CHAPTER 545: CHAPTER 431 FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT

A broken ship still has three pounds of nails.

Although the Thick Earth Sect’s foundation was nearly exhausted and the elixirs for people were long gone, there were still plenty of Body Refining Pills and Soul Casting Pills left for demons.

It was precisely because Gao Xuan had this foundation that he thought of taking in this Tiger Demon.

In fact, the Tiger Demon had quite good talent, having already comprehended a Talent Technique on its own. It just lacked guidance and grew wild in the mountains and forests, which is why it seemed a bit foolish.

From Gao Xuan’s perspective, this tiger’s potential was much higher than Old Huang’s.

Don’t be fooled by Old Huang’s current strength; it’s also relying on the sect’s elixirs and secret techniques for cultivation. But even after two hundred years at the Foundation Establishment level, it still can’t form a Golden Core. This is probably its fate for this lifetime.

Old Huang’s ambitions have faded, and it now just kills time every day. As a watchdog, it’s indeed difficult to maintain ambition.

At this point, it can only bully this little Tiger Demon.

When the Tiger Demon advances to the Foundation Establishment level, it will be hard to say who will bully whom then!

A dog and a tiger’s internal strife can also keep these two in check.

This Tiger Demon came rather mysteriously. Gao Xuan asked about it and found it was lured by some roasted sheep and unknowingly came here.

It seems like something done by fellow disciples from the Five Elements Sect. Attracting a Tiger Demon to test their strength and condition. After all, it’s been thirty years since they last met. No one knows the other’s situation well.

These are all underhanded tricks, not worth considering. The key is to quickly enhance one’s own strength.

Gao Xuan sat cross-legged on the long couch, meditating, and his consciousness returned to his Sea of Consciousness.

His Sea of Consciousness was filled with deep yellow clouds, shining like an endless cloud sea.

In cultivating the Thick Earth Scripture, Gao Xuan’s Divine Sense breathed and absorbed Earth Element Primordial Qi day and night, forming deep yellow cloud qi in the Sea of Consciousness.

In the center of the Profound Yellow Cloud Sea, Gao Xuan’s Divine Soul resided on a deep yellow high platform.

Gao Xuan’s Divine Soul was completely as he originally appeared. His current body was also handsome and delicate. Because he was only seventeen, his figure and appearance had not completely settled.

In recent days, Gao Xuan constantly adjusted, making the body increasingly fit his original appearance. In time, this avatar might even become identical to the original body.

Of course, these are trivial matters. It’s just the natural adjustment of coordination between Divine Soul Power and body.

In the Sea of Consciousness, Gao Xuan opened the Thick Earth Scripture. The scripture transformed into a myriad of dazzling golden words floating around him, constantly flying and swirling.

This was Gao Xuan visualizing the scripture with his Divine Sense Power, reproducing the Thick Earth Scripture in the Sea of Consciousness.

Through such direct visualization, Gao Xuan also gained a profound understanding of the Thick Earth Scripture.

The Thick Earth Scripture embodies the concept of the earth’s steadfastness, stillness, heaviness, and endlessness, making it the most solid and vast.

This scripture is actually quite contrary to Gao Xuan’s nature. He is pragmatic, favors shortcuts, and likes to explore unconventional paths.

After undergoing numerous trials across various worlds, Gao Xuan mastered the Blood-Born God Technique. This skill has almost no restrictions; as long as there’s flesh and blood, it can be used.

This world is rich in Primordial Qi, and the body’s foundation is solid. Gao Xuan, after just practicing for a few days, made significant progress in the Thirteen Grand Protectors’ Cross Training Method.

Cultivators breathe and absorb Primordial Qi daily, filling their body, limbs, bones, and internal organs, naturally strengthening the body continuously.

Combined with various meditation cultivation methods, the bodies of cultivators are extremely robust, far surpassing ordinary people. Even among ordinary martial artists, their physical aspects cannot compare to those of cultivators.

However, very few cultivators specifically temper their bodies. Cultivator battles typically involve using Divine Sense to manipulate magic, and no matter how strong the body is trained, it can’t change as inexhaustibly as magic can.

Although there are some body-specific cultivation techniques, they are considered unconventional among cultivators.

Gao Xuan trained in Horizontal Training Thirteen Grand Protectors not for any other reason but mainly to strengthen the body and enhance vitality.

Converting Primordial Qi is done through Divine Sense, but the body serves as the carrier for the transformation of Primordial Qi and Divine Sense.

Through the Blood-Born God Technique, Gao Xuan can push the power of his vitality to the extreme, which is far more effective than taking elixirs.

Foundation Establishment is the fusion of vitality, Divine Sense, and Primordial Qi to form a relatively stable core.

At this stage, Primordial Qi, which is light as air, can be transformed into water. All Foundation Establishment cultivators using the same spell have power ten times greater than at the Qi Cultivation level.

Upon reaching the Golden Core Realm, Primordial Qi, Divine Sense, and Divine Soul refine into a core, analogous to the Silver Level.

Gao Xuan has yet to see a Golden Core Cultivator, and it’s hard to make judgments from thin air. However, this world is vast, and even third-tier sects like the Five Elements Sect have Golden Core powerhouses, indicating there should be quite a few Golden Core Cultivators.

With his current Divine Soul level, even without any progress, he should be able to directly reach the Nascent Soul.

It is precisely because of such abundant foundations that Gao Xuan, even though not entirely compatible with the Thick Earth Scripture, is making rapid progress in his cultivation.

In recent days, he has also comprehended the most critical points of it and now has full confidence in his Foundation Establishment.

The golden light letters of the Thick Earth Scripture in the Sea of Consciousness illuminated and, under Gao Xuan’s Divine Sense Power control, rearranged themselves into a cluster of golden light.

Gao Xuan invoked the power of his vitality, and his vitality within his body surged like a volcanic eruption. The robust vitality power also pushed his body into an extremely vigorous state, instantly absorbing abundant and thick Primordial Qi.

In the Sea of Consciousness, Primordial Qi, like cloud gas, was also madly converging around Gao Xuan’s Divine Soul.

After a few breaths, Gao Xuan’s Divine Soul suddenly trembled, and a heavy profound yellow glow rose on the surface of his Divine Soul. The previously ethereal Divine Soul suddenly became solid as a rock.

The swirling profound yellow cloud vapor within the Sea of Consciousness transformed into heavy waves of profound yellow, surging vigorously.

The pervasive profound yellow Primordial Qi extended out from the Sea of Consciousness, circulating through Gao Xuan’s entire body. Wherever the profound yellow Primordial Qi flowed, limbs, bones, and internal organs were nourished and fortified by the enriched, soft-water-like Primordial Qi.

In the blink of an eye, Gao Xuan advanced to the Foundation Establishment level. From his Divine Soul to his body, he received feedback from the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi.

This is also a leap in the realm of life, and Heaven and Earth will naturally return some of the origin.

The body isn’t much of a concern, but Gao Xuan’s Divine Soul receiving an enhancement is truly remarkable.

This enhancement acting on the Divine Soul Origin is very beneficial to Gao Xuan.

For a moment, Gao Xuan was intoxicated in the euphoric sensation of training that felt like floating in the clouds.

After a while, Gao Xuan managed to barely clear his head relying on his strong will.

The promotion to Foundation Establishment felt like opening a new world. At this time, he could also glimpse a bit of the secrets of Heaven and Earth’s origin.

On the other hand, the Primordial Qi obtained at this time is pure and powerful and should not be wasted.

Gao Xuan turned his Divine Sense towards the Nine Peaks Daoist Robe.

Speaking of this Daoist Robe, it’s a fine item, containing thirty-six layers of restrictions. However, most of these restrictions are completely sealed.

With Gao Xuan’s current cultivation, he can only open the first three layers of restrictions. Even when his master was alive, he could only open seven layers.

Every time a layer of restriction is unlocked, a level of the Nine Peaks Daoist Robe’s power is unleashed.

It is evident that this Nine Peaks Daoist Robe can at least match a Nascent Soul level cultivator. The Thick Earth Sect’s thousands of years of heritage are indeed genuine.

The Central Wuxu Treasure Pearl also has thirty-six layers of restrictions, and Gao Xuan, being quite compatible with it, can open five layers.

Gao Xuan, taking advantage of the little remnant original power from Heaven and Earth, decided to use it to refine a magical artifact.

The Central Wuxu Treasure Pearl is for attacks, while the Nine Peaks Robe serves both offensive and defensive purposes.

Gao Xuan thought it over and decided on the Nine Peaks Robe. He could more or less guess the power of the Central Wuxu Treasure Pearl, but was unsure about the powers of the Nine Peaks Robe after unsealing.

Especially when traveling outside, the most important thing is not to kill, but to protect oneself.

Gao Xuan focused his Divine Sense on the Nine Peaks Robe, and the image of the Nine Peaks Robe immediately emerged in his sea of consciousness.

Under his Divine Sense’s stimulation, the Nine Peaks Robe began to shine with layers of divine light.

Nine illusory and indistinct divine mountains also appeared on the Nine Peaks Robe. These mountains are majestic, or graceful, or towering, or precarious, each with its own aura.

The nine divine mountains each have their own mood, representing different transformations.

Clearly, comprehending the mood of the nine divine mountains can unlock the related restrictions and unleash corresponding spell powers.

Gao Xuan was about to trigger one of the tallest and most magnificent mountains when a sudden burst of inspiration hit him.

At the same time, the Six-winged Celestial Cicada chirped softly, affirming his thoughts.

Gao Xuan suddenly thought of the Five Mountains Spear and the Sumeru Mountain Spear. The spear techniques of the Mountain Character Sect are indeed superb and exquisite.

Even in this world, they are superior martial arts. To truly train them to the peak could compete on par with Golden Core level cultivators.

Gao Xuan used the Sumeru Mountain Spear to comprehend the Dao and has a unique understanding of its heavy and powerful nature.

The Nine Peaks Robe, to put it bluntly, is similar to the Five Mountains Spear, each transformation of a divine mountain mood into magic spells.

Gao Xuan was about to choose a divine peak to refine when he suddenly thought of the Sumeru Mountain Spear.

Immeasurably heavy and vastly powerful. Regardless of how all heavens and myriad realms change, the Sumeru Mountain Spear remains the central axis of the realms.

It is precisely because the Sumeru Mountain Spear is heavy and powerful enough that it can accommodate the various transformations of all heavens and myriad realms.

The Nine Peaks Robe is the same; the nine divine peaks each have their mood, but ultimately they rely on the robe as the foundation, to bear them.

The Thick Earth Sect, as the name implies, truly embodies the concept of infinite thick earth. The mountains are merely protrusions attached above the thick earth, that’s all.

Thus, the essence of the Nine Peaks Robe isn’t the nine peaks, but the true essence of the thick earth that bears them.

At this thought, Gao Xuan grasped the fundamental essence of the Nine Peaks Robe. His Divine Soul also fully harmonized with the Nine Peaks Robe.

With this, eighteen core layers of the Nine Peaks Robe’s thirty-six layers of restrictions were immediately released.

Reaching this stage, Gao Xuan truly mastered the Nine Peaks Robe.

At this point, he realized the Nine Peaks Robe is extremely powerful. Much stronger than he initially thought.

By classification, it should also be a golden-level marvel.

Although limited by his personal strength, he can only utilize a small portion of the Nine Peaks Robe’s power. That is sufficient for the Foundation Establishment stage.

Especially some variations of the Nine Peaks Robe, combined with his martial skills, have even greater power.

Gao Xuan advanced to Foundation Establishment and unexpectedly refined the Nine Peaks Robe, feeling elated.

The color of his Profound Yellow Daoist Robe deepened a few shades, with a faint hint of gold, truly appearing like the color of black gold.

Gao Xuan walked seven steps in the room but didn’t dare utter arrogant words. There are too many strong ones in this world, and one shouldn’t speak recklessly.

He noticed it was already bright outside, so he left the room and walked to the main entrance, where the Tiger Demon Big White was lying under a tree asleep.

Hearing footsteps, the Tiger Demon suddenly opened its eyes, its dark yellow and red-tinted pupils gleaming brightly without a trace of sleepiness.

Gao Xuan stepped over and patted the tiger’s head, saying, "From now on, when I ride you and see a master, shout ’Fellow Daoist, stay your step.’ Wouldn’t that be delightful?"

The Tiger Demon looked at Gao Xuan blankly, muttering in its heart: What madness has this kid gone into!