Breaking Through to Foundation Establishment

Jiang Xiaocao was open and straightforward, his emotions pure and simple. Yet Su Qing sometimes overlooked this, worrying about his interests.

He was the easiest to understand.

No need for twists or schemes—just treat him with a sincere heart, and he’d be content.
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Su Qing paused, then smiled softly, affirming, “You’re amazing, Xiaocao. Thanks to you today. When I saw you come in, I was worried, but I was also deeply moved. You sacrificed your own interests to help me. That’s a precious gesture, and I feel it.”

Jiang Xiaocao listened earnestly, chin propped, tilting his head to look at her. His eyes blinked, then curved into crescents.

—

At this time, the Dragon Boat Secret Realm resources finally arrived.

Su Qing counted them and understood why Array School fought so hard—rich indeed.

There were ten types of first-tier spiritual plants, ten stalks each: healing Five White Flowers, cultivation-boosting Purple Haze Grass, even meditation-aiding Purple Haze Grass—over a hundred stalks total.

Ten types of second-tier spiritual plants, five stalks each, included Su Qing’s needed Inner Refining Fire Lotus, spirit-enhancing Heavenly Star Grass, and evil-dispelling, heart-fire-clearing Golden Bell Flower.

These fetched around a hundred spirit stones each in shops. Getting fifty for free was a steal.

Ten beast cores, not as fine as Zhu Xing’er’s, but at Qi Refining Mid to Late Stage, full and harmonious—decent quality.

Five large, flawless beast hides per person, perfect for talisman crafting.

Plus, thirty-plus jin of first-tier spiritual ore—Man Qing Sword snubbed it.

Dozens of lustrous merpearls brimmed with water spirit energy.

Tang Yueling called merfolk hideous, but their pearls were beautiful, so Su Qing kept them.

There were also sea beast shells, fragrant secretions, seabed-cooled lava, sand ore, and thirty-odd miscellaneous useful items.

Lastly, fifty jin of soil rich with rare Yi Wood energy, ideal for nurturing spiritual plants, especially with the included fifty jin of spiritual spring water for irrigation.

Sword Sect was poor but never skimped on student benefits.

These resources, used sparingly, could last a year. No wonder the top school’s strength would rise—they were tangible cultivation assets.

Su Qing felt refreshed. Good thing Array School didn’t get them.

Post-Sword Qi Exam, Lin Hebai, fearing Body School students might get bored, kindly assigned heaps of professional coursework to spice up their lives.

The tasks focused on external refining.

First, run down the mountain, then climb Body School’s peak barehanded—no paths, only treacherous trails.

At the summit, endure an hour of gang wind from underground caves to temper the body, then head to Mirror Lake’s stream for healing. No lounging—you had to swim a river branch while healing. Then, borrow second-tier earth fire from Pill or Artifact School for further tempering.

Three rules:
1. Use spiritual energy, but no external pills or plants—manage your own energy. If you fall short, it’s your fault for poor allocation.
2. No slacking at Mirror Lake. Lin Hebai borrowed a Thousand Faces Turtle from Beast School to record students. Press your hand on its shell to check in. Slack, and it summons its kin to bite your butt. Want to avoid embarrassment? Train honestly.
3. Borrow earth fire in groups to avoid scorn. Clean up charred clothes, flesh, and blood afterward to maintain Body School’s image for future borrowing.

If earth fire burns hurt too much, apply Yi Wood soil from the secret realm for soothing. Severe injuries allow healing breaks, but no laziness, or Lin Hebai would drag them to magma tempering—true outer-crispy, inner-tender pain.

Do this once a week, no upper limit. Skimp, and face failing or delayed graduation.

The assignments plunged Body School into despair.

“Climb to tenderize my strength, gang wind to pound my flesh, swim Mirror Lake to juice me up, then roast me with earth fire? Wrap me in mud to heal? Heavens, am I a beggar’s chicken?”
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“I don’t cook with this many steps, yet refining makes me delicious!”

Since witnessing the second- and third-year seniors’ prowess, especially their pure bare-fisted might, Su Qing was enthralled.

Such raw power from the body alone—so unassuming yet profound—was utterly captivating.

If she could master a fraction… or all of it, she couldn’t imagine her joy.

Her seniors forged themselves this way.

Once a week? She did it daily.

No talk, just action.

She didn’t compete, just pushed herself. Soon, Body School noticed: Monday, Tuesday, Su Qing was there. Wednesday, Thursday, still there. All week, everywhere—clinging to cliffs, meditating at the summit, swimming Mirror Lake, roasting in earth fire.

Too intense. Not afraid of peers’ suffering, but of peers becoming gods.

With her leading, Body School gritted their teeth, turning complainers into relentless training machines.

Su Qing soon found second-tier earth fire ineffective, likely due to her thunder tempering and toxin training. She sought third-tier earth fire.

Tang Yueling, a single fire-root genius, joined her. Fire thrilled her; third-tier wasn’t enough—she craved fourth-tier.

Once mastered, she’d treat magma like a hot spring.

Third-tier earth fire was leagues beyond second-tier, charring Su Qing inside and out. Her thunder-tempered body and a wood-attribute beast core barely pulled her through.

She noticed that in severe injury, the white jade in her dantian released copious spiritual energy to heal her. Sword Sect’s ambient energy was rich, but the jade’s was purer, condensing into spiritual liquid, seemingly inexhaustible.

She tested its limits, filling her meridians until her dantian bulged, yet the jade’s energy flowed endlessly.

Even top-grade spirit stones depleted after a few uses. She’d never used supreme-grade stones but saw Tang Yueling use one—its energy was finite.

What was this thing?

Su Qing realized it was extraordinary.

Post-secret realm, the second-hand trading group opened an appraisal column for unidentified items, run by a third-year charging twenty spirit stones per item. Many students went, saying things like “Closer, flip it over” or “This is too obvious.”

Su Qing didn’t—twenty spirit stones was money.

She used things intuitively, mastering them without manuals.

Her doubt was: this jade was blatantly powerful, so why did Little Goose say it “might not be truly good”?

She realized its value might be too great, inviting bloodbaths she couldn’t handle. Best to hide it and stay low.

Her unique physique, immune to soul-bewitching scents, helped conceal it in her dantian. With caution, it’d stay secret.

A friend’s relic and her fortune, she’d guard it well.

Half of cultivation was spiritual energy reserves. Thanks to the jade, her training speed doubled. Excess energy even refined her meridians, enhancing her roots.

A year later, she reached Qi Refining Layer Nine.

Her foundation was so solid, advancement was seamless—painless.

With her talent and resources, Foundation Establishment was nearly guaranteed.

But Su Qing wasn’t hasty. She valued the long term over quick gains. A strong foundation built skyscrapers.

Five years later, after consuming three Foundation Establishment beast cores, she broke through to Foundation Establishment. Her wood root, nurtured by the jade, reached eighty-five percent, her metal root seventy-five percent.

Tang Yueling sighed in relief. “If you didn’t break through soon, I’d force-feed you a youth-retaining pill.”

Since transmigrating, Su Qing’s height barely changed, and she showed no aging. Cultivation had perks. She didn’t mind change but preferred a youthful body for defying fate.

These five years were calm. After shining in the secret realm and aligning with the sect leader, no one dared bully her—she was no longer seen as weak.

Though unspoken, it was consensus: she had vast potential and a bright future, like her name, Qing (clear/bright).

One secret realm, one seized opportunity, and her strength changed her circumstances.

As she reached Foundation Establishment, Man Qing Sword transformed.

From first-tier top-grade, it leaped to second-tier top-grade.

Its size and weight stayed, but its hardness was unmatched in second-tier, able to break any second-tier weapon, even some third-tier mid-grade ones.

It absorbed more purple qi, stored more, and could even draw sunlight, though purple qi worked best. Every three strikes stored energy for a minor heavy strike, doubling damage, complementing three major heavy strikes.

This enriched Su Qing’s combat options—she could get creative.

Downside? It now craved third-tier spiritual ores, recently scorning low-grade ones for mid-grade.

She estimated that after consuming third-tier ores, it’d advance again.

Its career path was clear, with ample growth potential. The only issue was cost—her problem, not the sword’s.

Third-tier ores cost five times second-tier ones, multiplying her expenses fivefold.

But she wasn’t the broke girl anymore. In five years, her business grew tenfold. Honey Spirit Tea opened two branches in Tianque City and eight in nearby Pingshan, Wenzhou, Yangguang, and Qixia Cities, becoming a chain brand.

Jiang Shuang and Jia Song managed most operations, scouting new shopkeepers. Su Qing gave them and new owners larger shares, taking only thirty percent annually.

Still, she earned a million spirit stones yearly. No worries about Honey Spirit Tea being snatched—her connections secured the supply, and her growing strength was the shop’s backbone.

Spring Breeze Herb Shop thrived under Zhu Xing’er, a business genius. In five years, it opened branches in twelve of thirty-six cities, with a hundred-person caravan and over fifty pack beasts.

Its profits tripled Honey Spirit Tea’s.

Tian Ning entrusted her money to Su Qing, which multiplied dozens of times. Both went from broke to rich, shopping at sect markets without always checking prices. But their wealth was fragile—one mid-to-high-tier artifact or healing pill could bankrupt them overnight.

They saved where they could, spent wisely—lavish spending was unthinkable.

Meanwhile, Tang Yueling, the true heiress, pulled off a feat.

While tempering with Pill School’s fourth-tier earth fire, it bonded with her, refusing others. Pill School students raged, “Body School borrows fire to steal it? Pay us back!”

Tang Yueling was indignant. “Steal? Am I poor? I offered to buy, but you wouldn’t sell! It’s just fourth-tier fire!”

Pill School scoffed, “Just fourth-tier? Do you know how many spirit stones it takes to unearth one? Can Body School afford it?”

Infuriatingly, the fire clung to her, its flames refusing to let go, acting cheap despite its value.

Pill School wanted to douse it.

Tang Yueling, unimpressed, sighed, “Name a price.”

A Pill School student, sensing opportunity, demanded, “Thirty million spirit stones—no less! You can afford it, right?”

Tang Yueling nearly said thirty million was nothing.

But Su Qing, tempering nearby with third-tier fire, cut in, “Ten million max—no more.”

She added, “Not convinced? Take it to the sect leader and see how much you get.”

Through the sect leader, they’d get less than ten million. The Pill School elder, after a moment, sent a private message, “Talk her down to twenty million. Tang’s heiress isn’t short on cash.”

Bolstered, the student insisted, “Twenty million, final offer.”

Su Qing sneered, “Eight million. You didn’t account for the fire latching onto Yueling, the maintenance hassle, or relocation costs.

Yueling’s the victim—you should pay us! Twenty million? Give me twenty million, and I’d still complain!”

She paused, shocked. Her tone sounded like the sect leader’s. Was she tainted by proximity?

That, she didn’t want.

The Pill School elder grew alarmed. How could she sound so shameless, so like the sect leader? Was she his secret disciple? No one else could be that brazen.

To avoid any sect leader ties, the fire sold for ten million.
@Infinite Good Reads, Only at Jinjiang Literature City

Su Qing’s haggling triumphed.

Tang Yueling felt she saved twenty million. She joyfully bought another fourth-tier fire for Body School’s peak, earning universal admiration. As long as it stayed, her clout soared.

In September, the mountain’s Fire Treasure Fruits ripened. Su Qing, with Wine Elder and Cook Sister, went picking.

Ten years ago, the monkey troop that beat her, Xiu Fu, and Xing’er during the entrance exam had a new king. Wiser, it didn’t dare challenge humans in the orchard.

Su Qing ate a plump Fire Treasure Fruit—fragrant, sweet, just like before. She wondered how its wine tasted.

After gathering enough for Wine Elder, she headed back.

Dusk fell, the blue-purple sky veiled thinly, a clear moon shining overhead.

Moonlight spilled, paving a silvery path.

At its end, a majestic silver wolf appeared, arriving with the moon.

As promised, it came to take Su Qing to the back mountain as a guest.