Elven cultivators

Withdrawing his outward-directed spiritual sense, Anton turned his attention inward to examine himself.

The transformation brought about by the successful foundation building goes far beyond the spiritual leap; the physical body also undergoes a complete metamorphosis.

The physical enhancements gained by cultivators who practice different cultivation methods after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage vary in their emphasis.

For example, cultivators who practice fire-attribute techniques will experience a significant increase in their physical adaptability to fire-attribute spiritual energy after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.

Outwardly, this manifests as a significant increase in control over fire-attribute spiritual energy, far surpassing that of other attributes.

Furthermore, the damage received from fire-elemental attacks will be significantly reduced.

In gaming terms, it means a significant increase in fire resistance.

And Anton's cultivation of the Primordial Returning to the Source Technique, which possesses all five elements, means that his control and resistance to the five elemental spiritual energies have simultaneously achieved a qualitative leap.

The benefits are simply too great.

This was one of the reasons why he chose to cultivate the Primordial Returning to the Source Technique.

Although top-tier cultivation techniques are difficult to master and progress is extremely slow without resource support, their benefits become more and more obvious in the later stages, and their potential far exceeds that of ordinary cultivation techniques.

"The foundation has been laid, and the path ahead is clear."

"The next step is to stabilize my realm, accumulate resources, and prepare for the Golden Core Path."

Anton looked inward at the primordial true essence in his dantian and dantian.

The cultivation during the Foundation Establishment stage involves continuously absorbing the energy of heaven and earth to strengthen one's true essence and fill the entire dantian.

The standard for classifying the Foundation Establishment stage is the abundance of true essence in the Qi Sea.

Those like Anton, who have just broken through not long ago and whose true essence only occupies one-tenth of the Qi Sea, are at the first level of Foundation Establishment.

Afterwards, each time the true essence grows stronger, one advances to a higher realm.

When true essence fills the entire dantian, the foundation building is complete.

After completing this step, the liquefied true essence can be further compressed and purified until it condenses into a "golden pill" in the dantian.

"The Dragon Essence Pill is much less effective at refining true essence; we'll need to switch to a new pill."

"The spirit-gathering talisman can be replaced with a spirit-gathering array."

Anton pondered to himself.

After awakening their divine consciousness, cultivators can begin to learn formations.

His primary goal was naturally the Spirit Gathering Array, which could accelerate cultivation.

Nothing is more important than accelerating the cultivation process.

Only by mastering the elixirs and the spirit-gathering array can he more quickly strengthen his true essence and increase his strength.

"And then there are the fighting methods."

The combat methods of Foundation Establishment stage cultivators can be broadly divided into three types.

The first is magic.

Foundation Establishment cultivators can unleash the full power of most spells with their true essence, and the consumption is not as exaggerated as in the Qi Refining stage, where dozens of breaths of spiritual energy are consumed at a time.

Therefore, spells are the standard combat method for most Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The second is a magic weapon.

Foundation Establishment cultivators who have awakened their divine consciousness can already control magical artifacts and even attack enemies from a distance.

Even the lowest-grade magical artifacts can significantly enhance a cultivator's combat power.

"Under normal circumstances, cultivators with powerful backgrounds and connections will choose to carry one or two magical artifacts for self-defense."

Anton murmured softly and sighed.

"Unfortunately, I am now the only cultivator on the Dawn Continent. I can forget about having a sect or a powerful backer. I can only rely on myself."

Fortunately, with divine sense and true essence, the difficulty of refining magic treasures has been greatly reduced, and he can now try to refine magical artifacts.

The prerequisite is that you have enough materials on hand.

The last combat method is rather unique.

Strictly speaking, it's a combination of the first two.

That is the famous flying sword in the cultivation world!

Cultivators who use flying swords as their primary means of combat are called sword cultivators.

This lineage is widely recognized as having the strongest combat power among its peers.

Extremists even divide the cultivation world into two categories: sword cultivators and other cultivators.

However, becoming a sword cultivator is not easy; two conditions must be met.

First, you need to possess a sword pellet.

Many people who don't understand sword cultivators mistakenly believe that their weapons are flying swords. This is a big misconception.

Strictly speaking, flying swords are just a type of ordinary magical artifact, and using a flying sword does not necessarily mean one is a sword cultivator.

True sword cultivators wield sword pellets as their weapons.

Sword pellets are magical artifacts made from refined gold.

A single sword pellet is nothing special; in the hands of an amateur, its power is even less than that of an ordinary magic weapon.

But in the hands of a swordsman, it becomes a deadly weapon that can kill enemies from a thousand miles away!

After obtaining the sword pellet, the sword cultivator refines it to unite it with his mind and spirit, allowing his divine consciousness and true essence to reside within it, thus enabling him to remotely send it flying to kill.

When used, it is as nimble and unpredictable as an extension of one's own arm, making it far more difficult to defend against than an attack by a cultivator wielding a flying sword.

Even if you can block one, you can't stop the subsequent flying slashes.

Furthermore, if the situation turns unfavorable during battle, sword cultivators can use the light of their swords to escape, and once the enemy's magic weapon is withdrawn, they can turn around and continue their attack, demonstrating remarkable flexibility in both advancing and retreating.

It is precisely for this reason that sword cultivators are recognized as the most troublesome and powerful beings in battle!

The second condition is to master the technique of controlling sword pellets, namely the art of flying swords.

Weapon and technique are not separate; the sword and pellet are the weapon, and with the weapon, a technique is naturally needed as well.

A good flying sword technique is also extremely important to a sword cultivator's combat strength.

"A sword cultivator, huh...?"

A thoughtful look flashed in Anton's eyes.

If he had a choice, he would definitely choose the path of sword cultivation.

Simply put, their combat strength is formidable enough.

At least in the Foundation Establishment stage, before mastering supernatural powers, the combat strength of sword cultivators is unparalleled.

A Foundation Establishment stage sword cultivator can kill enemies two or three minor realms above him as easily as playing a game.

More importantly, the Great Dao Jade Slip contains tens of thousands of flying sword techniques, with top-tier methods readily available, thus fulfilling the second condition.

All he needed to do was figure out how to forge a sword pellet.

Having made up his mind, Anton immediately opened the Great Dao Jade Slip to examine it.

The sword pellet accompanies a cultivator throughout their life and should not be easily replaced.

The sword pellet requires years of refining with one's soul to achieve perfect harmony between the user and the weapon, allowing for complete control.

A qualified sword cultivator often stores the sword pellet in his dantian, nourishing it with true essence, and it grows together with his breakthrough in cultivation level.

High-level sword cultivators can even nurture their sword pellets all the way to the level of a true artifact.

This means that once the sword pellet is replaced, it must be refined from scratch, and the long adaptation period will seriously hinder the improvement of strength, which is not worth the effort.

Therefore, once a sword cultivator has chosen a sword pellet, they rarely change it.

Therefore, the initial choice of sword pellets is extremely important.

Over the years, countless concepts have been developed in the cultivation world regarding the forging of sword pellets. The materials required vary, and the resulting sword pellets differ greatly.

For example, there is a bloodline symbiosis method.

It involves using a cultivator's own blood essence as the seed for the sword pellet, combining it with various auxiliary materials, and repeatedly refining it with true essence to condense it into a "blood pellet," which is then refined into a "bloodline sword pellet."

The Bloodline Sword Pill is symbiotic with the sword cultivator's bloodline and fused with their primordial spirit. Even without constant nurturing, the sword pill will strengthen as long as the sword cultivator's realm breaks through.

The advantage of this refining concept is that it has a low barrier to entry and does not require many additional resources.

However, the downside is that if the sword pellet is destroyed, the swordsman will also die.

For sword cultivators who frequently teeter on the edge of life and death, the risks associated with the Bloodline Sword Pill are considerable.

Another method is the Sword Intent Condensation Technique.

The core idea is to condense sword pellets purely with sword intent without relying on any physical materials, which best fits the essence of sword cultivators' "controlling the sword with intent".

Similar to the bloodline symbiosis method, sword pellets refined in this way can break through their limits along with their master's realm, even without long-term nurturing.

Furthermore, during battle, the sword pellet can transform into an "invisible sword," which is invisible and formless. With a thought, the sword falls, and the enemy dies without ever knowing what killed them.

The only drawback is that it requires extremely high talent from the swordsman, as well as exceptional comprehension and concentration.