Elven cultivators

Early winter of the year 9422 in the Dawn Calendar.

A sudden piece of news ignited the entire Dawn Continent.

Bloodhowl Fortress, Heart of the Mountains, the Free Alliance, and the Emerald Court—four major powers—jointly launched a surprise attack on the Sea Clan's camp located on the southeastern side of the Holy Dragon Mountains.

The fierce battle lasted for a full day and night. The sea creatures suffered heavy losses under the attack from multiple sides and were eventually forced to abandon their beachhead positions, retreat into the lake, and hastily evacuate the area surrounding the Holy Dragon Mountains along the waterways.

After more than a decade of fighting for control of the Holy Dragon Mountains, the first true loser has finally emerged.

When the news spread, almost everyone who heard it reacted with disbelief.

The five major powers have been fighting each other for more than a decade, wearing each other down and being wary of each other, and none of them have been able to truly force the others out of the game.

But it was the sea creatures that became the first force to be eliminated from the chessboard.

Ultimately, they were defeated by the combined forces of the other four major powers.

In an instant, all sorts of speculations grew like wildfire.

Many people are secretly speculating whether the four major powers have reached some kind of agreement to divide the Holy Dragon Mountain Range equally.

Some speculate that the four major powers simply want to join forces to defeat a competitor first.

However, no one really knows the truth behind it.

The course of the war is becoming increasingly unpredictable.

……

In the eastern part of the continent, in the Primordial Spirit Realm.

Inside the Tianyuan Hall of the Nine Heavens Tower, the warm light of the magic crystal lamps enveloped the room in a calm and peaceful halo.

Roman leaned back in his chair, looking at the intelligence report in his hand, and couldn't help but sigh.

"I didn't expect the sea race to be the first to leave... I just don't understand, the other four major forces have been fighting each other for so many years, how could they suddenly unite? It feels a bit unreal."

Eleanor put down her pen and said slowly, "Actually, it's not surprising when you think about it carefully."

"The sea race's home ground is in the water, so their strength on land is naturally limited. Therefore, the sea race's army has always been at the bottom among the five major powers. They pick on the weak, so it's not surprising that the other four powers want to eliminate the sea race first."

"Furthermore, whether it is elves and humans, or orcs and dwarves, although they fight each other fiercely, they are all land-based races at heart."

"But the sea creatures are different. Their roots are in the water, which naturally creates a barrier between them and the land creatures."

"This surprise attack can essentially be seen as a rejection of the sea creatures by the land races."

Roman gave a thoughtful "hmm" and sighed, "It looks like the war is going to get even more intense."

Eleanor nodded in deep agreement.

With the departure of the sea creatures, there was one less force vying for control of the Holy Dragon Mountains.

But this does not mean that the war will cool down.

On the contrary, with the sea tribe gone, the remaining four major forces have one less layer of restraint on the battlefield, and the intensity of the war that follows will likely only be higher than before.

"In fact, the day after the sea creatures retreated, the other four major forces couldn't wait to start fighting again."

Eleanor's gaze fell on the table, where a newly delivered intelligence report lay.

The above content concerns the renewed war between the four major powers.

"It's not impossible that further alliances and counter-alliances will emerge, resulting in a two-on-two situation."

Roman clicked his tongue and shook his head, saying, "This is really a hassle. Fighting back and forth won't get us anywhere. We might as well just sit down and talk it out."

Eleanor chuckled: "If we could reach an agreement, we wouldn't have been fighting for so many years."

Roman nodded, not pursuing the topic further. He shifted to a more relaxed posture and changed the subject, asking, "By the way, how's your cultivation going lately? Now that the Thunder River Basin is stable, you should have plenty of time to cultivate, right?"

"I have more time to cultivate recently than before." Eleanor nodded, then shook her head. "However, the Golden Core stage is more difficult to break through. I'm still only at the first level of the Golden Core stage."

Not long ago, Eleanor used the Lightning Pillar left by Anton to set up the Lightning Cage in Ure Valley, using the power of lightning tribulation to refine the Dan Sha.

good results.

Even so, she has only refined 60% of the pill's essence so far.

We're still a long way from breaking through the shell barrier.

Once you reach the Golden Core stage, each step forward requires ten or even a hundred times more time and effort than before.

"And you?" Eleanor countered, "How's your cultivation progress lately?"

Roman shrugged and said, "The same as always."

When you reach the first or second stage of power, as long as you have enough resources, you can quickly improve your cultivation level.

But when the power reaches the third level, the situation is completely different.

The main reason for this is that the third stage of the power cultivation requires higher quality cultivation resources, and such resources are often scarce and difficult to find.

Buying a small quantity is fine, but buying in bulk is wishful thinking.

Therefore, she improved more through gradual accumulation over time.

In addition, breaking through from the third to the fourth level of strength requires not only meeting the physical training standards, but also having strict requirements on the understanding of supernatural powers and the threshold of mental state.

It's not that you can meet the requirements by simply burying yourself in cultivation.

The fourth stage of power cultivation can be considered a significant turning point in power cultivation.

It is equivalent to the Nascent Soul realm of the Qi path.

This state is also known as the "Indestructible Golden Body".

Those who cultivate to the fourth level of strength have bones and bones that are harder than fine steel, making them difficult to harm with flying swords.

In addition, one will awaken a supernatural power, and the supernatural power obtained will vary depending on the different cultivation methods passed down.

"It's a pity that there haven't been any wars between the clans lately, so there's no suitable opponent to fight against," Roman sighed.

For her, combat is the best way to enhance her understanding of supernatural powers and hone her mental fortitude.

Eleanor smiled and said, "The clan's main task at this stage is to develop peacefully. Unless someone provokes us, the clan will not take the initiative to wage war. If you want to fight, you can only go to the Underdark."

"I know, but the Underdark isn't easy to find either."

Roman was also helpless.

With her current strength, only those at the level of a legendary pillar are worthy of being her opponent.

Even in the Dark Regions, where individual creatures are generally quite powerful, such beings are not something you can encounter easily.

Over the years, she hasn't found many suitable opponents.

After a while, Roman seemed to remember something and suddenly asked, "Anton has been in seclusion for a long time this time, hasn't he? When will it end?"

Eleanor looked up.

"Judging by the time, it should be soon."

……

In the quiet room, the light from the light source stone was constant and soft, like solidified warm light.

Anton sat cross-legged, his eyes closed, his breath long and continuous.

Deep within the dantian, the golden elixir slowly rotated, its surface bearing nine clearly visible cracks, like a ripe fruit about to split open, exuding a sense of fullness and abundance from within.

Nine cycles of embryonic breathing have been completed, and the critical stage of elixir ripening has been safely passed.

Anton opened his eyes, the sharp glint in them fading, and he regained his usual calm.

"The next step is to figure out the obstacle."

Anton murmured, his gaze slightly narrowed.

Compared to Danshu Pass, which is traceable and can be crossed with resources and time, Shipo Pass is undoubtedly much more dangerous.

It cannot be remedied by elixirs, nor can it be taken by magic treasures; it can only be endured through sheer willpower, and there is no room for trickery.

Fortunately, we have the Great Dream Thousand Autumns Formation to 'rehearse' it in advance.

"It's time to begin preparations for the Heavenly Tribulation."

Of the three trials of breaking through the infant realm, the Heavenly Tribulation Tribulation is undoubtedly the most difficult.

Therefore, Golden Core cultivators often make ample preparations before undergoing tribulation.

The more preparation you do, the greater your chance of a breakthrough.

We should utilize all available external forces.

Anton had already planned for this.

First, there's the formation.

He planned to face the heavenly tribulation in the Primordial Spirit Realm and use the Primordial Five Elements Grand Array to resist the heavenly lightning.

Under normal circumstances, the Hunyuan Five Elements Grand Array, with its continuous supply of spiritual energy from the earth vein nodes, is sufficient to withstand attacks from the Nascent Soul stage.

The Heavenly Tribulation is the only exception.

The essence of a formation is to harness the power of heaven and earth for one's own use, while the heavenly tribulation itself is a manifestation of the will of heaven and earth. When faced with a heavenly tribulation, the power of a formation will be greatly weakened.

The Hunyuan Five Elements Grand Array can at most weaken some of the power of the Heavenly Tribulation, and its effect is very limited.

Even so, it's good if it can play some role.

If the Heaven-Turning Seal and the Nine Dragons Divine Fire Cover can be upgraded to true spiritual artifacts, it will undoubtedly greatly increase his chances of successfully transcending the tribulation.

Furthermore, there are supernatural powers.

Over the years, Anton has successfully integrated the Dao essence of Yuan Yi Zhen Gang into the sword light, greatly enhancing its defensive capabilities.

Next, he plans to incorporate the primordial life energy into the sword light to enhance its self-healing and endurance.

In this way, both the endurance and flexibility of wielding the sword will be greatly improved in the future.

In addition, the techniques for splitting and separating light need to be further improved.

At Anton's level, each additional sword light increases combat power by several points.

Not to mention that the number of sword lights has doubled.

If he could further improve his technique of separating and combining light, and increase the number of sword lights to 512, Anton was even confident that he could rival a Saint of the Resonance Realm.

It's not impossible for them to even win.

However, ever since he split off 256 sword lights more than 40 years ago, he has been stuck at this level and has never been able to break through.

Fortunately, his years of study and practice had not been in vain, and Anton felt that he was only one step away from a breakthrough.

He is confident that he can take this step in the next few years and take his kendo to the next level.

"Once the separation and reunion of light breaks through, you can begin the tribulation."

In fact, most Golden Core cultivators deliberately get stuck before the breakthrough stage when they face advancement, temporarily avoiding the Heavenly Tribulation, so as to leave enough time to prepare.

Some people spend decades or even centuries collecting rare and precious materials to refine magical artifacts.

Some people are in seclusion cultivating supernatural powers.

Everything is done to increase the chances of successfully overcoming the tribulation as much as possible.

Even if it only increases the probability by half a percent, it's still good.

They would only begin to break through their cultivation barriers when they could no longer suppress their power.

Once the trial is over, the heavenly tribulation will descend in an instant.

Anton was no exception.

If he could use the help of a spirit beast to overcome the tribulation, he would have preferred to wait for the egg of the old world to hatch and for the divine creature inside to grow up before challenging the heavenly tribulation.