Mortal: Starting by joining the Falling Cloud Sect

Meanwhile, Zhou Qing, having received such a great benefit, was overjoyed and danced with glee in the courtyard.

He was excited for a full fifteen minutes before he calmed down.

After calming down, Zhou Qing immediately remembered his top priority.

"It's time to begin foundation building," Zhou Qing thought to himself.

His cultivation has reached the Great Perfection of the Qi Refining stage, and he has four Foundation Establishment Pills. With his dual spiritual roots, he is almost certain to succeed in establishing his foundation this time.

With this thought in mind, Zhou Qing took the Foundation Establishment Pill and the Mind Concentration Incense, which could help cultivators calm their minds, and headed to the Pill Cauldron Pavilion again.

There were no top-tier formations set up outside his courtyard, so he did not plan to establish his foundation there. Instead, he went to the Earth Fire Chamber of the Pill Cauldron Pavilion to advance his foundation building.

The Earth Fire Chamber has strict restrictions set up by the sect, making it more private than the Firefly Courtyard. Moreover, there is no need to worry about someone suddenly breaking in and interrupting the seclusion, thus causing the Foundation Establishment process to be abandoned halfway.

Having rented a fire chamber before, Zhou Qing was quite familiar with the place this time.

Upon arriving at the Pill Cauldron Pavilion, Zhou Qing quickly found the disciple on duty, paid the spirit stones, and selected the deepest earth fire chamber.

According to the common practice in the cultivation world, after taking the Foundation Establishment Pill, those who wish to establish their foundation must go into seclusion for three months. During this period, they must completely deplete the medicinal power of the Foundation Establishment Pill before they can emerge from seclusion. Otherwise, the subsequent medicinal power will be greatly reduced, and the efficacy will be significantly diminished.

Zhou Qing's aptitude was different from Han Li's. Having two spiritual roots was several times stronger than having four spiritual roots, so Zhou Qing did not prepare a large number of Foundation Establishment Pills like Han Li did, nor did he intend to take all four Foundation Establishment Pills at once.

That would be too wasteful. Foundation Building Pills are still very precious in Tiannan. We should be thrifty and save every single one we can.

Since the pills had to be taken one by one, the time required to build a foundation could be very long. Therefore, Zhou Qing rented the Earth Fire Chamber for a year at once.

Sitting cross-legged on a futon in the fire chamber, Zhou Qing took a few deep breaths to clear his mind, then lit a calming incense and focused his mind.

A few minutes later, Zhou Qing's mind had completely calmed down, but he was still not at ease, so he took out a ball of spiritual light from the Lotus Lantern and sent it into his mind.

Once the blue light enters, no distracting thoughts arise, and no inner demons emerge!

Without further hesitation, Zhou Qing took out a Foundation Establishment Pill and swallowed it, then began to circulate his internal energy to neutralize the pill's medicinal power.

The medicine took effect quickly. A few hours later, Zhou Qing suddenly felt as if a raging fire was rising in his dantian, burning intensely.

In contrast, the limbs were unusually cold.

The clash between hot and cold made one feel quite uncomfortable.

Fortunately, the feeling of being both hot and cold dissipated not long afterward.

However, Zhou Qing did not let his guard down. He had a vivid memory of the original work and had read many descriptions of the foundation-building process before going into seclusion. He knew very well that the main event was yet to come.

Sure enough, a short while later, a sharp pain suddenly struck from his dantian. The pain was like being stabbed by knives and axes, or being pierced by a thousand arrows. The pain made Zhou Qing's veins bulge and his whole body tremble.

Despite the intense pain, Zhou Qing maintained his seated posture and circulated his internal energy with exceptionally steady and unhurried speed.

Immediately afterwards, the excruciating pain traveled along his meridians, gradually extending throughout his body and penetrating into Zhou Qing's bone marrow.

As the pain subsided slightly, an unbearable itch surged from the depths of his bones, as if countless ants were crawling and wriggling in Zhou Qing's flesh, making him wish he could scratch his skin raw before he could stop.

Even though Zhou Qing was prepared for this series of torments, he was still exhausted and breathless.

Fortunately, all that effort was worthwhile, and Zhou Qing's marrow cleansing was unexpectedly completed successfully.

His entire body was covered with a layer of strange gray substance, sticky and emitting an indescribable odor. This was the impurities expelled from his body as his physical condition improved.

As impurities were cleared from his body, the gaseous true essence in his dantian had completely transformed into liquid true essence.

He successfully established his foundation using only one Foundation Establishment Pill, which greatly exceeded Zhou Qing's expectations.

However, Zhou Qing realized that the smooth progress of his Foundation Establishment was not entirely due to luck, but also inseparable from his thorough preparations.

The saying "If you are prepared, you will succeed; if you are not prepared, you will fail" probably illustrates this point.

Because most of the Foundation Establishment Pill's medicinal power was used to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, Zhou Qing didn't have much medicinal power left in his body, and the warm feeling he felt was very slight.

Zhou Qing estimated that it would take less than half a month for him to completely neutralize the remaining medicinal power.

Thus, Zhou Qing spent more than ten days absorbing all the remaining medicinal power and transforming it into his own magical power.

Originally, it was thought that it would take several months or even a year to build the foundation, but now it has been completed in less than half a month.

Zhou Qing was relieved that he could get back the extra eleven months' rent, otherwise he would have suffered a huge loss.

"Hehe, now that I have successfully established my foundation, I can be considered a true cultivator." Zhou Qing was secretly delighted. He retrieved the remaining rent for the Earth Fire Chamber and, with light and cheerful steps, floated away from the Pill Cauldron Pavilion under the awe-inspiring gazes of the Qi Refining disciples.

After leaving Dan Ding Pavilion, Zhou Qing headed straight for the council hall.

The rules of Luoyun Sect are similar to those of Huangfeng Valley. After successfully establishing their foundation, lower-level disciples in the sect need to register with the sect leader and then they can obtain the qualification to choose a location in the Yunmeng Mountains to build their own cave dwelling.

Although Zhou Qing thought the Firefly Courtyard on Baifeng Peak was quite nice, it was definitely far inferior to his self-built cave dwelling.

Riding the Inkscale Boat, Zhou Qing flew swiftly and soon arrived at the council hall.

Before even entering the council hall, a Qi Refining stage guard at the entrance stepped forward and asked Zhou Qing what business he had come for.

"Is Sect Leader Wei inside? Please inform him, I have business with him." Zhou Qing respected his superiors but did not humiliate his inferiors, and spoke with a certain degree of politeness.

"You're too kind, Uncle-Master. Sect Leader Wei is inside the hall. Please follow me." The guard was quite surprised by Zhou Qing's tone and was momentarily taken aback, but he quickly recovered and led the way for Zhou Qing.

After following the guards into the hall, Zhou Qing passed through the main hall and arrived at a spacious and brightly lit room.

Sect Leader Wei Yiming was sitting at a wooden table, looking at the pages of a book on the table with a furrowed brow.

Seeing this, the guards withdrew on their own, and Zhou Qing walked into the hall alone.

Hearing the noise and realizing someone had entered the room, Wei Yiming looked up and saw Zhou Qing. He immediately put away his book and walked over.

Zhou Qing bowed respectfully to him: "Sect Leader, I am your junior brother Zhou Qing, greetings to the Sect Leader."

"Oh my, it's Junior Brother Zhou. No need for formalities! Junior Brother recently made a great contribution to the sect in the Yunmeng Secret Realm, and now you have successfully established your foundation, strengthening the power of our Luoyun Sect. You have made another great contribution." Wei Yiming walked up to Zhou Qing, raised his hand to help Zhou Qing up, and smiled.

"Senior Brother, you flatter me. The sect has shown me such great kindness; how could I not repay it with all my might?" Zhou Qing smiled and casually accepted the words before immediately getting to the point: "Sect Leader, I have now successfully established my foundation, and therefore I have come to inform you of this matter, hoping that you will grant me the right to create my own cave dwelling."

Having managed the affairs of the Luoyun Sect for many years, Wei Yiming had long guessed Zhou Qing's intentions. He readily agreed and then took out the register to register Zhou Qing.

After registering, Wei Yiming took out three mid-grade spirit stones, a bottle of pills, and five small flags shrouded in a thin white mist from his storage bag and handed them to Zhou Qing.

Zhou Qing knew that this was a one-time reward given by the sect to its Foundation Establishment disciples, so he gladly accepted it.

After finishing his business, Zhou Qing had no intention of staying any longer. Wei Yiming also seemed to have important matters to attend to, so he didn't bother to persuade Zhou Qing to stay any longer. Zhou Qing then bowed and took his leave, departing from the council hall.

Now that we have the qualifications to build our own cave dwelling, the next step is to choose its location.