Foundation Building Stage
Zheng-Fu asked Tong-Kuang to meet him because he wanted him to sell the meat and skin of the monster at the nearby market. The innards were expected to be sold later on…
The monster’s meat that Zheng-Fu obtained weighed more than 200 jins (1 jin = 500 grams or half a kilo), which was deemed to be quite a lot. He wanted Tong-Kuang to sell half of the whole portion. Zheng-Fu wanted to sell all of the fur and skin because they seemed to be more valuable than the meat…
After a while, Tong-Kuang finally came back with a sum of money…
Tong-Kuang: “Young master! I got ten thousand monster crystal coins from selling the monster’s meat!”
“Ten thousand monster crystal coins!”
*The price of the monster meat is quite good. And this was just half of it.*
Tong-Kuang: “However, no one was willing to buy the skin at all. I had even checked with all of the shops there.”
“Was the skin not worth buying?”
Tong-Kuang: “No, sir. Everyone said that it was too expensive. They could not afford it. They recommended selling it either in In-See City or Sai-Tarn City, sir!”
“Is that so? Well, that would be it. Thank you.”
Zheng-Fu took the money bag from Tong-Kuang. He split some money from the stack and tossed the bag back to Tong-Kuang…
“That’s for you.”
Snatch!
Tong-Kuang opened the bag as soon as he got it. He found four thousand monster crystal coins in there. He was stunned by the amount and looked at Zheng-Fu while trying to give back the money…
“Don’t think too much about it. You’d been exhausted getting it. Take the money. You deserved it!”
Tong-Kuang: “Thank you, young master!”
Tong-Kuang cupped his fists and bowed to Zheng-Fu to show respect to him with his utmost modesty. It seemed like he had something to say to Zheng-Fu, but was reluctant to do so. Zheng-Fu spotted that, so he asked…
“What’s the matter?”
Tong-Kuang: “Err…I would like to ask for permission to go home to pay respect to my parents’ tombs, young master!”
*Pay respect to his parents’ tombs!?*
“Of course. You didn’t have to be so worried like that. I’m always happy for you to do that. How long will you be gone, by the way?”
Tong-Kuang: “About a few days, sir!”
“Alright! You have a safe trip then.”
Zheng-Fu said with a warm smile. He understood well that everyone thinks of their parents. Going home to pay respect to them was a decent act…
Tong-Kuang: “Thank you very much, young master. I’ll be back soon, sir. You must take the best care of yourself, young master!”
“I will!”
Tong-Kuang left Zheng-Fu instantly with joy. He felt very sentimental about it because he hardly had any chance to go back home to pay respect to his parents’ tombs…
After Tong-Kuang left, Zheng-Fu went back to his room. He had about one thousand monster crystal coins with him now. If he sold the rest of the meat, he would get another one thousand monster crystal coins. He also had some more parts of that monster left to sell. Zheng-Fu started to smile from ear to ear after having these thoughts…
*Hunting is sure a fast way to make money, but I can’t go hunting by myself. If I met a monster like yesterday, I would be dead. I guess I’d better improve my Qi energy level as fast as I can.*
When Zheng-Fu realized what he must do, he started to meditate immediately. It was difficult to break through from the Qi Gathering to the Foundation Building stage. The higher the energy stage, the harder to penetrate…
As Zheng-Fu was meditating in his room, a bizarre aura emerged from him. It made him feel strangely hot and cold all over his body…
Right before he started to cultivate his Qi energy, he placed 10 lower-level Qi energy stones in front of him, in light to prove something that had been bothering his mind. As he felt the hotness and coldness all over his body, he suddenly slipped into that dimension that he had been to before, once again…
“It’s this place again. So, to get into this dimension, I have to concentrate up to this certain level. I have to do that to absorb the energy from these Qi energy stones.”
Zheng-Fu looked around the place and wondered how and why this dimension existed. As far as he knew, he did not have any magical objects with him. He had this notion because from what he read from the previous world, for this kind of incident to happen to someone, the person must carry something magical with him. So, he wanted to know how he got into this dimension without anything special with him. At this point, many thoughts were flying around his head…
“The Qi energy in this dimension is tremendously strong. It can be 10 times stronger than the Qi energy outside this dimension. I can sense the flow of energy that circulates in this place. Just being in here, my Qi energy becomes stronger by itself.”
Zheng-Fu waited no longer. He sat down and began to absorb the Qi energy in the dimension instantly. The energy range in him was being filled up rapidly as he started to absorb it…
The mid-level of the ninth level of the Qi Gathering stage!
The high level of the ninth level!
There was something strange happened with Zheng-Fu’s energy range. All of a sudden, a pale red light appeared and gradually turned brighter and brighter…
Boom!
Then a loud bang broke out! A large amount of black liquid flowed out of his skin…
Whoosh!
“I’ve finally achieved the first level of the Foundation Building stage.”
While he was pleased with the breakthrough, a green light appeared and got brighter and brighter, followed by another loud bang…
Boom!
The second level of the Foundation Building stage!
Not only did his energy increase, but something in his body changed too. Some of his small meridians got enlarged to the size of the big meridians…
His muscles were expanded too. They became stronger. Another thing that was changed, but Zheng-Fu did not realize was his hair. They grew longer and longer and became shinier…
Warp!
As Zheng-Fu was delighted, the Qi energy in the dimension started to subside. Then his surroundings had changed gradually back to the normal dimension…
Zheng-Fu began to open his eyes slowly. He saw stains of black liquid all over his room floor. He also realized that his hair grew longer down to the length of the middle of his back. After he noticed the change in him, he turned to check those 10 Qi energy stones instantly…
“Whoa!”
Those 10 Qi energy stones in front of him had now drained and turned to be just normal stones. Zheng-Fu did not feel sorry to lose another 10 Qi energy stones because he successfully broke through to the second level of the Foundation Building stage…
“Amazing! It would be more exciting if I had more Qi energy stones. Just 10 of them could already help me penetrate to the second level.”
Zheng-Fu got up carefully. But as he did so, he felt numb all over his body. He had to sit back down on the ground while feeling confused. Then he started to go back to meditate again to readjust his balance. He thought that the abrupt change in his Qi energy level caused him to feel numb…
Whoosh!
Not long after the meditation, Zheng-Fu felt much better. Then he stood up and felt the lightness in his body. The numbness had disappeared too. He could feel that his dead meridians had been revived, which helped his Qi energy flow much more efficiently…
Squeak!
“Zheng-Fu, son!”
Zheng-Fu opened his door to get out of his room. When he took the first step out of the room, he found his mother standing in front of him. Then he saw his father standing next to her. Both of his parents had this worried look on their faces. His mom rushed to hug him instantly…
“What’s going on? Why do you guys look so worried?”
Tang-Ling: “Didn’t you know?”
“Know?”
Kong-Shi: “You’ve been in your room for two days. Your mom was worried sick!”
“Two days!?”
Tang-Ling: “That’s right. We saw that you were on your meditation, so we did not want to bother you. But you were meditating for two whole days, so I was worried that there might be something wrong with you. I was about to go in to get you, but you came out first…”
Zheng-Fu was shocked to hear that. Normally, the time in that dimension went quicker than the time outside of the dimension. It seemed like he did not spend a long time in there, but it was two days outside of the dimension this time…
*I can’t tell my parents about that special dimension.*
“I’m fine, mother. You can see that I’m alright. See? I’m okay.”
Zheng-Fu confirmed his parents while jumping around like a normal kid. When Tang-Ling saw that, her facial expression changed to relief. She could now smile…
Tang-Ling: “Don’t make me worry again next time! Alright!?”
“Yes, mother!”
Kong-Shi did not say anything much since Zheng-Fu came out of his room. That was because he was shocked by the new Qi energy level that Zheng-Fu just succeeded. He did not want to interrupt Tang-Ling because he knew that she was concerned about her son. But when Tang-Ling started to stop speaking, he had the chance to say something…
Kong-Shi: “Did you break through to the Foundation Building stage, Zheng-Fu son?”
When Zheng-Fu heard Kong-Shi’s question, he turned to his father and gave a light smile before nodding to confirm…
“Yes, father. I now entered the Foundation Building stage.” Zheng-Fu answered while smiling innocently. His new long hair made him even cuter…
Tang-Ling started to notice that Zheng-Fu’s hair was longer. He was taller too. And the most important thing was, he looked much stronger with an aura radiating from him…
Kong-Shi: “That’s wonderful, son. You did wonderfully. When you reach the Foundation Building stage, you can start practicing a Qinggong skill. Will you go…”
“Well, father! I already know the Qinggong skill.”
Kong-Shi was startled and very shocked to hear that. He felt blank because he did not know what was going on. It was like he was dreaming, but he also realized that it was not a dream…
Kong-Shi: “What did you just say?”
“I’m hungry, mother. Let’s eat!”
“Okay, dear!”
Zheng-Fu quickly changed the subject and left Kong-Shi in his stunned moment revolving around his head with Zheng-Fu’s words…
“W…w…wait, Zheng-Fu!”
“What else do you want, father? Mother, look at him!”
Tang-Ling: “Dear husband! Stop asking our son already. He’s very hungry!”
Kong-Shi: “But…”
Tang-Ling: “If you won’t, then don’t join us at the table!”
“Okay!”
Kong-Shi was sad and wilted instantly. He was like a respectable lion outside, but an obedient cat at home…
Zheng-Fu could not help but laugh about the interaction between his parents. He had seen this kind of thing in the previous world. In the Xianxia world, a husband must obey his wife too…
*Brother Tong-Kuang will be back tomorrow. I think I will ask him to go hunt a monster again. It shouldn’t be a problem because I’m in the Foundation Building stage now.*
There were huge differences between the Qi Gathering stage and the Foundation Building stage. The Qi Gathering stage focused on physical strength, but the Foundation Building stage was about initiating the buildup of the Qi energy. It was the first step for a martial artist to practice to turn Immortal…