txolops Chapter 31 Foundation Building
Chapter 31 Foundation Building
He took out a simple set of materials for a spirit-gathering array from his storage bag and began to set it up according to the method he had learned in advance. There were strict rules about where to place each array flag, and even a slight deviation would result in failure.
This simple spirit-gathering array is not too difficult to set up. Even cultivators who do not understand arrays can slowly figure it out and complete it independently. Although the spirit-gathering efficiency is not high, Luo Ming does not care about it. He has already prepared a large number of mid-grade spirit stones, which is enough to support the spiritual energy consumption required for his closed-door cultivation to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.
Once everything was ready, Luo Ming took out the Spirit Gathering Cauldron. Inside the cauldron was a Foundation Establishment Pill, pure white with a hint of blue light around it. Luo Ming took it out and examined it carefully. He then poured out another pill from a jade bottle, and upon comparing the two, he immediately noticed some differences.
"The Foundation Establishment Pill placed in the Spirit Gathering Cauldron seems to have a more concentrated spiritual energy." Luo Ming stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder what changes will occur if it is left there indefinitely?" He immediately decided to leave the Foundation Establishment Pill in the Spirit Gathering Cauldron for a longer period of time—since this cauldron has the effect of gathering spiritual energy, and the Foundation Establishment Pill itself contains a massive amount of spiritual energy, it might produce unexpected effects.
When he first tested the Spirit Gathering Cauldron, he used the Bigu Pill as a test subject and found that the cauldron could indeed increase the spiritual energy concentration of the pill. However, since he usually had spiritual liquid to assist his cultivation and didn't need low-level pills like the Bigu Pill, he didn't conduct further experiments. But the Foundation Establishment Pill was different; it directly affected whether he could successfully establish his foundation, so naturally he wanted to maximize its effect.
Over the next few days, Luo Ming slowly adjusted his own condition, bringing his mind and body to their peak, while closely observing the changes in the Foundation Establishment Pill within the Spirit Gathering Cauldron. It wasn't until half a month later that the Foundation Establishment Pill finally stopped changing—at this moment, three faint pill patterns appeared on the snow-white pill.
"Danwen!" Luo Ming's eyes suddenly lit up, and he was overjoyed. "It is said that Danwen is a phenomenon that only appears when the effect of a pill reaches a perfect level, and the medicinal power contained therein is far superior to that of ordinary pills!" Without thinking too much, he immediately threw the other two Foundation Establishment Pills into the Spirit Gathering Cauldron.
The Foundation Establishment Pill with the Dan pattern is far more potent than the ordinary Foundation Establishment Pill. With such a guarantee, if he still couldn't successfully establish his foundation, he felt he might as well just drown himself.
This time, two pills were placed in at once, allowing for a longer period of time for the pill patterns to develop. It wasn't until a month later that each of the two Foundation Establishment Pills displayed three clear pill patterns. At this moment, Luo Ming sat cross-legged, feeling the abundant magical power within his body and his calm mind, confirming that he had reached the optimal state of physical and mental perfection.
"Let's begin!" Luo Ming slowly closed his eyes.
He focused his mind and slowly replayed the Foundation Establishment insights given to him by Deacon Qin in his mind, and then officially began the first step of Foundation Establishment - Gathering Spirit.
The so-called "gathering of spiritual energy" refers to the process of concentrating all the scattered gaseous magical power throughout the body into the dantian (energy center). This step is mainly achieved by circulating the cultivation technique, and as long as the cultivator's dantian and meridians are undamaged, it can usually be completed smoothly.
Time passed slowly as Luo Ming circulated his magical power according to the methods of the Spirit Control Technique. The sea of qi in the center of his dantian was like an invisible vortex, slowly rotating and continuously absorbing the magical power from all parts of his body. When he felt a clear, slight swelling in his abdomen, Luo Ming knew that he had successfully completed the step of gathering spiritual energy.
Next comes the most dangerous part of the foundation-building process—gathering gas into liquid.
This step is also a disaster area for those who fail to establish their foundation. At best, their meridians will be damaged and their cultivation level will drop. At worst, their dantian will be shattered and their cultivation will be completely destroyed. Although it is extremely rare for them to die and their cultivation to dissipate, once they fail, they will have to pay a much higher price to try to establish their foundation again.
Luo Ming took a deep breath, suppressed the distracting thoughts in his mind, and officially stepped into the second step.
Using his knowledge from his previous life, his dantian at this moment was like a sealed furnace filled with steam, and what he had to do was to use external force to compress this gaseous "steam" into liquid "water"—which required extremely strong pressure and precise control.
In the cultivation world, the core source of this "external force" is divine sense and Foundation Establishment Pills. Without the powerful medicinal effect provided by Foundation Establishment Pills, cultivators can only rely on their own strong divine sense to forcibly compress their mana, which is an impossible task for Qi Refining cultivators today. Unless it was in ancient times, when the external spiritual energy was extremely abundant and there were many spiritual objects of heaven and earth to assist them, then there was no need for Foundation Establishment Pills.
The so-called spiritual treasures of heaven and earth are those spiritual herbs that are naturally grown and can only be nurtured in special environments. They cannot be cultivated from seeds, just like the legendary Vermilion Fruit. Not only are they more effective than Foundation Establishment Pills, but cultivators who successfully establish their foundations through spiritual treasures of heaven and earth have extremely profound foundations.
Such a spiritual object was naturally beyond his reach.
Maintaining his composure, Luo Ming slowly picked up a Foundation Establishment Pill with a pill pattern and put it in his mouth. The pill melted instantly upon entering his mouth, transforming into an extremely powerful torrent of medicinal energy that swept through his entire body. The surging medicinal power even caused his meridians to throb slightly. Luo Ming quickly circulated his cultivation technique. Under the guidance of his Spirit Control Technique, this powerful medicinal energy gathered from all directions of his dantian, forming a vast torrent of spiritual energy that pressed towards the center of his dantian. Under this immense pressure, scattered drops of liquid mana finally began to slowly condense within the gaseous sea of mana.
At the same time, the simple spirit-gathering array beneath Luo Ming was operating at full capacity, continuously drawing the rich spiritual energy from the mid-grade spirit stone to Luo Ming's body. Under the operation of the Spirit Control Technique, the energy flowed into his body through his pores, eventually converging into his dantian. At this moment, his dantian was like the center of the entire world, with all the spiritual energy vying to squeeze into it.
A sharp, throbbing pain instantly swept through Luo Ming's dantian. He immediately mobilized all his spiritual sense, urging the dantian's qi sea to rotate faster. This was a key experience mentioned by Deacon Qin in his insights—the faster the qi sea rotates, the more dispersed the pressure is, and the less pain one suffers.
"Fortunately, the foundation of my dantian that I laid in my early years is solid enough. Otherwise, under such pressure, an ordinary cultivator's dantian would probably not be able to withstand it. And once it couldn't withstand it, the powerful pressure inside the dantian would be released instantly, and the result would be unimaginable!" Luo Ming secretly rejoiced.
If the immense pressure within the dantian cannot be controlled, it will instantly impact the dantian and then spread to the meridians, causing serious damage to both the dantian and the meridians. The function of the Foundation Establishment Pill is not only to enhance the powerful medicinal effect of the foundation establishment process, but also to protect the cultivator's dantian and meridians.
This method proved to be very effective, and the swelling and pain in the dantian quickly lessened. As the amount of liquid mana in the dantian increased, the massive gaseous mana began to shrink and condense.
This process is not only the transformation of magical power from a gaseous to a liquid state, but also the transformation of divine consciousness. The so-called "divine consciousness" of Qi Refining cultivators can only be considered "spiritual consciousness" in a strict sense—its detection range is short and its perception of details is vague. Only spiritual consciousness that has participated in the transformation of magical power and has been nourished by liquid magical power can truly be called "divine consciousness," not only with a detection range of up to a hundred feet, but also with perception that is accurate to the finest detail.