The success of Foundation Establishment was related to many factors, but the most important one was spiritual energy, meridians, and divine sense. Spiritual energy that was sufficiently abundant and perfect could compress more liquid spiritual energy to transform into magic power. The stronger the meridians in the body, the more spiritual energy they could withstand during Foundation Establishment, making the compression process easier.
The final divine sense was the key.
This was because the process of compressing and condensing the spiritual energy in the dantian into a liquid was very dangerous. Without a powerful divine sense to guide and control it, it was very easy for the dantian to explode in its extreme state.