Upon hearing Sect Master Yu's command, Qin Sang dared not hesitate. He opened his mouth wide and hastily swallowed the dragon pearl, immediately sitting cross-legged to calm his mind and enter meditation.
As the dragon pearl sank into his belly, a brilliant crimson glow surged from Qin Sang's body. His skin and flesh turned entirely crimson like a cooked prawn, radiating scorching heat that quickly made the air inside the cave abode grow blistering hot.
With the passage of time, the red glow upon him burned brighter and brighter, and the air in the cave abode rippled from the intense heat.
The features on Qin Sang's face gradually contorted as though he were enduring unimaginable agony. Heavy beads of sweat gathered on his brow and poured down like rain, drenching a wide ring around him on the floor.
Sect Master Yu looked on coldly the entire time, showing no intention of stepping in.
The pain wracking Qin Sang's body grew ever more excruciating. He began to shiver violently, barely able to maintain his lotus posture. Yet his eyes remained tightly shut and his teeth clenched so hard they nearly shattered, hanging on with every ounce of his will.
*Bang!*
A muffled groan escaped him as a burst exploded on his arm, tearing flesh and skin open. A closer look revealed that his meridians had ruptured. In a flash of red light, the medicinal potency of the Dan Dragon Ginseng spilled out like a rainbow.
At the same time, black impurities began seeping from Qin Sang's skin, only to be baked instantly by the blistering heat, hardening into a crust across his body.
Sect Master Yu reached out and made a grasping motion, trapping the spilled medicinal power in his palm and refining away the impurities clinging to it. He then produced a bottle of spirit liquid and flicked a drop onto Qin Sang's wound. The injury healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
For a disciple in the Qi Refinement stage, the potency of the Dan Dragon Ginseng was far too violent. Normally, one would need to ingest the green sap bit by bit, slowly refining it to cleanse the marrow, alter the tendons, purge the body of impurities, and enhance aptitude. Only after growing accustomed to the Dan Dragon Ginseng's medicinal strength would one dare ingest the dragon pearl to attempt breaking through the bottleneck.
However, the Nascent Soul patriarch was pressing for haste, and Sect Master Yu dared not show the slightest negligence. He had simply refined the entire spirit medicine in one go and fed it all to Qin Sang. If the boy could even master that technique, could he not endure this bit of pain?
Besides, with Sect Master Yu personally guarding him, nothing could go wrong.
Immediately after, a flurry of muted thuds echoed through the cave.
Qin Sang was riddled with wounds all over, but Sect Master Yu intervened in the nick of time each time. Consuming more than half a bottle of healing spirit liquid, he practically dragged Qin Sang through this ordeal by sheer force.
Qin Sang, however, suffered immensely. He felt as though he had been tossed into a blazing furnace; the flesh, blood, and marrow in his body felt scraped apart by sharp blades and then tempered by raging flames, charred through and through, inside and out.
Only the fleeting cool sensation each time a drop of spirit liquid touched his body offered him a moment to catch his breath.
*Hold on!*
This was the single opportunity of his lifetime. If he gave up halfway because he could not bear the pain, he would never forgive himself!
Finally, no more impurities seeped from Qin Sang's body. The red glow crested and then waned, retreating inward and dimming. Just as it was on the verge of fading away completely, Sect Master Yu channeled the medicinal power trapped in his palm straight into Qin Sang's crown, repeating the process once more.
Perhaps having grown numb, Qin Sang was actually able to maintain a completely expressionless face through the latter half. His body only shuddered when a meridian burst, and even those tremors grew smaller and smaller.
In the end, everything within Qin Sang's body settled into tranquility. His breathing gradually turned soft and slow, returning to the rhythm of normal cultivation.
Sect Master Yu suddenly darted to Qin Sang's side and splashed out the remaining spirit liquid, using his spiritual power to drive it into every part of Qin Sang's body, helping the medicinal potency dissolve completely to mend all his hidden internal injuries.
Seeing that Qin Sang's condition had truly stabilized, Sect Master Yu nodded. He pushed open the cave abode's heavy stone door without a sound and stepped outside.
Turning back to cast a glance at the cave abode, Sect Master Yu suddenly showed a trace of envy—not toward Qin Sang, but toward Master Mawu.
Having a backer truly made all the difference. Even when a mere cauldron was breaking through a bottleneck, a Nascent Soul patriarch would bestow a Dan Dragon Ginseng and have the sect master himself stand guard.
Sighing dejectedly, Sect Master Yu departed upon his flying sword.
***
One month later.
Inside the cave abode, which had remained dead silent for an entire month, a dry chuckle suddenly sounded. It was chilling to the bone, sounding exceptionally eerie within the pitch-black cave.
Then the laughter grew louder and louder, escalating into hearty roars, then raving manic laughter.
The person inside laughed as if mad, gasping for breath, tears and snot streaming down his face. He bent double, unable to straighten up, until finally his laughter gave way to a fit of coughing.
A rustling sound broke the quiet.
A luminous pearl lit up the cave abode. Qin Sang climbed up from the ground, changed into a pristine Daoist robe, his eyes shining with extraordinary brilliance.
At last.
He had succeeded in Foundation Establishment!
Qin Sang directed his inner vision inward, and the most striking change was within his sea of qi. During the breakthrough, his gaseous spiritual power had grown thick and viscous, and the moment the breakthrough succeeded, it had liquefied entirely.
Then, like a bottomless vortex, his body had frantically drawn in the spiritual energy of the cave abode. Within this top-grade cave abode on Shaohua Mountain, the spiritual energy flowed incessantly until his sea of qi was filled to the brim once more, whereupon Qin Sang finally ceased.
At this moment, whether in quantity or quality, the spiritual power within him was leagues beyond what he possessed in the Qi Refinement stage—an absolute world of difference.
Another change was that his origin soul had become far more condensed, and his spiritual sense much stronger. Not only had his sensory range expanded several times over, but his spiritual sense could now leave his body without needing to anchor to an external object. When encountering weaker restrictions, he could forcibly unravel them with spiritual sense alone.
Nor did he need to clumsily cast the Qi-Watching Technique as he had during the Qi Refinement stage. With a mere sweep of his spiritual sense, he could detect the spiritual power fluctuations of others and discern their cultivation realm.
Its uses were truly endless.
"Come!" Qin Sang barked softly.
With a flash of dark light, the ebony sword hovered before him, trembling lightly as if congratulating its master on breaking through the bottleneck.
In high spirits, Qin Sang channeled his energy; a streak of green light flashed, and the ebony sword danced through the empty air, ultimately taking the shape of an emerald-green lotus that lingered for a long time before dispersing.
After all those maneuvers, the spiritual power in his sea of qi had barely depleted, remaining virtually full. From now on, he would no longer have to be so cautious or worry about exhausting his sword qi.
However, his mastery over the sword path was not yet profound enough; he was still unable to transform sword qi into a rainbow or achieve sword flight.
Only after thoroughly relishing the thrill did Qin Sang rein in his surging excitement.
Once his calm returned, he was forced back to reality. The smile on his face and the fervor in his eyes receded; all of this had been gained in exchange for his agreement to serve as a cauldron.
Having accepted the favors of the sect's high-level cultivators, there was zero chance of backing out. Not only did he have to do it, but he also had to do it well and leave them satisfied.
Qin Sang was in no hurry to report his successful Foundation Establishment to the sect master. After a brief rest, he began cultivating once more. He needed only one final step: once the jade cauldron took shape and the jade liquid filled it to the brim, the technique would be complete.
He had long prepared himself mentally to serve as a cauldron.
***
Inside the grand hall of Sect Master Peak.
Sect Master Yu was discussing sect affairs with several stewards of the Foundation Establishment stage when a voice transmission talisman suddenly flew into the hall. After reading it, delight broke across his face. Ordering the stewards to act at their discretion, he stepped onto his flying sword and shot out of the hall, heading straight toward Shaohua Mountain.
Chapter 129