Chapter 4: Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment

'Since I don't need to cultivate step-by-step, there's no need to ask my original questions.'

However, since he had already been summoned, Su Han couldn't just let him leave empty-handed.

After some thought, to prevent Instructor Lin from feeling slighted, Su Han decided to ask a question he already knew the answer to.

"Instructor Lin, would you have a moment to explain the power realms of cultivators to me?"

Having already been summoned, Instructor Lin naturally had no objections to such a request.

"Regarding the realm divisions for cultivators, this subordinate only has a superficial understanding. The lowest level for a cultivator, and the very first step of cultivation, is Foundation Establishment.

"Foundation Establishment, as the name implies, is about forging the foundation for cultivation.

"Once the cultivation foundation is forged and the body is strong enough to withstand immense Spiritual Pressure, one can focus on accumulating Spiritual Qi. When enough Spiritual Qi has been gathered to forge a Spirit Platform within the Dantian, this realm is known as the Spirit Platform Realm.

"Once the Spirit Platform is formed, standing upon it, a cultivator can gaze up at the Sea of Consciousness. At this stage, a cultivator can attempt to open their Sea of Consciousness and give birth to Divine Sense.

"This realm is known as the Divine Sea Realm.

"The Divine Sea Realm is where one's Divine Thought becomes like an ocean. When a cultivator's Divine Thought fills their Sea of Consciousness and their Divine Sense is sufficiently powerful, they can then use it to activate the Spirit Platform and forge a Heaven-Ascending Ladder upon it.

"This is a crucial step in a cultivator's Mortal Transformation into Immortality. This realm is known as the Immortal Platform Realm, and it even has 'immortal' in its name.

"There are no Immortal Platform Realm cultivators within Jing Country, so this subordinate doesn't know much about this realm either.

"As for the realms beyond that, this subordinate doesn't even know their names."

Instructor Lin explained the first few realms of the cultivation path. When he reached the realms beyond the Immortal Platform that he didn't know about, he gave Su Han an apologetic look.

Su Han nodded in understanding.

He actually had a general idea about all of this, just not in as much detail as Instructor Lin had provided.

Seeing that Su Han didn't mind, Instructor Lin continued, "Among all the cultivation realms, Foundation Establishment is a rather special one.

"The Foundation Establishment Realm includes several aspects, such as strengthening the skin and membranes, Body Tempering and blood replacement, Muscle Strengthening and Bone Forging, and refining the internal organs."

A question had always lingered in Su Han's mind.

'If Foundation Establishment has so many steps, why aren't they divided into separate minor realms?'

'After all, just to complete the Foundation Establishment Realm and build a foundation solid enough to support cultivation, a person often needs to train bitterly for several years, a dozen years, or even longer.'

'This feeling of being stuck at the entry-level realm for so long is a huge blow to a cultivator's confidence.'

'So if Foundation Establishment were divided into minor realms, one could feel their realm advancing every year or every few years, which would surely help strengthen a cultivator's confidence.'

However, when Su Han voiced this question, he was met with a look from Instructor Lin one might give to a fool.

"Separately? Without strong internal organs, how could you produce new, powerful blood? If your skin and membranes aren't strong enough, how could you withstand high-intensity Body Tempering?

"And if you haven't tempered a powerful body, how could you possibly endure the difficult techniques required to train your bones and internal organs?"

Instructor Lin's questions left Su Han speechless. He could only admit that, having never truly cultivated and only learned from books, he was still a complete novice when it came to cultivation knowledge.

But even though Instructor Lin made perfect sense, Su Han still felt that spending a dozen or even dozens of years on the initial realm of cultivation—the Foundation Establishment Realm—seemed a bit too unreasonable.

Even though cultivation itself was pretty unreasonable to begin with.

So, after hearing Instructor Lin's explanation, Su Han couldn't help but ask, "So does everyone have to spend that long on Foundation Establishment? Are there no shortcuts?"

This time, Instructor Lin didn't mock Su Han. Instead, he fell into a rare silence.

"Foundation Establishment."

"Foundation Establishment."

Instructor Lin murmured the words a few times. "Actually, back in Ancient Times, there was a concept in the Cultivation Realm known as Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment.

"Back then, the Foundation Establishment Realm wasn't even considered a proper realm, but merely a prerequisite before one began to truly cultivate."

Su Han was stunned. He'd never expected to hear such a thing. "If the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment existed in Ancient Times, why do present-day cultivators have to spend dozens or even hundreds of times longer on it?"

Instructor Lin gave a wry smile. "Your Highness, that question is a bit difficult for this subordinate to answer."

Su Han nodded, indicating he understood.

'If Instructor Lin knew how to achieve the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment, he wouldn't be the Chief Instructor for eight thousand Purple Armored Warriors in their Prince's Residence.'

After some thought, seeing as he had asked everything he wanted to, Su Han immediately stood up and saw Instructor Lin to the door.

After Instructor Lin left, a question lingered in Su Han's mind.

'Why was there a Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment in Ancient Times, but now Foundation Establishment is so difficult?'

Although his own cultivation method seemed different from others', Su Han had a gut feeling.

'The Foundation Establishment realm is incredibly important for a cultivator, just like laying a solid foundation is for building a towering skyscraper.'

'Perhaps even a cultivator like me, who embodies the Heaven and Earth Melting Furnace and uses the Three Thousand Great Dao to nurture the Furnace-Nurtured Hundred Scriptures, also needs to go through Foundation Establishment.'

'In fact, compared to ordinary cultivators, his requirements for Foundation Establishment might be even higher.'

'After all, even if you use the Three Thousand Great Dao as the furnace fire to nurture the Hundred Scriptures, if the furnace itself isn't sturdy, it'll probably be destroyed by the fire long before any scriptures are nurtured, right?'

Therefore, Su Han felt it was necessary to figure out how cultivators in Ancient Times could achieve the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment, and why modern cultivators couldn't.

"The Foundation Establishment Method."

When Su Han went to find his mother the next morning with the question Instructor Lin couldn't answer, the Princess Consort gave him a direct answer.

"There's one thing you need to be clear about.

"It's not that modern cultivators are incapable of the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment, but that *most* modern cultivators are incapable of it.

"The reason for this situation is that at some point during Ancient Times, a great change occurred, leading to the loss and fragmentation of the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment Method.

"Only a few great powers and Major Sects still possess remnants of the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment Method, but most of those are incomplete.

"Even so, this has allowed the disciples of those Major Sects and great powers to start at a higher level than everyone else.

"As for cultivators outside of those long-established Immortal Sects and powers, although they have their own Foundation Establishment methods, those are merely techniques accumulated and summarized by later generations.

"They are riddled with flaws and are far from sufficient to allow a cultivator to achieve the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment.

"Of course, in reality, even back in Ancient Times, the truly profound Foundation Establishment methods were also in the hands of the great powers.

"It was nearly impossible for an Independent Cultivator to achieve the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment."

'The Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment Method.'

Su Han hadn't expected such an answer. He had assumed it was due to some unavoidable cause, like a cataclysmic change in the world.

'If that were the case, there would be nothing even I could do. To build an indestructible foundation, I would have no choice but to grind it out step-by-step.'

But since it wasn't an unavoidable cause, just the lack of a proper Foundation Establishment method, Su Han felt... 'for someone like me who can use a Skill Tree, it doesn't seem entirely impossible to piece together a complete one.'

Just as Su Han was wondering if he should start working on it right away—finding more Skill Trees to invest in to piece together a Foundation Establishment method sooner—he saw his mother, the Princess Consort, suddenly slap her forehead as if she'd just remembered something.

"Oh, right! Speaking of Foundation Establishment methods... Little Han, you don't have one yet, do you?

"You've suddenly become so interested in cultivation. Are you planning to try cultivating on your own?"

Su Han's spirits lifted at her words. 'What does she mean? Listening to my dear mother, could it be that she has a good Foundation Establishment method?'

'Come to think of it, our family is part of the Jing Country's imperial family. My father is Prince Jing, and my uncle is the emperor.'

'With a background like that, possessing the legendary Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment Method seems... possible... maybe... perhaps... not entirely out of the question.'

At this thought, Su Han couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement.