Chapter 98: Valley of the Red Rope (2/2)

The shriek grew more and more intense, seemingly filled with hope. Except… there were still ten meters to go before the fifteen hundred meter mark was reached. The poison beasts summoned by the seven men exploded one by one, unable to keep going. As they died, the faces of the seven men grew pale. The rope suddenly slipped out of their hands and was sucked back into the whirlpool. Had they not released it, they would have been pulled along with it into the vortex.

The men watched silently as the rope was pulled back inside.

“Forget it. We’ll try again next month.”

“Yes. The day will come when we will pull out fifteen hundred meters of rope. I will be making a breakthrough in my Cultivation base soon. Once I reach the ninth level of Qi Condensation, we will definitely be able to succeed.”

“That outsider is of the ninth level….” said one of the men suddenly.

“We don’t need to make things more complicated. That outsider is probably dead already, killed by the miasma. Even if he was at the Foundation Establishment stage, he couldn’t withstand it unless he was of our bloodline.”

The seven discussed the matter a bit further, then dispersed.

The mist continued to roil in the valley for three days before finally settling down. The spiritual energy in the area gradually grew thick again, and the miasma dissipated.

Within the Immortal’s Cave, Meng Hao watched with cold eyes. Surrounded by the arcing field of electricity, he had seen clearly everything that had happened during the three days. As for the miasma, the Lightning Flag made short work of, and Meng Hao remained safe from any harm.

“They think I’m dead. That’s good.” Meng Hao’s eyes glittered.

“I’m not sure if it’s because of the Sublime Spirit Scripture or perhaps the Demonic Core… Establishing my Foundation is turning out to be very difficult.” He lowered his head and picked up another Foundation Establishment Pill. He frowned. As of now, he was a bit suspicious. Was the Cultivation method in the Sublime Spirit Scripture the real method? Or had Patriarch Reliance changed it in according with his own Demonic Cultivation practices…. There was no way to know. Meng Hao’s eyes shone with determination as he popped the Foundation Establishment Pill into his mouth and closed his eyes to meditate.

His Core sea roared violently, seething and churning as it coagulated. It seemed to be forming a Dao Pillar. But to do so was incredibly difficult. Even with the Foundation Establishment Pill, he wasn’t able to succeed.

It can be said that Foundation Establishment is the first true hurdle that must be crossed on the path to real Cultivation. A Foundation Establishment Pill can only increase the probability of success by about ten percent.

Even though he had reached the great circle of Qi Condensation, and his latent talent had been increased, it still was not an easy matter.

Time slipped by. In the blink of an eye, another three months passed. Each full moon during that time, the seven men again made attempts at pulling out the red rope. More than a few times, they came to Meng Hao’s Immortal’s Cave to try to get his corpse.

But the cave was being protected by Patriarch Reliance’s Lightning Flag. A few insignificant Qi Condensation Cultivators didn’t have the slightest chance of getting inside. They started to wonder whether or not Meng Hao was actually dead.

Another three months passed, half a year of hard work. They hadn’t even seen a trace of Meng Hao. At this point, they were mostly certain that he was dead.

As for Meng Hao, even he wasn’t sure how many Foundation Establishment pills he consumed during the half year. Every time he failed, he would take another pill. Toward the end, he even tried consuming two pills at one time.

The poison flared up twice during the half year. Thankfully, Meng Hao was prepared. He dealt with it, then continued on in his attempts to break through to Foundation Establishment.

In this excruciating fashion, another month passed. One night, Meng Hao sat there, a roaring sound rising in his mind. Only Meng Hao could sense this roaring sound; it sounded like claps of thunder in his mind.

Within his body, his golden Core sea let out an unprecedented roaring sound, and a gold light filled his body. It seemed as if he himself were made of gold.

He sat there meditating, his eyes closed. As his Core sea emitted its thunderous roar, he focused everything on forming the Dao Pillar and breaking through into Foundation Establishment. Within the Core sea, the Demonic Core rotated rapidly. It looked as if it might melt.

During the past year, this had happened frequently. Meng Hao had come to understand clearly that if he didn’t have this Demonic Core inside of him, it would be much easier to reach Foundation Establishment. It was the Demonic Core that was making things so difficult. Coupled with the fact that he had completed the great circle of Qi Condensation, it meant that achieving Foundation Establishment was much harder for him than anyone else in the world.

Every time the Dao Pillar was beginning to form, it would be disturbed by the Demonic Core, and wouldn’t coalesce. At the moment, golden light shined out from Meng Hao’s Core sea. The waters began to congeal, slowly solidifying into a massive Dao Pillar. But then, the Demonic Core began spinning, causing the Core sea, which had just moments before been calm, to seethe. The Dao Pillar once again began to fall apart.

“Again!” Meng Hao’s eyes burned. Without hesitation, he lifted up his hand and swallowed three Foundation Establishment Pills.