Qin Shiling nodded with a hint of a smile, "Your guess is correct. I've also met that crazy Daoist."

  The following section of history is almost known to every Chinese student. In the 49th year of Taizu, the country was founded, followed by the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.

  Qin Shiling was in his teens at that time, and was forced by his father to join the army. He followed the large troops to Korea, where he was a small soldier wrapped in tattered cloth, always charging forward during battles.

  "There was a time when our unit was surrounded by the US military, in order to counterattack, we were divided into several waves of people, each hiding in the mountains... That year the weather was really hot, I felt like I was going to be dehydrated, but the US military chose this moment to launch an attack. The gun in my hand was firing wildly, and then I felt a pain in my chest, and I passed out. When I woke up again, it was at night..."

  Qin Shiling woke up again, in the middle of a night, and he was lying under a blanket of starlight. The wound on his chest had disappeared, and the American soldiers were nowhere to be seen. A cool breeze blew by, and he secretly wondered if he might be at the top of some mountain peak - otherwise, how could he be so close to the sky?

  There was a moment when Commander Qin even suspected that he had died, otherwise how could his chest be intact, but his limbs were stiff and unable to move? Just then, he smelled a fragrance of medicine, fortunately his neck was still able to move, so he looked to the right - a person wearing a blue Taoist robe was facing away from him, cooking something.

  Qin Shiling suddenly remembered the crazy Taoist his father had told him about. The Taoist seemed to have noticed that he was awake, turned around and looked at him in the moonlight, appearing to be around fifty years old but with a very disheveled appearance.

  Commander Qin was now certain that this crazy Taoist had saved him, and found himself still able to speak: "Thank you for saving my life." His family had vaguely known that this crazy Taoist seemed to have a great connection with his grandmother Jiang Mingyue, but they were not sure, and Commander Qin did not know what to call him either.

  "Who wants to save you? I'm just here to pick herbs, and I happened to come across a rare species. I'll use you to test its toxicity. If you survive, it's just your good luck!" The crazy Taoist hummed coldly, not admitting that he had intentionally come to rescue Commander Qin.

  Qin Shiling didn't believe him, but the crazy Taoist didn't want to listen to him anymore. He poured a bowl of medicinal soup from the stone pot and forcibly fed it to Qin Shiling. A warm current suddenly rose, and Qin Shiling guessed that this was the "Yi Can" mentioned by the crazy Taoist. He felt grateful for his great kindness. After another hour, his stiff hands and feet seemed to be brought back to life by the warmth of the current and could move again.

  The madman saw he was unharmed and turned to leave immediately.

  Qin Shiling knew he was extremely quick, and he immediately kowtowed: "Senior, can you take me in? I can endure any hardship." It turned out that he couldn't think of a way to delay the crazy Daoist's footsteps, so he came up with this excuse of acknowledging him as his master.

  The mad Taoist turned his head and sneered: "But it's also a waste without a foundation, and it dares to learn the heavenly Taoist techniques, how ridiculous!"

  "General Qin knocked his head, making a loud noise: 'You've been saying that my father didn't have a foundation and was a waste of resources. My grandmother had a foundation, but you blamed her for marrying my grandfather willingly... I also don't have a foundation... Senior, this word "foundation" has confused three generations of the Qin family. Can you tell me what it actually means?'"

  It was unclear whether it was Qin's sincerity that moved the Crazy Daoist or if his mention of Grandma Jiang Mingyue changed the Crazy Daoist's mind, but after a brief moment of hesitation, he actually stopped in his tracks.

  "That Daoist said my grandmother was exceptionally talented, a rare genius in a hundred years, who could reach the foundation-building period before the age of 50... You also know about the path of cultivation: cultivating Qi, building the foundation, forming the elixir, and the primordial infant... The Daoist said that since thousands of years ago, a large number of primordial infants and cultivators above that level suddenly disappeared, causing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to become turbulent. The remaining spiritual energy on Earth was unable to sustain itself, and not one of the elixir-forming cultivators could advance further. As their lifespan passed, they all fell one by one... Until after the Industrial Revolution, there were only about a dozen people in the entire Chinese world who could cultivate up to the foundation-building period. Even elixir-forming cultivators had long become mythical existences... You can imagine what kind of talent my grandmother possessed."

  Lin Luoran pretended to be calm and attentive, but in reality, her heart was violently shaken. She had originally only wanted to ask Commander Qin about the "Dao Base", but unexpectedly gained a lot more, hearing about the mysterious Scale Claw of the Xiu Jian realm.

  A thousand years ago, cultivators above the Nascent Soul stage suddenly disappeared; where did they go?

  Why is the earth so restless that it cannot be cultivated?

  In this world, how many fellow travelers are still struggling in such an environment without giving up?

  And as for myself, have I taken the first step in cultivation - cultivating Qi?

  Qin Shiling saw that she was listening carefully, and guessed that although she was a Taoist, the young people's hearts were very interested in such secrets, so he continued to say: "Later I asked the Taoist what the foundation of Taoism is, he sighed and told me..."

  That person saw Qin's commander with tears in his eyes, thinking that he was after all Jiang Mingyue's bloodline, and softened his heart. He said slowly: "Since the creation of heaven and earth, the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth have been circulating between heaven and earth. The five different attributes of spiritual energy both restrain and promote each other, creating a balance in the world where grass grows and birds fly. However, at the beginning of heaven and earth, the ancient beasts of the vast wilderness were born with extraordinary strength, favored by the heavens, and their bodies automatically absorbed spiritual energy. After a long time, only the ancient beasts of the vast wilderness were seen rampaging on the earth, leaving almost no place for the ancestors to stand. Later, someone passed down the method of cultivating spiritual energy, and people began to cultivate it, gradually deepening their practice. Some exceptionally talented individuals could even fight against the ancient beasts of the vast wilderness, allowing them to thrive in the land of Shenzhou... After countless generations of improvement, the methods of cultivation became more refined, no longer comparable to the simple method of cultivating spiritual energy through breathing exercises. In the world of cultivation, there are hundreds of schools and thousands of sects, but no matter how powerful a school's method is, the prerequisite for cultivation is having a foundation in the Tao."

  "Senior, what exactly is the Tao foundation? How can I possess it?" Qin Commander was only in his teens at that time, and as a young man, he yearned for these flying and escaping abilities.

  The madman looked at him with a glance, and his eyes showed a hint of pity: "A person with a good foundation will respond to one or several of the five spiritual energies, absorbing them into their body. The more single-attribute it is, the purer the foundation is. Your grandmother was a rare water-wood dual-system foundation... As for you, you have no reaction to any of the five elements' spiritual energy. This time, eating this elixir will easily prolong your life, but wanting to cultivate, it's impossible in this lifetime!"

  "Lin, don't blame me for meddling in your affairs by saying those things to Liu. It's not that I'm intentionally sabotaging you two just because Liu is engaged to Baojia. According to that person's words, even the descendants of cultivators may appear without a foundation in the Dao... let alone marrying ordinary people. As children of cultivators, we clearly know our ancestors have transcendent abilities, yet we ourselves can only be ordinary people - it's a frustration the three generations of my family have all experienced. I don't want to see you follow in my grandmother's footsteps."

  Lin Luoran's eyes were slightly red, and after hearing this old story, she finally knew what Commander Qin said to Liu Zhi about "Dao Ji". It turned out that there was another factor in it that took her into consideration.

  Thinking of Baojia who was in a coma, that extremely weak but real spiritual energy inside her body, Lin Luoran said:

  "Past events have gone with the wind, and Master Qin shouldn't be too sorrowful or worried. If I'm not mistaken... Baojia has a good foundation!"

  Qin Shiling stared at her in shock, the muscles at the corners of his eyes twitching slightly, and for a moment he didn't dare to believe that this news was true - This was the Qin family's long-cherished wish, from his father to his daughter, which had never been fulfilled. Could it really be achieved through his only granddaughter?