Chapter 287

Chapter 287: Foundation Establishment

Breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm was a first for Zhou Luo.

However, he had prepared numerous means for this Foundation Establishment—whether necessary potions, assisting talismans, and the like—all of which gave him immense confidence.

Now that the conditions were ripe, right this moment was the perfect opportunity for the breakthrough.

For cultivators themselves, ascending to Foundation Establishment required clearing three hurdles.

The first hurdle was the physical body trial.

When impacting Foundation Establishment, one needed to endure the infusion of heaven and earth’s spiritual energy, which imposed extremely stringent demands on physical vitality and blood essence.

However, the physical body would grow and transform along with the spiritual energy; ordinary peak ninth level Qi Refinement practitioners only needed to exercise moderate care to strengthen their bodies sufficiently to meet the breakthrough standard.

Well-resourced cultivators would deliberately undertake arduous body refinement training to achieve a perfect physical state before establishing their foundation.

For the former, if they followed the cautious path, and their bodies bore no hidden ailments or damaged foundations, it was generally acceptable. But once the physical body presented flaws, the spiritual energy infusion would impose an immense burden on it.

This greatly diminished the probability of successful Foundation Establishment.

The reason many cultivators failed in Foundation Establishment, even suffering severe injury or death, lay in bodily imperfections or insufficiently vigorous vitality and blood.

The Great Elder of the past had been precisely such a case.

Zhou Luo’s Bear Body Refinement Technique had already reached the fifth layer; unbeatable within the Qi Refinement realm in terms of physique, he was also in his prime, with robust blood vitality; he could disregard this concern entirely.

Sitting cross-legged on the Dao platform, he activated his technique, enduring the infusion of turbulent heaven and earth spiritual energy.

Under the relentless onslaught of the spiritual energy like surging waves, Zhou Luo stood firm as a solid wall, unwavering and motionless.

This process was fraught with peril for other cultivators.

For Zhou Luo, however, it was effortless.

The first hurdle, the physical body trial, lasted Zhou Luo a full year.

During this year, several of the Lin Family’s spiritual mines were lost, and the newly captured mines came under fierce attack.

Nonetheless, with the contingency measures Zhou Luo had left behind, they could hold out for a while.

Even if they couldn’t persist, they would retreat decisively.

As for the Lin Family’s main forces, they had now fallen back to Maple Leaf City, relying on the defensive grand formation to continuously hold off the enemy.

The entire Lin Family was plunged into an unprecedented crisis.

…

The second hurdle for Foundation Establishment was the spiritual energy trial.

The Qi Refinement realm had no concept of "magic power"; people commonly referred to the power they used as "spiritual energy," because this power existed in a gaseous state.

However, once Foundation Establishment was achieved, this power would liquefy, flowing continuously from the Qi sea Dantian. It was then that the concept of "magic power" arose.

This liquefaction process depended foremost on the purity of a person’s spiritual energy.

Often, cultivators who had consumed too many potions, though they advanced rapidly through Qi Refinement levels and quickly reached the ninth level, would expose their greatest weakness when attempting Foundation Establishment.

Because they depended on potions for advancement, lacking substantial purification through refinement, their spiritual energy remained impure.

Yet, this still could not stop many cultivators from taking large amounts of potions to break through.

If they truly could rely on secluded cultivation to advance their realm, why would they choose something like potions?

Even Zhou Luo often took Gathering Spirit Potion and other elixirs to enhance his cultivation.

Potions could be taken, but not excessively.

Compared to ordinary people, Zhou Luo’s greatest advantage was that he had the Spirit Gathering Technique.

This Qi Refinement technique helped him better extract the heaven and earth spiritual energy in cultivation, making his spiritual energy pure and full.

Huff—

After the infusion of heaven and earth spiritual energy ended, the pressure in Zhou Luo’s dantian increased drastically, and the gaseous spiritual energy began compressing continuously, condensing into substance; under patches of hazy mist, vast spiritual energy surged like a river.

Zhou Luo focused his mind intently and continuously refined the spiritual energy entering his body.

This process took Zhou Luo a full one and a half years more.

During this year and a half, the Lin Family’s situation grew increasingly difficult.

Maple Leaf City was completely besieged by the Zhang Family and Lu Family, and many cultivators were destroying that large city.

Being blocked at their doorstep, the spiritual mines outside became isolated islands, barely holding on.

The only place without issues was Jiang City.

Because of Little White’s defense, those Lu Family cultivators attempting to attack there would inexplicably fall into hallucinations.

The Lu Family could not understand the situation either, so they abandoned the effort for now, planning to conquer Maple Leaf City first.

Other forces in Qinyuan Domain silently observed from the shadows.

According to this trend, the Lin Family’s destruction seemed inevitable.

As the largest force in the entire domain, the Qinyuan Sect displayed unprecedented indifference.

It seemed they felt the Five Great Long-Life Families ought to undergo a reshuffle.

It was due to the Immortal Sect’s indulgence that the Zhang and Lu families became so rampant, even uniting with many minor forces.

When Maple Leaf City fell, the Lin Family would perish.

…

As for the Lin Family’s condition, Zhou Luo remained unaware; he was undergoing his final third gate, the gate of mental strength.

For him, this gate presented no pressure at all.

As he was a second level Pill Master and Second Level spiritual symbol master, his mental strength rivaled an ordinary Foundation Establishment strong person; with external conditions in place, he could pass through it easily.

The first external condition referred to the spiritual vein.

To achieve Foundation Establishment, one needed to absorb a massive amount of heaven and earth spiritual energy, which only a spiritual vein could provide.

That was why most chose the core districts of Immortal Cities for Foundation Establishment.

If one could break through casually in the wild without a spiritual vein’s support, then loose cultivators would find Foundation Establishment too easy.

The land became useless while the most crucial for cultivation—wealth, partners, techniques, and land—remained essential.

The second external condition was Foundation Establishment Dan.

Actually, Foundation Establishment Dan was not essential; if one possessed Heaven Spiritual Roots, breakthroughs up to the Golden Core were effortless and required no potions.

This was a privilege reserved for once-in-a-millennium geniuses.

Apart from Heaven Spiritual Roots, Earth Spiritual Roots inherently offered a fifty percent Foundation Establishment chance, far exceeding that of Foundation Establishment Dan, allowing easy attainment without external aids.

The so-called Foundation Establishment Dan was designed entirely for ordinary people like Zhou Luo with common spiritual roots.

Its effect was simple: speeding up the spiritual roots’ conversion rate of heaven and earth spiritual energy.

Normally, with his Eighth Grade spiritual root, Zhou Luo’s Foundation Establishment probability was low.

But this time, he refined an exceptional Foundation Establishment Dan; after consumption, it compensated for his spiritual roots’ deficiency.

He brimmed with confidence for this Foundation Establishment; given enough time, he could easily enter the Foundation Establishment.

Years of accumulation led to a sudden eruption.

Zhou Luo felt only exhilaration; the spiritual energy at his dantian endlessly washed over his body, and strands of circulating spiritual energy, under his guidance, gradually infused into it.

His dantian at the ninth level of Qi Refinement was already saturated with spiritual energy and kept expanding.

The dantian’s enlargement was a mark of successful Foundation Establishment.

A Foundation Establishment cultivator stored dozens of times more spiritual energy and mana than a Qi Refinement cultivator.

That was why Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment were worlds apart.

They could crush opponents just by releasing pure mana, with no fight possible.

On the Dao platform, Zhou Luo stood like a wooden stake, expression calm, mind unshaken, intently guiding spiritual energy to nourish his body.

Naturally, this could not have happened without the aid of the Water Spirit Heart Method.

This heart method kept him wholly focused during Foundation Establishment, free from external distractions.

Crossing this final gate, Foundation Establishment was nearly achieved.