Chapter 148

"Succeeded in Foundation Establishment at thirty-two."

"Not especially fast, but not slow either."

Qin Ming stood in the spirit field, hands behind his back, gazing calmly toward the distant Moonwatch Lake.

He now possessed a lifespan of over four hundred years, nearly matching that of a Golden Core elder.

With sufficient time, he could pursue the path ahead.

His main cultivation scripture, the Ancient Wood Longevity Art, grew stronger with time—absorbing more plant essence and temporal qi, becoming more potent the older he grew.

After ascending to Foundation Establishment.

Next.

Qin Ming contemplated his long-term goal.

Naturally, Core Formation.

He needed to lay plans early, otherwise the vast resources required for Core Formation far exceeded those needed for Foundation Establishment.

To accomplish it alone was no easy feat.

Foundation Establishment means building the foundation for the Core—everything is merely preparation for Core Formation.

Core Formation is divided into False Core and Golden Core.

A False Core, technically a Core Formation cultivator, possesses only half the spiritual power of a normal Golden Core cultivator, gains only a hundred years of lifespan, and can never enter the mid-stage of Core Formation.

Nascent Soul is out of the question.

Once a False Core is formed, one's path ends there.

A Golden Core, however, is a Core Formation cultivator of exceptional quality, graded into tiers—those with superior Golden Cores may even have a chance to advance to Nascent Soul.

Infinite potential lies ahead.

"Given my current talent, even achieving a False Core will be difficult," Qin Ming knew well.

Above the Golden Core realm, breakthroughs cannot be achieved merely by swallowing pills.

The higher one ascends, the greater the influence of one's spiritual root quality.

Below a top-grade spiritual root, achieving a False Core is extremely hard—unless one gains extraordinary fortune.

Yet.

Qin Ming possessed word-terms, and the miraculous life-vine as his innate spirit plant.

As the life-vine grew, it was not impossible.

For now.

He would focus on farming, cultivating to late Foundation Establishment.

After entering Foundation Establishment, a cultivator's lifespan becomes vastly extended.

Even a top-grade spiritual root requires decades to advance from early to late Foundation Establishment.

Moreover, Foundation Establishment lacks fine subdivisions like Level One, Level Two.

It is broadly divided into early, mid, and late stages.

The spiritual power gap between Level One and Level Three is not substantial—each minor stage grants at most a two- or three-tenths increase.

Most Foundation Establishment cultivators remain stuck in the early stage; those reaching mid-stage are relatively rare.

The vast majority never reach late Foundation Establishment.

Thus, lingering for a century or more during Foundation Establishment is entirely normal.

Though Qin Ming secluded himself on the remote Moonwatch Island, avoiding conflict and competition,

he still needed to strengthen his protective measures.

His cultivation technique, the Hundred Treasures Glazed Scripture, was one step away from entering Foundation Establishment cultivation.

First, he needed to activate the Hundred Beasts Visualization Map on the beast-skin scripture.

The prerequisite was that his innate martial qi must reach a certain threshold.

After breaking through to Foundation Establishment, Qin Ming's blood qi reached unprecedented heights.

Now, only a final push remained.

He had yet to use the 【Blood Essence】 term he harvested from the life-vine a few days ago.

Now was the perfect opportunity to break through.

Qin Ming focused his intent on the term—a torrent of energy surged through him, continuously reshaping his body.

Seizing the moment, he also consumed five 【Blood Crystals】 terms.

Several hours later.

Qin Ming's crimson innate martial qi rose again, refining to perfection.

He excitedly retrieved the beast-skin scripture and infused it with his blood qi and true martial energy.

He excitedly took out the beast-skin scripture and infused it with blood qi and true Gang.

The beast-skin scripture glowed with a crimson radiance, beginning to respond.

Blood radiance surfaced on the beast-skin scripture, gradually beginning to respond.

Various spectral forms of demonic beasts flickered across the hide. Qin Ming stared intently.

It seemed he must choose among hundreds of forms himself.

This choice determined the power of his body cultivation technique and his future potential.

Among the Hundred Beasts Visualization Map appeared spectral images: a primordial serpent wreathed in blood flame, a heavenly wolf, a giant bear, a silver fox, a white tiger, a black tortoise—each flickering in and out.

These beasts were marked at various positions on the beast-skin scripture.

The brightness of each spectral image varied—larger radiance meant greater power upon cultivation.

Qin Ming found it difficult to decide.

At that moment.

A faint white glow in the corner of the beast-skin scripture, though not the brightest, caught his attention.

A sense of fate aligning with his heart arose mysteriously.

Without hesitation, Qin Ming activated the Hundred Treasures Glazed Scripture and selected the white glow.

The white glow became a shooting star, instantly sinking into Qin Ming's body.

ROAR—the bellow exploded in Qin Ming's mind.

A mountain-sized ape, towering over ten zhang, stood defiantly, punching the heavens with a roar.

A mountain-sized ape, over ten zhang tall, stood towering to the heavens and punched the sky in a roar.

Qin Ming involuntarily broke his visualization, recalling the vision—his spirit shaken.

Clearly, to sustain the visualization, he must refine the blood of a high-grade demonic beast.

Moreover, according to the description of the first transformation of true martial qi manifestation in Foundation Establishment, once a beast from the Hundred Beasts Map is chosen,

it is best to refine the blood of the same type of beast, to maximize the power of the first transformation.

Qin Ming put away the beast-skin scripture.

He pondered silently—high-grade ape blood would be hard to obtain even in Canghai Xiancheng! But since he had chosen this path, he must walk it without wavering.

He planned to visit Canghai Xiancheng again soon.

Along the way, he would seek to purchase the spirit plants he intended to cultivate on the island.

He also sought to purchase the spiritual plants he intended to cultivate on the island.

second-rank top-grade and Jipin spirit plant seeds and seedlings were rare even in the Tianhe Marketplace.

Only in major immortal cities could one find even a few.

As for the spirit plants currently in his field—like Spirit-Attuning Tea—he could continue cultivating them, harvesting tea leaves annually.

They were the perfect choice for cultivation, gifting friends, or sipping tea.

He also had many Purple Gold Bamboo stalks left in his field, aside from those Gu Qingzhao had sold on his behalf.

Qin Ming intended to continue nurturing them, to see if they might one day ascend to a higher-grade spirit tree.

Qin Ming planned to continue nurturing it, to see if it might one day ascend to a higher-grade spiritual tree.

Qin Ming began consuming Spirit-Residing Rice and Rice-Blossom Spirit Fish to enhance his Foundation Establishment cultivation.

Not fast enough to advance a thousand li in a day, but significantly faster than ordinary cultivators.

Even faster than many Foundation Establishment cultivators practicing other arts.

After all, both items greatly boosted Foundation Establishment spiritual power.

"Now that I've reached Foundation Establishment, I can't keep relying on magic tools forever."

"Though I rarely engage in conflict now, I must still prepare—better safe than sorry."

"Purchasing a Foundation Establishment-grade spirit weapon should be added to my agenda."

As Qin Ming quietly planned for the future,

outside the formation,

a message talisman from Wu Jiang arrived.

Qin Ming immediately opened the formation and let him in.

Wu Jiang was drenched in sweat, pale-faced, gasping as he handed Qin Ming an invitation and said: "Brother Qin, disaster has struck!"

"Last night, two islands southwest of the Spirit-Residing Archipelago—Kongdong Island and Yu Shui Island—suffered a horrific incident."

"Two Qi Refining families on the islands were massacred—every soul, from elders to infants, slaughtered. All wealth was looted clean."

"The Seventy-Two Islands Alliance is convening an emergency meeting, summoning all scattered cultivators and families of the Spirit-Residing Archipelago to discuss a response."

The Seventy-Two Islands Loose Alliance is preparing to convene an emergency meeting, summoning hermits and numerous families from the spiritual energy Archipelago to jointly discuss how to respond to this matter.

"On the side of the Dissolved Alliance, a summons has also been sent to Friend Qin."

"Friend Qin, will you go or not?"

Qin Ming heard this news and furrowed his brows tightly.

He had not expected that, just after breaking through to Foundation Establishment, the spiritual energy Archipelago had undergone such a massive change.

A sense of storm brewing immediately settled over him.

(End of Chapter)