A few days passed after the Empress Dowager's departure, and the Su Family courtyard gradually returned to its former tranquillity.
The destruction brought by the Incense Fire Cult had left the entire Dongtai Prefecture City scarred, countless buildings had collapsed, several streets had been reduced to ruins, and even after several days, the faint smell of blood could still be detected in the air whenever the wind passed through the city. The Su Family was no exception, although compared to the devastation outside, their courtyard had already regained some semblance of order.
Within one of the quieter courtyards, Su Yang sat cross-legged beneath an ancient tree.
His breathing was slow and steady, his chest rising and falling rhythmically as True Essence circulated through his meridians, flowing from his dantian into every part of his body before returning in a great cycle.
The Four Symbols Profound Scripture was far more demanding than the internal scripture he had previously cultivated.
Four different types of True Qi circulated within his dantian, Water, Earth, Fire and Wind, each possessing completely different characteristics. They constantly collided and intertwined, yet under the guidance of the profound scripture, they gradually settled into a strange equilibrium.
Su Yang could already feel the difference.
His foundation was becoming increasingly stable.
Unfortunately, stability came at a price.
The resources required by the Four Symbols Profound Scripture were enormous, and even with the resources currently available to the Su Family, his progress could not be described as fast.
According to his estimation, even with uninterrupted cultivation, he would need at least half a year before he could attempt to condense Xuan Gang.
For an ordinary martial artist, half a year might not seem particularly long.
For Su Yang, however, it felt painfully slow.
He had already witnessed the terrifying strength of Astral Gang experts, and he understood that the further he advanced, the greater the difference between realms became. The gap between the early and late stages of Astral Gang was not something that could simply be overcome through determination or a stronger martial technique.
Every step represented an increase in one's life origin.
Every additional stage represented countless more acupoints filled with Astral Gang, a greater reserve, stronger endurance and a body capable of supporting increasingly terrifying power.
At the Astral Gang Realm, fighting across a major stage was already exceedingly difficult.
Su Yang understood that if he wanted to stand at the summit one day, he could not afford to waste his foundation merely for the sake of speed.
His eyes slowly opened.
The moment he did so, his expression changed.
Someone was approaching.
A familiar aura entered his perception.
Before the person could even knock, Su Yang's figure flashed from his meditation seat.
The courtyard door opened.
"Shen Bing!"
The moment he saw the woman standing outside, Su Yang's previously calm expression immediately brightened.
He rushed forward and wrapped his arms around her.
Shen Bing was caught completely off guard.
"Ah..."
Her cheeks immediately became red as Su Yang hugged her tightly.
"You're finally here."
Su Yang looked at her carefully after releasing her, his eyes moving over her body as though checking for injuries.
"How are you feeling? Are your injuries completely healed?"
Shen Bing smiled.
"I'm fine."
She lightly touched her chest where the Astral Gang palm had struck her during the battle.
"My master helped me recover. I wasn't seriously injured in the first place."
Su Yang finally relaxed.
"That's good."
The two entered the courtyard together, Shen Bing sitting beneath the ancient tree while Su Yang poured her a cup of tea.
She held the cup between her hands but did not drink.
Instead, she looked at Su Yang for several breaths.
"There is something I need to tell you."
Su Yang immediately noticed the change in her expression.
"What happened?"
"My mother sent me a message."
Shen Bing lowered her gaze slightly.
"She wants me to return home."
Su Yang blinked.
"Home?"
Shen Bing nodded.
"The provincial capital."
The words immediately made Su Yang's expression become thoughtful.
Shen Bing had been away from home for quite some time, and although she rarely spoke about her family, Su Yang had always understood that she came from an extraordinary background.
She was a Daoist capable of using talismans and divine spells at an age when most people of Dongtai Prefecture could barely enter the door of cultivation.
Even her master was an extraordinary figure.
There had always been more to Shen Bing than what he knew.
"I've been away for too long," Shen Bing said softly, "and after what happened in Dongtai Prefecture, my mother wants me to return."
She hesitated before continuing.
"I'm actually a little nervous."
Su Yang stared at her.
"Nervous?"
"Of course."
Shen Bing gave a small laugh.
"I've been away from my family for so long. I don't know how things have changed."
Su Yang's expression relaxed.
"That's good news."
Shen Bing looked at him strangely.
"Why?"
"Because I'll get to meet your family."
The moment those words left his mouth, Shen Bing's face became completely red.
"You..."
She lowered her head.
"I thought you understood that I would be returning alone."
Su Yang smiled.
"Why would you return alone?"
He spoke as though the answer was obvious.
"If your family is in the provincial capital, then naturally I'll go with you."
Shen Bing's heart skipped a beat.
She had originally thought Su Yang would simply send her off.
She had not expected him to immediately decide to accompany her.
And if he was going to meet her family...
Her thoughts suddenly became chaotic.
Wasn't meeting one's family already something that only happened after a relationship had reached a certain point?
Her cheeks grew even hotter.
Could this be considered an engagement?
She quickly suppressed the thought.
"What are you thinking about?" Su Yang asked.
"Nothing!"
Shen Bing answered far too quickly.
Su Yang stared at her suspiciously before laughing.
"When are we leaving?"
"In a month."
"A month?"
"Yes."
Shen Bing nodded.
"I need some time to prepare, and there are also some things I need to settle here."
Su Yang thought for a moment before asking, "Will your master come with us?"
Shen Bing shook her head.
"I'm not sure."
She looked towards the distant sky.
"My master has never liked staying in one place for too long. She might return to the provincial capital, or she might have something else to do."
Su Yang nodded.
"Then we'll decide when the time comes."
Shen Bing looked at him.
"You really intend to come?"
"Of course."
Su Yang smiled.
"I want to see what kind of family could raise someone like you."
Shen Bing's lips curled into a smile.
But neither of them knew that the provincial capital would soon become the place where Su Yang's world would expand beyond anything he had imagined.
---
Several days later, within another courtyard of the Su Family, the surrounding Spiritual Qi suddenly began to stir.
Lin Sheng sat quietly in the room.
Before him, Lou Feng was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed.
The boy's breathing was extremely slow, his hands resting naturally upon his knees as the Spiritual Qi surrounding his body surged towards him from all directions.
At the centre of the room, the Spiritual Qi had already formed a faint vortex.
It grew increasingly intense.
The cyclone revolved around Lou Feng's body before being drawn into his dantian.
Lin Sheng watched silently.
Lou Feng had reached the crucial point of his cultivation.
Foundation Establishment.
The early stage of Foundation Establishment normally possessed around nine drops of liquid Magical Power within the dantian, although cultivators with a more perfect foundation during Qi Refining could possess ten drops or even more.
The mid stage was completely different.
To reach the mid stage, the cultivator needed to increase the amount of liquid Magical Power within the dantian to approximately fifty drops.
The difference was enormous.
Lou Feng's dantian trembled.
The nine or more drops of liquid Magical Power already present within it began to revolve rapidly, and under the continuous influx of Spiritual Qi, new Magical Power began to condense.
Drop by drop.
The originally sparse liquid gradually became denser.
Lou Feng's expression became solemn.
He knew that the most difficult part had arrived.
A barrier had appeared within his dantian.
It was invisible to ordinary perception, yet it firmly separated his current cultivation from the next stage.
Lou Feng gritted his teeth.
He gathered the liquid Magical Power within his dantian into a torrent before violently smashing it against the barrier.
Boom!
His entire body trembled.
The barrier shook.
A thin crack appeared upon it.
Lou Feng immediately circulated his cultivation technique again, drawing more Spiritual Qi into his body before transforming it into Magical Power.
Then he struck again.
Boom!
The barrier shook violently.
Pain spread through his consciousness.
His mind became increasingly exhausted.
A breakthrough was not merely a contest of Spiritual Qi.
It was also a contest of one's will.
Every collision weakened the barrier, but every collision also placed greater pressure on his mind.
Lou Feng's consciousness began to blur.
His breathing became chaotic.
His Magical Power started to lose its stability.
Lin Sheng's eyes narrowed slightly.
If this continued, the breakthrough would fail.
Lou Feng also understood this.
His hand trembled slightly as he reached into his storage pouch.
He took out a small porcelain bottle.
Opening it, he immediately poured a pill into his mouth.
The pill dissolved the instant it entered his stomach.
A gentle medicinal force spread throughout his body, calming his turbulent Magical Power while simultaneously stabilising his increasingly exhausted consciousness.
It was a Rank 2 Stabilisation Pill.
Lin Sheng watched without interfering.
A breakthrough was ultimately Lou Feng's own path.
No matter how powerful Lin Sheng was, he could not cultivate in Lou Feng's place.
Lou Feng took a deep breath.
His chaotic breathing gradually became steady.
His mind, which had been approaching its limit, slowly recovered.
Then he gathered every remaining strand of Magical Power.
His eyes remained tightly closed.
"Break!"
Boom!
The liquid Magical Power crashed against the barrier once more.
Crack!
A fissure spread across the invisible obstruction.
Lou Feng's entire dantian shook.
He poured every ounce of strength into that final impact.
Boom!
The barrier shattered.
A vast amount of Spiritual Qi rushed into his body.
The cyclone surrounding him suddenly expanded, drawing Spiritual Qi from the surrounding courtyard like a whale swallowing the sea.
Lin Sheng's robes fluttered from the resulting wind.
Lou Feng's aura rose sharply.
The Magical Power within his dantian began to increase at an astonishing rate, ten drops, twenty, thirty, forty...
Finally, when the number of drops reached fifty, the surging Spiritual Qi slowly calmed.
Lou Feng's aura stabilised.
His eyes opened.
A faint flash of spiritual light passed through them.
"Mid-stage Foundation Establishment."
Lin Sheng nodded slightly.
Lou Feng exhaled slowly, a smile appearing on his face.
"Master, I've succeeded."
"Yes."
Lin Sheng looked at him carefully.
"Your foundation is still stable."
Lou Feng's smile widened.
However, Lin Sheng's expression remained thoughtful.
Lou Feng possessed a mid-grade Spiritual Root.
At the Qi Refining Realm, that Spiritual Root had allowed him to progress steadily, and after Foundation Establishment, the advantages of his foundation had begun to show.
But as his cultivation climbed higher, the limitations of his Spiritual Root would gradually become more apparent.
Lin Sheng had already seen this coming.
The further Lou Feng advanced, the more difficult each breakthrough would become.
Resources could compensate for some of the deficiency, techniques could improve his efficiency, and external opportunities could change his fortune, but none of those things could completely erase the natural limitations of a mid-grade Spiritual Root.
Unless...
Lin Sheng's eyes narrowed.
He remembered the reason he had decided to bring Lou Feng back with him when the time came.
The Immortal Continent was vast, and the world of cultivation there possessed countless opportunities that could not be found on the Martial Continent.
More importantly, Lou Feng's fate had always been unusual.
Lin Sheng had been waiting.
Waiting until Lou Feng reached a place where countless geniuses gathered, a place where his fortune could truly begin to reveal itself.
Perhaps the provincial capital was such a place for Su Yang.
But for Lou Feng...
It would be somewhere else.
Lin Sheng looked at the young man before him and slowly stood.
"Your breakthrough is complete, but don't become complacent."
Lou Feng immediately straightened.
"Yes, Master."