When the explosion occurred inside Chen Jingzhai, his mind was shaken, and he fell into turbidity.
This was because his divine mind and heart were over-exerted in the Grotto-heavens.
The changes inside his body did not stop. Rather, it entered the most exquisite stage.
The Foundation Establishment passage had already been deduced. Now, he was cultivating it by instinct.
It was just a matter of time.
The first to change was the celestial bone. Multicolored light flooded from the celestial bone into his organs.
The seal characters in the acupoints of the organs quickly connected to the Five Element Continents.
Clear Qi rose up to his skull. After entering his upper core, it quickly formed the Heaven.
The clear Qi condensed, and the Heaven was created.
Under the Heaven was the throat.
Turbid Qi sank down into the six fu organs.
The Underworld was formed, and the Yin gates cycled through.
Everything followed Chen Jingzhai’s predictions. His entire body was a huge acupoint.
It could also be described as a world.
After the Heaven and Underworld were fully completed, Chen Jingzhai was still at the beginning of the Foundation Establishment Plane.
But his Qi at the beginning of the Foundation Establishment Plane was thicker than Qi typically was at the completion of the Foundation Establishment Plane.
What was even stranger was that these changes did not stop. They continued.
There were mountains, rivers, flora, and fauna within the sky and earth.
This Foundation Establishment passage contained the essence of sky scriptures, celestial codes, and 347 Foundation Establishment Plane cultivation methods.
At this moment, it showed its mystery.
All the acupoints throughout Chen Jingzhai’s body joined as one and created all life.
He absorbed a large amount of essence power into his body, which continued changing under the cultivation methods.
Other than ordinary creatures, there were also all sorts of demons and beasts.
Some were created from the changes in the acupoint seal characters.
Some were beasts that Chen Jingzhai had personally killed before.
Others were created by the sparks of different cultivation methods.
When they grew to the extreme, 365 acupoints in Chen Jingzhai’s body trembled.
He absorbed even more essence power.
The Dragon Qi that was brought out by the divine mind landed in the upper core’s Heaven at this moment.
It transformed into a projection that was mostly similar to Chen Jingzhai.
He wore an emperor’s headpiece, a dragon robe, and his aura was wispy while supreme.
The first spirit deity was born with the help of the Dragon Qi. It was the lord of the Heaven, the Supreme Sky Master.
After the Supreme Sky Master was formed, more spirit deities were born on the land formed by the five organs.
They used the power of the Five Elements from the celestial bone to form five-element spirit deities.
Ten spirit deities, five-element Yin and Yang, one man and one woman… They complemented one another and took up the deity spots of the five organs.
There were also five beast deities formed by the Yin and Yang seal characters.
They were attached to the ten spirit deities and happened to form the Formation of Heavens, Earth, and Human.
In the nothingness, the five-element spirit deities formed the second formation—the Heaven and Earth Formation.
Once the Heaven and Earth Formation was completed, the spirits within Chen Jingzhai’s body continued to increase.
Gradually, more spirit deities were created, but most of them were hidden inside acupoints.
Of the 365 spirit deities, only 36 were visible.
In addition to the Supreme Sky Master and the other ten spirit deities, there were also the Underworld spirit deities.
With this, Chen Jingzhai successfully entered the middle of the Foundation Establishment Plane.
His speed of taking in essence power increased. He was more effective in digesting essence power too.
Meanwhile, Chen Jingzhai’s organs and all his bones were all strengthening.
The two formation patterns quickly became one, forming the Yin Yang Heaven and Earth Formation.
The acupoints in his body shimmered like stars as they swallowed the spiritual power brought over by the formation.
The changes should be coming to an end now.
However, the Grotto-heavens had become the foundation of the Heaven, and now, they suddenly rose up.
It landed in the depths of the Heaven and could not be seen anymore.
A magical aura spread from the divine stone and enveloped the Heaven.
It also fell through Chen Jingzhai’s throat and landed in the Five Element Continents and Reincarnation Underworld.
All the closed acupoints opened naturally as the aura passed through, and more seal characters developed into creatures.
This even caused a chain reaction.
Chen Jingzhai’s skin, flesh, tendons, bones, veins, and more were all strengthened to different extents.
The powerful effect of both internal and external cultivation of the Foundation Establishment passage came into play at that moment.
Outside Wangdan Pagoda.
Covered in sweat, Wang Tong ran over. “Sage, the Essence-Gathering Formation can’t hold up for much longer.”
The Essence-Gathering Formation used up a large number of spiritual stones once activated.
Without the spiritual stones, they could also connect leylines or spiritual leylines.
However, Donglai City was the main city of the State of Qiong. There were no leylines to be found.
Even if they were found, any cultivator who touched them would be killed by Pulao Kingdom.
This was because the leylines affected the security of the land.
If the leyline was damaged, it could cause tremors or even earthquakes.
No one could take this kind of consequence, so they could only run the Essence-Gathering Formation with spiritual stones.
Donglai City only activated the Essence-Gathering Formation once every 100 years.
It was to celebrate the founding of Pulao Kingdom and attract essence power from the ocean.
As it had been suddenly activated that day, they were not prepared.
Other than the Sages’ spiritual stones, the Commandery Governor also brought out spiritual stones, but it was still futile.
“How much longer can we last?” Sage Qing Mu asked.
“Around five minutes,” Wang Tong said.
“That’s enough!” Sage Qing Mu said. “You can go!”
Wang Tong’s mouth dropped open. He was confused, but he left.
The Commandery Governor and garrison general stood on the side without speaking. It was not the place for them to speak.
“Sage, the essence power still doesn’t seem enough!” Hong Yu cried.
“The vortex hasn’t expanded. This means that it has reached its limit,” Sage Qing Mu said with a smile. “Plus, the Essence-Gathering Formation’s true use is to guide the ocean’s essence power. Even if we close the Essence-Gathering Formation now, the ocean’s essence power will continue to come over for at most five days.”
“I see!” Hong Chan sighed, feeling relieved.
“You do not need to worry,” Sage Qing Hui comforted them. “Jingzhai’s aura is normal and improving steadily. He is already in the middle of the Foundation Establishment Plane. You only need to wait for him to finish.”
The four maidservants thanked him profusely. Their tense expressions relaxed too.
Hearing this, Wang Tong, the Commandery Governor, and others were all overjoyed.
Chen Jingzhai really cost them a lot this time.
Many of the water essence stones and such that they put in were from their own savings.
Other than their personal losses, Donglai County was greatly affected too.
But as long as Chen Jingzhai was alright, these were all small matters.
Otherwise, even the Eastern Ocean Ruler would have to apologize to the Luo Sheng Sword School, though it had nothing to do with him.
Faraway outside Donglai County, Commandery Prince Hong Yi also received this news.
He secretly let out a sigh of relief and did not enter Donglai County.
After returning to his mansion, he decided to shoulder the cost of water essence stones himself.
Even though they might have used up billions of stones, he had to do this.
No one was an idiot. The existence of Dragon Qi was not a secret for clan disciples.
Commandery Prince Hong Yi had to make up for his mistake with his attitude and actions.
As the heir of the Eastern Ocean Ruler, he had the courage and confidence to shoulder the losses.
The vortex funnel in the sky of Donglai County lasted for three days and three nights.
The civilians were not affected very much. At most, they just felt a little stuffy.
It was the feeling of an impending rainstorm.
However, this was extremely bad for rogue cultivators.
They could not absorb any essence power in Donglai City. They could only cultivate with spiritual stones.
Some cultivators decided to leave or stop cultivating and visit their friends.
After the third day, the vortex funnel started scattering.
It disappeared ring by ring, starting from the top level.
In the end, a thick gust of essence power slowly spread out.
Alerted by Sage Qing Mu, the 18 outer disciples all started cultivating.
The four beautiful maidservants did not pass up this rare chance either. They went to the fourth floor to cultivate.
The thick essence power was the ocean’s essence power from the Essence-Gathering Formation.
After the essence power did not have the vortex anymore, they went to the entire Donglai City instead.
As if a storm had come, Donglai City’s air freshened up.
The trees and plants grew greener, and the regular people felt refreshed after waking up.
The rogue cultivators who had left all felt regret, while those who stayed went into seclusion.
Those who had sufficient conditions activated small Essence-Gathering Formations, such as Wang Tong.
He activated an Essence-Gathering Formation that covered the yard in the Dao Cheng Division to use this chance to cultivate.
The Commandery General and garrison general did the same thing.
If Chen Jingzhai was a whale, then these people were sharks.
The massive amount of essence power was like a delicacy.
They could not compete with Chen Jingzhai, but they could enjoy the leftovers after Chen Jingzhai had had his fill.
Fortunately, the two Golden Core Sages did not take part, or else there would be nothing for them.
Qing Hui and Qing Mu did not care about spiritual power at all.
They had already completed the Golden Core Stage and could come down the mountain to see Headmaster Mo Bei.
They were still searching for the chance to become Nascent Zhenjuns.
They had waited for so many years, but, like Su Qinghuang, they made no advancements.
But now, the chance had come.
The aura that came from the fifth floor of Wangdan Pagoda attracted the two Golden Core Sages.
They did not speak. They expanded their divine minds to perceive it closely.
Unfortunately, this aura was very subtle, and they could not perceive much of it.
The aura also disappeared quickly.
Opening their eyes, the two Golden Core Sages exchanged glances.
They both saw the excitement in each other’s eyes.
Even though they did not make a breakthrough, it was an improvement that rarely occurred in the last 200 years.
They both understood that the chance for a breakthrough was probably with Chen Jingzhai.
They were sure, even though they did not know what this aura was.
They did not even know the source of this aura, but they still benefited greatly.
It was enough!
Fifth floor of Wangdan Pagoda.
Chen Jingzhai was still in seclusion inside the cultivation room.
The changes had actually happened after he had entered the chaotic state.
In other words, he had no clue what had happened.
Neither did he know that the divine stone would release an aura to help him organize the energy in his body.
He knew even less that this aura was actually so important to the two Golden Core Sages.
Right now, he was in a peculiar state. He felt heavy, dazed, and transient.
His mind was still in chaos, but his body was cultivating automatically.
The spirit deities in his acupoints were organizing the world by instinct.
This world was Chen Jingzhai’s body, so it was equivalent to Chen Jingzhai cultivating on his own.
Half of the massive essence power from the ocean was still getting absorbed by his body.
Under the cultivation methods, the massive essence power first tempered his physical body, then entered his acupoints.
After the spirit deities refined it, it spread to the other acupoints and was absorbed by the seal characters.
This entire process was complex, but it was not slow.
Even so, Chen Jingzhai’s cultivation still did not advance.
He could only improve if more spirit deities became visible. This was the disadvantage of the Foundation Establishment passage.