Li Fan and Master Yin returned deep into the complex. After sitting down in a rest area, Li Fan stated the purpose of his visit.
"Oh? You want to ask how to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage?" Master Yin grew excited at once, spittle flying as he spoke. "Fellow Daoist, you've certainly asked the right person! I dare say no one understands Foundation Establishment better than I do!"
"I would gladly hear the details!" Li Fan did not dispute him, answering with a genial smile.
Just then, the human-handed dog walked over upright like a person.
With both hands on its forelimbs holding two cups, it set them down on the table.
Inside the cups, a pitch-black liquid churned, leaving it anyone's guess what kind of concoction it was.
The human-handed dog then dropped back onto all fours, circling relentlessly around Master Yin to seek praise.
"Fellow Daoist, please, drink some tea! This is great stuff—a colony of spiritual energy bacteria I cultivated. If it breeds and lives symbiotically inside your body, it speeds up the circulation of spiritual energy and boosts the explosive power of your energy bursts. There are endless benefits." Master Yin took a sip as though savoring a delicacy and spoke to Li Fan.
Li Fan swept his divine sense across the cup and discovered that churning within it were countless tiny microorganisms, clawing and posturing with bizarre appearances.
Thus, Li Fan made no move.
Seeing that Li Fan was not drinking, Master Yin showed a touch of regret.
Without forcing the matter, he turned to the main topic and asked, "The so-called Foundation Establishment is to build the foundation of one's cultivation of the Dao. So, Fellow Daoist, do you know what this Dao Foundation truly is?"
Li Fan pondered for a moment, then replied, "The Dao Foundation is the cornerstone of a cultivator's practice. Once a cultivator reaches the perfection of Qi Refining, they must construct their own Dao Foundation before they can advance further. Otherwise, even if their cultivation continues to increase, it is like building a hundred-zhang tower upon loose sand. With the slightest tremor, it will come crashing down."
When it came to academic discussion, Master Yin became quite serious. He nodded. "Indeed. Before the Great Calamity, there were Qi Refining cultivators who sought another path, refusing to build a Dao Foundation and focusing solely on refining Qi.
"They claimed there was no limit to Qi Refining, boasting that three thousand layers of Qi Refining could slay Dao Integration cultivators. Regrettably, that man had only cultivated to the ninety-ninth layer of Qi Refining before an offended Golden Core cultivator casually struck him dead.
"Perhaps his path was truly feasible, but for one, the body of a Qi Refining cultivator is frail and cannot endure such massive power. Secondly, no matter how many layers of Qi Refining one possesses, it is merely brute force. In an actual fight against a cultivator at Foundation Establishment or above, one suffers too heavy a disadvantage—it is forsaking the root for the branches."
Master Yin took a sip of tea and continued, "Ancient cultivators all took nature as their teacher. They observed the operating patterns of heaven and earth and comprehended the laws governing the great Dao's flow.
"Then, synthesizing their own insights, they made clumsy imitations.
"Over the years, the cultivator's comprehension and contemplation of the great Dao became the bedrock for their future cultivation.
"Furthermore, because innate talent varies and comprehension differs between individuals, the speed and compatibility with which cultivators grasped the Dao and established their Dao Foundations were vastly diverse.
"Some could experience an epiphany in an instant, establishing their foundation on the spot. Yet the vast majority spent decades studying until their hair turned white without advancing an inch.
"From this, one can see how difficult cultivating the Dao truly was."
Master Yin suddenly sighed. "But that was in the past.
"If the laws of heaven and earth are compared to a towering tree reaching into the sky, then in the past, we cultivators were all tiny sprites within the tree, flitting among the branches and leaves to observe and comprehend.
"It was too slow and too difficult.
"So, after the Immortal Venerable transmitted the teachings, we cultivators were all transformed into greedy ants. We no longer bothered with observing, comprehending, imitating, or reproducing; instead, we directly devoured the branches and leaves of the great tree, turning them into sustenance for our own growth.
"In this way, cultivation naturally became countless times faster. And the wonders of heaven and earth are just like the branches and leaves of this giant tree.
"They are the convergence of the laws of heaven and earth in a particular aspect. By relying on a wonder, a cultivator can bypass the process of personal comprehension and directly turn it into their own Dao Foundation."
Li Fan nodded. "I recall that the *Treatise on Wonders* said something similar."
"The *Treatise on Wonders*..." Master Yin sneered, seemingly contemptuous.
He continued, "If relying on the wonders of heaven and earth was once meant to bypass the process of comprehending heaven and earth...
"Then let me ask you: nowadays, suppose a cultivator is exceptionally gifted by nature and has no need for wonders of heaven and earth to comprehend these laws. His comprehension aligns so profoundly with heaven and earth that, in ancient times, he could have directly established his foundation. Today, can he still do so?" Master Yin stared intently at Li Fan.
"Naturally not. Foundation Establishment requires borrowing the wonders of heaven and earth..." As Li Fan spoke, something suddenly occurred to him, and he fell silent.
"Correct. The method of cultivation was thoroughly changed long ago," Master Yin said coldly.
"In the past, cultivators comprehended the laws of heaven and earth and cultivated by according with heaven—that was the natural principle.
"Yet after the Immortal Venerable transmitted the method, this natural principle was reversed. Cultivators must act against the heavens, plundering heaven and seizing earth..."
Li Fan said in a low voice, "Defying the principles of heaven and earth..."
"To attain longevity!" Master Yin continued.
"I do not know how cultivators attained longevity before the Great Calamity.
"However, since the method of cultivation was altered, attaining longevity today requires nothing other than defying the principles of heaven and earth.
"The Dharma-Transmitting Immortal Venerable back then proposed the theory and was also its very first practitioner.
"He inverted all the cultivation principles of the world's cultivators and attained the status of longevity. From then on, His life became coeval with heaven and earth, unfettered and free.
"And ever since, if cultivators across the world wish to cultivate, they can only do so according to His 'dharma.' How domineering!"
Master Yin spoke with fierce intensity, clearly harboring immense dissatisfaction toward this Dharma-Transmitting Longevity Heavenly Venerable.
*He walked his own path, and then forced all living beings to walk only this path from that moment on. What a Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable...* Li Fan was deeply shaken.
This was the second Longevity Heavenly Venerable he had caught a glimpse of.
Next, he suddenly recalled the gigantic statue of the elder wearing a high crown on Wanxian Island.
Towering in solitude, looking down upon all living beings passing by.
*Could it be that the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals was founded by this Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable? But if this Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable is still alive, why would he sit by and watch Wanxian Island be destroyed by Crimson Flame several years from now...* Doubts welled up in Li Fan's heart.
Master Yin paid Li Fan no heed and went on: "Now comes the crucial question. Since Foundation Establishment nowadays requires borrowing the wonders of heaven and earth...
"Then what, exactly, is a wonder of heaven and earth?
"You've read the *Treatise on Wonders*, so you know that after a cultivator perishes, they are transformed by heaven and earth into a wonder of heaven and earth.
"Does that not mean that, during their lifetime, a cultivator can also be viewed as a wonder of heaven and earth that has not yet been fully transformed?"
Master Yin spoke faster and faster, as if eager to pour out all the research that no one had cared about for all these years in a single breath.
"Heaven and earth are like a furnace. The fully smelted finished products are formed wonders of heaven and earth. And everything between heaven and earth can be regarded as wonders that have yet to take shape!
"A wonder is a convergence of laws—is a human not one as well? The human body is so exquisite, containing endless mysteries. Why can it not be considered a wonder?
"Does Fellow Daoist know that some cultivators refine mortals who possess supernatural abilities into wonders of heaven and earth to use as their own Dao Foundations, thereby claiming those mortals' abilities as their own?
"I, too, am a human. So then, am I a wonder as well?"
Seeing Master Yin's words become increasingly unhinged, Li Fan could not help but ask, "Is this your conjecture, Fellow Daoist, or..."
Master Yin grinned. "It used to be a conjecture. But now...
"It has been proven by me."
As he spoke, his entire body split down the middle from left to right.
From within the viscera and flesh emerged another face belonging to Master Yin.
"Ten years ago, using myself as the wonder, I established my Dao Foundation!"
The inner and outer faces spoke in unison.
Chapter 109