Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 105

The medicinal effects of the Foundation Establishment Pill spread rapidly. In just a few hours, Han Li’s dantian [energy center] felt like it was burning, filled with intense heat, while his limbs were chillingly cold, creating a stark contrast in temperature.

However, this reaction quickly subsided. The heat in his dantian, as well as the cold in his arms and legs, returned to normal, leaving him puzzled. His face, which had shown a flicker of doubt, instantly contorted as he tightly gripped the area around his dantian with both hands.

Suddenly, a sharp, stabbing pain shot through him, catching Han Li completely off guard and turning his face pale.

Instantly, beads of cold sweat formed, and as the droplets ran down his face, his entire body arched like a bow.

While writhing in pain, he began to curse inwardly. Why hadn’t anyone told him that such extreme pain would follow the consumption of the Foundation Establishment Pill!

Before he could finish his thought, the pain in his dantian suddenly exploded outward.

Numerous streams of hot energy surged through his meridians [energy channels], permeating his entire body, even seeming to invade his bone marrow.

Then, the pain transformed into a bizarre itching sensation, as if countless ants were crawling all over his body, plunging him into a terrible sensory experience.

While he was suffering madly, the pain gradually subsided. When Han Li managed to pull himself up against the wall, his entire body was covered in a sticky, gray substance that emitted a strange odor.

However, he had no time to worry about that. What he needed to focus on was the sudden increase in his cultivation and the much more comfortable state of his body.

It was clear that the Foundation Establishment Pill had changed his constitution and helped him cleanse his marrow.

Even though his cultivation had increased rapidly, the remaining warmth was from the Foundation Establishment Pill. If he didn’t slowly absorb it through closed-door cultivation, this power would gradually dissipate over time.

At first, Han Li, like others, tried to absorb the medicinal properties according to the standard method of taking the Foundation Establishment Pill.

However, he quickly realized that this method would only slightly increase his magic power and would not bring about any fundamental changes in his constitution or realm.

With only one Foundation Establishment Pill, it was right to absorb the remaining medicinal properties to increase his magic power, even if there were no significant changes. He would spend three months in closed-door cultivation to fully absorb the remaining power of the Foundation Establishment Pill.

However, Han Li, who had a stockpile of Foundation Establishment Pills, had no reason to be concerned about such minor changes. His only concern was how many times this kind of constitution improvement would occur before he could reach the Foundation Establishment stage. After all, fundamentally improving his bones and changing his constitution was the only way to succeed in Foundation Establishment.

Having realized this after ten days, there was no way he would wait several months before taking the next Foundation Establishment Pill.

After pondering alone, he didn’t think there would be any major problems with taking the Foundation Establishment Pills consecutively. Some remaining medicinal properties might accumulate, but what was the big deal?

In the end, a few days later, the second Foundation Establishment Pill entered Han Li’s mouth.

Similar pain and itching occurred, but having prepared himself mentally, Han Li found it much easier to endure.

Moreover, it felt less intense than the first time. However, the substance secreted from his body was almost the same, confirming once again that his aptitude was truly terrible.

There were still some remaining medicinal properties, but other than a slight increase in heat, it was bearable. Furthermore, his cultivation had reached the thirteenth level, achieving the peak of the Qi Refining stage.

Now somewhat relieved, Han Li began to take the Foundation Establishment Pills consecutively. Each time a pill disappeared into his stomach, similar pain and itching occurred, and the gray substance was expelled from his body.

From the third Foundation Establishment Pill onward, the effect of improving his constitution clearly decreased. The amount of gray substance noticeably reduced, and at the same time, the magic power and true essence within his body also showed strange changes.

The true essence, which had originally floated like air, gradually began to take on a denser form after several Foundation Establishment Pills, showing a tendency to liquefy.

By the time he swallowed the seventh pill, all of his true essence, except for what remained in the core of his dantian, had completely liquefied.

The residual medicinal properties from the seven pills had also reached a saturation point. The warmth that had been gently warming his body now felt like the scorching sun, threatening to dry him out.

If he swallowed one more Foundation Establishment Pill, these medicinal properties might explode, causing something to happen.

However, he also clearly felt that the moment to break through and reach the Foundation Establishment stage was near. It seemed that just one more pill would do it.

After a moment of consideration, his desire to succeed in Foundation Establishment prevailed. Han Li made up his mind and swallowed the eighth Foundation Establishment Pill.

As soon as he swallowed the pill, the medicinal properties, which had been barely maintained, overflowed, and his meridians throughout his body flared up with fierce momentum.

At the same time, Han Li lost consciousness. However, when Han Li barely opened his eyes amidst the intense heat, he discovered that he had succeeded in Foundation Establishment while unconscious and had already reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

He couldn’t contain his excitement and jumped up, feeling as if he could fly. But as soon as he stood up, the heat covering his entire body forced him back to the ground.

Even though he had succeeded in Foundation Establishment, the residual medicinal properties remained, pushing his body to its limits.

With the situation becoming urgent, the only option was to circulate his cultivation and slowly absorb the remaining medicinal properties.

Although he had found a way to resolve the crisis, he was far from happy and felt like crying. He didn’t have a cultivation method suitable for a cultivator above the Foundation Establishment stage, except for the *Qing Yuan Swordplay*. It was clear that this cultivation method was a common one, given to him by his master without much thought. Moreover, he had skimmed through the book several times and even asked others about it.

Indeed, this *Qing Yuan Swordplay* was extremely ordinary. He had heard that any disciple who reached the Foundation Establishment stage in the Yellow Maple Valley had achieved at least the second or third level of mastery.

He didn’t know why no one had reached beyond the third level, but it was clear that there was a flaw. Still, with the fire on his feet, he had no choice but to try to learn it.

With a truly helpless expression, Han Li sat cross-legged on the floor and began to cultivate the *Qing Yuan Swordplay*.

The *Qing Yuan Swordplay* consisted of nine levels. The first three levels could be learned by Qi Refining stage disciples, while the middle three and the last three levels could be learned by Foundation Establishment and Core Formation stage cultivators, respectively. Each time one reached a new set of three levels, they could unleash a unique ability of the swordplay.

By mastering the first three levels, one could emit a sword-shaped light from their bare hands, with power comparable to a high-grade magic tool. By mastering the next three levels, one could instantly form a sword-shaped protection around their body.

Although the defensive power itself was only equivalent to a low-level intermediate defensive spell, if someone recklessly attacked the barrier, a sword of light would automatically be fired.

However, if one mastered the last three levels…

By mastering the last three levels, one could use the *Sword Shadow Light Splitting Technique*. To learn this, one needed a flying sword-type magic treasure, but a flying blade would also work.

By mastering the *Sword Shadow Light Splitting Technique*, when facing an enemy, an identical shadow sword would be created from the light of the flying sword, confusing the opponent’s eyes and attacking them.

Although initially, it would only have one-tenth of the original power, as one mastered higher levels of the swordplay, it could reach up to one-third of the flying sword’s power.

Furthermore, as one cultivated the sword shadows, they could increase their number after the seventh level.

It was said that if one mastered the *Qing Yuan Swordplay* to its peak, they could generate three sword shadows simultaneously. From this perspective, the *Sword Shadow Light Splitting Technique* seemed worth learning.

However, there was a clear reason why so many Foundation Establishment stage cultivators in the Yellow Maple Valley were reluctant to deeply master the *Qing Yuan Swordplay*.

It was truly regrettable that he hadn’t asked about the reason back then. He had simply ignored it because he had no intention of ever learning this swordplay.

Now, even though he knew it was a flawed swordplay, he had no choice but to start practicing it superficially. He could only hope that there would be no future problems, such as falling into a demonic state.

And thinking about it differently, since everyone else had reached the second or third level, it wouldn’t hurt him to learn a little to absorb the medicinal properties.

Comforting himself in this way, Han Li followed the *Qing Yuan Swordplay* and absorbed the residual effects of the pills that were about to explode within his body.

Just by circulating his magic power once with the new cultivation method, he had absorbed a lot of the medicinal properties, and his body felt much more comfortable.

Without realizing it, Han Li continuously circulated his magic power following the swordplay. After an unknown amount of time, Han Li succeeded in absorbing all the residual medicinal properties within his body. He finally emerged from the hazy feeling of his body gradually becoming comfortable.

Han Li opened his eyes with a somewhat blank expression. However, he soon stood up and suddenly swung his arm in the air. At the same time, a blue light about an inch long formed a sword shape from his fingertip.

It was a cold, sharp sword of light. Upon seeing it, Han Li didn’t feel happy but rather gave a wry smile. He then swung his arm once more, and the blue light became brighter, and the sword of light grew to about a foot long, threatening to pierce the stone chamber wall.

‘Ha, I’m screwed. The remaining medicinal effects were too strong, and I ended up mastering the swordplay to the fourth level! I hope no big problems arise?’

A slight shadow fell over his face.

“Okay. I just won’t practice it anymore!”

Han Li muttered, making the blue sword disappear. Still, since he had already learned it, Han Li picked up the book and reviewed it several times, especially memorizing the part about creating the protective sword.

Then, Han Li lowered his head and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them with a fierce gaze, a unique sword barrier appeared in front of him.

This barrier was blue and about the same size as a typical defensive shield. However, instead of being smooth, it had thorns protruding from its surface like a hedgehog, making it look menacing.

‘This is the protective sword.’

Han Li, after carefully examining its sharp edges, felt a bit amazed. The swordplay stated that if someone attacked it, the barrier would automatically fire a sword of light, but it was a pity that he couldn’t test it now.

After moving his arms and legs around and thoroughly examining his magic power and true essence, he finally felt relieved and left the earth fire room.

And then he encountered the ugly man staring blankly at room 19. Thinking about the man’s bewildered expression, Han Li, who was slowly hovering in the air, couldn’t help but smile.

It was early morning, just as the sun was beginning to rise, so Han Li was able to return to the Hundred Herbs Garden without encountering anyone.

When he left the Hundred Herbs Garden under the pretext of taking the Foundation Establishment Pill and going into closed-door cultivation, Old Man Ma had glared at him for a while, expressing his anger.

As he finally entered the herb garden of the Hundred Herbs Garden, the old man was in front of the thatched hut, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth with his eyes closed.

Although his eyes were closed, who else but the old man could freely enter and leave the Hundred Herbs Garden, which was under a restriction?

Old Man Ma was about to calmly call out to Han Li with his eyes closed when he suddenly seemed to sense something and opened his eyes wide.

“Huh, you succeeded in Foundation Establishment?”

“Senior Ma, this disciple has fortunately entered the Foundation Establishment stage!”

Seeing the incredulous look, Han Li bowed and smiled slightly. Perhaps it was because of his age, but the old man was a bit surprised before regaining his usual composure.

“This is truly an amazing thing. To unexpectedly reach the Foundation Establishment stage!”

He muttered something before looking at him seriously again.

“Since we are both Foundation Establishment stage cultivators, you can stop calling me Senior. From today on, you can call me Senior Brother Ma. If you don’t mind, since I am older.”

Han Li simply nodded at the old man’s words without saying anything. After all, it was a natural custom in the cultivation world for seniority to change according to one’s cultivation level, so there was no reason to be humble.

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