I Have An Infinite Cultivation Resource
Note: There's no chapter 71
Chapter 72: Foundation Establishment
"Heh, people say Bai Zihua is impartial and just, turns out he's nothing more than someone who abuses public authority for personal gain," Elder Wen sneered. No longer hiding his presence, he summoned his flying sword. "Today, I'll give the Bai family some face. You want evidence? Then I'll go find it for you."
With that, Elder Wen flew out of the Sword Tomb. Bai Zihua was different from other Foundation Establishment cultivators, aside from his status in the Law Enforcement Hall, he also had the backing of a Nascent Soul expert. After returning from the inheritance tomb, that expert had stuffed him with countless treasured artifacts, fearing he might encounter danger again. Elder Wen wasn't confident he could defeat Bai Zihua in one strike, so he chose to abandon the attempt.
Only after watching Elder Wen leave did Bai Zihua finally relax. He glanced at the tracking compass—the two red dots on it were nearly overlapping. "Junior Brother, bold yet cautious. I underestimated you before."
Lu You had also heard about the tracking compass and knew he couldn't hide from Bai Zihua. He leapt down from the tree.
With his back to Lu You, Bai Zihua didn't turn around. "Today, I did not see you. Leave at once. What I've done is only to protect Zeng Yan. Stopping Elder Wen was also to tell you—only I can protect her."
Lu You said nothing and turned to leave.
Hearing no argument behind him, Bai Zihua felt a suffocating frustration he couldn't vent. He frowned and said, "Do you think a few clever tricks can protect Zeng Yan? If I hadn't been here, no matter how moving your words were, the council of elders would still have dared to kill her. Elder Wen spared her before because of me. Today, he left the Sword Tomb because of me. Zeng Yan has treated you well, but you simply cannot protect her. If you keep entangling yourself, you'll only harm both her and yourself."
Lu You stopped. "Senior Brother, what you're saying—how is it any different from knowing you'll lose and asking me to step aside?"
Before Bai Zihua could react, Lu You's voice turned cold as he continued, "Senior Sister isn't fragile glass that needs to be held carefully and locked away for protection. She's a living person—she has things she wants to do, swords she dares to draw. Why would she need your protection?"
"Senior Brother, if this weren't the Verdant Cloud Sect—if you faced a Golden Core cultivator, would you dare draw your sword? Or a Nascent Soul cultivator—would you dare?" Lu You suddenly smiled and strode toward the forest's edge. "If Senior Sister wanted to kill, she would have drawn her sword long ago. Why weigh pros and cons? Clinging to life is not immortality. Likewise, calculation is not true affection. Don't beg me to step aside. Though I don't have your influence to drive away a Golden Core cultivator, I will draw my sword before Senior Sister does."
Love isn't about weighing gains and losses, but about standing up for her even when you know it may be impossible?
Bai Zihua suddenly turned his head, looking at the false trail Lu You had created with the Wind Talisman, and the tree where he had hidden. That's right—Lu You hadn't simply been trying to escape. He had been waiting for an opportunity, even harboring the intent to strike back. If I hadn't intervened just now… would Lu You really have dared attack a Golden Core cultivator? And that day, when he publicly rebuked Zhou Lei and incited the disciples to pressure a Golden Core expert—was he not afraid of retaliation?
No… something's off.
Bai Zihua's pupils shrank as he recalled a detail he had overlooked. Even with a artifact in hand, Lu You couldn't defeat Hu Da, who was only at the ninth level of Qi Refining. When he first entered the outer sect, he had been bullied by Zhou Lei, Gu Jintang, Hu Ke, and others—yet he never fought back. Where did this courage come from?
No, something's still not right!
Bai Zihua abruptly looked up, but Lu You had already vanished without a trace. Hu Da, Gu Jintang, Hu Ke, Zhou Lei—those who had bullied Lu You… were all dead. One or two maybe just a coincidence—but three, four, five?
Slowly, Bai Zihua turned his gaze in the direction Elder Wen had left. "Junior Brother, if what you say is true, then I've lost this round. But if you're spouting nonsense, don't blame me for driving trash away from Zeng Yan's side."
Bai Zihua sat down cross-legged, holding the tracking compass, continuing to guard Zeng Yan at the edge of the Sword Tomb. At the same time, he wanted to see—now that Elder Wen had clearly come seeking revenge against Zeng Yan, how exactly Lu You, who had just claimed he would draw his sword before her, would deal with him.
Inside the Sword Tomb, Zeng Yan sat cross-legged by the stream, a tree branch stuck into the ground beside her foot.
"He didn't come looking for me… was he led away by Junior Brother?"
Watching the birds above the forest gradually settle down, Zeng Yan closed her eyes again and entered meditation, beginning her attempt to break through to Foundation Establishment.
Although this was a place for reflection and punishment, disciples were not forbidden from entering or leaving. So Zeng Yan wasn't worried about Lu You. Even if someone saw him, no one would make an issue of it. Moreover, if there really were danger, the enemy would come for her, not Lu You. Anyone looking for trouble would abandon tracking Lu You once they realized he wasn't her and would instead come searching for her.
"The bottleneck… it's loosening."
Zeng Yan suddenly felt a crack appear in the restraints within her body. After Lu You's visit, she found that the pressure in her heart had eased. Now, as she attempted her breakthrough again, everything began to flow naturally.
Three Foundation Establishment pills hadn't been as effective as a single meal her junior brother cooked.
Zeng Yan gave a self-deprecating smile and quickly focused her mind, circulating her cultivation technique. She felt the spiritual energy in her body moving faster and more smoothly, so she promptly swallowed a Foundation Establishment pill.
The wooden branch at her feet suddenly trembled. A faint phantom of a sword began to appear along its length. In the next moment, Zeng Yan opened her eyes, a flash of sword-light glinting within them. The shackles of the Qi Refining realm shattered, and the spiritual energy in her body slowly condensed, turning into liquid and washing through her meridians once more.
With a relaxed state of mind and the aid of the pill, her years of hard cultivation finally bore fruit—she successfully stepped into the Foundation Establishment realm.
"There are still twenty-six Foundation Establishment pills left. Junior Brother won't act now, so I'll exchange them for resources on his behalf."
After breaking through, with a lifespan now extended to two hundred years, the first thing Zeng Yan thought about was helping Lu You reach Foundation Establishment as soon as possible.
"To be safe, I'll leave ten pills for him. The rest I'll trade for…" She calculated carefully. "With this many pills, I can exchange them for Spirit Liquid. His spiritual roots aren't great—Spirit Liquid will help him more than Qi-Nourishing pills."
With that thought, Zeng Yan pulled the branch from the ground, determined her direction, and, without hesitation, left the Sword Tomb. The so-called reflection and punishment had never truly mattered to her—if she were caught, at worst she would just be confined for a few more years.
Nearby, Bai Zihua, who had been guarding her, watched the red dot leave the Sword Tomb and hesitated, unsure whether to stop her. After a moment's thought, he quietly followed behind. But once they left the Sword Tomb, the tracking compass lost its effect, and he quickly lost track of her.
"Junior Sister… has broken through to Foundation Establishment!" Bai Zihua was filled with disbelief. He himself was at the peak of Foundation Establishment—if he was secretly tracking someone at the Qi Refining realm, there was no way they could shake him off. The fact that he had lost her could only mean one thing:
Zeng Yan had already stepped into the Foundation Establishment realm.
<+>
<+>
<+>
<+>
Patreon Account: https://www.patreon.com/collection/1960529?view=condensed[1]
Latest Chapter In Patreon: Chapter 105: A Super Weapon, Visiting Han Tian in Prison[2]
Link to the Latest Chapter: https://www.patreon.com/HannibalNotBarca/posts/i-have-infinite-160110862?collection=1960529[3]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/collection/1960529?view=condensed
[2] https://www.patreon.com/HannibalNotBarca/posts/i-have-infinite-160110862?collection=1960529
[3] https://www.patreon.com/HannibalNotBarca/posts/i-have-infinite-160110862?collection=1960529