It was time. Zhao Ren let everyone know that he was going into seclusion to break through so he wouldn’t be disturbed at a crucial moment. He received a lot of well wishes and only a few envious glances, which spoke rather well of his reputation.

  Xi Yuan had flown back to her master’s abode with the promise of meeting before the trial. Bao Hua and Mei Ling were also planning to break through very soon. Bao Hua in particular would be cutting it very close and would have very little time to stabilize. Ren had helped him find books about other cultivators with such experiences so he would have an easier time.

  He also harvested the last batch of herbs he was planning to grow in the outer sect and ensured that his little tortoises had all the beast cores they could want. Over the months fighting the beast waves, he had acquired enough points to exchange for a variety of beast cores of different attributes. He used them to both change the qi environment of his courtyard and to directly feed the Myriad Path Tortoises.

  He had let them choose what attribute appealed to them. While the beast cores offered at the exchange leaned towards lunar and yin attributes, there were still a lot of other types available. Hopefully some of them would mature with an unusual alignment. It wouldn’t be fair to say those types were stronger, only that they were rarer.

  Once everything was taken care of, Zhao Ren activated his security formations. He sat down in the eye of the formation and meditated to enter the right frame of mind. He looked around his courtyard and empty fields. It had been his home for over a year. A refuge from the expectations of his family. Where he had taken his first tentative steps as a cultivator. Where he discovered his interests and strengths. Cultivated not just strength, but wealth and confidence.

  Meeting Xi Yuan after so long reinforced that feeling. Back when he had first realized his weakness, he had felt nothing but despair and helplessness. He had changed irrevocably, but that period of weakness had taught him a lot. Now, after growing up and healing some of his mental scars, he felt the determination to advance. Maybe not compete but simply improve. To be better today than yesterday. And better tomorrow than today.

  Feeling resolved, he began. He began by sensing the various qi meridians. The flow of qi was smooth and strong. The heady vitality of the world rushing through his channels and cycling through his dantian, near his navel. Slowly he began accumulating the qi in his dantian and preventing it from flowing back out. He immediately felt the pressure growing.

  As his senses turned inward, he felt the misty, fog-like qi gather in thick clouds. As every bit of qi in his body was forced into his dantian, he struggled to maintain his hold on it. Once it was all contained, he took out the prepared foundation establishment realm pill and quickly swallowed it.

  The pill was unlike the qi boosting pills he was used to. The qi it released was far purer. More importantly, it exerted pressure evenly around his dantian. It shouldered much of the burden of holding back the internal pressure while further increasing the concentration of qi. Things had gone smoothly until now, but it was time for the final step. The step where the greatest risk lay and everything could go wrong.

  Not allowing himself to be distracted, he began to pull the qi into the center. He had forced the qi to condense. The wispy clouds continued to grow thicker and thicker. He strained his control to keep the pressure even and allow no points of leakage. Eventually, the clouds had grown thick enough to condense from a gaseous state into a drop of liquid qi.

  It felt incredibly rewarding! The single droplet contained a huge amount of qi, but it also felt somehow greater than the sum of its parts. It was a qualitative difference. He could stop here and become a foundation establishment realm cultivator! Then he noticed he still had a large number of thin clouds of qi remaining.

  He had reached the minimum density but felt he could keep going. This was an opportunity. Without the support of the pill, he would have already been mentally drained by now. If he could condense more liquid qi in this rare state, he would have a better head start than most. Figuring he had no reason not to try, he kept going.

  Ren kept increasing the pressure on his qi, and another drop of qi condensed and fell. And another. With each drop, he felt the pressure in his dantian increase significantly. It was exhilarating. Two more drops fell, and he struggled to keep holding on. The 6th drop splashed down at the base of his dantian, and the external pressure the pill had provided began to give way.

  He clamped down with his willpower. The clouds were thinning, but the pressure was somehow still pushing him back. He wondered if he should stop here. Another drop fell. He was taking a needless risk, and if he lost focus, his dantian could be damaged and leak qi, crippling him for years and ruining his progress. Yet he kept going, thinking he was so close to completely condensing all the clouds into rain.

  His thoughts latched onto that comparison. It was rain, wasn’t it? Kind of like his nurturing rain sutra, where the qi was condensed to rain. Something he had done countless times over the months. Maybe he was being wishful or delusional, but it gave him enough hope to keep going on. He chanted the sutra in his mind even as he forced the clouds together.

  The 8th drop fell.

  It seemed to help a little, but he was still slowly losing ground. There were very few clouds left, maybe enough for one or two more drops. He bit the inside of his cheek as he furiously fought on. He focused on the image of clouds condensing into a nurturing rain and bringing life to the earth below.

  The 9th drop fell.

  Thin cracks began spiderwebbing from the bottom of his dantian as if it were unable to bear the weight of the liquid qi. Refusing to give up this close to the end, even as his concentration waned, he kept chanting the sutra in his mind and fighting to maintain the pressure.

  “Almost… there…”

  The cracks were widening, and he was at risk of not just injuring himself but shattering his dantian and completely crippling himself!

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  The final wisps of qi gathered into one final brilliant gold drop and splashed down with the rest of his qi, and a euphoric feeling washed over Ren.

  The 10 drops of liquid qi began to swirl and fill the cracks. His dantian was undergoing a wondrous transformation. The pressure dissipated, and the qi started to cycle once again through his meridians. Everywhere it went, the liquid qi was causing a miraculous change. He was extremely weary but curiously observed the change. The waves of ecstasy kept washing over him, and his body relaxed.

  Ren felt joyous and exhilarated that his breakthrough had been such a complete success. With that last thought, he finally fell unconscious, a smile on his face.

  Blearily blinking open his eyes, Ren sat up. The last traces of the black, foul-smelling impurities were just being erased by his formation. As his thoughts slowly caught up, he felt relieved he had learned his lesson from the last time he lay in that filth all night. Slowly getting to his feet, he marveled at the sensations from his body.

  Power almost hummed below his skin. His muscles were like coiled pythons, just waiting to strike. Just to test his new strength, he punched the air, and remarkably, a gust of wind was generated! He shouted and leaped with joy, only to soar much higher than he had expected.

  He had done it!! All that effort had paid off, and he was now a foundation establishment realm cultivator! He quickly turned his senses inward. The rush of qi through his strengthened meridians was a splendid feeling. In his dantian he observed the beginnings of his inner sea, a shallow puddle of liquid qi. Occasionally, a hint of gold flashed on the surface. He felt proud of himself. According to his Grass Blade Manual, he was only supposed to condense a single drop.

  Of course his more talented seniors had probably condensed more by using better cultivation manuals or by their own talent, but such information wasn’t usually shared with others. Despite his 3 spirit roots and his overall steady pace of cultivation, he had performed far better than expected!

  He sat down once again and began to meditate. His dantian was still covered in tiny cracks, which he needed to stabilize. It had been covered a little, but he needed to begin cultivating using the initial stages of the Causality of Karma to erase all signs of damage.

  Since he chose not to implement the part about drawing strength from karmic connections, the remaining part was from the undamaged section. He simply needed to cycle his qi through his meridians in a certain pattern. The rest could come later.

  Ren emerged a few weeks later. There were still 12 days left before the trial began, and he needed to grow accustomed to his new strength. The best way to do so was to test his mettle on the frontlines, against beasts. Then he could find out what the other sects were up to as well. But before anything else, he went to the Hall of Contribution and registered as a foundation establishment realm cultivator. He was asked to report in a few days to receive his new identification jade and robes.

  Then he picked up the few months' worth of stipend of spirit stones and qi boosting pills he had ignored earlier. He added more of his own spirit stones for a total of 30 spirit stones and 3 pills. Ren found a junior he was familiar with and knew was not strong enough to compete in the inheritance trial and offered him the mission he had in mind.

  Ren gave the letter and the pouch with the wealth he was planning to send home. They went to the counter and registered it as an official mission and added a reward of 5 spirit stones. This way the junior would earn some contribution points along with the money. The enterprising young man also selected two other missions in the vicinity of the Zhao family home to make the most of the journey.

  The letter he sent told the Zhao family patriarch, his grandfather, that he had advanced. He spared them personal details, only talking about things the family was really invested in. The inheritance trial, the sects participating, and other lesser news they might be interested in, and some business connections they could use. He also mentioned Uncle Tao advancing if they hadn’t heard about it yet.

  Ren did let them know of the reported high danger of the trial to make them aware of the risk just in case neither of the two made it back alive. The amount he was sending back should be enough to nurture another talent or two if they used it wisely. Hopefully Uncle Tao had spared some treasures as well.

  Ren, being aware of the weight of karmic ties, did this as a way to balance his debt to the family. He still loved his parents and his kindly grandpa and wouldn’t dream of severing ties with them, but the entire family had contributed towards his development. Sometimes with clear signs of resentment, which he definitely didn’t need in the future.

  Ren felt unbelievably unburdened, as he had finally lived up to his family’s expectations. The lightness of his steps had nothing to do with his new strength as he made his way to the southern mountains. There, he saw the camp at the frontlines had undergone a huge change in the short while he had been away.

  Hu Yan was in the central area, surrounded by many disciples. The information broker was clearly doing very well for himself. When Ren approached, he heard others asking for reports on various things. From the noteworthy talents of the other sects, any hints about the trial. Ren was surprised to see how much demand there was for the information lists of herbs, metals, and beasts he had compiled for Hu Yan!

  He linked eyes with Hu Yan, who lit up and indicated with his chin to wait at the side. He had another disciple take his place selling information and moved towards Ren.

  “I see congratulations are in order, Zhao Ren! I had no doubt you would do it.”

  Ren laughed, a little embarrassed. “Thank you, Hu Yan. And look at how popular you’ve become!”

  He knew how hard it was to find, sort, and value all the random information they had to unearth from various sources. Hu Yan had a knack for the work and was clearly doing very well for himself.

  “Information master, bestow your wisdom on me! Is there anything I missed in the past few months?”

  “You’ve come to the right place! I’ve got a list of noteworthy talents from the other sects and their abilities. And also take this jade with the latest news and some information our sect elders have given out.” He handed Ren a few jade slips.

  “And don’t dream of paying! I’m the one who owes you! Do you know how popular your lists are? Everyone’s been asking who made them! Oh! That reminds me. Here’s your cut.” As he passed over a hefty pouch.

  Ren praised his friend's integrity internally. He thanked him and left Hu Yan to return to his clamoring customers. He found a quiet spot to examine the latest news. The reports spoke of a final surge of beasts. Some foundation establishment stage beasts had made their move and displaced more herds of weaker beasts. The inner ring of the frontlines had been overrun by sheer numbers.

  Now inner sect and outer sect disciples all fought alongside each other. A few of the talents from the other sects had also chosen to participate as a warm-up. Finally there was news that the elders would be opening the path on the final day.

  There was nothing left to do but wait for his friends and continue getting used to his new realm.

  The elders of all the participating sects stood in front of the huge crowd of cultivators, who were waiting with bated breath. The sect leader of the Heavenly Sword Sect stepped forward and addressed them.

  “Long have you prepared. Eager are your blades. Go forth and prove yourself.”

  In the sky above him, the silver moon was slowly dyed a bright blood red as the streak of the red comet approached in front of it.

  “It has begun!”

  As one, the elder turned and advanced, cutting open a path through the beasts. Like a breaking dam, the tide of cultivators spilled forward behind them.