John now was at the peak of Qi Condensation.
This meant he had a few benefits. One of those being he could visit the second floor of the book pavilion for an hour.
He chose the second part of 'Baohan Rules' again since he was already familiar with it and it was compatible by being able to be used by any type of spiritual root.
He read through the scroll and memorized the later steps.
He then returned to his room and began to cultivate!
There were a few ways to break through into foundation establishment.
Generally, the odds of you breaking through without taking a foundation pill was 30%.
If you failed, you would be crippled at best with death at worst.
If you took a pill, your chances were 50% and you also wouldn't be crippled if you failed. The pill ensured that you were able to re-attempt it later. But your odds would decrease by half each time you failed from then on. But it was far safer then not taking the pill.
John didn't plan to take a pill. Having his dantians and meridians crippled? Who gave a shit? His immortality could repair it! He just needed to make sure no one knew about it.
So what exactly was foundation establishment?
Qi condensation could be considered just the prep work for it. It was considered the true first step of a cultivator. You would form a dao pillar in your middle dantian.
This pillar wasn't ordinary though.
This was the source of your spiritual sense and soul field.
A spiritual sense was an upgraded version of a body sense. Just like when becoming a Qi Condensation cultivator, you gain the ability to see your dantians and meridians. When becoming a Foundation Establishment cultivator, you gain a spiritual sense able to project your vision outside of your body. A blind foundation establishment cultivator can still see the world better then a Qi Condensation cultivator.
The soul field is extremely important as it has to do with the nascent soul later on. Think of it as as a separate consciousness you raise. A foundation establishment cultivator can do two task at once. One task using their main consciousness and the other using their soul field. It is like nurturing another soul.
John didn't care about the ability to multitask, could it compare to his hundreds of years of doing exactly that?
What he found interesting was the act of raising another soul. Although it wasn't exactly a soul in itself, it was still the birth of another consciousness.
A cultivation consciousness!
While John could use data to make a peak Qi Condensation body whenever he wanted.
The same would likely not be true for foundation establishment.
Why was that?
It was because of the heavenly tribulation! That is the secret key to a spiritual sense and soul field. The very world itself trials the person and blesses them with it.
Cultivation is an act of going against the heavens. But at the same time it is also an act of harmony with the heavens.
You must dance on the knife of a blade for benefits.
This is also why Qi Condensation cultivators aren't considered 'true' cultivators.
Because they lack the blessing of heaven.
They haven't gone through the tribulation!
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In order to start the trial.
You must first condense a dao pillar.
Just like how you must unblock meridians in order to progress in Qi Condensation. You must condense multiple pillars in your middle dantian.
During the process of condensing your first pillar. The heavens will strike you with lightning. Seeing as it is just the first true step to cultivation. The heavens will go 'easy' on you.
But you can set your own difficulty.
The shape and appearance of your pillar determines how many strikes of lightning you must survive.
To form a perfect pillar, you must survive nine strikes.
To form a flawless pillar, you must survive seven strikes.
To form an extraordinary pillar, you must survive three strikes.
To form a normal pillar, you must survive one strike.
If you cannot handle a single strike without losing consciousness, your meridians will be burned and you will be crippled or killed.
The different pillars, have a different amount of cracks on them.
Perfect lacks any cracks.
Flawless has one crack.
Extraordinary has two cracks.
A normal pillar has three cracks.
There is no second chances when it comes to picking the type of pillar you want to construct. The first one you make is the template all future pillars you make must follow.
So what exactly do these cracks do? They leak your Qi back into the environment. It is the price heaven makes you pay for your cultivation. Once you become a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, you leak Qi like radiation.
The more cracks you have, the more Qi you will leak. If your dao pillars are perfect, you will leak no Qi. This also means others can easily tell your cultivation level by how big the ambient Qi around you is.
Although if you have a perfect foundation. You can easily conceal your cultivation.
But it is that concealment that gives away that you have a perfect foundation! Not leaking Qi will make you a target! But that's the trick. Others will think you are a Qi Condensation cultivator. You can even pass as a mortal.
There are concealment techniques that exist after all. These work for everyone, regardless of cultivation level. They can help lower the amount of Qi you leak.
But having a perfect foundation was something John wanted badly.
All he needed to do was withstand nine lightning strikes.
John went to the task manager and requested leave for breaking through to foundation establishment.
"You aren't taking a foundation pill?"
"I am not."
A foundation pill made it so that the lightning wouldn't burn your meridians if you failed. You could prevent yourself from being crippled! But why would John care about this?
"Good luck!"
John retreated deep into the wilderness.
He felt a bit of nostalgia, he had spent a lot of time in the wild when he was younger.
He then began to direct all of his 14 meridians.
Guiding the Qi into his middle dantian.
His Qi began to form the outline of a pillar, but it was liquid.
Dark clouds began to form above in the sky.
John could feel that the heavens were asking him what level of difficulty he would be following.
He smirked and made the outline of a perfect pillar!
Thunder started to ring out in loud booms.
It began to rain.
The winds were picking up, but he sat there in a state of meditation, focusing on the pillar forming in his dantian.
The Qi in his meridians was getting crazily absorbed by this pillar.
He was beginning to run low already.
Having found the extra meridian in his liver was already showing its value here in making a perfect foundation.
BOOM!
He was struck by lightning.
The brightness immediately caused cataracts to form in his eyes.
But it wasn't done!
BOOM!
His muscles began to spasm.
BOOM!
His skin began to burn.
The Qi that was outlining his pillar began to solidify.
A soul field was starting to take shape.
BOOM!
His internal organs were burned into a crisp.
BOOM!
His brain was fried and he began to lose consciousness. But he fought it!
He used his immortality to restore his body back to peak state.
BOOM!
His internal organs were burned slightly.
BOOM!
This time things were different. It hit him so hard that his vision was knocked away from his body. It slapped the spiritual sense out of him!
"Spiritual sense!"
BOOM!
He felt another consciousness connect across all of his bodies.
"Soul Field!"
The wind picked up more.
It was time for the last strike.
His Qi in his meridians had been completely emptied.
His dao pillar was almost at 100% completion!
BOOM!
He was sent flying through multiple trees and then crashed into a mountain leaving a hole in the wall. One of his eyes had popped out, his lungs had collapsed. His ribs were broken. But he smiled.
He had formed a perfect foundation!
His eye popped out as he pulled himself out of the pit.
Another one formed right away as he was restored to perfect health.
A perfect foundation hadn't been seen for thousands of years.
If you didn't count Yuanle, but he was a genius!
It was extremely rare to be able to survive nine lightning strikes as a Qi condensation cultivator.
John had essentially paid the price for the heavens. Now he would be able to cultivate without leaking Qi. This would speed up his practice.
This also meant that all future pillars would be perfect.
You didn't need to undergo a tribulation every time you formed a pillar. It was only for the first one.
John didn't plan to go back to the sect yet.
He wanted to experiment with making new bodies as well as test out his spiritual sense and soul field. He wanted to see if he could make a new body starting at foundation establishment.