: Exchanging Foundation Establishment Pills

"Foundation Pill?"

Lei Wanhe was slightly taken aback. He hadn't expected Li Huayuan to have come for this reason. He had originally thought that the other party had taken a fancy to a certain spiritual object in his possession.

"Junior Brother's disciples all seem to be Foundation Establishment cultivators. This Foundation Establishment Pill..." Lei Wanhe glanced at Li Yunfan standing behind him.

Seeing this, Li Huayuan didn't hide anything and directly admitted, "This is my newly accepted disciple, Li Yunfan. Yunfan, this is your senior uncle Lei Wanhe."

"Uncle-Master Lei" Li Yunfan respectfully bowed.

Lei Wanhe nodded, and after looking Li Yunfan up and down, a look of realization appeared in his eyes.

"The spiritual energy is condensed and not released; this is a sign that only those who have reached the peak of Qi Refining can achieve this. To be able to cultivate the basic techniques to perfection before building the foundation is truly extraordinary..."

Upon hearing this, Li Huayuan suddenly revealed a peculiar smile: "Yun Fan, go over and let Senior Brother Lei examine your body!"

Li Yunfan agreed, then walked up to Lei Wanhe and extended his arm.

Lei Wanhe was taken aback at first, then frowned, and an unlikely idea arose in his mind...

He placed his hand on Li Yunfan's wrist, narrowed his eyes slightly, and used his divine sense to invade the other's body along his arm.

"This is... the Fire Spirit Body!?" Lei Wanhe exclaimed in shock.

Looking at Li Huayuan's proud expression, I was immediately filled with envy.

"It seems Junior Brother has really struck gold, managing to take on a Fire Spirit Physique as a disciple. No wonder he came to ask for Foundation Establishment Pills..."

Upon hearing this, Li Huayuan burst into laughter. To be envied by Lei Wanhe, a fellow Core Formation cultivator, was even more gratifying to him than obtaining a spiritual object.

However, Lei Wanhe's next words brought his laughter to an abrupt halt.

"However, this time, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint my junior brother..."

Li Huayuan's expression changed slightly: "What? Has Senior Brother already exchanged his Foundation Establishment Pill?"

Lei Wanhe's small eyes rolled slightly, and then a look of difficulty appeared on his fat face.

"No, but I already promised the Foundation Establishment Pill to my disciples. If I were to give it to my junior brother now, wouldn't I, as his master, lose face in his eyes..."

A hint of doubt appeared on Li Huayuan's face: "That girl Nie Ying only seems to have the cultivation level of the ninth level of Qi Refining, right?"

"Hehe! Junior brother, you've misunderstood. This Foundation Establishment Pill isn't for Ying'er!"

"Senior brother only has Nie Ying as his disciple, so why are you saying this..." Li Huayuan's expression turned cold, clearly displeased, but before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Lei Wanhe.

"Junior brother, please don't misunderstand. These are my newly accepted disciples. Among the new disciples recruited in the valley this time, there are two brothers who both possess mutated lightning spiritual roots. Since I also cultivate lightning-attribute techniques, I naturally took them under my wing. These Foundation Establishment Pills were prepared for them!"

Li Huayuan was taken aback and asked in disbelief, "Is what you're saying true, Senior Brother?"

Lei Wanhe gave a wry smile: "If Senior Brother doesn't believe me, I'll have the two of them come over now so Junior Brother can investigate."

Li Huayuan frowned, his expression shifting uncertainly.

Although the mutated lightning spirit root is not as good as the fire spirit body, it is still a genius that is only seen once in a hundred years. Moreover, the other party is a brother. If it were him, he would definitely not easily give away the foundation-building pill.

Seeing Li Huayuan's appearance, a subtle smile suddenly appeared on Lei Wanhe's lips.

"However, if you really want it, junior brother, it's not impossible to exchange it. It's just that you'll lose face in the eyes of your disciples..."

Upon hearing Lei Wanhe's words, Li Huayuan immediately understood.

This guy is clearly trying to take advantage of me. All that talk about promising disciples and losing face is just a pretext to increase the value of the pills.

………………

Above the Taiyue Mountains, Li Huayuan stood atop the head of the silver-armored horned python with a somewhat gloomy expression.

"Hmph! This Lei Wanhe really dares to ask for such an exorbitant price. He thinks he can exchange a Foundation Establishment Pill for my 'Moon Sun Flower'?"

Standing beside him, Li Yunfan felt a mix of amusement and exasperation upon hearing his master's cold snort.

When Lei Wanhe revealed what he wanted to exchange for, Li Huayuan immediately shook his head in denial. After some haggling, Li Huayuan finally managed to get the Foundation Establishment Pill from Lei Wanhe.

However, it was not the Moon Sun Flower that Li Huayuan mentioned, but another rare and precious spiritual object.

"I have already obtained the Foundation Establishment Pill, so you can now prepare for Foundation Establishment in peace!" Li Huayuan said, handing the wooden box containing the Foundation Establishment Pill to Li Yunfan beside him.

After accepting the Foundation Establishment Pill, Li Yunfan sincerely said, "Thank you, Master! This disciple will definitely succeed in establishing my foundation and live up to your expectations!"

Li Huayuan gave a soft "hmm," and then led Li Yunfan directly back to Green Wave Cave.

After bidding farewell to his master, Li Yunfan left the place and went straight back to his cave in Xuankun Mountain.

Sitting cross-legged on the futon, Li Yuanfan took out two wooden boxes, gently opened the lids, and saw two round, blue pills, each about the size of a thumb, lying quietly inside.

"I didn't expect to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm so quickly; this is more than a year faster than I anticipated..."

After pondering for a moment, Li Yunfan cleared his mind of distractions and began to recall the precautions Li Huayuan had given him before he left.

A full incense stick's time passed before he opened his eyes again, took a deep breath, and prepared to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm.

Half a month later, the spiritual energy of the entire Xuankun Mountain suddenly fluctuated inexplicably, waking up many disciples who were cultivating in their caves, and they all came out to check.

This sight was quite alarming, as all the disciples' faces showed a look of shock.

Above the main mountain of Xuankun Mountain, countless dark clouds were slowly gathering together, with flashes of blue lightning occasionally streaking through them.

"Rumble..."

As a muffled rumble of thunder sounded, a hollow area slowly appeared in the middle of the dark clouds.

"What's going on?"

"Could it be that one of our grandmasters is breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage?"

"Really? Then wouldn't my Yellow Maple Valley have two Nascent Soul stage ancestors?"

"Don't talk nonsense if you don't know! Why would a Core Formation Grandmaster come to Xuankun Mountain to break through? This is clearly a sign that a rare treasure has appeared!"

The lower-ranking disciples hovering around were astonished and began discussing the cause of the strange phenomenon.

"Look, spiritual energy is gathering over there!"

One of the disciples, who was at the peak of the thirteenth level of Qi Refining, pointed to a spot halfway up Xuankun Mountain and shouted.

Following the direction he pointed, everyone indeed discovered that the vast and dense spiritual energy around them was gathering towards the mountainside.

Originally formless and colorless spiritual energy, after converging at a single point, actually displayed five colors, which could be seen even with the naked eye.

The next moment, a red light suddenly flashed across the originally gray sky.

Everyone looked up and saw a fiery red light slowly emerging from the hole in the center of the dark cloud, gradually growing brighter and brighter...