Chapter 149: Foundation Establishment Today!

Water Dragon Sect, Four Directions Island, Pill Refining Room.

This was not Ji Yuan’s first time setting foot on Four Directions Island, but it was his first time entering the Pill Refining Room here—especially one that connected to the Earth Vein.

As soon as he entered, he felt a wave of heat rush at him.

The Pill Refining Room was not particularly large, estimated to be only thirty to forty square meters, yet it was still larger than the one on Misty Island. The walls were made of unknown materials—neither wood nor iron. In addition, there was a protective array covering it, which not only provided soundproofing but also prevented others from probing inside.

At the center of the Pill Refining Room, there was a fire that appeared eternal and unextinguishable.

That was the spot connected to the Earth Vein, where the pill cauldron was placed.

Refining Foundation Establishment Pill required melting a Demon Core, and only Earth Vein Fire could accomplish that. Of course, pill fire from someone at the Golden Core Stage would also suffice—

Unfortunately, Ji Yuan was still some distance from the Golden Core Stage.

Normally, renting such an Earth Vein Pill Refining Room would cost 10 middle-grade Spirit Stones per month.

Therefore, most alchemists would prepare their medicinal ingredients at home and start refining as soon as they arrived. At most, it would only take two to three days.

So to them, this price was quite acceptable.

But this time, Ji Yuan was not like that. He had not even started processing the ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Pill. After processing, he still had to refine the pills.

He needed to refine five batches.

After refining, he would still have to attempt Foundation Establishment—he estimated that if he could succeed within a year,

that would already be considered fortunate.

"Calculating it this way, going to the Li family was definitely worth it. Not only did it keep this hidden from the Sect Master, but it also saved me a huge amount of Spirit Stones!"

Yesterday, after Feng Yichen left—

Ji Yuan contacted Li Changhe. The reply he got was that Li Changhe still had not returned. The one who came to meet Ji Yuan was Li Changhe’s second uncle.

Li Changhe had explained things in advance, and Ji Yuan trusted him.

So when Ji Yuan expressed his desire to rent an Earth Vein Pill Refining Room, Second Uncle Li agreed on the spot with a slap on the table.

This was just a word from the Li family’s side.

Even without them, as long as one had enough Spirit Stones, it would be doable.

Ji Yuan also didn’t forget to ask Second Uncle Li to cover up his identity—the final solution was for Second Uncle Li to use the identity of a junior member of the Li family to rent the Earth Vein Pill Refining Room for Ji Yuan. The rental period was long—two years in one go.

Ji Yuan walked a few circles in the Pill Refining Room and used his Divine Sense to inspect every inch inside and out.

He found nothing unusual.

Finally, he sat before the Earth Vein and took out his Mid-Second-Tier Pill Cauldron.

According to the pill recipe, refining the Foundation Establishment Pill required warming the cauldron with Earth Vein Fire for three days in advance.

The next step was to prepare the materials. Both the Millennium Illusory Spirit Grass and the Millennium Qinghui Grass had to be soaked in prepared Earth Vein Spirit Spring for seven days. This process would remove impure Qi while nurturing their spiritual energy, and so on.

Once Ji Yuan finished processing these, sitting in front of the Earth Vein, he couldn’t help but think—

"To Li Changhe, I indeed did him a great favor, and the Li family’s help has indeed been effective. But favors always have an end."

"Still, it doesn’t matter. If this favor from the Li family can help me succeed in Foundation Establishment, then that’s its greatest value."

"As for after Foundation Establishment—that depends on what Hua Yaoyue says. Since she is my master’s disciple, I have to listen to my master, right?"

With that thought, Ji Yuan once again checked the three jars of Spiritual Wine inside his storage pouch.

They were all still intact.

Unfortunately, this place had no space to activate the Wine Cellar.

Otherwise, he could have continued nurturing them for a few more months. By then, the flavor of the Spiritual Wine would definitely have been better.

Ji Yuan looked up.

At some point, the label 【Pill Refining Room: lv2】 had already appeared above his head.

After renting this 【Pill Refining Room】, the Building Upgrade Panel had automatically recognized it as one of his structures.

Given that, he would first try refining a few batches of Spirit-Converging Pill.

Ji Yuan had never used Earth Vein Fire to refine pills before, so he had to test the cauldron and the fire’s intensity first.

He could not use Foundation Establishment Pills as a test.

Ji Yuan was refining pills.

Feng Yichen was looking for Xuan Shui Zhen Ren—he never would have thought Ji Yuan would dare to run!

The task the Sect Master had given him—he had merely considered before giving a response, which was already extremely bold, but he didn’t expect Ji Yuan to go even further.

He just ran.

Was he courting death?!

Feng Yichen had given Ji Yuan two days to consider, but after waiting at home for two days, Ji Yuan never responded.

So he came again, planning to ask Ji Yuan in person what he was thinking.

But when he arrived, he saw—Ji Yuan’s front door tightly shut, formation exposed.

This clearly meant Ji Yuan was no longer at home.

Not at home at this time—where else could he be? He clearly ran away.

"Damn, every year has its bold ones, but this year there’s a record number."

Feng Yichen couldn’t help but think of other matters, but none shocked him as much as this incident with Ji Yuan.

Daring to defy the Sect Master’s command, and doing so within the Water Dragon Sect—was this rebellion?

When Feng Yichen reached the main hall of the Water Dragon Sect’s main island and saw Xuan Shui Zhen Ren, he immediately recounted everything.

"Oh? You’re saying he ran?"

This surprised not only Feng Yichen but also caught Xuan Shui Zhen Ren off guard.

Thinking for a moment, he couldn’t help but chuckle—

"Is he that afraid of dying?"

"Interesting. Wait here a moment."

As he spoke, Xuan Shui Zhen Ren turned into a stream of escape light and departed.

Feng Yichen could guess where he was going—certainly to investigate Ji Yuan’s whereabouts.

In just a short while, a water-blue escape light landed beside Feng Yichen and turned into Xuan Shui Zhen Ren’s figure.

"I went to check the Sect-Protecting Array—he hasn’t left. He’s still within our sect grounds."

"He hasn’t gone anywhere."

Feng Yichen also couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief after hearing this.

He was still within the sect—then, no matter what, it couldn’t be considered a betrayal of the sect. As long as it wasn’t a major offense, it wouldn’t implicate him, so it was no issue.

"Sect Master, should we continue searching?"

Feng Yichen cupped his hands and asked.

"Search?"

Xuan Shui Zhen Ren shook his head."Since he doesn’t want to go to the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven, what’s the point of finding him even if we do?"

"Let him be. Our Water Dragon Sect hasn’t fallen so low that we must rely on someone at the Qi Refining stage."

After Xuan Shui Zhen Ren finished speaking, he waved his hand."You go back and prepare properly."

"Yes."

"Disciple takes his leave."

Feng Yichen left.

Xuan Shui Zhen Ren didn’t feel anything particular. Though he wasn’t broad-minded, he wasn’t petty enough to fuss with a Qi Refining disciple.

Of course, he didn’t forget to instruct the people by the Sect-Protecting Formation to monitor Ji Yuan’s aura.

If Ji Yuan left through the Sect-Protecting Formation, they were to send him a message.

At that time, Xuan Shui Zhen Ren would make time to meet this young man named Ji Yuan. Not to make things difficult, but just to ask—why was he unwilling to go to the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven?

Could it be... that he truly didn’t want to establish his foundation?

After that thought, Xuan Shui Zhen Ren let the matter go.

There were too many affairs in the Water Dragon Sect; he had no time to dwell on such trivial matters.

In just a few days, the team heading to the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven would set off.

Seven days passed in a flash.

Ji Yuan had completed warming the cauldron, and during that time, he had also tried refining three batches of Spirit-Converging Pill. Except for the first batch, where the Earth Vein Fire’s heat was not well controlled and the herbs all turned into Furnace Ash, the other two batches succeeded.

With all preparations complete, Ji Yuan began attempting to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill.

According to the experience and memories provided by the Panel, refining this Foundation Establishment Pill was different from other pills.

For ordinary pills, the main ingredient was usually melted first during the fusion process.

But the Foundation Establishment Pill wasn’t like that.

The Foundation Establishment Pill required melting the Demon Core first. After melting it, one had to add Trinitarian Jade Dew to turn it into “pill slurry.”

Once the pill slurry formed, then add the Illusory Spirit Grass and Qinghui Grass, refining them with Martial Fire until the medicinal liquid turned golden, and then add auxiliary herbs like Gentian Root.

When all ingredients had turned into golden medicinal liquid, the second step of pill refining could begin—purification.

Purification required strong and fierce fire.

But the main herbs for this Foundation Establishment Pill were all millennium-grade herbs. At this level, even the impurities were ancient and hardened—normal fire simply couldn’t burn them away.

The same went for the Demon Cores.

Inside the Demon Cores was the spiritual energy absorbed throughout the demon’s life. Their composition was complex—some came from monsters that lived in toxic miasma zones, or were inherently venomous beasts.

Their Demon Cores also contained many impurities.

For this Foundation Establishment Pill, Ji Yuan had specially prepared five mid-Second-Tier Demon Cores with pure spiritual energy.

Among them was the Demon Core from the large serpent in the Misty Region. Afterwards, the Great Toad hunted two more fish monsters elsewhere.

The remaining two were exchanged at the Demon Trading Shop using Second-Tier Early Stage Demon Cores.

All of this—for today!

Foundation Establishment Pills refined using mid-Second-Tier Demon Cores should, in theory, be better in quality than those made with early-stage ones.

"Ignite!"

With a thought, Ji Yuan formed a fire-invoking hand seal and immediately triggered the Earth Vein Fire.

With a light sound, “puff—”, a ghostly blue flame rose under the Crimson-Blood Tripod.

The flame baked the already warm base of the cauldron.

Ji Yuan waited for a while, estimating that the temperature was just about right, then used his Divine Sense to summon a Demon Core and placed it into the cauldron.

"Depart!"

With the shout of a Golden Core elder, a giant tower-boat flying vessel rose from the main island of the Water Dragon Sect, ascended into the clouds, and headed westward.

On the deck of the tower-boat, although there were hundreds of people, not a single one spoke.

They either stood or sat, each lost in thought.

Some leaned against the railings, gazing through gaps in the clouds down at the Water Dragon Sect below, lost in thought.

Among these people was Du Wanyi.

She wore the standard robe of the Water Dragon Sect, her facial features slightly concealed. Her originally outstanding appearance now blended into the crowd, appearing utterly ordinary.

As she watched the islands pass beneath the cloud layer, she couldn’t help but wonder—

What was Ji Yuan doing now?

He never cultivated on Hatchling Dragon Island. Outsiders didn’t know this, but Du Wanyi, who was close to him, did.

Although every time Ji Yuan would use the excuse of taking on a task to go out,

given his personality, would he really go out to do missions?

Those one hundred Contribution Points per year were probably all obtained by submitting talismans.

Du Wanyi knew, but never exposed him.

So now, he was most likely hiding in some Cave Dwelling, cultivating alone?

In terms of cultivation, Du Wanyi truly admired Ji Yuan.

At such a vibrant age, he could endure the loneliness of bitter cultivation. Such a person—his willpower was incredibly firm.

Most cultivators, though able to endure bitter cultivation, would want to relax after a period of hardship.

Either go out to eat and drink,

or seek pleasure, listen to songs in brothels,

or even pursue the thrill of life-and-death battles.

Even Du Wanyi herself couldn’t bear the solitude of cultivation—she liked lively surroundings.

So when joining a division, she chose the bustling First Water Hall.

"But—if Fourth Brother were here now, what would his reaction be?"

Du Wanyi couldn’t help but think this.

One month ago, when Ji Yuan came to deliver the formation talismans, he had actually said many things to her, giving many instructions.

The vast majority were small techniques that might save her life.

For example, after entering, she must never trust anyone—not even Han Feiyu. That much need not be said.

If something happened, don’t hesitate. Always stand behind the crowd out of habit. That way, it’d be easier to run when the time comes.

If being chased by someone or a monster, one must be ruthless at that moment.

Go where the crowd is.

By then, you wouldn’t need to be the fastest—just faster than others.

In a place like the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven, as long as you survived, everything else was minor.

Because once you came out and achieved Foundation Establishment, others would naturally overlook what you did before.

Besides, the dead keep secrets too.

At this thought, Du Wanyi no longer looked around but found a corner on the deck of the tower-boat and squatted down, silently nurturing her spiritual energy.

During this time, she also noticed that Han Feiyu had become acquainted with Feng Yichen.

Or more accurately, those powerful disciples of the Water Dragon Sect always seemed to gather together discussing something. Unknowingly, Han Feiyu had also become quite strong.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to hang around with Feng Yichen and the others.

"Looks like once we enter the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven, I’ll need to keep my distance from Han Feiyu."

Because Ji Yuan had said something—

"Among those in the same realm, the powerful ones are basically walking trouble. Even if they don’t cause it, trouble will come looking for them."

"Master, Master, I got the list of personnel heading to the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven from a senior brother on the main island. Ji Yuan really isn’t on it!"

Forget Worry Island.

Feng Zhi Tao held a jade slip, joyfully reporting to Hua Yaoyue.

Hua Yaoyue, who had seemed to be dozing off, opened her eyes and looked at her.

"Oh, I see."

Feng Zhi Tao sat beside her, shook her arm.

"Master, why don’t you seem interested in taking him as a disciple?"

Hua Yaoyue casually replied,"If he enters the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven, acts cautiously, and has some luck, if he comes out alive, he might become your junior brother within three to five years."

"But now that he hasn’t gone to the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven, even achieving Foundation Establishment in his lifetime would already be impressive."

Speaking of this, Hua Yaoyue couldn’t help but chuckle."By then, your junior brother would just have entered the sect and already become a senior brother."

"Pfft—"

Feng Zhi Tao also couldn’t help but laugh.

But as soon as she laughed, she realized something was off. That wouldn’t do. If an old man became her junior brother, that was unacceptable.

He had a False Spiritual Root and couldn’t achieve Foundation Establishment simply because he lacked Foundation Establishment Pills. Should she find a way to get him a few?

No, she thought, he’s not even my junior brother yet. How could I be so nice to him?

But if I’m not nicer to him, he won’t be able to establish his foundation and become my junior brother—just as Feng Zhi Tao hesitated,

she heard Hua Yaoyue ask,"Why do you want him to become your junior brother?"

"Well—"

Feng Zhi Tao had thought about this and replied softly,"Because I feel a kind of fate with him, and we already knew each other."

"Once he becomes a disciple, he’ll definitely be closer to me than to the two senior brothers."

"That way, when they bully me again, someone will help me."

"And?"

Hua Yaoyue glanced at her, knowing she hadn’t said everything.

"And—he looks quite nice."

"Master, you too. You probably don’t want to take some old man as your disciple either, right? Like First Senior Brother—okay, let’s not talk about him. But look at Second Senior Brother, how good-looking he is, right? I’m not bad either, so Fourth Junior Brother can’t fall short, right?"

Feng Zhi Tao said sweetly.

"Enough. Let fate decide. If it’s meant to be, I will take him as my disciple."

After Hua Yaoyue said this, she took out a jug of wine from her storage pouch and took a sip.

"Go on now. Don’t disturb my cultivation for no reason."

Feng Zhi Tao had no choice but to get up immediately, not daring to say a word more.

If she said one more sentence, she feared she’d have to stay and drink with her.

"Pill—complete!"

Inside the 【Pill Refining Room】, Ji Yuan shouted in a low voice and waved his hand. Immediately, five dragon-eye-sized pills flew out from the pill cauldron.

The medicinal fragrance had already filled the entire Pill Refining Room.

Five Foundation Establishment Pills floated above the cauldron. One of them cracked into two halves as soon as it appeared.

Among the remaining four—

After one breath, one pill dimmed instantly.

It didn’t fail, but it didn’t succeed either.

Such a half-finished Foundation Establishment Pill was also called a False Foundation Pill. Taking this could increase the chance of Foundation Establishment by ten percent, but the cost might be a damaged foundation, leaving one forever stuck at the Foundation Establishment stage.

Usually, only aged cultivators with no real hope left for Foundation Establishment would take this risk, betting on this last sliver of hope.

The remaining three pills were intact.

Ji Yuan glanced over them.

Two were Two-Pattern Foundation Establishment Pills, and one was a One-Pattern Foundation Establishment Pill. All three had faint pill patterns on their surface, amber in color, emitting a fresh herbal fragrance. Just a slight sniff made one feel clear-headed and refreshed.

After sniffing for a while, Ji Yuan felt the shackle in his dantian slightly loosening.

He quickly took out a pre-prepared jade box and stored the three Foundation Establishment Pills.

Adding the three given earlier by Li Changhe, he now had six.

Among the six, five were Two-Pattern Foundation Establishment Pills, which was already very good.

Afterward, Ji Yuan rested for a day, both to let the pill cauldron rest and to recover his spiritual energy, ensuring he remained in peak condition.

One day later, Ji Yuan started the second batch of Foundation Establishment Pills.

West of the Medicine King Valley—

Beside a lake named “Black Water Pool,” the six great immortal sects of Shangdong gathered.

The entrance to the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven was right here.

Black Water Pool was vast, so wide that the edges could not be seen at a glance. Moreover, the water was ink-black.

Completely still. According to cultivators who had visited before, there was no living creature in Black Water Pool.

Some story-telling cultivators even said that the reason the pool was black was because too many cultivators had died inside the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven. The resentment of the dead had seeped out, dyeing the waters black.

After the Water Dragon Sect’s tower-boat landed, Du Wanyi, remembering Ji Yuan’s warnings, found an inconspicuous corner to sit in and barely lifted her head.

The few times she did look up, it was only to observe the behavior of the people around her.

Several days passed in this way.

During this time, the Water Dragon Sect issued more information—or rather, updates—such as which powerful Qi Refining disciples the other five sects had.

Among them, those who could rival Foundation Establishment cultivators were especially marked.

From the Water Dragon Sect, of course, it was Feng Yichen.

From Joy Palace, it was a female cultivator named Li Zhuanqing, extremely proficient in dual cultivation arts of Joy, with extremely formidable strength, especially in dealing with male cultivators, for which she had countless methods.

As for Medicine King Valley, the formerly powerful Jian Zong had mysteriously died, and Zhang Zehuai was killed by Feng Yichen.

However, it was said that this time, there was still a powerful Qi Refining disciple, named Liu Duan.

From the north, the Beast Taming Sect had a Qi Refining disciple who had killed a Foundation Establishment cultivator, named Huang Tian.

It was said he obtained some secret technique, allowing him to control two late-First-Tier monsters simultaneously. Some even said he had mastered a Second-Tier monster, hence being able to kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

From Corpse Herding Mountain, a man named Hu Fu controlled a hairless corpse. Reportedly, two Foundation Establishment cultivators had already died at his hands.

As for the Sword Ruins—detached and aloof—they had three Qi Refining disciples who had each killed a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Qin Feng, Zhao Dun, and He Ruoyao.

But as for the Sword Ruins, their temperament was generally aloof. Unless provoked, they typically wouldn’t act against others.

That was the usual case.

No one knew what might happen within the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven.

After all, as long as one silenced the other afterward, one could still go on pretending to be aloof.

After reviewing this information, Du Wanyi memorized the appearances of these individuals firmly. If encountered within the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven—run.

Far away.

A few more days passed, until the day before the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven opened, Han Feiyu came to find Du Wanyi.

"Junior Sister Du, once we’re inside the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven, I probably won’t be able to move with you."

Han Feiyu said this somewhat apologetically with a smile.

Back at the Water Dragon Sect, before setting out, the two had agreed to act together inside the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven, at least to have someone to watch their backs.

Du Wanyi had already guessed this when she saw him walking with Feng Yichen and the others on the journey.

So she wasn’t too surprised.

Not traveling together was fine—being alone was more convenient.

"Alright, no problem. Brother Han, take care."

Du Wanyi smiled as she replied.

"Mm."

After the awkward smile—there was nothing more. Some things weren’t in his control, and he couldn’t offer Du Wanyi any kind of compensation.

Just before leaving, he suddenly thought of something. Leaving behind a note for Du Wanyi, he departed.

Once he was gone and seeing no one else around, Du Wanyi took out the note to check.

Scribbled across it in crooked characters were a few words:

"Whatever you do, don’t go to Ghost Flood Dragon Lake."

The next day.

A spatial tunnel appeared above Black Water Pool, connecting to the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven.

Golden Core cultivators from the six great sects and the loose cultivator alliance worked together to stabilize the tunnel with their spells. Then, numerous Qi Refining disciples began entering one after another, rushing in.

Many entered, but few would return.

■■■■■

Several months passed in a flash.

Ji Yuan refined one batch of Foundation Establishment Pills every half month. Using five sets of ingredients, it took him a total of two and a half months.

The final batch of Foundation Establishment Pills was complete.

Of the five, four succeeded, with no half-finished False Foundation Pills. He obtained three Two-Pattern Foundation Establishment Pills and one One-Pattern Foundation Establishment Pill.

Seeing this, Ji Yuan let out a long breath.

Each of the first three batches had only yielded three successful pills. By the fourth batch, with more experience, he managed four successful pills.

With the Foundation Establishment Pills complete, Ji Yuan put away the Crimson-Blood Tripod and instead took out a jade box from his storage pouch.

Opening the jade box with a flick of his hand, a dense medicinal fragrance instantly filled the room. Just one sniff swept away his prior fatigue from alchemy.

Looking down, he saw seventeen Foundation Establishment Pills that he had refined, plus the ones given earlier by Li Changhe, for a total of twenty round, chubby Foundation Establishment Pills quietly lying inside the jade box.

Among the twenty, fourteen were Two-Pattern.

The remaining six were One-Pattern.

As for the legendary Three-Pattern Foundation Establishment Pill, whether it was due to lack of skill or missing ingredients, Ji Yuan had not succeeded in creating one.

"A full twenty Foundation Establishment Pills—if I still can’t succeed, I’ll kill myself on the spot and never cultivate again!"

Ji Yuan silently swore, then put away the jade box once more.

There was still time. He planned to sleep and relax for a few days, then attempt Foundation Establishment once he was fully recovered and in peak condition.

Five days passed leisurely.

With both body and mind at their peak, Ji Yuan took out two hundred middle-grade Spirit Stones from his storage pouch, and then laid out the twenty Foundation Establishment Pills at his side.

With such preparations, there was no reason to fail.

He took a deep breath, summoned two middle-grade Spirit Stones with his Divine Sense, holding one in each hand. Then he activated his technique and slowly absorbed the spiritual energy within.

As the pure spiritual energy flowed in, a long-missed sensation of comfort spread through his meridians.

The energy circulated through his meridians along the Small Heavenly Cycle, finally gathering in the dantian of his lower abdomen.

As such, the already nearly full dantian now gave a feeling of fullness—but that wasn’t enough. True fullness of the dantian had to come with a sensation of pressure and swelling.

Only after that came the time to take the Foundation Establishment Pill.

The Foundation Establishment Pill contained latent compressive power, which could help the cultivator compress the gaseous spiritual energy in the dantian, turning it into liquid, and also served to stabilize the dantian.

If one did not take the Foundation Establishment Pill and forcibly compressed spiritual energy—

With good luck, nothing would happen; but with bad luck, if the energy circulation went astray, the dantian could be completely destroyed. By then, one would truly become a cripple!

Afterward, Ji Yuan spent nearly half a month absorbing sixteen pieces of middle-grade Spirit Stones. Once his dantian was fully saturated, he summoned a Foundation Establishment Pill and swallowed it.

The pill entered his body and was immediately refined.

Ji Yuan dared not delay. He immediately guided the medicinal power into his dantian—spiritual energy, compress!

Exerting strength through all his meridians, Ji Yuan instantly felt a stabbing pain from his dantian, but it was soon soothed by the pill’s medicinal power.

Allowing Ji Yuan to continue applying pressure, attempting to liquefy the spiritual energy.

But no matter how hard he pushed, the spiritual energy in his dantian acted like a sponge—when he applied pressure, it compressed, but no “water” came out.

As soon as his concentration loosened slightly, the spiritual energy would rebound and fill the entire dantian again.

Difficult.

Relying on the medicinal power of the first Foundation Establishment Pill, Ji Yuan tried for two full days but, unsurprisingly, failed.

He knew exactly where the difficulty lay.

Because he had Four Spiritual Roots, each root in his dantian resisted, fighting against him—so the difficulty—

Went without saying.

If it were a Single Spiritual Root, only one root would resist as the foundation, making the challenge much lesser.

Two days later, Ji Yuan absorbed another middle-grade Spirit Stone for replenishment.

He wasn’t discouraged. He hadn’t planned to succeed with just one pill—he was neither an Earth Spiritual Root nor a True Spiritual Root.

After resting for a while, he took the second Foundation Establishment Pill.

Continue!

Inside ■■, time passed day by day.

Two and a half months had already passed since the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven opened. Only half a month remained before the secret realm would close completely.

Compared to when they entered, the number of people inside had already decreased significantly.

Those satisfied with their harvest, or frightened by dangers and hesitant to continue, had already escaped ahead of time.

Those who had gains and wanted more, as well as those who had gained nothing yet,

were still inside battling, fighting for that sliver of hope for Foundation Establishment.

"Time’s nearly up. The remaining disciples are either in the Hidden Dragon Abyss or at the Ghost Flood Dragon Lake."

Two familiar Golden Core cultivators communicated via voice transmission.

At that moment, within the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven, inside the Ghost Flood Dragon Lake—

Han Feiyu and Feng Yichen hid on a small island of piled-up chaotic rocks, both gasping heavily, their faces pale as paper.

"Brother Feng, did you see what that thing was? Damn it, that was terrifying."

Even someone as bold as Han Feiyu was badly shaken in the face of that life-or-death moment.

"A mid-Second-Tier Ghost Arrow Fish."

Feng Yichen had Divine Sense, so he had seen it clearly—and was all the more afraid.

"Weren’t we told there’d be no Second-Tier monsters here? Damn it!"

Han Feiyu shuddered at the thought of the arrow that had grazed past his chest.

"Ghost Flood Dragon Lake is a special zone, you know that."

Compared to Han Feiyu, who had been under mortal threat, Feng Yichen appeared much calmer.

"Brother Han, at this rate, it won’t work. Forget the item the Sect Master wants—we haven’t even gotten the Millennium Illusory Spirit Grass."

At those words, Han Feiyu immediately sobered.

Compared to fear, getting nothing at all was far harder for him to accept.

"Then, what does Brother Feng suggest?"

After taking a few pills, Han Feiyu asked tentatively.

He knew that since Feng Yichen said this now, he must already have an idea.

"Let’s team up, find someone to kill first—at least we’ll have something to show. As for the Sect Master’s request—

If we can’t fulfill it, so be it."

"Alright!"

Han Feiyu agreed immediately. Compared to going to that man-eating island, killing someone was far simpler.

"Who do we kill, Brother Feng?"

"What do you think, Brother Han?"

Feng Yichen countered.

Han Feiyu pondered a moment before replying,"Not the Sword Ruins. Their three disciples stick together—

If we go over, it’s suicide."

"That Li Zhuanqing from Joy Palace—her methods are too strange. If we were women, maybe—but we’re men. We’d be at a disadvantage right away."

"Hu Fu from Corpse Herding Mountain is out too. His corpse puppet isn’t ranked, but it genuinely has Foundation Establishment-level strength. Attacking him would be too risky."

Feng Yichen nodded repeatedly."In that case, it’s either Huang Tian from the Beast Taming Sect, or Liu Duan from Medicine King Valley."

"Mm."

Han Feiyu said in a low voice,"Huang Tian is newly famous. Regardless of whether he really has a Second-Tier spirit beast, even if he does, he wouldn’t dare let it out in here. Two late-First-Tier spirit beasts—if we’re cautious, they shouldn’t be too hard to deal with."

"As for Liu Duan from Medicine King Valley—his identity has been exposed. He dropped from Foundation Establishment. He’s strong,

but after falling back to Qi Refining—he’s no match for an experienced Qi Refiner like Brother Feng. If we work together, we should be able to handle him too."

"Indeed—"

Listening to Han Feiyu’s analysis, it came down to a choice between Huang Tian and Liu Duan.

After a long silence, Feng Yichen said,"Did you notice, Brother Han, that Liu Duan always has a man with him—also at peak Qi Refining—but he’s never once made a move?"

"That scar-faced man in yellow robes?"

Han Feiyu immediately recalled.

"Mm, I suspect he’s also a Qi Refiner who fell from Foundation Establishment—Medicine King Valley is full of strange techniques. Some of them specialize in crafting such peculiar pills. If they could make one person fall from Foundation Establishment, they could certainly make two. We must be cautious."

Feng Yichen spoke slowly.

"Indeed—then let’s kill that one from the Beast Taming Sect!"

Han Feiyu was not the indecisive type. He immediately made his decision.

"Alright."

Feng Yichen responded,"Only half a month remains. Let’s act quickly. After we kill Huang Tian, we’ll see if we have a chance to grab a magical treasure before leaving."

"Even if we can’t get the item the Sect Master wants, bringing back some other magical treasure will at least suffice."

"Alright, Brother Feng, give me half a day to recover, then we’ll set off right away."

"Alright."

Half a day later, two spell boats silently broke the water’s surface and departed.

Though flight was impossible in this area, spell boats could still move across the water. As for going underwater—possible, if you weren’t afraid to die.

The two traveled together through the Ghost Flood Dragon Lake, encountering people from the Sword Ruins along the way, but no battle occurred.

Feng Yichen recognized Zhao Dun among them and exchanged some pleasantries, casually extracting information about the location of Huang Tian from the Beast Taming Sect.

No one was foolish—everyone immediately understood what Feng Yichen intended.

Just as they were about to leave, He Ruoyao from the Sword Ruins called out a warning,"That Huang Tian is not as easy to deal with as you think. He was hidden by the Beast Taming Sect specifically for this trip to the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven."

"Thank you, Miss He."

Danger—killing anyone was dangerous.

Or rather, there was no such thing as safety within the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven.

So Feng Yichen didn’t change the target, still choosing to kill Huang Tian.

Zhao Dun had given the location, and following it, Han Feiyu and Feng Yichen indeed found this powerful disciple of the Beast Taming Sect.

They had come to kill—there was no need for words. Upon meeting—battle!

The two of them fought one, but this one had two late-First-Tier spirit beasts—one was a Water Arrow Turtle, the other a Sky-Slicing Falcon.

One moved through the lake, one soared in the sky.

Both were extremely troublesome.

This confirmed that Huang Tian had indeed been prepared by the Beast Taming Sect specifically for the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven, more precisely for the Ghost Flood Dragon Lake—one aerial beast, one aquatic beast. His combat capability was maximized.

Even with both Feng Yichen and Han Feiyu working together, the battle was extremely difficult.

The three fought for half a day, with none gaining the upper hand. All were seriously wounded.

Later in the battle, both Feng Yichen and Huang Tian used talisman treasures, engaging in brutal combat.

Unexpectedly, perhaps due to the commotion, a Second-Tier monster in the Ghost Flood Dragon Lake was attracted.

It devoured the Water Arrow Turtle in one bite, and then, while Huang Tian was suffering backlash from his spirit beasts, killed him instantly.

Seizing the moment, Han Feiyu dragged the near-dead Feng Yichen away.

As they fled, he also took Huang Tian’s storage pouch.

Half a day later.

The severely injured pair curled up again on a small island. Bloodstained, they lay behind a boulder. Feng Yichen, after half a day of rest, finally regained a trace of spiritual energy.

Just as he was about to take out a Second-Tier lifesaving pill from his storage pouch—

Sweeping with his Divine Sense, he realized his storage pouch was gone from his waist.

They were both veterans of life-and-death situations, so as soon as the thought passed through Feng Yichen’s mind, he understood everything. Looking at Han Feiyu, now sitting upright, he was speechless and had to use voice transmission:

"Brother Han, if this was your intention, why bother dragging me back? Wouldn’t it have been easier to kill me on the spot?"

"The Sect Master made us swear a Dao Oath—we’re not allowed to attack each other. I don’t want my cultivation path to end here."

Han Feiyu sighed.

"So Brother Han intends to leave me here to die naturally?"

Feng Yichen let out a bitter laugh, yet seemed somewhat resigned.

To risk everything for a brother—and to stab him twice at the critical moment—Feng Yichen had done such things before. In fact, it was this ruthlessness that allowed him to rise.

So ending up like this—perhaps it was karma.

"No, no, no. Actually, there’s another reason I brought Brother Feng back. One very—important reason."

Han Feiyu turned around as he spoke, his blood-smeared face showing no expression."If I’m not mistaken, Brother Feng has the Metal, Wood, Water, and Fire Four Spiritual Roots, right?"

As he spoke, Han Feiyu placed his hand on Feng Yichen’s dantian.

In an instant, Feng Yichen felt immense pain. He groaned, while Han Feiyu quickly shoved a Second-Tier lifesaving pill into his mouth.

At this moment—he must not die.

Feng Yichen couldn’t speak, but he felt a terrifying dread.

He could clearly feel his Spiritual Roots—vanishing.

More precisely, being extracted—

Outside the Pill Refining Room on Four Directions Island.

The Qi Refining disciple on duty was dozing off, but suddenly, he sensed a surge of powerful aura sweep past—and then disappear completely.

Startled, he quickly realized what was happening.

Some senior brother—no, Martial Uncle—was achieving Foundation Establishment here?!

Inside the 【Pill Refining Room】.

Ji Yuan, who had sat in silence for months, suddenly opened his eyes. A flash of light gleamed in his gaze. All the middle-grade Spirit Stones around him turned to ash and scattered.

He didn’t need so many initially, but once the spiritual energy in his dantian began to liquefy, he spared no expense—absorbing stone after stone.

Closed-door cultivation for a year.

Aged twenty-three.

Ji Yuan had finally achieved Foundation Establishment.

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