Chapter 73: Death and Rebirth

"To establish the Foundation is to build the immortal base of the Great Dao, tempering the physical body to refine the mortal substance, quieting the six senses, transforming form into Qi so that the Five Qi bow to the Origin, the Three Yang gather at the crown, the work is complete and the form is forgotten, the fetal immortal transforms itself, Yin is exhausted and Yang is pure, a body exists outside the body, only then can one shed the substance and ascend to immortality, transcend the ordinary and enter the holy, thereby taking a place among the Immortals and rejecting the mundane."

Inside the cave dwelling, Lu Yang sat cross-legged on a cushion, silently contemplating.

"The step of Foundation Establishment has different descriptions for different techniques, but no matter which one it is, once put into practice, the steps are actually not very different."

That is to use one's own true Qi as a base to lift the Sea of Consciousness and refine the form to ascend.

For example, the 'Nine Transformations Dragon Art' he cultivates can, upon perfection, forge the Zheng Zheng San Pin True Qi known as 'True Dragon Calamity'.

And for the further step of Foundation Establishment techniques, the 'Myriad Chariots Dragon-Controlling Ascension Treasure Scroll' explicitly explains how to complete the form-refining ascent through the True Dragon Calamity.

Here one can see the importance of the True Qi grade.

If the True Qi grade is insufficient, one either cannot lift the Sea of Consciousness, or runs out of strength and Qi halfway through the ascent, crashing down with a boom, resulting in death without a place to be buried.

The entire process of Foundation Establishment is just such a path of ascent.

And the end of the path of ascent is the 'Foundation Establishment Realm'.

Seeing this, Lu Yang couldn't help but exclaim: "Foundation Establishment Realm, Foundation Establishment Realm, so it does not refer to a realm, but to a place!"

Although that is the case, the ascent is only the first step.

When a cultivator lifts the Sea of Consciousness and completely enters the Foundation Establishment Realm, they must begin to forge their own immortal base to ensure they can remain in the Foundation Establishment Realm.

This is another major hurdle.

Ordinary cultivators, even after completing this step of ascent, have mostly exhausted their own foundations, resulting in only being able to barely construct a wobbly immortal base.

The result is an unstable immortal base that cannot withstand the pressure of the Foundation Establishment Realm, collapsing with a crash.

If the ascent fails, there might still be hope to survive, but if the immortal base collapses, the cultivator themselves is certainly doomed; Luo Wuya probably fell at this hurdle.

One must know that when a cultivator ascends to the Foundation Establishment Realm and begins to forge the immortal base, besides needing a solid foundation in cultivation, one's own self will spontaneously generate infinite demonic thoughts; if the Dao heart is not firm and the mind wanders, one will inevitably be influenced by the demonic thoughts, and even if the foundation is deep, it will be of no use.

"Truly, every step is arduous."

After Lu Yang sorted through the process of breaking through to Foundation Establishment, he memorized the content, secrets, and various key points of the 'Myriad Chariots Dragon-Controlling Ascension Treasure Scroll' completely.

Immediately after, he took out the Ascension Token and held it in his palm to circulate it.

The next second, the Ascension Token turned into a streak of light and flew into his Sea of Consciousness, illuminating his heart with clarity, and making his whole body feel as if he were about to ascend to immortality.

Closing his eyes, Lu Yang immediately entered meditation.

Within the dantian, a wisp of True Qi manifested, growing a wooden scale, claws, teeth, and whiskers, finally transforming into a lifelike True Dragon.

Boom!

Only hearing a loud crash, this True Dragon left the dantian, traveled up through the Ren and Du meridians, passed the Crimson Palace, entered the Purple Mansion, and went straight to the depths of the Sea of Consciousness!

Immediately after, Lu Yang felt a brilliant light flood before his eyes; the originally vast True Qi that seemed endless at this moment poured out like opening a floodgate, turning into an indescribable massive force that pushed his Sea of Consciousness to gradually climb higher!

"Fortunately, this Ascension Token is here."

Lu Yang's mind was clear; lifting the Sea of Consciousness to ascend to the void is not easy, and originally there should be nine heavenly barriers blocking the way, and breaking each barrier would inevitably consume a great deal of primal energy.

However, with the support of the Ascension Token bestowed by Yinshan True Person, all nine heavenly barriers had their gates wide open, making his path of ascent unobstructed.

Moreover, more importantly, he did not start his ascent from the very bottom.

"Because I cultivated the 'Saint Thief', I already had a certain status, so strictly speaking, I am actually starting my ascent halfway up."

The journey of ascent was thus shortened by a small segment.

Don't look at it as just a small segment; in reality, it could very well be the straw that breaks the camel's back, saving Lu Yang who knows how much mental effort.

The Saint Thief and the Ascension Token each resolved a calamity on Lu Yang's path of ascent, while the Zheng Zheng San Pin 'True Dragon Calamity' provided Lu Yang with sufficiently deep foundations, allowing him not to worry about exhausting his True Qi halfway through, but to proceed step by step, ascending all the way to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Just like that, who knows how much time passed.

Lu Yang only felt the brilliant heavenly light before his eyes gradually dim, as if passing through a region, and a boundless territory appeared within his vision.

Lowering his head, Lu Yang actually saw himself.

Besides that, he saw Yinshan, he saw the Initial Saint Sect, he saw mountains, rivers, sun, and moon, and the myriad beings busy with life.

Or rather—the mortal world.

He had seen this scene once before, at Skeleton Mountain, when Yinshan True Person took him to watch a great battle between Foundation Establishment True Persons; the scene was just like that then.

However, at that time his true spirit was ignorant, and he could not clearly see the form of the Foundation Establishment True Person, only seeing their emitted magical light; if he had the chance to see it again, he should be able to see more clearly, and even now he could see that to his nearest northwest, a figure was sitting.

That was Yinshan True Person.

The immortal base beneath his seat was a black mountain; although it stretched for ten thousand li, within the boundless Foundation Establishment Realm it was yet extremely tiny.

At the same time, Yinshan True Person also seemed to have discovered him.

The next second, a voice drifted over:

"Focus your mind, do not get distracted."

The voice was like a clear spring tinkling, pouring down, instantly washing away Lu Yang's emotions; only then did he realize: "Demonic thoughts invaded, triggering my stray thoughts!?"

Thinking of this, Lu Yang dared not slacken again, immediately focusing his attention on the Foundation Establishment Realm. Now the effects of the Saint Thief, the Ascension Token, and the Zheng Zheng San Pin True Qi had all been exerted to the extreme; from now on, he could only rely on himself. Lu Yang gradually gathered his True Qi and began to construct the immortal base.

However, very quickly, he discovered a problem.

"The True Qi is not enough."

The momentary distraction just now caused his True Qi to be wasted by thirty percent out of nowhere, making the already insufficient True Qi even worse, and it was actually difficult to continue.

Lu Yang, helpless, had to reduce the scale of the immortal base.

The size of the immortal base often corresponds to the potential, cultivation, and strength of magic power of the Foundation Establishment True Person; by reducing the scale, he was sacrificing his future prospects to seek breakthrough.

Just like that, he kept cutting it down to half of the original scale before the True Qi was barely enough.

But the next second, Lu Yang saw the Yinshan True Person nearby suddenly stand up, stride towards himself, and emit a sinister cold laugh of "Jie, jie, jie":

"Not bad, not bad, the immortal base has been established."

"It was not in vain that I took pains to help you; now the spiritual treasure in my hand is lacking an immortal base to complete it. Junior Brother Lu, you indeed live up to my expectations and are excellent material!"

Before the words had finished, Yinshan True Person reached out his hand!

A familiar feeling, a familiar terror; Lu Yang had personally seen Yinshan True Person act, and the power displayed by the other party at this moment was exactly the same as in his memory.

Wait, no different from usual?

"No!"

Lü Yang woke with a sudden start. In his memory, True Person Yinshan had dealt with the Yun family ancestor — dealing with him would never need such a grand display; a single glance would have sufficed.

This was fake!

The next instant, Lü Yang's vision blurred. When he looked again, the demonic thought had receded, and True Person Yinshan still sat properly in place, only letting out a sigh of regret:

"What a pity, junior brother."

Lü Yang lowered his head at the words, only to see that the immortal foundation he had painstakingly built was now riddled with holes, ruined in that single instant he had been swayed by the demonic thought.

Seeing this, Lü Yang could only smile wryly: "Bitter."

Boom boom boom!

Before the words had even faded, the sound of the immortal foundation shattering rang through the entire Foundation Establishment realm, even stirring changes in the heavenly phenomena outside — the wind wailing mournfully, like the sound of heaven weeping.

Lü Yang committed this experience firmly to memory while silently reciting in his heart:

"Hundred Worlds Tome!"

(End of chapter)