The return to the Azure Serpent Lake was a hocoming in the truest sense of the word. The weight of Li Yu’s greatest secret—his cultivation level—had been lifted and the change in atmosphere was imdiate and profound.
He gathered his three friends in the main hall of the pagoda. This ti, there were no secrets between them, no carefully constructed facades. Brother Kai, Hu Jian, and Lin Tao looked at him, their minds still reeling from the revelation of his Ninth Stage cultivation. Li Yu was worried about what his friends thought of him since he had kept that secret from them.
“Ninth Stage,” Hu Jian said, the words a soft, disbelieving whisper that was a stark contrast to his usual booming voice. “All this ti, while we were struggling to reach the Third and Fourth Stage, you were already standing at the peak. Junior Steward, you… you are a true monster.”
“A monster who is our friend,” Lin Tao corrected, a rare, wide smile on his face. “It explains everything. The duel with Ma Long, your ‘luck’ in the Fen, your calm in the face of danger earlier. It was never luck. It was strength.”
“Well it was so luck too.” Li Yu corrected quickly.
Brother Kai simply shook his head, “I knew you were special, boy. I just never imagined how special. To have hidden such a thing for so long, to have endured the scorn and the dismissals… your will is even more terrifying than your talent.”
“I did what I had to do to survive,” Li Yu said, a small genuine smile on his face. The relief of being able to speak the truth, at least partially, was a liberating feeling. “But that ti is over. The sect has shown its trust in
and I will repay that trust.”
He looked at them, his expression turning serious. “Now, the real work begins. I am at the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm. My next step is to forge my foundation. It is the most important, most dangerous step in my cultivator’s journey to date.” He paused, his gaze distant. “And I will not be doing it here.”
His friends looked at him, confused.
“I will be going to the Abyssal Water Pavilion,” he stated. “I will enter seclusion there for my breakthrough, I’ve been at the ninth stage for quite so ti.”
“The Pavilion?” Brother Kai’s brow furrowed. “It is a fine place to cultivate but a breakthrough of this magnitude requires absolute security and tranquility. Why not stay in our valley, where we can protect you?”
“Because the quality of the spiritual energy there is unmatched,” Li Yu explained. “From what I know and what my master has told , it all says that the purity of the energy one uses to form their foundation is critical. It determines your future potential. The Pavilion’s Qi is the purest in the entire sect. It is the best possible environnt to forge the best foundation. The risk is worth it.”
“For the next few months, the valley’s security is in your hands,” he said, his trust in them absolute.
Li Yu spent the next week in careful preparation. He used his new authority and vast contribution points to requisition a variety of supporting materials from the sect's treasury—rare pills to calm the mind, ancient herbs to stabilize Qi and several obscure texts detailing the many perils of forging a foundation.
Finally, he was ready. He traveled to the Abyssal Water Pavilion alone. The two ancient elders guarding the entrance opened their eyes as he approached, a new more gentle look on their eyes. He was no longer just a talented disciple; he was part of the sect’s future. They granted him entry without a word and without asking, they made sure no one else could enter. They could already tell what he wanted to do.
So disciples were pretty annoyed by this but when given a stern look by the elders, there was little else they could do. They could only wish the person breaking through in there did so quickly.
He chose a secluded platform at the back of the silent, subterranean grotto and activated a privacy formation. He sat on his ditation cushion and brought out the Heart of the Deep Sea. He placed the pearl on his lap, its pure energy a comforting, stabilizing presence.
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‘Khaos,’ he projected into the sanctuary. ‘The ti has co.’
The ancient, arrogant consciousness stirred. ‘Do not fail, little host. A flawed foundation would be a most… disappointing ho. Don’t make it so that I wasted my ti over the last year.’
Li Yu ignored the jibe. He took a deep breath and sank his consciousness into his dantian. His Qi Core, a flawless, spinning crystal at the peak of the Ninth Stage, was the seed of his new world. He began the final, great compression.
The pain was a universe being born and dying in his soul. As his Qi Core began to crack and transform, he drew upon the profound understanding he had gained from his lessons in despair. A Foundation is not just power, Khaos’s teachings echoed in his mind, it is a law.
The spiritual turbulence created by his breakthrough was imnse. The pure, ambient Qi of the Pavilion was drawn towards him, forming a massive, silent vortex around his platform. This violent surge of energy disturbed the stillness of the grotto, a stone cast into a lake that had been calm for a thousand years.
Deep in the abyss beneath the central pool, the ancient, sleeping consciousness stirred in its slumber. It was not a true awakening but a subconscious reaction to the disturbance, like a sleeper swatting at a fly. As it shifted, a single, infinitesimal thread of its own essence, a wisp of the pure, ancient Qi of Life, leaked out and was drawn into the vortex of Li Yu’s breakthrough.
Li Yu, his entire being focused on the agony of his transformation, was completely unaware of this external event. The wisp of erald-green energy was a silent, unexpected guest, a drop of divine nectar added to the crucible of his soul. It was drawn into the chaotic collapsing storm of his Qi Core, a random fortunate accident..
He drew upon the power of the Heart of the Deep Sea, using its pure energy to help build his foundation. He reached into his own bond with Khaos, drawing upon that single, conceptual thread of the void he obtained from Khaos’s breakthrough, using it as the law that would bind everything together. The accidental wisp of life was added from the beast below, mixing with the void.
The process took an unknown amount of ti. Finally, with a silent shift that resonated through his very soul, the transformation was complete.
The spinning, crystalline Qi Core was gone. In its place, floating in the center of his dantian, was a single, perfect and utterly silent sphere. It was the color of the deepest abyss, a black so pure it seed to devour light. But from its very center, a single, brilliant, erald-green star pulsed with a vibrant, unquenchable life force. It was a fusion of the void and life itself, a foundation that went against the norm.
It was his Foundation.
A wave of power, a thousand tis greater than anything he had ever felt, erupted from the Foundation and flooded his body. His ridians, once celestial rivers, now beca vast, cosmic highways. The new, higher-grade energy poured into his body, consolidating and perfecting his already-achieved Fifth Level of the ??Abyssal Leviathan Physique??: 'Abyssal Vortex.'
His entire circulatory system, from his heart to his smallest capillaries, humd with a new power, the passive, self-sustaining spiritual vortex within his very flesh growing stronger, allowing his body to naturally draw in and refine ambient energy on its own.
He had done it. He had stepped across the chasm. He was no longer a disciple of the Qi Condensation Realm. He was a true, unshakeable expert of the First Stage of the Foundation Establishnt Realm. That brought him to the sa realm as most of the elders of this sect, though he was just at the first level.
He slowly opened his eyes, a look of stunned confusion on his face. He raised a hand and the spiritual energy of the room bent to his will. A sphere of pure, silent water ford in his palm. But this ti, it was different. At its center, a single tiny green sprout, made of pure life energy, unfurled its leaves.
‘What… what is this?’ he thought, his mind struggling to comprehend this unexpected outco. The texts had said nothing of this. He didn’t know, he would have to ask Khaos later or continue studying it to figure it out.
He looked at the Heart of the Deep Sea, still shimring brightly on the floor, its energy had been used but there was still a sizable amount. It would seem the ancient power below gave him most of the energy needed to break through, not utilizing the heart much. He carefully placed it back in his storage ring. It was still a treasure, one he could use to nourish Lirael or for so other purpose in the future.
He stood up and walked to the entrance of the Pavilion. He had been in seclusion for two full months. He went out and passed the two elders guarding the place. He had seen no one else in there as he walked out.
“Thank you for allowing
to break through in there and thank you for protecting
while I did so.” Li Yu said to them. They both simply nodded at him and gave him a smile.
His three friends were waiting for him, their faces etched with a worried patience. They looked at him, and their eyes widened in awe. They could not see his cultivation level—the ??Myriad Rivers Returning to the Sea Art?? was still perfectly concealing his true power.
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