18: Chapter 18 Foundation Establishment Successful, Bloodshed Leads to Death

Lu Changyuan spent three days in seclusion.

During these three days, no one in the entire Qingyuan Terrace dared to disturb him.

The boundary suppression stele suppressed the Spiritual Vein, while the ancient Spirit Gathering Array slowly converged the spiritual energy from all directions. After consuming the foundation establishment pill, the medicinal power and the feedback from the Spiritual Vein exploded within his body simultaneously.

If it were an ordinary Cultivator, this step would likely have been fraught with danger, but Lu Changyuan had already perfected his Foundation several times under the guidance of the heavenly secret jade slip and had undergone repeated trials on Blue Moon Island; his Foundation was already disturbingly stable.

On the first day, the medicinal power scoured his Meridians.

On the second day, the spiritual energy flowed back repeatedly into his Dantian.

On the third night, the final barrier was finally shattered with a roar.

His Sea of Consciousness shook, his Dantian expanded, and his Meridians hummed in unison.

In that instant, Lu Changyuan felt as if his entire body had been cleansed anew. The spiritual energy flowing through his Meridians completely shed the dissipated feeling of the Qi Condensation stage, becoming calm and condensed, as if it had truly been driven into his bones.

When he opened his eyes again, the aura around him was completely different from before.

Foundation Establishment was complete.

Lu Changyuan raised his right hand; the spiritual energy in his palm did not leak out but condensed into a mass of extremely stable cyan water light. At the edge of that water light, a wisp of faint chill was wrapped, quietly circulating in his palm.

Unlike the Qi Condensation stage where he could barely release a thread of energy, his spiritual energy now finally had bones and roots. Even his Divine Sense was a level clearer than before; with his eyes closed, he could even vaguely perceive the flow of spiritual energy between the boundary suppression stele and the Spirit Gathering Array.

If his previous control of Blue Moon Island relied more on planning, methods, and the Jade Slip, then from this moment on, he finally possessed the cultivation level to match this Foundation.

When he pushed the door open and stepped out, Lu Hu and Leng Feng, who were guarding outside, looked up almost simultaneously.

The two of them only glanced at him, and their expressions became slightly solemn.

It was a calm pressure that came from truly crossing a Realm. The prestige that previously needed to be propped up by background, human hearts, and battle results finally had its hardest bone at this moment.

Lu Hu was the first to cup his hands, his voice filled with genuine joy: "Congratulations, Young Lord, on your Foundation Establishment."

Leng Feng also lowered his head: "Since the Master's cultivation is complete, the main beam of Blue Moon Island can be considered truly set."

Lu Changyuan just nodded without saying much.

However, this sentence, "The main beam is set," still made his footsteps pause slightly.

Because he knew clearly in his heart that for a newly opened island, whether the Lord himself could stand firm was often more important than having an extra stone wall or an extra batch of spirit rice.

On the day he left seclusion, Qingyuan Terrace happened to be holding its first formal land distribution.

Wooden signs were stuck all over the ridges of the fields, and the Mortals, surrounding the land they had been allocated, had eyes burning with excitement. Some crouched by the fields clutching the soil, as if afraid the land would suddenly run away; some wept with tears all over their faces while holding their land deeds and wooden signs; others had already started chasing the stewards to ask when to sow, when to irrigate, and when they could build stronger houses.

Shi Jian stood beside Lu Changyuan, watching this scene, and whispered: "Young Lord, they seem to have found a reason to live all of a sudden."

"They should have had it from the start," Lu Changyuan said.

On this day, Qingyuan Terrace was lively for a rare occasion.

Bonfires rose by the square, and the Dao soldier camp also had a bit more relaxation. The Mortals shared their only dried meat and freshly boiled hot porridge, and even a few usually stern Dao soldiers were handed bowls of soup. The entire camp was permeated with a sense of relaxation, like surviving a disaster, and everyone felt that the hardest times had passed.

Lu Changyuan stood on high ground, watching the crowd illuminated by the firelight, and for once, he felt a bit of relief in his heart.

But this relaxation only lasted until the moon rose to the center of the sky.

Because Lu Changyuan knew very well that the more one just tasted a bit of stability, the easier it was to be swallowed by the next wave of wind and waves. It was precisely this short-lived stability that made the blood-red words given by the Jade Slip appear even more cruel.

After the bustle dispersed, Lu Changyuan returned alone to the secret room of the temporarily established Lords Mansion.

The secret room was very simple, with only a stone table, a spirit lamp, and a few unorganized account books. But just as the fifteenth full moon was high and the moonlight was at its brightest, the heavenly secret jade slip in his Sea of Consciousness suddenly began to vibrate crazily without warning.

The vibration was far more intense than any previous time.

Lu Changyuan looked up sharply, and the next moment, a layer of blinding scarlet blood light floated on the surface of the Jade Slip, as if fresh blood was seeping out from the jade bit by bit. A line of large characters slowly emerged:

[Six months later, the Scarlet Beast Tide will pass through. Blue Moon Island is in the first impact zone; stay and die, flee and also die.]

Lu Changyuan's pupils shrank.

Scarlet Beast Tide.

That was a once-in-a-century strange tide in the sea. Tens of thousands of Yao Beasts would migrate, go berserk, and devour each other during the strange tide, and the islands, market towns, and immortal cities along the way could all be trampled into barren land. If Blue Moon Island was in the first impact zone, it meant that this place would be the first to bear that blow.

The teacup in his hand was crushed into powder without him realizing it, broken porcelain pierced his palm, and blood flowed down through his fingers. But Lu Changyuan seemed not to feel the pain at all, just staring fixedly at that line of blood-red words, his mind rapidly deducing.

What does Blue Moon Island have now?

It has a Spiritual Vein, mines, preliminary stone walls, fifty Dao soldiers, and three thousand Mortals.

But these were far from enough to block a true Beast Tide.

It could even be said that if it wasn't immediately reinforced, the current Foundation of Blue Moon Island might not even be able to withstand the first round of probing in the face of a real Beast Tide.

The worst part was that the hearts of the people on the island had just gathered; once they were shattered in the first battle, it might be too late to even gather them back. By then, even if the Spiritual Vein and mineral veins of Blue Moon Island remained, it would only become a dead land that made people even more jealous.

Outside, there was still the hope that had just come after land distribution, but inside the secret chamber, it was already a catastrophe six months later.

A moment later, Lu Hu arrived upon hearing the sound.

As soon as he stepped into the door, he saw Lu Changyuan's blood-stained hands, and his expression changed suddenly: "Young Lord?"

Lu Changyuan raised his head, his eyes as cold as ice: "Prepare the ship, and bring all the Spirit Stones that can be used."

Lu Hu was stunned: "What for?"

"Go to Tianxing Immortal City," Lu Changyuan said word for word, "Buy people, buy Formations, buy military equipment. Whoever wants to destroy my Lu family's Foundation, I will sharpen my teeth first."

Lu Hu's heart sank, and he asked no more, cupping his hands to accept the order.

After the secret room became quiet again, Lu Changyuan did not get up for a long time. The two words "Beast Tide" pressed down, forcing many things that could have been done slowly into a countdown. The stone walls were too thin, the Pier was too shallow, the Dao soldiers were too few, and there was not a single person who could truly preside over a major Formation.

For the first time, he realized so clearly that Blue Moon Island looked lively now, but in reality, it had only just set up the skeleton. If the Beast Tide was truly as terrifying as the Jade Slip indicated six months later, this skeleton would be crushed along with the people on the island if he was not careful.

But precisely because of this, he calmed down rapidly instead. Fear was useless; only by breaking down fear into things that needed to be done was there a way to survive.

And now, Tianxing Immortal City was the first step. First buy back the things most needed, then talk about how to force the entire Qingyuan Terrace to grow along with it.

If this step could not be taken steadily, all subsequent plans would just be empty talk.

And what Lu Changyuan believed in least was that one was destined to just wait for death.

After Lu Hu exited the secret room, Lu Changyuan sat alone in the same place for a long time without moving. The spirit lamp reflected the pool of blood on the table, red and glaring. He knew very well that what he had to do now was no longer to continue farming and building the city step by step, but to use the remaining six months to push Blue Moon Island, a new island that had just gained a foothold, into an iron bone that could withstand the first wave of the Beast Tide.

This meant that every Spirit Stone, every person, and every Formation Plate behind this could not be wasted in the slightest.

He closed his eyes and went through the existing military strength, resources, city defenses, ports, Spiritual Veins, and population of Blue Moon Island in his mind, until all the numbers and positions were rearranged into a line, and then he slowly opened his eyes.

Since the heavenly secret jade slip gave a dead end, he would first break the dead end.

First reinforce the military equipment, then the Formation, and then find people who can preside over internal affairs and spiritual planting. As long as Qingyuan Terrace could continue to grow in six months, the Beast Tide might not be unable to become his opportunity to establish prestige.