ragginovel Chapter 65 Foundation Building
Chapter 65 Foundation Building
Huang Yuanji did not turn around. "Let them have this piece of wasteland. My Huang family has just taken over Qingyun Mountain, and the county magistrate is not in Qinghe. There is no need to give others cause for criticism over a few dead people's graves. It is not too late to make plans after the Huang family has established a firm foothold on the mountain for some time."
He paused, then turned to Huang Dehou and added, "No one is allowed to disturb the academy."
"Shen Qing has truly accomplished something remarkable. If given a few years, this academy alone might be able to revive the Qingyun Sect."
Upon hearing this, Huang Dehou was somewhat puzzled: "Father, it's just an academy, why make such a fuss?"
"You think this only concerns a few dozen children? Dehou, think long-term. There are only forty children now, but what about ten years from now?"
"Ten years from now, these will be hundreds of literate young people who will become the pillars of Qinghe's various industries. Do you understand what that means?"
Huang Dehou was startled upon hearing this. He knew all too well that this meant whoever took control of the academy could easily gain influence in all industries in Qinghe.
Huang Dehou responded and turned to make arrangements. Qingyun Academy was now the foundation for the Huang family's rise, and he had to keep a close eye on it.
On the morning of the second day after Shen Qing was buried, dozens of craftsmen carried hammers, chisels, saws and axes up the mountain.
The leader was Huang Taiji, the third son of the Huang family, who had been recruiting craftsmen in the county town for some time.
Before leaving, Huang Yuanji gave him a set of blueprints and left him with the words: "All the original buildings of Qingyun Sect, except for the academy, shall be demolished and rebuilt."
Once they reached the top of the mountain, the craftsmen, upon receiving their orders, immediately set to work with great enthusiasm.
The tiles of the old hall were peeled off piece by piece, and the blue bricks were pried up one by one.
Hearing the commotion, Sun Wenyuan came out to take a look, said nothing, and turned back to the lecture hall to continue teaching the children.
The place is deserted, the people are gone; the world is cold and indifferent. Nothing could be more true than this.
Huang Yuanji assigned all the administrative affairs to his sons. His second son, Huang Wenyuan, led the clansmen up the mountain, his third son, Huang Taiji, kept an eye on the progress of the craftsmen, and his youngest son, Huang Helin, was in charge of purchasing food and supplies in the county town and overseeing the handover of the academy.
He went alone to Qingyun Mountain, from the foot of the mountain to the mountainside and then to the top, using his full divine sense to explore every inch of the land.
Huang Yuanji originally had high hopes for Qingyun Mountain, but after several days of fruitless efforts, his mindset gradually changed.
Ten days have passed.
Huang Yuanji turned Qingyun Mountain upside down. He stood on the mountaintop and remained silent for a long time.
Where exactly is the Daoist voice spoken of by our ancestors? Did our ancestors really hear the Daoist voice on this mountain?
Or was it just the delirious ramblings of our ancestor before his death? For 130 years, four generations of the Huang family have firmly believed in this legend. Could it have been a lie from the very beginning?
Huang Yuanji shook his head, suppressing the thought. He felt that his ancestors had no reason to deceive their descendants.
Shen Qing lay hidden in the coffin, unaware of the passing of day and night.
Covered in loess, with the pine breeze whispering in his ears, he listened to the clamor rising and falling from the mountains deep within the earth's veins.
He felt that the sound of hammers and chisels from the Huang family craftsmen quarrying stone had been going on for a long time, and he even sensed Huang Yuanji's divine sense several times.
Shen Qing ignored all of this, focusing on absorbing spiritual energy from his dantian in the early morning and compressing spiritual mist with the earth's vein energy during the day.
Now, the spiritual liquid in Shen Qing's dantian is more than 90% complete.
The liquid, as pure as mercury, swirled slowly in the dantian, becoming even purer as it was absorbed by the earth's energy.
Each drop of spiritual liquid has undergone no less than a hundred compressions and temperings. It uses the spiritual energy extracted by the Shen Qing system as a base and the earth energy from the root of Qingyun Mountain as a furnace, working together to repeatedly compress the spiritual mist.
He could feel the expansion in his dantian, a signal that his cultivation had reached the peak of Qi Refining and his physical body had been stretched to its limit.
Two days later, after Huang Yuanji's consciousness swept over the cemetery, Shen Qing opened her eyes in the darkness, knowing that the time had come.
Within his dantian, the last wisp of spiritual mist condensed into liquid, and Shen Qing reached the twelfth level of Qi Refining.
The end of the Qi Refining stage and the threshold of Foundation Establishment are separated by just this line.
Shen Qing lay in the coffin, feeling the ocean of spiritual liquid in his dantian. There was no excitement in his heart, only peace.
It took him less than a year to go from the eighth to the twelfth level of Qi Refining, but it took him more than fifty years to get to this point since he transmigrated.
For fifty years, he thought he was destined to be an ant at the very bottom of the cultivation world, but now God has finally given him a chance to turn things around.
"No hurry! No rush!"
Shen Qing muttered to himself, then closed his eyes and began to adjust his state.
Foundation Building is the first step in transcending the mortal realm and entering the spiritual realm. It requires not only the accumulation of cultivation but also the perfection of one's state of mind.
He used the Qi Concealing Technique to suppress the restless spiritual liquid in his dantian, allowing it to slowly settle as it spun.
The earth's energy seeped in through the cracks in the wooden planks at the bottom of the coffin, slowly rising along the meridians, refining the spiritual liquid in the dantian until it became even more concentrated.
He still needs to wait for the perfect opportunity, which is the next time the system draws spiritual energy.
At that time, the pure spiritual energy contributed by those more than one hundred disciples will serve as the final fuel to help him ignite the Dao fire.
I don't know how much time passed, but midnight had arrived.
The system panel displays the message on time: Daily automatic draw, starting.
Eighty-three strands of pure spiritual energy surged into Shen Qing's dantian. He took a deep breath and began the foundation-building process!
As the spiritual energy collided violently with the spiritual liquid in his dantian, Shen Qing instantly felt as if his dantian had been ignited.
It was not a real flame, but a kind of combustion that transcended the material level. Under the burning of Tao and reason, the spiritual liquid transformed into an extremely pure energy, which rushed along the meridians to the limbs and bones.
Shen Qing felt his meridians swell slightly under the burning of the spiritual liquid, and every acupoint trembled.
In the darkness, fine beads of sweat appeared on Shen Qing's forehead, but he gritted his teeth and didn't make a sound.
The most crucial step in building a foundation is understanding "the Way and the Principle".
Spiritual energy is merely the fuel, while the Way and reason are the spark.
The more a cultivator resonates with the origin of heaven and earth, and the deeper their understanding of heaven and earth, the more resonance of the power of heaven and earth they can draw upon during the foundation-building process, thus forging a more perfect foundation for their Dao.
Shen Qing began to speak of his own way to heaven and earth.
The first principle he spoke of was the way of the sword.
This path is the true essence of swordsmanship passed down through generations of the Qingyun Sect. According to Master Fushan Daoren, all the predecessors of the Qingyun Sect used this path to build their foundation.
When Shen Qing attempted to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, he relied on the Dao of the Sword. The true meaning of this Dao is to move forward without hesitation, to be unstoppable, to break through all laws with the sword, to pave the way with sharpness, and to prove the Dao through killing.
But Shen Qing failed that time, not because the way of the sword was not sharp enough, but because the container that carried the way of the sword was not sturdy enough.
The foundation of the ninth level of Qi Refining is too weak to withstand the sharpness of the sword path.
Now, with his perfect Qi cultivation at the twelfth level, he is attempting this breakthrough again, and his physical body is no longer what it used to be.
Shen Qing murmured to himself, "My swordsmanship is the foundation of Qingyun, the root of the path proven by sages throughout the ages."
"Its true meaning is to embody an indomitable spirit and to concentrate one's sharpness to break through all the heavens."
"With a single blade, one can overcome all difficulties; with a single sword, one can break through all laws; by killing and conquest, one can establish one's path; by borrowing the sharpness of one's blade, one can prove one's immortality."
"With unhindered sword intent and unparalleled sword spirit, killing is the path, and sharpness is the foundation."
"The Dao itself is without fault; it is only the bodies that bear it that are different. The Dao perished in the past not because the sword was not sharp enough, but because one's own foundation was shallow and one's mortal body could not bear the power of the sharpest sword."
"Now I will use the twelve layers of perfect Qi to forge a flawless body, temper my flesh and blood, solidify my physique, and make my body strong enough to bear the fierceness of the sword. I will be able to bear the unparalleled sharpness. I will knock on the foundation gate again, seek the supreme sword path again, use my own body as a sword hut, use my soul to nourish my sword heart, roam the world, and cut through a thousand obstacles with my sword."
With a low sigh, Shen Qing suddenly understood the true meaning of swordsmanship.