28: Chapter 28 Finally, I've reached Foundation Establishment! I can fly now!

No one cared about the aftermath of the Grand Competition anymore.

The championship belonged to Ye Qingyao without any suspense.

As for Grand Elder Zhao Wujiang, who dared to provoke the dignity of a god, his Dao Heart was shattered by a single sentence from Su Changge, and his cultivation plummeted. Sect Head Qingyunzi immediately issued an order to strip him of his position as Elder, cast him into the Reflection Cliff behind the mountain, and forbid him from stepping out for the rest of his life.

After this battle, Su Changge's status in the Taixuan Sect climbed to an unreachable peak that no one could match.

The four words "Little Martial Ancestor" were no longer just a title within the Sect.

It was a kind of faith, a synonym for "god."

Changge Peak had thus become that supreme Holy Land for cultivation in the hearts of all Disciples.

Every day before dawn, the foot of Changge Peak would be crowded with kneeling people.

They were not there to request an audience, nor to seek apprenticeship.

They came spontaneously to kowtow and worship the cloud-shrouded peak, hoping to catch a glimmer of immortal fate or seek that ethereal "Epiphany."

Ye Qingyao, as the Little Martial Ancestor's only Personal Disciple, saw her status soar.

Although she was the latest to enter the Sect, thanks to that sword strike at the Grand Competition that stunned everyone, and her Revered Master's unfathomable supreme dignity, she was universally acknowledged by the entire Sect as the undisputed "Senior Sister" of the younger generation.

All Disciples had to respectfully salute her when they saw her; even those arrogant Inner Sect Disciple Prodigies of the past were no exception.

All of this brought unimaginable, rich returns to the culprit, Su Changge.

In his mind, the pleasant System notification sound never stopped.

【Ding! Received fanatical worship from Outer Sect Disciple Wang Er, emotion points +50!】

【Ding! Received deep awe from Inner Sect Disciple Zhao Qian, emotion points +100!】

【Ding! Received loyal faith from Law Enforcement Elder Wang Tiemian, emotion points +2000!】

...

In just a few short days, his total emotion points broke through a number that made his heart tremble.

Eight million!

"I'm rich! This wave, I can really do whatever I want!"

Su Changge lay in his thatched cottage, looking at the long string of dazzling zeros on the System panel, his mouth grinning almost to his ears.

Without the slightest hesitation, he opened the System mall immediately.

He was currently stuck at the tenth layer of Qi Refining Great Perfection, only a thin layer of window paper away from Foundation Establishment.

In the past, it was due to limited Aptitude and the lack of top-grade Medicinal Pill support that he couldn't take that step.

But now, he had money!

【Perfect foundation establishment pill: Refined from rare treasures of heaven and earth and the essence of the sun and moon, it can help the Host build the most perfect 'Foundation of Dao', with no side effects, and the future path of cultivation will be smooth sailing. Price: 3,000,000 emotion points.】

"Three million... so ruthless!" Su Changge smacked his lips, but hesitated for only a moment.

"To turn this 'acting' into real kung fu, it's worth it!" He gritted his teeth and confirmed with a thought!

【Ding! Consumed 3,000,000 emotion points, the Perfect foundation establishment pill has been issued!】

A Medicinal Pill, radiating seven-colored light throughout its body, with faint shadows of Dragon and Phoenix circling endlessly upon it, appeared out of thin air in his palm.

To ensure nothing would go wrong, Su Changge specifically dug a simple underground secret chamber beneath his thatched cottage.

He solemnly instructed Ye Qingyao that he was going into "seclusion" for a few days to comprehend a Divine Ability and that no one was to disturb him during this time.

Upon hearing this, Ye Qingyao's beautiful eyes were instantly filled with worship and awe. She firmly believed that her Revered Master was going to travel through the void again to comprehend the supreme Dao, so she immediately and respectfully guarded outside the thatched cottage, transforming into the most dedicated Protector.

In the secret chamber, Su Changge sat cross-legged and swallowed the Perfect foundation establishment pill, which was so expensive it made his heart ache.

"Boom—!" A pure energy, a hundred times more massive than the last time he cleansed his marrow and cut his veins, exploded within his body like a volcano that had been dormant for hundreds of millions of years!

That torrent of energy was overbearingly tyrannical, yet it carried a strange gentleness, crazily scouring his limbs and bones, compressing, purifying, and recreating the original Spiritual Qi within his body over and over again!

Inside his Dantian Qi Sea, the Spiritual Qi, which was originally in a gaseous state, began to condense into a liquid state at a speed visible to the naked eye.

One drop.

Two drops.

Three drops...

The moment the ninety-ninth drop of liquid Spiritual Qi condensed and formed, the entire Qi Sea shook violently!

All the liquid Spiritual Qi instantly gathered, forming a huge vortex spinning at high speed.

In the very center of the vortex, a crystal-clear Dao platform, seemingly forged from the purest glaze in the world, slowly rose from the center of the vortex!

Upon the Dao platform, Dao runes were faintly visible!

Foundation Establishment, complete!

【Ding! Congratulations to the Host, successfully broken through to the Early Foundation Establishment Stage!】

An extremely powerful feeling surged through his entire body.

This was not the fake pressure brought by System special effects, but a real sense of power originating from his limbs and bones, from the depths of his Divine Soul!

Su Changge could clearly perceive that his five senses had become incomparably sharp; every blade of grass, every tree, every insect, and every ant within a radius of several miles was clearly reflected in his mind.

The Spiritual Qi in his body was more than a hundred times more vigorous than before!

With a thought.

A buoyant force emerged from the soles of his feet out of thin air, slowly lifting his body off the ground.

He was flying!

"Hahaha! I can finally fly on my own too!"

Su Changge jumped up and down excitedly in the small secret chamber, sometimes bumping into stone walls, sometimes clumsily hovering in mid-air, with an uncontrollable silly grin on his face.

Usually, when he traveled, he relied entirely on System special effects; one step would shrink the earth to inches, looking countless times more awesome than flying.

But that was fake! It was acting! It was special effects!

This one right now was the power that truly belonged to him!

Although this power was pitifully weak, in front of those big shots who were easily at the Golden Core Stage or Nascent Soul, he was still a noob who could be crushed with a single finger.

But to him, this was a qualitative change from "0" to "1"!

This was the sign that he had truly stepped over the threshold of immortal cultivation!

However, after the excitement, Su Changge quickly calmed down.

He knew that his meager cultivation was still far from enough.

Just then, a warning box as red as blood popped up on the System panel without any warning, emitting a piercing alarm sound!

【High-risk warning: Detected that the Demonic Path major Sect 'Blood Fiend Sect' of the Eastern Wasteland has listed the Taixuan Sect as a potential target. A Golden Core Stage scout will come to investigate the truth in the near future; please be prepared to respond, Host!】

Seeing this warning, the joy of Su Changge's recent Breakthrough was instantly washed away completely by a basin of ice water.

"Damn! Blood Fiend Sect? Golden Core Stage scout?!"

He only felt a chill run straight from his tailbone to his crown.

"No! Must immediately strengthen the defense of Changge Peak! Use special effects to turn this place into a forbidden zone of life that no one dares to approach!"

Su Changge immediately began racking his brains, calculating how to use the remaining emotion points to scare off the potential strong enemy.

He didn't know.

A real crisis had already quietly descended.

That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high, a night for killing.

A figure, like a shadow without substance, a resentment spat out by the night itself, silently bypassed all the mountain-patrolling Disciples and the overt and covert sentries of the Taixuan Sect.

Like a wisp of blue smoke, he drifted into the depths of the back mountain.

His target was clear and unmistakable.

It was that most Spiritual Qi-rich and most mysterious one—Changge Peak.