Chapter 51: Awaiting Foundation Establishment

Two months later.

Winter had already descended upon the capital.

It was a silent, freezing night, yet the room was as warm as spring.

"Pop!"

A soft sound echoed.

Yu Xian's cultivation session finally reached its limit. His entire body stiffened in mid-air before rapidly relaxing, sweat streaming down his back.

This session had truly consumed a significant amount of his energy.

Lying on the bed to recuperate his vitality, Yu Xian stared blankly at the bed curtains, contemplating life.

A green status interface manifested before his eyes.

[Name: Yu Xian]
[Cultivation: Foundation Establishment · Pseudo (2/890)]
[Companion: Yulan (1/1)]

He had broken through, yet not entirely.

Of course, this was good news.

It meant that all the concerns he had previously harbored were now non-issues.

As long as he continued his cultivation step-by-step and filled the experience bar, he would be able to shed that "pseudo" designation and become a true Foundation Establishment grandmaster!

However, upon seeing the sheer length of the progress bar, Yu Xian finally understood why so many immortal cultivators fell at the hurdle of Foundation Establishment.

They did not possess such an intuitive indicator as his.

The ninth layer of Qi Condensation was already the Great Circle of Qi Condensation, yet an invisible gap still separated it from Foundation Establishment.

If one felt they had reached the Great Circle of Qi Condensation and rashly attempted a breakthrough, nine times out of ten it would end in failure and the destruction of body and soul.

Little did Yu Xian know that in the world of immortal cultivation, there had always been legends of the three passes of Foundation Establishment.

The three passes of Foundation Establishment were divided into Essence, Qi, and Spirit.

Essence referred to the blood and physical vitality pass.

Only when one's physical body and blood vitality were nourished to perfection would one possess sufficient foundation to bear the profound metamorphosis of Foundation Establishment.

In this aspect, body cultivators held a tremendous advantage.

Qi referred to the spiritual power pass.

The spiritual power in the dantian of a Qi Condensation cultivator was generally in a gaseous or vaporous state, whereas a Foundation Establishment grandmaster possessed refined spiritual power that had already liquefied.

To break through the Foundation Establishment barrier, one had to continuously condense their dantian's spiritual power until the vapor turned into liquid.

Regarding the spiritual power pass, the higher the grade of the cultivation technique, the lower the difficulty of this pass.

An ordinary technique like the Innate Qi Condensation Art practiced by Yu Xian could theoretically be cultivated up to the Foundation Establishment realm.

However, the spiritual power produced by low-grade techniques was not only thin but also rather inferior in purity. Without a certain fortuitous encounter, condensing it into liquid was simply impossible.

Spirit referred to the divine sense pass.

This required transforming the spiritual awareness of a Qi Condensation cultivator into the divine sense of a Foundation Establishment grandmaster, using mental power to directly affect reality.

Qi Condensation cultivators needed to rely on the power of magical instruments to bring out the advantages of their spiritual awareness.

However, the divine sense of a Foundation Establishment grandmaster could directly exert power in reality, alongside various divine sense secret techniques capable of directly injuring someone's soul and spirit. When wielding the same magical instruments, divine sense could unleash far greater might.

With all three passes perfected, breaking through to Foundation Establishment would be smooth sailing, completely unobstructed.

Yet, while perfecting one of these three passes was relatively easy, perfecting all three simultaneously was exceedingly difficult.

For instance, body cultivators found it easiest to achieve perfection in the blood and physical vitality pass.

However, because body cultivators excelled in physical form but lagged in spiritual power, perfecting the spiritual power pass was harder for them than for ordinary cultivators.

As for the divine sense pass, it went without saying.

The mind was illusory and formless, yet undeniably real.

In the immortal cultivation world, spiritual herbs capable of boosting mental faculties had always belonged to the most precious tier within their grade.

This hurdle remained the most difficult one for all cultivators.

Yet of all these things,

Yu Xian knew precisely nothing!

He only knew that he had a cheat, which meant that the Foundation Establishment barrier was merely a matter of putting in extra labor for him.

However, it could not be said that Yu Xian was completely oblivious.

After all, he himself was the best experimental subject, and the three passes of Foundation Establishment were already beginning to manifest within him.

As he entered the Pseudo-Foundation Establishment state, he distinctly felt a pressure spontaneously emerge within his dantian, compelling his spiritual power to condense toward a single central point, as if gestating something.

This was the spiritual power pass!

Simultaneously, waves of hunger struck his stomach, and every single cell in his body seemed to transmit signals of craving and thirst.

This was the blood and physical vitality pass!

Only the divine sense pass remained the most covert; the changes occurred in complete silence, so much so that Yu Xian did not notice them at first.

He merely felt that during today's moment of sage-like clarity, his mind was exceptionally lucid and his spirits extraordinarily refreshed.

After a brief contemplation, Yu Xian put on his clothes and got out of bed.

"Husband."

Having recovered some of her strength, Yulan curled up in the corner, clutching the quilt.

Her damp strands of hair clung to her flushed cheeks, her gaze charmingly alluring, radiating an indolent and graceful charm.

Compared to the green girl he first met, unawares, she had already been by Yu Xian's side for nearly two years.

"Where are you going?"

Yu Xian replied, "I'm going to the kitchen to find something to eat. Are you hungry? I'll bring some back for you as well."

Instead, Yulan licked her lips, her tone carrying a spoiled, coquettish inflection.

"I'm not hungry. Just pour me a cup of water."

After all, such physical exertion was dehydrating.

Yu Xian walked over to the table, poured a cup of water for Yulan, thoughtfully warmed it, and fed it to her before finally stepping out of the room.

Fortunately, the estate's kitchen still had fires burning.

After all, certain ingredients required hours or days of simmering, and noble patrons might desire a midnight snack at any hour.

Thus, cooks were always on duty in the kitchen, and some even slept there in shifts.

Yu Xian heartily devoured an amount equivalent to five regular portions before his hunger was barely appeased.

Yet, he still felt hungry.

To him, most of these ordinary foods were mere impurities that could only be excreted as waste.

Given his current physical condition, only spiritual rice or demonic beast meat would properly suit his nutritional needs.

Yet while such items were common commodities in the realm of cultivation, they were exceedingly rare in the mortal world.

Yu Xian rubbed his abdomen, which had flattened mere moments after eating, yet still retained a bloated sensation inside.

He hurried over to the latrine, squatting down only to find the floodgates instantly burst wide open.

"In the past, my physical body was nourished by spiritual power, growing stronger naturally, and I only needed to eat a small amount of food to sustain my bodily needs.

Now that my body is sending signals of hunger and thirst, it indicates that mere spiritual power nourishment is no longer sufficient; it demands higher-energy sustenance.

The body needs to absorb more energy from the external environment—this is a good thing, proving that my physical vessel is growing stronger.

However, ordinary food is simply inadequate for providing enough energy, so I can only make up for quality with quantity.

Yet if I do this, I eat quickly and digest just as fast, requiring a trip to the latrine every few moments.

Am I destined to take up permanent residence in the latrine from now on?"

Holding his nose, Yu Xian gazed up at the pitch-black night sky, utterly speechless.

"Damn it, which Foundation Establishment grandmaster ever achieved their breakthrough inside a latrine?"

The mere thought of being enveloped by foul odors, perhaps even pickling himself in the stench, made Yu Xian shudder with revulsion. This absolutely could not stand!

"No way!"

"If word of this got out, I wouldn't be able to show my face in society ever again."

"If only I had some Blood-Vigor Pills right now; I recall body cultivators consume those for cultivation. Right, aren't martial artists just a watered-down version of body cultivators?

Tomorrow I'll go search around. Who knows, martial artists might possess some secret elixirs capable of satisfying my energy requirements."

Lost in thought, Yu Xian finished his business with great relief.

Though once he finished, hunger struck him anew, he exercised restraint and refrained from returning to the kitchen for food.

Eat, excrete, repeat—what difference would there be between him and a pig?

Still, I'm so hungry!

That night, Yu Xian had a dream. In his dream, he was eating a popsicle that refused to melt no matter how much he licked it, rich with the creamy aroma of milk.