The pills were ready. Now, the battlefield had to be prepared.

Chen Ping’s current cave dwelling sat atop a branch of a Tier 2 Low-grade spirit vein. While the Qi density was acceptable for daily cultivation, it was woefully insufficient for the massive energy demands of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm.

Forcing a breakthrough here would drastically increase the risk of failure.

Chen Ping didn’t hesitate. He opened his vault and prepared to bleed.

Through a black market channel, he dropped a staggering twelve thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones to purchase a small Tier 3 Low-grade Spirit Gathering Formation Disk.

Once activated, this artifact would forcibly strip-mine the Heaven and Earth Qi from dozens of miles around, compressing it into his cave to simulate the environment of a Tier 3 spirit vein.

But the engine was useless without fuel. Driving such a high-grade array required a power source of equal caliber.

Gritting his teeth, Chen Ping exchanged his funds for ten Mid-grade Spirit Stones.

A single Mid-grade stone held the energy equivalent of one hundred Low-grade stones, but its purity and stability made it the only viable fuel for high-tier arrays.

Ten stones. Another thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones gone in a blink.

To ensure absolute solitude, he also purchased a set of Tier 2 High-grade defensive formations and a Tier 2 Mid-grade illusion array equipped with intruder alerts and trapping mechanisms.

Thousands more stones vanished from his pouch.

Wealth is fleeting, Chen Ping reminded himself as the pile of Spirit Stones shrank. You can’t take it to the grave.

If he succeeded in Foundation Establishment, these expenses would be a drop in the ocean. If he failed, he wouldn’t need the money anyway.

Chen Ping methodically rearranged his cave dwelling. He placed the heavy Spirit Gathering Formation Disk in the exact center of the meditation room, embedding the ten glimmering Mid-grade Spirit Stones into the array’s eyes.

Next came the defensive flags and illusion markers, planted one by one at key structural points until the cave was a fortress.

Everything was ready.

Chen Ping bathed and burned incense, purifying his body and calming his mind. He consulted the calendar and selected an auspicious day—one promising gentle winds and bright sun—to begin his seclusion.

He sealed the cave dwelling.

Sitting cross-legged at the core of the array, he adjusted his breathing, pushing his physical and mental state to its absolute peak. His gaze rested on the three warm, white pills in his palm.

Today is the day.

For a cultivator, Foundation Establishment was not merely a level up; it was an evolution of the species. It was the first true step on the path to Immortality.

Its significance dwarfed every minor breakthrough in the Qi Condensation stage combined.

First and foremost was the gift of time.

A Qi Condensation cultivator, barring rare encounters or life-extending drugs, would die of old age around one hundred and twenty.

But once the Foundation was established—once the Dao Foundation condensed and the life essence sublimated—a cultivator’s lifespan would double. Four sexagenary cycles.

Two hundred and forty years.

Gaining a century of life out of thin air provided the time necessary to pursue the Dao even further.

Then came the physical transformation.

Washed and tempered by True Essence, a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s body possessed strength, resilience, and regeneration far beyond mortal limits. Ordinary steel shattered against their skin; low-tier spells often failed to even scratch their protective aura.

Their meridians would widen and toughen, capable of channeling vast rivers of energy.

But the core change happened in the Dantian.

In the Qi Condensation stage, a cultivator stored gaseous spiritual power. But a Foundation Establishment cultivator compressed that gas until it underwent a phase change, solidifying into a “Dao Foundation.”

This was the cornerstone of future cultivation, the bedrock upon which the Violet Palace would one day be built.

The moment the Dao Foundation formed, all Qi in the body would liquefy into True Essence.

Liquid True Essence was denser, more potent, and easier to control than gaseous Qi. The difference in quality was insurmountable.

This was why the old adage “many ants can kill an elephant” rarely applied here. Unless a Qi Condensation cultivator possessed a heaven-defying artifact or a forbidden technique, they could not shake a Foundation Establishment expert.

It wasn’t a difference in strength; it was a difference in dimension.

However, the gates of Foundation Establishment were narrow.

The greatest enemy was time.

Vitality, blood flow, meridian elasticity, and soul plasticity all decayed with age. If a cultivator failed to break through before sixty, the difficulty spiked exponentially with every passing year. Accumulated impurities and stiffening veins became walls that could not be climbed.

Even with a Foundation Establishment Pill, a man over eighty had almost zero hope. His life force was already in decline; the heavens would not grant him entry.

Chen Ping was twenty-three.

To attempt this breakthrough at such an age was unheard of in the Qingyun Sect—a feat as rare as a phoenix feather.

His young body was bursting with vigorous life force. His meridians were clear, his blood thrummed with power, and his soul was pliable. He possessed the ultimate foundation.

Begin.

In the meditation room, the Spirit Gathering Formation roared to life.

The ten Mid-grade Spirit Stones released a gentle yet terrifyingly vast tide of spiritual power. Guided by the array, the energy condensed into a visible, milky-white mist that swallowed Chen Ping whole.

The pressure in the room skyrocketed, far surpassing a standard Tier 3 spirit vein.

Chen Ping’s face remained impassive. He closed his eyes and began to circulate the Evergreen Art.

Though this technique was basic and would need replacing after he broke through, its greatest virtue was stability. It was gentle, enduring, and unlikely to cause a backlash.

Inside his Dantian, the Qi of the Ninth Layer of Qi Condensation was already compressed to its limit, a swirling vortex of gas waiting for the spark.

“It’s time.”

With a thought, Chen Ping opened his mouth and swallowed the first Low-grade Foundation Establishment Pill.

A Low-grade pill offered, at best, a fifty percent chance of success.

Chen Ping was not fully confident.

But he had chosen this path. There was no retreat.

The pill dissolved the moment it hit his tongue. It transformed into a torrent of warm, majestic energy that flooded his eight extraordinary meridians before crashing into his Dantian.

Simultaneously, the ultra-dense Heaven and Earth Qi in the room, attracted by the sudden vacuum in his body, surged into his pores like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.

Two massive forces collided.

BOOM!

Chen Ping’s body shuddered as a muffled thunderclap exploded deep within his core.

The medicinal power and the external Qi slammed into his saturated Qi vortex. Under this immense pressure, the gas began to collapse.

It shrank. It grew heavy.

At the very center of the vortex, a microscopic point of solid matter began to form.

The embryo of the Dao Foundation!

But at this critical juncture, the curse of Chen Ping’s talent revealed itself.

The Five Elements Waste Spirit Root.

As the massive medicinal power and atmospheric Qi tried to fuse into the “base point,” his chaotic, conflicting Spirit Roots began to interfere.

Fire clashed with Water. Metal severed Wood.

More than half of the incoming energy was silently devoured, vanishing like clay oxen thrown into the sea.

His body was a leaking sieve. No matter how much water he poured in, the conflicting elements within him drained it away.

The condensation of the Dao Foundation slowed to a crawl. The glowing embryo flickered dangerously, unstable as a candle flame in a gale.

His Dantian began to shake. The energy was on the verge of collapse!

“Not good!”

Alarm bells rang in Chen Ping’s mind. The energy density wasn’t enough to overcome the leakage of his Waste Spirit Root.

He didn’t hesitate for a fraction of a second.

He grabbed the second Foundation Establishment Pill and swallowed it whole!