In the Secret Room, Pingtu had already flicked out the medicinal pill. By the twenty-fifth breath, the star-like, faint yellow light on Li Yan's forehead had dimmed to the point of being almost invisible. How could Pingtu dare to hesitate any longer? He couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Back then, Pei Buchong had succeeded in the twentieth breath.
The pill was instantly before Li Yan. Just as Pingtu was about to wave his hand to make Li Yan open his mouth and swallow the pill, the faint yellow spot of light on Li Yan's forehead suddenly burst with an extremely bright light, actually forming a white line. Following this, an astonishing fluctuation of spiritual energy erupted from Li Yan's body, instantly causing the golden-yellow spiritual energy in the Secret Room to surge violently in all directions. The dense spiritual energy that had originally filled the entire Secret Room actually spread out with Li Yan as the center, forming a hollow area of about three zhang. This sudden change startled Pingtu, followed by great joy. He reacted extremely quickly. The hand he had waved out had already changed direction. With a smooth motion, he had scooped up the Foundation Establishment Pill in his palm and snatched it back.
"Hehe, little fellow, you really did it." A look of joy appeared on Pingtu's face. For the people of the Five Immortal Sects, every new disciple or every promotion in realm was a significant event. After all, the inheritance of their lineage was so difficult.
Following the appearance of the astonishing spiritual energy fluctuation from Li Yan's body, the next moment, from the pores of his body that had already been purified by the Qiongqi Purgatory Art, strands of oily black substance once again gushed out. A foul, fishy smell spread out with it. But this time, Pingtu was not angry. Instead, he nodded with a smile.
Li Yan was still sitting cross-legged, the pores of his body continuously expelling impurities, though less and less. At the same time, the sound of flowing water came from his body—the condensation of qi into a marsh. A rumbling sound came from within his body from time to time. It was his Dantian's Purple Mansion undergoing a heaven-and-earth-shaking change as the spiritual energy liquid circulated, and it was expanding rapidly.
After a cultivator successfully establishes their foundation, their previous Dantian can no longer withstand the majestic power of the liquefied spiritual energy and will expand accordingly, with its walls becoming thicker.
At this time, the five spiritual energy "tanks" in Li Yan's body were more than ten times larger than when he was at the Great Perfection of the tenth layer of Qi Condensation. If they were likened to five bowls before, they had now become five basins. And the colors of these five spiritual energy tanks were even deeper: the black was deeper, the green was more vibrant, the red was redder, the yellow was thicker, and the white was moist.
At this moment, the five spiritual energy tanks were no longer filled with hazy, floating spiritual energy. Instead, there was tangible water of five colors within them, and it was constantly increasing. The flow between the high and low tank mouths was getting faster and faster, the cycle of power stronger and stronger, seemingly never-ending.
Li Yan only felt a white light before his eyes, followed by a sudden loosening of his body. When he opened his eyes, he found that he had arrived in a world of white light. Soft white light was flashing all around. A nine-tiered staircase leading upward was all that was here. Each tier was carved like white jade, and a cool sensation that seeped into the heart emanated from it, making Li Yan feel comfortable all over. The oppressive force from before had completely disappeared. After looking around, Li Yan found that he was standing on the first step below. Just as Li Yan was puzzled, not knowing why he was so insistent on coming here, a majestic voice, without a trace of emotion, rumbled down from the very top of the white jade staircase. "Approaching the Way Foundation Establishment, complete!" In an instant, it echoed in all directions.
Li Yan's heart trembled. In an instant, all sorts of thoughts flooded his mind, and a sense of enlightenment welled up. 'I'm undergoing Foundation Establishment. That's right, this is Foundation Establishment. I... have successfully established my foundation.' Li Yan slowly came to his senses from his daze. He looked in the direction of the voice, but the space above was empty. The voice seemed to have come from a distant place and had now vanished without a trace.
'Approaching the Way Foundation Establishment. That's right, I have stepped onto the nine-tiered path of Foundation Establishment. I wonder if I have already used the Foundation Establishment Pill.' Li Yan withdrew his gaze from the top and slowly looked at the eight steps above. At this time, his mind was no longer unconscious, but had become clear.
'Nine-Tier Foundation Establishment, Each Tier a Severance. Is this the legendary nine-tiered path to heaven of Foundation Establishment? I'm only on the first tier now, which means I have successfully established my foundation. But... this is not what I want. So, I will see how many tiers I can climb.'
After understanding the environment he was in, Li Yan couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation.
The nine-tiered staircase, each step about three zhang and nine feet long, and seven feet wide. He first observed the steps for a while. The next moment, he found that no matter how he walked horizontally on this first step, it was easy and effortless. But when Li Yan lifted his knee, intending to step onto the second tier, a powerful force almost blasted the unprepared him directly off the first step.
'So that's how it is. But this little pressure is not enough. Although I don't know which tier others have reached in their Foundation Establishment, I imagine no one is content to stop at the very bottom.'
After thinking this, Li Yan delayed no longer. Although his physical body was not here, after circulating the spiritual energy in his body, he was pleasantly surprised to find that it could also circulate freely. And since stepping onto the first tier, the spiritual energy in his body seemed endless, which greatly boosted his confidence.
With a sudden surge of all his spiritual energy, Li Yan abruptly lifted one leg. As he bent his knee, the space here seemed to begin to distort. A huge pressure pressed down directly from the step above, as if to stop him from lifting his knee. But Li Yan's face showed no change. Amidst the distorting light, his right knee had already been lifted. Then he stepped heavily onto the second tier. The moment his right foot stepped onto the second tier, a rumbling sound actually came from this void space. And Li Yan's figure, amidst the tearing and twisting of the light, seemed as if it would be torn out of this void. But Li Yan's body still shot upward fiercely.
"Soldier's Way Foundation Establishment, complete!" The moment Li Yan stepped onto the second tier, that majestic, emotionless voice once again came from far above.
Outside, Pingtu looked at the meditating Li Yan. At this moment, another extremely bright line of light suddenly appeared on his forehead.
"Hehe, the little fellow has started to charge. These first few stages should not be too difficult for him, after all, he has five spiritual energy tanks to support him." As Pingtu was thinking, lines of light continued to flash and appear on Li Yan's forehead.
The third line, the fourth line, the fifth line...
As lines of light lit up one by one on Li Yan's forehead, his body would tremble with each one, and a large amount of oily black substance would gush out in an instant.
In the void space, the rumbling sound was incessant, as if it had never stopped since Li Yan began to step onto the second tier.
"Combatant's Way Foundation Establishment, complete!"
"Daoist's Way Foundation Establishment, complete!"
"All-is-Naught Foundation Establishment, complete!"
That cold voice echoed in this space from time to time, as if in response to the rumbling sound.
Li Yan stood on the fifth tier, his hands on his knees, panting heavily. Although there was no sweat here, he felt extremely tired. The sound of his heart beating like a drum had long since drowned out the rumbling from outside and that cold voice in his ears.
Li Yan had felt the pressure on the second, third, and fourth steps, but he had still stepped onto them with relative ease. But starting from the fourth step, the pressure from above had suddenly increased by about ten times. This had made him use all his strength to step onto the fifth tier just now. Looking at the four shining, jade-white steps above, a ruthless look flashed in Li Yan's eyes.
'Is it getting harder and harder? But this is not what I want.' Li Yan thought to himself. Then he lifted his leg to take another step, but the next moment, he let out a muffled grunt and fell to his knees. A flush rose on Li Yan's face. Although he couldn't vomit blood in this space, his internal organs were churning just as uncomfortably. After more than ten breaths, Li Yan's agitated qi slowly calmed down.
Next, he did not immediately charge toward the sixth tier again, but sat down cross-legged on the fifth tier.
Pingtu looked at the five thin lines flashing on Li Yan's forehead. It had been three hours since the fifth line of light had appeared, and the thin lines on Li Yan's forehead had not increased again.
Pingtu was not anxious. He knew that Li Yan should be in the process of recovering at this moment. This could be seen from his physical body in the Secret Room. Now, no more impurities were being discharged, but there was a large amount of sweat, which showed how huge Li Yan's consumption was.
The spiritual energy in Li Yan's body in the void space was circulating at an even crazier speed. At the same time, Li Yan also discovered that his spiritual energy tanks would expand by about double after he stepped onto each tier, and his spiritual energy would also double. And the colors of the five spiritual energy tanks became deeper and deeper. When he reached the fifth tier, dense, ancient runes had actually appeared on the bodies of the five spiritual energy tanks. They were just not very clear, appearing and disappearing. Each of these runes emitted a faint crystalline light, but Li Yan had never seen any of them before. But it seemed that every rune would shake Li Yan's mind. As his physical strength and spiritual energy continued to circulate, these ancient runes flashed faster and faster, but they still could not be seen clearly.
Li Yan slowly stood up. 'I was still a bit impatient before. After continuously breaking through, my overall state declined, and I couldn't step onto the sixth tier at all. Now that I have completely recovered, the spiritual energy after successfully achieving "All-is-Naught Foundation Establishment" is at least four times that of when I just established my foundation. But at the same time, the pressure from above is ten times or even more than before. Although it is obviously not an equal match, in my current fully recovered state, I might still have a chance to fight.'
Li Yan silently calculated his current strength in his heart. He thought of the pressure when he had intended to step onto the sixth tier, which had directly knocked him to his knees. He had roughly deduced that the first four tiers were probably one stage, and the gap between each tier was not too much. Starting from the fifth tier, each tier might have more than ten times the pressure of the previous one.
Li Yan took a deep breath. With all his spiritual energy flashing wildly, he faced the pressure from above and suddenly lifted his knee again. The moment he lifted his knee, a pressure exceeding the sum of the previous five tiers slammed down, causing Li Yan's bones to make a "kaka" sound, as if to crush him into a pile of broken bones.
In the Secret Room, Li Yan's body, which was sitting cross-legged, trembled violently. Li Yan's originally mountain-like straight back was instantly bent somewhat, and at the same time, a "gaga" sound of bones being suppressed came from his body, as if an invisible giant hand were pressing him to the ground.
Pingtu watched all this. He could not intervene in this rule of the Heavenly Dao. The consequences of that were unbearable. It would directly cause all of Li Yan's Foundation Establishment tiers to collapse, and he would fall directly back to the Qi Condensation stage, his path to Foundation Establishment cut off from then on.
The only thing he could do was to flick that Foundation Establishment Pill into Li Yan's mouth at a critical moment, turning it into an external force to help him. But he felt it was not yet time.
'Pei Buchong charged to the eighth tier. The disciple that Dong Fuyi has taken a fancy to, without any external force, the sixth tier should be no problem.' Pingtu stared fixedly at Li Yan, thinking in his heart.
In the void space, on the white jade staircase in mid-air, Li Yan's knee was lifted bit by bit. But with every inch he lifted it, his body rumbled continuously, as if it would be crushed. The veins on Li Yan's forehead bulged high, and he clenched his teeth tightly, his knee lifting bit by bit.