Maybe I shouldn't die.

The weather outside was very good and the sun was shining brightly. Fang Yue took out his disciple token and checked the map inside. The foundation-building cave was at the top of the mountain. After confirming the address of the cave, Fang Yue followed the instructions on the map and went there.

This was her first time at the top of the mountain. After breaking through the ninth level of Qi Refining, she had planned to move to a cave dwelling on the top of the mountain. However, Feng Sisi persuaded her and told her that most of the cave dwellings on the top of the mountain were now occupied by children of aristocratic families.

If you want to change the cave on the top of the mountain, you must defeat the cultivators living in the cave. If you only need to defeat these cultivators from aristocratic families, it is not difficult, as there are always a few among them whose cultivation is not very solid.

However, once you defeat them and occupy the cave, they will find people to challenge you endlessly, and the sect also has regulations that you must accept a challenge at least once every three months. If you just want to practice in seclusion, you might as well buy a top-grade spirit gathering array. Although it is a bit expensive, you are not short of points, so why go through this trouble.

Fang Yue found it quite reasonable. She just needed a place with more abundant spiritual energy to speed up her cultivation. If the cave on the top of the mountain was so troublesome, then it would not meet her needs.

So, she went to the trading hall to buy a top-grade spirit gathering array plate, which cost her 150 points. In addition, the spirit gathering array plate required spirit stones to be opened, and spirit stones were needed every month. Although it was not much, if she wanted to use it for a long time, the spirit stones she spent would add up to a lot.

Soon they arrived at the area where the foundation-building cave was located. This area was covered with bamboo forests. Following the path deep into the bamboo forest, they found a bamboo house. This was the residence of the cave keeper that the deacon had mentioned.

In the small courtyard in front of the bamboo house, there was a figure in a white robe, playing with a few iron-eating beast cubs. Fang Yue walked to the door of the small courtyard and was about to knock on the door, when the bamboo door opened automatically with a "creak". A man's gentle voice came from the courtyard, "Come in."

Fang Yue walked in without hesitation, walked to the white-robed man, saluted respectfully, and handed over the golden token. The man took the token, took a look at it, and then said to the iron-eating beasts:

"Huahua, take this disciple to Cave No. 3, and I'll reward you with a spiritual bamboo shoot when I come back."

Only two "hmm~hmm~" sounds were heard, and a chubby cub of the iron-eating beasts walked out from the group of iron-eating beasts. It looked plumper than the other cubs of the iron-eating beasts. Fang Yue thought, it looked like a soft and sticky glutinous rice dumpling, so cute.

Huahua walked up to Fang Yue and motioned for her to follow. Its movements seemed slow and clumsy, but it was actually quite fast. Soon she brought Fang Yue to a cave.

It really was a cave. There was a transparent protective cover at the entrance, so one could not see inside. The stone wall on the right side of the entrance was polished smooth, and engraved on it were the big characters "Cave No. 3, Yizi".

Huahua, the iron-eating beast cub, pointed at the cave, indicating that Fang Yue had arrived. Fang Yue politely bowed to it and said, "Thank you, Daoist Fellow Huahua, for leading the way." Then he took out some spiritual fruits and placed them in front of Huahua, saying, "This is a thank you gift."

Huahua took the spiritual fruit very happily and said "hmm~hmm~" twice, as if praising Fang Yue. Then she turned and left. Her receding figure was still slow and clumsy, yet seemed a little brisk.

Fang Yue shook her head, suspecting that she had seen it wrong. How could these two adjectives be put together? She took out the golden token handed back to her by the white-robed man and pressed it on the cave shield. A light flashed on the token, and she walked straight ahead.

When retrieving the token, Fang Yue glanced at him casually. The man in white robe had a handsome face, but there were two huge dark circles under his eyes that could not be ignored. A cultivator has spiritual energy nourishing his body, so it is impossible for him to get dark circles from staying up too late.

There is only one possibility, that is the demon pattern that the demon beast brings with it after it transforms. Thinking about the iron-eating beast cubs in the yard, the result is obvious. The man in white robe is an iron-eating beast with a cultivation level above the transformation stage.

The spiritual energy in the cave was extremely abundant. As soon as Fang Yue entered the cave, she felt the spiritual energy continuously seeping into her body, and a slight dizziness came over her mind.

Fang Yue knew that this was a reaction caused by the excessive spiritual energy in the external environment, which made the body unable to adapt immediately. It was the same as the oxygen intoxication reaction that people who had lived in plateaus for a long time would experience when they came to the plains.

She immediately took out the cushion and sat cross-legged in meditation. She didn't dare to practice any exercises to absorb spiritual energy. She could only gather the spiritual energy that had seeped into her body into her meridians over and over again, and then introduce it into her dantian.

This went on for an unknown amount of time before Fang Yue finally felt that no more spiritual energy was seeping into her body. Her body had finally adapted to the concentration of spiritual energy in the cave, and Fang Yue stopped.

After opening her eyes, Fang Yue took out a timekeeping device to check. One day had passed. She felt a little hungry, so she took out the jade bottle containing the fasting pill from the storage bracelet, poured out a fasting pill from it, and put it into her mouth.

Suddenly a spicy smell rushed straight to the top of her head. Fang Yue couldn't help but take a breath. Who developed this spicy fasting pill? It really refreshes the mind. That's right, she now feels very, very, very clear-headed. Important things must be emphasized three times.

Fang Yue couldn't help but take out a bottle of spiritual milk and drink it, only then did she feel better. Fortunately, she always kept some food in her storage bag.

After the spicy taste had subsided, Fang Yue took out all the things she had prepared and placed them at hand, including the Qi-boosting Pill, the Heart-condensing Liquid, the Vein-protecting Pill, the wood and water spiritual objects obtained from the secret realm, the diluted Water of Life, and the leaves of the Tree of Life.

It is mentioned in the notes of predecessors that it is not convenient to take items from the storage bracelet when breaking through. It is best to keep the prepared spiritual objects at hand for easy access.

After all the items were prepared, Fang Yue took out her notes and carefully reviewed the experiences and precautions of her predecessors when they broke through the foundation-building process. After confirming that all the details of the process were remembered and there was nothing missed, she began to meditate and practice.

Before breaking through the foundation, one needs to keep the mind focused and calm, so Fang Yue did not practice immediately, but relaxed his mind and allowed himself to enter a state of meditation first.

She didn't know how long it had been, but she just felt her mind was quiet and free of any chaotic thoughts. She knew that her energy and spirit had reached its peak and it was time to practice her skills.

As soon as she started practicing the technique, a steady stream of spiritual energy poured into her meridians. Her meridians had never received such a huge influx of spiritual energy and they began to feel swollen and painful. She quickly swallowed a meridian-protecting pill. With the protection of the pill, she no longer had to worry about her meridians being damaged.

Under the guidance of the exercises, the torrent of spiritual power circulated in the body for a cycle, and then merged into the dantian, making the spiritual energy in the dantian more abundant. Fang Yue continuously absorbed the spiritual energy gathered from the outside world until a feeling of fullness came from the dantian. This time she did not stop, but continued to compress the spiritual power and squeeze it into the dantian.