12: The Method of Consolidating the Origin

A faint sound, like a popping bubble, rang out.

The Cultivator’s eyes, filled with madness, greed, and horror, all froze instantly. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but no sound came out. A hair-thin, dark-gold line, which pierced through his entire head, appeared on his brow.

The next moment.

Crash!

The Cultivator’s body, along with the damaged flying shuttle beneath his feet, silently split into two halves, starting from the fine line on his brow, like a weathered sand sculpture, and fell towards the sea. The cut was smooth as a mirror, with not a single drop of blood splattering. Only wisps of destructive dark-gold Qi remained at the edges, evaporating the surging seawater into a white mist.

The sea wind howled, and waves crashed against the shore.

The moonlight remained cold.

In mid-air, only Lin Feng’s slender figure remained. On the fenshui sword in his hand, the world-destroying dark-gold light had disappeared, and the sword body had returned to its original dark-blue color!

A Peak Middle Stage Foundation Establishment strike was a huge burden even for a first-tier Advanced Magical Artifact!

Thud!

Lin Feng could no longer hold on. His knees buckled, and he fell heavily into the icy-cold seawater. He gasped for air, each breath pulling at the sharp pain in his lungs. His face was as pale as gold leaf, and beads of sweat the size of soybeans mixed with seawater rolled down his cheeks.

A tearing, empty sting came from the depths of his Sea of Consciousness, and the weakness of completely exhausted Divine Power engulfed him like a tide. What was worse, forcibly activating power far beyond his Realm caused his Meridians to suffer a significant backlash, sending waves of burning pain.

He struggled to raise his head, looking at the two halves of the corpse floating on the sea, as well as the damaged flying shuttle, the dim small shield, and the crimson Flying Sword that had fallen onto the reef. There was no joy in his heart, only immense fatigue and lingering fear after surviving the ordeal.

“Middle Stage Foundation Establishment… it’s still too much,” he coughed out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva, struggling to stand up, and walked unsteadily towards the floating corpse.

Enduring the intense nausea and weakness, Lin Feng fumbled through the fragments of the corpse’s clothing. Soon, he found a palm-sized black Storage Pouch stained with seawater.

He didn’t even look at the three damaged Magical Artifacts—the flying shuttle was almost scrapped, the small shield had cracks, and the Flying Sword’s spiritual light was dim. He immediately stuffed them, along with the Storage Pouch, into his own large Storage Pouch.

This place was not suitable for staying long!

Lin Feng forced out his last trace of Spiritual Qi and stumbled back to the stone house, immediately activating the simple Dust Repelling Array to isolate the internal and external Qi.

He could no longer hold on and collapsed onto the cold stone bed, falling into a deep slumber.

After an unknown amount of time, Lin Feng was awakened by the stinging pain in his Meridians and the hunger in his stomach. Outside the window, the sky was already bright.

He struggled to sit up, took a Medicinal Pill, and then circulated the Qi Refining Art to regulate his breathing for a long time before he could barely suppress the injuries and weakness in his body. His Divine Power was also slowly recovering.

It was then that he remembered the black Storage Pouch. He took it out, wiped away the remaining Divine Sense imprint (the original owner was dead, and the imprint was weak), and extended his Divine Sense into it.

The first thing that entered his “sight” was a small mountain of Spirit Stone, shimmering with soft white light! A rough glance showed nearly a thousand pieces! More than he had earned from the Golden Scale Merchant Guild! This Cultivator’s wealth was indeed substantial!

Besides the Spirit Stone, there were also some bottles and jars of Medicinal Pill, mostly for healing and restoring Spiritual Qi, a few Jade Slip recording ordinary Magical Artifacts, a few spare low-grade Magical Artifact robes, and some dry food and water.

Lin Feng’s gaze was finally drawn to an ancient-looking booklet wrapped in an unknown black beast hide in the corner of the Storage Pouch.

On the cover of the booklet, there were no words, only three profound runes that seemed to be condensed from starlight.

His heart stirred, and he took out the booklet. It felt slightly heavy in his hand, and the beast hide was cool to the touch. He opened the first page, and a line of powerful, ancient-looking characters met his eyes:

“Solid Foundation Method”

Lin Feng held his breath and continued to read.

“The Dao of Qi Refining, the Qi Sea is the Foundation. However, the Qi Sea has its limits, and Spiritual Qi has its quality. Normal Qi Condensation will eventually reach its end, like a bucket holding water, it overflows when full… Only by using a secret method to solidify the Foundation and cultivate the origin, repeatedly tempering, compressing the spiritual essence, removing the dross and preserving the essence… Each time one reaches the Perfection Realm, perform the Solid Foundation Method, disperse its splendor, condense its essence. Although the Realm may drop, the Foundation becomes thicker… If this is done three times, then the walls of the Qi Sea will be as strong as a rock, the quality of Spiritual Qi as pure as mercury, and the path to Foundation Establishment will increase by thirty percent!”

Boom!

Lin Feng’s mind was struck as if by a bolt of lightning! The hand holding the beast hide booklet trembled slightly!

Repeatedly compressing Spiritual Qi? Each time he reached Qi Refining Perfection, he would voluntarily disperse his Cultivation Technique, compress and refine his Spiritual Qi, causing his Realm to drop, and then cultivate back up again? After repeating this three times to the limit, it could actually increase the chance of Foundation Establishment by a full thirty percent?!

This… this was simply a Heaven-Defying, supreme secret method! One must know that for ordinary four-Spiritual Root Cultivator, the chance of Foundation Establishment was asVast as a firefly! Even for three-Spiritual Root, without a great Opportunity, Foundation Establishment was fraught with thousands of difficulties and dangers! This thirty percent increase was enough to make any Qi Refining Cultivator go mad! If it were to be leaked, let alone Foundation Establishment Family, even Golden Core Sect would probably fight for it!

“No wonder… no wonder when that Cultivator used a forbidden secret technique to forcibly raise himself to Qi Refining Perfection, I felt that although his Spiritual Qi was violent, it subtly carried a solid and heavy feeling far surpassing those of the same stage… He must have already performed one ‘Solid Foundation’!”

Lin Feng suddenly understood, and a stormy wave surged in his heart.

After the ecstasy came an even deeper vigilance. This “Solid Foundation Method” was a treasure, but also a death warrant! Once leaked, he would surely die without a burial place!

He immediately carefully rewrapped the beast hide booklet with a piece of black cloth left by the Cultivator and carefully placed it in the deepest part of his Storage Pouch.

Looking at the spiritual field shrouded in the Formation mist outside the window, and then at the fenshui sword with a cracked spine in his hand, Lin Feng’s eyes flickered with complex emotions. Last night’s battle, a narrow escape from death, also brought huge gains. Spirit Stone, Cultivation Technique, and more importantly, it verified the terrifying power of the Demon Slayer Divine Ability as a trump card, and also exposed his own serious shortcomings—his Realm was too low, his Divine Power was limited, and after one strike, he was a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

“Endure… become stronger!” Lin Feng clenched his fists, his gaze becoming incredibly resolute. He sat down cross-legged, no longer thinking about that thrilling night, his mind calm, and began to circulate the Qi Refining Art, absorbing the thin Spiritual Qi in the air, while silently comprehending the profound scriptures at the beginning of the “Solid Foundation Method.”

Inside the stone house, the Spiritual Qi rippled faintly.

Outside the stone house, the mist remained.

Black Reef Island, after a brief period of commotion, fell silent once again.