Chapter 36 : Breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Li Qingyun sat cross-legged in the center of the chamber. He exhaled softly.

Then, he called it forth.

---

[System Interface]

[Host:] Li Qingyun

[Realm:] Qi Gathering Realm – 9th Stage (Peak)

[Physique:] Primal Chaos Vessel Physique

[Slots:]

Slot 1: Voidcleave Sword Manual — Perfect (Transcendent locked — requires 300 points)

Slot 2: Ninefold Essence Sutra — Perfect (Transcendent locked — requires 500 points)

Slot 3: Cloudveil Sword Control Method — Proficient

Slot 4: Unlock Requirement — Advance to Foundation Establishment Realm

[Techniques:]

Jade Body Tempering Scripture — Transcendent (Unshakable Core)

Ninefold Essence Sutra — Perfect

Voidcleave Sword Manual — Perfect (Sword Intent: True Edge)

Phantom Step Art — Perfect

Cloudveil Sword Control Method — Proficient

 ↳ Cloudveil Flight Method — Major Completion

[Bound Weapon:] Shadowfang — Spirit Grade

[Weapon Traits:] Adaptive resonance, enhances Sword Intent, evolves with usage

[Energy:] 245 points

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He stared at it, silent.

Foundation Establishment.

It was the step every cultivator dreamed of. To build the foundation upon which a Dao Path would rise. For most, it took years of effort. Failures. False starts. Some never made it.

But his time had come.

He dismissed the interface with a single thought.

Li Qingyun narrowed his eyes. "It's time."

With steady hands, Li Qingyun retrieved a jade bottle and swallowed a fasting pill. A fasting pill would sustain his body—keep his organs nourished and his mind lucid.

Then he closed his eyes and sank into the sea of his dantian.

The Ninefold Essence Sutra stirred, awakening all nine elemental energies within him—fire, water, earth, metal, wood, wind, lightning, light, and darkness. Each flowed into the formation of his Core Vein Matrix, guided and fused under the endless adaptability of the Primal Chaos Vessel Physique.

The cyclone of gaseous spiritual energy within roiled, as if sensing his intent. This was no longer a matter of simply absorbing energy. Now, he had to reforge himself.

The Core Vein Matrix—a metaphysical lattice where the spiritual foundation would reside—had to be formed first.

Most cultivators struggled for weeks, even months, to construct a passable matrix. But Li Qingyun's body, molded by the Primal Chaos Vessel Physique, approached this with quiet precision.

The beginning was slow—agonizingly so.

For the first twelve days, Li Qingyun did nothing but let spiritual energy wash through him, guiding it with utmost care through his meridians. His body trembled now and then as cracks appeared in his old energy pathways. These weren't injuries—but the natural shedding of the Qi Gathering realm's limitations.

Then, on the thirteenth day, it began.

His Core Vein Matrix, the foundation upon which his cultivation would rise from this point forward, began to form.

For most cultivators, the Matrix was a web of nine meridians interlinked around the dantian—fragile, like spiritual silk. But for Li Qingyun, with his Primal Chaos Vessel Physique, the structure was denser, darker, and shaped more like a chaotic spiral than a web.

Vein by vein, layer by layer, his inner body began rearranging.

Fifty days passed.

He didn't eat, didn't speak. But he wasn't starving.

From a pouch at his waist, he consumed fasting pills at regular intervals—gifts from his mother, refined at great cost. Each pill melted in his mouth, releasing life-sustaining nutrients and subtle medicinal warmth that kept his body in perfect equilibrium.

Every three days, a pill. Every twelve hours, a silent pulse of pain as another layer of his core structure formed.

When the ninetieth day came, the Matrix had finally stabilized.

A typical Core Vein Matrix structure is linear or spiral, making it stable but inflexible.

But in Li Qingyun's situation, his Primal Chaos Vessel Physique which harmonizes nine elemental affinities, his Core Vein Matrix is dramatically different.

He took a deep breath. The hardest part was still ahead.

_______

While Li Qingyun had vanished into seclusion, the world outside had not remained still.

In Azure Sky City, the various sects had sent envoys to bring the prodigies who were chosen by them to their respective sects.

The Sky-Reaching Sword Sect's envoy, clad in sky-blue robes with a slender long sword at his back, arrived at the Li estate one morning accompanied by none other than Xia Shuying.

Her presence caused a stir. After all, she was already a prodigy at the seventh stage of Qi Gathering.

When the envoy asked about Li Qingyun, Li Tianyang merely bowed.

"He is currently in seclusion and cannot be disturbed."

The envoy frowned. "When will he be ready?"

"We don't know," Li Tianyang replied honestly. "He made us promise not to interfere."

The envoy was troubled. The sect had instructed him clearly: both sword prodigies must arrive safely. He assumed Li Qingyun was breaking through to a later stage of Qi Gathering—but even so, cultivators were never to be disturbed in seclusion.

"We will wait," the envoy said, after a pause. "It's too risky otherwise."

Xia Shuying, standing at the side, glanced at the sealed training chamber.

She said nothing.

But her eyes lingered.

______

His Core Vein Matrix was complete. Ten spiraling layers of dense silver-black veins—stable, powerful, and unique to his Primal Chaos Vessel Physique.

Stillness inside the chamber remained unbroken, but the youth sitting in its center no longer looked seven years old. His presence had deepened. His skin had gained a faint gleam. His spirit felt... different. Heavier. Wiser. More rooted.

Li Qingyun now faced the second phase: compression.

He drew the vast sea of gaseous qi into his dantian's center. Under crushing spiritual pressure, the energy began to condense—each wisp becoming a droplet of pure essence.

This wasn't simple condensation. It was transformation. Each drop of liquified qi pulsed with weight, vibrancy, life. He guided it slowly into the newly formed Core Vein Matrix, infusing every strand with purpose.

Pain erupted again—like lightning scouring his bones from within.

Don't stop.

Weeks and months passed in a blur of effort.

Then—

A tremor shook his soul.

In a final, thunderous pulse, the last wisp of spiritual energy compressed and dropped into his matrix. A radiant, liquified core pulsed in his dantian.

At that moment, something broke through.

His consciousness expanded. A fine thread emerged from his mind—divine sense. He could feel the breeze outside the stone walls, the soft movements of servants dozens of meters away, the breath of grass, the pull of distant stars.

He had broken through.

The Foundation Establishment Realm.

And with it, his affinities surged. Each element now whispered to him, no longer abstract concepts—but living presences. In Qi gathering realm even though he can use them with some effort but now he feel like the elements in the air are much closer to him, he immediately made a conjecture that maybe because of his divine sense he feels much closer to heaven and earth energies like spiritual energy and elements in the air.

He opened his eyes.

And smiled.

Suddenly the system notified him.

Ding...

[Realm: Foundation Establishment – 1st Layer.]

[Slot 4: Unlocked– Empty]

[Divine sense unlocked]

[Core Vein Matrix: Ninefold Chaotic Circuit Matrix — Instead of a linear or spiral pattern, his matrix forms a chaotic lattice of nine interwoven spiritual circuits, each corresponding to one of the nine elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Metal, Lightning, Wood, Light and Darkness.

The matrix does not compete internally; it rotates harmoniously, like nine celestial bodies revolving around a hidden sun.]

Li Qingyun took some deep breath and slept on the spot.