Translator: Cenniwdyl Editor: Caron_
Mo Tiange stared blankly at the three Foundation-Building Pills rolling around on the plate.
After she provided the pill recipe, someone indeed dropped by to deliver the reward. The reward wasn’t only the three Foundation-Building Pills agreed on – there were also some treasures, medicinal pills and spirit stones. Furthermore, another disciple came to drop off a few other things the next day. Among these items was a bottle of freshly concocted Constitution-Enhancing Pills that were much higher quality than hers. These objects were actually given to her on Martial Uncle Shoujing’s orders.
To tell the truth, the things she received in those two days were much more valuable than all her belongings combined. Thus, she didn’t feel saddened by the loss of the pill recipe. At least those two people from Qin Clan didn’t seize it by force and even treated her really well in return.
After spending some time thinking about all kind of matters, she finally tidied up her things and made her way towards Martial Uncle Xuanyin’s Immortal’s Cave.
She used her identity tablet to open the outermost formation, passed a gate-keeping disciple, and walked into the hall of Master Xuanyin’s Immortal’s Cave.
Once Mo Tiange walked in, she saw that Wei Jiasi was also present. She expressionlessly watched Mo Tiange as she entered the hall. Without the slightest regard for Wei Jiasi, Mo Tiange directly kneeled and greeted Martial Uncle Xuanyin. “Disciple Mo Tiange greets Martial Uncle Xuanyin.”
“Rise,” Martial Uncle Xuanyin said with a kind expression.
“Disciple thanks Martial Uncle.” Mo Tiange stood up then turned towards Wei Jiasi and greeted her, “Senior Martial Sister Wei.”
Still wearing that indifferent expression, Wei Jiasi just coldly grunted in response and turned her head around to avoid looking at Mo Tiange.
Mo Tiange wasn’t angered by her response. She simply lowered her hands and stood up properly.
Master Daoist Xuanyin stared at her and asked warmly, “Tiange, is there a problem?”
“Yes.” Mo Tiange dropped her head and reported, “Two days ago, Grandmaster Jinghe bestowed a few Foundation-Building Pills upon disciple. Therefore, disciple came to ask for Martial Uncle’s guidance. Martial Uncle, would it be appropriate if disciple entered Closed Door Meditation once again?”
“This…” Master Daoist Xuanyin muttered with hesitation for a moment before asking, “You just finished six months of Closed Door Meditation. Don’t you feel tired?”
Mo Tiange answered while shaking her head, “Disciple doesn’t feel tired. Foundation-building has always been in disciple’s mind.”
Master Daoist Xuanyin said, “Normally, because Aura Refining cultivators aren’t in stable mental states, they shouldn’t be in Closed Door Meditation for more than half a year. As for consecutive Closed Door Meditations, that’s even more inadvisable. However, since you seem resolute, I presume there won’t be too many problems. It’s fine if you want to enter Closed Door Meditation again now, but for foundation-building, a tranquil heart and unobstructed spiritual aura are required to succeed. If your heart becomes restless, you must stop immediately.”
Upon hearing Martial Uncle Xuanyin’s response, Mo Tiange said with delight, “That being the case, disciple will enter Closed Door Meditation again tomorrow.”
Master Daoist Xuanyin smiled and nodded. He said, “You already know the procedure of foundation-building, so you don’t have to come and report to me again. You can decide for yourself.”
Now that she had received permission, Mo Tiange once again threw herself into preparations for her Closed Door Meditation.
She only had one Foundation-Refining Pill remaining from the ones she took from Jiang Chengxian. As for Constitution-Enhancing Pills, of the two pills she managed to concoct last time, she used only one of them. Luckily for her, Martial Uncle Shoujing had also sent her a bottle of freshly concocted Constitution-Enhancing Pills.
Once she felt that her preparations were enough, she notified Luo Fengxue and Ye Jingwen, whom she considered friends, about entering Closed Door Meditation once again. Ye Jingwen rushed over right before she began and repeatedly told her about things to be beware of. Luo Fengxue, on the other hand, simply promised to take good care of her medicinal field when she was in Closed Door Meditation.
After taking care of various kinds of matters, Mo Tiange once again closed off her Immortal’s Cave. Perhaps in other people’s eyes, entering Closed Door Meditation to attempt to build her foundation only a few days since her failure might seem a bit too rash. However, Mo Tiange was very calm. In fact, in the last three months during her previous Closed Door Meditation, she already knew she had failed to build her foundation. She stayed inside only because she wanted to use the effect of the Foundation-Building Pill to purify the spiritual aura in her entire body. It was because of this that she didn’t feel she was being too hasty.
With a content mind and unruffled spirit, Mo Tiange closed her eyes and calmed her heart, once again sinking into the world of cultivation.
Every peak of Mount Taikang was brimming with spiritual aura. Her cave was located next to Master Daoist Xuanyin’s Immortal’s Cave, so the spiritual aura was even more abundant.
Mo Tiange started to slowly run her spiritual aura starting from her dantian. She moved it along her meridians until it finally returned to her dantian again. Spiritual aura from the outside also gradually converged around her and entered her body, slowly disappearing into her meridians.
The Yin spiritual aura inside her body was moving smoothly. However, there wasn’t even the slightest increase in quantity even though she absorbed a lot of spiritual aura from outside. The spiritual she absorbed just wandered inside her body for a while before it gradually dispersed.
Reaching the peak stage of the Aura Refining realm meant that if she couldn’t build her foundation, her cultivation progress wouldn’t be able to progress further. However, Mo Tiange didn’t feel any sense of urgency at all. She just continued to slowly control her spiritual aura, moving it bit by bit along her macrocosmic orbit until she was completely accustomed to it.
After an indeterminate length of time, her body finally felt like it had become a universe. She began taking the supplementary medicinal pills one by one, ending off with one of the Foundation-Building Pills she received.
The amount of spiritual aura in her body increased sharply. Although every inch of her meridians was breaking apart, her expression didn’t change. She was still steadily controlling the world inside her body in accordance with her previous pace, slowly turning it around without being affected by any external changes.
That overbearing force gradually dissolved into her Yin spiritual aura and was even assimilated by it.
When this force of her spiritual aura weakened, almost without thinking, she took another Foundation-Building Pill and a Constitution-Enhancing Pill together.
The two people who were paying attention to her progress using their divine sense were shocked by her actions and almost immediately ordered her to stop. However, noticing that she was still calmly operating her spiritual aura, they finally dropped the idea.
If the first Foundation-Building Pill created raging winds inside her body, the second Foundation-Building Pill brought her layers of monstrous waves. Waves upon waves struck her meridians, but she remained still. Not only did she not resist, but she even integrated herself into those waves and drifted along with them. When she finally had a grasp over the pulse inside those waves, she slowly seized control over them.
Once she took the third Foundation-Building Pill and another Constitution-Enhancing Pill, the waves, which had gradually weakened, turned into a flood of seawater that broke through and submerged everything, completely surrounding her Yin spiritual aura as if it was going to swallow it. Nevertheless, she remained calm. She persistently moved this small, weak aura of hers and slowly engulfed the flood.
She didn’t know how much time passed, but she eventually managed to swallow up the flood-like spiritual aura and turn it into a current that broadened her meridians like before. Just like a river that flowed to the sea, it rushed into her dantian.
At this moment, a bizarre thing happened at Clear Spring Peak. Tons of spiritual aura rushed towards one specific spot as if it was drawn by something. Countless inhabitants of Clear Spring Peak came out of their Immortal’s Caves and watched as the spiritual aura converged at one spot from the moment it was intangible until it became overflowing.
A swarm of clouds flew over and stopped above the Immortal’s Cave, intertwining with the spiritual aura until it became a rainbow bridge.
“Core-formation! Someone is building their Gold Core!” A disciple, who had witnessed their seniors forming their Gold Core before, suddenly yelled out and attracted the attention of other disciples.
The spiritual aura was converging and the auspicious clouds were looming; one after another, every Core Formation elder of each peak in Mount Taikang came out of their Immortal’s Caves to observe this scene.
The people of Clear Spring Peak moved like a surging tide. Countless numbers of them were rushing towards the Immortal’s Cave located halfway up the mountain.
At this moment, someone suddenly appeared in the air. He had his hands behind his back as he examined the crowd beneath him. He then yelled, “Disciples of Clear Spring Peak are to head back to their respective caves without delay!”
His voice was clear and melodious; it was as if he was speaking next to their ears. Once everyone saw the figure standing high up in the sky, they bowed one after the other and saluted him before they walked away, following his commands. However, they walked away in small groups to discuss what was happening.
“Junior Martial Brother Shoujing!” Core Formation cultivators from other peaks rushed over and asked, “What’s going on? It looks like someone is forming their Gold Core, but the momentum isn’t strong enough. Could it be that a disciple of your Clear Spring Peak is practicing some kind of secret technique?”
Qin Xi faintly answered, “Senior Martial Brothers don’t need to be surprised. A disciple of my Clear Spring Peak is just going through the foundation-building process.”
“Foundation-building!?” That answer made those cultivators even more surprised than before. Someone asked, “How could a foundation-building trigger celestial phenomena and the appearance of a spiritual aura vortex?”
“I’m not too sure about this either. If I get some more information, I will tell Senior Martial Brothers in detail.”
“This is really unusual…”
Master Daoist Xuanyin came flying towards them. When he arrived, he greeted everyone and the said, “Martial brothers, I and Junior Martial Brother Shoujing will pay close attention to this matter. All of you better head back first to avoid creating a panic among the disciples.”
He finally made the surrounding cultivators stop asking questions. After saying a few more words, all of them left the place.
Qin Xi and Master Daoist Xuanyin landed in front of Mo Tiange’s cave, both looking grave.
“Junior Martial Brother Shoujing, what do you think is happening?”
Qin Xi was silent for a long while before answering, “Several hundred years ago, a spiritual beast of the Distant Past era awakened among 10,000-year-old glaciers. At that time, auspicious clouds also loomed in the sky and thunder was rolling as if in celebration.”
Startled by his words, Master Daoist Xuanyin said, “You mean…”
Qin Xi shook his head and said, “I’m not really sure. However, since common spiritual beasts of the Distant Past era could now cause celestial phenomena, this phenomenon presumably happens because our current world is different from the Distant Past era.”
After thinking for a long time but still unable to comprehend the matter, Master Daoist Xuanyin asked, “That might be true, but she is cultivating with a present-day cultivation technique. It doesn’t have any link to the distant past.”
Qin Xi gave up on explaining and simply said, “Let’s just watch. We’ll certainly find out what’s going on after she comes out.”
Nonetheless, the amount of time they waited exceeded their expectations.
Half a year passed by, but Mo Tiange still hadn’t come out. She appeared like a silkworm that had formed a cocoon around its body as she sat cross-legged without the slightest consciousness in her cave. The spiritual aura inside the cave had practically transformed into liquid form, while the dense Yin spiritual aura around her had practically turned into solid layers that tightly bound her up.
A year later, Master Daoist Xuanyin started to get anxious. Normally, cultivators only spent several months to half a year to build their foundation. When the celestial phenomenon occurred, Mo Tiange had been in Closed Door Meditation for almost half a year already, so altogether, she had been in Closed Door Meditation for a full year and a half. No cultivators of Xuanqing School had taken this long to build their foundation.
After a year and a half, even the Head Grand Supreme Elder came to ask – even the celestial phenomenon that happened during core-formation wouldn’t last this long, so why was this disciple taking so long to build her foundation?
Two years passed by.
Qin Xi stood in front of an Immortal’s Cave in silence.
In the beginning, they could still check on the situation inside the cave using their divine senses, but later on, a layer of dense spiritual aura seemed to have formed inside and lain between them; even the divine sense of Core Formation cultivators like them couldn’t penetrate that layer of spiritual aura barrier. Nowadays, they simply had no idea of the situation inside and could only vaguely sense that the person inside was still alive.
When building one’s foundation, one mustn’t be disturbed. Otherwise, that cultivator could get heavily injured at best or have their cultivation level revert back at worst.
In his spare time, despite not knowing when the door of this cave would open, Qin Xi always came and stood there. He looked up and stared at the clouds above. The spiritual aura above him had condensed into a rainbow bridge and spiritual birds were fluttering in the air; it was as beautiful as paradise.
All of a sudden, the rainbow bridge moved then vanished into thin air in just an instant, and along with its disappearance, the spiritual birds flew away, leaving not the slightest trace behind. It was as if the scene a moment ago was nothing but a figment of his imagination.
A frown formed on his face. He then turned around and fixed his gaze on the stone door.
The spiritual aura inside the cave was also rapidly dispersing. In just a quarter of an hour, it had completely dispersed.
Nearly none of the disciples in Clear Spring Peak realized that the scenery which had persisted for more than a year had quietly disappeared.
The stone door was finally opened, revealing a person slowly making her way out of the cave with a smile on her face.
