence of a heaven-and-earth treasure.

He put away the Dan Hua Cup, rose from the bed, and Xiao Fan prepared to go test the effects of the *Spirit-Pasturing Self-Nurturing Scripture*.

However, just as he stepped out of the bedroom, he heard a commotion by the door.

Squeak~ As the room door opened, his parents and elder brother walked in carrying quite a few things, chatting and laughing as they came.

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