The meditation chamber became a crucible of agony. As the essence of the Crimson Frost Fruit collided with his 8th-grade Fire Root, Lin Chen's body became the anvil for a reconstruction that defied the laws of modern cultivation. To build a Supreme Foundation, the vessel had to be destroyed first.
Lin Chen let out a guttural growl as his skin began to crack, peeling away in scorched flakes only to be instantly replaced by a shimmering, jade-like membrane. It felt as though a thousand invisible blades were flaying him alive, stripping him to the raw nerves.
Inside, his bones didn't just break; they were systematically cut and reshaped by the violent surge of cold and hot energies. Every marrow-filled cavity was being purged of impurities, replaced by a dense, metallic spiritual marrow that hummed with power.
The pain was enough to shatter the mind of any ordinary cultivator. Many would have fainted, their consciousness retreating into darkness to escape the torment, but Lin Chen gritted his teeth and endured it. His eyes remained bloodshot and wide, his jaw locked so tight it threatened to crack.
It was his own strong willpower that kept him anchored in the waking world; he refused to let himself fade. Through the sheer force of his own spirit, he stayed conscious through the torture, ensuring the foundation was forged perfectly according to the methods in his memories.
He funneled the mountain of Mid-grade Spirit Stones into the vortex of his dantian. Then, the surge began.
The crystalline, golden-red pillar in his dantian expanded, its density reaching a point of critical mass. His aura, which had been a steady stream, transformed into a raging torrent that blew the doors of his meditation chamber off their hinges.
Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.
The liquid Qi in his body turned viscous, like molten gold. His meridians expanded until they were wide as rivers. The barriers between stages offered no resistance to the Supreme Foundation's demand for power.
Foundation Establishment Late Stage.
The Supreme Foundation acted like a black hole, demanding more energy to stabilize its impossible structure. The air in the manor began to distort as the temperature skyrocketed, melting the stone floor beneath his feet.
Foundation Establishment Peak.
As he reached the absolute ceiling of the realm, the surge finally leveled out. Lin Chen breathed out a cloud of white mist, his body feeling as though it were forged from celestial iron. He was now standing at the very threshold of the Core Formation realm, but his Qi density was already several times that of a standard expert at this level.
But the world would not let such a defiance of order go unnoticed.
Above the Sky-Frost Institute, the clear afternoon sky vanished in an instant. A sudden, unnatural gale swept through the sect, extinguishing every torch and silencing every beast. Massive, ink-black clouds began to swirl directly over Lin Chen's manor, spiraling into a vortex that blotted out the sun.
Deep within the clouds, a terrifying violet light began to pulse. It wasn't ordinary weather; it was Heavenly Might. The world was reacting to the birth of a Supreme Foundation—a talent so great the Heavens sought to strike it down.
The thunder didn't just roll; it roared with the voice of an angry god, and the air around the manor began to crackle with the weight of the coming storm.