Foundation Forging

Foundation Forging is the 8th realm of cultivation, 3rd in the Xiantian Great Realm.
This realm is also known as the Ancestor Level, because in the four regions outside the central plains, most of the Sect Leaders, Patriarchs and Ancestors are at the Foundation Forging Realm.
== Summary ==
Foundation Forging was a kind of comprehension realm. Advancing to Foundation Forging didn't just rely on support and talent, but it also required high comprehension skills. For a Xiantian expert to reach Sea Expansion was comparatively easy. By piling on the resources, any somewhat talented person could reach Sea Expansion.
But for Foundation Forging, no matter how many resources you piled on, no matter how great their
innate talent, if their comprehension skills were lacking, they would never be able to reach Foundation Forging. It required a certain level of comprehension into the Heavenly Dao.
After meeting that requirement, to go from Sea Expansion to Foundation Forging you need to use your Essence, Qi and Spirit to condense your original rune above your Qi sea. That rune was the foundation of the cultivator.
Then you would continue condensing original runes on top of it, and once you condensed the ninth one, they would transform into one again. That would bring you to the first Heavenstage of Foundation Forging.
The second Heavenstage involved condensing eight such runes, the third Heavenstage required condensing seven, etc. They condensed higher and higher, creating a platform on the top of your expanded sea. This platform was sometimes called the immortal platform. It was also sometimes called the Dao platform. It was the foundation for your chance of ever becoming an immortal or god.
It could be said that only once you reached Foundation Forging were you a true cultivator. As for those so-called immortals and gods, they were just a legend. But it was true that once you reached Foundation Forging, your lifespan would extend a great deal.
Sea Expansion experts had a lifespan of around fifteen hundred years. But once you reached Foundation Forging and created your immortal platform, you would be able to absorb the exceedingly thin immortal qi in the air. Then your lifespan would increase to five thousand years, and your youthful looks would be restored.
Foundation Forging experts were able to control a certain amount of spatial power. 
== Nine Star Hegemon Body Art Change ==
The change that Nine Star Hegemon Body Art brings is that Long Chen has 108,000 embryonic original runes, one for each acupuncture point, since he had used his 108,000 acupuncture points to replace his Dantian. After careful inspection, Long Chen noted that individually, the energy within each of his original runes was only about a tenth compared to the energy in Tang Wan-er or Gu Yang's runes, but as he still had 108,000 original runes, the difficulty of his advancement was thousands of times greater.
Later, Long Chen understood the new difficulty of his discovered method, since in order to advance to the first Heavenstage of Foundation Forging, he had to condense 13 runes for each of his 108,000 acupuncture points, while other cultivators only needed to condense nine original runes on their Dantian. The entire process required a monstrous amount of Yuan Spirit Stones, enough to cultivate an army of Foundation Forging cultivators.
After advancing to the third Heavenstage of Foundation Forging, Long Chen fell into thought. Other people would condense nine runes into a foundation for their immortal platform. For the second Heavenstage, they would condense eight runes into the second level of their immortal platform. Following that pattern, their immortal platforms would end up being a conical shape in the end.
But his immortal platforms were different. The foundation was condensed through thirteen runes, and the second level was also condensed with thirteen runes. The size was also the same. The third level had also taken thirteen runes. If this continued, his immortal platforms would end up cylindrical, different from everyone else's.
== Ancestor Level ==
Tower Ancestor is at Foundation Forging level.
"The Ancestor level is just a nickname, referring to the leaders and ancestors of the top sects. Their actual realm is above Sea Expansion, and is called Foundation Forging. Foundation Forging experts are peak existences in the Eastern Wasteland. Such experts only exist within the supreme sects.
"But such figures are so powerful that we rarely come into contact with them. Let alone Foundation Forging experts, I've rarely even seen any half-step Foundation Forging experts," said Huo Changsheng.
"Grandfather, aren't you at the peak of Sea Expansion? According to reason, aren't you just one step away from Foundation Forging?"
"Hehe, that's not entirely correct. The so-called Sea Expansion realm refers to expanding the qi sea. The goal is to push the qi sea to the greatest possible size. 
"Someone at Sea Expansion has more than a hundred times the spiritual yuan of someone at the peak of the Xiantian realm. The Xiantian realm is just a stepping stone. Only when you reach Sea Expansion will your qi sea grow to an immense size. It won't just be able to store spiritual yuan, but you'll also be able to summon your qi sea manifestation when you fight.
"Only by reaching Sea Expansion can you truly control heaven and earth's energy, using magical arts to kill your opponents. It is a dividing line in the cultivation world.
"Celestials are said to be able to battle across realms. In Meridian Opening, they can dominate the Xiantian realm. But Celestials that reach the Xiantian realm will find it difficult to fight against Sea Expansion.
"That's because Sea Expansion experts can rely on their control of natural energy to resist the suppression of the Cry of the Heavenly Daos. So although there are some Xiantian Celestials capable of fighting Sea Expansion experts, that only refers to the early stage. Being able to fight against the mid stage is not very likely, let alone the late stage.
== Hidden Glyph Tiger Soul Pill ==
Foundation Forging referred to creating a platform on top of the expanded sea. This platform was sometimes called the immortal platform. It was also sometimes called the Dao platform. It was the foundation for your chance of ever becoming an immortal or god.
It could be said that only once you reached Foundation Forging were you a true cultivator. As for those so-called immortals and gods, they were just a legend. But it was true that once you reached Foundation Forging, your lifespan would extend a great deal.
Sea Expansion experts had a lifespan of around fifteen hundred years. However, Shui Wuhen would only have a lifespan of twelve hundred years.
That was because most women, especially beautiful women, would train in a kind of secret art. At the price of reducing their lifespan, they could maintain their youthful appearance.
That was also why there were many old men in Sea Expansion but not many old women.
But once you reached Foundation Forging and created your immortal platform, you would be able to absorb the exceedingly thin immortal qi in the air. Then your lifespan would increase to five thousand years, and your youthful looks would be restored.
== Heaven Earth Divine Spring ==
According to reason, once a person reached the ninth Heavenstage of Foundation Forging, their aura should become extremely steady and stable. It wouldn't be as turbulent as Long Chen's.
For normal people, in the first Heavenstage, they would condense nine original runes and form a foundation.
In the second Heavenstage, they would condense eight runes into a slightly smaller foundation and solidly establish it on the first foundation. The third Heavenstage condensed seven runes, the fourth Heavenstage six runes... Then the ninth Heavenstage would condense one supreme rune into the peak.
This final rune would link up with the foundation of the nine original runes at the bottom to form an extremely stable structure. That was called the immortal platform.
Foundation Forging was the process of creating this immortal platform. The final rune sealed the whole platform, so once it was condensed, the immortal platform would be complete, and a person's aura would naturally stabilize.
But Long Chen had clearly reached the ninth Heavenstage, yet his aura was fluctuating fiercely. It didn't show any sign of that stabilization.
== Great Circle ==
Right now, Long Chen was at the great circle (大圆) of Foundation Forging and could also count as being at the half-step Jade Core realm. But at the same time as he was delighted over this, he was also filled with horror.
Each advancement had increased the power of his immortal platforms by ten times.
Right now, even just extracting their energy and turning it into flame energy had to be done carefully. Accidentally drawing a bit too much would cause him to explode.
Long Chen had never felt such reverence for the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. This cultivation technique was definitely unrivaled in this world.
He could now extract the spiritual yuan in his immortal platforms and transform it into flame energy without worrying so much about exploding. The amount of flame energy he could produce now was essentially endless.
Right now, he could only be a complete flame cultivator and couldn't use the power of his physical body. He couldn't use his true power to fight.
== Characters ==
== Trivia ==
* Foundation Forging was already a slow and important process. It was the realm where a person's cultivation base advanced the slowest.
* The Forging Heart Spirit Connecting Pill is needed to advance to the next realm.
==References==