As the five peak masters ordered Su Zimo, Leng Rou and little fatty to remain silent, no one in the sect knew the details of the battle at Linfeng City.
Everyone only vaguely heard that Leng Rou and company were met with an ambush when they went out. Two inner sect disciples died tragically and the three of them were only saved after Golden Cores of the sect arrived.
Right after, the sect sent out orders restricting disciples from heading out et cetera.
As such, the tension was high within the sect. Even though most people did not know the reason, they felt a sense of danger and chose to enter seclusion cultivation.
It was the same for Su Zimo as well.
The reason why he joined Leng Rou and little fatty in heading out after returning from Thunderclap Valley was because he was lacking in spirit stones.
Now, Su Zimo had sufficient spirit stones and he had already begun to cultivate fervently, bent on catching up on his lack of progress for the past six months!
In his cave abode, Su Zimo resumed his normal cultivation routine.
By absorbing spirit stones and refining elixirs in the day, he would then choose to consume perfect elixirs and continue raising his cultivation.
At night, he would channel the Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound and continue with cleansing his marrow liquid, regenerating fresh and powerful blood.
The effect of swapping blood through marrow cleansing was obvious. In the process, even the skin, flesh, tendons and bones would become stronger.
Every morning after waking up, Su Zimo’s body would be covered by a thin layer of black mud – those were the impurities in his body.
Both his immortality and demonic cultivation were steadily improving.
With sufficient spirit stones to replenish his energy coupled with non-stop cultivation, Su Zimo reached perfected Qi Condensation after a single month!
When he was at Level 9 Qi Condensation, Su Zimo’s dantian had already formed a sea of qi.
Now that he was at perfected Qi Condensation, a change happened to the sea of qi once more. As though it was dyed a shade of red, flames burned on top of it, sending forth a beautiful and powerful aura!
Even though he had no one to spar with, Su Zimo was certain that his current state of Qi Condensation was enough to crush all other Qi Refinement Warriors of the same level!
Just as Su Zimo heaved a sigh of relaxation, the sound of clothes fluttering came from outside his cave abode.
Before long, someone knocked on the door.
Su Zimo frowned.
The footsteps sounded unfamiliar.
There weren’t many people who came to his cave abode usually and it was mostly little fatty. However, it clearly wasn’t him because those footsteps were light.
Su Zimo waved his robes and the door to his cave abode opened.
A fragrant scent wafted in as a woman wearing a snow-white blouse stood at the entrance. She had a cold expression but a trace of uneasiness flickered through her eyes as she gazed inside somewhat nervously.
That woman was Leng Rou.
Surprised, Su Zimo stood up hurriedly and welcomed her with cupped fists. “I didn’t expect it to be Senior Sister Leng. Come in quickly.”
“Yes.”
She replied softly and entered with her head lowered.
Given Leng Rou’s character, she might not even be willing to meet anyone if they came to visit. If anyone knew that she had taken the initiative to visit a male disciple at his place, their jaws would surely drop.
“Is there anything, Senior Sister Leng?” Su Zimo asked with a smile.
Pondering for a moment, Leng Rou replied, “I haven’t thanked you for everything that happened outside Linfeng City. I’m here to thank you for that formally.”
“So, it’s about that…”
Su Zimo smiled and waved it off. “It’s nothing much. I was also saving myself as well. You don’t have to worry about it.”
Leng Rou nodded and said nothing more.
She was not good at conversing to begin with while Su Zimo was not good at asking questions. The atmosphere suddenly turned cold and awkward.
Hesitating for a moment, Leng Rou continued, “Junior Brother Su, I’ve made two Grade 2 talismans. Please take them as a token of appreciation for saving my life.”
With that, Leng Rou retrieved two pieces of talismans from her storage bag and handed them over. However, her head was lowered and she did not look at Su Zimo.
Su Zimo thought to himself, ‘If I reject her, things might get even more awkward.’
At that thought, he reached out and took the two talismans before smiling. “Thank you, Senior Sister Leng.”
When Su Zimo received the talismans, Leng Rou’s nervous expression finally relaxed. She lifted her head and glanced at Su Zimo before turning away speedily.
One of the two talismans was a protection talisman while the other was an offensive talisman.
Sensing the aura the talismans exuded, Su Zimo nodded silently.
The two talismans should be the strongest among Grade 2 talismans – it was clear that Leng Rou had spent a lot of effort on them.
Su Zimo thought to himself, ‘It’s a pity I can’t refine middle-grade spirit weapons. Otherwise, I would have made one and returned the favor.”
By now, Su Zimo was able to advance to Foundation Establishment realm at any time.
His six inferior-grade flying swords could no longer keep up with his cultivation.
If he wanted to set up a sword formation, he would have to refine his own flying swords. Right now, Su Zimo’s technique for tempering was way too crude. Even if he had superior-grade materials, he would not be able to remove the impurities and etch the second spirit pattern.
That was a huge problem he was eager to solve.
The both of them chatted casually a little more and Leng Rou left.
From his storage bag, Su Zimo retrieved an elixir that looked mysterious with five patterns on it.
It was a perfect Foundation Establishment Elixir!
He had created that Foundation Establishment Elixir during the face-off against Su Zimo on Elixir Peak.
At the thought of Feng Haoyu, Su Zimo could not help but recall how the former had stopped and threatened him after the Elixir Peak face-off.
At that moment, it seemed as though Feng Haoyu was just doing it out of spite.
But, after Su Zimo thought about it, things did not seem as simple.
After advancing to Foundation Establishment realm, Su Zimo would inevitably come across Feng Haoyu once more and he did not know what that guy would do next.
After all, Feng Haoyu had experienced that terrible defeat. If he made a comeback, he would not be easy to deal with.
With that thought in mind, Su Zimo swallowed the Foundation Establishment Elixir.
It melted instantly in his mouth, sending a warm stream down his throat into his dantian that emitted a powerful medicinal effect!
Under the influence of that medicinal effect, Su Zimo calmed himself down and gathered the sea of qi within his dantian. He was neither anxious nor hurried.
As the name suggested, Foundation Establishment was for one to lay down the foundation.
If one’s foundation was lacking, their future cultivation path could be problematic!
The scarlet sea of qi shrank endlessly and reduced in size. However, the aura that was being emitted was increasingly powerful and terrifying!
Time began to slip away just like that.
Su Zimo was in no rush.
For normal cultivators to establish their foundations, the fast ones would take less than two hours and the slowest ones would take up to five days.
However, there was no one as slow as Su Zimo.
A full hundred days had passed by before Su Zimo opened his eyes that shone with a sharp glint. The sea of qi within his dantian had finally disappeared and turned into a scarlet spirit liquid!
There was a qualitative change in his spirit qi, transforming it into spirit energy!
A hundred days of Foundation Establishment!
Even though they were hundred ordinary days, Su Zimo had set up a foundation sturdier than anything else.
On this day, Su Zimo walked out of his cave abode and summoned his flying sword. He headed for the main peak.
Upon reaching Foundation Establishment realm, one could take part in the inner sect assessment at the main peak. As long as they passed, they would become inner sect disciples.
