77: Foundation Building Complete

The twenty-first year,

You finally Broke Through to the second layer of Foundation Establishment.

Ever since Liu Ruyan brought you to Ningyue Immortal Mountain, you haven't seen her again. You don't know if she's in closed-door Cultivation or doing something else.

Over the years, besides Cultivating and regularly drawing blood, you also enjoyed wandering around Ningyue Immortal Mountain.

The rules of the Immortal Mountain were simple: you could go anywhere except the mountain peak.

So you had explored almost the entire Immortal Mountain. Roughly estimated, this Immortal Mountain was at least a thousand li wide.

You had to admit, Ningyue Immortal Mountain was truly a paradise that Cultivators dreamed of, making you immensely envious.

You also discovered that this Immortal Mountain was actually moving slowly.

Even more astonishing, every Immortal Mountain in the Cave Heaven and Blessed Land possessed an independent High Grade Spiritual Vein.

You couldn't help but sigh, the Liu Clan Immortal Family's foundation was truly too strong.

The forty-second year,

You finally reached the third layer of Foundation Establishment.

You didn't expect your Aptitude to be so poor.

Because you knew a person named Chu Yang, who entered the mountain later than you, yet only took more than thirty years to Cultivate from Foundation Establishment Early Stage to Perfection.

You were more than ten times slower than him, which made your mentality somewhat collapse.

That day, Chu Yang suddenly came to your courtyard and excitedly told you: "Qin Chen, I successfully formed my Golden Core! Master told me to go to her Immortal Cave, I'm so happy!"

You could tell he was genuinely excited—after all, he was a human slave who had been branded with a Slave Contract, full of loyalty and adoration for Liu Ruyan.

You smiled and congratulated him: "You finally get to see Master, congratulations!"

Chu Yang patted your shoulder and encouraged: "Work hard, it'll be your turn soon!"

After speaking, he excitedly flew towards the mountain peak on his sword—the direction of Liu Ruyan's Immortal Cave.

You were very curious, what did Liu Ruyan call him to do?

Could it be to relieve her loneliness?

This thought almost made you laugh out loud. You quickly raised your hand and slapped yourself, trying hard to suppress your laughter.

The sixty-fifth year,

You finally stepped into the fourth layer of Foundation Establishment, which is Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.

Ever since Chu Yang went to Liu Ruyan's Immortal Cave, you haven't seen him again.

You couldn't laugh anymore, and an ominous premonition surged in your heart.

Could it be that after forming a Golden Core, one would be eaten by Liu Ruyan?

In any case, you knew that Chu Yang was definitely dead.

So a thought arose in your mind: even if you couldn't escape death in the end, you would never let her have an easy time.

You began to frequently move around the Immortal Mountain, secretly collecting various Spirit Medicine and Spiritual Plant.

You carefully studied the properties of these medicinal materials, even experimenting on your own body, trying various combinations of conflicting medicinal properties.

You knew that all things are interdependent and mutually restrictive. Many medicinal materials are harmless on their own, but when mixed, they can produce potent poisons.

Three years later, you tested nine hundred and sixty combinations and finally discovered a combination that could create a chronic poison.

It required three main ingredients: Ice Marrow Mushroom, Blazing Sun Fruit, and Twin-Life Flower.

The Ice Marrow Mushroom grew in dark, damp places, with icy patterns on its cap.

The Blazing Sun Fruit was hidden in an underground rock cave, and its fruit contained a trace of solar essence fire.

The Twin-Life Flower had two colors on one flower, half frosted and half burning with flames, which was extremely peculiar.

The Ice Marrow Mushroom and Blazing Sun Fruit were inherently antagonistic. Eating only these two would not cause poisoning, as their medicinal properties would cancel each other out.

But you discovered that adding the Twin-Life Flower could neutralize the two, producing toxins during the Fusion process.

However, eating these three herbs alone would be too potent, so you added sixty-five auxiliary herbs to moderate the medicinal properties, allowing yourself to be slowly poisoned.

After consuming it, you noticed red and blue interwoven spiderweb-like poison patterns appearing on your wrist. Initially, they were very faint and almost invisible without careful observation.

You also discovered that during every full moon, your Dantian would feel as if it were being twisted by ice and fire, causing unbearable pain.

Moreover, once you used Spiritual Power, your hair tips would even be half frozen and half smoking.

Although the onset of the poison was extremely painful, the thought that your blood contained chronic potent poison made you incredibly excited.

So, while calculating your Cultivation progress, you continued to poison yourself.

The eighty-sixth year,

You finally Cultivated to the fifth layer of Foundation Establishment.

Over the years, you had only done three things—Cultivate, take poison, and draw blood.

You also became more convinced: those “talented individuals” would be called to Liu Ruyan’s Immortal Cave once they successfully formed a Golden Core, and without exception, they would die.

As for what Liu Ruyan did to them, you had no way of knowing.

That day, Steward suddenly came to find you.

He didn't waste any words, directly took out a Spirit Testing Stone, and said indifferently: "Press your hand on it."

You solemnly pressed your palm onto it.

The Spirit Testing Stone emitted a faint, interwoven five-colored light.

Steward frowned: "No wonder your Cultivation is so slow. It turns out you only Awakened a Mortal Grade Spiritual Root with a spirit awakening pill."

After speaking, he glanced at you: "Fairy Ru Yan originally thought she brought back a treasure, but it turns out to be a good-for-nothing."

He continued coldly: "Now, Cultivate diligently and form your Golden Core as soon as possible."

You had a serious expression and responded loudly: "Yes, Steward Wei! This one will definitely redouble his efforts and will not let down Master's high expectations!"

Steward glanced at you indifferently and turned to leave.

To him, a human slave like you was no different from a domestic chicken—fattened up, just waiting to be slaughtered and served.

So he didn't even bother to say another word to you.

You also didn't expect your Spiritual Root Aptitude to be so poor.

You knew that Spiritual Roots were divided into Mortal Grade, Low Grade, Medium Grade, High Grade, and Supreme Grade.

It is said that above Supreme Grade Spiritual Roots, there are the legendary Chaos Spiritual Root and Immortal Spiritual Root.

However, Chaos Spiritual Root and Immortal Spiritual Root are extremely rare, and almost no one has truly seen them.

Even if such a person truly exists, it would be difficult for them to grow smoothly—

Because such Aptitude is too Heaven-Defying. Once it appears, it will be hunted down, either refined into a human Medicinal Pill or repeatedly subjected to Possession.

Even with slight Cultivation, they would become a target.

Such people are practically walking Heaven And Earth Treasure, the "Tang Monk's flesh" in the eyes of all Cultivators.

However—you secretly rejoiced that you were merely a Mortal Grade Spiritual Root.

In the one hundred and thirtieth year, you Cultivated to the seventh layer of Foundation Establishment, which is Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

The two hundredth year,

You finally reached Foundation Establishment Perfection.

Over the years, the "talented individuals" of Ningyue Immortal Mountain had changed several batches, and you were the only one who had stayed for nearly two hundred years.

Having consumed chronic poison for over a hundred years, you felt as if you had almost become a "poison person"; perhaps a single drop of your blood could poison a Cultivator to death.

You wondered if your body had gradually adapted to the toxins, as all the previous abnormal symptoms of poisoning had actually disappeared.

You were very curious: if Liu Ruyan really drank your blood, she should also be poisoned, but why has there been no movement from Ningyue Immortal Mountain all these years?

Since Foundation Establishment Perfection required reporting to Steward, you went to the side hall on the mountainside to find him and informed him that you had reached Foundation Establishment Perfection.

Steward looked at you, his expression somewhat gloomy, and without saying much, he casually threw you a bottle of Medicinal Pill and a bag of Spirit Stone.

After you left, you opened it to see that the jade bottle contained ten Golden Core Pills, and the Spirit Stone bag held ten thousand Spirit Stones.

You knew that others usually only needed one Golden Core Pill to Breakthrough.

It seemed Steward also knew your Aptitude was too poor, so he had to give you more.

You secretly chuckled—if farmers raised pigs at such a loss as they raised you, they would have gone bankrupt long ago, right?