‘I’m afraid no matter what, it’ll be hard to get used to this.’
Lu Li sighed inwardly.
On the surface, following the posture he had practiced for half a month, he landed slowly in the market square alongside Shen Zhaoxue, a smile on his face, nodding steadily at the disciples.
Naturally, this action immediately drew discussion from the surrounding people.
“As expected of the Saintess of the Yin Yang Sect, elegant and steady.”
“And I heard she hasn’t been training long; she only joined very recently.”
“Huh? But I remember a young man joined the Yin Yang Sect before?”
“Maybe he’s still cultivating…”
“Senior Sister Lu, let’s go check out the most important things first.” Shen Zhaoxue also knew when to stop, leading Lu Li away from the market square’s speculation.
They turned through a bustling alley and arrived in front of a large shop.
“This is a shop under our Shen Family.” A hint of warmth appeared on Shen Zhaoxue’s face for the first time.
“I spent my childhood here.”
“A prominent family…” Lu Li quickly estimated the size of the shop and looked at the bustling crowd. Such a prosperous commercial place was a world away from his past self.
“That’s in the past. Once you enter the immortal sect, many things must be slowly let go… but it’s hard to let go.” Just as Shen Zhaoxue stepped over the threshold, a guard nearby immediately cupped his fists in greeting.
“Miss Shen, welcome back. Are you here to…”
“To show my senior sister around. Bring out all the recent new goods.” After Shen Zhaoxue spoke, the guard glanced at the jade pendant on Lu Li’s waist, then bowed again.
He led the two through the bustling hall, up to the second floor, and chose a room toward the inside.
After the two entered the room and the door closed again, Lu Li let out a long sigh, slouching against the chair without any dignity, staring blankly at the ceiling.
“What’s this? Our Yin Yang Sect Saintess can’t handle walking down one street?” Shen Zhaoxue laughed lightly.
With a wave of her wrist, teacups and tea set floated down onto the table with a crisp sound.
“Junior Sister Shen, you know my situation.” Lu Li sighed again, examining his current attire.
“Having to pay attention to how to walk, how to maintain posture—that’s the greatest torment.”
“Who told you to be our sect’s Saintess?” Shen Zhaoxue poured a cup of tea.
“So this junior sister should apologize to you?”
“Shen Zhaoxue, you’re not right, not right at all.” Lu Li took the teacup, carefully scanned it with his divine sense to make sure no medicine was placed inside, then drank it all in one gulp.
“It’s not that I’m not right. It’s just that after realizing Senior Sister Lu’s talent, I’ve seen my own future more clearly.” As Shen Zhaoxue also raised her teacup, a knock sounded at the door again.
At this, Lu Li could only helplessly straighten his posture and watch as Shen Zhaoxue, with a light laugh, waved her hand to open the door.
“Miss Shen, and Fairy Lu, these are our latest goods from the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion. They cover everything from mortal goods to treasures for Foundation Establishment Stewards. Everything you could want.” A servant brought in a box decorated with various jewels and placed it on the table. “Would you like me to introduce them to you two?”
“I’ll handle it. You’ve worked hard.” Shen Zhaoxue flicked her finger, sending a silver piece flying into the servant’s hand.
“I’ll be staying in the market square these days, so I’ll need your Wang Family’s assistance.”
“Miss Shen, it’s only right.” The servant immediately beamed with a smile, then stepped back, closed the door, and left.
“Very skilled, Junior Sister Shen.” Lu Li swept the room with his divine sense and unexpectedly found that the door could block some divine sense probing.
“As expected of a prominent family.”
“I learned this from following my family’s elders since childhood.” Shen Zhaoxue waved her hand.
“Senior Sister Lu, do you want to talk about the Fragrance Condensing Pill, or about me, or about Foundation Establishment?”
“Well…” Lu Li looked at the sunlight perfectly streaming through the window lattice, spilling into the room.
The tea on the table was fragrant, and Shen Zhaoxue was no longer as aggressive as before.
Instead, she took a light sip, occasionally gazing at the ancient painting on the wall, lost in thought.
It seemed that since entering the Yin Yang Sect, there hadn’t been such a peaceful time.
Either cultivating, preparing for the Grand Tournament, or rushing through the ceremony preparations with a heavy heart.
“Let’s start with Foundation Establishment.” Lu Li was most concerned about this matter.
“Junior Sister Shen gave me books on Foundation Establishment before, but I haven’t had time to read them.”
“Then let’s take this time.” Shen Zhaoxue watched as Lu Li pulled out the earlier books.
“Foundation Establishment is actually closely related to the Qi Refining 13th Layer. I wonder if Senior Sister Lu has opened the Ren and Du Meridians yet?”
“They’re already open.” Lu Li nodded and conveniently flipped open the insights on Qi Refining 13th Layer and Foundation Establishment.
“How wonderful…” Shen Zhaoxue sighed.
“Senior Sister Lu, take a look first. If you have any questions, you can tell me. Although I’ve been stuck at Qi Refining Layer 12 for over a year, my family has Golden Core ancestors and Foundation Establishment cultivators, so I have some understanding.”
“Then thank you.” Lu Li looked down at the scroll.
With a sweep, his divine sense absorbed most of the content.
According to the book, Foundation Establishment is actually “simple”: you need to condense the True Qi in the Twelve Principal Meridians into liquid True Yuan, and that counts as Foundation Establishment.
But such a simple step stumps eighty to ninety percent of cultivators.
Through research, cultivators have found that the energy condensed from liquid True Yuan is at least a thousand times that of True Qi.
This means that if Qi Refining Layer 1 took a year, then simply calculated, entering Foundation Establishment would take over a thousand years.
But the lifespan of the Qi Refining Stage is only about 120 years, making this impossible.
To solve this problem, cultivators devised two methods.
First, the Qi Refining 13th Layer appeared. By opening the Ren and Du Meridians as well, natural Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi would condense from qi to liquid within the body.
This method could shorten the thousand-plus years, but finding the Ren and Du Meridians in harmony with heaven and earth would take decades.
Thus, the Foundation Building Pill was created.
For a period after taking the Foundation Building Pill, heaven and earth spiritual qi would automatically transform into True Yuan.
But there was a drawback: once you stop taking it, the condensation of True Yuan slows down.
So nowadays, most cultivators first take the Foundation Building Pill to try entering Foundation Establishment.
After building a foundation, they then work on opening the Ren and Du Meridians.
However, everything has trade-offs.
The difficulty of opening the Ren and Du Meridians in the Foundation Establishment Stage is much greater than in the Qi Refining Stage.
If that doesn’t work, they spend time entering the Qi Refining 13th Layer.
But in any case, the power of the Foundation Establishment Stage far exceeds that of the Qi Refining Stage.
Rather than living a hundred years in one place and dying of old age, it’s better to take a gamble and at least live over two hundred years.
“The path of immortality is long…” Seeing this, Lu Li gained a simple understanding of Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment.
“This is why I suddenly changed my mind recently.” Shen Zhaoxue looked at Lu Li as he raised his head.
“Senior Sister Lu, I am twenty-seven this year, yet I still cannot enter the Qi Refining 13th Layer.”
“For me, either I cultivate until I’m sixty and then attempt Foundation Establishment,” Shen Zhaoxue closed her eyes, listening to the sounds from the street outside the building, “or I return to the secular world, do business, and use wealth to buy Foundation Building Pills.”
“And that brings us back to the Fragrance Condensing Pill you and I first discussed, Shen Zhaoxue.” Lu Li looked at the box on the table.
“Let’s talk about that.”