His physical awareness of the Peach Blossom Tree’s delicate root system was even more real than his hands and feet at this moment. The short trunk felt as if it were his own torso.

Through the Soul Essence Manipulation Spell Formation, Auslen had seized control of the Soul Essence, turning the Peach Blossom tree into an extension of his body for the purpose of inducing natural cultivation, without the aid of Elixirs or Pills.

This was a method designed for practitioners, specifically for the cultivation of Pseudo Spirit Plants, as true Spirit Plants no longer possessed Soul Essence to manipulate.

However, such a valuable tool went largely unutilized, as very few practitioners managed to accomplish this seemingly straightforward task.

Manipulating Soul Essence required a great deal of Willpower and practice. The primary and most difficult step called for the practitioner to, with the assistance of the Pseudo Spirit Plant’s Soul Essence, sense Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi.

This was not something that came easy to cultivators, let alone practitioners with unevolved Soul Force. Auslen initially found the process onerous himself. However, he had touched upon something earlier. He was close.

Having felt this transformation of awareness many times before, Auslen reigned in his focus. His Soul Force limbs tightened, coercing the Soul Essence out of the tree.

At this moment, he regained a disorienting sense of sight, vision extending to an astonishing 360 degrees with absolutely no blind spots.

He commenced his marionette-like performance, maneuvering the Soul Essence with a transformative cadence gained from months of trial and error. This was a unique type of experience that couldn’t be taught through a jade slip.

He was attempting to manually elevate the Soul Essence’s resonance with the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi.

Gradually, Auslen felt the tree's Soul Essence beginning to vibrate, causing him to nearly lose the flow from his intense relief.

Just a little bit more… There!

And then, Auslen felt it. Or drowned in it, more like.

The feeling was as if being submerged within the coldest and most turbulent of waters, encapsulating the Peach Blossom tree from the lowest root to the highest branch.

Multicolored light was blinding Auslen. Undulating waves filled with boundless energy buffeted him from all sides, causing the Peach Blossom tree, along with Auslen, to tremble.

This psychedelic river— No. This ocean… is the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi Field.

Remembering his original purpose, Auslen exerted all of his effort into extending the Soul Essence. And eventually, he succeeded in dragging a tiny, but potent potion of Primordial Qi back inside the confines of the tree bark.

Strands of Primordial Qi permeated up and down the trunk as the Peach Blossom tree started to automatically refine the multicolored strands into Profound Qi.

Plants were not like humans and did not have structures equivalent to that of Dao Roots. Instead their entire bodies were capable of circulating and transforming Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi into Profound Qi, making all plant life exponentially more talented than any human or animal.

However, all things were balanced, as was said by many.

Plants severely lacked awareness. Their consciousness were infinitesimally weak, making it nearly impossible for them to utilize that heavenly talent. This was why Demonic Plants were the rarest of Demons.

Within Auslen's Soul Force vision, he could see colors beginning to slowly bleed away from the luminescent strands. Specks of entangled hues excreted out of the tree from the bark and back into the sea of Primordial Qi.

Sweating slightly, Auslen retracted his Soul Force from the Peach Blossom Tree through the Spell Formation that was dissipating into nothingness. But his fatigue didn’t prevent the triumphant smile from spreading across his lips.

Now that he had succeeded, things would only get easier from here!

"Did it work?" Vincent walked closer and bent down, glancing periodically at the small tree as he wiped away the sweat covering Auslen's temples with a soft white cloth.

"Yes," Auslen answered happily. "From what I could tell, it'll take a day or so before the Peach Blossom tree can completely purify the Primordial Qi, but eventually, the tree will naturally advance to the Late Pseudo Spirit Plant realm!"

While this Peach Blossom tree was the first Pseudo Spirit Plant Auslen germinated, he admittedly hadn't paid all that much attention to it, only barely advancing it to the Mid Pseudo Spirit Plant realm. He didn't have much use for most of the plants he was cultivating yet, only choosing to grow a decent variety that were requested most at the Elixir Refinement Hall.

He left the vast majority within the Early Pseudo Spirit Plant realm due to a lack of Qi Refinement Elixir. But now that he had found success with the Soul Essence Manipulation Spell Formation, he had no more inhibitions.

Auslen had all the tools he required for his plans. The final thing he needed to know was how much work was cut out for him.

...

With the arrival of the Tri-Annual Qi Refinement Tournament, the atmosphere within the Outer Sect mountain was seething with excitement.

More than three quarters of the year had passed, and many of the newly arrived Outer Sect Disciples had grown more serious with their cultivation and martial ability. Less and less disciples could be seen spending their time hanging out and relaxing within the leisure areas of the mountain.

So far, most of the incoming disciples from the previous year had already condensed their first strand of Profound Qi, officially entering the ranks of a practitioner. Only a small number were still straggling behind, either a bit too lazy or a bit too slow.

Which was why many youngsters were rushing through the open doors of one of the lecture halls, talking to each other with fervor as they took their seats, ready to attend their very first lecture.

And amongst them was Nathaniel chattering excitedly with a disciple sitting to his left. And to his right, Auslen's lips were lifted into a polite smile as he also conversed with a few disciples nearest to him.

“Ahem!” The sound of a female clearing their throat attracted the disciples attention, rowdy discussions softening to a weak undertone within the lecture hall.

Auslen turned his head towards a beautiful Outer Sect Elder that stood at the front of the hall

Smooth, dark chocolate skin glistened underneath the bright lecture hall lights as she slowly lowered a hand from her smiling lips.

The tall woman was Outer Sect Elder Noelle. Auslen was familiar with her, as he had attended several of her lectures in the past. And this time, she would be giving a lecture on Foundation Establishment.

After nothing but silence remained, Elder Noelle’s velvety voice resounded with a short, powerful statement. “Qi Refinement is the foundation.”

She stretched out her hand, her palm pointed upwards. A dirt figure, the size of a skinny human child, appeared floating above her hand.

With small movements of her slender fingers, the anthropomorphic figure was influenced into a cross-legged position. It hovered upwards until it was suspended in an easily visible location just above the heads of the engrossed disciples.

“The Qi Refinement realm begins at the first strand of Profound Qi and ends at the 99th.” While she spoke, strand after strand of Profound Qi ascended from her fingers, flying up before revolving around the dirt figure, the number increasing until a total of 99 glowing strands appeared.

As the strands began to wriggle into the dirt figure one after another, Elder Noelle continued. “In nine stages and three small realms, the body experiences incremental strengthening. The first stage…“

Each of the disciple’s heads were inclined, watching the skinny figure slowly growing in accordance with each stage of Qi refinement that she voiced. Soon, it “absorbed” all of the revolving strands, its previously skinny figure enlarged to represent a healthy, teenaged, Peak Qi Refinement practitioner.

“... And by the 9th stage of Qi Refinement, the body has been prepared for both the evolution of the Soul Force as well as the first major transformation of the body. At this time, the practitioner will begin the process of building the Profound Foundation.”

She casually swept some of her loose, curly black hair behind her shoulder, caramel eyes lowering from the floating figure to focus on the audience.

“Foundation Establishment is both the true first step of cultivation as well as the first point of divergence for cultivators. Nathaniel dear, can you tell me why?”

Nathaniel, who had still been sneakily communicating with others, jumped. Nervousness wracked his stomach from the many gazes falling on his body.

"What was the question, Auslen? Hurry!" Nathaniel quickly whispered.

Auslen rolled his eyes, though he eventually repeated the question to the brat with a faint whisper. As he pulled back, he smiled apologetically at the Elder's knowing gaze.

Confidence restored, Nathaniel stood from his seat. “At the Peak of Qi Refinement, the practitioner can't absorb any more Profound Qi. So they have to start practicing a Cultivation Method.

"There are four Tiers of Cultivation Methods, and each of those Tiers affect on the strength of the cultivator’s Profound Foundation differently!”

“Correct, Nathaniel,” Elder Noelle said gracefully. "But the next time you disrupt my lecture, I'll have your Sect allowance deducted for two months."

She waved her hand, allowing the blushing Nathaniel to take his seat.

“As your fellow disciple stated,” She began, lightly pointing towards the still suspended dirt figure. “There are four Tiers of Cultivation Methods. The Yellow Tier of Cultivation Methods allows for the creation of the weakest Profound Foundation, comprising a total of 108 strands of Profound Qi.”

Auslen watched as 9 more strands of Profound Qi shot from Elder Noelle’s finger and into the dirt figure. Afterwards, the dirt trembled before magically condensing into one hardened surface, the brown coloring becoming richer until the human-like figure was a solid hunk of bronze.

The Elder released a few soothing chuckles as she listened to waves of murmurs, allowing the disciples a few more moments to gape at the bronze statue before moving on.

“Further up the Method hierarchy is the Black Tier, granting a Profound Foundation containing 144 strands of Profound Qi.”

36 strands of Profound Qi later, the bronze shine transitioned to a bright silver.

“Next is the Earth Tier…”

72 strands joined the silver statue containing 144, adding to a total of 216 strands of Profound Qi as the metal transformed into a resplendent gold hue.

“And finally…”

Beams of light glimmered across Auslen’s golden eyes as he stared affixed at the continuous flow of Profound Qi digging into the golden figure. Gradually, the gold color faded away, being replaced by a smooth effigy of solid diamond.

The diamond figure began to descend until it was levitating to the right of Elder Noelle's tall frame.

Her finger tapped on the diamond.

Crack! Crack!

With each soft tap, explosive fractures shot through the statue. Large fissures appeared throughout the diamond before the entire thing eventually shattered into fine dust, turning back into ordinary sediment particles as each of the 360 strands of Profound Qi were released into the air.

With a gentle inhale, the twirling stands of Profound Qi were quickly drawn into her barely open lips.

Lips curling back into a gorgeous smile, she gathered the falling dirt into a small, compact ball before continuing. “Heaven Tier Profound Foundations are the pinnacle. 360 strands of Profound Qi is the maximum amount a practitioner can absorb before completely building their Profound Foundation.

“And as revealed earlier, the Profound Foundation is not the only uniqueness to Foundation Establishment.

"Once the Profound Foundation is complete, the quality of the cultivator’s Soul Force evolves. At this stage, it now has the ability to extend outside of the body, enabling the cultivator to sense the vast Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi!

“There are several more important changes that occur within the body after Foundation Establishment, but we will get into that in a short while. Are there any questions so far?”

At this moment, eager voices burst forth as numerous hands shot up into the air.

“Calm down everyone,” Elder Noelle’s voice was swirling with faint laughter. She had taught this lecture in previous years, so she was already aware of the question at the forefront of most of the young disciples’ minds. “You, go ahead and speak.”

A male disciple hurriedly stood before asking, “Can anyone practice Heaven Tier Methods?”

“I’m sorry, but no.” Elder Noelle's answer was immediate and blunt. “The Grade of Dao Roots is the most significant hurdle inhibiting cultivators from attempting to practice certain Methods. The Sect also has strict Soul Force guidelines when it comes to the Method any given disciple is able to purchase.

"Yellow and Black Tier Methods have no base requirements, and any of you can purchase them if you'd like. However, I would advise you to consider your options carefully. Your Cultivation Method will affect your future cultivation path tremendously.

"Moving on, you must have at least 4th Grade Dao Roots to practice Earth Tier Methods. Furthermore, your Soul Force must be over 30 points, otherwise, the Sect will not allow the Earth Tier Method to be sold to you."

A few groans and distressed sighs sounded, prompting the Elder to patiently explain.