In the Foundation Building Realm the practitioner condensed small crystals inside the vortex of Spiritual Qi that was formed in the Revolving Qi Realm and was by the 9th level rotating at incredibly high speed and with high density.

These crystals were not strictly speaking Spiritual Qi in its pure form, as they were not spent when the cultivator emptied their reserves of Spiritual Qi, but a condensation of the practitioner’s cultivation base.

In total a cultivator would form nine crystals by the 9th level of Foundation Building Realm, with Wu Long currently having none as he was in the gate of the realm.

‘…so it is finally time for a grind huh… Foundation Building Realm all over again’

Some bitter memories flashed through his mind as he stood on a beautiful round stone platform with a shallow trench that had water running through its intricately cut out stone shapes. He was overseeing the sect from the Peak of Unity while the morning sun was rising in the East.

A light sigh of surrendering to one’s fate escaped his lips as he wryly smiled. Foundation Building Realm was commonly known as the one that required massive amount of resources.

His ladies breezed through the realm since he provided them with massive amounts of incredibly potent Yang Qi, which made it seem like it was not a significant hurdle, but for most cultivators it was a process of painstakingly forming each crystal one by one and growing them to completion slowly before moving on to the next ones, with as much resources as they could afford to use, be it the Spiritual Qi in the atmosphere, raw medicinal plants, Pills or any of the other means.

He also supported his women with knowledge and advise of the exact process of forming the crystals, since improperly formed crystals could collapse causing one to lose their progress and even regress in Minor Realms.

Losing a Minor Realm in the Foundation Building Realm was quite a usual occurrence for common cultivators so they often fluctuated back and forth in Minor Realms. In some cases it led to internal injuries, but for the most part it was simply a matter of losing all of the progress one made with all the resources spent on that progress going to waste.

The quality and composition of the formed crystals also affected future cultivation, and was an incredibly important step. And in some extreme cases did not allow one to cultivate any further.

As someone plagued by trouble with his cultivation in his past life, he of course knew many ways to amend the mistakes made during this process long after it was finished, but since he had the opportunity to fine-tune the cultivation of his women whom he met before they reached Foundation Building Realm, he preferred to do it properly from the beginning.

“Hmm, I should form the first crystal as soon as possible”

He spoke as he looked at his raised palm that slowly clenched into a fist, strength coursing through it.

The formation of these crystals gave a massive boost in the reserves of Spiritual Qi, but more importantly for someone with already abnormal amounts of high quality of it thanks to the Spiritual Qi War Art, the ability to layer and structure Spiritual Qi while it was stored, allowing to create pre-formed patterns and structures while the Spiritual Qi was still in storage.

This resulted in faster execution of moves as well as allowed to generally be more versatile with the use of one’s Spiritual Qi.

Though this ability was further enhanced in the later realms, it first manifested in the Foundation Building Realm.

‘Heh, I knew it, there is no way I spent the correct amount of Spiritual Qi before…’

His eyes closed, droplets of water from the morning dew and from the nearby water trench started floating around him, colliding and merging together into streams.

‘…and the more I used the more it required to maintain, so much so that even I had trouble using it freely with my Spiritual Qi reserves, and it is much easier to control’

His control was much more minute and light, and the amount of Spiritual Qi he used was dismal compared to what he used before. The water moving in various shapes and forms around him but always at the same distance from him, as if there was an invisible sphere which surface it moved on.

He also learned that water under his control, although could not change state could be pressured, and he could also change the speed at which it moved.

Wu Long formed a sword hand seal in his right hand, as water droplets coalesced into a small ball of water a few centimeters away from the two fingers, and raising it up along with the arm, made a cutting motion diagonally upward to the side of him. .

The water from the orb spread as if he drew with ink into a thin layer that disappeared from sight as soon as it formed an elegant thin ark.

As he opened his eyes and turned to the side, he saw a stone slab used for training and which would normally be indestructible to attacks of cultivators in Revolving Qi Realm and below due to the material and formation arrays carved into it, cleanly cut in two, but the cut was so thin it would not be possible to discern without his eyesight.

The stone slab’s upper part started sliding off the diagonal cut, and then hit the platform with a heavy dull sound.

“Hmm, this is already something”

A smile formed on his lips as he nodded. Though he could do this with his sword, the cutting ability of water released at a high enough speed and pressure seemed to be quite potent.

His attention then turned to the inside of his body again as he further confirmed his gains.

He has already made large modifications in his body tempering technique that at least for now had no name since it deviated both from the Golden Yang he was so proud of in his past life but which was now not enough for him, and from the Dragon Body, though retaining some of the characteristics of both.

During his enlightenment, he realized that a lot of his body actually contained water, and he could now very subtly manipulate it to fit his needs.

So the Dao of Water was the first thing he incorporated into his new technique unlike what he expected.

‘Which led me to this…’, he mused as he looked at his palm, opening his hand in front of him as a dark crimson light lit his veins and blood vessels in a pulse-like manner.

His biggest gain, and a completely unexpected discovery, was a brand new Dao Rune that appeared within him.

As he pondered its crimson glow forming profound shapes while the enlightenment still lasted last night, he realized that he awakened a Blood Rune which was actually always within him, he just did not feel its presence or otherwise know of its existence before.

He could feel that it was something much different from Water Rune and Lightning Rune by how differently it reacted to stimuli and behaved, as it did not produce Blood Qi when injected with his Spiritual Qi, rather, it did not intake more Spiritual Qi than it used to when he first discovered it, and restricting the flow of Spiritual Qi toward it gave a negative effect on his condition.

Cultivators were already capable of manipulating their Blood Qi using the Root of Vitality, especially Body Tempering cultivators or someone practicing both like him.

Thus its abilities were still unclear to him, but he instinctively understood that he touched upon something very powerful and at the same time dangerous, that could change his perception of the new technique he was creating as well as his very understanding of Dao Runes.

The Blood Rune was innate to him, and instantly formed a soul connection, allowing him to take control of it with no resistance or trouble. The only problem was figuring out what exactly were its abilities which was not as easy as it seemed on the surface.

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