Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 231 A tough road ahead

Song Xian nodded without saying anything.

As the one with the highest cultivation level in the sect and a dual spiritual root talent, George Lam has always been a bit arrogant.

He prepared for this selection competition for so many years, but in the end he was defeated by others. He must feel bad.

This defeat must have been a big blow to him, because it had a huge impact on his foundation building.

Originally, in his plan, everything was going smoothly. From the first time he participated in the foundation-building selection, he made a plan. In the next ten years, he would improve his cultivation to the great perfection of Qi Refining, and work hard to cultivate supernatural powers and techniques. Then, he would win the championship in this competition and obtain the qualification to go to the Beastmaster Sect's mountain gate to build his foundation.

Losing the competition now means that the opportunity to go to the Beastmaster Sect’s mountain gate to build a foundation will have to wait for another ten years, and it is not certain that he will get it.

Although he still has plenty of time left to live, he doesn't have many more decades to wait.

……

In the early morning, bright sunshine shines into the house.

Inside the red tent, under the mandarin duck quilt, two white bodies were hugging each other tightly.

Although they are an old couple, they still sleep in each other's arms every night.

After waking up, the two of them whispered to each other for a while before getting dressed and getting up.

"Son-in-law, Master Lin Zixiang came early in the morning and wants to see you. He is waiting in the waiting room now!" Xiaohong reported after bringing in the meal.

Hearing this, Song Xian was about to go there immediately, but Su Zhirou stopped him and insisted that he finish his breakfast.

In the spacious and bright living room, George Lam looked a little haggard, with bloodshot eyes, which showed that he had not slept all night and was worried and bored.

Song Xian came in from outside and was slightly surprised when he saw his appearance.

The foundation-building selection competition has been over for several days, and everyone has returned from Bianxi City. I didn't expect that he was still so concerned about it that he looked so haggard. It seems that this competition dealt him a greater blow than he imagined.

"Brother Zixiang, I've been waiting for a long time."

"Master, I have thought it through. I need to build my foundation as soon as possible and I need the sect's help." Lin Zixiang spoke, his voice a little hoarse.

He was determined to win this foundation-building selection competition. Over the years, he continued to practice diligently and never relaxed for a moment, all for the purpose of winning this competition and going to the Beastmaster Sect to build his foundation.

He thought that he had perfected both his cultivation and magical skills, and was full of confidence before setting out. However, he was defeated by a disciple of Luoyun Sect in the first match, and the opponent seemed to be at ease and did not use his full strength at all.

He participated in the foundation-building selection competition twice, but lost in the first round, which made him lose confidence.

If you lose the first competition, you can still use the excuse that you are not well prepared or have not yet reached the state of perfection in your practice.

This time, he had prepared for so many years and thought everything was perfect, but he still lost in the first game.

He simply didn't have the patience to wait another ten years, nor did he have the confidence to win the next Foundation Establishment Selection Competition.

After losing the competition, he hardly slept for the past few nights, and his mind was always thinking about the foundation-building matters.

Finally, he made up his mind not to participate in selection competitions anymore, but to directly find a spiritual vein that meets the requirements to build the foundation.

"Okay." Song Xian didn't hesitate at all.

Lin Zixiang's foundation building is the sect's top priority. They had already discussed the plan. After all, it is not so easy to pass the foundation building selection and go to the Beastmaster Sect to build the foundation. Of course, they cannot just pin their hopes on this.

If they fail to win the championship, their backup plan is to find Jiang Feng and beg him to let Lin Zixiang build his foundation in Qiyuan Mountain.

Qiyuan Mountain is a second-grade superior spiritual vein, which is sufficient for cultivators to build their foundation.

Considering the current relationship between the sect and Jiang Feng, we should be able to resolve this matter by spending a few more spirit stones.

"I can only afford 30,000 spirit stones right now, and the sect will have to pay for the rest. I will repay this amount of spirit stones after I establish my foundation."

"Brother Zixiang, don't worry about these things. Leave them to me. Brother Zixiang just needs to adjust his condition and be ready to build the foundation when the time comes." Song Xian comforted.

"Victory and defeat are common in the military. One or two failures are nothing. Of all the cultivators who have successfully established their foundation, how many of them have gone through this kind of selection competition?"

"Furthermore, even those who pass the Beastmaster Sect's selection competition may not necessarily succeed in building their foundation. The final winner is the one who successfully builds his foundation, not the winner of the selection competition."

"Brother Zixiang, don't worry about this. Have a good rest. I'll go to Bianxi City in a few days and talk to Senior Jiang Feng about borrowing their Qiyuan Mountain spiritual vein. It shouldn't be a problem."

George Lam didn't say anything more, just stood up and left.

.........

In the spacious and bright hall of Qiyuan Mountain, Song Xian was led into the inner room by a disciple of the Beast Taming Sect. He waited until late at night before he saw Xu Hao striding towards him.

"Fellow Daoist Song, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. I didn't expect you to come today. I have been practicing my sect's skills in the secret room recently and no one is allowed to disturb me, so the servants dare not report to me." Xu Hao greeted him with a smile.

Song Xian had promised that after entering Tianshan, he would give him all the income from Tianshan's resources and territory, and he has never broken his promise in the past few years.

Every year, Song Xian would order people to send him several thousand spirit stones, and he would also send him gifts from time to time, so he seemed very enthusiastic.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Fellow Daoist Xu. To be honest, I'm here for no reason. I have a favor to ask of you."

"Fellow Daoist Song, please speak."

"There is a senior brother in our sect who has reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining and wants to find a place with abundant spiritual energy to build his foundation. Fellow Daoist Xu knows that there is only one second-grade, low-grade spiritual vein in Tianshan, which is simply not enough to meet the spiritual power required for foundation building. Some time ago, he participated in the competition and selection hosted by your sect, but unfortunately, his luck was not good and he was unfortunately eliminated. Therefore, he would like to borrow your precious land for use."

"Oh! About this!" Xu Hao pretended to be silent. "I can't make the decision! Why doesn't Fellow Daoist Song go directly to my master?"

"How dare I disturb Senior Jiang easily, so I ask to see Fellow Daoist Xu first. I hope Fellow Daoist Xu can find an opportunity to express my wish and say more good things in front of our respected master. I will be very grateful." Song Xian said, and took out a wooden box in his hand. He opened the lid and found ten fourth-level spirit stones inside, with a total value of ten thousand spirit stones.

"I hope that Fellow Daoist Xu can offer his kind words and help in this matter. I hope you will not refuse this humble token of gratitude."

Xu Hao smiled and took the wooden box. "Fellow Daoist Song, you are so polite. It's just a small matter. I will take care of it. If it were someone else, Master might not agree to it, but since Fellow Daoist Song is asking for it, there is no problem. Master is very satisfied with you."

"You've done quite well in Tianshan these past few years. Since the establishment of the Trade Inspection Zone, those caravans have stopped bothering Master. Furthermore, the taxes collected each year are increasing year by year."

"Master said you are a capable and honest person."

Song Xian replied, "Senior Jiang, you are so kind. Without your support and encouragement, neither I nor our sect would be where we are today. Senior Jiang is our great benefactor, and we will never be able to repay your kindness. It is our honor to serve you. Now, I'll leave this matter to Fellow Daoist Xu."

"Don't worry, leave it to me!"

.........

April is late spring, it is a good time of year, everything is reviving, birds are singing and grass is growing.

The sky was clear. At the foot of Qiyuan Mountain, two Canglan birds swooped down with screams and landed outside the mountain gate.

Sitting on it were Song Xian and other Hunyuan Sect monks.

Xu Hao reported that Jiang Feng had agreed to allow Lin Zixiang to complete his foundation-building efforts here. Song Xian, upon hearing this news, had brought Lin Zixiang with him. He was now extremely cautious in his movements, not only concealing his itinerary but also bringing numerous personnel with him to prevent ambushes.

Not long after, a disciple from the Beast Taming Sect came up to the crowd and bowed to him.

In recent years, as the power of Hunyuan Sect has grown, Song Xian has been treated with courtesy and respect wherever he goes, and ordinary disciples of the Beastmaster Sect do not dare to underestimate him.

"Fellow Daoist Song, Senior Brother Xu invites you and Fellow Daoist Lin to come in."

Song Xian then asked the others to wait here and only took Su Zhirou and Lin Zixiang with him.

The three of them came to a hall in a mansion, where Xu Hao was already sitting.

The two sides exchanged a few pleasantries and took their seats, and Song Xian explained his purpose.

"Master has agreed that you can build your foundation here. I have ordered the activation of a large spirit gathering array to lead all the spiritual energy here to the back mountain. This will take some time. Since you are here, you can stay here temporarily and wait until the spiritual energy gathered in the back mountain reaches the standard before building your foundation. In addition, you must pay a fee of 25,000 spirit stones, which will be used to compensate the brothers in this department." Xu Hao said.

During the foundation-building period, cultivators need to absorb a large amount of pure and rich spiritual energy from heaven and earth, so a large spirit gathering array is needed to gather the spiritual energy of the entire mountain range into one place. Otherwise, there will be insufficient spiritual energy and it will be impossible to successfully build the foundation.

During this time, the spirit gathering array in the training room needs to be closed. Otherwise, both sides will absorb the spiritual power, which will cause the foundation-building spiritual power to be not pure and rich enough.

In other words, during this period, other disciples of the Beastmaster Sect are not allowed to use the training room, so it is reasonable to compensate them.

Of course, the price of 25,000 spirit stones was definitely inflated, but there was nothing they could do about it. After all, they were borrowing someone else's place, so they had no right to bargain.

Without saying a word, Song Xian immediately took out twenty-five fourth-level spirit stones from his storage bag and handed them to Xu Hao.

.........

A dozen days passed in the blink of an eye and everything was ready.

That day, the sky was clear and the air was bright, with not a single cloud in the sky.

In the back mountain of Qiyuan, the rich spiritual energy has condensed into a mist visible to the naked eye. The surrounding area has been under martial law, and several disciples of the Beast Taming Sect are guarding outside, not allowing any outsiders to approach.

George Lam sat upright in the back mountain, his eyes slightly closed, but his expression was very solemn.

After a long time, he finally opened his eyes, flipped his hand, and took out a round pill with three colors intertwined, which was the Foundation Establishment Pill.

He took a deep breath, then opened his mouth and swallowed the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Song Xian, Su Zhirou, Zhong Wenyuan and Zhang Ningyuan stood in the distance, looking at the figure of George Lam on the mountain. They saw the spiritual energy surging around the mountain, forming bubbles visible to the naked eye, swarming towards George Lam.

"It's started." Zhang Ningyuan's eyes lit up when he saw this scene. He looked excited and nervous. He clenched his fists slightly and muttered to himself in a low voice.

Zhong Wenyuan frowned.

Song Xian had no expression on his face, but he was a little nervous inside, and he couldn't help but hold Su Zhirou's hand a little tighter.

As time went by, the bubbles of spiritual energy gathered together and moved in one direction as if they had some kind of suction force. The bubbles merged with each other, forming many spiritual energy vortexes. The rolling spiritual energy rushed towards George Lam like a tiger pouncing on its prey.

As time passed, most of the spiritual energy vortex above the mountain behind Qiyuan was gradually absorbed.

At this moment, the remaining spiritual energy vortexes suddenly collapsed, and Lin Zixiang's sitting body fell down.

"Ah!" Zhong Wenyuan and Zhang Ningyuan exclaimed in unison.

"Failed." Song Xian stared at the fallen Lin Zixiang and took a breath.

After spending more than 60,000 spirit stones, George Lam had prepared everything, but he still failed at the last step.

Laying the foundation is so difficult.

.........

At night, the stars were shining brightly, and in the dim room, George Lam slowly woke up.

"Elder Lin, you're awake." A disciple of Hunyuan Sect saw him wake up and came up to him.

George Lam instinctively wanted to get up, but he felt pain all over his body, his limbs were soft and weak, and he had no strength at all.

"Elder Lin, don't rush to get up. Your meridians are damaged and you need to rest for a while." The man quickly stopped him from getting up.

Only then did George Lam remember that he had fainted while building his foundation, which meant that his foundation had failed.

His pupils suddenly shrank, and he immediately mobilized the spiritual energy in his body to circulate, wanting to check his physical condition. Just as he was mobilizing the spiritual energy in the Linghai acupoint according to the cultivation method, he felt a sharp pain, as if his body was about to be torn apart, and he couldn't help but cry out in pain.

"Elder Lin, you can't forcefully mobilize your spiritual energy now, or it will cause the damaged meridians to tear."

Failed, failed.

George Lam stared blankly upwards.

This time he was ready to fight to the death, determined to die if he failed, but he didn't expect to fail.

In an instant, the consequences of failing to build the foundation flashed through his mind, making him feel as if he had fallen into an icy cave.

Thinking of the stinging pain caused by his mobilizing the spiritual energy from his spiritual sea just now, he couldn't help but think that when a cultivator was building his foundation, the spiritual sea acupoint would be torn and damaged because it absorbed too much spiritual energy from heaven and earth and had no time to refine it.

Linghai Point is the foundation of Taoism. Once it is damaged, it is difficult to recover, and it also means the end of the path of cultivation.

Could this be happening to me? Lin Zixiang became more and more scared, and his whole body began to tremble.

"Elder Lin, what's wrong with you?" the disciple asked hurriedly when he saw him suddenly trembling all over.

"Tell me the truth. What happened to me? Why can't I mobilize my spiritual power? Is it... is it because my Linghai acupoint was injured?"

George Lam reached out and grabbed his sleeve tightly, like a drowning man grabbing a life-saving straw, or like a wounded beast fighting a desperate battle.

"Don't worry! Your meridians are only damaged, your Linghai acupoint is fine. You will recover after resting for a while."

"You didn't lie to me." George Lam stared into his eyes.

"How dare a disciple deceive you? This is what the master said himself."

Only then did George Lam loosen his sleeves, and his whole body seemed to go limp like mud in an instant, as if he had just had a big fight with someone, breathing heavily.

"How long have I been in a coma?"

"It's been several days. The master ordered me to take good care of you." The disciple took out a bottle of pills and placed it on the bedside table.

"This is a pill to restore damaged meridians. One pill every morning and evening will help you recover. I won't disturb you from resting. I'll take my leave now. There are people waiting outside. If you need anything, just call me."

(End of this chapter)