The secret medicine was finished in just a single day. It was both convenient and swift.
Furthermore, the Frigid Flame Pill Fire generated by the Frost Serpent Pill was still first-grade. However, as it had been refined using a second-grade demon core and a rare second-grade spiritual material like Yin Marrow Liquid back then, its power would advance to the second-grade once Wang Yu broke through to Foundation Establishment. This potential for growth was one of the reasons he had chosen the fragmented Frost Serpent Alchemy Art in the first place. But its growth stopped here. Once the medicinal potency and foundation were fully digested, advancing it to the third grade would require refining a new "Frost Serpent Pill" using the demon core of a third-grade ice-attribute draconic beast as the primary material. After refining and absorbing it, the flame could smoothly advance. Further advancement was impossible, as the Frost Serpent Alchemy Art, even in its complete state, was only a third-grade alchemy technique.
Cultivation methods and secret arts became increasingly rare and valuable the higher one went. Their prices soared, and often they couldn't be bought with spirit stones alone. The封锁 (fēngsuǒ - blockade, lockdown) of knowledge intensified with each stage. The most crucial factor was having the right channels. Aside from the Lunar Nether Pupils, the Frigid Flame Pill Fire was the most valuable asset on his person.
Moreover, after his breakthrough, the inheritance jade slip for the Lunar Nether Pupils would unlock its second layer. The number of things waiting for him to learn was overwhelming, and even more needed to be supplemented! This included the orthodox advanced功法 (gōngfǎ - cultivation method) from Cold Blood Peak, the Void Escape Technique, matching spells, artifact refining methods, pill recipes... and so on. Just thinking about it was headache-inducing. The placement slots that had once seemed sufficient now felt utterly inadequate.
"First, realm advancement to unlock more placement slots. Then, combat power. Auxiliary skills last..." he planned internally, striving for optimal efficiency.
Finally, Wang Yu's situation stabilized.
He took the medicine to nourish his dragon spine, continuously enhancing its foundation and origin potential for the future. While receiving the daily cultivation feedback from the placement slots, he couldn't neglect his main body's cultivation. After all, the cultivation speed of a dual spiritual root was not slow. With his second-grade Body Cultivator physique, the strength of his meridians had greatly increased, allowing him to maintain major cycle circulation of his technique全天 (quán tiān - all day, 24/7). The only shortfall was in spirit sense; he still needed to set aside an hour each day to recover mental energy to maintain peak cultivation efficiency.
Both paths advanced side-by-side, progressing rapidly!
***
Two and a half months later.
Year 4, Month 9 of Wang Yu's life as an inner disciple. Within the narrow, dark space, only the pale flame with its blue outer halo provided a faint,幽 (yōu - dim, deep) glow.
At a certain moment, the aura emanating from the cross-legged figure reached a state of perfect harmony and unity, a point where no further progress could be made without a qualitative leap.
"Qi Refining Great Perfection, achieved!"
A thousand strands of semi-liquefied spiritual power, far exceeding the quality of peers at the same stage, already possessed the雏形 (chúxíng - embryo, rudiment) of true essence. As his aura spilled out, the underground space grew increasingly colder.
Without a moment's delay, Wang Yu retrieved another Foundation Establishment spiritual material from his storage pouch: [Netherspring Lotus]. The two high-grade Foundation Establishment materials he had exchanged for the flood dragon inner core with Yu Tangtang were definitely not a loss. He had been waiting for this very day.
"They all say a ruined spiritual root cannot establish a foundation. Let's test how effective my dual spiritual roots are!"
Tilting his head back, he swallowed the Netherspring Lotus.
As his hand seals shifted, the Cold Blood Spirit Ascension Art operated at its absolute limit. A sound like raging rivers and roaring tides seemed to emanate from within Wang Yu's body—the turbulence of a vast amount of spiritual power transforming towards a higher state.
The effect of a high-grade Foundation Establishment material was comparable to a high-grade Foundation Establishment Pill. With his foundation and aptitude, failure was impossible.
"The first barrier of Foundation Establishment: The Spiritual Power Barrier!"
Within his Dantian's sea of energy, the already semi-liquefied spiritual power condensed into a vortex, constantly compressing towards a single point. The speed was neither fast nor slow, but exceptionally steady.
At this moment, the Netherspring Lotus descended into the center of the vortex.
The spiritual power storm abruptly accelerated several times over. Almost in an instant, the entire energy sea was emptied, leaving only a single drop of black-blue true essence resting quietly at its center.
*True Essence Condensed!*
The spiritual energy of the world around him surged into his body almost uncontrollably, as if a pressure differential had formed between his inside and outside. Wang Yu separated a wisp of his spirit sense, emptying several storage pouches and distributing nearly one hundred thousand spirit stones evenly around him. The spiritual energy within the stones was visibly drained at a remarkable rate.
Within his energy sea, a second drop of true essence began to condense.
And so, the Spiritual Power Barrier was passed.
"Next is... The Vital Blood Barrier!"
His physique, already remolded during his previous breakthrough to the second grade of Body Cultivation, now faced another transformation. The improvement might not be as dramatic as last time, but his adaptation and affinity with spiritual energy would undoubtedly experience a leap-like growth.
*Crack! Pop!* His body emitted faint sounds. His resilient meridians were almost completely unaffected. Surging blue-black vital blood was pressed forth, providing the nutrients for his body's metamorphosis.
Outside, the rate at which the spirit stones dimmed accelerated. The extracted spiritual energy even formed a dense mist that continuously washed over Wang Yu's body. During this transformation, a deeper, more fundamental evolution and change in life itself was occurring.
In less than half the time it takes an incense stick to burn, a satisfied smile appeared on Wang Yu's face.
*The Vital Blood Barrier, passed with ease!* The Netherspring Lotus hadn't even been fully utilized, retaining two-thirds of its medicinal power. Perfect to be used entirely on the final barrier.
As the last hurdle of Foundation Establishment, the Spirit Sense Barrier had thwarted countless aspiring cultivators. It was the most difficult chasm to cross. Although Wang Yu hadn't yet cultivated the Ancient Soul Art, his practice of alchemy and the Lunar Nether Pupils had both significantly benefited his spirit sense.
Within the Niwan Palace at his brow, vast areas of hazy grey mist dissipated. The Netherspring Lotus took its place there, its幽 (yōu - dim, deep) light causing Wang Yu's originally formless spirit sense to condense into substance. Just as spiritual power transformed into true essence, his spirit sense underwent a qualitative change.
The range of his perception stretched farther and farther. In the future, once he learned the Mountain-Scouring Demon-Seeking secret art, everything within a fifty-li radius centered on himself would be under his control.
By the time the Netherspring Lotus's medicinal power was fully consumed, the breakthrough reached its conclusion.
*The Spirit Sense Barrier, broken!*
With all three barriers passed, Foundation Establishment was自成 (zì chéng - self-accomplished). The fluctuations of heaven and earth spiritual energy grew even more pronounced, pouring into Wang Yu's body like a celestial river pouring into a sea, entering from his head and exiting from his feet.
*Heaven and Earth Baptism. Reborn and Remolded.*
Furthermore, the various perfected spells, secret arts, bone arts, extraordinary arts, and even his cultivation method that Wang Yu had mastered transformed into mysterious, ancient seal-script characters. These characters flowed into his Dantian's energy sea and vanished without a trace.
This phenomenon caused his brow to furrow slightly. He had previously felt an intuition about this, believing that having more perfected techniques would be beneficial during Foundation Establishment. He hadn't expected it to manifest in such an baffling manner. He hadn't read about this in the texts from the Scripture Repository either. He could only investigate after returning.
Now was not the time to dwell on it.
With the breakthrough complete, Wang Yu felt his life origin had received another slight boost, seemingly replenishing the ten years of lifespan consumed by cultivating the Life-Burning Demonic Art. His body had never felt as comfortable as it did today, surpassing even the euphoria of his previous Body Cultivation advancement.
Inspecting his energy sea internally, three drops of Cold Blood True Essence lay quietly within. When a Qi Refining cultivator broke through to Foundation Establishment, condensing a single drop of true essence generally signified success.
*A thousand strands condense into one drop!*
However, different techniques emphasized different traits. For example, techniques focused on the *amount* of spiritual power would condense two, three, four... or more drops of true essence during the breakthrough. With the help of the Heaven and Earth Baptism, one could absorb as much as possible; any extra was pure gain. That Wang Yu had this number was naturally thanks to the foundation laid by the Mysterious Essence Flower and the benefits reaped from the Heaven and Earth Baptism due to his second-grade perfected technique.
To advance from the first layer of Foundation Establishment to the second, one needed to cultivate one hundred drops of true essence.
To advance from the second layer to the third, one needed three hundred drops. After accumulating to five hundred drops, one would encounter the first bottleneck: the difficulty of the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.
The cultivation world called this hurdle — **[True Essence Condensation]!**
It involved condensing five hundred drops of true essence into a 'spring of essence'. In essence, this was similar to the three spiritual refinements of the Qi Refining stage, aimed at提升 (tíshēng - raising, enhancing) the quality of true essence.
The first condensation yields a spring.
The second condensation yields a lake.
The third condensation yields a sea.
Reaching this point led to matters related to Golden Core formation.
Based on the requirements for Foundation Establishment cultivation, with an efficiency of "50 strands/day", reaching the second layer of Foundation Establishment seemed like a distant prospect. But to think that was to underestimate a dual spiritual root aptitude. This was an upper-grade spiritual root. With a normal supply of resources, there was a chance to impact the Golden Core stage before one's lifespan ended. The speed couldn't possibly be that slow.
Spiritual roots were a cultivator's tool for excavating the world's spiritual energy. It was like he used to use chopsticks to pick up vermicelli noodles—hard to pick up one by one and they easily slipped off. After the Demonic Womb Seized the Spirit, it was like using a vacuum cleaner. But his 'mouth' was only so big; the amount he could actually ingest and digest was ultimately limited.
After breaking through to Foundation Establishment, it was as if his mouth had suddenly become a gaping maw, and he had grown several additional mouths, allowing him to fully utilize the "vacuum cleaner" tool and eat his fill. The metaphor was abstract, but the principle held.
This was the脱胎换骨 (tuō tāi huàn gǔ - shed one's mortal body and exchange one's bones - be reborn) brought by a realm breakthrough!
By the same logic, the efficiency of a single placement slot increased once more, jumping from "50 strands/day" to "2500 strands/day". His cultivation speed skyrocketed fiftyfold.
2500 strands equated to "25 units/day".
With two placement slots working simultaneously, that was "50 units/day". He could condense one drop of true essence every twenty days. In two thousand days, that would be one hundred drops, allowing him to advance to the second layer of Foundation Establishment.
*Five and a half years to break through.*
A normal dual spiritual root required eleven years to break through one layer—and that was during the easier early stages. With the aid of top-grade pills and other means, that time could be halved. If one established their foundation by a hundred years of age, there was a sliver of hope to reach the threshold of the Golden Core stage.
Wang Yu was still young, not yet forty. Within his lifetime, he would certainly reach the peak of Foundation Establishment. The Golden Core stage... was not far from him.
After the breakthrough, he checked his placement slots. Unfortunately, the sixth slot had not appeared. Although he had known this would likely be the case, confirming it still brought a tiny flicker of disappointment.
Sensing faint tremors approaching through the swamp, Wang Yu swept the area with his spirit sense. It was the late second-grade Tuolong demonic beast from nearby, likely drawn by the abnormal concentration of spiritual energy. His entire breakthrough had taken less than three incense sticks' worth of time—an astonishingly fast speed, a benefit of his solid foundation and the aid of treasures.
Not intending to entangle with this beast, he waved his sleeve, collecting the large number of depleted spirit stones from the ground. About forty thousand spirit stones remained unaffected. The consumption was acceptable; he wasn't bankrupt.
Immediately after, Wang Yu focused his mind, and his entire person shot skyward.
(End of Chapter)