Nine-Colored Glow

Xue Mingzhao took items out of her storage ring one by one.

First was the Kongming Formation plate, then she hung the breath-concealing pendant on herself, and finally, she took out the Yunluo Breath-Concealing Array Disk.

This latter item had cost her a fortune in the Yunque Heavenly Capital.

At the time, the shopkeeper had beaten his chest and guaranteed that even if an old monster of the Tribulation Transcendence realm came, they wouldn't be able to find a trace of her.

She had too many secrets to hide from the world. Hearing the shopkeeper's confidence, she had gritted her teeth and bought it.

She activated both formations. Once she was certain her aura was completely concealed, she sat down cross-legged and began to refine spiritual energy.

The Chaos Spiritual Root had stopped its snarky comments and remained perfectly quiet.

It had actually quite liked Cang Jue's little cauldron at first, but after learning that Cang Jue could refine Nirvana Pills, the more it looked at the cauldron, the more irritating it found it.

At this critical juncture, it didn't dare speak out of turn and anger Xue Mingzhao. If she really replaced it, it wouldn't even have a place to go cry.

Meanwhile, Cang Jue watched Xue Mingzhao curiously from the side.

To be honest, when he had first awakened and saw that his host was only a little girl in the Qi Condensation realm, he couldn't help but feel disappointed.

But after observing her for the past few days, he realized this Qi Condensation girl was far from simple.

Not only could she casually draw supreme-grade talismans, but she also possessed the one-and-only Chaos Spiritual Root in her body.

More importantly, she had a discerning eye, picking him out from a pile of junk.

This showed that his master was someone destined for great things.

Cang Jue decided to observe her for a while longer. If she met his expectations in all aspects, he would grant her another grand opportunity.

Xue Mingzhao sat cross-legged on the bed, took a deep breath, and retrieved a supreme-grade Foundation Establishment Pill from her storage ring, placing it in front of her.

She nodded in satisfaction—swallowing it right when she was about to break through would ensure absolute success.

The Chaos Spiritual Root watched coldly from her dantian for a long time before finally unable to resist speaking up, “What are you setting that thing out for?”

“To establish my foundation,” Xue Mingzhao said as if it were obvious.

“That's for other people.” The Chaos Spiritual Root's tone carried a hint of disdain, with a trace of pride buried deep within. “The one living in your dantian is me. Establishing a foundation with the Chaos Spiritual Root doesn't require such things.”

Xue Mingzhao's hand paused. “What do you mean?”

“It means—” The Chaos Spiritual Root slowly dragged out its words, “Chaos Foundation Establishment doesn't require any pills. Where would one find a Foundation Establishment Pill when heaven and earth were first created? The power of chaos itself is the best foundation.”

“Why are you only telling me this now?”

The Chaos Spiritual Root snorted. “You don't even know this basic common sense, yet you're blaming me.”

Xue Mingzhao: “...Fine.”

She put the pill back into her storage ring, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

She circulated her cultivation technique, refining the surrounding spiritual energy thread by thread into true essence, which sank into her dantian.

With every layer refined, her meridians stretched a bit more, and a tearing pain spread throughout her body.

Xue Mingzhao gritted her teeth and didn't make a sound.

An hour passed.

Eighth level of Qi Condensation.

She didn't stop, continuing to push forward.

Her meridians swelled and ached from being stretched. Deep within her dantian, it felt as if a red-hot branding iron had been shoved inside, making her entire body tremble from the heat.

Her fingers clenched until her knuckles turned white, and she nearly bit through her lip, yet she stubbornly refused to let out even a whimper.

After another hour.

Ninth level of Qi Condensation.

Great Perfection of Qi Condensation!

Only one final step remained before Foundation Establishment.

If not for her naturally powerful self-healing constitution, she would have long since fainted from the agonizing pain.

The Chaos Spiritual Root felt a bit guilty looking at her. Although the Chaos Spiritual Root was incredible, the pain of breaking through with it was hundreds of thousands of times worse than that of ordinary cultivators.

It wasn't doing this to torture her on purpose.

To rely on the source of chaos to reach the highest heights, one was destined to endure ten thousand times the suffering of others.

It put away its usual playful attitude and said solemnly, “Fine, I'll give you a hand.”

Xue Mingzhao opened her eyes, her clothes completely soaked as if she had just been pulled from the water.

Just as she was about to ask how, her dantian suddenly shuddered violently—

A force far more vast and majestic than all her previous spiritual energy combined erupted from the depths of the Chaos Spiritual Root. Like a bursting dam, it swept through all her bottlenecks, charging straight toward the gate of Foundation Establishment!

...

Outside the main hall of Cloud Listening Peak, Su Mingyuan stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the sea of clouds churning between the mountains, his brow tightly furrowed.

He had just sensed a sharp drop in the spiritual energy within the sect.

Although the Eastern Territory had been devoid of spiritual energy for a long time, the rate of depletion this time was exceptionally abnormal.

He wondered silently if some high-level cultivator was breaking through, overdrawing too much of the natural energy of this place.

Right then, the sky above the Grand Primordium Sect suddenly underwent a dramatic change.

The deep night sky was completely swallowed by a sudden nine-colored glow.

Purple-gold, crimson, pure white, emerald green, pale yellow, jade green, deep blue, and dark silver—streaks of flowing light swirled and spiraled among the clouds, making the entire mountain peak look like an ancient immortal realm.

A majestic aura slowly spread out from Xue Mingzhao's small courtyard.

This was neither the terrifying pressure of a Soul Transformation expert nor the standard spiritual energy fluctuations of a Golden Core cultivator. Instead, it was an aura he had never encountered in his life—vast, ancient, and distant, as if it had existed since the dawn of creation.

A figure cut through the night sky and landed steadily beside Su Mingyuan.

Xu Qingyan's expression was tense as she locked her gaze onto the direction of the small courtyard, her voice exceptionally solemn. “Someone is breaking through their realm right now.”

After a pause, she added, “This is definitely not a phenomenon an ordinary cultivator would produce when breaking through.”

Immediately after, three streaks of light arrived in rapid succession.

Even before his feet touched the ground, Wen Shuxian began to shout, “What's going on? The sect's spiritual energy is all rushing toward Cloud Listening Peak like a pump—wait, isn't that Mingzhao's courtyard?!”

Su Mingyuan realized instantly. “Mingzhao is about to break through to Foundation Establishment!”

Mu Tianqing's brow furrowed tightly as he stared at the intensifying glow, murmuring in speculation, “Could it be a Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment?”

Ji Yushu rushed over, but before he could even speak...

The nine-colored glow high in the sky was suddenly stirred by an invisible, massive force. It began to slowly rotate, turning into a chaotic vortex that enveloped the entire mountain.

The center of the vortex was aligned perfectly with Xue Mingzhao's small courtyard, and the spiritual energy within a radius of hundreds of miles scrambled to pour back into the courtyard.

“Not good—” Before Su Mingyuan could finish his sentence, Xu Qingyan leaped forward, her cold voice drifting down with the wind: “Spread out. Protect her.”

The four of them hesitated no longer. Each taking a position, they formed an airtight protective barrier around the perimeter of Xue Mingzhao's courtyard.

Staring at the sky-devouring chaos phenomenon overhead, Ji Yushu suddenly recalled the prophecy left behind by his master—A dawn will surely rise within a hundred years.

At the time, he had thought it referred to the revival of spiritual energy. Now, it seemed it might have referred to a person.