Hours passed...
Outside the old hut, the sky gradually darkened until midnight approached, and the countless Stars above could be seen shining through the gaps around the damaged wooden structure.
The surroundings remained quiet, with only the occasional sounds of insects coming from the wilderness, while Qing continued sitting motionlessly on the small cultivation platform. He had completely forgotten about everything around him and focused only on circulating Spiritual Qi through his body.
With the Nine Sovereign Spiritual Roots now awakened, the Spiritual Qi flowed through his nine special meridians with ease.
Seven hours passed in this state before Qing finally sensed a significant change within his body. The Spiritual Qi that had been continuously gathered and refined had filled every Root to its current limit, and the bottleneck that had previously separated him from the Peak Stage of Qi Refining had already disappeared without him even needing to deliberately break it.
His cultivation rose smoothly as all nine Roots advanced together, and the Spiritual Qi inside his body became noticeably denser and stronger. Qing could clearly feel that he had already reached the Peak Stage of the Qi Refining Realm, but he didn’t stop there because the hunger inside his Dantian had not disappeared.
Instead, it had become even stronger, as if his body was demanding that he continue advancing toward the next Realm.
Qing carefully observed the changes taking place inside his body before shifting his attention toward the next bottleneck.
Foundation Establishment was fundamentally different from the Qi Refining Realm because it represented the point where a cultivator truly began building the foundation required for higher cultivation.
In his previous life, Neolan had already experienced this stage countless years ago, but the feeling of breaking through from Qi Refining was still familiar for him to understand exactly what needed to happen.
Qing gathered the enormous amount of Spiritual Qi inside his Dantian and began compressing it further, forcing the already refined energy to become denser and more concentrated. The pressure inside his Dantian continued increasing as he repeatedly refined and compressed the Spiritual Qi, slowly pushing his body toward the transformation required for Foundation Establishment.
"Ughh!" A low groan escaped Qing’s mouth as sweat began running down his entire face. The pressure inside his Dantian had become increasingly intense, and he could clearly feel the Spiritual Qi within it being compressed by an enormous force.
He didn’t stop despite the discomfort and continued refining the energy, allowing the Spiritual Qi to gradually change from its previous gaseous state into something much denser.
The transformation wasn’t instant, and every additional layer of compression placed greater pressure on his Dantian, but Qing remained completely focused and continued pushing forward. He knew that this was the most important step of the breakthrough, and as long as he could complete the transformation, he would officially enter the Foundation Establishment Realm.
The Spiritual Qi inside his Dantian continued compressing until it finally reached a critical point.
Qing’s expression became increasingly strained as the dense Spiritual Qi began slowly liquefying, transforming from an invisible gaseous energy into liquid Spiritual Qi that gathered within his Dantian.
He could feel the difference almost immediately, because the liquid Spiritual Qi contained far more energy than the gaseous Spiritual Qi he had been using throughout the Qi Refining Realm.
Qing continued refining it without hesitation, allowing the liquid to become denser and more stable as the foundation of his cultivation gradually formed. The nine Sovereign Spiritual Roots also remained synchronized with his body throughout the entire process, continuously circulating and refining the Spiritual Qi without showing any sign of instability.
Then suddenly—
BOOOOM!!
A massive burst of Spiritual Qi exploded outward from Qing’s body.
The force was so powerful that the wooden door and windows of the old hut were immediately shattered, pieces of wood flying outward as the accumulated energy finally escaped from his body.
Dust and debris were thrown into the surrounding area, while the grass outside was violently pushed away by the sudden wave of Spiritual Qi. Qing remained sitting at the center of the ruined hut, his clothes slightly disordered and his face covered in sweat, but the oppressive feeling that had surrounded him during the breakthrough had completely disappeared.
After several moments, Qing finally opened his eyes and calmly sensed the enormous increase in strength within his body.
"Phew, finally, I have broken through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, and it seems I don’t need to stabilize my sudden spike in energy as all the Roots are stabilizing themselves on their own..." Qing slowly exhaled as he examined his condition.
Normally, such a sudden increase in cultivation would require a period of stabilization before a cultivator could safely continue cultivating, but the Nine Sovereign Spiritual Roots were already regulating the Spiritual Qi throughout his body.
It continued preventing the sudden increase in energy from becoming unstable.
Qing was slightly surprised by how naturally everything had settled, but after considering the nature of his constitution, he quickly understood why it was happening. Before he could say anything else, however, several System Windows suddenly appeared in front of him.
[Congratulations!! Host has advanced to the Foundation Establishment Stage!]
[Nine Sovereign Spiritual Roots’ Synchronization with Host’s soul: 100%!!]
Qing’s eyes moved across the notifications as he silently examined them.
Just after seeing them Qing was about to dismiss the System Window when another notification suddenly appeared beneath the previous two. Unlike the first two, this one had absolutely nothing to do with his breakthrough, and the moment he read it, his expression became strangely blank.
[Host has Killed 10 Insects!]
[Host has gained 10 Soul Essence!]
Qing stared at the notification for several seconds without saying anything. He knew exactly what had happened, the sudden explosion of Spiritual Qi from his breakthrough had undoubtedly killed the insects hiding inside the old wooden hut.
However, he hadn’t expected the System to actually count them individually as living beings that he had killed and reward him with Soul Essence for it. For some reason, the notification made the System feel less like a mysterious and powerful existence and more like it was deliberately showing him how insignificant his latest source of Soul Essence was.
Qing’s mouth twitched slightly as he looked at the notification, ’Seriously?’
Before he could think any further about the absurd reward, another System Window suddenly appeared.
Qing’s expression immediately changed.
[24 hours have passed, Host will be transferred to Earth now!!]
’Wait—Earth?’
Qing’s thoughts had barely formed when the space around his body suddenly began to distort.
His figure disappeared from the position where he had been sitting, leaving behind only the damaged remains of the old hut. The surrounding space visibly glitched for an instant before returning to normal, as if Qing had never been there in the first place.