Chapter 190: Late Stage of Foundation Building

Three fifth-grade spirit pills per day, or two sixth-grade spirit pills per day, or one seventh-grade spirit pill per day…
At such a consumption rate, Su Che swallowed pill after pill. As they transformed into true energy, they also strengthened his physical body. Meanwhile, the harmful residues left by the pills were continuously washed away by his ever-flowing vital energy, dissipating completely.

In the cave beneath the deep sea, Su Che kept his spiritual energy subdued, as if in a state of hibernation, yet tremendous changes were taking place within his body.

As time passed, his cultivation level rose steadily. After more than three months, he had reached the peak of the middle stage of foundation building and once again faced the barrier of the late stage.

Su Che knew that breaking through this time would not be as easy as before. To overcome this barrier, he needed to use an extremely extreme method.

This method was not his own idea but one mentioned in the “Fire God Art,” proven highly effective for breaking through the foundation building stage.

True Fire Body Tempering!
Burning oneself with true fire—failure meant death; if he couldn’t break through, he would be reduced to ashes.

For those practicing fire-based cultivation techniques, this method was extremely dangerous, but it was indeed effective.

“This risk is worth taking!”
Su Che had never lacked courage in such matters. His resolve was firm: “If I can’t reach the late stage of foundation building, I’ll become a prisoner of the Taiyi Sect once I leave. I’d rather die than let them capture me.”

For Su Che, falling into the hands of the Great Venerable Haoyuan and having his Immortal Prison Pagoda stolen through soul-searching techniques would be far worse than dying a hundred times.

“I practice fire-based cultivation techniques; I’m already someone who plays with fire. True Fire Body Tempering—what’s there to fear?”

With his decision made, there was no need to overthink it. After ending his cultivation, he took a few hours’ nap to recharge. Then, in the cave, he stripped off all his clothes and took out that spirit treasure-grade bronze gourd.

Snap! Snap! Snap…

He cast several hand seals, creating a temporary isolation barrier in the cave to prevent the spiritual energy fluctuations generated during body tempering from spreading.

Better to be cautious—although the people from the Taiyi Sect should have left long ago, it was still wise to be careful.

Before beginning the body tempering, Su Che took out some medicinal juices from the Immortal Prison and applied them to his entire body. These juices could quickly heal burns and strengthen muscles, bones, skin, and flesh. They were all prepared by the sixth-grade alchemist Chao Jigong.

Then, he took two more highly potent Grade 7 spirit pills. Their power temporarily condensed between his chest and abdomen, compressing and accumulating to prevent it from spreading, ready to erupt at the critical moment…
With everything prepared, Su Che opened the bronze gourd and released a small stream of Earth Core Fire.
Whoosh~~~
As soon as the Earth Core Fire appeared, even though it was only a small amount, it instantly turned the tiny cave into a furnace. Ordinary steel thrown in would melt into molten iron in an instant.
The scorching flames hit him, and Su Che let out a muffled groan before immediately using his vital energy to create a protective aura to counter them.
Being tempered by true fire wasn’t suicide—without the protection of vital energy, how could a fleshly body withstand the scorching of Earth Core Fire? Within three breaths, it would turn to ashes.
Hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss…
The Earth Core Fire was indeed fierce. That small flame made Su Che’s protective aura sizzle loudly, like a piece of fat thrown onto a red-hot iron plate, oozing oil continuously.
Just after a dozen breaths, Su Che felt his blood boiling from the scorching of the Earth Core Fire, his internal organs emitting thick heat, as if he were about to be roasted to death.
For an ordinary person, this would undoubtedly be the most painful torture in the world. But as a cultivator, he had to endure it with a clear mind.
After enduring silently for fifteen minutes, the burning sensation in his body reached its peak. If he continued, he would melt like a wax figure. It was only then that Su Che released the power condensed in his chest…
Boom!
The violent power surged like a tsunami, instantly reaching every part and corner of his body. In the Immortal Prison, Lao He also injected the two types of energy he had accumulated for a long time.
Hiss…
Scorching, cool, and gentle—three different sensations struck at once. Su Che couldn’t help but scream loudly. At that moment, he felt as if he had been torn into countless pieces, his body no longer existing…
But after extreme pain came another strange sensation.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom…
His heartbeat rhythm suddenly changed, like a large drum playing a rhythm full of profound patterns.
It wasn’t an illusion—the heartbeat was clearly audible. Not only did Su Che hear it, but even the Earth Core Fire in front of him heard it too.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom…
The originally irregular flame fluctuations began to pulse rhythmically along with Su Che’s heartbeat, as if dancing to the rhythm he created.
The rhythm of fire!

A sudden realization struck Su Che—he had successfully mastered a magical rhythm that allowed him to communicate with fire. In other words, from that day onward, he truly understood fire; his understanding of fire in the world was no longer superficial. He finally realized that fire also had a life of its own.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom…
Not only that, but at this moment, the drop of Witch Clan essence blood stored in his right atrium also began to release energy, emitting an imperceptible trace of blood that merged into Su Che’s bloodstream and quickly spread throughout his body.
Soon after, Su Che clearly felt his physical body strengthening further, and the extent and speed of this strengthening were astonishing.
The medicinal power derived from the two Grade 7 spirit pills he had taken just moments earlier dissolved in his blood in an instant, disappearing completely.
Without time to think, Su Che acted on instinct and quickly took out ten Grade 7 spirit pills, stuffing them all into his mouth like a madman.
The pills dissolved as soon as they entered his mouth, and their powerful medicinal effects reappeared…
As his blood absorbed the medicinal power, it continuously washed over every part of his body. Not only did his muscles, bones, skin, and flesh become stronger, but even the resilience of his internal organs improved significantly.
The path of cultivation usually progresses step by step, so such rapid improvement was truly rare.
As he continued to strengthen himself, the core fire before him was gradually drawn into his body, transforming into purer fire essence.
It was unclear how much time had passed when Su Che woke up from his meditation. He found that the temperature in the cave had returned to normal—pitch black, with not a single spark left.
Late Foundation Building stage!
Without needing mental introspection, Su Che could sense obvious changes—his strength had increased by at least five times. This advancement was truly remarkable.
Normally, in the late Foundation Building stage compared to the middle stage, an improvement of three times in the ability to store and compress essence in the dantian would already be considered good. Yet Su Che clearly felt that his improvement was at least five times that much.
How is strength determined during the Foundation Building stage?
Excluding all other factors and focusing solely on one’s cultivation level, it refers to the ability to compress and store essence within the body.
The higher the degree of essence compression, the greater its purity, and the more powerful the spells cast.
This is why the same spell cast in the late Foundation Building stage is much more powerful than when cast in the early stage.

The ability of the dantian to store vital energy becomes much easier to understand. The more vital energy stored, the longer one’s combat strength can last. If others can only cast ten spells while one can cast twenty, that’s also a strength advantage.

In Su Che’s previous promotions, in terms of his own cultivation level, there wasn’t much difference compared to other disciples of Tianxuan Sect. But this time, upon reaching the later stage of the Foundation Establishment phase, perhaps due to the activation of some witch clan bloodline, he became far stronger than others—almost twice as strong, equivalent to the highest level of the later stage of Foundation Establishment.

Of course, once Su Che truly reached the ultimate stage of the later Foundation Establishment phase, his overall strength would become even greater—there’s no doubt about that.

Snap!

With just a casual wave of his hand, using only the strength of his physical body, he created a deafening explosion. With a bang, the barrier he had set up earlier was shattered by the powerful airflow generated by that wave.

Whoosh!

A shower of sand and stones fell as the airflow scraped them off the stone wall.

“What an incredible physique!”

Su Che was shocked by his own tremendous changes. He wondered, “Among cultivators of the demonic path who focus on physical training at the later stage of Foundation Establishment, could their physical strength even reach this level?”

He jumped up from the ground and created a water mirror with his hand to carefully observe his body. Though not out of vanity, he couldn’t help but exclaim, “A physique of this level is truly almost perfect.”

Perfection here doesn’t refer to looks—Su Che didn’t care about such things at all. Perfection means that even just by looking at the surface, one can sense that the proportions and shape of the body exhibit traces of the ‘Way’.

The Way of Physical Training!

Undoubtedly, this was the effect of the witch clan bloodline. After all, there is no other race in this world that can surpass the witches in this realm.

The witches—a race that can pierce the heavens with nothing but their fists.

After that, Su Che got dressed and eagerly began to test whether his Prison Demon technique had changed. Logically, as one’s cultivation level improves, the power of one’s own techniques should also increase.

He released four ghost servants at the later stage of Foundation Establishment, intending to use them for testing.

Originally, there were only two such ghost servants. A while ago, after killing Zhe Hua from Taiyi Sect, his soul was sent by Lao He to the Netherworld of Ghosts, where it was fed to the other two ghost servants…

Prison Demon!

Whoosh! A large character for “prison” appeared, creating a scene that instantly delighted Su Che.

This time, it actually trapped two of the ghost servants!

Previously, even the Prison Demon Art couldn’t trap two Ghost Servants at the mid-stage Foundation Establishment level, but today, it managed to trap two at the late-stage Foundation Establishment level in one go. Su Che quickly released six more Ghost Servants at the mid-stage Foundation Establishment level and unleashed another Prison Demon Art. This time, three more Ghost Servants at the mid-stage Foundation Establishment level were trapped! “Great!” “Amazing!” Su Che shouted excitedly twice. Based on the mental feedback from the Ghost Servants, it was almost certain that the power of the Prison Demon Art had increased by nearly half!