Martial Arts World breakthrough guide: prepare your first foundation

For your first realm breakthrough from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment, prepare a full cultivation bar, a Foundation Establishment Pill and Scarback’s Broken Tusk from Old Scarback. Open M → Cultivation to inspect the requirements. You can also offer up to three treasures to improve your foundation; compare their point values and the expected foundation at your chosen qi spot before committing.

Prepare the three required checks

Reach the realm breakthrough

Qi Refining has stage walls before the separate realm breakthrough. If Cultivation offers a stage advance, select it and press E or click as each ring meets the circle. A successful advance updates your cultivation stage; the Middle Stage advance awards two attribute points.

Continue through those stage advances until you reach the first realm breakthrough, then fill the cultivation bar required by its checklist. The Qi Refining guide covers that earlier progression in more detail.

Buy the Foundation Establishment Pill

Interact with Pill Master Yao, choose Browse wares and buy a Foundation Establishment Pill. Budget roughly 1,200 silver, and check the displayed merchant price before purchasing. Once you have the pill, return to Cultivation to review the remaining requirements.

Get Scarback’s Broken Tusk

On the boss-key requirement, select Show me to travel toward its source. Defeat Old Scarback for a chance to obtain Scarback’s Broken Tusk.

The tusk is not guaranteed on every kill. Check whether you actually received it after the fight; if it did not drop, another attempt may be needed. Your target is the named tusk needed by the breakthrough checklist.

Compare offerings before you commit

Offerings are optional for the first breakthrough, with room for up to three treasures. They affect the quality of the foundation you are preparing.

In Cultivation, scroll down to the materials section and hover over candidate materials to inspect their point values before adding them. Higher-grade materials improve the breakthrough multiplier, which grants bonus stats on breakthrough. Compare the points and expected foundation shown for your setup as you choose your offerings.

Your qi spot also matters. In one first-breakthrough preparation example, a Qi Refining player’s initial offering setup previews Human foundation. After moving to a qi spot and filling all three offering slots, the preview shows Earth. Use the expected foundation displayed for your own combination of offerings and location when deciding whether to proceed.

For help with cultivation locations, see the qi spots guide.

Decide whether to aim for Earth, Heaven or Dao

An Earth preview gives you a concrete option for moving forward while retaining an eligible foundation for later remaking. If you want to pursue Heaven or Dao, prepare your offerings at a Void qi spot and check the expected foundation there.

Void qi spots appear on an hourly schedule. Watch for an appearance notification and the screen darkening as cues that one has spawned. Check your preview at the spot before committing to the breakthrough.

Also weigh the remaking restriction:

• Earth or lower: a Foundation Remaking Pill can remake the foundation once, provided its remaking opportunity is unused.
• Heaven: the foundation is ineligible for that remaking option.

The Foundation Remaking Pill is separate from the Foundation Establishment Pill required for your first breakthrough. If your eventual target is Dao, consider that restriction before accepting Heaven.

Before proceeding, confirm that you have the full cultivation bar, the core pill and Scarback’s Broken Tusk, then review the expected foundation with your chosen offerings at your intended qi spot.