Volume 1: Red Dust Sword Sect Chapter 18: Building Foundation

  This state lasted for about ten days.

  Days passed again, and Zhang Hao's spiritual power was full and perfect, as if it had reached a bottleneck, which was an unprecedented situation for him. He still cultivated and practiced as before, without slackening his efforts.

  One midnight hour, heaven and earth were silent.

  Zhang Hao suddenly saw the third star appear in the depths of the ocean.

  The hazy and obscure sea of knowledge is like the morning mist, which is gradually dispelled by the majestic sunrise, revealing a clear and bright landscape within.

  Green hills and clear water, light gauze lifted, everything is right before one's eyes.

  Zhang Hao had a faint sense of unease, no matter how he concentrated and calmed his mind, this faint unease always existed, leaving him at a loss.

  She walked towards Cuigou in a daze, not even appreciating the scenery along the way. Everything around her seemed distorted, and even her footsteps felt light and airy.

  "What the hell, in broad daylight!" Zhang Hao cursed under his breath, as if something in his eyes had been ignited by a scorching flame, and the spiritual energy within him was stirring restlessly.

  In the Frost Cave Mansion, Murong Xue gazed at Zhang Hao in the mirror, his expression colder than usual.

  Xiaozi held onto Xiaoba, intently staring at Zhang Hao's reflection in the mirror. She didn't even dare to breathe loudly. Seeing Murong Xue's icy expression as he gazed blankly into the mirror, she couldn't help but anxiously remind him: "Senior brother is about to establish his foundation!"

  After a while, Murong Xue's expression turned solemn and he said: "Go, quickly tell Eldest Brother to set up a prohibition around Cuigu Valley, so that the other sects can't see the heavenly phenomenon caused by Zhang Hao's foundation-building!"

  Xiaozi listened and had some doubts in her heart, but at this critical moment, she couldn't say much either, so she just responded with a sound and ran out of the house.

  When she got outside, she couldn't help but let her mind wander.

  "Why did Shifu refuse to give Shixiong the Zhudi Pill, instead letting him build his foundation himself? If Shixiong fails to build his foundation, it'll be disastrous! Not only will he be expelled from the sect, but he'll also never be able to return to the Hongchen Sword Sect again."

  Xiaozi thought as he rode the Golden Winged Eagle towards Shifu Zhang Yuefeng's residence, the Xianchu Pavilion.

  At this moment, Zhang Hao did not know that his senior sister was watching him. Even if he knew, he couldn't care about it at the moment.

  "What's wrong with me? It's so hot!"

  Haha, haha…… A burst of laughter came from afar, faint and ethereal as if from the distant horizon. Then, a voice followed, somewhat muffled and unclear, intermittent and airy with a lingering echo.

  "Stinky brat, it's time for you to lay the foundation! Stinky brat, it's time for you to lay the foundation...... Stin...ky... lit...tle... brat..."

  "Build a base! What should I do next? So hot, so hot!"

  "Rotate the star wheel to practice the air law, guide the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to return to the sea of consciousness, cast the supreme five-element body, don't be afraid!"

  Zhang Hao's voice suddenly became firm and sharp, with a hint of mysterious power in his tone that seemed to calm the restless energy within him for a moment.

  Staggering and stumbling, I arrived at the side of Cuigou, where memories intertwined in my mind like a surging tide.

  "This little girl is really beautiful, slender figure, concave and convex, tender skin, not bad, not bad, I like this kind of beauty."

  "Master, master, it's been a long time since you've come to this pleasure house. Ah Rou has missed you to death!"

  A girl of about fourteen or fifteen years old with a loose shirt and half-length sleeves walked out from the depths of the sea of knowledge, smiling cleverly and charmingly.

  "Aren't you dead yet?" Zhang Hao let out a furious roar, like a beast, and shouted at me to get out! The remaining soul fragments of the original master in the sea of consciousness were swept away by Zhang Hao's angry bellow, like white fragments scattered by a hurricane.

  The turbulent waves of the sea returned to calmness, and the originally surging billows were now as still as a mirror. It was at this moment that Zhang Hao found a subtle feeling.

  The originally dormant spiritual energy in the body that had entered the fetal breathing state quietly opened all the previously closed apertures.

  He regained his clarity of mind, but in his heart, he was thinking about the Five Elements to lay the foundation. Why not use the sword intent of the True Martial Sword Technique to trigger the thunderous power of the Nine Heavens to lay the foundation, but instead use the Five Elements?

  He felt that since he had cultivated the Star Pneuma Art, everything up to now was like a trap, a conspiracy to restore that strange broken tower.

  He yearned to become powerful, to be a cultivator who could build his foundation with the intent of his sword, and even fart out a sword aura if he wanted to, but now all of that had become impossible.

  A majestic and powerful spiritual energy poured down from the depths of the sky.

  In the air beside the Emerald Valley cliff where Zhang Hao is located.

  A huge spiral whirlpool appeared, and the flat ground was like a hurricane blowing up, flying sand and walking stones, changing the color of the sky.

  A waterfall on a cliff is shrouded in whirlpools, and white water droplets fly everywhere.

  Water droplets evolve into the five elements, transforming into gold, yellow, silver, crimson and cyan.

  The power of the five elements emerging from the changing sky and earth pulled Zhang Hao.

  A powerful suction force was about to pull Zhang Hao's divine soul into the Jiuxiao Void.

  "The method of building the foundation of the five elements, the treasure tower protects the divine soul, rise!" A faint sound was heard, and an object emerged, absorbing the power of the five elements scattered in the heavens and earth.

  In the depths of his mind, his divine soul was constantly twisting and changing. What was originally just a vague shadow of his divine soul would occasionally reveal Zhang Hao's facial features, but they were distorted into a grotesque and terrifying visage, as if he was enduring the greatest suffering in the world.

  This is a great test of the power of heaven and earth for practitioners.

  Cultivation is against heaven.

  Every breakthrough in Xiuzhen is a process of violating natural laws, breaking through the cycle of life and death, and gradually leaving the grasp of the Heavenly Dao.

  The surging spiritual power within gradually dissipated in the process of resisting the vast and majestic pressure between heaven and earth.

  One by one, the spirit stones exploded in Zhang Hao's hands, shattering into white powder that was swept away by the wild wind.

  Every time Zhang Hao's spiritual energy was about to run out, he miraculously used the spirit stone to restore his internal spiritual energy. At this moment, if his spiritual energy was not replenished, his body, soul, and vitality would all be absorbed by this power in the world, and his soul would immediately disperse, dying without even having a chance to enter reincarnation.

  A cluster of purple mist gathered slowly on top of his head, gradually forming into three lotus flowers.

  In an instant, the Three Flowers Gather at the Top formation takes shape, and all the body's orifices suddenly connect with a single breath. The chaotic Five Elements energy inside the body gradually calms down.

  The Starlight Qigong is an ancient and profound qigong method.

  During the foundation-building period, it evolves into the profound realm of Taoist practitioners, where three flowers gather at the top and five qi face the origin, laying the deepest foundation for future cultivation.

  Just as Zhang Hao has reached a critical period in his foundation-building, he immediately spoke up to remind him.

  "Smelly brat! Quickly recite the incantation of the Five Elements, and infuse them into your five viscera and six bowels! Fast! Fast! Fast!" The three successive "fast"s were shouted out in one breath, and it's easy to imagine how anxious he was at this moment.

  Zhang Hao listened intently, like an old monk entering meditation, closing his eyes and looking inward, instantly entering a state of trance.

  Fingers flying, flames intertwining, shining like a starry river, magic spells dancing, swift as lightning.