Chapter 30 – The Method of Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment

“Junior Brother Lu, are you satisfied with this cave residence?”

Ji Chang, an Inner Disciple of Danyang Peak, pointed to the cave residence before them—which faced north and south, was well-ventilated, and equipped with arrays such as ‘Spirit Gathering’ and ‘Protection’—and smiled as he looked at Lu Chen.

“This one will do, Senior Brother Ji.”

“Good, then keep this Cave Abode Jade Token safe. Although it’s not a big deal if you lose it, replacing it can be quite troublesome.”

“Thank you for your trouble, Senior Brother.”

“Not at all. Since you’ve joined our Danyang Peak, Junior Brother Lu, you are now one of us.”

“We disciples of Danyang Peak are united as one. Taking care of you is my duty, so there’s no talk of trouble.”

At this point, Ji Chang went on to explain what Lu Chen would need to do in the future.

“Junior Brother Lu, in your first year after joining, the Sect won’t have many requirements for you. You just need to focus on cultivation and diligently study the path of Alchemy.”

“After one year, you’ll need to start completing Sect missions, which means refining a batch of elixirs each year for the cultivation needs of the Sect’s disciples.”

“Don’t worry that Alchemy will interfere with your normal cultivation. The Sect won’t demand too many elixirs from us; often, it can be completed in just a few months.”

“Moreover, the Sect won’t treat you unfairly. Each time you complete a mission, you’ll receive a certain amount of contribution points as a reward.”

“These contribution points can not only be exchanged for cultivation resources but can also be used to exchange for some relatively precious Cultivation Manuals, Spells, and the like within the Sect.”

“In the Sect, these contribution points are much more useful than Spirit Stones. You’ll understand this in time, Junior Brother.”

“Now, Junior Brother Lu, do you have any other questions? I can answer them for you one by one.”

In reality, Lu Chen looked at these words spoken by Ji Chang in the game.

His hands instantly turned into blurs on the screen as he began typing out the questions he wanted to ask.

“Senior Brother, I wonder if you know anything about matters related to Foundation Establishment?”

How to establish a foundation—this was currently Lu Chen’s most pressing concern.

Although Luocheng High School had explained this topic, it was only briefly mentioned, without going into detail.

This wasn’t because the teachers at No. 1 High were withholding information, but rather to prevent students from aiming too high too soon.

Although Lu Chen was currently only at the fourth layer of the Qi Condensation Stage, if he wanted to, he could quickly reach the Peak of the Qi Condensation Stage.

Thus, learning a bit about Foundation Establishment now wasn’t exactly going beyond the scope.

Faced with Lu Chen’s question, Ji Chang grinned and said, “Hiss, Junior Brother Lu, your question is quite tricky.”

“But even though I, your Senior Brother, only achieved a seventh-grade Human Dao Foundation Establishment, I can still offer you some insights.”

“As is widely known, so-called Foundation Establishment is the process by which a cultivator gathers Qi and transforms it into form.”

“If we use Alchemy as an analogy, Foundation Establishment is akin to refining medicinal herbs into medicinal liquid, extracting the essence and discarding the dregs.”

“Therefore, the better the quality of a cultivator’s Spirit Root, the easier it is to establish a foundation, and the purer the spiritual liquid refined.”

“This first step might not be difficult for others, but for a Junior Brother like you with a mixed Spirit Root… it’s a bit troublesome.”

“Why?”

Ji Chang took out a gourd of wine and shook it as an example. “So-called Spirit Roots essentially refer to a cultivator’s affinity for Spiritual Power.”

“The higher the affinity, the higher the corresponding Spirit Root Aptitude naturally is.””And for you, Junior Brother, your mixed Spirit Root manifests as a certain affinity for most of the Five Elements spiritual power.”

“While this certainly allows you to cultivate a variety of cultivation manuals and divine abilities, it also easily leads to being a jack of all trades but master of none, scattering your innate talent.”

“Not to mention, when it comes to Foundation Establishment, the difficulty for a single Spirit Root and a mixed Spirit Root is completely on different levels.”

“If we compare a single Spirit Root to a bowl of clear water, then a mixed Spirit Root is like a bowl of multicolored water.”

“During Foundation Establishment, a single Spirit Root only needs to pick out the impurities from the clear water and then pour it into a pre-prepared bottle.”

“Whereas with a mixed Spirit Root, not only must you pick out the impurities from the water, but you must also, according to the order of mutual generation and restraint among the Five Elements, pour the water into the container in batches to prevent their original balance from being disrupted.”

“Which is more difficult and which is easier, Junior Brother Lu, you should understand now, right?”

“And if you wish to achieve a Foundation Establishment of Dao-Grade or above, then the difficulty becomes even greater.”

“The first step you must take is to bring each of your Spirit Root attributes to a level of qualitative transformation—fire beyond ordinary fire, water beyond ordinary water, wood beyond ordinary wood…”

“During alchemy, I saw that you, Junior Brother, already possess a special mystic flame, so you need not concern yourself with the fire Spirit Root aspect.”

“What you need to cultivate now are other divine abilities and spells, allowing the remaining Spirit Roots to also achieve qualitative transformation.”

“Only then will you have a sliver of a chance to achieve Foundation Establishment of Dao-Grade or above.”

“Of course, the things to prepare for Foundation Establishment are naturally not limited to these. Auxiliary materials like heavenly treasures, formation arrays, elixirs, and the like are equally indispensable.”

“Only after you possess all these conditions will you be considered fully prepared and can attempt Foundation Establishment.”

“I wonder if my explanation has made things clear to you, Junior Brother Lu?”

After hearing all this, Lu Chen fell completely silent.

He had thought that Foundation Establishment with a mixed Spirit Root was difficult, but he never imagined it could be this hard.

Leaving aside everything else, just the point of cultivating five special divine abilities alone.

Would be enough to discourage the vast majority of cultivators with mixed Spirit Roots.

It must be known that for Lu Chen to cultivate the ‘Purple Dawn Divine Fire,’ he paid a massive price in experience points.

If an ordinary person truly relied on their own cultivation, it would take at least several decades to a hundred years.

Yet the lifespan of a Qi Condensation Stage cultivator is at most one hundred and fifty years.

Lu Chen didn’t know what kind of extraordinary genius could manage to cultivate five special divine abilities during the Qi Condensation Stage without relying on the help of experience points.

Fortunately, however, he had the aid of True Immortal Cultivation, allowing him to exchange experience points for time.

Thus, while Foundation Establishment of Dao-Grade or above would still not be easy for him, it was not impossible to achieve.

Overall, what he needed to do now was very clear.

First, raise his cultivation to the peak of the Qi Condensation Stage, meeting the most basic condition for Foundation Establishment.

Second, before the Foundation Establishment Stage, learn special divine abilities corresponding to the five Spirit Root attributes to increase the probability of high-grade Foundation Establishment.

Third, prepare a large quantity of auxiliary items for Foundation Establishment, such as elixirs, formation arrays, and the like.

Once these three tasks were completed, Lu Chen felt he would be almost ready to begin Foundation Establishment.

As for his cultivation level, Lu Chen was not in a hurry. Given his current cultivation speed.

Reaching the peak of the Qi Condensation Stage before the college entrance exam was basically a sure thing.What truly troubled Lu Chen was cultivating a special Divine Ability akin to ‘Purple Dawn Divine Fire’ to achieve a qualitative transformation of his Spirit Root.

“One of the five qualitative transformations has been completed by chance, leaving four remaining.”

“Finding a special Cultivation Manual comparable to the ‘Purple Haze Nourishing Art’ is clearly no easy task.”

“Fortunately, the Azure Cloud Sect is a renowned School of this era, housing vast collections of Cultivation Manuals and Divine Abilities. Moreover, during the first year as an Outer Sect Disciple, one is permitted to freely select one Cultivation Manual or Spell/Divine Ability from the Sect for study.”

“The ‘Five Elements Harmony Art’ was given to me by the School during my time as a labor Disciple. While this manual may not be particularly powerful, its advantage lies in stability and compatibility with my Spirit Root attributes, so I’ll keep it for now.”

“Thus, I should reserve this Opportunity for Divine Abilities or Spells.”

With this thought, Lu Chen immediately asked Ji Chang to take him to the Azure Cloud Sect Scripture Pavilion…

(End of Chapter)