Chapter 123 - 87 : Before The Pursuit (1)

Chapter 123: Chapter 87 : Before The Pursuit (1)

One of the cultivation rooms in the borderfront city remained quiet despite the activity outside.

The room had been built over a branch of a mid-grade Spirit Vein, allowing spiritual energy to rise naturally through the stone beneath it. Formation masters had reinforced that advantage with a Spirit Gathering Formation carved into the walls and floor. Fine lines ran between the stones, glowing faintly as they drew in the surrounding spiritual energy and guided it toward the center of the room. A few spirit stones were set into recessed slots along the formation, supplying additional energy whenever the formation was activated.

The result was a space where the spiritual energy was noticeably denser than outside. For disciples who had accumulated enough sect merit, such rooms offered a place to cultivate, recover, or attempt a breakthrough without having to search for a suitable environment.

In the center of one such room, a young man sat cross-legged on a simple cultivation mat.

His hands rested loosely on his knees, his back straight beneath a dark-blue cultivator’s robe. His long black hair was tied neatly behind his head, leaving a composed and youthful face exposed. There was nothing particularly imposing about his appearance, but the faint pressure surrounding him was different from what it had been before.

Kael had recently broken through to Foundation Establishment and for the past several days, he had remained here, becoming accustomed to the changes brought by his new realm and familiarizing himself with the strength that now flowed through his body. The breakthrough itself was already complete. What remained was allowing his cultivation to settle completely before he set out on his journey back to the sect.

He sat quietly within the dense spiritual energy, his eyes closed.

For several breaths, he did not move.

The room remained silent around him, the formations continuing their steady work as spiritual energy gathered and flowed inward.

As he continued circulating his cultivation method, his awareness was no longer limited to the flow of Qi through his meridians but something within him that had changed.

The spiritual energy that moved through his body now carried a depth that had been completely absent during Qi Refining. Each circulation passed through his meridians before returning to his dantian, yet his awareness followed it far beyond the familiar pathways, touching the deeper changes brought by Foundation Establishment.

The Spirit Sea had opened within his consciousness.

It was still unfamiliar, vast and quiet in a way that Kael had never experienced before. His spiritual sense had changed along with it, no longer feeling like the faint extension of awareness he had known during Qi Refining. Even while sitting with his eyes closed, he could perceive his own body with a clarity that had once been impossible, sensing the movement of spiritual energy through his meridians, the condition of his organs and bones, and the subtle changes taking place within him.

During the first few days, controlling this new awareness had been almost as difficult as adjusting to the transformed energy in his body. His attention would sometimes drift toward his Spirit Sea without intending to, while his spiritual sense reached farther than he expected and brought back details he had not consciously sought.

But after several days of cultivation, the unfamiliarity had begun to fade.

Kael allowed his cultivation method to continue its cycle, letting the spiritual energy move through his body while his newly awakened sense settled naturally into its place. The two gradually became easier to control together. His breathing slowed, his thoughts grew quieter, and the faint tension that had remained in his body finally disappeared.

Another cycle passed.

Kael remained still for several more breaths before slowly opening his eyes.

A quiet smile appeared on his face.

He released the breath from his lungs and let his awareness sink inward.

Then, almost instinctively, he reached toward the new sense that had awakened with his Foundation Establishment.

A thread of consciousness extended beyond his body.

Kael froze.

The room around him suddenly became clear in a way his eyes could never have shown him. The walls did not disappear, yet their presence no longer mattered. His awareness passed through them, spreading outward without light or sound, until the space around him seemed to unfold inside his mind.

He could sense the cultivation rooms nearby.

There were several disciples cultivating in the rooms on either side, their spiritual energy moving slowly through their bodies. Beyond them, he could sense figures walking through the corridors, the faint fluctuations of their cultivation revealing their presence even when they were completely hidden from sight.

Kael’s awareness continued outward.

It reached beyond the building and into the streets surrounding it. Disciples moved through the city, some carrying supplies, others returning from their duties. He could sense guards stationed along the nearby walls, the formations built into the city, and the faint movement of spiritual energy beneath the ground.

He could not see any of it with his eyes.

Yet he knew it was there.

The sensation left him strangely still.

During Qi Refining, his awareness had always remained tied to his physical senses. Now, with a single thought, he could extend it beyond his body and perceive everything within roughly a hundred and fifty meters as naturally as if he were standing among it.

And within that range, nothing moved without leaving a trace.

A disciple walking through a corridor could not hide his presence from him. Someone entering a nearby room could not escape his awareness simply by closing the door. Even the faintest disturbance in the spiritual energy around him reached his consciousness.

Kael slowly turned his head, though there was no need to look.

His Divine Sense had already shown him what lay in that direction. The awareness felt so natural now that he almost forgot there had been a time when walls, distance, and darkness could have hidden these things from him.

He remained still for a moment, quietly taking in the sensation. This was something he would have to get used to.

For years, Foundation Establishment had been the realm Kael could only look up to. It was the point every Qi Refining cultivator hoped to reach, yet the path to it was never guaranteed. A breakthrough could fail, and failure did not simply mean losing cultivation. Many cultivators had lost their lives trying to cross that barrier. Kael had known the risk when he made the attempt, and even after succeeding, the weight of what he had finally achieved had not completely settled in. The realm that had always seemed so far above him was now beneath his feet.

Kael lowered his gaze to his hands and thought back to his time at the border. He had already spent quite some time at Peak Qi Refining when the opportunity arose. After the recent incident involving the Crimson Purge Sect and the increased pressure along the frontier, the sect had begun sending more disciples there and offering missions with higher rewards. Kael had recognized what that meant for him.

Opportunity.

The missions were dangerous, but they gave him access to resources that were normally difficult for a Peak Qi Refining disciple to obtain. The sect had always kept higher-grade resources limited, releasing them in small batches or reserving them for cultivators who had higher protentials. The border missions gave him a chance to earn enough merit to obtain some of what he needed.

So he came and took one mission after another. There had been battles that left him injured, missions that turned into ambushes, and occasions when he had been forced to retreat into the wilderness and recover before returning. At times, he had come back with wounds severe enough that he had to spend his hard-earned rewards on healing pills. There had even been moments when a single mistake could have ended his life. Yet he had kept going, taking what each mission gave him and using it to push himself a little further.

All those days had led to this moment. From Body Tempering to Qi Refining, from the long months spent at the border to the missions and battles that had nearly cost him his life, he had crossed each step one at a time. And now, after everything it had taken to get here, the barrier he had spent so long trying to cross was finally behind him.

There had been moments when Kael wondered whether remaining at the border was worth it. Some of the disciples who had arrived with him in the same batch had already died in the missions. Others had been left with injuries that would affect them for the rest of their lives, while a few had managed to survive and continue making progress. Kael had watched all of it happen around him, yet he had stayed, taking one mission after another and gathering whatever resources he could obtain.

He had endured because he knew what he wanted.

Foundation Establishment.

Eventually, Kael had gathered enough resources to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill. Even with the pill, however, the breakthrough had never been guaranteed. The risk remained, and failure could cost him his life.

But he had succeeded.