Chapter 15 : Breaking Through to Foundation Establishment
Chapter 15: Breaking Through to Foundation Establishment!
Gu Yan tried to recall what he had been doing the moment before, but his memory was blurred and indistinct.
Not long after, the door to the hospital room was gently pushed open.
A gray-haired woman walked in, carrying an insulated food container in her hand.
She walked to the bedside, set the container down, and reached out to tuck in the blanket around Gu Yan lying on the bed.
A moment later, the woman sat down on the chair by the bed and said, “Yanyan… Mom made the pork rib soup you love most today.”
She let out a sigh, then continued, “Why did you have to work so desperately delivering food?
How many times has Mom told you? If you’re tired, just come home. Mom can support you… but you just wouldn’t listen…”
“After your accident, that driver who caused it paid over a million.”
“The neighbors all said that now your mother wouldn’t have to worry for the rest of her life. But Yanyan…”
“Mom only wants you to wake up…”
Gu Yan floated in midair, his eyes burning with heat. He wanted to say something, but no sound came out.
At that very moment, a voice sounded in his heart:
Wake up in this world…
Here, there is a mother who loves you, and an unfinished life.
Besides, how good is modern life—there are phones, games, and endless short videos to scroll through…
Before he had time to think further, another memory surged into his mind.
Taiyi Dao Sect, outer sect disciple residence.
A plainly dressed husband and wife in simple Daoist robes held his ten-year-old self in their arms.
The woman gently stroked his hair. “Yan’er, your father and I are going out this time to carry out a sect mission. If all goes well, we’ll be back in three months; if not, half a year. Be good and stay with Senior Brother Chen. Don’t be naughty.”
The man patted his shoulder, his eyes filled with pride. “My son is exceptionally gifted and will surely become someone great in the future. When your mother and I return, we’ll take you to the market and buy that wooden sword you’ve been thinking about for so long.”
But after they left, they never returned.
Two worlds, two pairs of parents, two kinds of love.
Which side was real? Which side was false?
Gu Yan felt as though his consciousness were being torn apart.
His mother’s quiet sobs in the hospital room rang clearly in his ears, while the smiles and voices of his parents in the Taiyi Dao Sect remained vivid before his eyes.
If this place was real, then what were those ten years in the Taiyi Dao Sect?
If that side was real, then what was this knife-like pain in his heart at this moment?
“Choose.”
The voice in his heart rang out again.
“Stay here, or go back. This is your last chance.”
Gu Yan closed his eyes—not to weigh his choice, but to catch that fleeting note of discord in his mind.
He suddenly opened his eyes and looked toward himself lying on the hospital bed.
Something was wrong.
How could someone who had been worn down by work and survival, had just gone through a severe car accident, and had remained unconscious for months, possess a body in such well-maintained condition?
Not even in a cast?
And with such rosy color in his complexion?
This was absolutely not the condition a severely injured coma patient should be in.
Once suspicion arose, the crack rapidly spread.
All the clues linked together in his mind in an instant.
This so-called choice had never been about choosing between two worlds.
It was about choosing to wake up—or to sink.
“An illusion… no matter how perfect, will still have flaws,” Gu Yan murmured.
The moment those words fell, the hospital room scene began to twist and collapse.
His mother’s figure gradually faded, finally turning into a faint sigh.
Taiyi Dao Sect, small courtyard on the eastern side of Pill Glow Peak in the inner sect.
Gu Yan slowly opened his eyes.
Before him was the familiar interior of the room.
He felt the firm touch of the bed beneath him, closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again.
The last trace of daze in his gaze completely dispersed, leaving only clarity.
“So it really was an illusion.”
Without thinking further, with a movement of his mind, his personal panel appeared:
【Gu Yan】
【Lifespan: 24/235】
【Realm: Foundation Establishment · First Layer】
【Entry: Five Elements Spiritual Body · Orange】
【Cultivation Methods: Taiyi Dao Virtue Scripture · Second Revolution Chapter, Flowing Light Splitting Shadow Sword, Clear Wind Sword Technique……】
His realm had successfully broken through to Foundation Establishment, and his lifespan limit had also surged by thirty-five years.
Gu Yan took a deep breath, slowly rose, and pushed open the door.
Looking up, he saw that the patch of dark cloud above the courtyard was rapidly dispersing. There was no lightning, no strange phenomenon.
Only a thread of morning light pierced through the clouds and fell into the courtyard.
“Strange. As far as I remember, in most cultivation web novels, breaking through to Foundation Establishment didn’t involve a heart devil tribulation.
Even if there were tribulations, they were usually external tests like lightning tribulations…”
He looked inward at his body. Those twenty-seven acupoints were giving off a faint glow.
“So it really was because of this.” Gu Yan fell into thought.
“The martial acupoint system produced some kind of mutation with my immortal cultivation.”
Fortunately, everything remained calm.
There was no overwhelming lightning drawing attention, no soaring phenomenon inviting prying eyes.
If there really had been some huge disturbance, he, an ordinary inner sect disciple, would probably have become the target of everyone’s attention.
Second Revolution Martial Dao stacked with Foundation Establishment First Layer was still far from invincible.
Now that he was backed by the Taiyi Dao Sect, it could be said that sheltering under a great tree made things easy.
At present, all he wanted was to cultivate steadily and safely. When his cultivation became strong enough one day… then it would not be too late to decide whether to leave or stay.
After all, from the moment he had realized he could cultivate immortality, Gu Yan had already set a small goal for himself.
When he reached great accomplishment in the Nascent Soul realm, he wanted to imitate that True Martial Great Emperor from his previous life.
In this world where Martial Dao reigned supreme, he too would launch a demon-slaying campaign.
But that was for the future.
For now, Gu Yan returned to the room and prepared to continue cultivating.
Foundation Establishment had been achieved, but the path of immortal cultivation was still long.
According to the common knowledge he had gained from reading countless cultivation novels in his previous life, cultivation during the Foundation Establishment stage was not fundamentally different in form from the Qi Refining stage.
It was still a matter of slow, grinding effort—drawing Spiritual Energy into the body, using the Dantian as a furnace, and constantly tempering and compressing that liquid spiritual power.
Until it underwent another qualitative change, transforming liquid into solid and condensing into a Golden Core.
The road was a clear road. He only needed to proceed step by step and steadily move forward.
Now that his lifespan had increased to two hundred and thirty years, time had become much more generous to him.
And since he could draw an entry once every hundred years, even if his luck was poor at one hundred and twenty years old and he drew some useless entry, it would not matter much.
When he reached two hundred and twenty, there would still be another chance.
Yet another matter caused Gu Yan’s thoughts to sink slightly.
Should he continue cultivating the native Martial Dao or not?
This breakthrough to Foundation Establishment, because those twenty-seven martial acupoints in his body stored spiritual power, had actually drawn forth a heart devil tribulation that should not have appeared at the Foundation Establishment realm.
This time, he had fortunately seen through it. But what about when he formed a core in the future?
If, because of cultivating both immortal and martial paths, some even stranger and more dangerous tribulation arose, he feared he might not be able to withstand it.
“But risk and opportunity coexist… If I rashly stop cultivating Martial Dao, would I also miss some kind of possibility?” Gu Yan felt conflicted.
After all, the storage capacity of spiritual power brought by those twenty-seven acupoints was undeniably real.
Mere speculation and mental weighing would not produce an answer.
He needed something more concrete.
At the very least, he had to first determine what changes had actually occurred in his condition after Foundation Establishment.
Thinking of this, Gu Yan’s mind stirred slightly.
He decided to first test just how much stronger his divine sense had become after Foundation Establishment.
The limit of its detection range would be the most direct measure.
Only then could he set the tone for his future plans.
He closed his eyes, held his breath, and slowly spread his divine sense outward…
One hundred meters, two hundred meters, three hundred meters, five hundred meters… finally, at around nine hundred meters, his perception began to blur and his strength could no longer keep up.
Gu Yan opened his eyes, and a trace of understanding flashed through them.
“Nine hundred meters… Though it hasn’t reached a thousand, it still far exceeds an ordinary early Foundation Establishment cultivator.
It seems those twenty-seven acupoints also have a nourishing effect on the soul.”
He was quite satisfied with this range.
As long as he was a little careful, he would be able to use his divine sense to investigate the texts in the Scripture Pavilion on Pill Glow Peak.
“In a few days, I’ll go take a look at Pill Glow Peak’s Scripture Pavilion.”
Gu Yan made up his mind.
The Scripture Pavilion on Pill Glow Peak would certainly contain far more texts than the one in Evergreen Market.
When the time came, he would need to carefully investigate just what the third revolution of Martial Dao and even the fourth revolution and above were truly like.
Only by understanding the full picture could he weigh the pros and cons and decide whether the path of cultivating both immortal and martial arts should continue.