Chapter 167: Beginning Foundation Establishment (Bonus Chapter 3 for Alliance Leader 'Shi Nana Ya 056')

Time passed slowly, and the illusory blue mist around Xu Chen's body flickered, dimming and brightening in its flow.

Xiaobai was curled up on his lap as usual, eyes closed, seemingly having entered a state of meditation as well.

After several high-intensity transformations by the Grand Void Demon Refining Art, Xu Chen's body had developed a very strong tolerance for the violent white Qi he refined; furthermore, as the white Qi had been silently and continuously strengthening his soul and body in his daily life, he was now able to maintain the operation of the Grand Void Demon Refining Art for nearly half an incense stick of time.

After half an incense stick of time, as he ceased operating the Demon Refining Art, the illusory blue light mist flowing around his body suddenly retracted into his body.

Xu Chen opened his eyes and slowly exhaled a breath.

Just from this round of cultivation, the white Qi had once again comprehensively strengthened his soul, meridians, dantian, and flesh, but his body was now fully capable of withstanding the white Qi's remodeling, and there were no longer any signs of collapse.

He estimated his soul had reached the Great Perfection of the True Essence Late Stage, and his Divine Sense could reach about ten miles, already capable of enveloping the several mountain peaks of the entire Taiyuan Sect.

He could see even the finest details of his meridians, which were as clear and translucent as crystal pipes, and he could clearly see the pale cyan origin energy flowing continuously within them.

His dantian seemed to have expanded by another circle, though the feeling was not very obvious; it was still ten times the scale of the Kaiyuan Realm mid-stage, but Xu Chen already felt this scale was terrifying enough, and he did not want his dantian to continue expanding, lest he turn into some kind of monster even he himself wouldn't recognize.

It was barely acceptable for the Kaiyuan Realm to be comparable to the True Essence Realm.

But if the Kaiyuan Realm were to become similar to the Danyuan Realm, then he would not be a cultivator, but a monster.

After this round of strengthening, the effects on his body were quite obvious; in his internal vision, his internal organs were like jade, emitting a glowing light, and his muscles, bones, and flesh had the same feeling, seemingly developing in the direction of spiritualization.

Although he did not know exactly how strong his body was now, he felt he could withstand a First Stage Magic Treasure or low-end Second-Tier Magic Spell.

In other words, his body was now as formidable as a Second-Tier Beast.

To have such physical strength in the Kaiyuan Realm was simply unheard of.

In the Refining Essence into Qi stage, the purpose of all techniques and Spirit Pills was to continuously open up meridians and the dantian, accumulate origin energy, and strengthen the Seven Souls, so as to stabilize the Three Spirits.

The Seven Souls govern the body, and the Three Spirits govern the spirit; only when the Seven Souls are strong enough can they eventually support the Three Spirits in forming an infant, and once this process is completed, a person actually begins to focus on cultivating the Primordial Spirit and will gradually abandon the physical body.

In other words, the physical body is merely the foundation for becoming an immortal, just like an egg, responsible only for nurturing the spiritual fetus; once Spirit Transformation and infant formation are complete, the Seven Souls will also slowly spiritualize and merge with the Three Spirits, eventually forming a powerful Primordial Spirit that can leave the body, completely abandoning this shell to ascend as an immortal.

Of course, the stronger the physique, the more beneficial it is for Spirit Transformation, but a person's life and energy are limited after all.

Once one fails to reach the required cultivation realm at the most appropriate age, one's cultivation for this life is basically set.

Without entering the path of Qi refinement before the age of twenty, one is basically a mortal.

Without Foundation Establishment before the age of thirty, one is basically finished.

If one cannot achieve Golden Core before the age of sixty, even if one manages to succeed later, there is absolutely no chance of Spirit Transformation.

When things reach their prime, they age; this is the natural law of all things, which no one can resist.

Therefore, constrained by limited time and energy, the main goal of all cultivators is to break through as soon as the body is strengthened enough to do so; the earlier one breaks through, the more time one will have later to accumulate energy for the next realm.

No one is willing to waste time on this kind of body tempering that has no great significance, because this shell is ultimately to be discarded.

Of course, good techniques will take into account both Qi refinement and body tempering, allowing the strength of the flesh to perfectly match the rhythm of Qi refinement, which is also the key to the rapid growth of disciples in large Immortal Sects.

The better the technique, the better it balances the two.

And the better such techniques are, the less they will spend extra effort specifically on strengthening and tempering the body; one only needs to cultivate step by step.

The Taiyuan Sect's technique is certainly not the best, as it was just a remnant book casually dug up by the founding master, and it probably doesn't count as the core technique of the former Taiyuan Sect, but it is certainly not bad, otherwise it wouldn't have cultivated a Spirit Transformation Great Cultivator like Danchenzi.

Xu Chen practices the same technique, and in his daily cultivation, he has never deliberately focused on the changes in his flesh, and deliberately strengthening it is even less possible, as Spirit Pills for Qi refinement are pitifully scarce.

But right now, his body, repeatedly and continuously remodeled and enhanced by the white Qi from the Grand Void Demon Refining Art refining the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus, has already become a freak.

This makes him not know whether to cry or laugh.

Such a powerful body is certainly good, but in reality, it is not entirely a good thing, because once Spirit Transformation occurs, an overly powerful physical body will consume a massive amount of Spirit Qi to completely fuse the Seven Souls and the Nascent Soul into a complete Primordial Spirit.

The stronger the physical body, the harder it is for the Nascent Soul to grow to the Out-of-Body Stage; it is like an eggshell being too thick—the Primordial Spirit cannot break out and can only be stifled within the Purple Mansion, meaning one cannot break through the True Essence Realm even with a thousand years of lifespan, ultimately stopping at the Spirit Transformation Realm.

This is the principle that too much is as bad as too little, and that things turn into their opposites when they reach an extreme. Everything requires a sense of moderation, rather than one-sidedly thinking the stronger the better.

But all of this is a change brought about by the Blue Jade Bead, and he is completely powerless to change it, only able to passively accept it all.

Of course, he does not reject this change; after all, his soul, dantian, and meridians have all been strengthened tenfold, and without such a formidable body to match, he fears it would not work.

In the end, the white Qi's remodeling of him is within a reasonable range.

It is just that this remodeling is extremely abnormal.

After carefully examining the changes in all aspects of his body and understanding his entire situation, Xu Chen began the formal preparations for Foundation Establishment.

First, he had to fill his dantian with origin energy; this step is critical.

Because only with a sufficient reserve of origin energy can he ensure the breakthrough of all his apertures, allowing the dantian, apertures, and internal organs to construct a closed origin energy circulation system through the Twelve Main Meridians and Eight Extraordinary Meridians, preventing any leakage, so that he can further compress the origin energy, turn it into liquid, and condense it into a Golden Core.

On the way back from Yuqing Hall, Xu Chen had been continuously taking pills to gather Qi for seven or eight days; at this moment, the origin energy in his entire dantian was surging and in a state of near-fullness, requiring only a simple combing and stabilization with more pills.

Therefore, Xu Chen took a Gathering Qi Pill and operated the Taiyuan Sect technique.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, two hours passed; after one major cycle ended, Xu Chen felt that the origin energy in his dantian was completely full and all his meridians were surging with energy, reaching the best state since he began cultivating immortality, so he opened his eyes again, got off the bed, walked outside to the open ground by the cliff, and thought it would be better to find a senior brother or sister to help guard him.

Foundation Establishment might only take a few hours, or it might take several days; this depends on one's insights. If one is disturbed by something during the breakthrough or at a critical node, the best case is a failed attempt, and the worst case is severe damage to the soul, so he could not be the slightest bit careless.

After thinking it over, Xu Chen sent a Transmission Jade Slip to Seventh Senior Sister.

After all, he and Seventh Senior Sister were fellow disciples, and although they did not interact much on a daily basis, their bond was still quite deep.

At least when Seventh Senior Sister used to come to him for Spirit Talismans or Magic Treasures, she was clearly much more diligent than other senior brothers and sisters, and never treated him as an outsider.

Therefore, he could not treat her as an outsider either; it was time for this senior sister to work like a horse and ox to take care of him.

A moment later, an Escape Light whistled over from the south side of Zhaoyang Peak and soon landed in front of Xu Chen.

Seventh Senior Sister's proud chest was plump, and her cheeks were just as puffed up; she put away her Flying Sword with some impatience and said, "There are so many quiet rooms on Zhaoyang Peak for seclusion, yet you insist on performing Foundation Establishment in this wilderness; do you think I have nothing better to do?"

Xu Chen curled his lip and said, "If you say that again, I'll go tell Master that you're ignoring me!"

Qu Mei was so angry that she stepped forward, grabbed his ear, and glared, "If you dare to talk nonsense, be careful or I'll beat the shit out of you!"

Xu Chen hurriedly covered his ears and begged for mercy; Qu Mei let go and sat cross-legged on a nearby rock, saying, "Don't rush to take the pill yet; listen to me explain the process of Foundation Establishment first, so you don't end up not knowing what to do once you start."

Next, Qu Mei spent a full half-hour detailing the process of her own Foundation Establishment from not long ago.

Xu Chen listened very carefully, remembering every word.

However, the master leads you to the door, but cultivation depends on the individual.

Whether it is cultivation or breaking through, everyone's situation is actually different; the exchange and verification between cultivators is merely accumulating more experience to have more preparation when cultivating and breaking through, and there is actually not much that can be directly borrowed.

The key to the breakthrough lies in the word "enlightenment"; one must grasp that faint, fleeting sense that appears during the refining process of the Spirit Pill that assists in breaking through the stage, seize that flash of opportunity, and then break through the first sensed Aperture. Once one succeeds with the first, the subsequent process will follow naturally.

Compared to the entry-level of Qi Refining, the difficulty of Foundation Establishment is indeed significantly higher.

But in reality, as long as one's realm is sufficient, the preparations are adequate, and one has a good Foundation Establishment Pill, it is not difficult to achieve a breakthrough.

The most difficult part is sensing the location of the first Aperture.

In this, the quality of the Foundation Establishment Pill is crucial.

In fact, most cultivators who fail to reach Foundation Establishment are stuck because of the Spirit Pill.

However, Xu Chen believes that he will not have any problems; after all, Fifth Senior Brother, Jiu Shixiong, and Seventh Senior Sister all successfully broke through using the most ordinary Guiyuan Pill, and since he has an enhanced version of the Guiyuan Pill, it is impossible for him to fail the breakthrough.

Therefore, after listening to Seventh Senior Sister's insights and experiences on Foundation Establishment, Xu Chen carefully sorted through them in his mind several times, then slowly adjusted his breathing to bring his state of mind to its most stable condition, flipped his hand to take out a medicine bottle, and consumed the Foundation Establishment Pill gifted by True Monarch Xuanchen.

(End of this chapter)