CHAPTER 57: FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT REALM

Xueling calmed down slightly upon hearing his words.

There was no way the nearby sects could have someone as strong as Sect Master Su Qing.

Even so, she still felt troubled letting them take over their sect, even if only for a short time. If they took over their treasury, she would no longer have the riches she was planning to impress Yu Tian with.

Thinking of this made her blush, covering her eyes in embarrassment.

Yu Tian wondered what was up with her all of a sudden.

"Anyway, now that you’re awake, we can finally discuss how to divide this," Yu Tian said, revealing something on his palm.

"This is... the sect master’s ring?" she asked in surprise.

"That’s right. It seems he always carried the whole sect’s treasury with him," Yu Tian said.

Hearing this, Xueling’s eyes brightened. But then her expression became downcast.

"You can have it. I don’t need anything," she said.

"Hmm, why are you behaving like this all of a sudden?" he asked.

She glanced to the side. "It’s just that... I feel like you contributed the most..."

As she was talking, Yu Tian flicked her forehead, causing her to squeal in pain, covering her head.

"Just a few days ago you said you wanted to become an emperor, yet this is how you’re acting?" he questioned.

She straightened herself. That’s right, how could she forget about her mission.

"Then let’s split fifty fifty," she suggested.

"No need," Yu Tian said. "It’s mostly manuals, some treasures, and spirit stones. I’ll take a small portion of spirit stones to cultivate and you take a small portion to recover. As for the rest, you’ll need it to rebuild the sect," Yu Tian said.

Xueling’s eyes brightened. "Yes, let’s do that," she said.

Yu Tian thought that he didn’t really need the manuals - he had already read them anyway before she woke up. As for the treasures, he didn’t feel that they suited him. It was better to invest everything into the sect so they could reap the profits.

The two then walked out of the tent. Xueling stretched her limbs as she took in the fresh air outside, then glanced at Yu Tian with pleading eyes.

"Will you help me cultivate?" she asked.

"Not today," he responded.

"Not today?" she echoed his question.

"That’s right. I will be attempting to breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment realm," he said.

Her mouth widened in surprise, but she then calmed down. "As expected of you," she said.

"Do you have a foundation building pill?" she asked.

"Yes. But I’m not using it," he said.

He had three foundation building pills - one from the alchemist in the Black Forest, and the others from that guy who had tried to poison them.

Xueling wasn’t surprised by this response. Someone like Yu Tian might really not need a foundation building pill. In fact, it could damage his foundation. It was better for him to just build his own foundation.

"Does this mean..." she didn’t even finish before he cut her off.

"That’s right, I’m building the Five Elements Foundation..."

...

Yu Tian sat in deep concentration.

He’d been like this for a while now. All that time, he had been circulating his energy through the Path to Heaven method, preparing his qi for the breakthrough.

At the moment, all his qi was concentrated next to the dantian.

He then began the actual breakthrough process. All the qi gathered next to the dantian began moving, appearing at the place below the dantian but above the inner core. The qi was fluid-like but also solid.

He began condensing it, making it solidify even more. As he did this, the distinct features of the qi became more apparent. Some parts were blazing flames, others were fluid like water. Others showed the distinct strength of metal. Some were filled with life like wood. And others were sturdy like earth.

He began hammering on the qi, strengthening it just like one would with metal.

As he did this, he also carefully integrated small parts of each of the elements into each other. Although he couldn’t merge the elements completely as some opposed each other, doing this was building compatibility in his foundation in preparation for the core.

When the time for building the core eventually came, he would have to mix all these into a single core, so he needed to make them more compatible with each other early.

This process continued for a few hours.

Yu Tian hammered the solid qi and twisted it, until it became a solid block of qi that surrounded his dantian. For the Core Formation realm, he just had to hammer this block even more and transform it into a core, but he still had a long way to go before he could do that.

In that moment, qi began flowing into Yu Tian’s body in large amounts, filling his dantian. This process continued for about half an hour. After everything had calmed down, Yu Tian finally opened his eyes. He had succeeded.

He was now in the first layer of Foundation Establishment.

He rose from his position and gathered energy in his hand, then began creating elements - fire, water, earth, wood, metal. He thought that it seemed he was successful in making the Five Elements Foundation.

[100%]

He didn’t feel any discomfort even when switching between the elements rapidly.

He observed that his qi emission had also improved greatly. It was almost to the level of a Core Formation warrior. He wondered if with this, he could face a Core Formation expert without losing ground.

[50%]

Well, it probably depended on the person. If it was Xueling...

[10%]

"Thought so," he sighed.

Even so, this was a great improvement. It hadn’t even been that long since he began his cultivation journey, yet he had already made such great progress.

As he thought of this, he heard a voice from behind him.

"Yu Tian, did you succeed?"

He turned around with a smile. "Of course," he said, walking over.

"I knew you could do it," Xueling said. "Now that you’ve broken through, do you want a spar to test your strength?" she asked in excitement.

He smiled. She probably wanted him to teach her swordsmanship.

"Alright, I’ll train with you from tomorrow," he said.

"Yippee!" she jumped in excitement.

"Just for a few hours each day though. I still need to focus on my mind realm," he said.

"It’s okay, I understand," she replied as the two entered the tent.