CHAPTER 273: CHAPTER 231: FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT

"噗"

The protective shield could not withstand the three bolts of heavenly lightning and ultimately shattered; Lan Tian spat out a mouthful of blood, her body wobbled twice, but still she floated steadily above the water’s surface.

With a wave of her hand, the Thunder Mother Stone circled overhead Lan Tian, swelling against the wind and in an instant, concealed Lan Tian completely beneath it; bolts of heavenly lightning continuously struck upon it.

The spiritual energy in the Dantian was out of control, rampaging through her meridians, charging and tearing through them. The pain of her torn meridians caused Lan Tian to gasp for air, paying no heed to the heavenly lightning above her head, and split half of her divine sense to guide the rampaging spiritual energy in her meridians, lest it causes further chaos and she ends up not far from death even if not dead.

"Sister."

Little Tao’s voice suddenly echoed in her Sea of Consciousness, and it was urgent.

"What’s wrong?" Lan Tian furrowed her brow slightly; things were already chaotic enough here, and now Little Tao was adding more trouble.

"Sister, are you crossing the tribulation?"

A sinking feeling in her heart, Lan Tian wondered how Little Tao knew. Before Lan Tian could figure it out, she heard Little Tao say, "Sister, Little Tao is a Peach Thunder Wood; Little Tao can help you cross the tribulation."

Lan Tian was stunned, help her cross the tribulation? Plants themselves are most afraid of heavenly lightning and fire, alright? Although she was a novice in cultivation, that doesn’t mean she lacked common sense.

"You’re not a tree? Not afraid of heavenly lightning?"

Little Tao couldn’t be bothered to respond to Lan Tian’s words, it would rather prove it with facts. A red light flashed across Lan Tian’s wrist, revealing Little Tao’s covenant, and a giant peach tree abruptly appeared behind Lan Tian, completely shielding her figure under the peach tree.

The peach branches shook and swayed, extending all their limbs, with peach-red petals falling like a rain of flowers, appearing from afar like a beautiful rain of peach blossoms. Little Tao excitedly extended all the peach branches towards the heavenly lightning in the sky, and this time it could finally feast to its content. Ever since it awakened, it hadn’t been struck by lightning once and was nearly starving. After consuming these heavenly lightning, it could surely return to its previous state.

Leaving a trace of divine sense, Lan Tian saw that Little Tao indeed feared not the heavenly lightning and allowed it to shield her from the tribulation; she withdrew the Thunder Mother Stone. The Thunder Mother Stone, having absorbed large amounts of heavenly lightning, obediently returned to Lan Tian’s hands without resisting, and Lan Tian focused on her Foundation Establishment with all her might.

Mr. Mo and the others saw a purple object flying above Lan Tian’s head, and suddenly a giant peach tree appeared, with clusters of peach blossoms on it. Then, those peach branches madly grew towards the heavens.

Lan Tian devoted herself entirely to Foundation Establishment, missing the anomaly exhibited by Little Tao. The uncontrollable spiritual energy circulated within the meridians for a full cycle; the ruptured meridians, under the restoration of the spiritual energy, expanded once more by a factor of two. Seeing the remarkable result, Lan Tian resumed guiding the spiritual energy through the meridians, only, the pain from being torn apart wasn’t something any ordinary person could bear. Lan Tian, masochistically, performed a full circulation, expanding the meridians again and again, before starting to compress the spiritual energy within the Dantian.

This time, Lan Tian was hurrying to establish her Foundation, not having had time to set up a Spirit Gathering Array; when she began to compress the spiritual energy within the Dantian, she felt a lack of strength to proceed and that there wasn’t enough spiritual energy.

Damn it all; they are trying to kill me, but I will not play into their hands.

Lan Tian rummaged inside her Sleeve Universe, saw a few dozen Immortal Crystals in the corner, and the immense Immortal Power upon them. With a fierce determination and gritted teeth, she flipped her hand and held an Immortal Crystal in each hand to absorb. Damn it all; I am putting everything on the line, success or honor in death.

Lan Tian, as if possessed, desperately absorbed the Immortal Power; a "boom" as the enormous Immortal Power entered the meridians, the empty meridians circulated furiously.

Lan Tian’s Body Refinement had only reached the Third Level, and her fragile meridians could not bear the Immortal Power. The wildly rampaging Immortal Power charged through her meridians, once again tearing apart the newly repaired meridians. The inhumane, excruciating pain made Lan Tian shiver; torn and repaired, repaired and torn again, the blood in her meridians mixed and circulated with the spiritual energy.

As Lan Tian was on the verge of losing control, the Mixed Element Technique began to run automatically, the gray spiritual energy in the Dantian circulating slowly, and guided by the Mixed Element Technique, it started to move through the meridians.

Upon encountering the gray spiritual energy in the meridians, the Immortal Power, as if it encountered something terrifying, scattered in all directions. Wherever the gray spiritual energy passed, it assimilated the Immortal Power and transformed it into the spiritual energy needed by Lan Tian.

Restoring Spiritual Energy was no longer an issue, Lan Tian drew out some of the Spiritual Energy from her Dantian, wrapped it with Divine Sense, fixed its territory, giving it nowhere to escape. Then she compressed the Spiritual Energy within her Divine Sense, squeezing and compacting it until at last, the energy turned into a liquid state. Lan Tian was overjoyed, finally having achieved some success, above her Dantian floated a droplet of Spiritual Liquid the size of a grain of rice.

Seeing the liquified droplet of Spiritual Liquid, Lan Tian controlled her excitement and followed the same method, transforming the remaining Spiritual Energy into liquid. Once all the Spiritual Energy had changed into a liquid form, grey Spiritual Liquid drifted within her Dantian like a vast ocean beneath the moonlight, beautiful and mystical.

"Boom"

It felt like a mysterious lock had been opened within her body, and Lan Tian felt a level of comfort like never before, unable to help but moan, her soul seemingly floating, yearning for ascension, her Divine Sense broke free from the Sea of Consciousness and wandered between heaven and earth.

Mountains and flowing water, blue skies and white clouds, every flower and tree seemed to be the wind, the rain, like the sun atop the vault of heaven, brushing across all things, witnessing the blossoming and withering of flowers, hearing the sound of seeds cracking open.

This sensation was wondrous, profound and unfathomable, impossible to describe in words. It was only a moment, yet it seemed like ten thousand years in an instant, before her Divine Sense returned to the Sea of Consciousness.

Her body’s Spiritual Energy was vast like an ocean, inexhaustibly available at her command, as if she could blast away half a mountain with a wave of her hand.

Lan Tian was delighted, this was successful Foundation Establishment!

Two lifetimes spent in Cultivation, enduring the lightning strikes twice, and finally, it was a success, no simple feat.

......

As Lan Tian was crossing her tribulation, far away in a residence at the bottom of Beijing, a figure suddenly appeared in the void, gazing towards the Southwest through the distance.

"Are there other Cultivators in this realm?" He looked up at the gathering Heavenly Lightning, "Nascent Soul?"

His face twisted into a brief and fierce distortion; he had fallen from Tribulation Crossing Venerable to the Golden Core Stage, and his cultivation hadn’t advanced in many years, his lifespan nearly exhausted.

Imagine him, a Tribulation Crossing Venerable, who had been in this world for merely a few thousand years, to have ended up in such a state... If he could assimilate the cultivation of this Nascent Soul Cultivator, perhaps he could form his own Nascent Soul and leave this realm.

Alas, he was in a critical moment and could not leave. He would wait until the matter at hand was settled, his face manifesting a determined expression.

...

The Heavenly Tribulation outside had finished its strikes, and Little Tao had devoured all the Heavenly Lightning. Seeing Lan Tian open her eyes, she exclaimed in surprise, "Sister, you’re awake."

"Thank you, Little Tao." Lan Tian sincerely expressed her gratitude to Little Tao; without her help, she might not have been able to successfully establish her Foundation. Her smile brightened even more, "Little Tao, I’ve succeeded in Foundation Establishment."

"Congratulations, Sister." Little Tao was also happy for Lan Tian; the higher Sister’s Cultivation was, the higher its own would be, and the sooner it could return to the Divine Realm.

"Thank you!"

"Sister," Little Tao let out a big burp, "I’m going to have a long sleep, and about Grandma..."

"I know, just sleep well, Little Tao. There’s no need to worry about Grandma." If Lan Tian couldn’t tell that Little Tao was about to level up, she would have been unworthy of being called Immortal White.

With Lan Tian’s approval, a red flash occurred, and Little Tao disappeared from sight. Lan Tian swept the area with her Divine Sense and saw Little Tao sleeping soundly within her Dantian.