Treasure Gathering Immortal Furnace

Seeing Ye Lingxi's expression, Lu Fan frowned slightly and said, "Could it be that with your talent, Fellow Daoist, you are unable to break through with just the Golden Marrow Pill?"

When Lu Fan asked her, Ye Lingxi looked at him in astonishment: "Fellow Daoist Lu, who told you that you only need Golden Marrow Pill to form your core? Golden Marrow Pill is one of the core materials required for forming your core. It is indispensable, but other complicated materials are also indispensable."

"My first two attempts to form my core failed because of a lack of other materials or insufficient materials."

Upon hearing this, Lu Fan was also completely bewildered. To be honest, he was utterly clueless about the Core Formation process and had no idea what was required.

Although he had read some records in cultivation miscellanea, they only mentioned that the materials needed to form a core were Golden Marrow Pill and Mind-Stabilizing Pill, which led Lu Fan to mistakenly believe that forming a core was not difficult.

However, in reality, Core Formation is not as simple as refining Qi to Foundation Establishment. As long as you have enough Foundation Establishment Pills, you can easily break through to the next level.

Although Wang Qingzhu helped him many years ago and imparted some cultivation insights, she did not impart any insights into Core Formation.

This gave Lu Fan a rare opportunity to ask for guidance, so he hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Fellow Daoist Ye, I know nothing about Core Formation. Could you please teach me a thing or two?"

It was clear that Lu Fan was indeed inexperienced, so Ye Lingxi didn't hide anything and said, "There are four core materials required for Core Formation: Golden Marrow Pill, Mind-Stabilizing Pill, Dew of Creation, and at least one magic artifact for calming the soul."

"The auxiliary materials are divided into two types: one is a fifth-order demon core that matches your spiritual root. You need to find the same type of demon core as your spiritual root, and the other is a spiritual vein with abundant spiritual energy."

"As for the formations and protectors needed during seclusion, we independent cultivators will not include them in our calculations."

Hearing this, Lu Fan was completely dumbfounded. He never expected that forming a core would require so many things to help him!

It was fortunate that he asked; otherwise, if he hadn't, he might have failed to form his core even after eight attempts.

"Thank you for sharing your experience, fellow Daoist. I have learned a great deal!" Lu Fan slowly cupped his hands in greeting.

"Actually, you should have learned all these things when you first established your foundation. After establishing your foundation, you should immediately start collecting materials."

"After all, none of the materials I mentioned are easy to obtain; it often takes several years or even decades to collect just one of them."

Ye Lingxi said.

Lu Fan finally understood why Wang Qingzhu had gone out to seek opportunities time and time again. He was puzzled as to why Wang Qingzhu had to go out so many times, sometimes for several years, just to find the materials for a Golden Marrow Pill.

It turns out that Wang Qingzhu wasn't just looking for the Golden Marrow Pill, but also for the aforementioned complicated materials.

It seems that Lu Fan is about to follow in Wang Qingzhu's footsteps, expending energy to find materials.

At this moment, Ye Lingxi raised her hand and took out a jade slip, saying, "Fellow Daoist Lu, this is a record of the reasons for my failure when I formed my core. You can study it carefully when you form your core to avoid some misunderstandings."

Upon seeing the Core Formation insights gifted by Ye Lingxi, Lu Fan hurriedly accepted them: "Fellow Daoist Ye has helped me twice; I truly don't know how to thank you enough."

"These are just some useless things to me. If they can be of any help to you, that would be great," Ye Lingxi said, raising her hand slightly. "Now that I have obtained the Golden Marrow Pill, I only need one more material to form the core again. We shall part ways here. If you wish to go into seclusion, you can do so in my cave. Although the spiritual energy here is not abundant, it is safe."

"Thank you," Lu Fan said, bowing once again.

Although what he received from Ye Lingxi was mostly useless to her, Lu Fan found it very useful.

"If Fellow Daoist Ye finds the materials needed to form his core and prepares to do so, you may send me a telepathic message. I am willing to protect you on your path," Lu Fan said.

Cultivators are extremely vulnerable when attempting to break through to a higher realm, especially independent cultivators like them who have no sect or protectors to guard them. If they are disturbed, they are very likely to fail at the last moment.

Moreover, Ye Lingxi has treated him well, so he should return the favor. Furthermore, if Ye Lingxi successfully forms her core, she will surely protect him when he forms his core next time, given her personality.

As they were both independent cultivators, it was only natural for them to help each other.

"That would be perfect," Ye Lingxi smiled slightly, then took out a communication talisman and had Lu Fan imprint his soul on her.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, if you also wish to find materials for Core Formation, your first stop can be Thousand Peaks City. You will not be disappointed there," Ye Lingxi said, then slowly cupped her hands in greeting. "Take care."

"I wish you find the materials needed to form your core soon," Lu Fan returned the greeting.

Then Ye Lingxi released her flying sword, leaped lightly onto it, and fled into the distance.

After watching Ye Lingxi leave, Lu Fan stared blankly at the empty cave for a while before taking out the Heaven-Mending Furnace to prepare to replicate some pills for seclusion.

Such is his life: excitement is only temporary, loneliness is the norm.

However, he had long since gotten used to it.

A moment later, one hundred copies of each of the Spirit Tempering Pill and Body Tempering Pill were made, which should be enough for him to break through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

Having prepared the pills, Lu Fan sat cross-legged on the futon and began his ascent.

Sitting here, I lost track of the passing years.

The sun and moon take turns in the sky, and in the blink of an eye, a full year and six months have passed.

During this period, thanks to the massive supply of pills, Lu Fan had several opportunities to break through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, but he did not attempt to do so directly.

After all, if one's cultivation of the Holy Spirit True Demon Art advances too quickly, it is extremely easy to suffer from qi deviation and demonic possession.

Therefore, under his control, Lu Fan slowed down his cultivation speed, focusing mainly on stabilizing his progress.

It wasn't until the ninth month of the year, when all two hundred pills were used up and he felt the time was right, that Lu Fan began to break through to the next level by forming hand seals.

hum!

As the spiritual energy around him suddenly erupted, the spiritual pressure of a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator spread outwards!

If it weren't for the external array isolating it, this spiritual pressure would probably have turned into a shockwave that stretched for miles.

"It's done!" Lu Fan opened his eyes, feeling the immense spiritual energy within his body, which was several times stronger than before, and a smile appeared on his face.

However, before he could feel any joy, a pure, dark red demonic energy inexplicably arose in his dantian and began to rampage through his body.

This scene startled Lu Fan, who hurriedly mobilized his spiritual energy to suppress it.

Fortunately, there wasn't much demonic energy, and with the support of his vast spiritual energy, he managed to control it within his dantian.

"It seems that the drawbacks of this demonic art are indeed terrifying. It's only at the Foundation Establishment stage, yet it's already uncontrollably generating demonic energy," Lu Fan said with a worried expression.

For the past two years, he has been very careful in his attempts to break through the barriers, in order to minimize the risks, but he still couldn't believe that demonic energy was still lurking.

Left with no other choice, Lu Fan had to continue his seclusion, since the demonic energy remaining in his dantian was an unstable factor and he had to completely refine it.

For the next year or so, Lu Fan focused on consolidating his mid-Foundation Establishment cultivation and refining that ball of demonic energy.

Fortunately, he had a strong foundation, and the demonic energy had completely disappeared after a long period of wear and refinement.

His cultivation at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage was also completely stabilized.

He didn't intend to sit there any longer; it was time to go out and find the materials needed to form his core.

After all, others start looking for materials in the early stages of Foundation Establishment, while he only started in the middle stages, which puts him at a disadvantage.