47: Chapter 47 Foundation Building in the Underground Tunnel

Cangxuan Sect, Inner Sect peaks.

The density of spiritual energy here is dozens of times that of Qingmu Market in the Yue Kingdom.

After the new disciples settled in, they soon welcomed the sect's formal lectures.

In the world of cultivation, one's Spiritual Root determines the speed and capacity for absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

But how to convert this spiritual energy into lethality, and how to trigger the laws between heaven and earth...

…that is what tests one's Comprehension Ability.

The Inner Sect's Scripture Pavilion uniformly taught the new disciples a high-level spell: the 'Water Cloud Sword Art'.

This is a sword art known for its density, emphasizing the formless and unpredictable nature of clouds and water.

It is extremely powerful, but at the Qi Refining Stage, it is very difficult to comprehend.

The Scripture-Teaching Elder only demonstrated it three times on the preaching stage before telling the disciples to return to their own caves to meditate on it.

Three months later.

On the Inner Sect's martial arts field.

Several disciples of the same intake with Fourth-grade Spiritual Roots were already able to wield their wooden swords with fluid grace.

Where the sword tips passed, there was a faint lingering of water vapor and mist.

That was a sign that their Sword Intent was beginning to take shape.

In a corner of the square, Su Yu held a long sword, also swinging it step by step.

His movements were extremely standard; every slash and thrust was exactly the same as what the Scripture-Teaching Elder had demonstrated, without the slightest error.

But this sword art, which emphasized unpredictability, looked like a mortal martial artist mechanically swinging an iron rod in his hands.

Rigid, stiff, and completely devoid of spiritual essence.

Although his internal True Essence was thick, when driven to the sword tip, it could only strike out in straight lines, creating shockwaves, unable to transform into even a trace of cloud and water energy.

Above the pavilion, several Inner Sect Elders were overlooking the martial arts field.

The First Inner Sect Elder looked at Su Yu swinging his sword below, his brows furrowed, and finally let out a long sigh.

"What a pity."

The First Elder shook his head, his tone filled with undisguised disappointment.

"This child possesses an excellent body for absorbing spiritual energy, but he is like rotten wood; his Comprehension Ability is mediocre, and he will be hard-pressed to achieve greatness."

"Even disciples with Fourth-grade Spiritual Roots have comprehended some of the true essence of the 'Water Cloud Sword Art', yet he is still stuck on memorizing the shell of the moves."

Another elder chimed in.

"On the path of cultivation, fighting and competing are common occurrences."

"With such Comprehension Ability, if he were to fight with a cultivator of the same rank in the future, I fear he would not even be able to take three moves, and would easily perish."

The elders' assessment was objective, without intentional disparagement.

In their eyes, Su Yu was like a water vat filled to the brim, but he did not know how to splash the water out to hurt others.

He was a disciple with extremely severe uneven development.

On the martial arts field, Su Yu put away his long sword and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

He naturally sensed the disappointed gazes cast by the elders on the pavilion.

But he did not feel any discouragement, nor did he develop any stubbornness to seek redemption.

Having lived two lifetimes, he knew his situation better than anyone.

One knows one's own affairs best.

"My Comprehension Ability is mediocre; if I can't learn it, I can't learn it."

Su Yu casually returned the long sword to his storage bag, his expression as calm as water.

He did not need to use such things to deny himself.

So what if his spells were lacking?

So what if his combat power was at the bottom?

He could absorb spiritual energy extremely smoothly, and under the boost of his Third-Grade Spiritual Root, his cultivation realm was climbing at a speed visible to the naked eye every day.

This was the core foundation of the cultivation world.

As long as his realm rose fast enough, he could use the vast True Essence of the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining to crush someone at the fifth level.

No matter how exquisite your Sword Intent or how profound your spells are.

Under the absolute suppression of realm, one force can overcome ten techniques.

Even if he really encountered a genius of the same rank and was beaten, he could just choose not to fight.

There has never been only one way to solve problems in this world—fighting and killing.

Leaving the martial arts field, Su Yu arrived at an elegant courtyard on Welcoming Peak.

This was the place where the top-ranked new geniuses of their batch gathered to discuss the Dao.

Pushing open the courtyard gate, five or six people were already sitting around a stone table.

Chu Tiankuo, who had an Earthly Spiritual Root, and Lin Wan'er, who had a First-Grade Spirit Root, were both there.

Seeing Su Yu enter, the crowd did not show any contempt for his poor combat power and Comprehension Ability.

On the contrary, Chu Tiankuo smiled and stood up, taking the initiative to pour a cup of spiritual tea for Su Yu.

"Junior Brother Su, I heard you broke through another layer yesterday and are now at Qi Refining Stage 8?"

Chu Tiankuo's tone was filled with genuine admiration.

"Just luck, it's just that the absorption of surrounding spiritual energy has become smoother."

Su Yu took the teacup, sat down in an empty seat, his expression calm.

Lin Wan'er chimed in softly from the side.

"Junior Brother Su is too modest. This speed of breaking through ranks is among the best, even in the historical records of the Inner Sect."

Everyone was extremely intelligent.

What did poor spell Comprehension Ability matter?

Living long and having a high realm was the hard truth.

Just as everyone was chatting, the courtyard gate was kicked open heavily.

A youth with a massive build and knotted muscles like an iron tower strode in.

His name was Tie Zhan, and he was one of the three people in this batch with a Second Grade Spiritual Root.

Tie Zhan was covered in sweat; he plopped down on the stone bench next to Su Yu, grabbed the teapot, and took a large gulp.

"It pisses me off!"

Tie Zhan slammed the teapot onto the table, his face full of despair.

"That damn 'Water Cloud Sword Art', it's so convoluted. I practiced for half a day and almost twisted myself into a knot!"

"Today on the martial arts field, that guy with the Fourth-grade Spiritual Root used Sword Intent to knock my wooden sword away. I've lost all face!"

Hearing Tie Zhan's complaint, everyone in the courtyard let out a burst of good-natured laughter.

This Tie Zhan, like Su Yu, was a famous specialist in the sect.

His excellent aptitude with a Second Grade Spiritual Root allowed his cultivation to progress extremely fast, but his Comprehension Ability was a complete mess.

Especially for such delicate spells, he was completely clueless.

Su Yu looked at his brother who shared the same fate, a trace of a smile flashing in his eyes that he couldn't stop.

He really was his good brother; they suffered together!

"Why be angry, Senior Brother Tie?"

Su Yu consoled him in a calm tone.

"Spells are merely means to protect the Dao; the realm is the foundation of cultivation."

"He was able to knock away your wooden sword today because your cultivation levels are similar. When you are two or three small realms higher than him in the future, just use your spiritual power to shatter his Sword Intent."

Hearing this, Tie Zhan's eyes lit up.

He turned his head and looked at Su Yu, as if he had found a kindred spirit.

"Junior Brother Su makes sense!"

"I'm just too lazy to ponder those flashy things."

Tie Zhan slapped his thigh and laughed heartily.

"We can't compete in Sword Intent, so let's compete on who lives longer and who breaks through realms faster! When I reach Foundation Establishment, I'll slap them to pieces!"

The two looked at each other and smiled, with a sense of mutual sympathy.

After the gathering dispersed, Su Yu returned to his cave.

The heavy stone door slowly closed, isolating all the noise from the outside world.

Su Yu walked to the meditation cushion in the center of the quiet room and sat down. He did not rush to breathe and cultivate, but calmly sorted out his path forward.

Tie Zhan's crude words actually pointed out the core truth of the cultivation world.

Whatever Sword Intent or profound spells there were, in the end, they were all means for protecting the Dao and killing.

The essence of cultivation is always the realm.

"Since my Comprehension Ability really can't grasp those convoluted spells, I won't practice them."

Su Yu's decision was extremely decisive, without the slightest hesitation.

Playing to one's strengths and avoiding weaknesses is the key to survival.

What was his greatest strength?

It was this body with a Third-Grade Spiritual Root and an aptitude of over 301 points!

It was this body's almost terrifying affinity and capacity for absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth!

"As long as I stack my realm up, can even a genius beat me at Foundation Establishment while they are at Qi Refining?"

As someone who had fought Foundation Establishment while at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining, Su Yu was not optimistic about Qi Refining fighting Foundation Establishment.

Foundation Establishment does not just have two outcomes: success and failure.

Above this threshold, there are extremely strict grades that determine how far a cultivator can go in the future.

At the lowest level is the half-crippled Foundation Establishment, like Su Hao, who forcibly broke through with defective pills, luckily survived, but was left with Dao injuries.

Such people have no room for improvement in their cultivation in this life, and their lifespan is not even as long as a normal Foundation Establishment cultivator; they can only bully others in the mortal world or small frontier families.

One level up is the Human Dao Foundation Establishment.

In his previous life, Su Yuan, without any pill assistance, relied on his Seventh-grade Spirit Root aptitude and the insights Su Yu had paid with his life to cross the threshold of Human Dao Foundation Establishment after a near-death experience.

This is the limit for the vast majority of bottom-tier rogue cultivators and small to medium-sized family cultivators in the cultivation world.

Without special opportunities, the limit of Human Dao Foundation Establishment is the late Foundation Establishment stage; it is extremely difficult to glimpse the Golden Core Dao.

Further up is the Earth Dao Foundation Establishment.

Those with Earth Dao Foundation Establishment have a True Essence thickness far exceeding that of Human Dao Foundation Establishment, and the probability of forming a Golden Core in the future is greatly increased.

And above this is the highest grade recognized in this cultivation world: Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.

Those with Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment not only have terrifying combat power at the same rank.

As long as they do not perish midway, they are almost certain to form a Golden Core and even have the hope of touching the ethereal Nascent Soul Dao.

In the Cangxuan Sect, every disciple with Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment is directly listed as a core true disciple of the sect, enjoying the highest level of resource allocation.

Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er were planning for this Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.

And Su Yu naturally would not aim too high and fantasize about Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.

Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment requires Comprehension Ability; it needs perception and resonance with the Great Dao of heaven and earth.

Only at this moment did Su Yu realize how important Comprehension Ability really is.

But he did not regret putting all his points into aptitude.

If he had split the points between aptitude and Comprehension Ability, ending up with a Fifth-grade Spiritual Root and medium Comprehension Ability.

Then he would truly have become a mediocre person who is neither one thing nor the other.

Extreme point allocation, although it brought uneven development, also gave him absolute dominance in one aspect.

Earth Dao Foundation Establishment—this was the goal Su Yu set for himself.

Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment requires comprehending the mysteries of heaven and earth, requiring extremely high Comprehension Ability to capture that trace of opportunity in the dark; it emphasizes the convergence of heaven and man.

But Earth Dao Foundation Establishment is completely different.

It does not require you to comprehend any obscure laws of heaven and earth; it emphasizes the accumulation of extreme foundation and the body's forced capacity for vast spiritual energy.

By utilizing the excellent Earth Vein energy, supplemented by the top-tier pills, one uses absolute power to forcibly crush and transform gaseous True Essence into liquid.

This is a path paved with pure resources and terrifying aptitude.

Simple, brutal, and extremely testing of the width and toughness of the meridians.

Coincidentally, Su Yu did not lack either of these things.

So in the years that followed, apart from necessary sect errands, he poured all his time and energy onto the meditation cushion in his cave.

There are no calendars in the mountains; one does not know the years as the cold passes.

Nine years of time quietly passed in extremely monotonous sitting.

Su Yu was twenty.

He did not encounter any bottlenecks, nor did he experience any thrilling Qi Deviation.

Relying on the almost greedy absorption capacity of his Third-Grade Spiritual Root, he extremely steadily and naturally piled his internal True Essence to the absolute limit of the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining.

In the Welcoming Peak courtyard, Su Yu sat by the stone table, slowly brewing a pot of spiritual tea.

Sitting opposite him were Chu Tiankuo, who had an Earthly Spiritual Root, and Lin Wan'er, who had a First-Grade Spirit Root.

At this time, although both were already at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining, their brows revealed undisguised fatigue and a trace of weathering.

In fact, given their aptitude, they had reached the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining two or three years ago.

But they did not choose to immediately establish their Foundation, but had been forcibly suppressing their cultivation.

Because they considered themselves the most core seeds of the sect.

Their goal was the "Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment" that required comprehending a trace of the laws of heaven and earth!

For this ethereal Heavenly Dao opportunity, for the past two years, they had gone to the mortal world to train, gone to the sect's life-and-death secret realms to fight great demons, and sought that trace of sudden enlightenment on the edge of life and death.

Unfortunately, the Heavenly Dao is vast, and Comprehension Ability is sometimes more torturous than aptitude.

"Junior Brother Su, your speed of breaking through realms and this state of mind really make people jealous."

Chu Tiankuo picked up his teacup and shook his head with a bitter smile.

"Why be anxious, Senior Brother Chu?"

Su Yu refilled his hot tea, his expression calm and gentle.

"Didn't the sect give you a deadline of thirty?"

The sect was extremely tolerant in cultivating such top geniuses.

Before the age of thirty, go all out to fight for Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.

If you haven't broken through by thirty, it's not too late to switch to Earth Dao Foundation Establishment.

"Yes, but before thirty, who is willing to bow their head?"

Lin Wan'er sighed softly, a flash of stubbornness for the Great Dao appearing in her eyes.

Chu Tiankuo asked frankly: "Junior Brother Su is now also at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining. Given your situation, are you preparing to apply for Earth Dao Foundation Establishment directly?"

"Yes."

Su Yu nodded, not avoiding the subject, "Earth Dao Foundation Establishment, which doesn't rely on Comprehension Ability but only looks at meridian capacity and resource stacking, is the most perfect Dao for me."

"Tomorrow I will go to receive the pill and enter seclusion."

Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er were silent.

The next morning, Su Yu came to the Internal Affairs Pavilion.

When he handed over his identity jade token and stated his intention to enter seclusion for Foundation Establishment.

There was no assessment, no difficulty, and no cliché drama of fighting over resources.

The Deacon Elder smiled and checked the roster, directly presenting a rosewood jade box and a passage jade talisman.

In the Cangxuan Sect, for an Inner Sect core disciple with a Third-Grade Spiritual Root.

The top-grade foundation establishment pill, which made the outside world kill until rivers of blood flowed or even go bankrupt, was just a regular allowance issued by the sect as needed.

"True Disciple Su, this is the top-grade foundation establishment pill and the jade talisman for the 'Yellow Character No. 1' Earth Abyss Seclusion Room. I wish you an early ascent to the Great Dao."

Su Yu reached out and took the jade box and jade talisman, his fingers gently stroking the rosewood.

"This is the foundation of a large sect."

Su Yu sighed in his heart.

Leaving the Internal Affairs Pavilion, Su Yu headed straight for the Earth Abyss Seclusion Room.

As soon as he stepped in, the extremely thick and rich Earth Vein energy, which had turned into substantial spiritual liquid, made all the pores on Su Yu's body expand.

Su Yu walked to the meditation cushion in the center of the secret room and sat cross-legged.

He adjusted his breathing, raising his essence, energy, and spirit to their peak state.

Then, he opened the rosewood jade box and calmly placed the top-grade foundation establishment pill, which exuded a refreshing medicinal fragrance, into his mouth.

The pill entered his abdomen and instantly turned into a vast medicinal power like an ocean, surging towards his limbs and bones.

"Condense Qi into liquid, cast my Earth Dao!"

Su Yu closed his eyes, his thoughts racing.

No need to comprehend the unity of heaven and man, no need to capture any opportunities of the Great Dao.

What he had to do was to use absolute aptitude and massive resources to perform the most pure and violent suppression!

Under the guidance of the top-grade foundation establishment pill, the True Essence of the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining in his body began to violently and crazily compress towards the center of his Dantian.

When the heavy liquid True Essence washed over, not only was there no agonizing pain of tearing, but it was perfectly carried by his wide meridians.

Relying on the endless and thick Earth Vein energy beneath the Earth Abyss.

The liquid True Essence smashed through all the barriers and obstacles of his Eight Extraordinary Meridians like a hot knife through butter!

There was no, absolutely no accident, no thrilling life-or-death danger.

This is the Third-Grade Spiritual Root!

Everything fell into place, logically and naturally!

Half a month later.

The spiritual energy vortex in the secret room slowly calmed down.

Su Yu opened his eyes, and a thick earthy-yellow spiritual light flashed in his pupils.

Deep in his Dantian, the once gaseous True Essence had completely disappeared.

Replacing it was an endless ocean of liquid True Essence, condensed to the extreme!

Earth Dao Foundation Establishment, succeeded!