4: Chapter 4 Foundation Building Divided into Three Grades

Lotus Pier was located at the top of Wogui Mountain. At the end of the turtle-shell-shaped ridge, a mountain peak stood upright, resembling the tail of a giant turtle, and its Spiritual Qi was just as abundant as the core area of Lotus Pier.

This place was precisely the back mountain of Lotus Pier.

The past generations of the Wang Family who died in battle were heavily buried here, and unless a newly fallen clansman needed to be interred, entry was not allowed under normal circumstances.

Grand Elder Wang Chongyang, the only mighty Cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Stage in the Wang Family, was stationed here permanently.

Firstly for tranquility to Cultivate with the aid of the dense Spiritual Qi here, and secondly to deter petty villains and guard the heavy grounds of the Family.

"Shouren requests an audience with the Sixth Elder."

Wang Shouren carried a food box and walked all the way along the Wogui Mountain ridge toward the back mountain.

At the end of the trail, a simple bamboo building was built against the turtle-tail-shaped mountain peak.

The bamboo building was not large, with a stone table in front of the door, a few stalks of slender bamboo, and nothing else.

An elderly man in gray robes was sitting in front of the stone table, resting with his eyes closed.

His back was slightly hunched, his full head of white hair was so sparse it could hardly cover his scalp, and the wrinkles on his face were as deep as knife-carvings.

Wang Chongyang slowly opened his eyes.

Most of those eyes were cloudy, but a trace of sharp light still flickered unextinguished at the bottom of his eyes, like a candle in the wind, swaying yet unextinguished.

"It is Shouren, come in."

Wang Shouren approached, and the air in front of him actually rippled slightly, an invisible door opening for him.

Though he couldn't see it, Wang Shouren seemed to have a perception; waiting for the door to expand to the size of a person, he straightened up and stepped into it.

A moment later, he placed the food box on the stone table and opened the lid.

The fragrance of the spiritual fish mixed with the rising heat, and beside it were two bowls of spiritual rice with a strong fragrance.

"Mother asked me to deliver food to Sixth Grandpa and Father. Is Father here with you too?"

"Yaozu went to the back to check the Formation, and will be back in a moment."

Wang Chongyang glanced at the spiritual fish in the food box and nodded slightly.

"Yirong's cooking skills smell much more fragrant than what others make just by the scent. Leave it here for now and eat together when your father returns."

He raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping over Wang Shouren, and suddenly let out a soft exclamation of surprise.

"Shouren, the aura on your body... Stretch out your hand."

Wang Shouren extended his right hand as told.

Wang Chongyang's withered, twig-like fingers rested on his wrist pulse, and a trace of subtle spiritual power probed into the Meridians.

A moment later, that trace of sharp light in the old man's eyes suddenly flared brightly.

"Good! Excellent! You have reached the Late Stage of Qi Refining Sixth Stage."

When they last saw Wang Shouren, he had just entered the sixth stage of Qi Refining, and in a mere two short years, he was already at the Late Stage of Qi Refining Sixth Stage.

If Wang Chongyang knew that every month Wang Shouren would split a bottle of the qi gathering pill distributed by the Family to give to his younger sister, keeping only half of the Medicinal Pill for himself to Cultivate, he would probably be even more surprised.

"Furthermore, your Dantian is vast, your Meridians are tough, and your spiritual power is condensed without dispersing. Your Foundation is more than twice as thick as Cultivators of the same Realm."

Wang Chongyang let go of his hand, the wrinkles on his face smoothing out as he rarely revealed a trace of a smile.

"Yaozu has given birth to a good son. Back when this old man was your age, I didn't have this Foundation."

Wang Shouren only felt that when that wisp of spiritual power of the Foundation Establishment Stage probed into his body, his Meridians felt as if they were suppressed by a mountain, and the spiritual power throughout his body didn't even have the slightest room to resist.

Although it was only for a split second, that mountain-like and grand pressure made his heart tremble. Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining, though only a difference of one Realm, had a difference as vast as clouds and mud.

Sixth Grandpa was already a candle in the wind, his spiritual power carrying a heavy aura of twilight, yet he was still so terrifying.

If a Foundation Establishment Cultivator at their prime were to make a move, he probably wouldn't even be able to stand steady in front of the other party.

He withdrew his hand and suppressed that yearning for Foundation Establishment in his heart once more.

"One must not advance rashly."

"One must not advance rashly."

For more than a decade of Cultivating, he had not overly relied on Medicinal Pills precisely because he worried about an unstable Foundation. The Foundation often determines the height of a building; he still understood this principle.

"Sixth Grandpa flatters me too much. With this tiny bit of cultivation of your grandson, I can't even raise my hand in front of you, how can it be worth praising."

Wang Chongyang waved his hand and was about to speak when a burst of footsteps came from behind the bamboo building.

Wang Yaozu, in green robes with long sleeves, walked over quickly along the gravel path.

"Father." Wang Shouren stood up to greet him.

"Shouren is here? Just right, the matter discussed with your Sixth Family Elder just now is something I was about to talk to you about."

Wang Yaozu sat down by the stone table, took the teacup handed over by his son, gulped down a mouthful, and finally caught his breath.

Wang Chongyang pushed the food box toward Wang Yaozu, signaling him to eat while talking, but his gaze fell back onto Wang Shouren.

"The words you said in the side hall today, Yaozu has already relayed to this old man. The metaphor of a cup of water, the formless Formation, every sentence hits the mark. As for the matter of lecturing on the Dao, this old man agrees."

He paused, his fingertips gently tapping on the stone table.

"Originally, over these three years, this old man wanted to try whether I could find a foundation establishment pill for the Family before passing away, even if I had to throw away this old face and beg the Spirit Sword Sect for once."

Yet after thinking it over and over, the risk was too great. If I perished outside, it would instead bring disaster to the Family. In comparison, your method is much safer—it does not consume the Foundation and does not hurt the sinews and bones.

Wang Shouren felt a weight lift from his heart and bowed, saying, "Sixth Grandpa is deeply righteous, the Family..."

Before he finished speaking, Wang Chongyang raised his hand to interrupt him.

"However, the foundation establishment pill is still necessary."

The old man's gaze fell upon the overlapping forest of steles in the distance, his voice turning low.

"Shouren, everything you said today is correct. A cup of water filling a pond can ensure temporary stability. But no matter how much water there is, without high walls, there will eventually be a day when the dam bursts."

"This old man can hold on for at most three more years. Three years from now, if there is no new Foundation Establishment Cultivator holding down the fort, this remaining shelter of mine will not be able to protect the Wang Family for long."

Wang Shouren was silent for a moment and slowly nodded.

"Sixth Grandpa is right, your grandson understands."

Wang Yaozu put down his chopsticks, his brows furrowing into the shape of the character ' river'.

"Yet how could a foundation establishment pill be so easy to acquire? Those few pills leaked out by the Sect each time all rely on completing Sect missions to exchange."

Those missions often required venturing deep into the Yao Beast territory to gather Spirit Medicine; minor consequences would damage the Family's Foundation, while severe consequences could cause the Family to plummet drastically. The Funiu Mountain Ma Family's situation back then was no less than our Wang Family's, and that was how they were dragged down.

"I heard that some are leaked out through auctions." Wang Shouren turned to his father.

Wang Yaozu shook his head, his smile bitter.

"Auctions? Shouren, you haven't been to one so you don't know. Although a foundation establishment pill is only a Tier 2 Medicinal Pill, every auction's price has long far exceeded the bearing limit of our Wang Family."

"Ordinary Tier 2 Medicinal Pills are only a few hundred to a thousand Spirit Stones, but the price of a foundation establishment pill is even more expensive than many Tier 3 Medicinal Pills, easily costing tens of thousands. Our Wang Family's annual income from spiritual fish is only just over three thousand Spirit Stones, and we still have to support hundreds of people in the entire clan; what can we use to bid?"

Wang Shouren fell silent.

This was the helplessness of lower-tier forces and families after core technologies were firmly controlled by others.

The Pill Formula was monopolized by the Sect, and all Alchemists were patrons of the Sect. Every foundation establishment pill leaked out was a defective product picked over by the Sect, yet Loose Cultivators and small families still fought for it head-broken and bleeding.

Back when the Wang Family was at its peak, two Foundation Establishment figures held down the fort.

Sixth Family Elder Wang Chongshan had good luck, obtaining a foundation establishment pill in an ancient Cultivator's Immortal Cave in his early years, thus achieving Foundation Establishment in one stroke.

Meanwhile, the Sixth Family Elder Wang Chongyang before him had dared to forcefully break through the barrier without relying on a foundation establishment pill only after the Family already had a Foundation Establishment figure holding the fort, narrowly succeeding after a narrow escape from death.

That probability of almost not surviving one in a hundred still made one's back feel cold when thinking about it to this day.

"Sixth Grandpa," Wang Shouren raised his head, a hint of inquiry in his eyes, "your grandson once read in ancient texts that if there is no foundation establishment pill, one can actually use Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects to assist in Foundation Establishment. The effect after that Foundation Establishment is said to far surpass taking a foundation establishment pill."

Wang Chongyang was slightly startled, then sighed.

"You child, your reading is indeed extensive. Correct, Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects are indeed the absolute best choice to assist in Foundation Establishment. When spiritual objects enter the body, they can not only protect the Dantian and Meridians, but also temper the Foundation. The purity of spiritual power after Foundation Establishment is far beyond what those of the same rank can compare to."

"Such Foundation Establishment is also called Heavenly Grade Foundation Establishment, while Foundation Establishment without using any spiritual objects or Medicinal Pills is called Earthly Grade Foundation Establishment, and taking a foundation establishment pill is the lowest-tier Human Grade."

He shook his head, his tone full of regret.

"Yet how scarce are Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects? Nourished by heaven and earth, they are encountered by chance and cannot be sought. Even the Spirit Sword Sect closest to us, having been established for hundreds of years, has only a mere single person capable of using spiritual objects for Foundation Establishment."

The two father and son fell silent. Although the boulder of Family crisis had not fallen, hanging high above their heads always made people feel a double sense of urgency.