Chapter 155: The Destructive Power of Perfect Foundation Establishment

There were four people who broke through the illusion together with Jiang Yan and arrived before the cave. Although Gao Hongli was not lightly injured, after receiving treatment, he was still barely able to fight. Despite relying on their numerical advantage, everyone knew very well that if Pu Pingping had already arrived, relying on the four mismatched individuals, they would probably still be utterly defeated by him.

As things stood, they had no choice but to fight with their lives on the line.

Chou Feng possessed earth spiritual roots, making him tough and sturdy, so he walked at the very front. Jiang Yan followed closely behind, while the injured Gao Hongli was cared for and sandwiched in the middle. Guan Xian anxiously brought up the rear. As the four of them ventured deeper into the cave, they suddenly heard an angry roar echoing from within.

Pu Pingping!

Ordinarily, upon hearing their arch-rival inside, Chou Feng and the others would have paused to investigate before rushing in. But at this moment, knowing full well that the rare treasure was inside this cave, how could anyone dare to waste time? While projecting their divine sense and charging inward, they prepared themselves for combat.

In truth, by the time they rushed in, they were already too late. The situation in the cave had changed drastically in an instant.

Pu Pingping's fingers were just about to touch the spiritual liquid when a massive suction force suddenly erupted from the side. This suction force, like a fierce tornado, swept away all the spiritual liquid in the stone bowl in a single breath.

Seeing that the transparent spiritual seed was also enveloped within the spiritual liquid, Pu Pingping grew instantly frantic. He snatched at the spiritual seed, channeling true essence into his left shoulder as he violently slammed into the figure in black. Yet, to his shock, the transparent spiritual seed seemed like a living creature; the moment he was about to touch it, it gave a twist and slipped past Pu Pingping's fingertips by a hair's breadth.

Filled with bitter hatred, Pu Pingping mustered all his remaining true essence, executing a lethal strike.

"Heart-Enlightening Sword"! The enormous depletion instantly plunged him into a state of true essence exhaustion, but Pu Pingping could no longer care about that. He only wanted this rogue cultivator who was meddling with him to die; he wanted to cleave this damned opponent in half along with that unappreciative spiritual seed.

The distance was too close. Hong Jian was already exerting her full strength in executing "Myriad Streams Converging to the Source," and facing the "Heart-Enlightening Sword," she had no spare capacity to deploy any other defenses.

The spiritual liquid and the wood-attribute spiritual seed submerged into her body one after another the moment they touched her palm, followed by the vast amount of metal-attribute true essence she had absorbed. Yet this time, she still lacked the time to fully neutralize the "Heart-Enlightening Sword." Furthermore, because she had absorbed the spiritual liquid and the wood-attribute spiritual seed first, when the turn of the metal-attribute true essence came, she barely managed to absorb less than a third of it.

The "Heart-Enlightening Sword" maintained the inherent form of the spell, though it had grown somewhat dimmer, and directly struck her body.

The golden light churned the white mist. Although dim, it carried enough power to destroy any cultivator of the same rank. Because it was exceedingly sharp, when it struck Hong Jian, it did not even produce a sound.

Pu Pingping was wild with joy. He waited to witness the overwhelming spray of blood, waiting to see how this damned rogue cultivator would be torn to shreds.

Yet nothing happened. He waited for nothing. The exact line where the opponent was struck by the "Heart-Enlightening Sword" suddenly erupted with a blinding white light. Following that, the figure in black before his eyes began to radiate a milky-white brilliance from head to toe, completely swallowing his exposed eyes and his entire outfit of black robes.

The spiritual qi that had previously overflowed within the cave immediately surged like a churning river, converging toward the ball of white light before Pu Pingping's eyes. It swept the space clean at the fastest possible speed, restoring visibility to absolute clarity.

To his absolute horror, Pu Pingping discovered that the rogue cultivator in black had not only emerged completely unscathed from his "Heart-Enlightening Sword," but her aura was growing stronger by the second. Having absorbed so much spiritual qi, she was actually... about to break through.

Pu Pingping felt his mind struggling to process the scene. Regardless of why that spiritual seed could cause this person to break through, it was clearly impossible to stop her now. Every breakthrough for a cultivator was equivalent to shedding one's mortal body and exchanging one's bones; let alone the fact that his previous "Heart-Enlightening Sword" hadn't even drawn a single drop of blood, even if she had been heavily wounded, as long as she wasn't dead, she would instantly recover to her normal state.

Pu Pingping sensed a terrifying danger. Overwhelmed with horror, he rapidly retreated.

However, it was already too late. Hong Jian, enveloped within that mass of white radiance, opened her eyes. She felt her body light and her true essence abundant, with blood and qi surging smoothly within her meridians. Her foundation was rapidly growing and expanding, and her condition was stronger than ever before. Without pausing to ponder how this state had come about, her gaze fell upon Pu Pingping.

In an instant, her eyes were filled solely with murderous intent. Her true essence flowed according to her will; before she even made a move, the "Hollow Sword" flew out on its own, blending with golden, green, and white halos to form a torrent of true essence as thick as a tree trunk, which directly slammed into Pu Pingping's chest.

No, it could not be described as a blast. Just like the "Heart-Enlightening Sword," when the torrent of true essence made contact with Pu Pingping, it produced no sound whatsoever. It pierced straight through his chest with more ease than poking through a layer of damp window paper, leaving a massive cavity in Pu Pingping's body before burying itself deeply into the stone wall behind him.

Shock and disbelief lingered on Pu Pingping's face, but everything came to a permanent halt the moment he was pierced through by this miraculous power. From life to death, he was unable to mount any resistance.

Chou Feng, Jiang Yan, and the other two had already rushed into the cave by this time. Standing a dozen or so yards away, they witnessed this unbelievable scene and simultaneously froze, staring in shock at the figure still bathing in the white light.

Such a majestic torrent was enough to effortlessly pierce through anything blocking its path. For a split second, Chou Feng and the others even felt that it didn't matter if Pu Pingping had suppressed his cultivation; even if he were still at the mid-stage of the Core Formation realm—no, even if a cultivator at the peak of the Core Formation realm were standing here instead—the outcome would have been no different.

...Was this the power of the rare treasure, or this person's own cultivation? If this person possessed such capability by themselves, why would the spatial turbulence of the mystic realm still transport them? According to the laws of space, was this person destined to remain trapped in this mystic realm forever?

Jiang Yan was dying of curiosity. He widened his eyes, words hovering on his lips as he screamed internally: "Is it her? Could it be Fang Hongjian? How is this possible? How could Fang Hongjian be this formidable? But if it's not her, then who else could it be?"

The long, oversized black cloak blocked the others from catching a glimpse of the truth. All they could tell was that the cultivation realm of the person before them appeared to be at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage.

Hong Jian was secretly thrilled over her breakthrough to the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage. This breakthrough had come so suddenly. It was said that after cultivating the *Great Tribulation Scripture*, one's divine soul was far stronger than cultivators of the same rank, making breakthroughs exceptionally difficult. Hong Jian had long prepared herself to be trapped in the late Foundation Establishment stage for a long time, yet she never expected that a single trip to the Xianyun Sect mystic realm would allow her to effortlessly cross this hurdle.

Killing Pu Pingping after her breakthrough was no longer a difficult task for Hong Jian, but the sheer ease of it still gave her a start.

Shortly after, Hong Jian almost immediately figured out the mystery behind it.

Strictly speaking, that heaven-shaking strike stemmed neither from her own cultivation nor from the power of the rare treasure. A moment ago, her execution of "Myriad Streams Converging to the Source" had serendipitously absorbed vast amounts of water-, wood-, and metal-attribute true essence simultaneously, which she then blasted toward Pu Pingping in one go via the "Hollow Sword." Coincidentally, the miraculous property of the "Hollow Sword" was that it did not discriminate against the attributes of true essence; for reasons unknown, the three elemental true essences had fused into one, thereby generating a terrifying might.

Such fortuitous opportunities were rare, and Hong Jian did not expect to unleash such a powerful strike ever again. Therefore, she simply entertained the thought for a moment before casting aside such extravagant hopes and turning her full attention inward.

Within her sea of consciousness, right above her water spiritual root, an additional transparent seed had appeared. The wood-attribute spiritual seed she had inhaled into her body had somehow made its way into her sea of consciousness. Moreover, seeing how it remained firmly and motionlessly anchored atop the revolving water spiritual root, it actually looked quite pleased with its new lodging.

It might be satisfied, but Hong Jian's heart felt somewhat uneasy.

After all, this was a wood-attribute spiritual seed. Setting up camp inside the body of a water-attribute cultivator was something completely unheard of.

Since it was a spiritual seed, it would inevitably need to absorb massive amounts of nourishment—perhaps water-attribute true essence, perhaps wood-attribute true essence. Judging by its appetite earlier within the spiritual liquid, even a cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul realm might not be able to sustain it, yet her cultivation was merely at the Foundation Establishment stage; what could she possibly use to feed it?

At this moment, the surrounding spiritual qi was still converging toward her, and Hong Jian finally realized something was amiss. She had broken through, and this breakthrough was most likely the benefit brought by the integration of the wood-attribute spiritual seed. However, advancing from the late Foundation Establishment stage to its peak was merely a normal small step, not forming a core or a nascent soul. No matter how unusual her divine soul was, the absorption of spiritual qi should have stopped long ago. How could it possibly continue endlessly like this?

Meanwhile, the milky-white light enveloping her had yet to dissipate. All the spiritual qi in the cave had been completely absorbed, and the mist that had previously poured out of the cave entrance was now flowing backward. No one even noticed that the patch of lush spiritual herbs near the cave entrance was rapidly withering away.

Chou Feng, Jiang Yan, and the others were completely dazed as they witnessed this bizarre spectacle. Had the breakthrough not ended yet? During a breakthrough, one's physical body was invincible, and Pu Pingping's corpse was still lying right there. Although Chou Feng and Gao Hongli felt envy and jealousy toward this stranger who had secured the rare treasure, none of them dared to step forward and disturb her.

Right at that moment, a series of booming sounds echoed from an unknown direction. The noise grew louder and louder, resembling distant, continuous thunder, followed by a slight tremor in the ground. Chou Feng, possessing earth spiritual roots, was the first to react. His expression shifted slightly as he cried out, "Not good! The mountain is going to collapse!"

Guan Xian, positioned at the very rear, turned pale upon hearing this and hurriedly shouted, "What are you waiting for, then? Run!"

Gao Hongli was still carrying injuries, but he immediately turned around and bolted outside alongside Guan Xian, shouting back at the dazed Jiang Yan, "Fall back first, we'll talk later!"

Jiang Yan hurriedly followed behind the three of them, turning his head to shout a warning at the figure bathing in the white light: "Run!"

The mountain collapsed with terrifying speed. Jiang Yan and the others felt the ground continuously shake, and by the time they flew out of the cave, countless giant boulders were tumbling down from behind. In the blink of an eye, the entire mountain lost half its height, leaving behind a landscape strewn with rocks and felled trees.

Amidst this chaos, Jiang Yan noticed a white-radiance-shrouded figure shooting up into the sky.

The person suspected to be Fang Hongjian had emerged, and she was dragging Pu Pingping's corpse in her grasp.

By now, the sky had grown dim, right at the juncture when the sun had set and the moon had yet to rise. The moment this person appeared, a violent gale seemed to suddenly sweep across the entire mystic realm, snapping vegetation and stirring up swirling turbulence. All four of them let out a secret cry of dismay, and Guan Xian's face turned ashen: "Don't tell me the mystic realm is going to collapse too?!"