Qin Yue has reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

“Solar Extreme True Fire?!” Qin Yue cried out in shock, her face flushed with excitement.

Luo Yu, hearing the impressive name, hurriedly asked, “What exactly is Solar Extreme True Fire?”

Qin Yue replied, “All fires in the world are divided into five categories: mundane fire, spell fire, strange fire, true fire, and extreme fire. Ordinary flames are mundane fire—they burn most things in the mortal realm and require mundane materials to exist. The fire we conjure with magical power is called spell fire, sustained by our own energy. The poisonous fire of vampires and the pill fire of golden core cultivators are strange fires; they can burn both matter and souls, relying on soul energy. True fire is even rarer and more powerful; it can devour all fires, dead things, and living souls of lower rank. It evolves from strange fire, nourished by the yin energy of heaven and earth. As for extreme fire, it is born from true fire, but how it is formed remains unclear—it’s a legendary entity, unseen in the world today. It’s said extreme fire can incinerate everything, its nature is destruction, and only extreme water can oppose it—like the sweet dew in Guanyin’s Jade Purification Vase, which is a type of extreme water, embodying regeneration and capable of reviving all things.”

Luo Yu grew excited. “Is this fire on the same level as the legendary Samadhi True Fire?”

Qin Yue nodded, then pondered, “Yet I wonder why the person who set up this formation imprisoned it here? This is a treasure so rare that even Nascent Soul cultivators would covet it.”

Luo Yu grew anxious. “Could it be that taking it would trigger an upheaval, and that’s why he didn’t dare to claim it?”

Qin Yue knocked him on the head. “You’re overthinking it!”

The two thought for a long time but couldn’t reach a conclusion, so they hurried over to inspect the formation on the stone platform. The platform was entirely black, laced with gold threads, forged from gold-patterned asbestos—exceptionally fireproof. Luo Yu admired it, clicking his tongue: High cultivators are truly wealthy. This material could forge top-tier defensive artifacts; even a little goes a long way, enough to counter most fire-element techniques.

On the stone platform, alongside the outer dozen layers of fire control arrays, there was also a fire gathering array inside. Worried that the underground magma might one day erupt, they probed downward with their spiritual sense, only to discover that the magma had been deliberately redirected here by someone with formations.

Qin Yue frowned and pondered for a while, then suddenly said, “The cultivator must have been nurturing fire here!”

Luo Yu was puzzled. “Nurturing fire? What’s that?”

Qin Yue explained, “First, place a seed of strange fire here, then gather the fire energy from the magma to nourish it. With the dense spiritual energy in this place, over time, it naturally upgrades to true fire. Probably because he was nurturing fire here, he never disclosed the exact location—perhaps he intended to reveal it only after claiming the fire. But now, the fire has grown so large and still remains, which likely means the cultivator has perished.”

Their piecemeal discussion had actually uncovered the truth.

Luo Yu said, “What are we waiting for? Let’s collect it!—How do we do that?”

Qin Yue answered, “Refine it!”

Luo Yu stared wide-eyed. “Such powerful fire—just approaching it is unbearable; how do we refine it?”

Qin Yue hesitated. “Reduce the formation’s size, let a little leak out… refine it bit by bit?”

Luo Yu was uncertain. “That… seems possible?”

Qin Yue said, “You know more about formations than I do; you decide.”

Luo Yu frowned and thought for a long time, finally gritting his teeth. “I’ll make a small opening in the innermost fire control array, let the fire leak to the next layer, then try to seal the formation. If it works, we’re good.”

With this plan, the duo, hacker-thieves, began their operation.

Luo Yu took charge of the formation, and for safety, carved thirty more large fire control arrays onto the stone platform, crowding it to the brim. Half of these arrays had the control direction reversed, mainly to protect the internal formations from being damaged.

Qin Yue started refining the strange fire she had gathered from defeating monsters, intending to use it to refine the true fire. Using low-level fire against high-level fire was immensely difficult. It took a full week to refine a piece barely the size of a fingernail. But once she used already-refined strange fire against new strange fire, the process sped up.

During Qin Yue’s refining, Luo Yu actually advanced in this treasure land, reaching the peak of Qi Refining. He even managed to obtain Spirit Transformation Marrow, taking his little brothers along on various adventures. The marrow grew on a stone resembling raw Shoushan jade, a grotesque rock full of holes. The marrow was embedded in these cavities, looking like emerald jade at a glance, but only the outer transparent shell was hard; inside was liquid, and shaking it revealed the luminous marrow rolling about—quite beautiful. It seemed to grow larger over time; Luo Yu found several more pieces on the strange stone, all smaller, with the largest containing more green liquid. The smallest, a fingernail-sized piece, was empty inside like glass.

Once they had the Spirit Transformation Marrow, the two focused solely on this task. Concerned that strange fire might not be enough to subdue true fire, Qin Yue consumed most of the fire seeds, reducing them to fingernail size.

When preparations were complete, they rested well for a night. Early next morning, the operation to collect the fire began.

Luo Yu regulated his breath, focused his mind, and carefully opened a tiny needle-sized hole in the innermost array. The true fire flickered, instantly filling the hole. Luo Yu dared not be careless, quickly activated his power to seal the formation, isolating a spark-sized bit of true fire—clearly, the method worked. He repeated the process with the next layer, gradually releasing the fire. Finally, a spark made its way out, but once exposed to the outer array, it “boomed” into a vast patch, filling the array to capacity. The sight made both break into cold sweat; without precautions, they might have been reduced to ash.

Luo Yu gathered himself. “Do we keep going?” He feared that letting the fire out of the array might cause it to burst forth. The platform was already full and couldn’t accommodate more arrays; carving them onto other materials felt risky. Even if the array artifacts weren’t directly touched by the flames, the extreme heat could be too much.

Qin Yue calmly considered for a while, then suddenly asked, “Can we refine the Foundation Establishment Pill right here?”

Luo Yu was moved. “Good idea!”

This place, rich in spiritual energy, was perfect for upgrading cultivation. If Qin Yue advanced to Foundation Establishment, her abilities would increase, making it safer to collect true fire.

Luo Yu brought out the pill furnace and materials, preparing to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill on the spot.

The pill recipe was common, available in bookstores everywhere. After reaching the peak of Qi Refining, Qin Yue had consciously gathered all the auxiliary ingredients.

Luo Yu cracked open the shell of the Spirit Transformation Marrow, releasing a rich, intoxicating fragrance that filled the air, sweet as honey and wine, invigorating the spirit.

Carefully pouring it into a jade bottle for later use, Luo Yu activated the pill furnace, Qin Yue controlled the fire, and the two relaxed, beginning the refinement.

After a day and night, a faint medicinal aroma drifted through the spiritual land. Luo Yu cautiously opened the lid, extracting five pill beads as smooth as mutton-fat jade. The pills were the size of soybeans, faintly tinged with green, their surfaces gleaming with light, and mysterious patterns like arrays flowed across them, circulating ceaselessly—alive and extraordinary, far more wondrous than any pill sold in Maple Town.

Qin Yue was amazed. “They look far superior to ordinary pills!”

Luo Yu nodded with pride. “At Foundation Establishment, you need to transform your body and purify your spiritual power—it all depends on this pill! Though its rank is low, its quality is high—a genuine immortal pill! It’s like, ‘a beggar can live to a hundred and still be a beggar, but a prince is a prince from birth!’”

After that, Luo Yu’s expression turned sly. “These five pills only used two drops of Immortal Dew and five drops of Spirit Transformation Marrow… heh, if we made more to sell, we’d make a fortune!”

Qin Yue replied, “I don’t want to have people hunting me down.” She picked up a pill, walked over to the spring, sat down, closed her eyes, and began to contemplate life.

Seeing her posture, Luo Yu knew she was preparing for the first step of Foundation Establishment. He said nothing further, taking his little brothers off to amuse themselves.

Qin Yue recalled the events of her life—joys and sorrows—then steadied her mind, emerging from the emotions. She opened her eyes, gazed at the pill for a long while, then tipped her head back and swallowed it, closing her eyes again.

Once inside her body, the pill split into two currents: one spread through her limbs and bones, the other followed her meridians to her dantian. Qin Yue relaxed, letting them flow freely, constantly cleansing her body and spiritual energy. Pain gradually began, from the initial itchy torment like ten thousand ants biting, intensifying to bone-crushing agony, flesh torn and rebuilt. The torment was endless, seemingly without conclusion. Anyone would become restless under such pain; Qin Yue was no exception, enduring the agony of transformation with clenched teeth, her mind growing dizzy.

In her haze, Qin Yue saw visions: first, the scene of her parents’ murder replayed; then the villain holding the turtle shell, declaring arrogantly, “You little brat, your cultivation is weak, you’ll never amount to anything. You cannot avenge your parents. Out of pity, your uncle lets you strike three times… well, do you dare take my life?”

Qin Yue gazed at him coldly. The state felt familiar, like a lucid dream. She wondered, “Is this the heart demon tribulation? But I’m still very clear-minded; is this all the heart demon amounts to?”

As she pondered, the scene shifted again, returning to the spiritual land. Luo Yu nestled in her arms, blissfully saying, “This place is so wonderful; let’s build a palace and never leave. Just you and me, forever, living as immortal lovers outside the world. Stay here with me, won’t you? You promised to never leave me…”

Qin Yue watched the illusions shift, the corners of her mouth curling in scorn. At last, growing impatient, she banished all visions as she would in a lucid dream. Once the illusions vanished, her mind cleared, and her consciousness suddenly expanded, as if stepping into a vast, boundless realm stretching endlessly outward. As her awareness extended, Qin Yue gradually sensed Luo Yu gathering yin grass in the valley, the layered mountains, dead trees, fierce ghosts, mist, the River of Three Crossings, boats on the water, wandering souls below… every flower and tree, every sound and cry—all vivid and close, seemingly within reach, as if everything lay in the palm of her hand.

The Cultivator’s Chronicle of Brotherhood 46: Qin Yue’s Foundation Establishment Complete!