Without realizing it, Shi Yu had already cultivated on the two ice platforms in the Xuexiao Spirit Node for seven days. Now, within her dantian, the hundred spiritual energy clusters had gradually compressed to the size of a fingertip, showing signs of liquefying into spiritual fluid. Once these energy clusters fully compressed into liquid Qi, it would mark her breakthrough into Foundation Establishment.
A thick layer of ice encased her body. Inside, the young girl sat with closed eyes, serene and still. Had it not been for the glow beneath her skin—proof of the spiritual energy circulating within her—one might have mistaken her for a lifelike ice sculpture.
However, while her expression was serene, she was actually enduring a pain that felt as though she were burning from both inside and out.
The cold was so intense that it turned into a surging heat and piercing sting, making her feel as if she were not in a frigid node, but surrounded by a sea of fiery magma.
“The body-tempering effect of this ice platform is truly remarkable...”
Shi Yu allowed her body to remain frozen, no longer circulating spiritual energy or Heavenly Fire to shatter or melt the ice. Encased like this, the bitter chill tempered her flesh and muscles even more effectively.
Beneath her tongue, she held a full drop of Life Spring water and five supreme-grade Foundation Establishment Pills. Every three hours, she dissolved a trace of the Life Spring water and swallowed a Foundation Establishment Pill, replenishing her Qi, blood, and spiritual energy while stabilizing her Yellow Sprout Dao Foundation as it teetered under the intense impact.
Supported by these items, Shi Yu persevered within the ice. Tempering her body was also a test of her willpower and divine soul. She knew that the longer she endured, the stronger her physical body would become, until it reached the absolute limit of what her current realm allowed.
Another seven days passed in this manner.
Her muscles grew firm, her Qi and blood surged with vigor, and her skin emitted a faint luster like warm jade. Only then did she finally reach her limit; beyond this, restricted by her cultivation level, her physical body could no longer undergo any qualitative improvement.
“Now, it is time to formally enter Foundation Establishment.”
All she lacked now was that single, perfect moment of inspiration.
After completing her body tempering, Shi Yu did not begin her breakthrough immediately. Instead, she calmed her mind and focused her spirit, remaining encased in the ice. Using the piercing cold to keep her mind clear, she waited quietly for the right opportunity to break through.
Another three days passed.
At a certain moment, amidst the frozen tempering, Shi Yu's state of mind reached full perfection, and her aura became completely harmonious. That hazy intuition of an impending breakthrough suddenly turned crystalline, like dust wiped from a brass mirror, instantly shining bright.
Without the slightest hesitation, she instantly mobilized her full spiritual power, shattering the thick ice around her body, and leaped onto the left ice platform.
On the left ice platform, the Spirit-Gathering Array was running at full power, drawing together the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
The pure white Qi was so dense that its flow became visible to the naked eye, casting ripples through the air and leaving flickering white trails behind.
Shi Yu retrieved a few more Foundation Establishment Pills and held them in her mouth along with more Life Spring water. Sitting cross-legged inside the Spirit-Gathering Array, a translucent barrier rose to envelop her.
At the same time, a pleasant chime hummed around her body—the natural sound produced by such dense spiritual energy in motion. The misty, surging Qi wrapped tightly around her slender frame, rendering her form hazy within the shroud.
Under the guidance of the 《Fate-Tapping Record》, spiritual energy poured continuously through her pores into her body, merging directly into her meridians.
Supported from the outside by the spirit node's energy and from within by the Life Spring water and Foundation Establishment Pills, the internal and external forces complemented each other. At first, the sensation was like soaking in a hot spring—warm and extraordinarily comfortable.
But soon, the spiritual energy gathered faster and faster, scrambling to merge into her meridians, washing through them like relentless tidal waves.
A subtle, swelling ache arose first, which quickly deepened into a tearing pain.
Soon, the tears widened as her meridians began to crack like a spiderweb. The crisp cracking sounds echoed with disturbing clarity in Shi Yu's ears.
If her meridians were allowed to shatter inch by inch, let alone succeeding in Foundation Establishment, a single misstep could result in destroyed meridians and a shattered Dao foundation.
Was Foundation Establishment this dangerous for everyone else?
No one was present to answer Shi Yu's doubt.
In truth, breaking through to Foundation Establishment required opening up a lakebed within the dantian to hold the spiritual fluid once the Qi liquefied. This process demanded a massive amount of spiritual power, which would be nearly impossible to gather through ordinary breathing exercises alone. Thus, cultivators had to find energy-rich locations and supplement themselves with pills like the Foundation Establishment Pill that could supply abundant power. Where Shi Yu ran into trouble, however, was that—
—the pills she prepared were far too numerous and of far too high quality, not to mention she had a continuous supply of vitality and spiritual power from a treasure like Life Spring water, as well as a Tier-4 Spirit-Gathering array plate...
During her days of body tempering, spiritual energy had accumulated silently. Now, erupting all at once, it was like a pot boiling over, creating an upheaval far greater than that of an average cultivator's breakthrough.
This happened simply because her common knowledge regarding the Origin Realm was still lacking. Others assumed she understood these basic matters and naturally felt no need to mention them, so Shi Yu relied on her former experience from the game.
Namely, nouveau-riche behavior like recklessly chugging pills.
Even children of the grand clans in the Central Continent would never have such a lavish supply of high-quality Foundation Establishment Pills at their disposal.
Though slightly taken aback, Shi Yu did not panic. She swiftly calmed her mindset and methodically swallowed more Life Spring water and Foundation Establishment Pills.
As the spiritual energy flooded in, it fueled the momentum of the Qi surge, widening the cracks in her meridians. Yet at the same time, the rich vitality flowed through, repairing the damaged meridians.
Rupturing, healing, rupturing, healing... over and over in endless repetition.
Shi Yu trembled from the intense pain, her face as pale as snow. Her breathing grew rapid and weak, and her consciousness turned hazy and chaotic. Before long, she was drenched in cold sweat, looking as though she had just been dragged from water.
Biting her tongue, she swallowed all the remaining Life Spring water and Foundation Establishment Pills in her mouth. Her mind cleared slightly, but the pain intensified even further.
Closing her eyes tightly, she ran the 《Fate-Tapping Record》 at top speed, attempting to forcefully suppress the surging tide of spiritual energy.
Within her dantian, the two wisps of Heavenly Fire, which had grown slightly sluggish after days of enduring the extreme cold, flared violently upon sensing Shi Yu's intent, helping her suppress the rampant spiritual energy.
Taking too many pills carried severe consequences, but if one could withstand them, the rewards would far exceed expectations.
Benefiting from her prior body tempering, Shi Yu's physical body and meridians were far tougher than before. Reinforced by the continuous vitality, she managed to endure the ordeal.
Through this process, her meridians were tempered once more, becoming increasingly resilient and broad.
Finally, the majestic spiritual energy was brought under control and guided toward her dantian by her cultivation technique. Having found its destination, the spiritual energy busily carved out the space.
Before long, her dantian expanded, forming a depression centered around the Yellow Sprout Dao Foundation.
The constantly spinning spiritual energy clusters gathered toward this depression, showing an increasingly clear momentum of coalescing into a liquid sea.
A liquid Qi lakebed forged by such a vast quantity of spiritual energy was far broader than that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Shi Yu did not realize that even before her Foundation Establishment was complete, the liquid Qi lakebed surrounding her Yellow Sprout Dao Foundation was already far larger than those of ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators.
This meant that moving forward, the spiritual energy her dantian could hold would far exceed that of cultivators of the same rank.
Seeing the lakebed take shape, she breathed a soft sigh of relief. Gathering her resolve, she pushed ahead in one breath to compress the clusters of spiritual energy that were beginning to turn liquid.
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