The breakthrough from Qi Condensation to Foundation Building was divided into three major stages.
The first stage was to use all the spirit energy to probe the body for the location of the magic apertures. The cultivator had to find these hidden areas and firmly remember their locations. This concerned their future prospects.
The quantity of the magic apertures mattered as well and it was the focus of the sensing stage. This process could be carried out many times with the help of Foundation Building Pills.
This stage took up almost half of the time of the Foundation Building process.
The second stage was to gather the power of the spirit sea and use it to break open the first magic aperture.
After the opened magic aperture contained enough spirit energy, it would transform into a vortex that would give birth to the first wisp of magic power.
Once the magic power was born, it would circulate through the entire body and modify the flesh and blood of cultivators, causing their life level to advance. This was the third stage.
The cultivator could be considered to have stepped into Foundation Building realm when they completed these three stages!
It sounded simple but in reality, to be able to complete these three steps required comprehensive preparation and a certain amount of luck.
What Xu Qing was doing now was the first stage. As the 5,000-foot-long spirit sea in his body erupted, large waves rushed toward his entire body and began to search for his magic apertures.
Magic apertures weren't acupuncture points, so their locations were different in different people's bodies due to the difference in aptitude.
The density of his spirit energy allowed Xu Qing to last longer and use many methods to sense them. Right now, what he was preparing to use was the method named the strong probing method explained in Ding Xue's jade slip.
The so-called strong probing method was to use all the spirit energy in one's body to spread throughout one's body and make use of the violent impact to reveal the locations of the magic apertures. This was the final method of many Qi Condensation disciples at this stage.
However, to Xu Qing, he only needed a portion of his spirit energy to complete it.
He didn't hope to find enough magic apertures with just one time of strong probing. He only wanted to familiarize himself with the method first. As such, he spread out 20% of his spirit sea, which was 1000 feet.
Although it was only 20%, to ordinary Seven Blood Eyes disciples, this was already all they had.
The 1000-foot-long spirit sea erupted from his dantian and flowed like a tide through the meridians, flesh, bones, and all other areas of Xu Qing's body.
As it spread, his meridians were like rivers and the churning of his spirit sea was like sea dragons that passed by fiercely.
As for the flesh, blood, bones, and internal organs outside his meridians, they were like dry fields. As they were nourished by the spirit energy, they began to sense and search.
Very soon, he discovered that there were some fine vortices in some of his meridians. Their existence was extremely concealed and could only be detected after his meridians had completely swelled.
Those vortices were like heavenly gates. When spirit energy permeated through them, they faintly revealed an extremely profound aura.
After Xu Qing sensed these auras, he immediately understood that they were magic apertures.
Not only did his meridians store such a mysterious aperture, but he also discovered some of them in the flesh, blood, and internal organs.
"91!" Xu Qing's eyes gleamed. As his first sensing ended, the spirit energy in his body slowly dissipated like the ebbing tide.
According to the Foundation Building information he had obtained previously, what affected the perception of the magic apertures was anomalous substances. In theory, the limit number of magic apertures was 120. Generally speaking, discovering 80 was already considered good aptitude, and 90 was outstanding.
Using the calculation that 30 magic apertures could form a ball of life fire, this meant that he could form three balls of life fire in the future.
If Xu Qing didn't care about the quantity at this moment, he could immediately proceed to the second stage and break open a magic aperture to form a vortex that would birth magic power.
"However, there are no anomalous substances in my body. Why did I only sense 91 magic apertures?" Xu Qing pondered. A moment later, he felt that this might be related to the aptitude.
Before the god arrived and when there were no anomalous substances in this world, cultivators didn't look at the purity of their bodies but their body's aptitude.
However, now, aptitude was no longer important to the vast majority of sects and forces. Only the seeds that those large forces had high hopes for would have their aptitudes checked.
"My aptitude will determine that even if there are no anomalous substances in my body, there will still be magic apertures that are hidden too deeply and can't be found." Xu Qing fell into deep thought.
He felt that it didn't matter if he couldn't find them right now. It also didn't matter if his aptitude was limited. As long as he had enough spirit energy, it wasn't impossible to find these hidden magic apertures.
If he couldn't find them on the first try, he would try again for the second time or the third time. If he still couldn't find them, he would do it five times or six times.
Xu Qing closed his eyes. After pondering, he split half of the remaining 4000 feet of spirit sea in his body.
The 2000-foot-long spirit sea violently spread toward his entire body and he began to sense the magic apertures a second time.
This density already far surpassed that of ordinary cultivators.
Under this eruption, the meridians in his entire body instantly swelled up. His flesh, blood, and internal organs were filled with spirit energy, and it was the same for his bones. His entire body trembled intensely.
The impact was too great. In an instant, five more magic apertures were revealed.
The number of magic apertures sensed reached 96!
The remaining spirit energy in the second sensing didn't dissipate. It was still rapidly searching amidst the violent impact.
This principle was like blowing a balloon full, revealing the hidden spots on it. If the spots were hidden deeper, he would just have to fill the balloon even more.
"I have enough spirit energy and Foundation Building Pills."
Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. The remaining 2,000 feet of spirit sea in his body erupted before the second sensing ended.
At this moment, a sudden change occurred!
In the cave where Xu Qing was meditating, the Spirit Breath Lantern was originally burning as usual. The light from the fire enveloped Xu Qing and seemed to protect him from the surrounding darkness.
However, at that moment, there seemed to be an invisible existence that turned into a chilly wind and blew at the fire of the Spirit Breath Lantern. Immediately, the flames swayed and showed signs of extinguishing.
As it swayed, its light spread to the mud walls and the ground around the cave, revealing countless dark existences. They didn't have complete figures and couldn't be seen clearly. One could only see clusters of blurry illusory bodies.
It was as though they existed in the gap between time and space and had no specific appearance.
Usually, they were in a daze. Today, because Xu Qing's sensing had revealed its auras in the world they existed in, it instantly attracted them over.
The world they were in seemed to be infinitely vast. An aura like Xu Qing's would often be revealed but they were very far from each other. What the aura attracted was often the bizarre entities near the aura.
The flames of the Spirit Breath Lantern clearly suppressed them, causing them to be unable to pounce forward. However, their greed grew increasingly intense.
This greed had already materialized into endless malice, causing Xu Qing to be able to sense it even with his eyes closed. This caused his mind to shake.
He didn't know what they were.
The Foundation Building jade slips didn't state it explicitly, but he was very clear that if he was invaded by these malice, his Foundation Building would definitely fail.
Fortunately, the Spirit Breath Lantern might be ordinary, but it wouldn't be extinguished easily. Although it was swaying violently, the light still enveloped Xu Qing's body.
Xu Qing took a deep breath. He knew that he couldn't waste time. At this moment, he circulated the spirit sea in his body and sensed the location of the magic apertures again.
Amidst the rumbling, seven more magic apertures were found, reaching 103!
He was only 17 away from the limit of 120 theoretical magic apertures!
"Again!" Xu Qing gritted his teeth fiercely. The spirit sea in his body spread out, forming tides that continuously impacted his entire body.
Cracking sounds suddenly rang out as four more hidden magic apertures appeared!
107!
At the same time, there were more and more bizarre shadows in the surroundings. They let out soundless roars and rapidly surrounded Xu Qing. They also continuously blew chilly wind at the Spirit Breath Lantern, causing the flames of the Spirit Breath Lantern to sway even more intensely, as though they could be extinguished at any moment.
Xu Qing didn't bother with these. He opened his eyes and swallowed a Foundation Building Pill. Immediately, spirit energy exploded in his withered spirit sea, erupting with astonishing spirit energy fluctuations.
He didn't hesitate and spread the spirit energy throughout his body, causing him to feel an intense sense of expansion. It was as though his body was being stretched infinitely at this moment.
As boundless spirit energy gushed in, three magic apertures that he hadn't discovered before instantly appeared amidst the rumbling of his body.
110 apertures!
Xu Qing's breathing was hurried. He lifted his hand and grabbed the box of Foundation Building Pills. He then swallowed all three Foundation Building Pills in one go.
His body rumbled and the three Foundation Building Pills transformed into three violent sea dragons that ran amok in his body. His body seemed to be unable to hold on anymore. When it swelled to the extreme, extremely concealed magic apertures were revealed one after another.
111, 113, 115…
Until 118!
At that moment, Xu Qing only had two more magic apertures to go before he would be able to reach the limit. However, just as he was completely immersed and searching inch by inch as though his body was magnified, because his senses had found too many magic apertures and the aura he emitted was too dense, the bizarre entities he attracted were countless times greater than before.
When others broke through, they could at most sense around 90 something. As for Xu Qing… he was infinitely close to the end.
Such a dense aura was like a huge torch in the dark night. The temptation was too great.
The quality of the replica Spirit Breath Lantern wasn't good, persisting until this point was already its limit. After all, it had never protected a cultivator like Xu Qing before.
The swaying of the flames suddenly became incomparably intense. In the end, amidst an astonishing gust of chilly wind… it was extinguished!
