Chapter 73: Body Dies, Starting Over Again

“Foundation Establishment—building the Immortal Foundation of the Great Dao. Refining the physical body to melt away mortal qualities, rendering the six sense organs empty and quiet. Refining form into Qi until the Five Qis gather at the origin and the Three Yangs gather at the summit. When cultivation is full, form is forgotten, the Immortal Embryo naturally transforms. Yin is exhausted and Yang becomes pure; a body exists outside the body. Only then can one shed mortal substance and ascend to immortality, transcending the ordinary to enter the sacred, henceforth ranking among the immortals and severing ties with the mundane world…”

Inside the Cave Abode, Lu Yang sat upright on a meditation cushion, silently comprehending.

“This step of Foundation Establishment has different descriptions in different techniques, but no matter which one, when it comes to actual practice, the steps are actually not much different.”

That is, using one’s own True Qi as the foundation to lift the Sea of Consciousness and refine the form to ascend.

For example, the Nine Transformations Dragon Art he cultivated could refine Grade 3 True Qi, the ‘True Dragon Evil Qi,’ upon perfection.

And the further advanced Foundation Establishment technique, the Dragon Sovereign-Ascension Scripture, clearly explained how to use the True Dragon Evil Qi to complete the form refining and ascension.

Here, the importance of True Qi grade could be seen.

If the True Qi grade wasn’t high enough, one would either fail to lift the Sea of Consciousness or run out of strength and Qi halfway through the ascension, crashing down with a boom, resulting in a death without a burial place.

The entire process of Foundation Establishment is precisely such a path of ascension.

And the destination of this path of ascension is the ‘Foundation Establishment Realm’

Reading this, Lu Yang couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration: “Foundation Establishment Realm, Foundation Establishment Realm… turns out it doesn’t refer to a cultivation level, but to a place!”

Although he said that, ascension was only the first step.

When a cultivator lifts their Sea of Consciousness and thoroughly ascends into the Foundation Establishment Realm, they must begin to build their own Immortal Foundation to ensure they can stay in the Foundation Establishment Realm.

This is another major hurdle.

Ordinary cultivators, even if they finish the step of ascension, mostly exhaust their own foundation, resulting in barely managing to create a precarious Immortal Foundation.

The result is an unstable Immortal Foundation, unable to withstand the pressure of the Foundation Establishment Realm, collapsing with a bang.

Failing ascension might still leave hope for survival, but if the Immortal Foundation collapses, the cultivator is undoubtedly dead. Luo Wuya likely fell at this hurdle.

One must know that when a cultivator ascends to the Foundation Establishment Realm and begins to build the Immortal Foundation, besides needing a solid cultivation foundation, infinite demonic thoughts will also generate out of thin air within oneself. If the Dao Heart is not firm and the mind is restless, it is inevitable to be affected by demonic thoughts. Then, no matter how deep the foundation, it will be of no avail.

“Truly difficult every step of the way…”

Lu Yang sorted through the process of breaking through to Foundation Establishment, firmly memorizing the contents, secrets, and various key points of the Dragon Sovereign-Ascension Scripture in his heart.

Immediately after, he took out the Ascension Token and circulated it in his palm.

The next second, the Ascension Token transformed into a stream of light and flew into his Sea of Consciousness, illuminating his heart with clarity and making his entire body feel light as a feather, as if about to ascend to immortality.

Closing his eyes, Lu Yang instantly entered deep meditation.

Within his dantian, a stream of True Qi manifested. It grew wooden ruler-like horns, scales, claws, teeth, and whiskers… finally transforming shockingly into a lifelike True Dragon.

Boom.

With a loud noise, this True Dragon left the dantian, traveling up through the Ren and Du meridians, passing the Crimson Palace, entering the Violet Palace, and arriving straight deep within the Sea of Consciousness!

Immediately after, Lu Yang felt a brilliant heavenly light appear before his eyes. The True Qi, originally so majestic it seemed inexhaustible, poured out continuously at this moment like water from an opened floodgate. It turned into an indescribable colossal force, pushing his Sea of Consciousness to climb gradually toward a higher place!

“Fortunately, I have this Ascension Token…”

Lu Yang’s heart was clear. Lifting the Sea of Consciousness to ascend into the void was no easy task. Originally, there should have been the obstruction of the Nine Heavens and Earth Passes; breaking each pass would inevitably consume great vitality.

However, with the blessing of the Ascension Token bestowed by Perfected One Yin Shan, the gates of the Nine Heavens and Earth Passes were all thrown wide open. His path of ascension was thus unobstructed.

And more importantly, he wasn’t ascending from the very bottom.

“Because I mastered ‘The Sage Steals’, I inherently possess a certain stature. So strictly speaking, I am actually starting my ascension from mid-air.”

The journey of ascension was thus shortened by a small section.

Don’t underestimate this small section; in reality, it very likely could be the last straw that breaks the camel’s back. Unknown how much mental effort it saved Lu Yang.

The Sage Steals and the Ascension Token each resolved a type of tribulation on Lu Yang’s path of ascension. And the Grade 3 ‘True Dragon Evil Qi’ provided Lu Yang with a sufficiently deep foundation, allowing him not to worry about exhausting his True Qi halfway, but to proceed step by step, ascending all the way into the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Just like that, unknown how much time passed.

Lu Yang only felt the brilliant heavenly light before his eyes gradually dim, as if passing through a certain area. A boundless territory appeared within his vision.

Looking down, Lu Yang actually saw himself.

Besides that, he also saw Yin Mountain, saw the Primordial Saint Sect, saw the mountains, rivers, sun, and moon, as well as the multitude of living beings busy with their lives.

Or rather—the Mortal World.

He had seen this scene once before. At Skull Mountain, Perfected One Yin Shan took him to watch a great battle between Foundation Establishment cultivators; it was this exact scene then.

However, at that time, his True Spirit was ignorant and couldn’t see the appearance of the Foundation Establishment Perfected Ones clearly, only their emitted spiritual light. If he had the chance to see it again, he should be able to see more clearly. In fact, at this moment, he could see a figure sitting upright to the northwest, closest to him.

That was Perfected One Yin Shan.

The Immortal Foundation beneath him was a large black mountain. Although it stretched for ten thousand miles, in the boundless Foundation Establishment Realm, it was tiny to the extreme.

Meanwhile, Perfected One Yin Shan seemed to have discovered him too.

The next second, a voice drifted over slowly:

“Focus your mind, do not let your thoughts wander…”

The voice was like a clear spring ding-donging, pouring down and instantly washing away Lu Yang’s emotional sighs. Only then did he startle: “Demonic thoughts invaded, triggering my distracting thoughts!”

Thinking of this, Lu Yang dared not slack off again. He immediately focused his attention on the Foundation Establishment Realm. Now, the effects of The Sage Steals, the Ascension Token, and the Grade 3 True Qi had all been exerted to the limit. From here on, he could only rely on himself. Lu Yang restrained his True Qi step by step and began to build the Immortal Foundation.

However, very quickly, he discovered a problem.

“True Qi is not enough…”

That momentary lapse of concentration just now caused his True Qi to be consumed by thirty percent out of thin air, adding frost to the snow for his already scarce True Qi. It was actually difficult to continue.

Lu Yang was helpless and had to reduce the scale of the Immortal Foundation.

The size of the Immortal Foundation often corresponds to the potential, cultivation base, and strength of spiritual power of the Foundation Establishment Perfected One. Reducing the scale meant sacrificing his future to seek a breakthrough.

He kept cutting until it was half the original scale, and only then was the True Qi barely enough.

But the next second, Lu Yang saw Perfected One Yin Shan stand up abruptly, stride toward him, and let out a grim, cold laugh of “Jie Jie Jie”:

“Not bad, not bad. The Immortal Foundation is built.”

“It was not in vain that I took pains to help you. Now, the Spirit Treasure in my hand lacks an Immortal Foundation to complete it. Junior Brother Lu, you truly did not disappoint my hopes; you are indeed top-quality material!”

Before his voice fell, Perfected One Yin Shan reached out his hand!

The familiar feeling, the familiar terror. Lu Yang had seen Perfected One Yin Shan act with his own eyes. The power displayed by the opponent at this moment was identical to his memory…

Wait, identical?

“No!”

Lu Yang woke up with a start. The Perfected One Yin Shan in his memory was dealing with the Yun Family Ancestor. Why would he need such a grand display to deal with him? A glance would suffice.

This is fake!

The next second, Lu Yang’s vision blurred. Looking again, the demonic thoughts retreated. Perfected One Yin Shan was still sitting in place, only letting out a regretful sigh:

“A pity for Junior Brother.”

Lu Yang lowered his head at the sound, only to see that the Immortal Foundation he had just painstakingly built was now riddled with holes because he had been affected by demonic thoughts for a split second just now.

Seeing this, Lu Yang could only smile helplessly: “Bitter fate…”

Boom! Rumble!

Before his voice fell, the sound of the Immortal Foundation shattering resounded through the Foundation Establishment Realm, even triggering changes in the celestial phenomena outside. The wind sounded shrill, like the weeping of heaven.

While firmly memorizing this experience in his heart, Lu Yang recited silently in his mind:

“[The Book of a Hundred Lifetimes]!”

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