Chapter 4100 — I'll Build Your Foundation

Wei Zhao smiled and drew a top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill from his robes. He had refined it for Hong Zhong back on the Far North Island; not all of the batch had gone to auction—he had kept a few for his own use. Now was the perfect moment to bring one out for Xueli.

"This... is this a Foundation Establishment Pill?" Xueli was stunned at the sight of it.

She was still only at the peak of the Heaven Tier, but she had spent long enough on Cloud Tier Island, and even by sheer osmosis she knew what a Foundation Establishment Pill was. It was a crucial elixir to aid one's assault on the Foundation Establishment stage—even a Mid Island sect like the Snow Sword Sect would not casually hand such things out to its disciples. Yet Wei Zhao had produced one without a second thought, and from the look of it, of the very finest quality.

"Indeed. Once you take it, you will be able to establish your foundation as quickly as possible, and gain a little more strength to protect yourself—so that in days to come you need not suffer bullying at the hands of any stray cat or dog." Wei Zhao laughed.

"Mm. All right." Xueli had long since come to regard herself as Wei Zhao's woman, and so she did not fuss or stand on courtesy. She took the top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill directly.

The only thought in her mind now was that she had indeed not misjudged him. Wherever this man went, he was destined never to be the weak one. In a mere half year or so on Cloud Tier Island, his strength had already surged to the very peak of the late Foundation Establishment stage—and more outrageous still, even Wei Shenjin, a cultivator of the early Golden Core stage, had come off the worse at his hands. If word of that ever spread, it would drop the jaws of the whole world.

Of course, what truly astonished Xueli even more was Wei Zhao's connections. Far away on the North Island, and yet he had acquaintances here on the Mid Island—and not just anyone, but a top-tier power like the Five Elements Merchant Guild. And by the look of it, these connections were absolutely reliable; they would not betray him.

This made Xueli all the more certain that there was good reason Wei Zhao had risen from a lone rogue cultivator in the mortal realm to a figure dreaded by every ancient sect. Perhaps one day, in this Mid Island teeming with masters, Wei Zhao too would claim a place of his own.

Once her condition was settled, she swallowed the top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill. Then Wei Zhao himself instructed her in how to circulate the true qi within her body, guiding her step by step in her assault upon the Foundation Establishment stage.

In both depth of foundation and natural talent, Xueli was in truth no whit inferior to anyone else. Now, with the aid of the top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill and Wei Zhao's guidance, her breakthrough came as naturally as water flowing into a channel, without a single hitch along the way.

With Wei Zhao standing guard over her, the process went on without danger or incident for two full hours, until at last Xueli succeeded in establishing her foundation and became a cultivator of the early Foundation Establishment stage.

"It... it actually worked?" Feeling the earth-shaking transformation within her body, Xueli could not help but feel that it was all unreal.

Breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage—this wish had lain buried in her heart for so long. Yet for more than half a year she had not only failed to achieve it, she had not made even the slightest bit of progress; it had always remained impossibly out of reach. Now, in the space of a single short day since meeting Wei Zhao, she had arrived there in one stride. It was almost too incredible to believe.

"Of course. You are now a genuine cultivator of the early Foundation Establishment stage. Only, from here on things become a little troublesome." Even as Wei Zhao smiled, his brows knitted slightly.

"Ah? What is it?" Xueli's heart tightened at once. She thought something had gone wrong during the breakthrough just now, leaving some lingering after-effect.

"Do you have the follow-up cultivation method and oral formulas of the Snow Valley?" Wei Zhao asked.

"No." Xueli was taken aback.

"Neither do I." Wei Zhao shrugged helplessly, and said with a troubled air, "So the problem now is this: you have become a cultivator of the early Foundation Establishment stage, but you have no way to continue cultivating further."

"This..." Only then did Xueli come back to herself from the joy of her successful breakthrough. Realizing her awkward predicament, for a moment she did not know what to do.

Succeeding in establishing her foundation was wonderful indeed, but the strength of the early Foundation Establishment stage counted for nothing on Cloud Tier Island—least of all on the Mid Island. She still could not escape the fate of being bottom-rung cannon fodder.

The follow-up cultivation method was a matter of the utmost importance, admitting not the slightest carelessness. Xueli had only just succeeded in establishing her foundation and was not yet stable. If she remained unable to cultivate onward for a long time, not only would she fail to advance further—her strength might even regress to the Heaven Tier. That would leave her dragged down and ruined for good.

"Actually, it is not as though there is no way. Cultivation methods may be treasured by every great sect, but so long as one searches diligently out in the world, they should still be purchasable. The real problem now is that a method bought on impulse may not necessarily suit you for cultivation." Wei Zhao analyzed.

Since they did not have the original follow-up cultivation method of the Snow Valley at hand, they could only seek out another method to continue her cultivation. Yet cultivation methods had always belonged each to its own school, wildly divergent from one another. Once a follow-up method came into conflict with the one originally cultivated, the consequences ranged from qigong deviation at the mildest to death on the spot at the worst.

Barring certain special circumstances, few in the cultivation world would ever change their cultivation method midway—and it was precisely out of this consideration.

Xueli thought for a moment, then said, "Actually, when I first came here, the great sects of the Mid Island all tested us mortal-realm cultivators for physique and method compatibility. They said I had something called an innate ice-cold constitution, with an extremely high degree of compatibility with the Snow Sword Sect's method. That is why I was taken into the Snow Sword Sect."

This was in fact the very reason Xueli had kept her hopes pinned on the Snow Sword Sect all through these past six months. So long as she could cultivate the Snow Sword Sect's method like an ordinary disciple—even if only the most basic level—she believed she would not be inferior to anyone.

She had never imagined that fate would play her such a trick. After inexplicably becoming Situ Qian's maidservant, she had no opportunity even for normal cultivation, let alone any chance at the Snow Sword Sect's method.

"In that case, all we need do is find some way to get our hands on the Snow Sword Sect's cultivation method, and the problem is solved, is it not?" Wei Zhao's eyes lit up as he heard this.

Xueli nodded, but then said helplessly, "That is easy to say, but the Snow Sword Sect is a great sect of the Mid Island. Its cultivation method is the very foundation of the sect, a secret never transmitted to outsiders. There is simply no chance of it leaking out—still less of our being able to buy it."

"That is indeed a problem. But Heaven never bars a man's way. Now that we have found a direction, we will find a solution in the end—it will simply take a little more hard thinking." Wei Zhao consoled her.