Mortal: Junior Sister Song Yu

Three days after the Yunmeng Secret Realm closed, at Luoyun Sect, Baifeng Peak.

The morning light pierced through the thin mist and shone on the orchids in front of Song Yu's cave. The dewdrops refracted a rainbow of colors, like shattered diamonds.

Inside the quiet room, Li Xiao sat cross-legged, with the high-grade Foundation Establishment Pill he had obtained from the secret realm floating silently in front of him.

Three mysterious cloud patterns slowly flowed across the surface of the pill, perfectly locking in the medicinal fragrance, yet one could still feel the immense energy that was enough to transform a Qi Refining cultivator.

"Senior brother, are you really... determined to establish your foundation now?" Song Yu, barefoot, leaned silently against the doorway, her voice ethereal yet unable to conceal her deep worry.

She said softly, "Although we obtained these three top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills in the secret realm, we couldn't find auxiliary herbs like 'Mind-Concentrating Grass' and 'Heart-Clearing Lotus.' Without external objects to soothe the mind, the intense pain from cleansing the marrow during Foundation Establishment will feel like thousands of ants gnawing at the heart, easily causing spiritual energy to run rampant. The risk of failure is too great."

Li Xiao slowly opened his eyes, and the golden-red light that flashed in his eyes illuminated the entire quiet room for a moment.

He looked at Song Yu gently: "Junior sister, if I do not establish my foundation as soon as possible, these thirteen drops of extremely refined liquid mana will completely solidify my cultivation foundation and lock me in the Qi Refining stage forever."

His words were not an exaggeration.

The liquefaction of mana is the ultimate manifestation of the refining stage, but things will inevitably turn into their opposites when they reach their extreme.

It's like a piece of finely refined steel; if you keep hammering it, it will lose its toughness and become brittle.

"Besides..." Li Xiao stood up, walked a few steps to Song Yu, reached out a finger, and affectionately stroked the tip of her pert nose, causing her eyelashes to flutter slightly. "I am now the future Daoist partner of our Fairy Bai Feng. If my cultivation remains stuck at the Qi Refining stage, wouldn't people laugh at me for living off a woman?"

"Who, who is your Daoist partner..." Song Yu's cheeks instantly flushed red, and she turned her head away with a slight annoyance. "It's not even close to being settled yet, and the ceremony hasn't been held in the first place."

"Then let's get the ceremony going quickly."

Li Xiao took her slightly cool, soft hand in his hand and said in a serious tone, "Once I successfully establish my foundation, I will personally propose to my master and Elder Zhao, and hold a grand dual cultivation ceremony."

When her parents were mentioned, the shy joy in Song Yu's eyes instantly dimmed.

After leaving the secret realm, Song Zhi, the mother, and Elder Zhao, the father, hurriedly left under the pretext of carrying out an urgent mission for the sect, and have not been heard from since.

"I don't know what my parents have gone to do. We haven't heard from them for so long." Her voice lowered.

"This should be an extremely important matter for the sect."

Li Xiao pulled her into his arms and gently comforted her, "Elder Zhao is an elder of the Enforcement Hall, holding a high position and great power. Your master is also a pseudo-core cultivator. It is a time when the sect relies on you, so it is normal to assign you some important tasks."

Despite this, a sense of unease crept into his heart.

Let's not talk about this anymore.

Li Xiao hugged Song Yu tighter. "For the time being, I will be in seclusion in your cave. You must protect me. If I fail to break through and my meridians are severed, I will need your help to save my life. You are not allowed to sneak out."

"understood."

Song Yu pressed her cheek against his firm chest, listening to his steady and powerful heartbeat, and her unease gradually subsided. "I will stay with you, Senior Brother, and I will not go anywhere else."

Li Xiao's seclusion was longer and more dangerous than expected.

He did not rush to achieve quick success, but instead spent two whole years honing his spirit and energy to an unprecedented peak.

Every morning, he practiced his swordsmanship under the waterfall behind Song Yu Cave.

The Gale-Splitting Golden Blade was wielded amidst the roaring torrents, its blade flashing like a bolt of lightning. Each strike precisely cleaved through waves several feet high, sending sprays of water exploding with a sound like thunder.

Song Yu would hold a pot of warm spiritual tea and quietly watch from a distance, sometimes for an entire morning.

In the afternoon, he meditated and practiced the Golden Essence Technique, breathing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Song Yu played the zither on the side, and the clear and melodious sound of the zither had the effect of calming the mind and concentrating the spirit, making his cultivation twice as effective with half the effort.

At night, the two would snuggle together and, by the moonlight, study the alchemy insights they had gained from the cave of Daoist Yunshui.

Li Xiao pondered the profound principles of alchemy, while Song Yu annotated some obscure ancient characters for him. Their breaths mingled, creating a warm and tranquil atmosphere.

In the second year, Li Xiao began to try to integrate the sword intent into his own aura.

He no longer practiced swordsmanship, but simply sat in meditation, yet his body was sometimes as sharp as a knife and sometimes as heavy as a mountain.

Two years passed quietly in this daily routine of rigorous training and companionship.

It wasn't until the spring of the third year that everything began to revive.

During a meditation session, Li Xiao felt a "bursting" signal coming from the thirteen drops of liquid magic power within his body.

He knew the time had come.

"Junior sister, I'm about to begin."

He sat cross-legged in the center of the quiet room, surrounded by a small mountain of a dozen mid-grade spirit stones that emitted a soft glow.

Song Yu stood guard at the door, her expression solemn, her delicate hands tightly gripping the hem of her clothes.

She knew that from this moment on, it was a matter of life and death.

On the path of cultivation, 30% of cultivators will perish in this first true chasm, their souls and spirits annihilated.

Li Xiao took out the Foundation Establishment Pill, took a deep breath, tilted his head back, and swallowed it.

The pill entered his mouth, but instead of being as gentle as he had imagined, it instantly transformed into a violent and incomparable torrent of energy, like molten iron, which rushed into his limbs and bones!

"Ugh!" Li Xiao groaned, and a trickle of blood immediately spilled from the corner of his mouth.

This energy was far more domineering than he had imagined, like a thunderbolt raging through his fragile meridians, threatening to completely burst him apart from the inside out!

The first hurdle: Physical reconstruction!

The power of the Foundation Building Pill was frantically transforming his body.

The bones shattered inch by inch, making a teeth-grinding "crackling" sound, but under the protection of the medicine, they rejoined and grew back, becoming even stronger.

His meridians were brutally torn and widened, and waves of excruciating pain assaulted his consciousness.

The flesh and blood seemed to be placed in a furnace and burned, and the black impurities were forced out of the body, emitting a foul stench.

This process lasted for three whole hours. Li Xiao was in so much pain that he almost fainted. His consciousness kept teetering on the edge of clarity and confusion, and he was only held on by a strong will.

Outside the quiet room, Song Yu was terrified. Although she couldn't see him, she could clearly sense that Li Xiao's life force was flickering like a candle in the wind.

She paced anxiously back and forth at the door, her heart clenching with each passing breath she sensed weakening.

"Senior brother, you must hold on... you must hold on..."

Three hours later, the excruciating pain finally subsided.

The physical reconstruction is complete.

Li Xiao's body was covered with a thick layer of greasy black impurities, but he didn't bother to clean it and immediately began the second step.

The second hurdle: Spiritual Ascension!

The energy of the Foundation Establishment Pill drew upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which gathered wildly within his dantian.

However, a sudden change occurred!

The thirteen drops of highly condensed liquid mana in his dantian began to spin wildly, forming a solid vortex that forcefully resisted the influx of external spiritual energy, like a king who would not allow any new force to be born in his territory!

"Break!" Li Xiao roared inwardly.

He instantly realized that his situation was different from that of ordinary people; he did not want to "liquefy," but rather to "sublimate"!

He forcefully activated his severely depleted divine sense, meticulously manipulating the thirteen drops of liquid magic power as if embroidering, separating them from the center of his dantian to make room for the condensation of new spiritual energy in the core area.

This process was terrifyingly taxing on his consciousness; he felt a splitting headache, as if steel needles were being twisted in his brain.

Six hours later, just as his divine sense was almost exhausted, the first drop of true liquid mana belonging to the Foundation Establishment stage finally condensed successfully in the center of his dantian!

It was a drop of brilliant golden spiritual liquid, purer and more substantial than the previous liquid magic, containing a faint pressure belonging to a higher level of life.

Then, a second drop, a third drop... more and more golden spiritual liquid condensed, quickly forming a small lake of magical energy.

At that very moment, the thirteen drops of ultimate magic power that had been pushed aside, having lost their foundation, began to slowly melt, transforming into the purest energy, which gradually merged into the golden lake of magic power.

"I see……"

Li Xiao's mind was clear. "This is not an obstacle, but the best nourishment for my Foundation Establishment!"

With the complete integration of thirteen drops of mana essence, his mana lake instantly expanded more than three times, and its mana power far surpassed that of others of the same level!

The third hurdle: The Tribulation of Inner Demons!

The foundation is laid, and the journey is about to begin.

Just as Li Xiao's consciousness was most relaxed, an invisible force suddenly pulled him into a blood-red illusion.

In the illusion, Song Zhi and Elder Zhao lay dead in front of him, covered in blood and barely breathing.

His beloved Song Yu, with a broken sword embedded in her chest, stared at him in disbelief, muttering, "Senior brother...why...?"

"It's because you're too weak, you're useless, that's why you couldn't protect them!"

A "Demon Li Xiao" identical to him appeared behind him, sneering mockingly, "So what if you've reached Foundation Establishment? Before Core Formation and Nascent Soul, you're still an ant! Look at your past life, wasn't it because you were weak that you lived like a dog?"

"Become stronger! Become stronger by any means necessary! Kill everyone who stands in your way! Take everything you desire! This is the only righteous path!"

The temptation of inner demons was like a demonic chant, and the fears of past and present lives intertwined. Li Xiao's eyes gradually became hazy, and he was almost about to succumb.

At this critical moment!

Outside the quiet room, Song Yu waited for Li Xiao to regain consciousness after his breathing stabilized, but instead sensed a feeling of despair and violence.

She instantly realized—her senior brother had fallen into a mental affliction!

Without the slightest hesitation, she sat down cross-legged and activated the "Insightful Understanding" technique, which she had not yet fully mastered.

Her delicate brows furrowed, a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of her mouth, and the excruciating pain from the depletion of her spiritual energy caused her body to tremble slightly.

But she still forced herself to do it, and carefully probed Li Xiao's sea of ​​consciousness with a strand of her purest divine thought, like a gentle silk thread.

In the illusion, Li Xiao is about to be swallowed by darkness.

Suddenly, a cool and pure water-attribute magical power, like a heavenly rain, extinguished the demonic fire in his heart.

At the same time, a clear yet anxious voice resounded deep within his soul:

"Senior brother, wake up! Look at me, I'm here!"

It's Yu'er's voice!

Li Xiao suddenly awoke, his eyes blazing with golden fire and magical power. He roared at the inner demon, "My path is the path of protection, not the path of slaughter! My heart is as hard as iron; how can I allow you petty villains to seduce me! Get out!"

The power of gold and fire swept out, and the inner demon let out a unwilling scream before being burned to ashes.

Three days later, at Bai Feng Peak, the stone door to the quiet room opened with a loud "boom".

Li Xiao walked out slowly, the filth on his body had already been shaken off by his spiritual power, and he had put on a clean blue robe.

His aura was extremely restrained, with only his deep eyes occasionally flashing with golden and red divine light, revealing the terrifying power hidden within him.

He successfully established his foundation, and the strength of his foundation far surpasses that of ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators!

"Senior brother!"

A tearful cry rang out, and Song Yu threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly as if she wanted to meld herself into his body.

She hadn't slept or rested for days, her face pale, yet she wept with overwhelming joy: "Senior brother, you finally succeeded! I was so afraid... I was so afraid you'd never wake up again..."

"Yes, it was a success." Li Xiao gently stroked her long, smooth hair, inhaling its fragrance, feeling a sense of peace and contentment. He lowered his head and placed a kiss on her smooth forehead, his voice hoarse yet tender:

"Silly girl, thanks to you, I promised you, how could I bear not waking up?"