"Boom!" Standing outside the marsh, Joe Di threw a punch. A massive boulder, at least three meters wide, was pulverized into dust by the force of his blow.
However, Joe Di frowned and did not continue. He had been practicing this punch for over a month, yet he still felt something was missing.
That subtle feeling was strange. He seemed to have grasped the form of the punch, and its power was formidable. Yet, deep down, Joe Di felt this punch could be even stronger. The sensation was uncanny.
Counting the days, he, Garrett, and Sprout had been cultivating beneath this marsh for over a year. Perhaps it was because they had fled far enough; in more than a year, apart from a few marsh fiend beasts passing by, not a single soul had appeared.
In over a year, Joe Di had truly spent at most five months cultivating. In those five months, he reached the peak of Qi Refinement. But after reaching the peak, no matter how hard he tried, he was still one step away from Foundation Establishment.
Helpless, Joe Di could only turn to learning artifact forging. He wanted to craft a blade artifact that suited him. While others' artifacts grew better with use, his only deteriorated. Even though he had a long blade, Joe Di still missed his old kitchen knife.
Unfortunately, his progress in artifact forging was far too slow, nowhere near as fast as his cultivation.
He had almost exhausted all the materials he’d obtained, yet his skills in artifact forging barely improved. Maybe it was because he lacked a master, or perhaps his flames were inadequate. After more than half a year, he could only forge low-grade artifacts.
Garrett was a cultivation fanatic. If Joe Di didn’t call him, he would probably keep training endlessly.
Unable to break through to the Foundation Pill stage and with no materials left for artifact forging, Joe Di could only practice the punch recorded on that Instructional Jade Tablet.
This punch technique was actually acquired from the Qi Trading House. Given Joe Di's usual learning speed, he should have mastered it quickly.
Yet after more than a month of practice, he still felt he hadn't grasped the essence of this punch.
According to the Instructional Jade Tablet's description, this punch not only possessed formidable power, but when unleashed, it could cause the surrounding space to momentarily stagnate. To Joe Di, that meant mastery over the battlefield's space. Now, his punch was powerful enough, but when he struck, he felt no sense of spatial control.
Joe Di had no idea how long he'd been standing outside the swamp, lost in contemplation, until a wave of mortal danger swept over him and jolted him awake.
A massive Twin-Tailed Panther lunged at him from midair. The beast moved with astonishing speed—one moment it was dozens of feet away, and the next, it was already overhead.
The powerful aura of the fiend beast made it clear to Joe Di: this was definitely a second-tier fiend beast.
Joe Di didn't hesitate. He raised his fist and struck out instantly.
He'd trained this punch for over a month here, and now, when he threw it, it was almost pure instinct.
Joe Di's aura surged higher and higher. He immediately realized that, after this moment of enlightenment, he'd finally broken through the Foundation Pill stage that had eluded him for months.
His fist seemed to conjure a colossal mountain out of thin air, surging forth with Joe Di's punch.
Was this the punch flowing with intention? Joe Di's heart leapt with joy—this spontaneous strike was exactly what he'd been searching for over the past month.
Joe Di was swept up in the intent of this punch; he sensed that its force hadn't ended with the panther's defeat. After one mountain, another followed, unleashed by his fist.
Beyond the succession of mountains, it felt as if boundless, majestic waves would surge forth. Unfortunately, his punch's force had waned, and the waves failed to take shape.
Without hesitation, Joe Di struck again. This time, furious waves finally formed—one after another, their momentum vast and unstoppable.
Crack! A trench dozens of feet long was blasted into the earth by Joe Di's punch. A wave of exhaustion washed over him, and only then did he open his eyes.
A surge of hot-blooded pride welled up in his chest. Others might throw fists, but he unleashed mountains. When he sensed the momentum, the mountains followed one after another. And this was not the end; as long as his intent remained strong, after the mountains, roaring waves would rise.
"Peaks gathering like a throng, waves raging in fury..."
Clearly, this technique was meant for a single punch, yet he had unleashed a second, with waves surging forth.
From now on, this would be a two-punch technique: the first punch, peaks gathering; the second punch, waves raging.
These two punches were even more terrifying than his blade techniques. Joe Di felt he had only scratched the surface of their true power. There must be a deeper intent within them, but his current realm was too low to grasp more than a faint trace.
It was like the poem by Zhang Yanghao: "Peaks gathering like a throng, waves raging in fury, the road through Tongguan lies between mountains and rivers. Gazing westward, my heart hesitates."
The meaning in Zhang Yanghao's poem was: "Heartbroken by the ruins of Qin and Han, where palaces have turned to dust. When the empire rises, the people suffer; when it falls, the people suffer."
Yet the intent behind his two punches was different: "Where peaks and furious waves sweep through, within the fist lies the space. Block me, you die; run from me, you die!"
But these two punches consumed tremendous energy and spirit. Though Joe Di's body was wracked with exhaustion, his mind remained in a state of heightened excitement.
He was certain these punches surpassed the incomplete jade slip, reaching a new level. One day, when others faced his two punches and felt the same despair as 'palaces turned to dust,' his technique would be perfected.
An indescribable sensation surged within him, and his Starstream Technique began to operate on its own. The starry sky that had formed in his meridians grew clearer, vast and majestic.
Crack! The barrier that had held back his cultivation shattered in an instant, like a chick breaking free from its shell.
Joe Di's aura surged higher and higher. He immediately realized that, after this moment of enlightenment, he'd finally broken through the Foundation Establishment realm that had eluded him for months.
Without hesitation, he grabbed a handful of spirit stones and scattered them around himself, letting his aura continue to rise.
The spirit stones beside him kept shattering with crisp cracks. Their spiritual energy, merging with the ambient qi, was completely absorbed by Joe Di.
At this moment, safety was the last thing on Joe Di's mind. He clearly sensed a new set of cultivation rules guiding his post-Foundation Establishment cycle. Even if he didn't fully understand it, he knew it stemmed from the fusion of the gray stone in his sea of consciousness and his own insight, extending the Starstream Technique with a new method.
Boom! The spiritual energy he absorbed reached its peak again, and his cultivation surged past Foundation Establishment Level One, advancing to Level Two.
Only then did Joe Di come to his senses, finding that all the spirit stones around him had turned to dust.
Joe Di let out a long howl and drew his long blade from his back, slashing out with a single stroke.
The trench he'd carved out with his punches grew several feet deeper under the force of his blade.
"Brother Nine, have you mastered your blade technique?" Garrett Lance and Sprout, having sensed Joe Di's howl, burst out from beneath the swamp.
"It's not that I've mastered the blade technique, it's..." Joe Di started to explain that the blade was simply an expression of his joy, but upon noticing Garrett's cultivation, he exclaimed in surprise, "Garrett, did you break through to Foundation Establishment too?"
Garrett replied excitedly, "Yes, Brother Nine! I reached the peak of Qi Refining long ago, but our Starstream Technique didn't have a Foundation Establishment method. I tried many ways, but couldn't break through. Just as I was thinking about leaving to find a Foundation Pill, I suddenly sensed a set of Foundation Establishment rules. Under these rules, my Starstream Technique became much clearer, the starry river within me grew more solid, and I naturally broke through to Foundation Establishment."
"Did you sense the post-Foundation Establishment cycle technique?" Joe Di asked without thinking.
Garrett nodded repeatedly. "Brother Nine, I was just about to tell you—I sensed the new cycle technique after Foundation Establishment, and it's completely different from the Qi Refining stage..."
Garrett described his cycle technique in detail, and Joe Di couldn't help but marvel. Both cultivated the Starstream Technique, but Garrett formed a star river inside himself to absorb spiritual energy, while Joe Di formed a starry sky for the same purpose.
Now, both had broken through to Foundation Establishment without a formal method, and both had developed new techniques thanks to their internal star river or starry sky. Yet their methods were completely different—Garrett's cycle technique was the polar opposite of Joe Di's.
He was certain Garrett's ability to derive a Foundation Establishment technique from his internal star river was also related to the gray stone.
That gray stone, streaked with golden lightning, was a mystery—so powerful it defied belief.
"Brother Nine, watch my Thunder Sword," Garrett said, forming several hand seals.
Several Thunder Swords crashed down, striking the trench Joe Di had just carved. Lightning scattered in all directions, tearing deep new scars into the earth.
Sprout looked a little unhappy. Although it had advanced to a second-tier fiend beast, its only useful attacks were still binding and bloodsucking.
"Brother Nine, I feel like I can advance soon. Should we cultivate here a bit longer?" Garrett sensed Joe Di was ready to leave, but believed that with a few more days, he could reach Foundation Establishment Level Two.
"No need to stay here. Our path isn't to hide away and cultivate every day. Simply raising our realm means little—we need to advance through trials. That way, the benefits are far greater," Joe Di said, patting Garrett on the shoulder.
He'd spent a month training his punch, finally comprehending the first punch, peaks gathering, and the second punch, waves raging, before breaking through to Foundation Establishment. It was far more effective than half a year of secluded cultivation.
(That's all for today's update. Good night, friends!)