I rely on learning to achieve immortality.

The foundation-building process varies from person to person; most people only need one to three days to build their foundation.

In the initial stages, it's simply a matter of continuously gathering spiritual energy and compressing one's own magical power. This phase will last for almost half of the Foundation Establishment period.

For the audience, this moment offers a chance to relax a little.

But Xu Zhou remained focused on sensing the quiet room.

He had already released his divine sense and could keenly sense how the surrounding spiritual energy was being gathered.

Although he couldn't see through the second-tier formation here, he could still use his existing knowledge of formations to deduce the trajectory of the spiritual energy after it was collected by the formation, and how it was absorbed by Li Zelei within the formation.

In addition to accumulating foundation-building experience, it can even supplement some deficiencies in array formations.

This kept Xu Zhou in a semi-focused state, so much so that he naturally ignored the two people beside him and Li Pojing who was guarding the side.

As time went by, the spiritual energy in the room became increasingly rich.

Suddenly, Xu Zhou's eyes flickered.

Using his divine sense, he noticed a slight change in the formation.

The foundation building has entered the second stage.

Li Zelei has finished compressing his magical power and has officially begun to construct his Dao foundation.

During this stage, his own qi and blood will gradually begin to transform, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, constantly transforming into a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

A moment later, a faint smell of blood emanated from the formation.

The others then realized what was happening and were all deeply moved.

Ouyang Ming's expression turned solemn: "The three stages of Foundation Establishment—Essence, Qi, and Spirit—have begun, starting with the first stage, Qi and Blood."

Moments later, the room outside the quiet room was filled with the stench of blood.

Upon seeing this, Tong Jin revealed a delighted expression and couldn't help but praise, "As expected of Junior Brother Li, your body tempering skills are among the best in the entire inner sect."

Ouyang Ming nodded: "Such a strong smell of blood shows he's put a lot of effort into accumulating qi and blood!"

"I was worried that Junior Brother Li was too old to easily establish his foundation. But now it seems that this hurdle won't be too difficult for him."

Although the three teenagers couldn't figure out the secret, they were all delighted to see their elder's evaluation.

Only Xu Zhou frowned inwardly.

Based on his medical knowledge, he had some insights into the Qi and blood barrier of the Foundation Establishment stage.

In his view, a cultivator with a truly perfect physique should not emit the smell of blood during the Foundation Establishment process.

This unique bloody smell is actually caused by a hidden injury to the body, which prevents the blood from being contained and causes it to leak out.

However, if a cultivator's blood and qi are still abundant, the stench of blood will indeed be stronger, which leads to the common misconception among cultivators.

Fortunately, Li Zelei's body-refining skills were indeed quite good, and his qi and blood were abundant, allowing him to pass through smoothly.

After a while, the smell of blood gradually dissipated.

Next comes the second stage of Foundation Establishment: the stage of mana power.

This hurdle is the real challenge for Li Zelei.

Xu Zhou knew him well. Ever since Li Zelei started practicing his cultivation technique, his understanding of it had never been very good. Later, when he switched techniques, he still didn't grasp them clearly and only managed to improve through trial and error.

His meridians suffered many hidden injuries as a result. If Xu Zhou hadn't helped him treat them, he wouldn't have been able to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining.

His weakness lies in his magical abilities.

really.

Xu Zhou quickly noticed that there were ripples in the formation and the flow of spiritual energy also stagnated, indicating that Li Zelei's magic power was becoming unstable.

The commotion was quite obvious, and even Li Pozhu, whose cultivation level was the lowest, noticed it at this moment.

Everyone turned pale.

Could it be that Li Zelei's foundation-building process ends here?

Suddenly, the shaking in the quiet room stopped abruptly, and everything returned to calm.

It seems that Li Zelei has finally found the trick, suppressing the restless magic power and restarting the foundation building process.

The others all breathed a sigh of relief.

Xu Zhou, however, noticed details that others were unaware of.

The sudden extinguishing of the tremors was probably not due to Li Zelei's suppression.

Rather, he relied on external forces.

As for the external force, there's no need to elaborate.

Although Xu Zhou did not know how to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill, as a top-grade alchemist, he was very familiar with its effects and appearance, and he also recognized the signs that had appeared just now.

They seem to have weathered this storm safely.

But this also shows that Li Zelei has already used his greatest strength in this foundation building.

From then on, I could only rely on myself to move forward.

Qi and blood, as well as magical power, began to transform. The next step was to guide them and continuously climb towards the Foundation Establishment realm.

This stage is also known as the spiritual consciousness stage, which tests a cultivator's mentality and self-control.

It is also the most dangerous hurdle during the foundation building process.

Most cultivators have not awakened their divine sense and therefore lack sufficient control over their bodies. This spiritual consciousness trial is also the longest-lasting one.

If anything goes wrong, the qi and blood and mana that have already begun to transform will immediately erupt and turn against the cultivator.

Everyone couldn't help but hold their breath.

How long this went on is unknown.

Suddenly, Xu Zhou's expression changed.

Just a moment ago, he vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

Within the formation, the circulation of spiritual energy continued, but it was interspersed with a trace of disordered fluctuations.

It wasn't the shock of a breakthrough, but rather Li Zelei forcibly suppressing something.

not good!

Xu Zhou's heart sank.

The spiritual energy within the formation suddenly became chaotic in the next instant!

The originally gentle airflow suddenly became turbulent, producing waves that startled everyone outside the door, causing them to stand up.

But this fluctuation came quickly and went even faster!

In an instant, the chaotic aura dissipated, and everything suddenly fell into an eerie silence.

Inside and outside the quiet room, there was no sound.

After a long pause, Li Pojing's slightly trembling voice rang out.

"What just happened?"

No one answered him.

Ouyang Ming opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately remained silent.

Xu Zhou sighed deeply.

He withdrew his released divine sense and stopped paying attention to the movements in the quiet room.

It has ended.

...

The formation ceased, and the spiritual energy dissipated.

The stone door slowly opened, and a figure stepped out.

Xu Zhou almost didn't recognize the person in front of him for a moment.

When Senior Brother Li first entered the meditation room, although he was nearly seventy years old, he was full of energy and looked like a young man.

However, at this moment, Li Zelei's muscles were withered, his once black temples had turned white, and he had lost a lot of weight, revealing his underlying bone structure.

At that moment, everyone fell into an eerie silence.

It wasn't until much later that someone spoke.

"father!"

Li Pozhu's eyes immediately reddened, and he wanted to rush forward, but Li Pojing behind him held his shoulder down.

The reason he grabbed his younger brother was because his slightly stronger cultivation level allowed him to keenly sense that Li Zelei was swaying slightly and was clearly in a state of extreme weakness, unable to withstand Li Pozhu's impulsiveness.

His eyes also turned red instantly, but he still roared, which silenced Li Pozhu.

Then, Li Pojing looked at Xu Zhou.

Xu Zhou nodded, stepped forward, and supported the weak Li Zelei.

At the same time, a stream of magical power flowed into his body through his hand, probing the condition within.

This sight made his heart sink.

Li Zelei's internal magical power was scattered, and his vital energy was depleted. The magical power and vital energy that had begun to transform were forced back to their original state, suffering significant damage and no longer being in their former condition.

Even his cultivation level was vaguely unstable, showing signs of collapsing and regressing at any moment.

Xu Zhou, his face grim, immediately took out needles to try to stabilize Li Zelei's condition.

Although Tong Jin and Ouyang Ming did not investigate directly, seeing that even Xu Zhou, a master alchemist who practiced medicine, had a solemn expression, they couldn't help but fall silent and remain speechless.

Li Zelei looked at everyone, a look of dejection on his face.

"It didn't work out."

His hoarse voice caused a slight change in everyone's expression, and even he himself was somewhat surprised.

Then, Li Zelei shook his head.

He let out a long sigh.