The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#343 - I suffered from lack of culture again

Lu Jing sized up his surroundings, confirming that there was no one else nearby, before closing the courtyard gate and saying, "If a person doesn't have a Mystic Cauldron within their Niwan Palace, can they cultivate Mystic Power?"

Xia Huai was stunned by this strange question.

It wasn't because the question was too difficult, but because it was too simple. Throughout the entire academy, perhaps only Lu Jing, standing before her, wouldn't know the answer to this question.

But Xia Huai regained her senses and still patiently said, "Impossible. Mystic Cauldrons are extremely important to cultivators. All Mystic Power cultivation revolves around the Mystic Cauldron. It can be said that without a Mystic Cauldron, one cannot begin cultivation."

After a pause, she added, "Perhaps some people can rely on extremely high Mystic Power affinity to cast one or two simple minor spells before embarking on cultivation, like I did before. But if I don't establish a cauldron and ignite the fire, I won't be able to cultivate even a trace of Mystic Power."

"Uh, what if, what if someone cultivated Mystic Power without a Mystic Cauldron? Would it affect their subsequent learning and use of spells?" Lu Jing asked again.

"Of course it would have an impact. The Mystic Cauldron isn't just for helping you absorb and refine Mystic Power from the heavens and earth," Xia Huai said without hesitation. "It's also your Mystic Power hub. As long as the spells are more complex and require mobilizing more Mystic Power, they basically can't do without the Mystic Cauldron."

"But, I, uh… I heard that some people can mobilize the Mystic Power in their Niwan Palace without a Mystic Cauldron," Lu Jing said.

"Who told you that?" Xia Huai frowned. "If someone really said that to you, then either they didn't listen to the Mystic Power True Explanation properly, or they're mostly just making fun of you. And I think the latter is clearly more likely."

"But… as far as I know, that person wouldn't lie to me," Lu Jing said with a wry smile. "He swore to me that there was no cauldron in his Upper Dantian, only a ball of inexplicable Qi."

"Qi?" Xia Huai was stunned for a moment, then suddenly chuckled. "Are you misunderstanding something? The Mystic Cauldron isn't a real cauldron. It's just that its function is very similar to a cauldron, so it was called a Mystic Cauldron by the predecessors."

"In fact, the shape of the Mystic Cauldron is bizarre and varied. The appearance of each cultivator's cauldron is likely to be different."

"So that's… how it is?"

Lu Jing felt that he had suffered the loss of being uncultured again.

He actually already had a Mystic Cauldron, but he was still searching for a cauldron all over the world… It was completely like riding a donkey to find a donkey. Wait, in that case, the culprit that caused him to fall into the Mystic Power Murder Case has also been found.

It's that Void Ghost!

But Lu Jing still didn't understand why the Void Ghost made him have a Mystic Cauldron after turning around in his Upper Dantian. So he could only continue to humbly ask Xia Huai for guidance, "Aren't Mystic Cauldrons born from nothingness?"

"That's right," Xia Huai said. "However, it's actually a bit inaccurate to say that. The Mystic Cauldron is the product of the Divine Soul, the Qi of Nothingness, and the Yin-Yang Divine Fire together."

"The Qi of Nothingness alone cannot be directly used to forge a cauldron, because there is nothing in nothingness. If you want to forge a cauldron, you need to first use the Divine Soul to stir the Qi of Nothingness, causing it to evolve."

"Depending on each person's cultivation aptitude, the things evolved from the Qi of Nothingness are also different. Generally speaking, the closer the material is to the essence of heaven and earth, the more suitable it is for casting a Mystic Cauldron."

"For example, my Mystic Cauldron is a Five Elements Mystic Cauldron. But establishing a cauldron is only the first step into cultivation, because once the Qi of Nothingness begins to evolve, it will inevitably produce many impurities in the Upper Dantian. So next, you need to ignite the fire and use the Yin-Yang Divine Fire to temper the Mystic Cauldron for a hundred days. This is also the origin of the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment."

"When the Mystic Cauldron is forged on the hundredth day, except for the last ball of Qi of Nothingness that will be invested in it, the other Qi of Nothingness will completely dissipate. Only then can a cultivator be considered to have truly embarked on the path of cultivation."

After Xia Huai finished speaking, she saw that Lu Jing on the side seemed a little dumbfounded.

Lu Jing naturally hadn't done any of the things like stirring the Qi of Nothingness with the Divine Soul, casting a cauldron, or igniting the Divine Fire to temper the Mystic Cauldron. But listening to Xia Huai's explanation of the Foundation Establishment process, Lu Jing felt somewhat familiar again.

The great battle between the Void Ghost and the Heavenly One-Water ultimately ended in mutual destruction, but it seemed to have inadvertently helped him complete the entire Foundation Establishment process.

The two, one dead and one alive, one real and one illusory, entangled with each other. The ball of Qi that was generated somehow became the raw material for Lu Jing to cast his cauldron.

Moreover, it seemed that knowing that Lu Jing had not ignited the Yin-Yang Divine Fire, the remnants of the two after their mutual destruction also intimately transformed into two balls of flame, flying into that Mystic Cauldron together.

In addition, there was an even more坑爹thing. The Heavenly One-Water that Lu Jing had swallowed in order to sever his Dao Foundation had already almost consumed the original piece of Qi of Nothingness. In this way, he even skipped the step of tempering away impurities.

His Mystic Cauldron was incomparably pure from the beginning, with only the Qi of Life and Death.

When the last ball of Qi of Nothingness was invested into the Mystic Cauldron, he completed the Foundation Establishment that others needed a hundred days to complete in just a short moment.

In this way, even if he wanted to stop halfway now, he had no chance.

And what Lu Jing didn't expect was that even more misfortune was yet to come. Seeing that he hadn't been speaking, Xia Huai seemed to have remembered something again, and her expression changed, "By the way, you said that person's Mystic Cauldron is a ball of Qi?"

"That's right, but are there any flaws or innate deficiencies?" Lu Jing still held the last glimmer of hope in his heart.

"No, as far as I know, only the more perfect the Mystic Cauldron, the more likely it is to approach the form of Qi. It seems that your friend's Foundation Establishment should be very successful," Xia Huai said. "Strange… Among this year's newcomers to the academy, everyone except me has already completed the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment. Why haven't I heard of anyone whose Mystic Cauldron is a ball of Qi?"

"It's not just you, there's one other person who hasn't completed Foundation Establishment." Seeing that it was difficult to hide it anymore, Lu Jing finally told the truth.

"Who?" Xia Huai hadn't quite understood yet, only feeling that Lu Jing was a bit strange tonight.

But then she saw Lu Jing pointing at his own nose and saying, "Me."

There were two people who had fallen behind on more than a month of cultivation due to entering Another Worldly Abode. Besides Xia Huai, it was Lu Jing.

They were also the only two disciples in the academy who hadn't yet established their foundation.

However, unlike Xia Huai, who hadn't cultivated for a hundred days, Lu Jing hadn't cultivated at all before.

So suddenly hearing him talk about his Mystic Cauldron, Xia Huai was first stunned, and then a look of surprise appeared on her face, "You, you've started Foundation Establishment?"

"Not started, I probably… have already completed Foundation Establishment," Lu Jing said.

"You completed the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment? That's impossible. Before a hundred days ago, you and I hadn't even entered the academy yet. How could you have started cultivating from that time?" Xia Huai asked in confusion.

"I also find it hard to believe," Lu Jing said with a wry smile, "but the fact seems to be so."