Chapter 67: A Foundation Establishment Powerhouse — Terrifyingly So

Wang Yan felt as though the past decade or more of his life had been utterly wasted.

What was Cultivation? What he had been doing before was nothing more than a leisurely health regimen. Only now had he truly touched the essence of it.

Ever since that night when he had been spurred on by the image of "the Young Master training in bitter hardship deep into the night," he had never gone home to sleep again. That secluded mountain valley had become his new home.

He followed the ordinary, run-of-the-mill "Qi Drawing Art" to the letter, greedily absorbing the Spiritual Energy from his Spirit Stones.

Before, he had been so stingy he would agonize for days before daring to use a single low-grade Spirit Stone. Now? He held one in each hand, draining them dry before swapping them out!

"Not fast enough. Still not fast enough!"

"Today, I, Wang Yan, will shatter the shackles of the sixth-layer Qi Refining Stage!"

That single thought consumed his mind entirely.

A person of such breathtaking brilliance as the Young Master was pushing himself to the limit — what right did Wang Yan have to rest?

Tired? Think of the Young Master's silhouette, training in bitter hardship deep into the night!

Hungry? Think of the Young Master's silhouette, training in bitter hardship deep into the night!

No — the Young Master probably didn't even have time to eat!

There was also one rather troublesome problem: his Mother's health was poor, so he couldn't simply stop going home altogether. But the journey back and forth took a full two hours — wasn't that a shameful waste of precious Cultivation time?

Yet this was no obstacle for Wang Yan, who had been so thoroughly "inspired" by Si Chen.

A bold idea surfaced: if sitting in meditation meant absorbing Spiritual Energy, why couldn't he absorb it while running?

His legs could run while his Cultivation Technique continued to circulate within his body — wasn't that the same as turning travel time into Cultivation time?

He thought himself an absolute genius!

And so, a peculiar sight began to appear in the wilds outside Danding City.

A young man with his head down sprinted at a near-charging pace, his body radiating the faintest tremors of Spiritual Energy. Passersby turned to stare, and some Cultivators couldn't help but point and whisper.

"Look at that kid — running that fast, is he rushing to be reincarnated?"

"Strange posture, scattered Spiritual Energy — what is he doing? Has he gone into Qi Deviation?"

Occasionally, someone who recognized him would call out loudly: "Wang the waiter, what are you running like your backside's on fire for?"

Wang Yan turned a deaf ear to it all, laughing coldly in his heart: "How could a sparrow ever understand the ambitions of a great swan? What do you know? This is called… dynamic Cultivation!"

This way he could train his physical body, keep up his Cultivation, and still stop by to check on his Mother on the way — truly killing three birds with one stone!

You simply don't understand what true effort looks like!

From that day on, the "Dynamic Cultivation Method" became his most closely guarded secret.

In just a few short days, he had lost a noticeable amount of weight, his eye sockets sunken deep — yet those eyes burned with a flame called "perseverance."

The days passed one by one in this near-masochistic bitter training.

Seven days later, inside the valley.

"Break — for me!"

A suppressed, low roar rang out from the valley as Wang Yan's aura swelled by an almost imperceptible degree.

He snapped his eyes open. Sixth-layer Qi Refining Stage!

"Ha ha ha! I, Wang Yan, have finally stepped into the sixth-layer Qi Refining Stage! The Grand Dao awaits!"

He shouted his joy into the valley, but the moment the words left his mouth, he sat right back down and began consolidating his realm without pause, muttering under his breath:

"I cannot slacken! The Young Master is surely training in bitter hardship at this very moment — how could I indulge in a moment's pleasure?"

Under this near-masochistic bitter training and the powerful spiritual motivation driving him, his cultivation rose day by day.

"Seventh-layer Qi Refining Stage! Spiritual Energy condensing into liquid — it's only a matter of time!!"

"Eighth-layer Qi Refining Stage! Divine Sense awakening in its infancy — the gates of the Dao of alchemy have cracked open a sliver for me!!"

"Ninth-layer Qi Refining Stage! Ha ha ha, power! So this is what it feels like when power surges through you?!!"

"Young Master, I am one step closer to you!"

At last, on a certain day, his cultivation reached its natural culmination — he stood steadily at the threshold of Qi Refinement Peak Perfection, just one final kick away from Foundation Establishment.

Having reached this point, Wang Yan's frenzied heart grew strangely calm.

He did not immediately attempt the Breakthrough. Instead, he tidied himself up and returned home.

He sat with his Mother for a long while, listening attentively to her coughs, and told her amusing stories he had heard at the restaurant to make her smile.

He swept the house inside and out until it was spotless, not a speck of dust remaining, then quietly decocted enough medicine to last her the next several days and carefully divided it into portions.

When all of that was done, and after watching his Mother drift off to sleep, he set out once more beneath the moonlight toward that familiar valley.

This time, his hand was clasped tightly around the jade bottle that had changed his fate.

The valley was silent, filled only with the chirping of insects.

Wang Yan sat cross-legged, regulated his breathing, and brought his condition to its peak.

Then, with the utmost solemnity, he retrieved the first-grade Foundation Establishment Pill. The pill shimmered with a warm, mellow luster in the moonlight, radiating an enticing resonance of the Dao.

He did not hesitate. He tilted his head back and swallowed it.

The pill dissolved the instant it touched his mouth, transforming into a vast yet incomparably gentle torrent that surged through his entire body in an instant!

The searing pain he had imagined never came. The medicinal power was as gentle as a mother's hand, guiding the surging Spiritual Energy within him to begin methodically striking and widening his Meridians, cleansing the impurities from his flesh.

The process went so smoothly it left him in disbelief. The bottleneck that had once seemed impossibly distant now felt within arm's reach under the assault of that pure medicinal power!

"It's — it's coming!"

Wang Yan was both startled and overjoyed. Not daring to be careless, he immediately launched a full assault on the Foundation Establishment bottleneck that loomed before him in the void.

"Break — for — me!!"

Boom!

The barrier shattered completely. Spiritual Energy surged inward, rushing and churning through his body before finally pouring into his Elixir Field, slowly condensing.

After an unknown span of time, Wang Yan's eyes snapped open, a brilliant flash of light flickering in their depths before vanishing!

He instinctively clenched his fists, feeling a strength he had never known before fill every inch of his body. His five senses sharpened to an extraordinary degree — he could even make out the veins on the leaves of distant trees with perfect clarity!

The Spiritual Energy within him, once a mere trickle like a stream, had now become a rushing, roaring river!

"I — I did it! I did it!! Ha ha ha!"

"Foundation Establishment! So this is the power of a Foundation Establishment Stage powerhouse?!"

"A Foundation Establishment Stage powerhouse… is terrifyingly so?!"

He shouted freely into the empty valley, his voice echoing back again and again.

But in the very next moment, all that wild elation collapsed into a single, crystal-clear thought — go home!

He had to see his Mother immediately, right this instant!

He had to tell her with his own mouth that her son was no longer that little waiter who had to bow and scrape to others and fret over a handful of Spirit Stones!

From this day forward, he, Wang Yan, would walk with his head held high and set out on his grand path of cooking — ah, no, of alchemy!

"Dynamic Cultivation — activate!"

He shot out of the valley like an arrow loosed from a bow.

The night wind howled past his ears, the trees on either side blurring as they flew by. He felt as though his steps had never been so light, the road home had never been so short.

* * *

At the same time, inside a small courtyard within Danding City.

Si Chen, who had been reclining in a lounge chair enjoying the evening breeze and some snacks, seemed to sense something. He slowly opened his eyes, then slowly closed them again, returning to that leisurely, unhurried appearance — as though he had merely felt a faint, pleasant ripple carried on the night wind.

He gently stroked Red Bean's feathers and smiled softly. "Not bad at all…"