Chapter Three: Breaking Through Qi Refinement, Forging the Foundation of the Dao

Lin Qingyun suddenly realized that the problem likely lay here. Without hesitation, he drew his dagger and sliced open his arm.

He urged his energy, and blood flowed out in abundance.

Here, the space below seemed like clouds or cotton; the blood pouring from Lin Qingyun’s arm vanished almost instantly.

Unlike his previous life, when Lin Qingyun was unconscious and his blood had poured out uncontrollably, this time he was in complete command. Moreover, in this life, his connection to the Creation Cauldron was more profound and mysterious.

As Lin Qingyun began to feel dizzy from blood loss, he suddenly sensed the Creation Cauldron tremble; within it, starlight seemed to glimmer faintly.

A portion of the thunder tribulation power that the cauldron had just absorbed flowed into his body.

Lin Qingyun was all too familiar with this sensation: whenever someone else faced a tribulation and he absorbed the various energies unleashed, his soul would grow immensely stronger, and he would enter a state of enlightenment.

At the Phoenix Dawn Realm, one practices Qi. At the Heart of the Zither Realm, one forms the foundation. Only upon reaching the Cloud Ascending Realm and attaining the Golden Core can one truly command the power of their own soul.

A powerful soul allows one to absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth at a vastly increased pace, making the practice of techniques and foundation-building far more efficient. In his previous life, by directly absorbing the immense power of the thunder tribulation, Lin Qingyun’s soul had attained indescribable heights, allowing him to improve rapidly in short bursts.

Enlightenment was a rare and precious state for others, but Lin Qingyun could enter it at will, thanks to his tribulation-absorbing constitution. This was why, in just thirty years, he reached achievements that would take others centuries.

Of course, using the Creation Cauldron to refine various elixirs for himself was also a key to his meteoric growth in his previous life.

Now reborn, once again entering enlightenment at the ninth level of the Phoenix Dawn Realm, his soul power ignited, Lin Qingyun immediately began refining the Creation Cauldron.

“Damn you, heavens. Even if I die, I’ll fight you to the end—you all step aside and watch how sharp my blade really is. Boom…” Beyond, the Blazing Heaven Tyrant Blade was in dire straits, his body shattered in many places, yet he charged straight at the second bolt of Divine Sky Lightning.

A hundred miles away, several powerful cultivators who had arrived late watched with heavy hearts, tears glinting in their eyes.

Witnessing such a thunder tribulation with their own eyes was a tremendous boon. But to stand by and watch a comrade, a brother, die so wretchedly was excruciating.

Given a few more decades—or a century—perhaps the Blazing Heaven Tyrant Blade might have survived the Divine Sky Lightning. But now... his death was certain.

As he and his blade, wreathed in flames, swept a hundred miles, the region cloaked in thunder, the Divine Sky Lightning’s power that seeped through was unexpectedly drawn away by Lin Qingyun.

Previously, even if the Creation Cauldron could absorb thunder tribulation power, it was purely passive. But as Lin Qingyun refined the cauldron and actively drew tribulation energy into himself, it was as if an invisible channel opened in this hundred-mile thunder zone.

Countless streams of tribulation power were siphoned off. Normally, during a tribulation, any external interference would trigger a cataclysmic backlash—such was the law of the world.

Yet Lin Qingyun’s absorption of the tribulation power did not provoke any such response.

The more power Lin Qingyun diverted, the less struck the Blazing Heaven Tyrant Blade. As one waned, the other waxed. The Blazing Heaven Tyrant Blade, who had been certain he would perish under this second bolt, suddenly realized he had survived.

“He didn’t die?”

“Has the Tyrant Blade become that powerful? He only recently broke through to the ninth level of the Radiant Sun Realm—how did he endure it?”

“He’s really alive—and still has strength to fight. How did he manage that?”

…

At first, they had been mourning in their hearts, and one of them, clad in Daoist robes, was reciting prayers. When the thunder finally cleared, they saw the Blazing Heaven Tyrant Blade still aloft, flames swirling around him, blade aura raging.

No one dared to approach. No one understood what had happened. They stared in disbelief at the Blazing Heaven Tyrant Blade.

“Damn, I’m still alive?” Even he could hardly believe it.

But being the one who endured it, he lifted his gaze to the sky. He could clearly feel that the second strike, which should have been even fiercer, was actually weaker than the first. How could this be?

Ancient cultivation methods had been lost, the world’s spiritual energy depleted, and great tribulations had become rare. Before the spiritual revival, there were no great tribulations.

Yet tribulation is everywhere.

Before the revival, the misfortunes ordinary people encountered could only be called bad luck. After the revival, cultivators defy heaven, and the rules of the world return. Each breakthrough to a higher realm brings its own tribulation, a tangible law of nature. At the Blazing Heaven Tyrant Blade’s current level, survival is nearly impossible—few in the world can withstand the Divine Sky Lightning.

Now, yet another arc of Divine Sky Lightning brewed in the heavens.

At this level, tribulation is the inevitable fate of the cultivator—inescapable, unavoidable. Even hiding in ruins or small worlds, one cannot evade it.

But at this moment, unseen by all, someone was interfering in what should have been an unalterable event.

In the underground river, the Creation Cauldron flashed with thunder as it absorbed vast amounts of tribulation power through Lin Qingyun. Most of this energy flowed into Lin Qingyun’s body, yet the cauldron itself also flickered with lightning.

With the help of this power, Lin Qingyun refined the Creation Cauldron even faster in this life, guided by that mysterious sense that transcended time and space.

In his previous life, it was only after the Blazing Heaven Tyrant Blade endured several bolts of lightning that Lin Qingyun fully refined the cauldron. This time, after just a single strike, he completed the process.

As the refinement concluded, with his soul at an extraordinary peak and the cauldron at his command, Lin Qingyun used it to aid his absorption of energy. In this heightened state, he swiftly advanced to the foundation-building stage.

Mind tranquil, spirit at peace, emotions stilled, the heart serene and mysterious, maintaining unity at the core, joy renewed each day—this is the path to the Dao...

Boom!

From the Phoenix Dawn Realm, he stepped into the Heart of the Zither, forming his foundation. In that moment, though nothing changed outwardly, Lin Qingyun’s soul stirred with subtle illusions and visions.

This was the so-called Heart Tribulation—a test of the mind that comes with condensing the Dao foundation.

If one’s temperament is too impatient or unstable at this stage, failure is highly likely.

The consequences range from severe internal injury, requiring years to heal, to the collapse of the foundation, forever barring further progress.

In the nearly hundred years since the spiritual revival, more have fallen at this step than any other. Therefore, governments and major powers everywhere now offer extensive training for those attempting the breakthrough at the ninth level of the Phoenix Dawn Realm. The focus: strengthening the mind, for only willpower can overcome the illusions of the heart tribulation.

But Lin Qingyun had no such worries. In a state of enlightenment, protected by the refined Creation Cauldron, his soul already stood two realms above this trial. He crossed the heart tribulation in an instant.

In fact, as soon as it arose, most of its force was absorbed by another power within him. Compared to the vastness of the thunder tribulation he was already absorbing, it was as insignificant as a few drops of rain swept away by a raging river—leaving not even a ripple.

Now, having entered the Heart of the Zither, he continued to absorb the Divine Sky Lightning meant for the Blazing Heaven Tyrant Blade, rapidly drawing in spiritual energy to temper his body and forge his Dao foundation.

In the foundation-building stage, each level forges a new foundation. At the ninth level, with nine foundations united, one stands ready to soar upon the clouds, condensing the Golden Core.

Cultivating with tribulation energy was far more exhilarating than training in accelerated time; it was an overwhelming advantage, as if a superintelligent AI were helping with elementary math—everything became effortless.

In his past life, Lin Qingyun had been intoxicated by this wondrous feeling, believing he could help humanity’s top warriors and inadvertently exposing his secret ability to assist others in surviving tribulation.

This time, he remained calm and clear-headed. Concealing his power, as he did now, was of utmost importance.

Outside—

“Still alive?”

“He survived again?”

“He’s passed another one—how many has it been?”

…

The Daoist ceased his prayers. The beautiful woman stared in shock. The powerful cultivators, tasked with protecting the Blazing Heaven Tyrant Blade from afar, found themselves dumbfounded again and again.

They could not comprehend how the terrifying Divine Sky Lightning was being overcome so easily by the Blazing Heaven Tyrant Blade.

Only the first bolt had seriously wounded him; each subsequent one seemed easier to bear.

The thunderclouds now brewed tribulation lightning of increasing intensity, its range stretching two hundred miles. The sheer destructive power left even the strongest spectators certain of their own doom should they be targeted—yet the Blazing Heaven Tyrant Blade…

“Haha! The so-called Divine Sky Lightning is nothing at all!”

When he shattered the eighth bolt, the Blazing Heaven Tyrant Blade, now undergoing transformation in body and soul, grew even more arrogant—his laughter echoed across the heavens, drawing all eyes.

The ninth bolt finally struck—a full day and night later.

At that moment, a blade of fire pierced the sky, the tribulation clouds dissipated.

To refine the Qi is to become a god—a true immortal. Free to roam, with boundless power. To move heaven and earth, to shift mountains and drain seas: this is the Qianyuan Mirror.

Behind the Blazing Heaven Tyrant Blade, a spectral form over a hundred feet tall condensed.

Even from hundreds of miles away, the assembled cultivators felt the overwhelming pressure of his Qianyuan Mirror avatar. Yet, overwhelmed by curiosity, they all rushed forward—desperate to learn how he had survived the Divine Sky Lightning so effortlessly.

Deep underground, as Lin Qingyun absorbed the last of the Divine Sky Lightning, he remained in that wondrous state. His sixth Dao foundation had already formed, and the seventh was just beginning to take shape. But, without the power of the tribulation, once he left that mysterious state, further rapid progress would be difficult.

Even in the underground river, Lin Qingyun dared not move rashly. He activated the Creation Cauldron to conceal his presence, remaining perfectly hidden within the subterranean current.