Just as Liu Xia reached out to drag Li Yundong from the crevice, the foreigner beside her suddenly spoke, "Liu, what are you planning to do?"

Liu Xia paused her action, turning back to look at him with incomprehension. "Of course, I'm pulling him out for a proper burial."

The foreigner exclaimed with exaggerated tone, "Liu, do you intend to climb the mountain with a corpse? Let's wait until we get back down!"

Another foreigner nodded in agreement. "Right. Besides, I think people who follow their ** beliefs might deliberately come to places like this, much like ** or **** pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem. Perhaps dying here is his destiny; you shouldn't disturb him."

Liu Xia hesitated for a moment, then finally straightened up, putting her gloves back on, and said, "Then let's continue climbing."

Li Yundong, deep in the meditative state of Foundation Establishment, was utterly unaware that he had just sidestepped a calamity. If Liu Xia had dragged him out, it would have forcibly shattered his Foundation Establishment, forever barring him from cultivation.

The True Qi within Li Yundong's body now resembled a ceaselessly swirling vortex, the main bulk of it gathered in the lower Dantian beneath his abdomen. The five great Vital Forces emanating from his five organs bombarded the True Essence Qi in the lower Dantian like successive peals of heavenly thunder.

This cluster of True Essence Qi, subjected to relentless, alternating strikes, was compressed and condensed. It slowly shrank from a mass the size of a watermelon into a ball the size of a fist, and then further condensed into a small sphere the size of a pigeon's egg.

Slowly, this mass of Qi, hammered by countless impacts, was rigidly squeezed into a miniature sphere, no larger than a little fingernail, yet appearing substantial, continuously spinning and emitting a brilliant red light!

This was the Foundation Establishment Inner Elixir, the object of yearning for countless Outer Sect cultivators!

The world teemed with countless cultivation sects, yet every single one tempered their Inner Elixir using the primordial Yang fire within their bodies. Only Li Yundong, however, utilized the might of heaven and earth to forge his physical body, and the power of heavenly thunder to refine his primordial Yang!

Put simply, ordinary cultivators forged their Inner Elixirs with fire, while Li Yundong forged his with lightning.

And among all the Daoist arts of the world, lightning reigns supreme, transcending the Five Elements, soaring above all sentient beings!

As this Inner Elixir was newly formed, Li Yundong abruptly felt an inexhaustible power surge within his Small Thousand World. He commanded the three-headed, six-armed deity residing within his body, hurling his magic treasure towards the sky. Simultaneously, his six arms executed three grand Hand Seals: the Tathagata Sun Seal, capable of extinguishing all worldly darkness and ignorance! The Mandala Womb Realm Buddha Crown Seal, capable of shattering all obstacles! And the Vajra Realm Samadhi Eye Seal, capable of vanquishing all demons!

The moment these three Hand Seals materialized, the deity in Li Yundong's Small Thousand World erupted in blinding golden light. Three seven-colored halos materialized behind its head, manifesting as a Vajra descending or a Buddha appearing in spirit.

The deity let out a mighty roar, and the vertical pupil of one of its heads snapped open. The divine light emanating from its eye converged with the magic treasure soaring skyward and the three great Hand Seals striking above, shooting upwards in a single beam!

With a thunderous explosion, all the dark clouds in the sky were instantly pulverized by this triple strike, and the heavenly lightning vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye.

The expanse within this Small Thousand World instantly fell silent, leaving only Li Yundong's true spirit standing tall, gazing down with an air of supreme dominance.

At that very moment, Li Yundong's physical body in the Great Thousand World completed its final stage of Foundation Establishment. His eyelids flickered suddenly, and streams of True Qi poured forth inexhaustibly from the continuously spinning Inner Elixir—a surging, scorching torrent instantly flooded his entire body, making him restless.

When this surge reached the Huagai Acupoint in his chest, Li Yundong could restrain himself no longer. He suddenly threw his eyes open and leaped up with a rush, a stream of energy breaking through the Huagai Acupoint and shooting straight toward the Baihui Acupoint atop his head.

He threw his head back, and a roar like a dragon's cry mixed with a tiger's snarl burst forth from his chest: "Ah!!!"

Although this long cry did not possess the endless resonance of his previous breakthrough during Qi Cultivation, its sound was condensed and unscattered, its pitch taut like a steel cable, projecting outwards for miles, clearly audible even fifteen li away.

Li Yundong's great cry lasted for about two minutes. When he finally stopped, the surging energy within him gradually calmed, slowly flowing back toward the Inner Elixir in his Dantian.

Li Yundong tentatively circulated the True Essence in his body. He noticed the most obvious change: the newly formed Inner Elixir in his lower Dantian acted as a core, around which all his vital energy revolved, ceaselessly rushing toward it, causing it to spin incessantly.

And through this continuous rotation, the Inner Elixir in turn continuously released True Essence, which surged along his internal meridians to every part of his body, flowing eternally and without end.

Before Foundation Establishment, a person's vital energy was like a band of masterless peasants, free to go anywhere and reside anywhere. When in battle, they would seem to receive unified orders, grabbing weapons and transforming into soldiers, but once the fight ended, they would immediately return whence they came, reverting to peasants.

But after achieving Foundation Establishment, when a cultivator possesses an Inner Elixir, it is akin to stationing an ever-present, standing army within the body, perpetually guarding the host and always poised for combat, resisting all forms of external aggression.

Peasants inherently lack strong self-awareness; they can be plundered and occupied. If they change masters, it makes no difference to them. Therefore, before Li Yundong established his foundation, if Su Chan were to engage in intimacy with him, Li Yundong's internal energy would involuntarily be seduced by Su Chan's energy, actively flowing into her body. In such a scenario, Li Yundong would naturally be left hollowed out, leading to an outcome of exhaustion unto death.

But a standing army possesses a fierce sense of self-preservation and crisis awareness. They huddle together tightly, constantly vigilant against external attacks. No one can plunder or occupy them; they can only be annihilated, never captured.

With Li Yundong's Foundation Establishment successful, following the great roar, he felt an inexhaustible power coursing through him. This power wasn't merely physical strength of muscle and flesh, but a vigorous life force emanating from his internal organs, meridians, blood vessels, and even every single strand of his hair!

This was a power he had never experienced before. He felt his perception had vastly sharpened; he could even distinctly sense the immense pressure from the heavens above, as if a pair of cold, majestic eyes were constantly observing him.

This sensation suddenly made Li Yundong feel like a formally wanted fugitive, liable to be apprehended by the heavens at any moment: the Heavenly Tribulation was imminent!

The moment this thought arose in Li Yundong's mind, he let out a strange, wry smile. But almost immediately, he heard a dull, rumbling sound echoing from the distance overhead, like rolling thunderclouds—the Heavenly Tribulation was arriving.

Li Yundong was instantly aghast. "No way? Can the Heavenly Tribulation arrive this quickly?"

He looked up and froze, utterly dumbfounded.

The mountain peak directly above him was churning with booming avalanches of snow, white flakes spraying out like monstrous ocean waves!

"Damn it! An avalanche! Did my shout just cause this?!"

Li Yundong abruptly recalled a film he'd once watched, The East Is Red, The West Is Too, where Wang Chongyang, upon completing his seclusion, shouted out arrogantly: "I am now invincible in the world!!!"

The result? A shoe immediately fell from the sky and smashed him dead...

Li Yundong's expression flashed through a spectrum of emotions. He couldn't help but feel frantic, pointing skyward and shouting curses, "What the hell, Old Heaven! I just established my foundation; I’m far from invincible! I just shouted once, you don't have to mess with me like this, do you?"

Li Yundong turned to flee, but suddenly, three shrieking, panicked figures dashed past him nearby—it was the two foreigners and the female guide, Liu Xia.

Those two foreigners never anticipated an avalanche during their climb. They were so terrified they wet themselves, instinctively scrambling back the way they came. But how could human legs outrun the speed of an avalanche?

While fleeing in disarray, the female guide Liu Xia suddenly paused, her peripheral vision catching sight of a figure. She turned her head and saw Li Yundong standing not far away, staring blankly at the avalanche on the summit.

Liu Xia stopped dead in her tracks, giving a grim, self-mocking laugh. "It's over, we're done for this time. I'm seeing a phantom! The dead man has come back to life? Alas, it's retribution; I shouldn't have quarreled with him in the first place!"

When she stopped, the two foreigners beside her instinctively halted as well, following the direction of Liu Xia's gaze, and they too were startled. "My God, wasn't he dead?"

This momentary stop meant the avalanche from the summit was instantly bearing down on them. At first, the snowslide seemed as distant as breaking waves on the seashore, but now it was a black mass crushing down overhead, its roar drowning out all other sounds in the world. They opened their mouths to scream, but their voices were buried instantly.

Li Yundong noticed them at this point, and his heart jolted!

Li Yundong knew this avalanche was caused by him. He could rely on his formidable skills to escape, but what about these climbers?

Wouldn't they be utterly doomed?

Li Yundong hesitated briefly: Should he abandon them and flee, or should he save them? But if he tried to save them? How? Could he even succeed? Would his newly established foundation be the end of him?

Then Li Yundong reconsidered. What was the purpose of his cultivation? If he saw injustice on the road, he should draw his sword and help, regardless of personal danger. Now that he had successfully established his foundation and grown stronger, why had he become so hesitant and sentimental?

Moreover, this entire situation was his fault!

Li Yundong took a deep breath. All hesitation vanished from his heart. The Inner Elixir in his lower abdomen began to spin rapidly like a scorching fireball, continuously surging out the purest, most condensed Golden Elixir True Essence!

He stamped his foot, and his figure instantly appeared before the three. His hands moved swiftly, fingers flying—the outer fingers wrapped, the middle fingers extended and touching, the thumbs crossed, resembling lotus petals—this was the Fundamental Immovable Mudra. Li Yundong's eyes snapped wide open, and he let out a deep, resonant shout: "Hūṃ!"

Immediately following, he thrust the Fundamental Immovable Seal upwards. In that instant, it was as if Li Yundong projected a shimmering golden wall of Qi before himself, forcefully halting the ferocious avalanche less than two meters away.

The roaring avalanche, encountering sudden resistance at this single point, parted ways, cascading down like twin waterfalls on either side of the two foreigners and Liu Xia.

These two foreigners watched as Li Yundong pushed forward with his hands, and the avalanche was instantly blocked into a towering wall that only grew higher. The scene was more exaggerated than any special effect in a Hollywood movie!

Their eyes widened, their scalps tingling with shock. "Who in the world is this divine being!"