To achieve a Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, innate talent and comprehension were merely the baseline; beyond that, one required a strand of aura capable of invoking the power of the Heavenly Dao.
Without this strand of aura, no matter how extraordinary one's talent, it was all in vain. This aura was profoundly mysterious—often sought endlessly to no avail, yet sometimes obtained by pure chance, much like what Shi Yu had just experienced.
Yet even with this strand of aura in hand, it did not guarantee that Shi Yu's Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment was a set deal. It merely opened up such a possibility, and turning that possibility into reality was by no means simple.
President Song and Master Ji harbored complex feelings at this moment, feeling both happy for Shi Yu and unable to refrain from speculating, “That little girl, Fang Sheng, who exactly is...”
Holding the now empty tube-like rod, Shi Yu turned her head to cast a glance back toward the main city.
Even from hundreds of miles away, standing atop the cloud boat, she could still clearly see the grand and bustling array of buildings lining the city. Under the jurisdiction of Hengze Prefecture lay countless rivers and lakes, either encircling the city or winding through it, their turquoise waters rippling gently.
She caught herself lost in thought for a moment, feeling the vastness of heaven and earth. The people living beneath this sky each had their own destinies, intertwined and full of ups and downs—a grand spectacle beyond words.
After a long moment, as a gentle breeze brushed against her face, Shi Yu tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and smiled softly. “Let's go.”
...
The cloud boat set off once more, retracing its journey.
The return trip to Lingtai Prefecture would take over a month, so Shi Yu did not idle away her time, immediately beginning her preparations for Foundation Establishment.
Having leapfrogged tiers to refine Tier-4 pills multiple times, concocting the Tier-2 Foundation Establishment Pill posed virtually no difficulty.
The Foundation Establishment Pill was rare and precious not because of any high concoction difficulty, but simply because its primary ingredients were exceptionally hard to find.
Now, after so much time had passed, the main ingredient, Heavenly Tone Lotus, as well as the two secondary main ingredients—Mystic Ice Jade Ganoderma and Jade Blood Fruit—which she had won as first prize in the Alchemy Exchange Conference, had been nurtured within the Fate-Tapping Bell to exquisite quality and efficacy. Even the most deeply established prominent clans and major sects would likely struggle to produce ingredients of comparable potency.
Furthermore, besides the mother plants, new offshoots had sprouted from the roots of all three spiritual plants. These had been separated and replanted, with over a dozen offshoots for each type. Though their quality could not yet match that of the long-nurtured mother plants, they were still far superior to ordinary ones. Given time to grow and be nurtured continuously inside the Fate-Tapping Bell, they would sooner or later reach the same quality as the mother plants.
If Shi Yu were willing to take out a few plants and put them up for auction, buyers would undoubtedly fight tooth and nail for them, netting her a massive fortune.
However, she had no intention of selling off such valuable cultivation resources.
“I must not expose the secret of the Fate-Tapping Bell. There are plenty of ways to earn spirit stones, and besides, how could the profit from selling raw materials compare to processed goods?” Shi Yu murmured to herself softly.
Returning to her cabin, she looked out as drifting clouds passed by, the sky ablaze with sunset clouds as brilliant as pomegranate flowers. Shi Yu closed the window, set up a barrier to prevent spiritual energy from overflowing and affecting the cloud boat's stability, and produced her pill furnace to begin refining the Foundation Establishment Pills.
As she began, she flicked her palm, and a ball of pure crimson flame surged forth—it was her second Heavenly Fire, the Yanyang Xuancang Flame.
The Dao Origin carried by the Yanyang Xuancang Flame was the pure Intent of Fire. Her spiritual meridian was of the Fire attribute, and since the Foundation Establishment Pill was used for breaking through realms, refining it with the Yanyang Xuancang Flame was naturally far more suitable than using the Void Fissure Spiritual Flame.
In the quiet room, Shi Yu's fingers flickered like picking flowers and leaves, tossing spiritual plants into the furnace one by one in precise sequence. Flames swept upward, instantly distorting the surrounding space with high heat. Under the intense roasting, the leaves of the herbs inside the furnace gradually curled and dried, their medicinal liquid essence extracted, leaving the withered leaves to crumble into ash and slag at the bottom...
With a Heavenly Fire as the fire seed, spiritual plants of superb quality, and an alchemist whose skill was consummately proficient, three hours later, this batch of Tier-2 Foundation Establishment Pills emerged as supreme-grade without the slightest surprise.
Opening the furnace lid revealed nine pills, each pleasantly plump and round, emanating a rich, refreshing fragrance. The surface of each pill was not only veiled in a misty, gauze-like pill halo, but also adorned with crisscrossing, beautiful pill veins. These pill veins radiated a mysterious wave of power, as if a few beams of the Great Dao's radiance had leaked down and flowed upon them.
Shi Yu focused her gaze on the pill veins, quietly contemplating the subtle Dao charm accompanying them.
The treasure Qi generated when refining artifacts directly elevated cultivation, whereas long-term contemplation of the pill veins appearing on refined pills offered immense benefits to one's state of mind and realm comprehension.
The Dao charm from these Tier-2 pills was extremely faint, but accumulated over time, it would yield substantial gains.
Only after finishing contemplating the Dao charm did Shi Yu put away the refined Foundation Establishment Pills. She adjusted her breathing for a moment before beginning the second batch.
Consuming a Foundation Establishment Pill could stabilize the yellow sprout and increase magical power. A supreme-grade Foundation Establishment Pill had no impurity or pill toxicity whatsoever—offering purely benefits without any side effects—so the more, the better.
If conditions permitted, one could even eat them like jellybeans.
Shi Yu had worked hard to reach her current cultivation at the Qi Refining Realm Great Perfection, standing right at the threshold of Foundation Establishment. Naturally, she would not stint or hesitate at such a crucial moment, utilizing every resource available to her.
Thus, over the next few days, Shi Yu refined at least one batch of Foundation Establishment Pills daily. Each batch produced anywhere from six or seven to over ten pills. Almost all were supreme-grade pills accompanied by pill veins, and even the few that fell short of supreme grade still had pill halos swirling around them, which mattered little.
In this way, she accumulated roughly a hundred Foundation Establishment Pills in total.
Without exaggeration, an ordinary sect's total reserve of Foundation Establishment Pills would likely amount to no more than this, to say nothing of the fact that every single one of Shi Yu's was of top-tier quality—something others would not even dare dream of.
With so many Foundation Establishment Pills, Shi Yu took one each day during cultivation, aided by her newly refined Tier-4 Spirit-Gathering array plate. Her momentum toward breakthrough grew increasingly pronounced, but she kept her composure and suppressed it with all her strength, striving to push close to the absolute limit. She aimed to hammer her foundation into something indestructible and polish her magical power until it was flawless before making her breakthrough in one fell swoop.
When that moment came, regardless of whether she could achieve a Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, she would have done everything within her power, leaving no regrets no matter the outcome.
“Since I have stepped onto the Great Dao of cultivation, I must naturally do my best at every step. That way, my future path will always be broader.”
The closer she got to breaking through, the less she allowed her emotions to run wild. She did not spend all day obsessing over Foundation Establishment; whenever she had spare time, she attended to other matters.
For instance, she used Slaughter Spring water and Heavenly Tone Flowing Cloud Flowers to temper her natal magic treasure, the Yinhuang Bow. Remembering Master Ji's cloud boat, Light Cloud, which had damaged restrictions, she specially set aside a few days to meticulously repair it for him.
Smelting the hull and repainting the restrictions, after a few busy days, this Tier-3 cloud boat was restored like new, leaving Master Ji utterly amazed.
“Good, good, good! Even that fatty Liang Guan was helpless with my cloud boat, blabbering about conflicts between old and new restrictions and claiming a repair could only restore fifty or sixty percent... Little Yu'er is the reliable one after all!”
Cloud boats were difficult to refine and extraordinarily valuable. Master Ji had worked hard to obtain the cloud boat Light Cloud from a secret realm, but because its restrictions were on the verge of collapsing, he had not dared to use it often, which frequently left him frustrated. Now that the cloud boat was fully restored, he was naturally overjoyed, his face glowing with delight.
Shi Yu accepted Master Ji's praise wholeheartedly.
On the side, President Song chuckled along, then shifted the topic to ask about her future plans.
Seeing that Shi Yu was on the verge of Foundation Establishment with a broad path opening before her, staying in the small Lingtai Prefecture might hinder her cultivation, which was why President Song asked.
Shi Yu thought for a moment before speaking up, “I want to go to Shiyan Academy to see the geniuses from all over the East Continent.”
Shiyan Academy had always enjoyed the reputation of being the premier academy in the East Continent. Its profound heritage made countless young talents yearn for it. Shi Yu had been intrigued and filled with yearning ever since she first heard rumors of Shiyan Academy.
Now that the time was gradually ripening and her affairs here were coming to a close, going to Shiyan Academy was a fine choice for her.
President Song nodded, agreeing with her plan. He knew that with her talent, witnessing a broader world and honing her state of mind would make her Dao path all the smoother.
He spoke slowly, “The East Continent has thirty-two prefectures. Going from Changyuan Prefecture to Shiyan Academy means crossing several prefectures along the way, which is no easy task.”
Just within Changyuan Prefecture alone, traveling from Lingtai Prefecture to Hengze Prefecture takes over a month. Heading to Shiyan Academy, the journey alone would take at least a year or half a year.
“There is no rush in this matter; prepare thoroughly before setting out. The journey itself can serve as experience.”
Shi Yu nodded. “Understood.”
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