The Eternal Saint of Alchemy

The newly appeared crimson-gold patterns on the surface of the spirit core merged with the original golden base, making its operation smoother.

He closed his eyes, sensed the state of his meridians, then stood up and stretched.

He then took out a silver-white crystal core and began refining it.

This silver crystal core and the Thunderfire Token share the same origin. A layer of silver-white patterns appears on its surface, but it is smaller in size, about 20% larger than the red crystal core.

After refining the two crystal cores, his cultivation level had reached the upper-middle stage of the eighth rank of the Tribulation Realm.

As for the dark golden crystal core, he didn't touch it for the time being—according to the metal book, that crystal core was the best spiritual material before breaking through to the Transcendent Realm, and he planned to save it for when he tried to break through to the peak of the Ninth Rank later.

Cheng Xiushi stood at the entrance of the third floor, watching him stand up and sensing the aura emanating from him, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"How much of the 'Transformation of Origin' technique on that piece of paper can you understand?"

Xiao Fan walked to the third-floor window, stretched his wrists, and said, "I have fully grasped the theoretical framework of the first level of the Transformation Yuan Technique and can use it. As for the spiritual energy intensity and output limit required for actual cultivation, an eighth-grade spiritual core is just enough."

He took out the golden page from his spatial artifact, turned to the first page, and pointed to a sentence on it.

"The first-level key to the Transformation Realm requires a cultivation level of Rank 8 or above and a seven-day duration. After the transformation, the spiritual core in the dantian will automatically evolve into a higher-level existence. It cannot be interrupted within seven days, otherwise everything will have to start all over again."

Ning Yao came down the stairs and stood at the top, asking, "We can't stop for seven days? For the next seven days, we need someone to guard outside. Can the White Tower's defense system withstand external interference?"

Xiao Fan closed the metal book and placed it in the long box: "Once all seven marks are in place, the White Tower's formation will automatically activate its defensive mode, which can at least withstand any spiritual or physical attack below the ninth rank."

The only external risk comes from the squads that have already entered Aurora Plains. Squads like those from Westwind Fortress are not yet able to enter the core area of ​​the White Tower, so they don't pose a threat to us for the time being.

Ning Yao walked over and looked at the gray sky with him: "Seven days from now, you'll be able to cultivate the first level of the Transformation Yuan Technique, right?"

Xiao Fan remained silent for a moment, without saying a word.

He glanced out the window, then at the portal in the Gray Domain leading to the Aurora Plains, and nodded slightly.

He has obtained the metal pages and his seclusion is over. All he needs to do now is to remain undisturbed for seven days and then start afresh.

On the first day of his seclusion, Xiao Fan sat cross-legged in the center of the third floor, opened the metal book in front of him, and began to rebuild his spiritual power according to the first step of the "Transformation of Yuan Technique".

This process required more effort than he had imagined. He had to peel away the spiritual energy from the spiritual core in his dantian layer by layer, then reassemble it, and then recompress it. Each step had to be extremely precise in order to continuously inject spiritual energy into it.

On the first day, he had only completed less than 10% of the structure, but he managed to stabilize the direction and rhythm.

On the second day, his progress accelerated significantly. The golden patterns on the surface of the spirit core began to arrange themselves automatically, forming a complementary mesh structure with the silver-white patterns.

On the third day, he felt a new spiritual energy deep in his dantian. This spiritual energy was thinner, longer, and finer than any of the previous ones, like a thick hemp thread.

On the fourth day, the spirit core changed. After being reshaped, the spirit core changed from a solid to a liquid state, and there was no longer any stagnation, just like a river without any obstacles.

On the fifth day, the surface mesh was fully formed, with gold and silver patterns evenly arranged. At the edge of the semi-liquid spirit core, a semi-transparent golden shell appeared, like a gemstone in amber.

On the sixth day, he attempted to fuse the dark golden crystal core with the reshaped spirit core. The spiritual power contained in the third crystal core did not conflict with the reforged spirit core; on the contrary, it was like adding a pure tonic to a liquid matrix, making the structure of the spirit core more uniform and dense.

When Xiao Fan opened his eyes, it was already the morning of the seventh day.

Within the dantian, after seven days of transformation, the spiritual core has undergone earth-shattering changes. It operates in a semi-liquid state without any stagnation, and each pulse gives one an unprecedented sense of fullness and control.

The initial stage of enlightenment has been achieved.

The capacity and output efficiency of the spirit core have made a qualitative leap. The resonance intensity between the heart-protecting mirror, the short axe and the spirit core has also been significantly improved. Even the spiritual power structure of the lava greatsword in the spatial artifact can be clearly felt.

He stood up, feeling the white tower beneath his feet resonate with him.

When he reached the first floor, he saw Master Cheng and Ning Yao sitting at a stone table, drinking tea.

The two looked up at the same time, stopped what they were doing, and Master Cheng put down his teacup and stood up.

"This is a qualitative change."

Ning Yao picked up her teacup, looked him up and down, and suddenly smiled: "You've reached the pinnacle."

Xiao Fan sat on the stone platform, picked up a cup of hot tea, and the warm tea flowed into his body through his palm.

The seven days of seclusion brought about tremendous changes to his body. The spiritual energy in his meridians flowed incredibly smoothly, and he could even feel the temperature of his spiritual core with each breath.

Master Cheng asked, "And then?"

Xiao Fan took a sip of tea, put away the golden pages, and said, "After entering the Dao, the sensing range of the spiritual core has greatly increased. Just now, I discovered a spiritual energy node at the top of the tower. I hadn't noticed it before, in the northeast of Aurora Plain. It might be an additional facility that wasn't recorded in the Taixu Pill Saint's Manual."

Ning Yao put down her teacup and stood up. "This is a good opportunity for me to stretch my muscles."

When Xiao Fan and his group left the White Tower for Aurora Plain, they encountered Fei Song and his group again.

This time, Fei Song did not bring anyone from the Purple Crystal Alliance. Instead, he brought Elder Jiao and several disciples dressed in green robes. They returned from Aurora Plain with somewhat grim expressions.

Fei Song looked at Xiao Fan approaching, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes. However, Elder Jiao walked up to Xiao Fan, clasped his hands in greeting, and said, "Young Master Xiao, have you emerged from seclusion? I sensed an extremely strong spiritual energy fluctuation at the edge of the Aurora Plains just now, and it has been continuous for the past few days. I suppose you've broken through in seclusion?"

Xiao Fan didn't hide anything and bowed, saying, "I just broke through as well."