Raise a sword!

After several rounds of drinks and five courses of food,

The people at the table started talking about their recent situations.

"Only after opening the peak did I realize how difficult it is to manage. I always felt that having my own territory meant I had achieved some success in cultivation... But every day when I open my eyes, all I see are my disciples crying for food. Sigh."

Liu Qinghe poured out his grievances.

"To put it bluntly, on my Qinghe Peak, I'm just a signboard, there I'm neither useful nor useless, but the one who actually gets things done is Junior Brother Liuquan."

Liu Quan humbly said from the side, "If it weren't for Senior Brother's reputation, many lucrative opportunities wouldn't have come our way to Qinghe Peak... Take the newly opened spirit mine in the sect, for example. If Senior Brother Qinghe hadn't been able to gain the upper hand in dealing with the Huanyin Sect outside, how could the sect have obtained most of that spirit mine?"

Cultivators like Liu Qinghe, who break through to the Foundation Establishment stage by receiving Foundation Establishment Pills from their sects, must then dedicate themselves to the development of their sects after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.

Often, they need to travel between the various industries of the sect to resolve conflicts involving the three sects of the Northern Foothills.

Of course, Foundation Establishment cultivators will also receive corresponding rewards during this process.

The reward is no longer as simple as a tribute.

For example, a portion of the spirit mine shares that Liu Qinghe secured for the sect this time will directly become Qinghe Peak's property. As long as the spirit mine exists and Qinghe Peak exists, this property will always belong to Qinghe Peak.

Of course, the sects did not simply sit back and reap the benefits in this process.

Cultivators rely on the sect's reputation to gain advantages, so the sect wants a share of the profits.

Similarly, what if you suffer a loss?

Naturally, the sect will send someone to help again.

Cheng Kaihai also talked about his recent situation.

He broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage a little late, and his own peak had just begun to get on track. He had not yet recruited any disciples.

"The sect has decided to reopen its gates next year and recruit a new batch of disciples. At that time, I plan to select a few promising individuals to pass on my body-refining techniques."

Jiang Peng was momentarily dazed upon hearing this.

His gaze unconsciously drifted to Mei Jinhe and Su Zhi, who were sitting alone at a small table outside the restaurant.

The two younger ones were only thirteen or fourteen years old when they joined the sect, and now they are in their early twenties.

It really only took the blink of an eye.

Cheng Kaihai sighed, "Only after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage did I realize how bleak my future was. After two or three years of arduous cultivation, I only made a tiny bit of progress..."

Liu Qinghe said from the side, "Junior Brother Cheng is too modest. Master Lü said frankly that you will at least reach the late stage of Foundation Establishment in the future."

"Sigh, at this rate, I'd be lucky if I could reach the late Foundation Establishment stage by the time I'm two hundred."

Everyone present was around fifty years old.

The youngest, Jiang Peng, is already forty years old.

Now, when Cheng Kaihai suddenly talks about things more than a hundred years from now, it all feels incredibly distant.

Even Song Lian and Liu Quan, who had not yet established their foundations, felt a sense of dread about how difficult it was to attain the Great Dao.

"Junior Brother Jiang is the most enviable. He has a miscellaneous skill to rely on, and Biwu Peak also specializes in Purple Jade Nourishing Pills. His future cultivation path will be smooth sailing." Liu Qinghe looked at Jiang Peng.

Jiang Peng smiled without saying anything, because there was nothing to say, and saying too much would only invite resentment.

"Enough talk, let's drink." Jiang Peng raised her glass to invite him to drink.

...

The cultivation of the Foundation Establishment Realm also focuses on absorbing Qi.

However, it is not simply about transforming spiritual energy into one's own spiritual power and circulating it through the meridians. Rather, it is about cultivating control over the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, with the foundation of refining the spirit.

Foundation Establishment cultivators possess "power".

Some call it a domain, others call it an aura of power.

In short, the growth of a Foundation Establishment cultivator's cultivation level is due to the growth of their own "momentum". (The latest chapter of the novel is full of exciting plot twists! Come to Cola Novels!)

The larger the range of spiritual energy one can control, the stronger one's control over spiritual energy, and the more profound one's cultivation becomes during the Foundation Establishment stage.

This process is also a concrete manifestation of Foundation Establishment cultivators becoming more aligned with the 'Dao'.

The closer one is to the Great Way, the closer one is to Heaven and Earth.

Continue in this way until the foundation is fully established, at which point you will reach the stage of passing two trials.

The first stage, the "Out-of-Body Stage," refers to the point where the soul is no longer hindered by the physical body and can leave the body.

This is a transformation of the soul; the soul is no longer just the foundation of consciousness, but has given rise to countless new mysteries.

The second challenge is guarding one's heart.

Guarding the Heart Gate means asking questions of oneself, transforming the so-called "Tao" from an extension of the Great Tao into one's own "Tao".

The so-called "seeing one's own heart and understanding one's true nature" means knowing what one truly seeks, and thus finding one's own true path on the journey of seeking the Tao.

This is also what Master Lü meant when he said that the Great Dao should be transformed into one's own Dao.

This is the process of transforming the foundation of the Tao from the abstract to the concrete.

This is a general overview of the Foundation Establishment stage.

However, there are many subdivisions involved in actual cultivation.

For example, how can one comprehend the Dao when one has only just established a foundation?

The Tao is so vague and elusive, how can one seek it?

The answer lies in the cultivation method.

The second-tier cultivation method is the path taken by predecessors with the same spiritual roots.

This is a shortcut.

In the cultivation room, Jiang Peng had a troubled look on her face.

"So where am I supposed to find the Foundation Establishment chapter of the Golden Flame Manual? Should I go to the Li family?"

Speaking of the Li family, Jiang Peng recalled the news she had heard recently.

At this point, about half a year had passed since he established his foundation.

Because his cultivation had reached a new level, the sect would send important messages to all the Foundation Establishment cultivators every now and then.

During this period, many cultivators from the Chen Kingdom colluded with the treacherous cultivators of the Flying Swallow Tower, causing a lot of trouble in the northern foothills.

Among them, Cangshan Sect and Chen Kingdom were the closest, so they were the first to be affected.

Recently, the sect has added many more missions involving patrolling and guarding the vicinity of the sect's properties.

However, these matters are temporarily irrelevant to Jiang Peng; his duty is simply to refine second-tier pills.

In the past six months, Qin Yuan has taught Jiang Peng all the second-tier pills in the sect.

The most important of these is the 'Purple Cloud Pill', which is commonly used by Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Although this pill is only a second-grade low-level pill, it is just like the Qi Condensation Pill for Qi Refining Realm cultivators—the most basic and widely needed pill.

...

Inside the alchemy room at Danhuo Peak.

Looking at the freshly made pills, Jiang Peng casually picked one up.

[Purple Cloud Pill: Second-tier, low-grade, Enlightenment]

Looking at the concise golden characters before her, Jiang Peng tossed the pill in her hand into her mouth.

As the medicinal effects spread throughout his body, he soon felt an extreme quietness around him, as if he were one step closer to heaven and earth.

"Truly wondrous," Jiang Peng exclaimed.

Qin Yuan, standing to the side, laughed and said, "It's a pity that my cultivation is not high enough. I have been refining this pill my whole life, but I have never tasted it even once."

Jiang Peng remained silent, simply contemplating the images emanating from the Purple Gold Cauldron in her mind.

In that scene, the refining of the Purple Cloud Pill was different again. Even the time for refining the pill had to be strictly controlled. The pill was to be formed when the sun rose and purple qi came from the east, borrowing a wisp of the strange phenomenon in the world.

"So even the Purple Cloud Pill is a simplified version of some kind of elixir? What kind of elixir must it be that requires a celestial phenomenon to refine?"

After seeing the images in her mind, Jiang Peng immediately wanted to give it a try.