The ground fire erupted ceaselessly from the fissures beneath, scorching everything. Ordinarily, it remained stable enough that Ye Qin didn't need to employ his Yang Fire to heat the alchemy furnace.

After adding the medicinal powders, he sealed the lid of the crucible tightly.

Subsequently, Ye Qin sat cross-legged before the cauldron, tracing several hand seals onto the Copper Sand Alchemy Furnace. The furnace slowly began to revolve above the ground fire, ensuring the flames uniformly kissed every surface of the crucible, commencing the refinement process. His sole task was monitoring the intensity of the earth fire.

Refining a single batch of Foundation Establishment Pills required a full ten days. If he were to use Yang Fire, his stamina and spiritual power simply wouldn't sustain such a duration. Using the ground fire, however, was significantly easier and less taxing.

This Copper Sand Alchemy Furnace was a Spirit Artifact furnace, capable of enduring the searing heat of the ground fire. It was perfectly suitable for refining low-grade spiritual pills, though slightly lacking for crafting Foundation Establishment Pills. Yet, this was unavoidable, as Ye Qin currently possessed no means of acquiring a higher-tier Dharmic Artifact furnace.

Five days later, a scent wafted from the Copper Sand Alchemy Furnace—an aroma so pure and refreshing it brought immense joy just to inhale.

The first five days constituted the medicinal decoction phase, during which the Red Flame Ground Fire could be maintained at a slightly higher intensity to ensure the medicinal liquids fully volatilized. Beginning on the fifth day, the process transitioned into the stage of coalescing the liquid into spiritual elixirs. This condensation phase demanded extreme caution, and the fire needed to be gradually tempered.

Having sat for so long, Ye Qin gradually drifted into deep contemplation. Suddenly, he felt a slight tremor beneath the earth, followed instantly by the ground fire becoming volatile, its intensity shifting erratically.

Ye Qin’s heart sank; he knew something was amiss. He swiftly executed a series of hand seals, unleashing a Water-elemental spell upon the earth fire, hoping to suppress and weaken the eruption of the Red Flame Ground Fire.

Alas, his action was a fraction too slow. The Red Flame Ground Fire erupted faster than he anticipated. With a whoosh!, a surge of subterranean fire violently spewed forth, reaching several feet high, the flames twice as fierce as before.

Ye Qin’s complexion instantly drained of color. He inwardly cursed the ill omen.

Pfff—

The Copper Sand Alchemy Furnace was suddenly engulfed by the intense blaze. The partially calmed medicinal liquid immediately began to boil furiously. Then came a crisp, crackling sound.

Ye Qin offered a wry smile and shook his head. Five days of effort, wasted. He lifted the searing, glowing hot lid of the Copper Sand Furnace. A thick, acrid smell of charring instantly billowed out. The spiritual pills hadn't even begun to form their shape before they had degraded into waste fluid. Such residue, laden with impurities and toxins, was absolutely unusable; otherwise, it would severely damage one’s Nascent Soul.

With resignation, he dumped the waste medicinal liquid from the furnace directly into the ground fire, where it vanished into ash.

Although this ground fire was usually stable, it was inevitable that it would experience one or two minor eruptions periodically, completely without warning. Once the fire erupted, there was no time to control the blaze.

This issue left Ye Qin with a headache. He meticulously cleaned the Copper Sand Alchemy Furnace, preparing for the next batch of spiritual pills.

He knew the Azure Pill Sect also possessed ground fire. He wondered if their earth fire was equally unstable. If it also surged unexpectedly, the cultivators at the Azure Pill Sect would likely fly into a rage.

Until the stability of the ground fire could be resolved, Ye Qin dared not attempt further refining.

Ye Qin mulled over the problem for a long while.

The earth fire surge had been too sudden. If he could have anticipated the eruption beforehand, he could have acted in time to bring the intensity of the fire under control.

The key was the lack of time; by the moment he perceived the fire escalating, it was already too late to impose suppression. If he could gain even the span of a mere blink of an eye in advance, he could execute the Water-elemental spell preemptively, thereby mitigating the power of the erupted ground fire and ensuring the heat remained steady.

Ye Qin quickly conceived a plan: he would plunge his spiritual sense deep beneath the earth. Once the slightest subterranean tremor signaled an anomaly in the ground fire, he would receive an early warning of the coming eruption, preventing interference with his alchemy.

However, submerging one's spiritual sense deep underground was inherently risky.

The depths were filled with magma and Red Flame liquid fire, the latter possessing nearly the same destructive power as a Qi Refining stage cultivator’s Yang Fire. Sending his spiritual sense down was akin to willfully immersing himself in a sea of fire.

For a brief moment, it might be tolerable, but prolonged exposure would be too much for his spiritual sense to bear.

Ye Qin sent his spiritual sense probing downward, exploring three zhang deep beneath the unyielding black rock until he reached the realm of the ground fire magma. He could feel the ferocious heat of the earth fire with perfect clarity, feeling as if his very essence were being roasted. But to secure more warning time, he forcefully drove his spiritual sense another three zhang deeper, directly entering the heart of the flames.

Ye Qin immediately felt his spiritual sense being depleted at an astonishing rate—even more severe than expending energy on activating Dharma artifacts. After about half a day, his spiritual sense was almost entirely exhausted. He felt intensely hot and in agony, utterly fatigued, and could proceed no further. He violently retracted his spiritual sense.

After resting for a full half-day, his spiritual sense slowly began to recover. Ye Qin was astonished to discover that his spiritual sense seemed to have expanded slightly; he could now perceive things across a greater distance.

“Spiritual sense can actually be strengthened this way? This might count as a self-created cultivation method!”

Ye Qin managed a bitter chuckle.

But this method was agonizingly painful. If he pushed too far, he could easily injure himself. A few more attempts, and he would likely be half-dead. There were countless true experts in the Cultivation World; surely there were other methods to enhance spiritual sense that didn't involve this near-self-torture.

Ye Qin once again placed the Copper Sand Alchemy Furnace over the ground fire and began refining. For the first five days of decoction, he used the vigorous earth fire. For the final five days of condensation, he decided to use Yang Fire instead, to avoid any further interference from the unpredictable ground fire.

The Copper Sand Alchemy Furnace could refine a maximum of three Foundation Establishment Pills per cycle.

This process continued for a full four months.

After four months, all the Foundation Establishment Pills Ye Qin possessed were used up. Shamefully, out of the initial twenty attempts, he failed every single time, nearly convincing him that his alchemy skills were flawed.

However, when refining the subsequent twenty batches, his experience and timing seemed to align perfectly. With a stroke of inspiration, he succeeded in yielding pills from two consecutive batches. This success brought him a surge of pride; perhaps his alchemy wasn't as terrible as he imagined.

To use the refinement of Foundation Establishment Pills as mere experimentation, wasting vast quantities of medicinal ingredients only to feel smug over a small success—any alchemist from the Azure Pill Sect witnessing this would likely vomit blood in fury and chase him down for hundreds of li!

Out of forty sets of materials for Foundation Establishment Pills, over thirty were ruined. Only six batches yielded success, which was two more pills than his initial estimate of one-tenth success rate. This improvement was clearly attributable to the prolonged focus on refining a single type of spiritual pill.

Combined with the Foundation Establishment Pills rewarded by the Sect Leader, he now possessed a total of eight pills, giving him roughly an eighty percent chance of successful foundation establishment. That seemed adequate, all things considered.

Looking at the eight glittering, golden Foundation Establishment Pills in his hand, Ye Qin felt a deep sense of apprehension. If these eight pills failed to help him break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, he couldn't fathom how many more he would need.

He did not have the luxury of time to acquire more spirit stones for further attempts. His cultivation technique, the Sitting into Oblivion Scripture (Zuo Wang Jing), did not allow him to waste any more time. He dared not even close his eyes, terrified that if he did, he might never open them again.

Ye Qin gazed at the pills in his hand, contemplating for a long time.

Truthfully, he felt a great deal of worry and fear about consuming them. Taking these pills would rapidly boost his cultivation to the Great Perfection of the ninth layer of the Qi Refining stage, allowing him to charge the bottleneck into Foundation Establishment.

But doing so would leave him with absolutely no room for retreat.

At the peak of the ninth layer, he could still forcibly maintain consciousness, preventing his heart from ceasing its rhythm. However, reaching the Great Perfection state—the ultimate stage of Qi Refining—would cause him to completely seal off his breath and spiritual sense, isolating him from the world.

“But if I don’t use the pills to challenge the bottleneck, relying purely on self-cultivation, breaking through to Foundation Establishment will be infinitely harder, with life and death uncertain. Taking the pills offers a far greater chance of survival.”

Ye Qin pondered endlessly, utterly helpless. Not taking the pills was a dead end; taking them offered, perhaps, a slim thread of hope.

He sat up straight, performing a final round of meditative adjustments to bring his internal energy to its absolute peak. Only then did he pick up a single, brilliant golden Foundation Establishment Pill and swallow it whole.

The pill landed in his lower Dantian.

Ye Qin immediately circulated his energy, beginning to dissolve the spiritual essence within his abdomen and absorb the energy released by the Foundation Establishment Pill. Immediately after ingestion, the medicinal power hadn't fully manifested, and there was no immediately apparent change.

An hour later, the pill began to dissolve completely, releasing its potent medicine. A fierce, surging current of heat, like roaring flames, violently assaulted Ye Qin’s Dantian, akin to massive ocean waves churning within a small lake.

Ye Qin’s expression shifted subtly; he hadn't anticipated the sheer force of the pill’s potency. Without daring to slacken, he immediately channeled this stream of heat through his internal meridians at high speed to absorb the spiritual energy.

To his surprise, this massive hot current didn't immediately convert into vital essence. Instead, it began to scour every minute meridian in his body, leaving no channel untouched, expanding them. His entire meridian network throbbed with excruciating pain.

Next came the cleansing of the flesh, followed by the marrow. Every bone in his body was scoured repeatedly. This tingling sensation, penetrating deep into the bone marrow, nearly tortured him to death.

Several days passed before the medicinal power of that first pill finally purged the impurities from his system. The potency gradually subsided. Vast quantities of impurities were expelled from his body, dissolving automatically. Ye Qin felt an indescribable sense of relief, as if he had undergone a complete rebirth; his physical constitution had been comprehensively elevated.

However, he remained at the peak of the ninth layer of Qi Refining. His Nascent Soul’s cultivation showed no increase—the pill had only served to temper his physical body. A small amount of gentle medicinal energy remained in his Dantian, but it was far too weak to allow him to challenge the Foundation Establishment bottleneck.

He clearly understood: this first Foundation Establishment Pill had failed its primary purpose.

Ye Qin, however, grew quite intrigued. He stared at the remaining seven pills in his hand, wondering what the effect would be if he consumed all of them. Would they merely cleanse his body further, or would they finally boost his Nascent Soul cultivation?

Ye Qin rested for half a day, restoring his condition, and then consumed the second Foundation Establishment Pill, circulating his energy to absorb it.

An hour later, the pill’s medicinal power began to flare. This second pill repeated the actions of the first—it thoroughly cleansed Ye Qin’s meridians, flesh, and bone marrow.

But this time, Ye Qin’s physical constitution improved only marginally. After all, his physique wasn't particularly poor, and the improvement offered by one pill was nearly sufficient.

For the second pill, only a small fraction of the spiritual energy was dedicated to physical conditioning, thus not being heavily consumed. The majority of the fierce current finally surged into his Nímán acupoint, entering the Purple Mansion, transforming into countless specks of white light that were rapidly absorbed by Ye Qin’s Nascent Soul.

Ye Qin’s Nascent Soul cultivation finally began to soar.

His Nascent Soul was still only the size of a thumb—a dense, white gaseous sphere, its radiance far brighter and more dazzling than when he was in Xiucheng County. The Nascent Souls of Qi Refining cultivators always remained thumb-sized; the only difference lay in the density of the essence.

After absorbing the vast quantities of white light converted from the Foundation Establishment Pill, Ye Qin’s Nascent Soul began to rapidly condense. It gradually transformed from a dense gaseous sphere into a dense, liquefied sphere. This transformation continued for a full three days.

Three days later, Ye Qin could clearly feel that his Nascent Soul had completely transitioned from gaseous to liquid form, achieving the Great Perfection state of the ninth layer of Qi Refining.

This was the last thought that crossed his mind.

He didn't know when it happened, but the final wisp of divine light faded from his vacant eyes. His eyelids felt heavier than a thousand mountains, finally closing, plunging him into deep slumber.

He still held six Foundation Establishment Pills in his hand, unable to take them.

This was not due to unwillingness; if he had consumed all these pills at once and attempted to fully absorb them, the violent and overwhelming torrent of medicinal heat would likely have incinerated him to ash. Now, his spiritual sense and movement of heart had utterly ceased; continuing to consume pills was impossible.

Spiritual awareness completely sealed. The heart stopped beating.

Everything external was now irrelevant to Ye Qin.

The residual heat from the Foundation Establishment Pills continued its slow work, but after most of the spiritual energy was spent, his body fell into utter stillness. Only the Sitting into Oblivion Scripture within him continued to operate automatically and instinctively. This was the sole benefit of the Zuo Wang Jing: it never forgot its duty to accumulate every scrap of vital essence to aid Ye Qin’s breakthrough.

By the magma river, within the hidden fissure, an infinite silence reigned. The Copper Sand Alchemy Furnace rotated slowly over the ground fire, glowing a dull red. The earth fire spewed day and night, just as it had for millennia.

Six months later.

In the Spirit Mist Mountain Range, a cold streak of light shot across the sky.

After leaving Wanku Ridge, Huangfu Bing'er spent a full year traveling to the Southern Liang Kingdom. There, she targeted a mid-tier cultivation family, plotting how to acquire a Foundation Establishment Pill from them.

She dared not approach the major cultivation sects in the Spirit Mist Mountain Range; even the weakest among them boasted at least two or three Core Formation cultivators. Only the cultivation families scattered across the kingdoms, most of which lacked Core Formation cultivators, perhaps housing only a few Foundation Establishment experts. Furthermore, these families usually possessed a meager stock of Foundation Establishment Pills.

She also avoided provoking the large cultivation families of the Southern Liang Kingdom; their backgrounds were too deep, and they possessed numerous Foundation Establishment cultivators. She specifically sought out a family of middling strength, one possessing only two or three Foundation Establishment experts. Such families often found ways to acquire small numbers of Foundation Establishment Pills to aid their disciples’ breakthroughs.

She was confident she could handle such a family. In her eyes, a family of this level was insignificant; even if she caused trouble, it would be minor, and such a family would lack the audacity to challenge the Huangfu family.

After a full year of searching, she finally found an opportunity and managed to snatch a Foundation Establishment Pill. The circumstances of the acquisition were quite amusing; she hadn't even devised a solid plan to take the pill when she unexpectedly ran into the young master of that very cultivation family.

This young master was a Qi Refining cultivator with mediocre aptitude, likely spoiled by his family. He was habitually arrogant, believing his lineage made him superior. Upon seeing Huangfu Bing’er, he was instantly struck dumb by her celestial beauty. The young master clearly had no idea who Huangfu Bing’er was, mistaking her for a rogue cultivator drifting through the Southern Liang Kingdom. Smitten by her looks, he dreamed of dual cultivating with her after achieving Foundation Establishment. Fearing she wouldn't believe he could reach Foundation Establishment, he even took out his family's sole Foundation Establishment Pill to show her.

For some reason, Huangfu Bing'er had been feeling unsettled recently, sensing some looming change. She didn't waste time chatting with the young master. She swiftly struck him senseless with a staff, seized the Foundation Establishment Pill, and then took flight on her sword toward Wanku Ridge in the Spirit Mist Mountain Range.

When Huangfu Bing’er returned to the lava cave on Wanku Ridge, she found no trace of Ye Qin in the small fissure where she had last stayed near the magma river. She couldn't help but grow anxious; she couldn't sense his aura at all.

“Did Junior Brother Ye leave Wanku Ridge and return to Azure Pill Mountain?”

Huangfu Bing’er hesitated for a moment, then swiftly executed a secret technique, crying out sharply, “Blood Trace Soul Seal!” A faint, searing mark appeared on her brow.

This faint blood mark was a Nascent Soul imprint left when she and Ye Qin formed a dual cultivation bond, using blood as the medium. This mark allowed her to locate him regardless of his whereabouts.

This faint blood mark refracted a soft red light, shooting toward the depths of the magma river.

Huangfu Bing’er rejoiced; Junior Brother Ye was indeed still here. She immediately followed the direction indicated by the red light. Moments later, she found Ye Qin in an extremely concealed spot by the river of lava.

But Ye Qin’s condition startled Huangfu Bing’er.

She discovered that Ye Qin was entirely devoid of any aura, sitting cross-legged and motionless, his expression placid, like a statue. No matter how anxiously she called out, she received no response.

Why was this?

Initially, Huangfu Bing’er suspected Ye Qin was injured and had entered a state of Taixi (fetal breathing) to accelerate recovery.

However, when she used her spiritual sense to examine his body, she found no other sign of life besides the slow circulation within his meridians. There was no breath, no heartbeat, and no injury anywhere on his body. Ye Qin was in a strange state, resembling Taixi, yet almost appearing dead.

This made her profoundly uneasy.

Huangfu Bing’er’s panic did not last long. She noticed the six Foundation Establishment Pills clutched tightly in Ye Qin’s hand, and her heart skipped a beat. Where had Junior Brother Ye obtained so many Foundation Establishment Pills? She couldn't fathom the mystery.

However, her immediate concern wasn't the origin of the pills; she needed to understand why Ye Qin had entered this state of Taixi-like suspended animation.

Huangfu Bing’er opened the storage pouch on Ye Qin’s waist, searching for clues. Soon, she discovered a thin, worn manual: the cultivation technique, Sitting into Oblivion Scripture: Sitting into Nothingness (Zuo Wang Jing / Zuo Wang Wu Wo).

The scripture manual was ancient, clearly having been flipped through countless times to reach its current tattered state.

After about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Huangfu Bing’er finished reading the Sitting into Oblivion Scripture from start to finish. Her heart sank completely.

She did not know the origin of this Sitting into Oblivion Scripture, but after reading it, she understood: this cultivation method required the cultivator to suppress their aura. The deeper the cultivation, the more severe the suppression became. Upon reaching the ninth layer, the technique demanded the cessation of the heartbeat itself, directing all vital essence, spirit, and energy to accumulate for the challenge of the Foundation Establishment bottleneck.

But if the heart stops beating and one descends into slumber, should the breakthrough fail, one would remain forever silent—immortally dormant.

This was exactly the situation Ye Qin was in.

Huangfu Bing’er was momentarily stunned, utterly bewildered.

She stared blankly at Ye Qin’s impassive face.

His lips were tightly sealed, a habit born of forced endurance and silence, ingrained even in his current slumber. His features were slightly gaunt, yet remarkably gentle, even carrying a trace of shyness unsuitable for a cultivator his age.

Junior Brother Ye wasn't as cold as she had imagined.

His aloofness was likely forced upon him by circumstance.

A wave of desolate sorrow washed over her. Two silent, clear tears escaped her eyes, flowing down involuntarily.

“Junior Brother Ye, why didn't you tell me? At least, before you fell into slumber, I could have been with you.”

Her gaze drifted to the six Foundation Establishment Pills Ye Qin held. Combined with the one in her hand, there were seven in total.

Huangfu Bing’er’s heart leaped. Perhaps these pills could help Junior Brother Ye break through the Foundation Establishment bottleneck! With a surge of joy, she took one pill and attempted to feed it to Ye Qin. But Ye Qin’s lips were clamped shut; forcing them open might injure him. She paused, then brought a Foundation Establishment Pill to her own small mouth. Her warm apricot lips pressed against Ye Qin’s icy ones, and with a gentle push of her small, smooth tongue, she parted his lips and breathed a puff of air into his mouth, allowing the pill to slide down into his abdomen.

Next, she placed both palms on his chest and continuously channeled her spiritual power, attempting to forcibly catalyze the pill’s medicinal properties. But after several hours, the pill showed no reaction; it failed to dissolve.

Panicked, Huangfu Bing’er quickly prepared another Foundation Establishment Pill to feed him.

But even after consuming seven Foundation Establishment Pills, Ye Qin's body remained deathly still; the pills refused to dissolve. Ye Qin’s body was operating purely on instinct, devoid of any breath, with only the cultivation technique from the Sitting in Oblivion Sutra churning endlessly, incapable of actively drawing upon the medicinal power of the elixirs within his abdomen.

Seven Foundation Establishment Pills, lacking Ye Qin’s active guidance, could not be absorbed quickly. They could only rely on their own inherent potency, seeping into the meridians at an agonizingly slow pace, which in turn nourished the continuously functioning Sitting in Oblivion Sutra instinctively, strengthening him gradually.

If Ye Qin did not proactively absorb the spiritual energy, forcing the full catalytic effect of the seven pills would, conversely, cause his body to incinerate into ashes. Absorbing the spirit energy depended solely on Ye Qin himself; she could offer no assistance.

Huangfu Bing'er’s expression flickered with despair, and she stopped.

This deep slumber of Junior Brother Ye had completely isolated him from the outside world; he would not awaken until he reached the Foundation Establishment stage. But how many years would that take? Three, five, or perhaps ten, twenty? Or even a hundred?

She could wait, but Junior Brother Ye's body could not endure such a long duration. The body of a Qi Refining stage cultivator could not sustain prolonged abstinence from sustenance. She had to ensure Junior Brother Ye’s body remained unharmed, or he would perish before achieving Foundation Establishment.

Huangfu Bing'er agonized for a while longer, then mounted her flying sword, departed the Wan Ku Ridge cavern, and sped directly towards the Azure Pill Mountain Range.

Several days later, the Azure Pill Mountain Range.

On the main peak, Azure Pill Peak, within the seclusion chamber embedded in the mountain’s core, lay the most crucial chamber of the Azure Pill Sect—the private retreat of Patriarch Huangfu. This chamber extended from the Purple Gold Hall at the summit down into the mountain's interior. Besides a few high-ranking Foundation Establishment cultivators, even ordinary Foundation Establishment disciples of the sect were strictly forbidden entry.

However, there was one exception. Huangfu Bing'er arrived outside the seclusion chamber.

“Father, your child requires an item.”

“What item?” A dry, gentle voice echoed from within the chamber.

“The Heart-Connecting Spirit Jade.”

“What do you need it for?”

“This jade can preserve a physical body from decay for a hundred years. Your child needs it to save someone.”

Silence descended within the seclusion chamber. Huangfu Bing'er continued, “Your child knows you have an agreement with Martial Uncle Chen, preventing you from directly aiding me in exchange for her refraining from acting against me. However, your child must obtain this item today.”

The dry voice suddenly posed a question entirely unrelated to the spirit jade: “Bing'er, have you ever used the Blood-Inducing Soul Imprint?”

“Yes.” Huangfu Bing'er replied softly.

The dry voice responded with restrained anger, “This technique depletes lifespan every time it is cast. How could you be so reckless?!”

Huangfu Bing'er lowered her head, silent.

The dry voice remained silent for a long moment before saying, “If I were to intervene today, I would break the agreement. If your Martial Uncle Chen found pretext to kill you, I could say nothing.”

“Even if your child died under Martial Uncle Chen’s sword, she would harbor no complaint.”

Silence pervaded the chamber for an extended period.

“Enough. Take the jade. Do not delay. When you return, you will enter seclusion with me and are not permitted to step foot outside this chamber again. Otherwise, even Father cannot shield you.”

“Yes, Father!”

Huangfu Bing'er wept with joy, accepting a warm, lustrous piece of spirit jade that flew out from the chamber. She turned and departed Azure Pill Peak.

The seclusion cave within the heart of Azure Pill Peak was surprisingly spartan; even the seats were hewn from stone, containing no extraneous objects, not even a single lamp. Yet, the chamber was remarkably bright, as the cave walls were studded with Spirit Stones, naturally embedded in the rock, illuminating the room.

Patriarch Huangfu sat meditating on a stone slab, eyes closed. Though he was over two hundred years old, he appeared quite youthful, perhaps only in his late forties or early fifties, with black hair, a dark beard, and imposing yet benevolent features.

He was not alone in the chamber.

Beside him sat a beautiful woman appearing to be in her mid-thirties. She possessed an air of gentle elegance and an extraordinary temperament. The only person besides Ancestor Chen Min who could enter this chamber was her.

If Huangfu Bing'er had known Martial Uncle Chen was inside, she likely would have been stunned.

The beautiful woman frowned slightly, “Huangfu, are you so certain I won’t act against Bing'er?”

Even as the undisputed Ancestor of the Azure Pill Sect, Huangfu Rui could only offer a wry smile in the presence of this woman. “Min’er, if you truly wished to see the Huangfu line extinguished, you would have acted long ago. Besides, doesn't Bing'er always hold you in high regard? How could you bear to strike against a junior?”

“Hmph, you only know how to sweet-talk!” The beautiful woman’s expression was cold. “For a man, Bing'er broke the promise she held dear just to acquire that spirit jade—she’s much like her mother. I wonder what kind of man is worth such regard from her. I must go see for myself!” She glanced at Huangfu Rui. “Rest assured, I won't do anything to your precious daughter. However, whether your yet-unmet son-in-law can enter my sight is another matter.”

Huangfu Rui could only sigh helplessly.

Several days later, a streak of cold, brilliant light settled beside the magma river at Wan Ku Ridge. A maiden of peerless beauty hurried to Ye Qin’s side.

She sat beside Ye Qin for a long while.

She pressed a piece of spirit jade tightly against Ye Qin’s chest.

“Junior Brother Ye, this jade will keep your body safe. I must return now; the rest depends entirely on you!”

She took several formation flags from her storage pouch and cast them out, setting up a small protective formation beside Ye Qin. Following that, she placed a minor illusion formation at the mouth of the fissure near the magma river.

To any casual observer, there was no fissure here at all—just a perfectly solid rock face. Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would likely not detect anything amiss without a meticulous search.

These two formation flags were powered by mid-tier spirit stones, sufficient to maintain operation for nearly a century. If Junior Brother Ye still could not reach Foundation Establishment in a hundred years, he would truly be dead.

After the maiden departed.

Moments later, a beautiful woman flashed down, landing on the rock face. With a wave of her hand, the formation flags embedded in the wall automatically dispersed; they offered her no resistance whatsoever.

The woman slowly approached Ye Qin’s side, scanning his closed eyes and seated form with her divine sense, letting out a dismissive snort.

“A blue-robed menial disciple, ordinary looks, mediocre talent. Cultivating the Sitting in Oblivion Sutra? Truly useless, cultivating such a suicidal technique. How could Bing'er take a liking to such trash? If this got out, wouldn’t it disgrace the Huangfu family?”

She beckoned, and a massive, blazing fireball materialized out of thin air within the fissure.

However, the woman felt something was amiss. She paused, and her divine sense scanned Ye Qin’s body again, displaying a hint of surprise.

“Reaching the Great Perfection stage of the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining at only twenty years old—how has he cultivated so quickly? Strange. Where is his Nascent Soul? Why isn't it in his body? Did it leave his body and go elsewhere?”

The woman contemplated for a while and extinguished the fireball. Even if the physical body were destroyed, if his Nascent Soul could not be located, he would still be 'alive'—just existing in a different form, becoming a Ghost Cultivator.

Furthermore, the “Blood-Inducing Soul Imprint” directly links the Nascent Souls of two cultivators through a primal brand, costing lifespan to cast, and it is immensely powerful. Destroying the physical body would not sever the connection between Ye Qin and Huangfu Bing'er. If Huangfu Bing'er were to dual cultivate with a Ghost Cultivator, the Huangfu family would truly have no face left to show.

The woman abandoned the idea of destroying Ye Qin’s physical body.

She executed a different, minor spell, sending out five-colored rays of light that struck Ye Qin in succession. This minor spell was designed to probe a cultivator’s Spiritual Root aptitude, highly effective and accurate on lower-level cultivators, though less reliable on higher-level ones.

She had been puzzled how a mere blue-robed menial disciple cultivated so rapidly. “Metal Root twenty, Wood Root twenty, Earth Root, two—twenty!”

The woman’s initial disdain for Ye Qin's aptitude began to shift; her expression changed with the revelation of each additional Spirit Root. After counting through all five elemental roots, she stepped back in shock.

“A Full Spirit Root—impossible, how could it be so high?”

The horror on her face was beyond words.

In the Spirit Mist Cultivation World, most techniques cultivated only a single Spirit Root; single roots offered many benefits but also had their drawbacks. A few techniques permitted the cultivation of dual roots, capitalizing on their combined effects.

Or tri-roots could be cultivated to harness their synergistic effects.

As for five elemental roots, the Spirit Mist Cultivation World possessed no techniques that allowed for the simultaneous cultivation of all five.

The Sitting in Oblivion Sutra had no Spiritual Root requirement; it suited any configuration. Conversely, this meant it was likely the only cultivation method capable of simultaneously mastering five elemental roots.

The significance of Spiritual Root potential was not overly emphasized in the early stages of a cultivator’s journey.

For instance, the difference between thirty and thirty-one points of Spiritual Root potential resulted in a negligible gap after several decades of Qi Refining cultivation.

However, once reaching the Core Formation or Nascent Soul stages, after centuries or millennia of accumulated cultivation, even minor variances in potential would lead to vast divergences. The impact of every single point of Spiritual Root potential would become undeniable.

Full Spirit Root cultivators had not appeared in the Spirit Mist Cultivation World for a very long time, even if he was the 'trashy' looking version with evenly distributed five-elemental roots.

Within the Azure Pill Sect, among the nine Core Formation cultivators, the one with the highest potential was Huangfu Rui, whose roots reached seventy-one. He was also the strongest among them. Once reaching the Golden Core stage, the gap between cultivators could no longer be bridged by mere diligence.

Wealth, Elixirs, Techniques, and Diligence were the four pillars supporting a cultivator's advancement.

Wealth: The Azure Pill Sect was immensely affluent—the nine Golden Core cultivators could squander resources as they pleased.

Elixirs and marvelous medicines were inexhaustible on Azure Pill Mountain—the nine cultivators continuously used high-grade spirit medicines to assist their cultivation daily. While ordinary cultivators might fret over obtaining elixirs, this was no issue for these Golden Core Ancestors.

Techniques: The nine Golden Core cultivators all utilized the Azure Pill Sect’s highest-tier cultivation methods.

Diligence: Not a single one of the nine Golden Core cultivators allowed any slack in their practice. Seclusion and meditation were what they had done most over the past centuries.

Yet, the gap between the nine Golden Core cultivators continued to widen daily. The reason was simple: the disparity in Spiritual Root potential. With all other conditions equal, every point of potential difference caused a slight divergence. Accumulated over decades and centuries, the gap widened until it became insurmountable.

The woman fell silent, gazing at Ye Qin with complicated eyes.

It was unclear whether she felt envy for his Full Spirit Root, or jealousy that Huangfu Bing'er was preparing to dual cultivate with a Full Spirit Root cultivator who was merely a blue-robed disciple.

After significant hesitation, she ultimately sighed deeply and departed gracefully. She intensely desired to destroy this Full Spirit Root man before her, lest her own mind be unsettled by conflicting emotions of envy and resentment. But this young man's Nascent Soul was not here; its whereabouts unknown. If he were allowed to become a Ghost Cultivator, he could become a catastrophe for the Spirit Mist Cultivation World in a few centuries.

Moreover, this young man was ultimately a cultivator of the Azure Pill Sect, and she ultimately held back her hand.

Wan Ku Ridge, the subterranean cavern, beside the magma river, returned to silence.

Time held no meaning in this place.

The magma surged day after day, spewing forth earth-fire that scorched the banks, refining ordinary fire-element ores into incredibly precious Mineral Crystals.

The Foundation Establishment Pills inside Ye Qin were also dissolving with extreme slowness, seeping drop by drop into his meridians. Following the automatic circulation of the cultivation technique, they entered his Niwan Palace.

Time slipped away like flowing water.

Three years passed in a blink.

In these three years, the situation inside the Wan Ku Ridge cavern had changed significantly. Nearly all the demonic beasts within the cavern had been purged, and the trial disciples had subsequently left the cavern to cultivate back at the sect.

Those who remained were naturally only low-level miners from various sects and a small contingent of Foundation Establishment cultivators guarding Wan Ku Ridge.

One day, three or four Yellow Robe miners, at the Sixth or Seventh Layer of Qi Refining, arrived by the magma river.

Seeing the fire-element crystal veins embedded in the rock faces along the banks, they climbed down, intending to chip away some red fire-crystal stones.

Unfortunately, after hammering fiercely for half a day, they could not dislodge the crystals; instead, their mining picks shattered. “Pah! What nonsense is this, so hard? Makes it impossible to mine?!” The miners cursed angrily a few times and prepared to leave.

One short, sturdy miner, while climbing, accidentally missed his footing. Looking closely, he realized his foot rested on a fissure—an illusion formation concealed there by someone. He carefully squeezed inside and discovered Ye Qin sitting cross-legged within the fissure, eyes closed in meditation.

“Hey! Someone’s here, come look!”

The sturdy little miner immediately shouted, and soon the other miners squeezed in behind him. They stared in astonishment at a blue-robed cultivator with clear features seated in the lotus position, his expression placid.

Most importantly, the person possessed no discernible breath. Although there was a protective formation, it appeared completely inert.

The miners grew bolder and approached.

“Looks like an Azure Pill Sect cultivator. Why is he cultivating here?”

“Who knows? He looks dead. Haha, there’s a storage pouch—it’s ours.”

“Damn it, nobody snatches! We all get a share!”

The miners quickly divided the spoils, extremely satisfied with the wealth found inside the storage pouch. Might as well finish the good deed—this kid was truly unlucky to die while in seclusion here.

One burly miner lifted the blue-robed cultivator’s body and carried it to the magma river, tossing it in before paying it any further mind. The bubbling magma swallowed the blue-robed cultivator whole.

As the three or four miners were smugly inspecting the contents of the storage pouch, preparing to leave, they suddenly froze, mouths agape.

On the surface of the magma river, a faint whirlwind had inexplicably begun to churn. The whirlwind continuously drew up vast amounts of magma and earth-fire, swirling around the blue-robed cultivator, coalescing and solidifying.

In mere moments, this process formed a magma cocoon nearly ten feet long, floating and bobbing on the surface of the river. Crimson flames enveloped the cocoon. The sight was utterly bizarre.

The three or four miners stood at the edge of the small fissure, looking at each other in horror, their limbs weak, faces pale, suddenly unsure what to do. They could not begin to comprehend the cause of the anomaly before their eyes. (To be continued. For further developments, please log in to www**m, where more chapters await to support the author and genuine reading!) First release