503: Chapter 503 Breaking Through the Wall

The sixtieth day by the Spiritual Qi lake.

Su Ming sat cross-legged on a rock; he had been sitting there for three full days.

The spiritual energy lake within his body was churning violently. Liquid spiritual energy slapped against the Dantian walls—it wasn't a gentle push, but a sense of expansion after accumulating to the limit from within. It was like a kettle of water that had been boiling for too long, with the lid already rattling.

There were bloodshot streaks in his eyes, and his face was paler than usual.

His Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivation had hit the ceiling. The spiritual energy lake in his Dantian was full—not just full in a way where a little more could be squeezed in, but so full that not even a single drop could be added. Every time he circulated his technique, the newly inhaled Spiritual Qi would hit the surface of the lake and be bounced back. He needed to break through that invisible barrier between the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage and Late Stage.

"Don't rush. Take a Spirit-Nurturing Pill and circulate three major cycles. What one fears most when breaking through a bottleneck isn't a lack of power, but losing one's rhythm."

Su Ming took a Spirit-Nurturing Pill from his Storage Pouch and placed it in his mouth, beginning to circulate the Ruoshui Art. After three major cycles were completed, the rhythm of his spiritual energy flow had stabilized.

"Master, I'm ready to charge."

Back when he achieved Foundation Establishment in the cold pond, his dao foundation naturally carried hidden injuries because his skeletal roots were not perfect. Later, it was repaired by Lin Yu using a method similar to "Kintsugi." The marks of those repairs were still there—like a shattered porcelain bowl that had been glued back together with gold powder; it looked whole, but the cracks marked by the gold lines would always be the most fragile spots.

"When impacting the barrier, your spiritual energy will vibrate violently. The resilience of the Kintsugi parts of your dao foundation is not as good as the original structure. If the vibration is too intense, they might loosen."

"The consequences of loosening?"

"At best, your spiritual energy will dissipate and your cultivation will regress," Lin Yu paused for a moment, "at worst, you will suffer Qi Deviation."

Su Ming remained silent for a long time, then said a single sentence: "I understand."

The first impact, seventy percent of his spiritual energy. The spiritual energy gathered into a torrent and crashed against the barrier—the barrier trembled slightly but remained motionless. The spiritual energy was repelled, and Su Ming let out a muffled groan. The Kintsugi parts of the dao foundation did not move.

The second time, eighty percent of his spiritual energy. Cracks appeared on the barrier, as if thick glass had been struck by a hammer, and a small area of Spider Web-like fractures extended. The spiritual energy recoiled with even greater force. Blood foam seeped from the corners of Su Ming's mouth as he inspected his dao foundation internally—the Kintsugi parts were heating up slightly and trembling. It was the kind of heart-wrenching tremor one feels when seeing repaired porcelain placed on a vibrating table.

Su Ming spent a full hour reflecting after the first two impacts on the barrier. Both previous attempts were made with brute force—gathering spiritual energy into a torrent to directly crash into the barrier. He needed a more precise method.

Su Ming took a deep breath. This time, it would be all of his spiritual energy.

The entire spiritual energy lake surged. He guided it to rotate in one direction—clockwise. Faster and faster, faster and faster. The spiritual energy was compressed during the rotation; the lake's surface area shrank while its depth increased. The first round of compression was complete. In the second round, the rotation direction changed—counter-clockwise. In the third round, the direction changed again.

After three rounds of rotational compression, the spiritual energy within his Dantian had transformed from a small lake into a fist-sized, deep blue sphere. The power contained within it was far more violent than the spiritual energy torrents of the previous two attempts.

Su Ming slowly moved this sphere directly in front of that crack on the barrier. The rotation gradually decelerated, slower and slower, until it was nearly stationary.

And then—release.

At the exact moment of stillness, Su Ming abruptly withdrew all constraints. All the power accumulated from the three rounds of rotation acted like an awl, precisely piercing into the crack.

Bang—!

The barrier cracked. Fractures spread from that point in all directions, dense and increasing in number—

Snap.

The barrier shattered.

The cracks instantly spread across the entire barrier like a Spider Web, and then the barrier crumbled into countless fragments like thin ice being pierced through, turning into spiritual light that merged into the inner walls of the Dantian.

The spiritual energy lake expanded violently the moment the barrier disappeared. The Dantian space rapidly enlarged—from a bowl into a vat. The surface area of the spiritual energy lake exploded several times over, and its depth suddenly deepened.

Foundation Establishment Late Stage. It was done.

Su Ming slowly opened his eyes. The world had changed—he didn't need to throw a leaf to sense the direction of the Spiritual Qi flow in the mist, he didn't need to touch the bark to see the flow of the Array Patterns on the trees, and he could even see one more layer of the rotating Array Patterns beneath the surface of the hollow.

Ying flew up from his shoulder and hovered a foot above the water's surface. The three runes on its forehead lit up simultaneously—Sharp, Hidden, and Destroy.

But this time, it did not disappear.

Ying suddenly dove. Its wings folded, and its body shot straight toward the water like a black arrow. The Sharp Seal was activated on its body. Su Ming's pupils constricted—Ying was as fast as a bolt of black lightning.

Boom!

The liquid water surface formed by Spiritual Qi exploded, and a large cloud of water mist erupted upward like an upside-down blue flower. Water droplets splashed onto Su Ming's face, bone-chillingly cold. Ying flew out of the water mist and landed back on his shoulder, shaking its soaked feathers and splashing blue Spiritual Qi droplets all over Su Ming's face.

Then it tilted its small head and let out a cry: "Chiu—!"

Smug, arrogant, and incredibly proud.

Su Ming looked at it, and the corners of his mouth slowly curled up. He reached out and flicked its forehead again: "Do it again if you're so capable."

Ying refused to back down and actually flew up again. This time it dove even harder, and the water splashed even higher.

Su Ming laughed and raised his hand to block the water mist from his face, his laughter echoing deep within the quiet Ancient Path.

Su Ming stayed by the Spiritual Qi lake for another two months; he needed to stabilize his cultivation and comprehend the Array Talismans.

The Foundation Establishment Late Stage spiritual energy lake needed time to adapt. The expanded Dantian could not function perfectly immediately; Su Ming circulated the Ruoshui Art every day, letting the spiritual energy flow through the new Dantian space over and over again. By the end of the third month, his cultivation had completely stabilized at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, and there were even faint signs of approaching Foundation Establishment Perfection.

But he stopped. It wasn't that he couldn't continue, but he knew very well—the cracks on the dao foundation were still there. Those Kintsugi marks were like gold lines on porcelain; if he forced a Core Formation, the resulting Golden Core would also carry this hidden danger.

Before using the heaven-mending pill, he could not undergo Core Formation.