The Elven Cultivator

In the tranquil treehouse.

Anton sat cross-legged on the bed, his eyes tightly shut.

In the unseen void, the formless energy of heaven and earth surged into his body, nearly forming a vortex.

After an unknown amount of time, the energy vortex suddenly slowed before gradually dissipating.

Anton opened his eyes, let out a long breath, and a smile touched the corners of his lips.

”I’ve finally refined the last wisp of Spiritual Qi.”

In the Qi Sea of his Dantian, one hundred and eight wisps of Taichu Spiritual Qi lay coiled quietly.

This meant he had reached the peak of Qi Refining and touched the threshold of Foundation Establishment.

Next, he just needed to consume a Foundation Establishment Pill, merge these one hundred and eight wisps of Taichu Spiritual Qi into one, and convert it all into True Essence to step into a higher realm.

And during this process, his physical body would also be tempered and elevated, building his Dao Foundation.

Taking a deep breath, Anton calmed his mind, and with a flick of his wrist, a Pill appeared out of thin air in his palm.

The Pill was the size of a longan and entirely crimson-gold. A halo flowed around it like rosy clouds, and five Pill Patterns of different colors coiled over its surface like spiritual snakes.

As the Pill appeared, a clear, tranquil fragrance instantly filled every corner of the treehouse.

This was the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Half a year ago, Anton had already used Frost Pattern Silver to refine the Golden Marrow, gathering the final main ingredient. He then created the Foundation Establishment Pill and had been waiting for this very moment.

Without hesitation, he took the Pill.

The moment the Pill entered his stomach, it rapidly dissolved, transforming into a five-colored mist of light. The mist rose from his gut like an unfurling rosy cloud and surged into his Qi Sea.

Anton dared not delay and immediately circulated the Taichu Hiding Skill, guiding the torrent into his Qi Sea.

Within his Qi Sea, one hundred and eight wisps of Taichu Spiritual Qi coiled like flood dragons, their energies flowing in a self-contained cycle.

But the moment they scented the medicinal power, the once-orderly vortex of Spiritual Qi suddenly went out of control. The one hundred and eight wisps of Spiritual Qi, like startled dragons and snakes, frantically darted, collided, and tore at each other within the Qi Sea, emitting a dull roar.

The sound wasn’t real but exploded directly in his Divine Soul, like thunder rolling through his sea of consciousness, shaking Anton’s spirit to its core.

Excruciating pain followed, surging in like a tidal wave.

His meridians felt as if pierced by ten thousand needles, his bones as if hammered on an anvil, and his flesh as if incinerated by a blazing fire.

Anton’s face turned pale and veins bulged on his forehead, yet he remained seated and motionless. His breath was as long and fine as a silk thread, his consciousness immersed in the circulation of the Taichu Hiding Skill.

The pill’s power intensified, and the Spiritual Qi grew docile.

Drawn by the pill’s power, the one hundred and eight wisps of Spiritual Qi began to converge toward the center of the Qi Sea.

They squeezed, stacked, and merged with each other. The originally independent wisps of Spiritual Qi gradually lost their individual characteristics, and the boundaries between them began to blur.

As time passed, a drop of liquid slowly formed in the depths of his Qi Sea.

The liquid droplet was no bigger than a mustard seed, yet it was crystal clear, with a five-colored radiance flowing within it, making it exceptionally beautiful.

This was True Essence.

Anton’s heart stirred, but he did not lose focus. He continued to circulate his Cultivation Technique, guiding the remaining Spiritual Qi to surge toward that drop of True Essence.

Like a hundred rivers flowing to the sea, the moment the Spiritual Qi touched the True Essence, it was devoured, assimilated, and transformed into new, liquid True Essence.

The drop of True Essence expanded at a rate visible to the naked eye, from the size of a mustard seed to a green bean, from a green bean to a soybean, and finally into an egg-sized liquid ball of light. It floated quietly in the center of the Qi Sea, pulsing with five-colored brilliance.

At the same time, the residual power of the Foundation Establishment Pill, carrying the five-colored brilliance, permeated his entire body.

His bones emitted faint KAKA sounds, like old bamboo sprouting in the spring breeze. They grew denser and harder, their surface taking on a lustrous sheen like that of warm, thousand-year-old jade.

His muscle fibers were repeatedly torn apart and reconstructed, becoming tougher and more powerful with each cycle.

A faint golden film covered the surface of his internal organs, like morning dew on a leaf—thin yet tough.

Beneath his skin, a faint fluorescent light flickered, as if moonlight had condensed upon his flesh. It slowly faded after a moment, leaving behind skin as white and lustrous as jade, and as tough as leather.

This was the Dao Foundation.

On the path of cultivation, Qi Refining is the stepping stone to Foundation Establishment, and Foundation Establishment is the foundation for the Great Dao itself.

From now on, he was no longer mere mortal flesh, but possessed an extraordinary physique. His lifespan was greatly increased, and his perception and control over the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi had reached an unprecedented level.

In his Qi Sea, although the mass of True Essence only occupied a tenth of the space and was merely the size of an egg, the vast energy it contained far surpassed the sum of the previous one hundred and eight wisps of Spiritual Qi.

Spiritual Qi is a stream; True Essence is a lake.

A leap in both quality and quantity.

Anton opened his eyes. A five-colored brilliance flashed in his pupils for an instant before they returned to their profound depths.

He raised his right hand and curled his fingers. A wisp of True Essence surged from his Qi Sea and circulated once through his meridians, which trembled slightly and emitted a pleasant hum wherever it passed, like a long-dry riverbed finally receiving sweet rain.

”So this is Foundation Establishment.”

Anton murmured to himself, a smile gradually spreading across his face, until he finally couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

’I’ve broken through to Foundation Establishment today. One day, I’ll quell ten thousand mountains with a wave of my hand.’

From this moment on, he had truly stepped onto the great Dao of immortal cultivation.

After a good while, Anton calmed his surging emotions and turned his attention back to his own body.

The one hundred and eight wisps of Spiritual Qi had condensed into a single mass of True Essence. It seemed like a reduction in quantity, but in reality, it was a complete metamorphosis.

From now on, whether using martial arts or Techniques, he would no longer have to ration his power so carefully, constantly feeling stretched thin.

Moreover, when using martial arts and Techniques with True Essence, their power would be a great deal more potent than before.

With a mere thought, Anton sent a powerful perceptive force instantly spreading out in all directions like a tide.

In an instant, everything around him appeared clearly in his mind.

Every grain in the wood of the treehouse, every mote of floating dust, every current of air—all of it appeared clearly in his perception, rendered in the finest detail, more real than what he could see with his own eyes.

He could even ”see” through the wall to the other side, where the dregs from his last Alchemy session still remained at the bottom of the Alchemy Cauldron in his laboratory.

He could ”hear” a beetle dozens of meters away outside the window, gnawing on a leaf, the chewing sound faint yet as clear as if it were right next to his ear.

This was Divine Sense.

Both were extensions of Spiritual Power, but Spiritual Sense could only scan oneself, while Divine Sense could be projected outward to perceive the surroundings.

The more powerful the Cultivator, the greater the range their Divine Sense could cover.

Having just broken through, Anton’s Divine Sense could only cover a radius of about a thousand meters.

High Tier Cultivators, however, could extend their Divine Sense to cover thousands, tens of thousands, or even millions of miles.

Under the shroud of Divine Sense, every blade of grass, every tree, every insect, and every ant was within perception, with nowhere to hide.

And this was just one of the uses of Divine Sense.

Divine Sense could also be used to control Magical Artifacts.

For example, Sword Cultivators attached their Divine Sense to their flying swords to claim a head from a thousand miles away.

Divine Sense itself was even a powerful method of attack.

High Tier Cultivators could shatter a weaker person’s will and drastically reduce their combat effectiveness simply by releasing the pressure of their Divine Sense.

They could even condense their Divine Sense into needles or awls to directly pierce an enemy’s Divine Soul. A light attack would cause a splitting headache; a heavy one would scatter their soul to the winds.

Besides that, Divine Sense also served as a second pair of hands for Alchemy Masters and Artifact Refiners.

It could be used to perceive the properties of medicinal ingredients, precisely control fire, inscribe array patterns, and so on.

All in all, Divine Sense had a wide range of uses and was the key advantage that Foundation Establishment Cultivators held over those in the Qi Refining Stage.