When Lin Jing’s cultivation realm reached the thirteenth level of Qi Cultivation, he didn’t even have time to be pleased before a sensation as if he were going to burst filled his entire being, as though his whole body was about to swell up.
"Proceed to Foundation Establishment."
Noticing Lin Jing’s abnormality, Elder Shen Song immediately said, "It seems your current physique simply can’t withstand the power of the thirteenth level of Qi Cultivation. Quickly compress your True Qi and proceed to Foundation Establishment."
"You are not a special physique that can accommodate vast amounts of True Qi. Although the Ice Soul Gu has improved your body to some extent, bearing the power of the twelfth level of Qi Cultivation is already your limit." ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel·fire.net
"By means of temporal techniques, you’ve pushed your realm to the thirteenth level of Qi Cultivation, but you can’t remain in this realm for long. However, your goal has been achieved; now it’s time to establish your foundation!"
"Alright." Lin Jing responded, barely having time to congratulate the Dragon Carp before quickly sitting down cross-legged and beginning Foundation Establishment. At the thirteenth level of Qi Cultivation, there was no need for any Foundation Establishment pills or heavenly treasures; this unparalleled foundation would aid him more than anything else during Foundation Establishment.
Such items were mere external aids, whereas the thirteenth level of Qi Cultivation was his own foundation! Of course, in his current state, accumulating further foundation seemed impossible; he had reached the limit.
At the moment, Lin Jing, sitting cross-legged, resembled the center of a black hole, surrounded by thirteen layers of True Qi rotating wildly, with immense Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi rushing into his body, contorting Lin Jing’s expression.
Elder Shen Song, worrying himself over Lin Jing, called to the Pine Leaf Mouse, the now fully transformed Fire Kirin Dragon, and the Ice Soul Gu, "Protect him. By the power of your contracts, infuse your True Essence into him, help him compress his True Qi, and once he succeeds in Foundation Establishment, you can also continue to break through."
"The resources you absorbed during the Qi Cultivation and Foundation Establishment stages can elevate your cultivation far beyond your current realm. Once no longer bound by his contracts, your cultivation realms will progress rapidly!"
The Pine Leaf Mouse absorbed massive amounts of life essence from high-grade flora...
The Ice Soul Gu absorbed power from an entire Land of Extreme Cold...
And the Dragon Carp absorbed massive amounts of Hidden Dragon fortune and Dragon Emperor’s blood strength...
Currently, the Foundation Establishment early stage was far from their limit.
With Lin Jing’s breakthrough, their cultivation realms would also usher in their second explosive surge.
"Roar!!!" The Dragon Carp, no, the now-called Fire Kirin Dragon, easily controlled its body size with its Dragon Emperor bloodline, quickly reducing to arm-thickness, and settled beside Lin Jing.
The Ice Soul Gu also emerged, glanced at the Fire Kirin Dragon, then silently protected Lin Jing, refraining from disturbing his Foundation Establishment from within.
Meanwhile, the Pine Leaf Mouse sat cross-legged beside Lin Jing, with the three pet beasts guarding Lin Jing at the center, all entering a "retreat" state, digesting the foundations accumulated since their cultivation journey began.
"This kid is still too greedy."
Seeing Lin Jing’s state, Elder Shen Song muttered to himself, "The thirteenth level of Qi Cultivation...Given his situation, it seems difficult to manage. Originally, he could achieve Foundation Establishment at the twelfth level easily, but now, with the long-life body as a burden, it’ll take a long retreat to successfully stabilize the state of Foundation Establishment."
"Yet once successful, the benefits are unimaginable. It’s just uncertain how much his three major physiques can be enhanced."
"Anyhow, I’ve labored for so long, I can finally have a good rest..."
Time flies, years passed.
Hidden Dragon City, Hidden Dragon Academy.
It has been a decade since Beast Taming Sect’s Saint Heir and academy student Lin Jing took first in the Battle of Heavenly Talents and topped the Heavenly Talents list.
Since the Battle of Heavenly Talents, Lin Jing vanished into seclusion upon returning to the academy, disappearing from the mortal world for ten years without any news, leading many to speculate Lin Jing was hiding in the academy to avoid the Gu God Sect’s demon cultivators.
People guessed half correctly because even hiding in the academy, he wouldn’t completely disappear; neither teachers nor students in the academy had seen Lin Jing for a decade; he had remained in retreat all this time.
The barrier outside the cave dwelling, alongside the guardian Elder Shen Song, blocked anyone attempting to visit Lin Jing.
"In seclusion for Foundation Establishment breakthrough."
This was Elder Shen Song’s response to visitors.
This left some of Lin Jing’s old friends bewildered, having heard of seclusion for ten years to break through Golden Core or from Golden Core to Nascent Soul, but never for a Qi Cultivation breakthrough to Foundation Establishment; what kind of Foundation Establishment was this?
In the academy, at the Dragon Palace organization post, Xu Zhizhi, who had already achieved Golden Core Stage, had graduated for many years, now serving as a City Lord in a city within the ancient domain. However, despite becoming a city lord, he occasionally returned to the academy to observe the development of the Dragon Palace organization and network with people.
Due to Lin Jing’s rushed retreat, very few Dragon Ascending Pills were left, and there was no time to disseminate the method of refining Dragon Ascending Pills, resulting in a situation where, although Lin Jing became the first on the Heavenly Talents list, prompting many new academy students to want to join Dragon Palace, it was forced to take an elite approach, no longer accepting members en masse.
The Dragon Palace metamorphosed from an organization fostering powerful dragon pets for newcomers into a gathering place for talents wanting to connect with Lin Jing, with dragon pets merely symbolizing one’s identity as a Dragon Palace practitioner.
"It’s the two of you." Xu Zhizhi said upon seeing the brother and sister in front of him, "Foundation Establishment mid-stage... Both of you have reached Foundation Establishment mid-stage, yet Lin Jing hasn’t succeeded in establishing his foundation? I’m impressed."
"Perhaps Elder is cultivating some special divine technique; how could we compare with the Elder?" The Jiang family twins smiled wryly.
The two before him were the very Jiang family twins Lin Jing brought back from the Void Domain to raise the Ice Soul Child Gu. In ten years, following Gao Sheng, they had reached Foundation Establishment mid-stage and, with Gao Sheng’s help, entered Hidden Dragon Academy to study, replacing the first batch of Dragon Palace elders in managing the Dragon Palace.
Ten years ago, upon learning from Gao Sheng the truth about Lin Jing’s contract with the Ice Soul Gu, they became ever more willing to follow Lin Jing.
Only...Lin Jing is very adept at seclusion.
"Hopefully so, ten years, after all, the top of the Heavenly Talents list has changed three or four times..." Xu Zhizhi shook his head, looking towards Lin Jing’s cave dwelling.
Ten years is nothing perhaps to cultivators at Golden Core Stage and above, but regarding the list of young talents under thirty setting Foundation Establishment as a core standard, Lin Jing is, by now, a figure of legends long past. Many new Heavenly Talents first want to seek out this legendary figure for a challenge, but unfortunately, haven’t been able to meet him.
Meanwhile, at Lin Jing’s cave dwelling.
Lin Jing himself wasn’t even aware he had been cultivating for as long as ten years, losing all sense of the passage of time in his cultivation state.
Not long ago, he had successfully achieved Foundation Establishment, now working to stabilize his cultivation realm and calm the tumultuous True Essence Spiritual Sea.
The process of compressing his True Qi was far more challenging than he imagined, but with each compression, Lin Jing felt himself achieving unparalleled improvement in all aspects.
As for the Longevity Body, it was no longer just slightly achieved but was nearing mastery, with a lifespan now not merely ten times that of others in the same realm; just with Foundation Establishment, his life span was already an astonishing five thousand years, comparable to that of a Void Profound Cultivator. This is the terrifying addition the thirteenth level of Qi Cultivation brings to special physiques.
Moreover, the Ice Soul Body obtained from the Ice Soul Gu and the Beast Taming Body had fully developed, enabling Lin Jing to command ice power comparable to Golden Core without relying on his pet beasts’ strength and the ability to suppress Demon Core Beasts.
The only regret for Lin Jing was, post Foundation Establishment, he hadn’t created new contract blood; perhaps he needed to reach Core Formation before contracting another pet beast.
"The realm is finally stable, Foundation Establishment mid-stage...indeed!" Lin Jing opened his eyes, noticing his three pet beasts still closing their eyes, cultivating beside him.
Pine Leaf Mouse, late-stage Foundation Establishment.
Ice Soul Gu, late-stage Foundation Establishment.
Fire Kirin Dragon, late-stage Foundation Establishment.
The three pet beasts all reached late-stage Foundation Establishment, and Lin Jing could sense they greatly assisted him during his breakthrough, for without them, compressing his True Qi might have taken even longer...this damned Longevity Body made breakthroughs so arduous, although the major reason lay in overestimating his own True Qi capacity, causing him to put great effort into compressing the dramatically increased True Qi.
Fortunately...the power growth left Lin Jing very satisfied, and the current cultivation of the pet beasts made him smile; without their contract restrictions, they indeed broke through more quickly, helping him progress from early to mid-stage Foundation Establishment!
However, suddenly, his smile froze.
"Elder Shen Song, how long has it been since my breakthrough?"
"Hehe, ten years." A groggy voice came from the void.
"You should let them stabilize their realms a bit more, and you yourself...I’ll sleep a bit longer."
Lin Jing fell into silence, but then shook his head; ten years, well, to him now with five thousand years of life, it didn’t matter.
"Then I’ll continue to stabilize a bit more before exiting seclusion; after all, it’s been ten years, no rush."
He pulled out two Secret Techniques, planning to study them in the ensuing period.
One was the Celestial Demon Sect’s "Celestial Demon Body," crucial for capitalizing on his longevity advantage; the other was Beast Taming Sect’s second of three beast taming Secret Techniques, "Beast Transformation to Treasure," which would make conventional artifact refining techniques unnecessary...