Chapter 253: The Gap Between Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment

Chapter 253: The Gap Between Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment

While Bai Zhenzhen was locked in fierce combat with numerous Qi Refining experts, Zhang Yu had also planted the acquired Heavenly Spirit Root into his dantian, initiating the fusion of spirit root and flesh.

The Heavenly Spirit Root Zhang Yu had chosen for his Foundation Establishment was the Qi Sea Spirit Root.

Fu Ji said, “Different spirit roots yield vastly different effects after Foundation Establishment.”

“Using a combat spirit root for Foundation Establishment will boost your combat power more rapidly, but in the long run, it’s less promising than a cultivation spirit root.”

“However, once you complete Foundation Establishment, you’ll need to fight immediately. Some purely cultivation-oriented spirit roots… wouldn’t suit your current situation.”

“After much deliberation, I believe the Qi Sea Spirit Root is the most fitting for you.”

Zhang Yu agreed with Fu Ji’s advice.

The Qi Sea Spirit Root, nicknamed the Wall-Penetrating King, boasts a vast coverage area and can pierce through walls, buildings, sand, mud, and rock to absorb spiritual energy on a large scale.

It would both enhance his future magical power cultivation efficiency and improve his mana recovery during combat.

Using the Qi Sea Spirit Root for Foundation Establishment thus balanced both cultivation potential and combat prowess.

As Zhang Yu guided the Qi Sea Spirit Root into his dantian, the spirit root seemed to take root and sprout, extending crystal-like tendrils that burrowed into the surrounding mana.

In an instant, spiritual energy surged in from all directions, flowing into his dantian with each breath.

Then, as Zhang Yu continuously infused mana into the Qi Sea Spirit Root, the root appeared stimulated, growing further and spreading throughout the dantian.

When Zhang Yu had injected 60 units of his internal mana into the spirit root, it underwent a qualitative transformation. Crystal-like tendrils extended along his meridians, growing outward.

The entire Qi Sea Spirit Root, with Zhang Yu’s dantian as its source, gradually merged with his entire meridian network, becoming part of his body—a new organ.

Boom!

With each step of fusion, more spiritual energy rushed in, and Zhang Yu felt his range of spiritual energy absorption expanding.

From an initial 50 meters, it grew to 60 meters.

80 meters…

100 meters!

At this moment, Zhang Yu felt as if he had become a giant funnel in the world, voraciously devouring all spiritual energy within a hundred meters.

“Now that it’s part of my body… is this the true power of the Qi Sea Spirit Root?”

Meanwhile, as the Qi Sea Spirit Root fully took root in his dantian, its tendrils merging with his meridians, Zhang Yu sensed that with every breath, every pore on his body was inhaling and exhaling the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

The circulation speed of spiritual energy and mana within his meridians had suddenly multiplied several times over.

If before, mana flowing through his meridians was like a car driving on a mountain path,

then from this moment, when Zhang Yu circulated mana through his meridians, it was like a car speeding on a highway.

The efficiency of mana inhalation and exhalation, circulation speed, mobilization scale, output scale… all surged dramatically.

With this frenzied increase in mana efficiency, Zhang Yu’s cultivation in the immortal path underwent a qualitative change.

A flash of insight crossed Zhang Yu’s mind: “Mana… is like the power source of the immortal path.”

“As the efficiency of this power source skyrockets, the operation of all my techniques and the effects they grant are enhanced.”

“It’s like fitting an engine onto an ordinary bicycle…”

With the influx of spiritual energy, the mana Zhang Yu had consumed during the spirit root fusion began to recover rapidly.

Even after mana recovered to 100 units, the refinement of mana did not stop.

Boom!

In an instant, the original limit was shattered. Zhang Yu’s mana broke through to 100.1, then surged upward.

Clearly, with the fusion of the spirit root, Zhang Yu’s mana cap had also been broken.

This manic increase in mana only slowed after reaching 180, finally settling at 198.4.

With this surging mana beyond the previous limit, his Dao Heart began to stir, driven by the mana.

So Zhang Yu visualized the crippled ox in his mind and began to circulate his mental technique.

Not the Qi Refining stage Crippled Ox Self-Sacrifice Heart Technique, but the Foundation Establishment stage version authorized by Deng Bingding.

Roar!

The crippled ox in his mind seemed to bellow at the heavens. The mud around it churned and surged, as if countless black hands were trying to drag it into the depths.

But the ox’s form had grown larger, bearing scars from blades, swords, burns, and various wounds, yet it radiated a sense of sanctity, emitting a faint white glow.

The white ox stood taller and more unyielding amidst the rolling black mud.

Dao Heart Level 10 (100.0%) → Level 11 (0.1%)

After the successive breakthroughs in mana and Dao Heart, Zhang Yu felt his flesh stirring restlessly.

His muscles twisted, and the surging mana was converted into Longevity Mana, beginning to cultivate the Foundation Establishment stage of the Spring and Autumn Boundless Zen.

His body, like parched earth, greedily absorbed the nourishment of Longevity Mana, then broke its own limits, raising his physical strength to Level 10.01.

Dao Heart Level 11 (0.1%)

Mana 198.4

Physical Strength Level 10.01

Feeling the surging power within him, Zhang Yu understood that he had truly entered the Foundation Establishment realm.

From this moment, his Dao Heart, mana, and physical strength could all continue to improve.

The cap for Dao Heart reached Level 20, mana cap was 1000, and physical strength cap was Level 20.

But Zhang Yu did not continue cultivating Dao Heart, mana, or physical strength, as these would not see significant gains in a short time.

What he urgently needed now was to boost his combat power, and the best way was…

Zhang Yu looked at the Nine Heavens Cloud Void Force on his phone.

This was the last Foundation Establishment technique Deng Bingding had given him, besides the Crippled Ox Self-Sacrifice Heart Technique and the Spring and Autumn Boundless Zen—the so-called former military-grade technique.

Combat Technique — Nine Heavens Cloud Void Force Level 0 (0/1). After switching his Feather Script to Nine Heavens Cloud Void Force, Zhang Yu began cultivating this technique, which could only be practiced at Foundation Establishment.

“Nine Heavens Cloud Void Force… the Foundation Establishment technique created by the inventor of the Boundless Cloud Hand.”

“Like the Boundless Cloud Hand, it doesn’t emphasize forms—just three moves back and forth, which makes it convenient for me to practice.”

After Zhang Yu completed his first cycle of Nine Heavens Cloud Void Force, countless images flashed through his mind, and his understanding of the technique reached the entry level.

Nine Heavens Cloud Void Force Level 1 (0/10)

“This technique and the Boundless Cloud Hand are completely in the same lineage…”

“It’s practically a technique tailored for me. Did Deng Bingding intend this?”

When he had cultivated Nine Heavens Cloud Void Force to Level 5, Zhang Yu could feel that this former military-grade technique already surpassed any of his practical martial arts in power.

But Zhang Yu had no mind to continue cultivating.

Every moment he spent training increased Bai Zhenzhen’s danger.

So Zhang Yu’s figure flickered, and he sped at full speed toward the battlefield where Bai Zhenzhen was fighting.

……

Zhang Yu had barely arrived at the battlefield when he witnessed Bai Zhenzhen being captured by Zhou Yang.

Though he did not recognize Zhou Yang after his altered appearance and form, it did nothing to quell the fierce killing intent surging within Zhang Yu’s heart.

198.4 units of mana roared wildly inside him, transforming into streams of milky-white Formless Cloud Force that gushed forth.

He did not use the newly cultivated Nine Heavens Cloud Void Force—after all, that was now his hidden killing move—and merely executed the Limitless Cloud Hand.

In the past, when Zhang Yu used the Limitless Cloud Hand, his cloud force could only cover a few meters.

But now, having merged with the Qi Sea Spirit Root and stepped into the Foundation Establishment realm, his mana capacity, mana regulation efficiency, and output efficiency all far exceeded the limits of Qi Refining.

In the blink of an eye, the Formless Cloud Force had enveloped the battlefield for dozens of meters around, like a thick fog rising.

Zhou Yang, hearing the sounds from within the fog, was momentarily stunned, and the next moment he saw the other man striding toward him atop a sea of clouds.

At the same time, the surrounding Formless Cloud Force had already crept in unnoticed, like underwater currents, coiling around Zhou Yang’s hands and feet, sealing his movements.

Boom!

Zhang Yu lightly struck a palm toward Zhou Yang.

Zhou Yang instinctively received the palm, activating the Zhou family’s Frost Sky Freezing Field, and a torrent of palm force laced with resentment and corpse-chill blasted toward Zhang Yu.

The two palms collided with a soft thud, but Zhou Yang’s expression suddenly shifted drastically. He felt that the other’s palm, seemingly unremarkable at first, only revealed upon true contact how ferocious the contained Formless Cloud Force truly was.

If the freezing force of his own palm was a babbling brook, then the cloud force from the other’s palm was like a surging river, vast and overwhelming.

The Formless Cloud Force tore through the freezing force like a whirlwind, flooding into Zhou Yang’s body, bursting his meridians, shattering his bones…

With a series of cracking explosions, Zhou Yang’s right arm shattered into a mist of blood.

After being gravely wounded by that single palm, Zhou Yang collapsed to the ground, his heart trembling violently: “Foundation… Foundation Establishment! This is the level of mana output only achievable at the Foundation Establishment realm!”

But Zhang Yu, as if treating him like air, silently walked over to Bai Zhenzhen and pulled her into his arms.

Looking at her pale face and the injuries on her body, Zhang Yu said, “Sorry, I’m late.”

Bai Zhenzhen smiled faintly. “Isn’t this just the right time?”

From Zhang Yu’s entrance to his one-move crippling of Zhou Yang and lifting Bai Zhenzhen, it had all taken only a few seconds.

In those few seconds, the many Qi Refining experts around them had not stopped moving; they howled as they charged into the fog, heading toward where they remembered Bai Zhenzhen to be.

Facing the siege of over a dozen Qi Refining peak experts, Zhang Yu held Bai Zhenzhen with one arm while subtly channeling force into his other palm, then struck out with a palm from a distance.

If earlier, in his haste to save Bai Zhenzhen quickly, Zhang Yu had merely thrown a basic attack at Zhou Yang,

then at this moment, Zhang Yu’s palm strike also incorporated the force techniques of Back Dragon Overturning Mountain Hand and Dragon-Elephant Mountain-Crushing Palm.

Though both were merely Qi Refining martial arts, now, under the enhancement of Zhang Yu’s Foundation Establishment mana and Martial Dao Sacred Embryo, they erupted with unprecedented, ferocious palm power.

The crowd felt a series of crackling explosions in the air first, followed by what seemed like the roar of a dragon and an elephant.

Roar!

Ye Mantian felt as if a giant dragon was howling and charging at him through the sea of clouds. He unleashed his full power, raising both palms, but was still shattered at the first touch. With a boom, he was sent flying, crashing into a small building.

Ye Mantian struggled to stand, but suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. He felt his internal organs splitting, his bones breaking and tendons snapping, and fell to his knees with a thud.

When he looked up, he saw that the dense fog from moments ago had already scattered with the blast’s gale, revealing a scene as if a great explosion had occurred.

And of the many experts who had been fighting valiantly, not one remained standing.

Some were embedded in shattered walls, only parts of their bodies visible.

Others lay on the ground, covered in blood, already unconscious.

Still others were left with only severed limbs and broken arms, their bodies no longer intact.

Ye Mantian, gazing at Zhang Yu standing in the center of the battlefield, holding Bai Zhenzhen with one arm, thought bitterly, “Foundation Establishment…”

At the same time, beams of divine power descended from the sky. Wang Yin’s remotely activated surgical talismans had already begun healing Chi He, Ye Mantian, and the others.

But even as they felt their injuries rapidly mending, Chi He, Ye Mantian, and all the experts present felt a chill in their hearts. They dared not move an inch, let alone show any trace of battle intent or hostility.

Because from Zhang Yu’s icy gaze, they all read the same message.

Whoever moves, dies.

(End of chapter)