When the last trace of resonance from the zither strings dissipated, the restless spiritual energy within Li Nanzhu's body calmed down, matching the rhythm of the water droplets falling from her eyelashes.
Slowly exhaling a mouthful of turbid air, she scooped up some spirit spring water and splashed it onto her face. The droplets rolled down her chin, washing away the fatigue of several days of continuous cultivation.
Suisui curiously mimicked her, dipping its bone claws into the water and splashing droplets that dampened the hem of her clothes.
"You..." Li Nanzhu looked at Suisui with a mix of amusement and affection, only then remembering to perform an internal inspection of her meridians.
It was only at this moment that she realized the faint, stinging pain in her meridians had vanished, replaced by a sense of fullness. Those suppressed impulses to break through had unknowingly polished her foundation until it was even more stable.
"So that's how it is..." Li Nanzhu murmured.
She finally understood Xiao Yan's intention.
Foundation Establishment was not the end, but the starting point. If she had sought immediate satisfaction and broken through right away, she would have ultimately lost this sense of natural, flowing completion.
—And she would never have achieved perfect Foundation Establishment.
That was not what she wanted. She had always intended to push herself to the absolute limit of what was possible.
Seeing her expression soften, Suisui spun around happily. Its bone claws accidentally knocked over a medicinal basket, sending various bottles and jars rolling across the ground. One small jade bottle clattered to a stop by her feet.
Li Nanzhu bent over to pick it up and found the words "Solidifying Foundation" engraved on the bottle. When she uncorked it, a rich medicinal fragrance wafted out; it was a high-grade spirit pill specifically used to stabilize one's realm.
"When did Master..."
She looked up toward the bamboo building. The zither music had stopped at some unknown point.
Xiao Yan's fan poked through the gap in the window lattice, lightly tapping against the frame. "The foundation-solidifying pill should be taken at the hour of Zi," his voice drifted out, tinged with a hint of helplessness. "Certain people always fail to read the small characters on the bottle."
Li Nanzhu looked down at the bottle and indeed found a line of tiny annotations beneath the two main words.
Her ears felt slightly warm—this was indeed Master's characteristically meticulous style.
As if remembering something, Suisui tugged at her hem and pointed a bone claw at its empty ribs—the place where it usually hid its favorite jar of candied fruits.
Even though it now had a storage bag, it still had a special fondness for stashing things in its ribcage.
"You silly thing..." Li Nanzhu rubbed the small skeleton's skull and carefully put the medicine bottle away. "I'll ask for more for you tomorrow."
Thinking of this, Li Nanzhu couldn't help but look toward Xiao Yan again, only to happen to meet his gaze. His silhouette, which appeared somewhat translucent under the moonlight, was currently leaning against the window as he toyed with the green jade hairpin that never left his side.
The moment their eyes met, Xiao Yan suddenly smiled.
It wasn't his usual cynical smirk, but a faint smile carrying a trace of relief. He gave a slight nod before turning away and disappearing behind the window.
"It seems Master predicted this long ago."
This realization warmed Li Nanzhu's heart. She suddenly understood that Xiao Yan's rigorous training over the past two days was perhaps preparation for this very moment.
Those nearly harsh requirements and those seemingly casual pointers were all meant to help her build a solid foundation, giving her the capital to choose to "wait."
After fully grasping this, Li Nanzhu sat cross-legged once more and began to circulate her spiritual energy. It was only then that she finally noticed the changes; the path of her spiritual energy had already taken on the prototype of the Foundation Establishment stage.
Her wood spiritual root no longer acted up, quietly absorbing and exhaling life force.
When Li Nanzhu opened her eyes again, the morning light had already filled the courtyard. Suisui was leaning against her shoulder, sleeping soundly, its soul fire flickering gently with its "breathing."
She stood up quietly and found that her spiritual energy was even more condensed than the night before. Although she hadn't broken through to the next realm, her strength had truly grown by a significant margin.
Watching the morning light, she suddenly remembered something Xiao Yan had said: "Cultivation is not a race, but a dialogue with oneself."
She hadn't quite understood the meaning of those words at the time, but now she did.
Familiar footsteps sounded behind her—it was Master.
Xiao Yan stood before her, his gaze sweeping over her before he suddenly laughed. "It seems someone has figured it out?"
Li Nanzhu nodded solemnly. "This disciple was dull-witted and caused Master unnecessary worry."
"As long as you know." Xiao Yan's fan tapped the air toward her forehead. "Go copy the third volume of Introduction to a Hundred Herbs ten times."
Suisui woke up with a start and immediately raised a bone claw in protest upon hearing this.
"Twenty times," Xiao Yan added. "If the little bone makes any more noise, it'll be thirty."
Li Nanzhu didn't know whether to laugh or cry as she picked up the dejected Suisui. She suddenly felt that suppressing her realm wasn't so unbearable. The gate to Foundation Establishment was still there; she had simply chosen a more circuitous path.
Similarly, Xiao Yan tacitly refrained from asking her reasons, choosing instead to support her silently.
By the medicinal field in the afternoon, Li Nanzhu copied her books while observing the changes in her spiritual energy. That suppressed power hadn't vanished; instead, it was constantly settling and being purified within her body.
This change significantly improved her mood. The more her spiritual energy was refined, the larger her reserves would be compared to opponents of the same level. When the time came, she might even be invincible among her peers.
At the thought of this, Li Nanzhu couldn't help but hum a little tune.
"In a good mood? Finished copying so soon?" Xiao Yan appeared behind her out of nowhere.
"I still have three more times to go." Startled, Li Nanzhu immediately answered honestly, only to see her master suddenly produce a jade slip.
"Detailed Explanation of Foundation Establishment," he said casually. "It doesn't hurt to look it over in advance."
Li Nanzhu took the jade slip and found it filled with handwritten notes, the ink still looking fresh.
When she discovered the doodle on the final page, Li Nanzhu's fingertips lingered for a long time on the words "The sky won't fall." It wasn't until Suisui tugged at her sleeve that she realized she had been smiling for quite a while.
It turned out Master had prepared everything for her long ago—including the right to be headstrong and the room to make mistakes.
She had thought Master had already done a lot for her, but every time, what he gave her was even more than she could have imagined.
"Master, I..."
"Focus on copying your books." Xiao Yan turned to leave, his voice drifting on the wind. "Tonight, we'll practice three-flame separate control—I will supervise you personally."
Li Nanzhu watched her master's departing figure, suddenly feeling that the jade slip in her hand weighed as much as a thousand jin. This tailor-made manual was more precious than any spirit pill or medicine—because it carried her master's expectations and trust.
Her nose tingled with a sudden sourness. Just as she was trying to keep her eyes wide to stop the tears from falling, she noticed the deep red of her master's ears.
It seemed Master was just like her—neither of them was suited for sentimental moments.
She couldn't help but chuckle, her heart's touch turning into a smile. The path of cultivation was long, but they were by her side.
Suisui didn't understand what was happening; it simply thought Li Nanzhu had been driven mad by the pressure. After thinking for a long time, it eventually patted Li Nanzhu's hand sympathetically.
However, its bone claw was accidentally stained with ink, leaving a small paw print on her hand.
As the sun set, Li Nanzhu set down her brush. She looked at Xiao Yan playing with Suisui in the distance and suddenly felt that suppressing her realm was no longer a form of endurance, but a process of accumulation.
—Cultivation is not about climbing a peak, but about becoming the mountain itself.
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