Chapter 1: When the father suffers humiliation, the son must avenge him

  Xiao Chen opened his eyes, and a hint of gloominess flashed in them. Just now, when he was about to succeed in refining the elixir, his divine sense control had deviated by a tiny margin, resulting in the failure of the entire furnace of elixirs.

  Closing his eyes for a brief rest, waiting until his mind calmed down again, Xiao Chen quickly gathered the medicinal dregs and began the second refinement.

  This time, Xiao Chen was extremely careful, and from start to finish, he did not make any mistakes. Half a quarter of an hour later, a thick fragrance of medicine wafted out from the Dan furnace.

  Xiao Chen's face showed a few points of joy, and he opened the dan furnace, where more than ten foundation pills lay inside.

  He picked one out from the middle, examined it carefully, and indeed it was exactly the same as the one in his hand. Only then did Xiao Chen nod in satisfaction, putting the rest away into the jade bottle.

  With experience, Xiao Chen's speed in refining the Foundation Establishment Pill greatly increased. By nightfall, he had refined all thirty portions of materials. Except for one accidental failure, twenty-eight portions were successful, yielding exactly four hundred Foundation Establishment Pills.

  Looking at the four large bottles filled with Foundation Establishment Pills, Xiao Chen's face was full of pride and satisfaction. It was likely that even the core disciples of those great sects had never seen so many Foundation Establishment Pills in their lifetime.

  Looking at the 400 Foundation Pills, Xiao Chen hesitated for a moment before putting three bottles into his storage bag.

  "Three hundred are enough for me to lay the foundation, and with the remaining one hundred, it's not bad to try refining them. If I can get middle or high-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, the effect of cultivation will definitely be better."

  Five hours later, looking at the nineteen Foundation Establishment Pills in front of him that had significantly improved in both luster and fragrance, Xiao Chen's face also showed a few hints of pain. At first, when he started refining, despite having reached the tenth layer of the Qi Refining stage and his spiritual awareness greatly enhanced, the difficulty of refining the Foundation Establishment Pills was still somewhat beyond his imagination. After continuously failing over a dozen times, he slowly began to succeed. However, after one hundred attempts, he only obtained nineteen mid-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, with a success rate of barely twenty percent. Sighing, Xiao Chen carefully stored away these nineteen mid-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, swallowed a few more pills, and sat down cross-legged with his eyes closed.

  First, refine the foundation-building pill, then purify it. Xiao Chen's divine consciousness and spiritual power had been depleted to a great extent, and even if he consumed a large amount of medicinal pills, it would take him at least three hours to fully recover.

  He took out a Zhuji Dan and swallowed it. In an instant, the cool and gentle spiritual energy inside his body burst forth, circulating wildly along the meridians again and again. As the medicinal effect was continuously absorbed, the volume of spiritual energy also rapidly expanded, becoming even more refined. Xiao Chen tightly guarded his Spiritual Platform, not interfering with the changes in his spiritual energy in the slightest, letting it run wild and free.

  Half a time later, the spiritual power that was almost boiling inside him gradually subsided. Xiao Chen opened his eyes and revealed a few hints of self-mockery on his face. With a mediocre or higher innate talent, after reaching the 8th layer of the Qi Refining stage, taking the Foundation Establishment Pill would usually allow one to establish their foundation. However, he was at the 10th layer of the Qi Refining stage and yet still couldn't establish his foundation even after taking the pill, showing just how poor his innate talent was.

  Fortunately, Xiao Chen was prepared for this, so after a moment of self-mockery, he quickly calmed down. After carefully checking again, although the foundation building failed, the spiritual power in his body had increased by a notch, it seemed that this was the effect of the foundation building pill. Xiao Chen's heart slightly settled, and he took out another pill and swallowed it.

  With the experience of the first time, the medicinal power was refined a bit faster this time. Xiao Chen opened his eyes, expressionless, and swallowed a foundation-building pill, continuing to refine the medicinal power.

  After taking the third dose of Zhū Jī Dān, as the medicinal effect was absorbed, the surging spiritual energy seemed to have undergone some changes. Xiao Chen's heart felt a slight joy, could it be that he had succeeded? After waiting for the medicinal effect to be fully absorbed, Xiao Chen slowly opened his eyes and carefully sensed the changes in his spiritual energy.

  His physical and spiritual energy surged again, becoming even more refined than before. His divine sense also increased by a few degrees. Xiao Chen opened his eyes, revealing a bitter smile on his face. Although he had made another breakthrough, he absolutely hadn't succeeded in building his foundation. What realm was this now? The eleventh layer of the Refining Qi stage? It seemed like no one had ever heard of such a realm.

  Xiao Chen's face showed a few shades of contemplation, swallowing the Foundation Establishment Pill had not succeeded in establishing his foundation, but his cultivation was constantly increasing. If this continued, when he reached his limit, it would naturally advance to the next level of cultivation. Xiao Chen adjusted his mindset and once again put a Foundation Establishment Pill into his mouth, thinking fiercely in his heart: "I have plenty of pills, one won't work then I'll take ten, ten won't work then I'll take a hundred, I don't believe I won't be able to establish my foundation!"

  For two consecutive months, Xiao Chen secluded himself and did not come out. He swallowed elixirs, meditated, and refined the power of his medicine, repeating this process day after day without stopping.

  Swallowed until the twenty-fifth grain, Xiao Chen had a breakthrough for the second time, but still hadn't built his foundation. For now, he defined his current realm as the twelfth layer of the Refining Qi stage.

  Swallowed to the sixty-fourth, third breakthrough, foundation building failed, refining Qi period thirteenth layer... One hundred and fifty-seventh, fourth breakthrough, foundation building failed, refining Qi period fourteenth layer... Fifth breakthrough, foundation building failed, refining Qi period fifteenth layer...

  Xiao Chen opened his eyes, with a look of discontent in them. After refining this mid-grade Foundation Establishment Pill, it only made the spiritual energy within his body slightly purer, without increasing its quantity by even half a point.

  "Alas, it seems that this is the limit of what can be achieved in the Refining Qi stage. But why am I still unable to build my foundation?" This was his tenth attempt, and after consecutively refining nine low-grade Foundation Establishment Pills without any spiritual energy changes, Xiao Chen gave up and swallowed a mid-grade Foundation Establishment Pill, but the effect was still extremely limited.

  Bitter thoughts filled his mind, and a hint of bitterness appeared on Xiao Chen's face. He was at the 15th layer of the Refining Qi stage, yet he still couldn't break through. Was it that he had obtained this heaven-defying alchemy technique, only to have his cultivation stall at the Refining Qi stage?

  Xiao Chen felt a lingering sense of discontent, so he employed the "Gathering Qi Technique" attached to the "Mixed Yuan Divine Art", stabilizing his cultivation at around the 7th layer of the Refining Qi stage. Then, he swallowed another Transforming Dan and left the valley.

  Bian Xing Dan is a rare and expensive pill that changes the user's appearance, lasting for three hours, with a one-hour cooldown before another can be taken. However, it's not foolproof - if someone has a cultivation level more than one major realm higher than the user, they can see through the disguise. But at this moment, Xiao Chen is in the 15th layer of the Refining Qi stage, and his spiritual power and divine sense are no weaker than those of an average Foundation Establishment cultivator, so he's not afraid of being seen through.

  The only one with this strength is the true person of the sect, who also closed himself in to protect the law when Ziyao was impacting the Golden Elixir boundary. Xiaochen naturally felt extremely at ease.

  Out of the medicine garden, Xiao Chen soared into the air, and although he didn't use his spiritual weapon, his speed was still extremely fast. In just half a minute, he arrived at the Lu Yun Valley's Scripture Pavilion. Xiao Chen landed gently on the ground from afar, as the Scripture Pavilion possessed powerful anti-flight restrictions that made it impossible to fly unless one had reached the Foundation Building stage. Although Xiao Chen had this ability, he didn't want to draw attention to himself at this moment, so naturally, he wouldn't do such a foolish thing.