The faint azure spiritual light swirling around his body suddenly flared. After sitting motionless for several days, Li Ye exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, a trace of joy surfacing on his face.
He slowly stood up and brushed off the dirt clinging to his robes, and the aura around him now fully radiated the power of a perfected Qi Refining Stage Level Ten, peak.
Feeling the surging energy and blood in his body, all seemingly reaching a pinnacle, Li Ye could sense his body yearning for a higher realm.
"Qi Refining Perfected… there's no further room for refinement. If I were willing to take the risk, I could attempt Foundation Establishment right here and now."
Li Ye muttered to himself, then shook his head with a faint chuckle.
With his mid-grade spiritual roots and having already accumulated resources for all three Foundation Establishment trials, his success rate might even be close to sixty percent!
But sixty percent… still wasn't enough.
If Foundation Establishment fails, the backlash could wreak havoc on one's meridians, send spiritual power spiraling out of control, and even result in instant death.
Even if one miraculously survived, they would likely be left with irreparable damage rendered unable to cultivate further or make another attempt ever again.
A single failure would be the end of everything…
As long as there was any way to increase the odds of success, Li Ye wouldn't gamble recklessly.
Only by staying alive and whole could one keep climbing higher. One failed gamble, and all possibilities would vanish.
For him, the Foundation Establishment Pill was essential!
Clearing his thoughts, Li Ye checked the surrounding Tier-2 spiritual field to make sure his cultivation hadn't negatively affected the area. Only then did he prepare to leave.
…
"Let's see how things have unfolded outside during this time…"
Walking through the mountains, Li Ye waved his formation flag. The fully sealed grand formation split open a narrow crack.
Immediately, two distinct types of small insects slipped through the opening from the outside, buzzing up to Li Ye and arranging themselves in a precise formation.
He counted their numbers and, seeing that very few had perished, nodded in satisfaction and snapped his fingers.
Snap!
At once, the insects began to move in coordinated formations.
One of them widened its strange, compound eyes, projecting faint beams of light that wove together into shifting, fuzzy images.
The other puffed up its belly, opened its mouth wide, and emitted sounds.
Together, the two formed visual and audio projections from various regions, replaying the events of the outside world during his seclusion.
It was like watching a set of surveillance screens.
These were Tier-2 Gu insects: Shadow Record Gu and Echo Record Gu!
Knowing his situation was precarious, Li Ye certainly wouldn't rely solely on information from the two spiritual farmers and the Lan family.
These insects, which he had stumbled upon by chance at the market, had become one of his secret sources of intelligence!
Unless scanned directly by a Foundation Establishment cultivator's divine sense, these insects could hide almost anywhere spying and eavesdropping undetected.
With the help of his personally refined Focused Spirit Incense, his progress in the Thousand Thoughts Divine Refinement Technique had been rapid. He had already reached the peak of the third layer: One Mind, Nine Purposes.
Though it was tiring, he could now simultaneously process multiple visual and auditory inputs.
Accelerating the playback, the formation displayed everything that had occurred since he fully sealed the formation to cultivate including the Lan family's private schemes and much more all within a short period.
As the images and sounds faded, Li Ye shook his head and sneered.
"I had assumed Tu Zhiyong took Lan Ming as a disciple just to settle old scores and provoke me into leaving the formation, with the Lan family playing along…"
"But I didn't expect that Pingyang Mountain had already planned to use the Lan family and Changcui Mountain as a pretext!"
"Now that they've dumped the blame on my head, even if I don't leave the formation, they can still march in under the name of restoring the Lan family's ancestral land. Barely justifiable, but enough to claim the moral high ground."
"Others might feel uneasy, but as long as they don't think the same fate will befall them, there won't be much backlash."
"After all, over the past few years, I'm the only one in this kind of situation…"
"Could it be that Xu Pingyang was rattled by the breakthroughs of the Chang and Luo clans? I only showed a bit of talent Foundation Establishment is still a long way off yet he's going this far just to eliminate a potential threat?"
Even knowing that the Pingyang Mountain faction was ready to attack, Li Ye's gaze remained calm.
"My Green Vine Verdant Wood Array already holds Tier-2 strength. With Tu Zhiyong's pitiful formation skills, he has no chance of breaking it…"
"And even if Pingyang Mountain suspects I have such a powerful formation, they likely won't be willing to waste a precious Tier-2 Breaking Talisman on me…"
"In that case, even if Xu Pingyang personally intervenes, breaking the formation will be difficult. That gives me enough time to refine my Foundation Establishment Pills!"
"Once I succeed in breaking through… this entire scheme will fall apart."
He smiled faintly, storing the Gu insects away.
With another wave of the formation flag, he revoked all external access points he'd previously set in the Green Vine Verdant Wood Array. It was now completely sealed, with no weak points left.
Then, he strode toward the underground fire cavern.
....
Scorching waves of heat surged as Li Ye tossed the pill furnace directly into the heart of the fire pit, letting the earth fire rise and gradually heat the furnace.
At the same time, he carefully began preparing the auxiliary herbs required for refining the Foundation Establishment Pill.
Slicing, grinding, juicing... Li Ye worked methodically and without haste, meticulously handling each herb to its best possible state.
By the time the furnace began to glow faintly red and the firelight flickered within, all the herbs were fully prepared.
Though the Foundation Establishment Pill was meant for Qi Refining cultivators, its tier was already that of a second-grade pill. In terms of difficulty, it was considered low among second-tier alchemy.
But for Li Ye, whose alchemy skills had reached mid-tier second grade, this was not a difficult task especially since he had already practiced the process many times using real spiritual herbs.
He gently exhaled, calming his mind until it was still and undisturbed. Then he opened the feeding hatch and began adding the prepared auxiliary herbs one by one.
Under the steady, intense burn of the earth fire, the impurities in the herbs were quickly refined away, leaving behind pure medicinal essences. These essences then began to merge gradually according to their properties.
Li Ye had rehearsed this step multiple times using real ingredients in simulations, and now it went smoothly without the slightest issue.
As the fused medicinal liquid finally formed, Li Ye grew slightly more tense, his actions more cautious.
Yet his hands didn't waver in the slightest. With a thought, he released fifteen strands of White Yin Fruit Essence into the furnace.
White Yin Fruit Fruit leaned toward yang in nature and blended quite well with the blazing furnace. Upon contact with the liquid, it quickly integrated, turning the potion a warm orange-red hue.
Next, it was time to add the Mindroot Flower Essence, which carried yin properties. This would inevitably clash with the yang-rich liquid if the timing wasn't precise, the entire batch could be ruined. The risk of failure here was extremely high.
Still, Li Ye didn't hesitate. He immediately added fifteen strands of Mindroot Flower Essence.
The deep-purple essence touched the liquid and, as expected, merged smoothly. This was a natural characteristic of plant-based essences nothing unexpected.
But right after the merging, the purple and orange yin and yang began to clash violently!
The entire potion looked as though it were boiling!
Li Ye had seen this reaction during simulations. It was just that, in an actual batch, the reaction was even more intense.
He remained calm, waiting until the conflicting forces of yin and yang reached their peak right at the moment before the medicine would destabilize yet before any significant loss of potency.
At that perfect moment, he added ten strands of Earth Dragon Essence.
Whoosh
The Earth Dragon Essence, known for its heavy, grounding properties, rapidly soothed the clashing energies. The chaotic colors within the potion swiftly blended and harmonized, the conflicting hues fading…
Until the liquid gradually turned into a steadily refined pale blue.
"The time is right seal it!"
More than a full day had passed since the start of the process. With all energies now unified and impurities fully removed, Li Ye quickly performed a series of incantation gestures.
The flames within the furnace shifted, and the liquid began to condense into pills…
Clang!
The furnace lid flew open, and a few glowing pills shot out. Li Ye swiftly caught them on a jade tray he had prepared.
Two pills, glowing faintly blue, bounced gently on the tray and rolled together.
One had a dim, lackluster hue an inferior product.
The other gleamed with radiant light a completed Foundation Establishment Pill.
It seemed… the pill refinement had succeeded!
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