Chapter 11

The reason this place is so peculiar and precious is because it truly gathers the spiritual qi of heaven and earth; compared to visible spirit crystal veins and spirit springs, it is closer to the Way of Nature and the Way of Heaven and Earth, and also closer to the Great Dao.

Wei Yuning isn't unwilling to share; he just doesn't want to attract attention. The matter of the moon beast worm was unavoidable, and he had to find a way to make money openly. Hongzhi's tigerish stare made him realize he wasn't welcome in this world, but fortunately Hongzhi was somewhat decent, and the news of his coming from another world didn't spread.

Beside the Sun Yang Herb Garden's rock pile there is an active spiritual qi gathering point. Over the past half month, besides completing his daily work, Wei Yuning has basically stayed in this three-mu-sized rock pile.

With abundant spiritual qi assistance, his envisioned object, the Southern Mountain Evergreen Pine, has already completed all its branches and leaves, and now he has begun constructing the trunk and roots in his sea of consciousness. In terms of structural complexity, the trunk and roots are easier to construct than the branches and leaves, but the trunk is denser than the branches and leaves, requiring more spiritual qi per unit time, while the roots require even more.

The quality of one's spiritual root affects the efficiency of absorbing spiritual qi; if a disciple's spiritual root is not exceptionally outstanding, at this point they need to use spirit stones or pay a greater price to train their envisioned object in the spirit-gathering formation provided by the sect.

However, Wei Yuning has the aid of the spiritual qi gathering point, so he doesn't need to waste that money.

The Cloud Hidden Sect differs from small clans; disciples at every stage of cultivation receive guidance from experienced, high-level transmission elders, so they rarely encounter the detours that small-clan disciples often take. The main factor limiting their cultivation speed is the advancement of their realm and the abundance of spiritual qi.

Within the same realm, raising one's cultivation from early, middle, late to peak relies mainly on spiritual qi; whereas advancing to a different realm depends entirely on personal comprehension.

The realm is profoundly mysterious; even transmission elders can only speak in generalities. The essence of cultivation is to create a higher form of life, so what the elders most often say is: 'Let your spiritual qi have life.'

Wei Yuning had studied painting before, and his painting teacher had said similar things, to give his works life. Regarding this, Wei Yuning felt he had some experience.

Therefore, although Wei Yuning hasn't achieved foundation establishment yet, he has strong confidence in it; once his envisioned object is constructed and he obtains a foundation-establishment pill, he can attempt to break through to the foundation-establishment stage.

At noon, in a bay of the rock pile near the summit of the Medicine Peak, Wei Yuning sat cross-legged, feeling the vigorous spiritual qi, his face showing delight. Not knowing what special day it was, the spiritual qi was so thick it seemed substantial; merely shifting his body slightly, he felt an obvious viscous sensation. Since learning to seek heaven-and-earth spiritual qi gathering points, he had never encountered such a strange situation.

Even at the spring eye of the spirit spring in the valley of Medicine Peak, he had never felt such a strong gathering of spiritual qi. Delighted, Wei Yuning immediately closed his eyes, focused his mind, and began continuing to construct his envisioned object.

Every grain, every fiber, every growth ring—each tiny detail in his consciousness filled with that golden ancient pine. Time slowly passed, the spiritual qi remained endless, flowing from all directions into this depression of several square meters.

This completely ran counter to Wei Yuning's past experience; he wanted to stop but couldn't. At first he could barely control the pine's growth, but soon his brain could no longer bear such immense mental consumption—'bang'—everything turned blank. Although his consciousness remained clear, everything had slipped out of his control.

The pine continued to grow; although it was originally Wei Yuning's virtual construct, he could now only watch it grow unchecked like a bystander.

The pine was expected to be only about ten centimeters tall, with branches and leaves occupying at least half the space, but now the pine has become a towering tree twenty-odd meters high; what's more laughable is that, because the initially imagined branches and leaves were too small, the pine's entire form has turned into a bare large log, its originally lush branches and leaves reduced to a few patches of moss on the log, and the pine is still growing.

When the pine's trunk reached about thirty meters, it finally stopped growing; before Wei Yuning could catch his breath, dense roots began to sprout from the base of the giant tree, and he completely lost consciousness.

In a meditative state, time flows especially fast. Upon waking again, the sun had already hidden behind the moon. A gentle breeze brushed past; Wei Yuning sniffed around with his nose, the spiritual qi gathering point had vanished, and when he sensed his envisioned object with his sea of consciousness, his mind went blank and he nearly fainted again.

In that brief observation, Wei Yuning's consciousness only saw a bit of the pine's outer bark texture; the pine was simply too huge. With his meager mental strength, he could not possibly control this envisioned object he himself had constructed, and moreover, aside from its branches and leaves and a small part of the trunk, the rest of it was completely unlike the original magical illusion.

In the brief observation just now, Wei Yuning's consciousness only saw a bit of the old pine's outer bark texture; this old pine is too large. Relying on this bit of his weak mental power, he is completely unable to control this imagined construct that he himself formed. Moreover, this imagined construct, aside from the branches and leaves and a small part of the trunk, the rest is completely unlike the original spell illusion.

The only thing that gave him a bit of relief was that he could feel a faint connection between himself and the pine.

"Regardless, my envisioned object is finally complete; should I attempt to break through to foundation establishment?" Wei Yuning couldn't help but feel excited.

According to the introduction in the Cloud Hidden Sect's introductory cultivation manual, the standard for foundation establishment is to absorb spiritual qi without dispersing. The prerequisite for absorbing spiritual qi without dispersing is first to complete the construction of the envisioned object; the envisioned object is the concretization of the spirit, also the reliance of the soul, and is actually one with the cultivator's physical body; the envisioned object is the carrier that absorbs spiritual qi.

After the envisioned object is constructed, one must inject one's spirit, or rather soul, into it, making it part of oneself; only then is foundation establishment considered complete.

At present, Maniu is stuck at the stage of 'injecting the soul'.

This path is the one that puts intention first; it suits disciples with high comprehension and good aptitude, its advantage being rapid growth, and since the envisioned object is a thought-form, it can be reshaped at will; once one's cultivation becomes profound, one can swap it for a more suitable envisioned object, and the future is limitless.

Besides spiritual consciousness foundation establishment, there is also physical-body foundation establishment. However, in principle, the Cloud Hidden Sect currently only accepts the intention-first method of foundation establishment; only under special circumstances will there be cultivators who establish foundation via the physical body, such as due to innate talent or special requirements.

Wei Yuning suddenly felt an itchy irritation on his body; he flicked his hand and a clump of debris floated away on the wind. He hurriedly stood up and gave himself a shake, and a mountain breeze blew past, as if a light snow had fallen.

He hurriedly rushed into the wooden shed that stored the reserve irrigation spirit spring water.

Half an hour later, Wei Yuning looked with satisfaction at his jade-white body and couldn't help but exclaim: 'No wonder the senior and junior brothers and sisters of the foundation-establishment stage are all outstanding in appearance; the saying goes, one white covers a hundred ugliness—this skin, this complexion, I have finally become a handsome guy too, hahaha!'

"But I haven't even achieved foundation establishment, so why am I expelling bodily impurities like a mortal undergoing foundation establishment? Ah, it must be that the spiritual qi is too thick, remodeling my body!" Spiritual qi can nourish the physical body; this is common knowledge among cultivators.

He shook his head, stopped thinking about it, quickly tidied up, and left the herb garden.

Starting tomorrow, it will be the first day of the marriage alliance ceremony between the Qingluan Sect and the Cloud Hidden Sect; as a servant errand boy, he simply cannot be late.

Starting tomorrow, it will be the first day of the matrimonial alliance conference between the Azure Phoenix Sect and the Cloud Hidden Sect; as a servant boy, I cannot be late.