His cultivation had fallen by two layers, but his Spiritual Power was now purer than that of even carefully trained disciples from some great sects and clans of the Spirit Realm.

A little less than an hour later, Gu Changhuan regained consciousness.

As soon as he woke, he noticed the change. He had thought his foundation was sound after years of cultivating without pills. Yet he had fallen from the seventh layer to the fifth—two whole layers!

Even so, he could sense that his internal Spiritual Power was vastly more formidable than before, and his physical body had also undergone a marked strengthening.

He walked over to the table, picked up the inkstone resting upon it, and applied a slight amount of force with both hands.

With a sharp crack, the inkstone snapped straight down the middle into two separate halves.

Gu Changhuan was overjoyed. The Spirit-Tempering Disc truly lived up to its reputation as a seventh-tier spiritual object. Its effects were nothing short of miraculous!

This inkstone had been crafted from First-Tier Middle Grade Azure Steelstone, a material renowned for its durability, and he had not channeled even a shred of Spiritual Power to break it.

It was no wonder that these high-tier spiritual objects possessed such eccentric, bizarre shapes rather than conventional forms.

It appeared that every seventh-tier object left behind by Zhenlingzi was a profound and wondrous treasure, though he still lacked the knowledge to operate the others.

No doubt Zhenlingzi's personal notes would hold the clues needed to drive these items.

Gu Changhuan glanced back at the Spirit-Tempering Disc and involuntarily shivered.

He had better put this thing away first.

Over the following days, Gu Changhuan split his time between meditation, pill refining, and poring over Zhenlingzi's handwritten notes, never putting down the jade slip.

Another intriguing piece of information caught his eye from the records that day.

According to Zhenlingzi's accounts, in the Spirit Realm, cultivators with Five Spirit Roots were regarded as geniuses on par with those possessing Heavenly Spirit Roots. This was because any cultivator attempting to break through to the Soul Formation realm had to achieve Three Flowers Gather at the Crown and Five Qi Returning to Origin, fusing essence, qi, and spirit into a single Primordial Spirit.

Essence, qi, and spirit naturally strengthened through the course of cultivation, making Three Flowers Gather at the Crown a manageable hurdle. The true difficulty lay in Five Qi Returning to Origin, as not every cultivator naturally possessed all five elements of Spiritual Qi. Without complete elemental harmony, external five-element spiritual objects were required to achieve balance.

However, external objects could never truly compare to a cultivator's own True Essence. Consequently, cultivators with Five Spirit Roots held a far higher success rate in reaching the Soul Formation realm than others.

They also saved the immense cost of five-element treasures—enough resources to raise several Nascent Soul cultivators. Possessing all five elements gave them an advantage in combat, too. Little wonder that five-root cultivators, especially those with evenly balanced roots, were considered geniuses in the Spirit Realm.

Gu Changhuan was deeply stunned by this revelation.

In his own mortal realm, after all, the Five Spirit Roots were universally dismissed as the most inferior aptitude possible.

He could only offer a wry, bitter smile. While others were simply born in the wrong era, he felt as though he had been born in the wrong world entirely.

Still, Gu Changhuan was not one to indulge in self-pity, and he quickly swept the matter from his mind.

His greatest curiosity remained focused on the oddly shaped high-tier objects and the neatly arranged jade boxes.

Though he could not yet identify their contents, anything preserved with such meticulous care by a Great Ascension Realm expert could hardly be ordinary.

Regrettably, a thorough search through all the available jade slips and notes yielded no mention of what lay inside those boxes, nor any further records regarding those specific treasures.

After the Body Integration Realm, Zhenlingzi's notes grew abruptly sparse, as if a notorious chatterbox had suddenly fallen silent.

It struck Gu Changhuan as exceedingly strange.

Could a pillar of the human race really have been too busy to keep a proper journal?

At the very least, the contents of the storage ring were now roughly sorted.

He had not left his room for more than ten days, ever since returning to Emerald Maple Mountain.

It was well past time to go out and take a breath of fresh air.

Stepping out of his quarters, he recalled that the Foundation Establishment Pill had already been handed over to a senior clansman named Gu Shiwen.

Naturally, he also knew that Gu Wanhao was acting as his Dharma Protector, though the final outcome remained unknown to him.

In the courtyard, a young maid in her early teens curtsied hurriedly as she caught sight of him, stumbling slightly over her own feet in her panic.

"Greetings, Young Master."

Her name was Gu Cai'er. She and another girl, Gu Xiaoqin, were mortals who worked at Emerald Maple Mountain.

Their daily duties consisted of delivering meals to Gu Changhuan or running occasional errands.

Neither Gu Changhuan nor Gu Wanhao maintained harsh rules, and the workload was light, allowing the two girls to live quite comfortably.

If all went well, in a few years they could return home with enough worldly wealth to become prosperous young women owning a hundred mu of fertile farmland.

"It's you, Cai'er. Has Grandfather returned these past few days?"

Gu Changhuan frowned slightly at her flustered demeanor.

"He has not returned these past few days, Young Master," Gu Cai'er replied.

"Why are you so flustered?"

"No-I'm not!

"It is just...

"I thought you would be in seclusion much longer, Young Master. I was startled to see you, that is all."

Gu Cai'er's eyes darted nervously as she offered her unconvincing excuse.

Her attempt at lying was clumsy at best.

Watching her struggle to hide her feelings, Gu Changhuan asked coldly:

"If you cannot speak the truth, you may pack your things and go down the mountain."

Mortal servants of the Gu Clan who came up the mountain generally completed a five-year tenure before returning home. Being abruptly driven down beforehand was a clear mark of disgrace; even back in their home villages, such individuals would face the scorn and ridicule of their neighbors.

After all, serving immortals was an opportunity coveted by many.

Upon hearing this ultimatum, genuine panic finally overtook Gu Cai'er, and she dropped instantly to her knees.

"I was wrong! Please have mercy, Young Master. My parents are in their seventies and depend on the money I send home!

"I cannot go back like this!"

She began to wail loudly, her cries carrying well into the backyard and startling Gu Xiaoqin, who was currently off-duty.

Gu Changhuan frowned as he watched the weeping girl.

"Then explain why my appearance frightened you so."

At that moment, Gu Xiaoqin hurried into the courtyard and bowed respectfully to Gu Changhuan.

Gu Cai'er hesitated, too terrified to speak, casting a desperate, pleading look toward Gu Xiaoqin.

Gu Xiaoqin inwardly cursed her luck, but answered.

"Young Master, it is like this:

"Cai'er was cleaning your grandfather's pill room this morning. She accidentally broke a bottle of pills, and when she gathered them up, one was missing."

Hearing this, the furrow in Gu Changhuan's brow smoothed slightly, though his tone remained cold.

"Xiaoqin, people must take responsibility for their words.

"If you lie to protect her and the truth comes out later, you will both answer for it."

Gu Xiaoqin bowed again.

"That is what Cai'er told me, Young Master.

"But today is my day off. I did not see it happen."

At these words, the relief that had briefly flickered across Gu Cai'er's face vanished, replaced by a flash of venomous resentment directed at Gu Xiaoqin. She quickly lowered her head again, no doubt mindful of Gu Changhuan's presence.

Catching every nuance of her expression, Gu Changhuan suppressed a frown and spoke once more.

"Is that truly the only reason you panicked upon seeing me?"

Gu Cai'er nodded repeatedly.

"I would not dare lie. Before we came here, the steward told us that losing a cultivator's property was a serious offense, so...

"Please forgive me, Young Master."

Gu Changhuan remained half-skeptical, but on the surface, he let his expression soften.

"Very well.

"Since it was an accident, I will dock three months' wages.

"But if it happens again, Cai'er, you will lose more than your wages."

With that, Gu Changhuan turned and left the courtyard.

Only after he had been gone for some time did Gu Cai'er manage to push herself up, her limbs still trembling.

Gu Xiaoqin looked at her and gave a cold snort.

"You heard what the Young Master said.

"Be more careful next time.

"Not every cultivator is as good-tempered as the Young Master and his grandfather.

"Break the rules, and you could lose your life and bring disaster on your family. Your body would be thrown into a paupers' burial ground, with no one to claim your remains."

Gu Cai'er dropped into the seat Gu Changhuan had just occupied. She looked up at Gu Xiaoqin and scoffed.

"What do you mean by that, Sister Xiaoqin?

"It was an accident.

"Even the Young Master has let it go. Are you going to make decisions for him and his grandfather now?"

Gu Xiaoqin snorted. "It had better have been an accident." With that, she went back to rest.

If a similar situation arose again, she wouldn't step out to help even if she heard Gu Cai'er being beaten to death.

What a witless nuisance. Better to keep away before the girl dragged her into trouble too.

Meanwhile, Gu Changhuan withdrew his Divine Sense, produced a Communication Talisman, murmured a few instructions into it, and activated it.

Then he went to find Gu Wanhao.

His intent was not to report the trivial mishap with the maid; his mind was entirely fixed on Gu Shiwen's breakthrough attempt.

Waiting idly yielded nothing, so he decided to check the situation firsthand. Perhaps he would be greeted by good news.

More than ten days had passed since Gu Shiwen entered seclusion. When Gu Changhuan went to see Gu Wanhao, he learned that Yu Ruyi had already reached Foundation Establishment. An invitation to the Yu Clan's celebration had arrived the day before.

Celebrations for newly advanced Foundation Establishment cultivators were a tradition in the Nine Perches Mountains. With one of their own achieving it at forty, the Yu Clan had all the more reason to celebrate.

Yu Ruyi had indeed succeeded. He only hoped clansman Shiwen would share the same fortune, Gu Changhuan thought to himself.

The core of the Foundation Establishment process lay in compressing the cultivator's internal Spiritual Power alongside the vast influx of ambient energy from the pill into liquid True Essence. Once that True Essence reached the threshold required of a Foundation Establishment practitioner, the breakthrough was complete.

Success or failure would inevitably reveal itself within a day or two.

Because Gu Shiwen was utilizing a Foundation Establishment Pill, even failure would not cost him his life.

Along with supplying abundant Spiritual Qi, the pill expanded the meridians. If the attempt failed and the True Essence reverted to Spiritual Qi, that energy would have room to disperse instead of bursting the channels.

Without the pill, success was unlikely and failure meant death. That was why Foundation Establishment Pills mattered so much: they offered both the hope of a three-hundred-year lifespan and protection against a fatal failure.

Inside the secluded cave dwelling, Gu Shiwen sat with his eyes tightly shut. The turbulent Spiritual Power raging within his body was forcibly corralled into his Dantian, where it was steadily compressed and on the verge of liquefaction.

He had clearly reached the final, critical juncture of his breakthrough.

He had taken the Meridian-Protecting Pill after the Foundation Establishment Pill. Its gentler effects nourished the meridians as they expanded, easing his pain.

A bead of sweat trickled down his temple. Within his Dantian, a single droplet of liquid True Essence finally formed.

Followed swiftly by a second and a third.

As more True Essence condensed, impurities were expelled from his body.

A short while later, Gu Shiwen snapped his eyes open, a look of ecstatic triumph crossing his features.

He had succeeded!

As he succeeded, a wave of Foundation Establishment energy spread from the cave. Gu Changhuan felt as though he had been punched in the chest and struggled briefly for breath.

A newly advanced practitioner often struggled to rein in their freshly transformed True Essence, resulting in an inadvertent leakage of spiritual pressure.

For a veteran Foundation Establishment expert like Gu Wanhao, such pressure was entirely negligible. He turned his gaze toward Gu Changhuan, a look of profound astonishment crossing his face.

Even a ninth-layer Qi Condensation cultivator could be knocked flat by that pressure if caught unprepared, let alone someone like Gu Changhuan, who had only recently reached the late stage. Yet he had merely been short of breath!

Gu Wanhao stroked his beard proudly. That was his boy!

From inside the chamber, Gu Shiwen's hearty laughter echoed outward, prompting a pair of relieved smiles from both Gu Wanhao and Gu Changhuan.

The Gu Clan now possessed yet another Foundation Establishment pillar.

He only wondered how his great-grandfather fared at this very moment.