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    Starry Sky Professional Directory 138

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    Chapter 138: Foundation Establishment (In honor of zzyzzx123, the alliance leader)

    Foundation Establishment!

    This is the first major hurdle for Cultivators.

    Legend says that during the prosperous times of ancient spiritual energy, only Foundation Establishment Cultivators were considered to have truly entered the path of cultivation, thus called “true cultivators of Foundation Establishment”.

    Generally, the Foundation Establishment process is often related to the cultivator’s spiritual roots and cultivation methods. It usually doesn’t exceed one hundred days, hence the term “hundred-day Foundation Establishment”.

    Ten days later.

    Outside the group of second-order cave mansions, a streak of light flew in.

    The light landed, revealing a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

    Clad in a purple robe, with a handsome and valiant appearance, he carried a purple jade spirit sword on his back.

    He silently looked at the cave mansions for rent, and suddenly sent out a sound transmission talisman.

    Soon, Steward Wang hurried over and respectfully bowed: “Greetings, Elder Min!”

    This Elder Min Yixing was a Foundation Establishment mid-stage cultivator, directly under the city lord’s mansion, managing the Purple Iris City’s law enforcement. He was a remarkably powerful sword cultivator.

    His status in Purple Iris City needs no further explanation.

    It certainly wasn’t someone like a small cave mansion steward could afford to offend.

    “Have you seen this person?!”

    Min Yixing casually tossed over a jade slip. Within the jade slip was an image of a young man in silver clothes – the appearance of Fang Xing’s cultivator clone.

    “Reporting to the Elder, I saw him ten days ago. This young man, who claims his surname is Fang, is a solitary cultivator. He rented a top-grade second-order cave mansion, preparing for Foundation Establishment…”

    Steward Wang sensed something was amiss with this person and didn’t dare to be negligent, explaining everything in detail.

    “Foundation Establishment? And he brought someone with him?”

    Min Yixing nodded: “It seems the Zhou family massacre was likely committed by this person…”

    “What?”

    Steward Wang was startled. A few days ago, the Zhou family mansion was discovered to have been completely wiped out, everyone inside killed, even the Zhou family ancestor who was at the Foundation Establishment stage.

    He had always thought it was the work of some demonic cultivator, but he never expected it to be such a seemingly gentle young man.

    ‘It truly is a case of judging a book by its cover. Luckily, I didn’t deliberately make things difficult for him; otherwise, these old bones of mine would have been finished…’

    Steward Wang secretly rejoiced, quickly saying: “That person rented cave mansion number seven, block A… Does the Elder wish to…”

    “Lead the way!”

    Min Yixing had Steward Wang lead the way to Fang Xing’s secluded cave mansion. His eyes were deep, seemingly lost in thought.

    “Elder, are you sure it was this person? He’s only at the Qi Condensation stage, and he brought a martial artist servant… It’s impossible for him to have killed the entire Zhou family, right?”

    Steward Wang looked hesitant: “Although this cave mansion’s formation has a hidden door, if we forcibly break in, our reputation will be ruined…”

    “Hmph, before the Zhou family’s extermination, only this person visited the Zhou mansion. Later, someone saw him leaving the Zhou mansion with someone else… So brazen! It seems that the martial artist servant is his protector, at least a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. They simply suppressed their aura, so you naturally wouldn’t notice anything…”

    Min Yixing coldly snorted, looking at the cave mansion, but didn’t rashly break in.

    Seeing this, Steward Wang felt relieved.

    It seemed that although this Elder Min was a sword cultivator, he was also quite cautious and didn’t want to completely antagonize the murderer who exterminated the Zhou family.

    Otherwise, breaking into someone’s cave mansion directly would mean a life-or-death struggle.

    He thought for a moment and stood there, waiting with Elder Min.

    Several days later, the sky above the cave mansion suddenly shook, and then a spiritual energy vortex appeared, frantically absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy mist.

    “This is… a spiritual energy vortex? That’s right… someone is breaking through to Foundation Establishment?!”

    Many cultivators were attracted by the spiritual energy vortex. Seeing Elder Min and Steward Wang, they were startled and quickly stood aside, speculating on the identity of the cultivator in the cave mansion.

    “To trigger the heaven and earth’s spiritual energy so quickly?”

    Steward Wang, witnessing this scene, felt both sour and bitter.

    Although he had failed in his Foundation Establishment attempt years ago, he was very familiar with the process.

    He didn’t expect that young man, who seemed not even to have reached Qi Condensation perfection, to be able to reach this stage in one go?

    “The spiritual energy vortex is quite stable, it should succeed.”

    Elder Min spoke at this time, his expression slightly dubious: “This sharp aura… could he also be a sword cultivator?”

    Several days earlier.

    Inside the cave mansion.

    Fang Xing opened the Myriad Transformations Cauldron and took out two Foundation Establishment Pills.

    The inferior Foundation Establishment Pill had the faint black line on it completely disappeared.

    The superior Foundation Establishment Pill was smaller, emitting a jade-like luster.

    “A top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill.”

    He nodded, sat cross-legged, and silently circulated the Foundation Establishment method in the ‘Golden Transformation Scripture’.

    In an instant, he entered a state of divine clarity. The spiritual energy inside the cave mansion was frantically drawn in, infused into his limbs and bones.

    “Foundation Establishment… has begun.”

    Fang Xing muttered, directly swallowing the top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill.

    Whoosh!

    The moment this top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill entered his stomach, it turned into a warm current, seemingly completely igniting the spiritual energy.

    Countless strands of spiritual energy frantically surged through his limbs and bones, undergoing repeated “refinement of the muscles and marrow”!

    Only a little sticky sweat appeared on Fang Xing’s body.

    “Well… this is because of my exceptional talent, with all meridians open. During cultivation, I only used top-grade pills, without any toxicity… thus, even the refinement of muscles and marrow can’t wash out any impurities.”

    “The physical body stage of the three stages of Foundation Establishment has passed directly, and it wasn’t even that painful.”

    “Even the medicinal power of the top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill hasn’t been consumed much…”

    He nodded, feeling that most of the medicinal power of the Foundation Establishment Pill had gathered in his dantian energy sea, causing his Qi Condensation ninth-layer power to surge again, quickly reaching Qi Condensation perfection!

    Then, a viscous quality appeared in his power, condensing into a vortex.

    Drip!

    In the center of the vortex, a drop of pale golden liquid power appeared.

    It was extremely viscous, like a golden pearl, floating within Fang Xing’s dantian energy sea.

    “The liquid power of a Foundation Establishment cultivator… a single drop is enough to compare to the total power of an ordinary Qi Condensation cultivator. Using this power to create a true energy shield, ordinary first-order methods would be unable to break through.”

    Fang Xing nodded, watching drop after drop of pale golden liquid power appear.

    One, two, three…

    Six, seven, eight…

    Finally, nine pale golden ‘pearls’ floated in his dantian energy sea, each crystal clear and full, even with a hint of solidity.

    “Generally speaking, how much liquid power can be refined during the first Foundation Establishment is related to the cultivator’s foundation and cultivation method…”

    “The worst Foundation Establishment cultivators might only have one or two drops of liquid power at the power stage…”

    “I have a Heaven Spiritual Root, and even more than that. The Golden Transformation Scripture, although ordinary in my eyes, is still a cultivation method that can be practiced to the Nascent Soul stage, which ordinary solitary cultivators can only dream of seeing…”

    “In summary, nine drops of liquid power? If I cultivate to Qi Condensation perfection before Foundation Establishment, I might even get ten drops of liquid power.”

    “However, this power limit can be increased after Foundation Establishment…”

    Fang Xing manipulated the nine drops of liquid power, barely running it according to the Golden Transformation Scripture’s Foundation Establishment route.

    Each time he circulated the cultivation method, he felt his body being strengthened, and his power becoming more and more sharp.

    Most critically, something was about to sprout in his brow.

    This was a sign that his spiritual sense was about to transform into divine sense!

    “Now!”

    Fang Xing poured the remaining medicinal power of the Foundation Establishment Pill into his Niwan Palace, feeling his head explode.

    Then, it felt like a third eye opened in his brow, slowly observing his body and extending to the outside world.

    Five zhang, ten zhang…

    Twenty zhang!

    Thirty zhang!

    With his experience in spiritual power, Fang Xing found the process of divine sense transformation quite easy.

    Soon, he controlled his divine sense and saw the entire cave mansion, saw his ‘main body’ sitting cross-legged outside!

    He even tried to delve into his main body’s internal organs, but was stopped by a spiritual power.

    “Divine sense can see the outside world in much greater detail than spiritual power, and it even has some kind of X-ray vision. Ordinary objects can’t stop it; no wonder it could see through my puppet…”

    Fang Xing opened his eyes: “However, I remember that when Su Ye just broke through, her divine sense could only cover ten zhang… Is her ‘spirit’ among the three treasures of spirit, energy, and spirit so weak? Or am I just too strong?”

    After Foundation Establishment, there was indeed an all-around enhancement.

    He pondered for a moment, then raised his hand.

    A several-foot-long庚金 (gēng jīn – a type of metal) sword energy appeared, golden and dazzling, with runes seemingly flowing inside.

    It would likely only take one sword to destroy the defenses of a superior magic weapon.

    “Sure enough, Foundation Establishment cultivators are simply crushing Qi Condensation cultivators…”

    Fang Xing sighed, then looked at himself, and shook his head: “After Foundation Establishment, magic weapons are basically useless; it’s best to replace them all with spirit weapons. That folding fan spirit weapon is not suitable for me, I should sell it and exchange it for a second-order flying sword, a defensive spirit weapon, and ideally another flying spirit weapon…”

    Although Foundation Establishment cultivators can fly with their bodies.

    Long-distance travel would definitely be wasteful of power if done that way.

    He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his body was already floating in mid-air as if by instinct.

    “This is body flight? Wrapped in domain power, combined with the Void Walking Step, it’s indeed a different feeling.”

    Fang Xing played around for a while before landing, walking out of the practice room, side by side with his main body.

    “It’s quite lively outside while I was cultivating.”

    He took out his cave mansion token and slightly loosened the restrictions.

    Sound transmission talismans flew in like butterflies.

    Most were from Qi Condensation cultivators, congratulating their senior on his successful Foundation Establishment.

    Only one emanated Foundation Establishment-level power fluctuations.

    Fang Xing gently took it, swept his divine sense over it, and couldn’t help but smile: “They’ve come to my door, haven’t they? Looks like we still have things to discuss; otherwise, I’ll just fight…”

    “Too bad, I wanted to see the combat power of a False Core expert.”

    Outside.

    The cave mansion door slammed open.

    Fang Xing, in a silver robe, with a jade-like face and bright eyes, emanated the pressure of a Foundation Establishment cultivator as he calmly walked out.

    His main body followed behind like an ordinary martial artist.

    “It’s truly a Foundation Establishment ancestor!”

    “Looking at his appearance, he must have cultivated some kind of age-retaining cultivation method…”

    A group of Qi Condensation cultivators bowed, congratulating: “Congratulations, senior, on your successful Foundation Establishment, thus ensuring longevity…”

    “Hmm, reward!”

    Fang Xing acted the part, and his main body immediately took out some low-grade spirit stones and casually scattered them.

    “Senior is generous!”

    The Qi Condensation late-stage cultivators were fine, but the small cultivators in the Qi Condensation early and mid-stages were overjoyed, collecting the spirit stones while continuously flattering him.

    At this time, Fang Xing’s gaze had already focused on the only Foundation Establishment cultivator in the crowd.

    Judging by his power fluctuations, he might already be beyond the Foundation Establishment initial stage.

    “Daoist Fang!”

    Min Yixing stepped forward, bowed first, and then looked at Fang Xing’s main body with uncertain eyes.

    He originally thought that Fang Xing’s main body was a protector who had simply suppressed their aura.

    However, now that he saw him face-to-face, he still felt that the other party was an ordinary mortal without any power!

    This method of suppressing aura was truly incredible!

    “Who is this?”

    Fang Xing showed a puzzled expression.

    “Senior Fang, this is Elder Min Yixing, the law enforcement elder of our city, a highly respected figure… He has been protecting senior outside for many days.”

    Steward Wang quickly introduced them.

    “I see, thank you, Daoist Min, for your protection.” Fang Xing naturally knew that the so-called protection was just a joke, but he wasn’t one to refuse kindness, so he simply accepted it.

    “This place is noisy, how about we go to my place to have a chat?” Min Yixing took the initiative to invite.

    “I accept your kind invitation.”

    Fang Xing chuckled, and the two turned into streaks of light, flying into the sky amidst the envious gazes of the Qi Condensation cultivators, quickly disappearing from sight.

    Min Yixing’s cave mansion was actually located in a place with third-order spiritual energy.

    Built on a small peak, it was an exquisitely crafted, simple pavilion.

    In front of the pavilion, there was a patch of strange plants, their roots like swords, pointing straight to the sky, dotted with golden lights like fireflies.

    “This is… Sword Cage Grass?”

    Fang Xing saw these few acres of lawn and couldn’t help but exclaim: “With this grass as the main material, one can prepare a sword pool, which is perfect for refining flying swords…”

    “Haha, Daoist friend is indeed a sword cultivator.”

    Min Yixing invited Fang Xing to the second floor of the pavilion and personally brewed tea: “This is my treasured ‘Thousand Rocks Compete for Beauty’, please try it.”

    “Daoist friend invited me here, it’s probably not just for tea, is it?” Fang Xing pointedly remarked.

    “Haha, that’s right. Daoist friend, what is your relationship with the Zhou family massacre?”

    Min Yixing finished speaking, his eyes fixed on Fang Xing’s main body.

    Fang Xing’s main body smiled slightly and sat down directly: “I did it!”

    “Why?”

    Min Yixing frowned.

    “My nephew went to them to refine Foundation Establishment Pills, and that old geezer Zhou cheated him, so I killed them all.” Fang Xing shrugged.

    “I see, then the Zhou family deserved it. Our Purple Iris Immortal City is based on honest business and hates it most when shops bully customers…”

    Min Yixing nodded, seemingly believing it directly: “By the way, I forgot to tell you… the Purple Green Pool Zhou family was recently exterminated by robbers, and there is no longer a Zhou family in this area.”

    With these words, Fang Xing fell silent.

    If he hadn’t killed the Zhou family ancestor, the Zhou family would probably have been able to live peacefully.

    But even if this happened a hundred times, he would still have to kill the Zhou family ancestor; there’s no other possibility.

    “Daoist friend, do you and your nephew have any plans to open up a spiritual land for cultivation? If so… I can make the decision to let you rent Purple Green Pool, how about that?”

    Min Yixing suddenly spoke.

    “Purple Green Pool, a cultivation place?”

    Fang Xing fell into thought.

    After the cultivator clone’s Foundation Establishment, it did indeed need a second-order spiritual land to support cultivation.

    But at the same time, he was more shocked: ‘Cultivators in this world are indeed cold-blooded… After the Zhou family ancestor died, especially after my Foundation Establishment, the Zhou family’s connections have completely abandoned them… and are now trying to cooperate with me…’

    This made Fang Xing feel a sense of the impermanence of the world.

    ‘However, this is a test, isn’t it?’

    After figuring it out, he chuckled and replied: “I have no intention of establishing any forces, having a second-order cave mansion in Purple Iris City for cultivation is enough…”

    “I see, I was presumptuous.”

    Min Yixing took a sip of spirit tea, his expression unreadable.
    (End of Chapter)

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