I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

The night was as dark as ink, but the Kunlun Mountains were far from silent tonight.

The once bright and clear sky was now completely obscured by thick, dark clouds. These were not ordinary cumulonimbus clouds, but rather "spiritual clouds" formed due to the excessive concentration of spiritual energy and the powerful pull of the spirit-gathering array.

The clouds hung low, seemingly within reach.

A contradictory feeling—a tightness in the chest and shortness of breath, yet also a sense of relaxation throughout the body—shrouded everyone's heart.

On the top floor of the Asking Pavilion, Gu Qing stood with his hands behind his back, his robes fluttering in the strong wind.

He glanced at the countdown on the system panel.

"Time's up."

Gu Qing snapped her fingers lightly.

"fall."

Boom—!

A silver streak, not particularly dazzling, flashed across the sky, followed by a torrential downpour.

The raindrops hitting the glazed tiles of the Wendao Pavilion didn't make a crisp dripping sound, but rather a dull thud like jade beads falling onto a plate.

……

"Holy crap! It's raining! Quick, bring in the laundry!"

Upon hearing the noise outside the window, a student reflexively jumped up and rushed to the balcony.

He had just stretched his hand out the window when he froze.

Rain fell on his arm.

Instead of a bone-chilling cold, a warm, tingling sensation instantly seeped into his body through his pores. In that instant, he felt that the bottleneck he had been stuck at the fifth level of Qi Refining for half a month had loosened slightly!

"This...this isn't rain at all!"

He stared wide-eyed and stuck out his tongue to lick a drop of rain that had splashed onto his lips.

Sweet and mellow, it explodes in your mouth with a burst of pure energy.

The next second, the entire dormitory building erupted in chaos.

"Stop collecting the laundry! Come out here, all of you!!"

"This is spiritual energy transformed into liquid! This is spiritual rain!!"

"The principal has gone mad! He's emptying his pockets to give us a bath!"

The students, who were originally preparing to go to sleep, rushed out of their dormitories like madmen.

The playground, corridors, and balconies were instantly packed with people.

No one was holding an umbrella.

Some people even took off their shirts and stood shirtless in the heavy rain, greedily breathing in the rainwater, letting the rain, which contained amazing energy, wash over their bodies.

"Everyone, sit down and meditate! Circulate your energy!"

An elder stood on the rooftop and amplified his voice with spiritual power, shouting:

"Don't waste it! One minute of cultivation under this spiritual rain is almost equivalent to a low-grade spirit stone! You couldn't buy this normally! This is a stroke of luck!"

slam-la-

More than two thousand students sat cross-legged in unison in the torrential rain.

The scene was absolutely spectacular.

White steam rose from above their heads, a phenomenon caused by the spiritual energy washing away impurities from their bodies.

That night, no one was destined to want to sleep.

……

Compared to the revelry on the front mountain, the secluded retreat area on the back mountain was exceptionally quiet.

Gu Qing personally set up a barrier here, completely isolating the noise from the outside world, and not even a trace of its aftershocks could penetrate in.

Chu Tian sat cross-legged on a huge bed of cold jade.

Lightning crackled around him, his hair moved without wind, and tiny arcs of electricity occasionally flashed across his skin.

Although his face was flushed, it was not in pain, but rather a sign of high-speed energy operation.

Before him, the jade bottle floated silently, already empty.

He had already swallowed the Perfect Foundation Establishment Pill.

There was no tearing pain as I had imagined.

On the contrary, a clear and powerful force suddenly spread throughout his body.

Foundation building, as the name suggests, is the foundation for cultivating the path of spiritual practice.

This is not only the accumulation of spiritual power, but also a leap in the level of life—the originally free and loose gaseous spiritual power is highly compressed and reorganized in the dantian, and finally transformed into liquid "true essence".

For ordinary cultivators, this process is extremely dangerous. If they lose control even slightly, their dantian will shatter and they will die.

But Chu Tian is different.

He is a lightning spirit.

Thunder, by its very nature, represents order, destruction, and reshaping.

The moment the medicine took effect, the lightning-attribute spiritual power within his body began to circulate spontaneously, spreading rapidly between his meridians and dantian like countless tiny lightning patterns, forming a natural "guiding net".

The spiritual energy that should have been raging was quickly diverted, compressed, and layered under the guidance of the lightning spirit. Instead of getting out of control, it remained orderly.

The medicinal power of the Foundation Building Pill was not used to "forcefully suppress" the meridians, but rather to follow the natural flow and steadily protect them, making the whole process like lightning tempering iron—swift yet precise.

"凝".

Chu Tian let out a low shout.

The lightning in his dantian suddenly receded.

The surging spiritual energy collapsed at this moment, and a drop of clear true essence containing hidden lightning patterns quietly took shape.

hum-

The spiritual rain that filled the sky outside seemed to have found its true home. It was drawn in through the cracks in the rock wall and transformed into streams of white mist that continuously flowed into Chu Tian's body.

His aura then steadily entered a completely new level.

……

Unlike Chu Tian's thunderous roar, Zhao Feng's cave was quiet to the point of being rigid.

There were no unusual phenomena or leakage of spiritual energy.

The array within the cave was adjusted to its most stable state, and the flow of spiritual energy was as precise as if it had been measured with a ruler and compass.

Zhao Feng sat cross-legged on the futon, with the Red Makeup Sword lying horizontally on his knees, his hands resting naturally on either side of the scabbard, and his back straight.

He remained motionless, but not stiff.

It is a kind of "steadfastness" formed after years of self-discipline, as firm as a mountain.

The crimson sword trembled slightly, but did not reveal any sharpness.

The sword spirit did not suppress anything, but simply resonated quietly from the side, keeping Zhao Feng's state of mind in the range most suitable for breakthrough.

Hold your breath, concentrate, and don't rush.

The voice of the red-clad sword spirit echoed in his mind, calm and resolute.

"Your foundation is already solid. This pill is just to help you cross that threshold."

"Proceed at your usual training pace."

Treat spiritual power as unforged iron; treat divine consciousness as a hammer.

Zhao Feng's breathing slowed down.

One breath, one fall.

Consciousness sinks into the dantian.

There, the originally slowly rotating vortex of spiritual energy did not suddenly accelerate, but gradually tightened along its predetermined trajectory.

With each rotation, the angle is precise to the last detail.

Every contraction was just right.

There was no shock, and no imbalance.

Under such stringent control, a drop of golden-red liquid naturally precipitated from the core of the cyclone and steadily fell into the bottom of the dantian.

Then came the second drop.

The third drop.

It may lack fanfare, but it is irreversible.

Liquid true essence is gradually gathering.

This is precisely the most standard and solid form of the Foundation Building stage.

……

Li Guozhong stared at the purplish-red energy reading on the monitor screen, unaware that the cigarette in his hand had burned his fingers.

"Reporting, sir!"

A technician's voice trembled as he reported, "The energy index in the Kunlun Mountains area... has exceeded the limit! The current concentration is fifty times the normal level! And it's still rising!"

Satellite imagery shows a massive energy vortex, over ten kilometers in diameter, forming over the entire Kunlun Mountains!

Li Guozhong took a deep breath and threw away his cigarette butt.

"This is going to be a big change..."

He looked out the window at the dark, towering mountains, and he could sense that something terrible was brewing on those mountains.

A force capable of completely altering the world's格局 (geju, a term referring to the overall structure or pattern of the world).

"Pass down the order: expand the cordon ten kilometers outwards."

Li Guozhong said in a deep voice, "Tonight, not even a fly is allowed to fly into the Kunlun Mountains! Anyone who dares to disobey orders will be killed by me!"

……

The rain has been falling for three whole hours.

Unfortunately, due to the limited capacity of their meridians, some people had to end their cultivation long ago.

However, from time to time, bursts of excited shouts could be heard from the front square.

That means someone has broken through a minor bottleneck in the Qi Refining stage.

That night, the number of students at Kunlun University in the late stage of Qi Refining doubled.

But everyone's eyes would subconsciously turn towards the back mountain.

That's where the main battlefield is tonight.

Sudden.

The thick clouds were suddenly torn apart.

boom--!!!

A purple pillar of lightning shot into the sky from somewhere on the back mountain, piercing the heavens and stirring up the clouds.

Within that pillar of light, the faint outline of a long sword could be seen, exuding an indomitable and domineering aura.

"That's... Senior Brother Chu Tian's cave dwelling!"

Someone exclaimed in surprise.

Followed by.

Less than ten seconds.

Clang—!

Another crimson sword beam, like a blood-red river, flowed upstream from the other side of the back mountain, standing in opposition to the purple pillar of light.

Wherever the red light passed, the rain of spirits instantly vaporized, appearing both beautiful and deadly.

"It's Senior Brother Zhao Feng! That's the aura of the Crimson Makeup Sword!"

One purple and one red.

The two strange phenomena, like two giant pillars supporting the sky, held up the night sky over Kunlun.

An immense pressure spread out like a tide.

That wasn't the spiritual energy fluctuation of the Qi Refining stage, but rather the divine sense pressure of the Foundation Establishment stage!

In the square, all the students in the Qi Refining stage felt their breath catch in their throats; it was a suppression from the level of life.

But they saw no fear, only fanaticism.

Only longing.

Standing on the rooftop, Gu Qing watched this scene, and a relieved smile finally appeared on his lips.

"It's done."

Then, four more beams of light rose up in succession.

Although not as earth-shattering as the previous two, it was still dazzling enough.

Wang Tiechui's golden light, Lin Xiaolu's green light, and the unusual phenomena of the other two elite students.

Six beams of light shone brightly in each other.

System notification sounds flooded Gu Qing's mind:

[Ding! Congratulations, host! The first Foundation Establishment stage student has been born!]

[Ding! Six students have successfully broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage!]

[Rewards being processed...]

[School Rating Improved: From "Insignificant" to "Emerging Talent"]

[Unlock New Feature: Heavenly Tribulation Simulation System]

Gu Qing looked at the six beams of light and murmured to himself:

"From this day forward, the gates to the world of cultivation have truly been kicked open by you."

"but……"

A sly glint flashed in his eyes.

"Now that we've made a breakthrough, shouldn't we test the power of the new features?"

"After all, cultivation without experiencing being struck by lightning is incomplete."