Cultivating Immortality: Starting from Ferrying Passengers

Chapter 178 Finally Reaching Foundation Establishment
After feeling the spiritual energy explode within his body, Fang Jingxuan closed his eyes, placed his hands on his thighs in a special hand gesture, gathered his energy, focused his mind, and guarded his inner core.

The cultivation technique of "Mysterious Abyss True Explanation" ran automatically, and streams of magical power expanded even more after absorbing this spiritual energy.

In this state, Fang Jingxuan's thoughts disappeared one by one, and he gradually reached a state of complete absorption in the world around him.

Once he entered a state suitable for cultivation, Fang Jingxuan quietly circulated his internal energy, attempting to bring the "Mysterious Abyss True Explanation" technique to its peak.

After a long while, Fang Jingxuan closed his eyes, his expression serene, without sorrow or joy, and a cold, bluish light gradually appeared on his face.

This is the outward manifestation of the "Mysterious Abyss True Explanation" reaching its perfect state. As Fang Jingxuan's expression changed, an invisible sense of deep sea tranquility enveloped the quiet room.

Cold, desolate, and eternally dark!
At this moment, the spiritual energy within the second-tier superior cave dwelling, after being transformed by the array, was continuously surging towards Fang Jingxuan's body under the combined effect of dozens of nodes.

As this spiritual energy is continuously refined into magical power, it circulates endlessly through the specific meridians of the "Mysterious Abyss True Explanation" technique, forming a grand cycle.

After nine major cycles are completed, these substances flow into the dantian like rivers flowing into the sea.

At this moment, a small lake of magical energy had already formed at the bottom of Fang Jingxuan's dantian.

These refined magical powers, like the morning smoke, merged into the white mist that filled the sky, instantly becoming one with it.

However, the magic energy lake was already full, and the newly refined magic energy, once it fell into it, could only overflow and be wasted.

Even so, Fang Jingxuan continued to practice the "Mysterious Abyss True Explanation". At this moment, he no longer cared about whether his magic power was increasing or not, but focused on comprehending the artistic conception that the "Mysterious Abyss True Explanation" brought him.

He was immersed in the darkness of the deep sea, as if he had returned to the beginning, when everything was just beginning to emerge, and his existence grew little by little from nothing, just like the road he came from.

……

Ten days later, an impenetrable darkness enveloped Fang Jingxuan, completely enveloping him.

At this moment, Fang Jingxuan knew that the time had come.

There are said to be three major hurdles for cultivators in the Qi Refining stage when they attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.

The three trials are the Qi and Blood Trial, the Mana Trial, and the Spiritual Consciousness Trial, which correspond to tests of a cultivator's essence, Qi, and spirit.

These three challenges are interdependent; if one is weak in one area, it will be difficult to succeed in building a foundation.

Now, after so many years of cultivation, Fang Jingxuan has never been injured, even when he fights with others, and his physical body has no hidden injuries.

In addition, practicing the "Green Wood Nourishing Body Technique" extended his lifespan by ten years, allowing him to maintain his physical peak at the age of sixty-five, while he is only thirty-eight years old now.

At this moment, his blood and energy were at their peak, and he also had the Blood Soul Pill, which could enhance his physical strength in a short time. He was quite confident in passing the final stage of spiritual energy infusion.

As for magical power, there's no need to worry. The total amount of magical power gained from cultivating the "Mysterious Abyss True Explanation" is enough for him to squander at will.

In terms of spiritual consciousness, thanks to the gift of the Golden Core Golden Cicada, it is much larger than that of ordinary cultivators, which greatly helps in compressing mana into liquid.

At this moment, the magical power within Fang Jingxuan's body, after ten days of continuous circulation, had already been refined to an extremely pure level.

Meanwhile, the lake of magical power within Fang Jingxuan's dantian gradually began to be manipulated by his divine sense, rotating counterclockwise to form a vortex that grew larger from a small beginning.

As Fang Jingxuan continued to increase the pressure with his divine sense, the vortex continued to compress inward, attempting to condense the first drop of liquid magic power.

As the vortex of the Lake of Mana spun faster and faster, Fang Jingxuan could feel a faint pain emanating from his dantian.

This is extremely dangerous. If anything goes wrong, the lake of magical power will collapse and explode into a mess, damaging the dantian and harming the source of one's essence.

This is what happens when foundation building fails. To restore one's original essence, a lot of time is needed for nurturing. And because of the first failure, the success rate of foundation building will inevitably decrease the second time.

Such an operation places extremely high demands on a cultivator's spiritual soul. Their spiritual sense must extend to a scale of at least 150 feet to withstand such a massive drain.

However, at this moment, Fang Jingxuan's spiritual sense range, after so much amplification, has reached 210 zhang, far exceeding the standard of ordinary cultivators.

However, as time passed, although the magic power in the deepest part of the vortex in the lake of magic power had become much purer, it showed no signs of liquefaction.

Upon noticing this, Fang Jingxuan turned his gaze to the Foundation Establishment Pill in front of him.

No, I can still hold on, Six Bones, come and help me!
Fang Jingxuan patted the spirit control bag at his waist, and Liu Gu's figure leaped into the air, instantly unfolding seven heaven and earth meridian networks.

Fang Jingxuan's divine sense naturally merged into it, spreading to every corner above.

When Fang Jingxuan's divine sense was amplified by this network of meridians and returned to his physical body, the increased size had reached 350 zhang.

After the Six Bones Foundation Establishment, the distance of the Heaven and Earth Grid it released was greatly increased, allowing Fang Jingxuan to break the stalemate instantly.

The vortex of magical power within his dantian spun twice as fast, and misty gas immediately appeared at its center, rapidly increasing in volume.

Liu Gu stared wide-eyed, diligently offering Fang Jingxuan his assistance, while Tuo Yuan in the distance also chirped softly a few times, secretly encouraging Fang Jingxuan.

As time slowly passed, the misty magic in the magic vortex increased, but it just couldn't completely condense into liquid.

Now is the time to take the Foundation Building Pill.

So, Fang Jingxuan reached out and snatched the high-grade Foundation Establishment Pill out of thin air.

This osmanthus fruit is about the size of a round osmanthus, with a deep, dark color and three red patterns encircling it. It emits a fragrant, spiritual aroma that can awaken a cultivator's innate desires.

Without further hesitation, Fang Jingxuan put the Foundation Establishment Pill into his mouth.

The moment the Foundation Establishment Pill entered his mouth, it transformed into a stream of jade liquid, falling into Fang Jingxuan's abdomen. It then flowed through his limbs and bones along the circulation method of cultivating the "Mysterious Abyss True Explanation," finally settling into the lake of magical power in his dantian.

In an instant, as if boiling water had been poured into hot oil, the previously relatively stable vortex of magical power suddenly became violent.

Amidst the raging winds and torrential rain, the lake overflowed, and the whirlpool intensified. The magical power that was thrown out struck Fang Jingxuan's dantian, causing him to frown.

But this pain was nothing. Fang Jingxuan immediately activated his divine sense and began to control the 'scalding' magical power with all his might, sinking it to the bottom of the vortex.

As this magical power was added, the speed of the magical vortex increased again, and a large amount of misty magical power floated up from the center of the vortex, forming clouds above the lake of magical power.

The effects of the Foundation Establishment Pill were still taking hold, but for Fang Jingxuan's vast amount of mana, a single high-grade Foundation Establishment Pill was indeed insufficient to convert all of his mana into clouds and mist.

When about one-third of the mana in Fang Jingxuan's dantian was transformed into mist by the vortex, the foundation-building liquid flowing in his body was gradually depleted.

Seeing this, Fang Jingxuan didn't hesitate, immediately grabbing another top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill and stuffing it into his mouth. 'Boom!'

A muffled rumble of thunder sounded, and as the rising magical clouds increased, the space between these clouds slowly began to expand.

After an unknown amount of time, Fang Jingxuan focused all his attention on manipulating his divine sense to control the operation of the magic vortex. Only when the clouds and mist on the magic vortex grew thicker and thicker and could no longer contain it did the first drop of "rain" fall.

"Clap!"

The heavy liquid of mana fell into the lake of mana below, crashing heavily onto the vortex.

Fang Jingxuan's body trembled slightly, as if he had been struck by a heavy hammer.

As the cloud of magical power continued to expand, drops of true magical liquid fell into it. At the same time, Fang Jingxuan's dantian lake also deepened and widened to accommodate more true magical liquid.

After an unknown amount of time, the magical vortex below slowly stopped, and all the magical power was transformed into clouds above.

This process only finally stopped after Fang Jingxuan's dantian lake expanded to three times its original size.

Finally, Fang Jingxuan used his divine sense to look inward and found that the original gaseous lake of magical power had changed from its previous ethereal appearance to a deep, dark lake.

Fang Jingxuan roughly calculated that there were about a thousand drops of true magic liquid in his lake of magic power.

An ordinary cultivator's lake of mana only has about a hundred drops in total.

Looking at the last top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill in front of him, Fang Jingxuan smiled faintly. Saving one was a good thing.

The condensation of magical power meant that he had safely passed the test of magical power. With the protection of a top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill and the crucial amplification of the six bones, Fang Jingxuan's spiritual sense far surpassed that of his peers, which made this test not seem particularly difficult for him.

But there are still challenges ahead, and now is not the time to slack off.

At this moment, Liu Gu was already panting heavily. It was clear that maintaining the Heaven and Earth Network for a long time was an extremely difficult task, even for someone who had already established a foundation.

However, Fang Jingxuan had already passed the test of magical power and no longer needed Liu Gu's help. So, Fang Jingxuan nodded to Liu Gu to show his approval, then put him into his spirit bag and let him rest.

Next, I need to break through the barrier of spiritual consciousness.

With this in mind, Fang Jingxuan proceeded to the next step: to fuse the magic liquid with his divine sense, aiming to achieve a state of perfect harmony between the two.

At this time, Fang Jingxuan possessed the mana purity of the Foundation Establishment stage, but his divine sense was only at the Qi Refining stage.

Since the advancement has not been fully completed and the divine sense is still at the Qi Refining stage, it is extremely difficult for ordinary cultivators to control. If the liquid mana is not controlled for a long time, it may dissipate back into the gaseous state and drop the cultivation level.

Therefore, it is necessary to use true liquid to cleanse the divine consciousness in order to make it grow stronger rapidly.

At this moment, Fang Jingxuan rolled up the bottle of Soul-Stabilizing Pills in front of him, melted them all into a liquid, and slowly put it in his mouth.

Next, Fang Jingxuan let a wisp of divine consciousness envelop a drop of true magic liquid, and the two began to merge spontaneously.

However, this process is extremely painful. Divine sense is the most acute sense of a cultivator. This is akin to gouging out one's own eyes and soaking them in alkaline water. Once the divine sense is thoroughly refined and greatly enhanced, then the great task is accomplished.

This process is also very long, and it is the most time-consuming part of the foundation building process.

However, it was an indispensable step. Fang Jingxuan silently circulated his energy, entering a state of neither sorrow nor joy, automatically ignoring the pain, and began to refine his divine consciousness.

Fang Jingxuan didn't know how much time had passed; he only remembered that he had finished two bottles of fasting pills.

When Fang Jingxuan opened his eyes again, he found that his soul was already very powerful, but he didn't want to explore these things yet. He still had one last hurdle to overcome, which was the physical body and blood circulation barrier.

At this moment, when magic power and divine consciousness are perfectly integrated, and when the physical body is in a trinity and can undergo transformation, if this opportunity is missed, the physical body will still be at the Qi Refining stage.

The breakthrough in physical body is the key to the explosive increase in lifespan for Foundation Establishment cultivators.

At this moment, Fang Jingxuan swallowed a pill that could temporarily enhance his physical strength, and then combined all his magical power with his divine sense to absorb the spiritual energy in the cave.

As Fang Jingxuan's blood and qi began to surge and boil, the layers of medicinal power he had just taken covered his meridians, protecting them and temporarily increasing his physical strength.

At this moment, a massive amount of spiritual energy surged into the cave and entered Fang Jingxuan's body, beginning to cleanse and strengthen him from the inside out.

For cultivators who have missed the optimal age for Foundation Establishment, this stage is the most dangerous. Their blood and qi are declining, and their bodies are aging. Their bodies may not be able to withstand a large amount of spiritual energy, and they will burst apart like a balloon that has been inflated to its limit.

However, for Fang Jingxuan, having three times the upper limit of Qi and blood compared to other cultivators of the same level allows him to withstand a greater influx of spiritual energy.

As spiritual energy entered his body, Fang Jingxuan's physique began to transform, but this speed was still not enough for him.

I need more. With that thought, Fang Jingxuan took out the last five high-grade spirit stones from his storage bag and casually crushed one of them.

The spirit stone shattered, and the spiritual energy within it began to dissipate rapidly. Then, it was transformed by the spirit-gathering array within the cave, removing impurities, and was once again infused into Fang Jingxuan's body.

The surging magical power bombarded Fang Jingxuan's body, causing him to let out a painful roar.

The pain of having one's body torn apart and then reassembled is something that most people cannot endure.

However, such an opportunity only lasts for a few moments. Once the divine sense and the true essence of magic power have completely merged, it will be extremely difficult for the physical body to break through again.

Therefore, Fang Jingxuan disregarded all of this and, relying on his triple blood and qi amplification, he once again opened a high-grade spirit stone.

Fang Jingxuan's skin was bleeding, and his face, which was not particularly stunning before, began to look handsome.

This is an advancement in the level of life, an evolution towards an aesthetic that aligns with the cultivator's own inner world.

Its very essence has undergone a radical transformation.

Enduring the pain, Fang Jingxuan gritted his teeth and shattered another high-grade spirit stone. Then, everything went black, and Fang Jingxuan fell into a coma.

It was as if he had returned to the womb. Fang Jingxuan enjoyed this feeling with ease and peace of mind. The artistic conception emanating from his cultivation of the "Mysterious Abyss True Explanation" was also slowly being incorporated into it, making him more composed.

After an unknown amount of time, when Fang Jingxuan awoke again, his boundless divine sense spread out, enveloping the entire cave. Not satisfied, he then peered out to feel a ray of sunlight.

It's so bright and dazzling!

(End of this chapter)