Han Li saw the other party so cautiously apologizing, which made him feel too embarrassed to cause any more trouble. He had no choice but to abandon his original intention of teaching the ugly man a lesson. After all, aside from being somewhat rude to him before, the ugly man hadn’t committed any major offense!
Thinking this, Han Li’s expression softened, and he said indifferently, “Since there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave now.”
With that, Han Li drifted away lightly.
The ugly man stared at Han Li’s disappearing figure for a long time before finally letting out a long sigh and muttering to himself, “This is truly unjust! Others can casually go into seclusion in an Earthfire Room and successfully build their foundation, but I specifically found a quiet room and gathered a large number of auxiliary pills, yet still failed to break through! No wonder this person was accepted as a disciple by Master Li—his aptitude must be extraordinary!”
The ugly man actually mistook Han Li for a genius with exceptional talent. If Han Li himself heard this, he would probably be left speechless with a bitter smile.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already exited Yue Lu Hall. The two people guarding the teleportation array had been replaced by others. Otherwise, they would have been astonished to see Han Li suddenly advance from the Qi Refining stage to the Foundation Establishment stage.
Han Li rode his flying artifact, gliding slowly through the sky, feeling extremely carefree. At the same time, he reflected on his experience of entering the Foundation Establishment stage.
Five months earlier, after refining the Foundation Establishment Pill and giving it some thought, Han Li felt that using the Earthfire Room for Foundation Establishment was indeed a good idea. At the very least, he wouldn’t have to worry about someone suddenly barging in and interrupting his seclusion, causing him to fail halfway.
Thus, with his mind made up, Han Li first took one of the three original Foundation Establishment Pills and began circulating his energy to dissolve the medicinal effects.
The effects of the Foundation Establishment Pill took hold quickly. Within just a few hours, Han Li felt a ball of raging fire burning fiercely in his dantian, while his limbs and other parts of his body turned icy cold, creating a stark contrast between hot and cold sensations.
However, this feeling lasted only a short while before the fire in his dantian suddenly vanished without a trace, and the temperature in his limbs returned to normal. This left Han Li somewhat bewildered.
A look of confusion flashed across Han Li’s face, then his expression changed dramatically. He pressed both hands firmly against his dantian, refusing to move them an inch.
Suddenly, an intense pain, as if seven or eight sharp knives were twisting simultaneously, erupted from that area. Caught completely off guard, Han Li’s face turned deathly pale, and beads of sweat the size of soybeans dripped continuously from his chin. His entire body curled into a bow shape.
While writhing in pain on the ground, Han Li cursed inwardly, wondering why no one had ever mentioned to him that taking a Foundation Establishment Pill would be so agonizing!
But before he could finish cursing, the severe pain in his dantian suddenly exploded.
This explosion transformed into countless streams of heat that instantly spread throughout his body along his meridians, even penetrating deep into his bones. Immediately after, the heat turned into an unbearable itch, as if countless ants were crawling all over his body. He felt like bashing his head against the wall to alleviate the suffering slightly.
This torment, which nearly drove Han Li mad, lasted for the time it takes to eat a meal before gradually subsiding. Only then could Han Li support himself against the wall and barely stand up. By this time, he was drenched in sweat, covered in an indescribable layer of grayish substance that was sticky and emitted a strange odor.
But Han Li paid no attention to any of this. What mattered to him was that his cultivation had advanced directly to the twelfth layer, and his entire body felt warm and exceptionally comfortable.
Clearly, that Foundation Establishment Pill had improved his constitution, cleansing his marrow and transforming his tendons. As for the warmth in his body, it was likely due to the remaining medicinal effects of the pill that hadn’t fully dissolved. These could be absorbed to increase his spiritual power. This was also why, after taking a Foundation Establishment Pill, one had to go into seclusion for three months—otherwise, these medicinal effects would gradually fade over time.
Initially, Han Li indeed followed the standard Foundation Establishment process step by step, diligently meditating to absorb the residual medicinal effects.
But he soon discovered that the efficacy of these medicinal energies stored in his body could only slightly enhance his spiritual power and would not further improve his constitution.
If he only had one Foundation Establishment Pill, naturally, after the marrow cleansing and tendon transformation, he wouldn’t pass up this rare opportunity to increase his spiritual power. He would not easily give up without going into seclusion for three months to fully absorb all the medicinal effects.
However, Han Li was different. He still had a large batch of Foundation Establishment Pills on hand and didn’t think much of these residual medicinal effects. What concerned him was how many more rounds of constitution improvement he needed to undergo before he could step into the Foundation Establishment stage. After all, marrow cleansing and tendon transformation were the key to breaking through and successfully establishing a foundation.
After more than ten days of meditation, Han Li finally fully understood this point. Naturally, he had no patience to wait several months before taking the second Foundation Establishment Pill.
He reasoned that taking the pills consecutively shouldn’t pose any major problems—at most, it would result in a slightly larger amount of residual medicinal energy, which was no big deal. After pondering it back and forth several times, Han Li finally didn’t wait long before taking the second Foundation Establishment Pill.
The same intense pain and numbness put Han Li, despite being prepared, through another round of agony. However, Han Li sensed that this time seemed slightly less severe than the previous one. Still, a considerable amount of impurities were expelled from his body, indicating that his aptitude was truly lacking.
After taking two Foundation Establishment Pills in succession, Han Li didn’t feel any issues with the residual medicinal energy in his body. Of course, the warmth was slightly stronger, but it was no hindrance at all. Moreover, his spiritual power had advanced by leaps and bounds to the thirteenth layer, reaching the peak of the Qi Refining stage.
Thus, Han Li set his mind at ease. He proceeded to take one Foundation Establishment Pill after another continuously. Each pill produced the same marrow-cleansing effect, driving out batch after batch of gray impurities from Han Li’s body.
But starting from the third pill, Han Li clearly felt the marrow-cleansing effect of the Foundation Establishment Pill rapidly diminishing, and the impurities expelled became fewer and fewer. At the same time, however, the spiritual energy within his body began undergoing strange changes.
The originally gaseous true energy gradually became dense and viscous after taking several Foundation Establishment Pills, showing a strong tendency to transform into a liquid state. By the time he took the seventh pill, aside from a small core area in his dantian, Han Li’s true energy was almost indistinguishable from liquid.
However, after taking the seventh pill, the residual medicinal energy in Han Li’s body finally reached a near-saturated state. The warmth that had previously spread throughout his body now turned into a nearly scorching heat, making Han Li hesitant.
He truly didn’t know if taking the eighth pill would cause the medicinal energy to erupt violently and lead to some disaster. But at the same time, Han Li felt that he was very close to the Foundation Establishment stage—likely just one or two pills away.
After some consideration, Han Li’s desire to establish his foundation won out. Gritting his teeth, he took the eighth Foundation Establishment Pill.
But this time, as soon as the pill entered his stomach, the residual medicinal energy, which he had barely managed to control until then, erupted violently. Han Li’s meridians heated up instantly, and he lost consciousness, passing out.
When Han Li woke up, his body scalding hot, he was delighted to find that he had successfully broken through during his unconsciousness and had entered the Foundation Establishment stage.
Overjoyed, Han Li immediately wanted to leap up to vent his excitement. But as soon as he tried to rise, his body heated up again, and he collapsed to the ground, startling himself.
It turned out that although he had successfully built his foundation, the residual effects of the eight Foundation Establishment Pills hadn’t diminished in the slightest. They still filled his entire body, posing a very dangerous situation.
In his current state, he needed to immediately circulate his energy to absorb these medicinal effects. Otherwise, another eruption could occur at any time.
Although Han Li had figured out the solution to the crisis, he still inwardly lamented, unable to feel happy.
Because aside from that copy of “Green Origin Sword Art,” Han Li had no cultivation techniques for the Foundation Establishment stage or above! And judging by how casually his newly acknowledged master had tossed this manual to him, it was clear that this technique was considered garbage.
Moreover, Han Li had flipped through the book a few times and asked others about it.
This sword art was indeed very ordinary. Almost every Foundation Establishment stage disciple in Yellow Maple Valley practiced two or three layers of it, but no one ever cultivated beyond the third layer. Han Li hadn’t inquired deeply into the specific reasons, but the poor quality of this sword art was evident.
But given the current situation, even if Han Li didn’t want to practice it, he had no choice but to brace himself and proceed.
Left with no alternative, Han Li took out “Green Origin Sword Art,” laid it flat on the ground in front of him, and began practicing according to the manual while sitting cross-legged.
The Green Origin Sword Art had a total of nine layers. The first three layers could be practiced by Qi Refining stage disciples, while the middle three and final three layers could only be cultivated by Foundation Establishment stage disciples and Core Formation stage cultivators, respectively. Moreover, for every three layers mastered, one could use a unique supernatural ability exclusive to this sword art.
After mastering the first three layers, one could emit sword rays over a zhang in length from their palms without needing any magical instruments. In terms of power, these could rival ordinary top-grade magical instruments!
After cultivating the middle three layers, one could instantly release a protective sword shield. Although its defensive power was similar to ordinary low-to-mid-level defensive spells, this shield carried a certain counterattack capability with sword rays. Attacking the shield recklessly would result in automatic sword ray counterattacks from the shield. As for the final three layers…
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