Chapter 197: Panel Abnormality

Chapter 197: Chapter 197: Panel Abnormality

But in the end, this was just Jiang Xu’s speculation.

To truly understand, Jiang Xu would have to ascend to Foundation Establishment and try it for himself.

The Magical Power within his Dantian was being compressed in an orderly fashion. With the help of those four seeds, Jiang Xu wasn’t worried about this process at all.

However, Jiang Xu was very curious about how the next two gates would proceed.

Especially since Jiang Xu had already successfully condensed his Divine Sense.

He really had no idea what kind of changes would occur during the final gate of Foundation Establishment, given that he had already condensed his Divine Sense.

While Jiang Xu was still focused on compressing the Magical Power in his body, something changed—though he wasn’t sure if it was the Foundation Establishment Pill causing the second stage to begin, or if this was a natural part of breaking through to Foundation Establishment.

Jiang Xu suddenly felt his Qi and Blood Power surge violently. His entire body turned an abnormal shade of red, and as his Qi and Blood steamed, countless plumes of vapor erupted from his body, completely filling the secret chamber. The immense amount of steam completely concealed him from view.

This sudden surge of Qi and Blood did not linger for long; it rushed from his limbs and torso, flooding violently into his head!

His previously red torso instantly returned to normal, then grew even paler, more gaunt and withered!

In its place, Jiang Xu’s head turned an extreme shade of crimson, like a cooked crab, only more exaggerated. His entire head swelled to more than twice its original size. With his large head and small body, he looked incredibly bizarre.

Immersed in his breakthrough, Jiang Xu was, of course, unaware of how strange he looked to an outside observer.

He was currently trapped in such extreme agony that he had no mind for anything else!

The head is the most vital part of the body; the slightest abnormality can cause fatal injury. His had swollen to twice its normal size, and all the Qi and Blood in his body was rampaging through it, giving him a splitting headache. The pain was so extreme that he couldn’t form a single thought.

In truth, an ordinary Qi Cultivation Cultivator breaking through to Foundation Establishment would never have such a massive amount of Qi and Blood rush into their head.

This was purely because Jiang Xu himself was a Body Cultivator at the Body Refining Late Stage, and his internal Qi and Blood was exceptionally powerful, resulting in a colossal amount rushing into his brain.

Although the onslaught of Qi and Blood had blurred his thoughts, this vast and abundant power also provided Jiang Xu’s Sea of Consciousness with an inexhaustible source of supply. It continuously drew nourishment from it, causing the Spiritual Power within his Sea of Consciousness to grow rapidly.

At that moment, the already-formed Spiritual Fire Seed within Jiang Xu’s Sea of Consciousness stirred.

It began to circle slowly within his Sea of Consciousness. The seed, originally like a mere flicker of candlelight, rapidly grew under these conditions, expanding and becoming ever more brilliant and splendid!

With the participation of the Spiritual Fire Seed, the Qi and Blood that had flooded his head began to be consumed at an extremely fast rate, and the size of Jiang Xu’s head slowly returned to normal.

However, Jiang Xu’s head was now covered in blood. It had clearly ruptured when it swelled, splattering blood everywhere. But thanks to the Healing Technique, it was recovering at a rapid pace. Though covered in blood, Jiang Xu was in no mortal danger.

Slowly, Jiang Xu’s consciousness returned. All the Qi and Blood flowed back along its original path, and his limbs and torso were restored to their previous state.

Jiang Xu looked inward, first examining his Sea of Consciousness.

He saw that the Spiritual Fire Seed in his Sea of Consciousness had now expanded several times over. Although it still remained beneath the Cloud Seal Celestial Book, it seemed to have moved a step closer than before.

Jiang Xu didn’t know what this signified, but he was sure it was a good thing.

’So this is the second and third of the Foundation Establishment Three Gates. They’re actually connected.’

Jiang Xu thought, lost in contemplation.

’If a Cultivator has insufficient lifespan, their internal Essence, Qi, and Blood will be very weak, and very little Qi and Blood will rush into their head.’

’At this point, the Sea of Consciousness in the head needs a large amount of Qi and Blood to support the transformation of its internal Spiritual Power into Divine Sense.’

’If the Qi and Blood is insufficient to support this transformation, the breakthrough will fail directly. The consumed Qi and Blood won’t return, and the resulting deficiency will naturally cause a reduction in lifespan.’

’The reason the Foundation Establishment Pill can prevent this is that it can provide a portion of the Qi and Blood Power on the Cultivator’s behalf. But if the Cultivator’s own Qi and Blood is too low to begin with, the breakthrough will still fail in the end.’

’That must be the origin of the rumor widely circulated in the Cultivation Realm: that a Cultivator over sixty years old can no longer break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.’

Jiang Xu now completely understood why Cultivators needed the Foundation Establishment Pill so badly.

The Foundation Establishment Pill played a crucial role in each of the three gates.

Besides helping to compress Magical Power into a liquid state, it could also provide Qi and Blood Power, prevent excessive consumption of the Cultivator’s own Qi and Blood, and aid in the transformation of Spiritual Power into Divine Sense.

Jiang Xu released his Divine Sense, silently perceiving the changes within it.

’My Divine Sense’s Investigation range is now a full sixty zhang!’

Jiang Xu retracted his Divine Sense, extremely astonished.

He had learned about the ranges of Divine Sense before.

An ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivator Early Stage had a Divine Sense detection range of thirty zhang. Only after reaching the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage would a Cultivator’s detection range reach sixty zhang.

Previously, when Jiang Xu was in the Qi Cultivation Stage, his maximum range was only twenty zhang. Now that he had entered Foundation Establishment, he had directly skipped the early stage and reached the level of the middle stage.

Just then, all the Mana Fog in Jiang Xu’s Qi Sea finished transforming into a denser, liquid Magical Power. The five seeds also stopped their mutation and gradually fell silent.

’Have I... succeeded in Foundation Establishment or not?’

Jiang Xu sensed his body. He had already passed the Foundation Establishment Three Gates, but he felt like something was still missing.

He summoned his panel, wanting to check it to see if he had truly succeeded in Foundation Establishment.

But after Jiang Xu summoned the panel, he realized something seemed to be wrong.

After being summoned, the panel seemed somewhat illusory. All the content on it flickered and stuttered like an old television, looking as if it had suddenly been damaged.

’Holy crap! What’s going on?!’

At that very moment, his Divine Sense moved on its own, beyond Jiang Xu’s control, and shot directly toward the constantly flickering panel that looked like it was about to collapse.

Before Jiang Xu could even figure out what was happening, he saw his Divine Sense arrive at the panel and lunge straight at it!

"Ah..."

Jiang Xu only had time to let out a cry of alarm before his vision went black. He lost all consciousness, his entire being sinking into silence.

Meanwhile, the panel that had looked like it was about to disintegrate actually stopped collapsing after the Divine Sense merged with it. Instead, it slowly returned to its original, normal appearance and submerged itself back into Jiang Xu’s body.