Li Yan's breathing was steady as he slowly inhaled and exhaled the abundant spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the Secret Room. He had already entered a state of deep meditation. But instinctively, he had already sensed a sliver of opportunity to break through to Foundation Establishment. This was something that every cultivator would vaguely sense at a certain moment when breaking through to the next realm. This feeling was ethereal and intangible, impossible to grasp or touch. It was in that one instant that a sense of enlightenment would grace the heart.
In his deep meditation, Li Yan felt as if he had arrived in a boundless void. He felt that he had been walking here for a long, long time, but there was still no end, no destination. It was as if he would just continue to walk aimlessly until the end of time.
Day after day, he walked without purpose. But on this day, as Li Yan was walking, a light suddenly and slowly appeared in the originally black sky. At first, it was just a faint, hazy line of dim yellow, but it slowly grew brighter and brighter, as if to illuminate this void sky into daylight.
The moment this line of light appeared, Li Yan stopped walking. He was firmly captivated by it. As the light grew brighter, the line of light in the sky grew thicker and wider, as if to stretch across the entire horizon. As this line of light approached, it began to emit a strange attractive force, firmly pulling at Li Yan's mind.
Li Yan squinted at the thick line of light in the sky. Although it was dazzling and he couldn't look at it directly, he could still vaguely see what seemed to be a series of steps within the light. Those steps were as crystal clear as jade in the white light, and they were slowly extending downward from the line of light, bit by bit, creating in Li Yan a desire to step onto them. But with every bit the line of light brightened, a huge repulsive force would be generated, continuously pushing Li Yan's body outward, until he was further and further away.
At the same time, a faint yellow spot of light suddenly appeared in the center of the forehead of the cross-legged Li Yan in the Secret Room outside. Amidst the thick black qi that shrouded him, it was almost invisible. But the moment this spot of light appeared, Li Yan's body couldn't help but tremble slightly, and the dense black qi around him began to contract into his body. In just two breaths, it had all been drawn into his Dantian.
Pingtu, who had been staring at Li Yan, suddenly opened his eyes wide and thought, 'It's here.' He carefully extended his Divine Sense into the thick fog around Li Yan and directly saw the spot of yellow light on his forehead.
'He has finally sensed that sliver of opportunity. I thought it would take a year or even several years. But of the nine tiers of Foundation Establishment, which one can he reach? Back then, that boy Buchong reached the eighth tier. Although it was a pity, he was still a one-in-ten-thousand find even in the Spirit Immortal Realm .' Pingtu's eyes were filled with anticipation.
There were also levels within the Foundation Establishment realm. Foundation Establishment was also known as "Nine-Tier Foundation Establishment, Each Tier a Severance." As long as a person attempting Foundation Establishment stepped onto the first step they sensed, it was considered a successful Foundation Establishment. But since ancient times, many people at the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation, no matter how hard they cultivated, could never find that sliver of light in the void sky. This led to them getting lost in the endless void every time they entered deep meditation, drifting further and further away from the opportunity until their death.
And those who could sense this sliver of light were not necessarily able to enter within it and successfully step onto the steps. Eight or nine out of ten would sigh in vain and regret it for the rest of their lives. If they missed the chance to step into the light once, the next time they wanted to find this sliver of light in the void, it would be a thousand times more difficult than the first. They might never encounter it again in their entire life.
The high platform of Foundation Establishment was divided into nine tiers. Stepping onto the first tier was the worst, "Approaching the Way Foundation Establishment." After that, there were eight more levels of Foundation Establishment, which were determined according to the nine words of Daoism and corresponded one-to-one with the nine phases of a Chan master in Buddhism. It was just that because most ancient cultivators were disciples of Ancestor Hongjun, who had the most widespread branches, most cultivators used "Foundation Establishment" to refer to this stage of cultivation and would not use "Chan Master" or "Buddha " to define their realm, as those were specific titles of Buddhism.
The nine tiers of Foundation Establishment were based on the chant "lín bīng dòu zhě jiē zhèn liè zài qián" (TN: A Daoist chant for protection and power). Specifically, they were "Approaching the Way Foundation Establishment," "Soldier's Way Foundation Establishment," "Combatant's Way Foundation Establishment," "Daoist's Way Foundation Establishment," "All-is-Naught Foundation Establishment," "Formation-Slaying Foundation Establishment," "Cauldron-Arraying Foundation Establishment," "Within the Cauldron Foundation Establishment," and "Before the Throne Foundation Establishment."
Each tier of Foundation Establishment was a world apart from the one before it. And to step onto the next tier was like ascending to heaven. Each step was a tribulation, and each tribulation would sever the cultivator's illusions, strangling a cultivator's life on their path to heaven. Thus, there was the saying, "Nine-Tier Foundation Establishment, Each Tier a Severance."
Among the nine tiers, "Before the Throne Foundation Establishment" was the most terrifying, also known as "unrivaled before the Golden Core throne." As long as someone achieved this level of Foundation Establishment, forming a Golden Core was a certainty. But since ancient times, even those who could reach "Formation-Slaying Foundation Establishment" were few and far between. Therefore, the last three types of Foundation Establishment were called the "Cauldron of Foundation Establishment," indicating that as long as one could step onto the seventh tier, they were already a pillar of strength among those at the Foundation Establishment realm. Their combat power was not just ordinarily formidable, but they could fight ordinary Golden Core cultivators while still at the late stage of Foundation Establishment. That was absolutely a heaven-defying existence in a sect.
Seeing his body drift further and further away from the line of light, Li Yan was extremely anxious. At this moment, he was actually just his Divine Sense in deep meditation communicating with the Heavenly Dao, and he didn't know what he was doing at all. Subconsciously, he felt that he was about to lose something very important.
He couldn't help but let out a low roar and suddenly charged forward. With this charge, he actually rushed forward more than ten zhang. But just after Li Yan rushed out ten-odd zhang, the line of light in the sky brightened by a few more degrees. The light became more dazzling, and in an instant, the ninth and final step of the white jade staircase had fully extended to the ground. A powerful force repelled outward in all directions, causing the advancing Li Yan to stumble back several steps. In his urgency, Li Yan's spiritual energy surged out again, and only then did he manage to barely hold his ground.
As for Li Yan outside, the light on his forehead was flashing rapidly. Pingtu's eyes narrowed. 'The first step to heaven. It's about to begin. Ninety percent of cultivators fail at this stage. I wonder if he can make it through, or if he needs to swallow the "Foundation Establishment Pill" to take this step.' As Pingtu was thinking, amidst the churning of the dense golden-yellow spiritual energy, a large hand had already materialized on the side of the giant face. In that large hand was a pill as white as jade, currently emitting a strong white light. It was the "Foundation Establishment Pill" that Qi Condensation cultivators yearned for the most.
Originally, before a cultivator attempted Foundation Establishment, they would wrap this pill in spiritual energy and place it in their mouth. The pill would not melt. Instead, when the cultivator sensed that sliver of opportunity for Foundation Establishment, this pill would also be able to sense that aura at the same time and would break through the spiritual energy wrapping on its own, directly melting and entering the abdomen to assist the cultivator in breaking through the great barrier of Foundation Establishment. But after seeking Pingtu's opinion, Li Yan still adopted the most ancient method of the Spirit Immortal Realm. When a disciple attempted Foundation Establishment, an elder would guard them and control the timing of the use of the "Foundation Establishment Pill" according to the actual situation.
The benefits of this were far greater than the first method. Li Yan had also heard before that when Lin Daqiao was undergoing Foundation Establishment, he had asked Li Wuyi to be his guardian and had used this method. Moreover, when Li Yan received the Foundation Establishment Pill, Wei Zhongran had also raised this issue. At that time, Li Yan had made the excuse that he didn't know when he would be able to attempt Foundation Establishment and that when he was ready, he would ask his master for help. Wei Zhongran had also nodded in agreement. He now valued this disciple Li Yan extremely highly. Not to mention his unexpected cultivation speed, even just for his unclear relationship with Zhao Min, he still chose to help him greatly. It was just that Li Yan didn't know that there was another reason for this.
Pingtu stared unblinkingly at Li Yan's forehead. As long as that sliver of light dimmed, he would flick out the medicinal pill at the first moment. But that result was not what Pingtu wanted. In that case, Li Yan's Foundation Establishment would lack subsequent power, and stepping onto more tiers would be a distant hope.
With Pingtu's ability and the resources of spirit herbs and trees in the Secret Realm, it was not that he couldn't refine a Foundation Establishment Pill for Li Yan's use. It was just that only one Foundation Establishment Pill could be used for each attempt. Using more would generate more immense spiritual energy in the body later on. This spiritual energy was not obtained through one's own cultivation. Too much of it would affect the process of spiritual energy liquefying and could cause the Foundation Establishment to fail.
In the void space, after stabilizing his body, Li Yan felt the repulsive force before him coming like waves, each one higher than the last, as if determined to send him flying far away.
At this very moment, all of Li Yan's spiritual energy outside had returned to his body. In the void, the five elements of spiritual energy in his Dantian circulated, and the True Scripture of Gui Water was endless. A powerful force flowed to Li Yan's four limbs and bones. Li Yan suddenly felt the pressure before him lighten. Subconsciously, he walked toward that white jade staircase, although he didn't know why he had to do so.
Thirty zhang, twenty-nine zhang, twenty-eight zhang... twenty-five zhang... As his body continuously advanced, although Li Yan's internal qi was surging and he felt much more relaxed than before, the pressure grew greater and greater. When he was only ten zhang away from the white jade staircase, that powerful force was like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami. At this time, every step Li Yan took felt like it cost ten times the spiritual energy as before. In the end, it was no exaggeration to say that every step was a struggle.
Looking at the shining white jade staircase a few zhang away, so close yet seemingly as far as the ends of the earth, Li Yan, in his anxiety, suddenly noticed that the shining lights were now slowly dissipating, and at an extremely fast speed. In just another dozen breaths, it was possible that this white jade staircase would disappear.
In the Secret Room, Pingtu's face was grave. He silently calculated the time in his heart. 'Twenty breaths have passed. If he doesn't make it in another ten breaths, he will fail.' A golden light began to shine in his hand. In another five breaths, he would flick the Foundation Establishment Pill into Li Yan's mouth.
Foundation Establishment was not as earth-shattering as forming a core or a Nascent Soul. The entire process was very short, and also very long. It was short in that the path to Foundation Establishment usually only gave thirty breaths of time to step onto the heavenly ladder. Otherwise, that sliver of opportunity would be lost in a flash. This was also what caused millions of cultivators to regret it for the rest of their lives, unable to rest in peace even in death. They had crossed thousands of mountains and rivers to find that line of light in the sky, only to be defeated in the thirty-breath path to heaven. How could they be willing?
It was long in that once one stepped onto the first step, the path to heaven would no longer disappear. Instead, it would only dissipate after you finally failed on your way up the ladder. This process was also long. It was often the case that some cultivators would take several days to several months to complete Foundation Establishment. This was the reason.
Li Yan looked at the disappearing white spots of light ahead, his heart extremely anxious, as if he were losing the most precious thing in his life. He let out another angry roar, and all the spiritual energy in his body suddenly erupted. Amidst the flashing light, his figure suddenly took twelve consecutive steps forward. He was only a zhang away from stepping onto the white jade staircase, but the white jade staircase actually began to contract into the air, instantly pulling away by another half a zhang. And the entire white jade staircase was dissipating at a speed visible to the naked eye. It already looked illusory.
Seeing this, Li Yan's internal spiritual energy instantly merged the five elements into one, all transforming into black water spiritual energy. The spiritual energy aura of his entire body suddenly became pure. This spiritual energy was directly channeled to his feet. He stomped fiercely on the ground, and a powerful shockwave formed circles of ripples under his feet, as if the entire void space trembled for a moment. His figure suddenly turned into an afterimage and shot directly toward the illusory staircase that was contracting into mid-air.
The next moment, facing the waves of whistling repulsive force, Li Yan, like an arrow shot with full force, turned into a streak of light in the air and shot into that line of light.