The Long Journey to Immortality

As for the three of them, they had only left "Ma Island" for half a mile when Yu Anran remembered what Han Lu had mentioned about another excellent place for Core Formation.

"Brother, why don't we turn back and ask Fairy Han where that Core Formation site is? Fairy Han is kind-hearted, she should be able to tell us."

Shangxian Baoyunzi slapped Yu Anran hard on the head, about to scold him for his wild ideas, when suddenly a paper sword caught up with the three of them and stopped in front of Yu Anran.

Picking up the paper sword, Yu Anran quickly unfolded it and saw that it was covered with place names and times. She immediately showed the paper to her two elder brothers excitedly and said, "Big brother, second brother, this Fairy Han is really a good person."

Looking at Yu Anran's smiling face, Bao Yunzi, who had always loved the free and easy life in the East Sea, couldn't help but feel a little wavering. He developed a heartfelt longing for the Central Plains cultivation culture that he had always looked down upon.

Chapter 649 The East Wind Arrives

Han Lu did not believe that handling the matter in this way was foolproof.

After all, based on her understanding of the cultivators in the East Sea through Xiaoyaozi's memories, there were many heinous villains among the rogue cultivators in the East Sea who "repaid kindness with enmity."

Although the three immortals of Tiger Mountain, whom she had just spared, did not seem like such wicked villains, they were not exactly benevolent men and women either.

Han Lu couldn't guarantee that the Three Immortals of Tiger Mountain wouldn't return in five days and use various underhanded tactics to interfere with her core formation.

But this was, after all, a choice Han Lu made following her heart.

With Xianyu Ji, a cultivator who could reliably defeat the Three Immortals of Tiger Mountain, protecting him.

Rather than eliminating potential risks with even a one percent chance, Han Lu prefers to "avoid creating problems for herself."

For her, who is about to achieve her core, the most important thing is to have a smooth and fulfilling life, and to keep her mind free from any impurities.

After driving away the three immortals of Tiger Mountain, Han Lu and Xianyu Ji set up several more warning barriers around Ma Island to prevent any further disturbances from being unprepared.

After all, many independent cultivators in the East Sea don't follow the same principle as the Three Immortals of Tiger Mountain, who first try to persuade before resorting to force.

They were ambushed from the shadows and attacked with spells and magical artifacts.

Whether it's effective or not, Han Lu and Xianyu Ji certainly don't want to see such a scene on themselves.

With this extra layer of protection, Xianyu Ji and Han Lu returned to the cabin.

Seeing the two finally return, Nian Haoge, who had been waiting alone in the wooden house, was extremely anxious.

"Sister Han, what's wrong?" Nian Haoge asked with concern.

Han Lu explained the situation to Nian Haoge and concluded, "It was just a small matter, and it has been completely resolved."

Nian Haoge was still uneasy and muttered to himself, "Sister Han is too kind-hearted. If it were me, I would definitely leave this damn Tiger Mountain Three Immortals here."

Nian Haoge was, after all, a being formed from the Dao embryo, and was born with more ferocity than others.

Although he was born and raised in the Central Plains and received careful instruction from Han Lu, he was still somewhat different from traditional Central Plains cultivators.

Han Lu frowned slightly. Considering that Nian Haoge was already thirty years old and it was not appropriate to lecture him directly, she expressed all her thoughts and ideas in order to teach Nian Haoge to think more and have a kind heart.

This approach did have some effect; in just seven or eight sentences, Nian Haoge understood the key point and approved of Han Lu's approach.

Finally, Xianyu Ji chimed in, offering a few words of advice as a senior.

"Haoge, cultivators need to do more good deeds, accumulate good karma, and follow the will of Heaven."

"Unless you encounter truly wicked people, it's best to avoid killing."

Xianyu Ji's words sounded too philosophical, and Nian Haoge found them unpleasant. "Elder Xianyu, what is the will of Heaven? I've never seen it before. Is it really true that doing more good deeds will bring divine help? Then why are there so many cultivators in the Central Plains who have perished because of heavenly tribulations?"

Xianyu was at a loss for words, so he looked to Han Lu for help, hoping that his knowledgeable junior sister could come up with a few clever words to answer the question.

Nian Haoge's question involuntarily reminded Han Lu of Elder Haoge, who died under the heavenly tribulation.

After sighing, Han Lu replied, "Haoge, you'll know in a few days whether fate is on your side."

Nian Haoge thought for a while before he understood what Han Lu meant, so he stopped arguing about the issue and asked questions that were difficult for a cultivator to answer clearly.

The Three Immortals of Tiger Mountain were just a small episode in Han Lu's story before he formed his Golden Core.

Although there are quite a few Golden Core cultivators in the East Sea, most of them rely on living with beasts and advance to the Golden Core realm through beast cores. There are not many cultivators who need to form a core.

As for the extremely rare cases where the Three Immortals of Tiger Mountain happen to be in the same place as Han Lu to form their core, that is, extremely rare indeed.

Therefore, over the next three days, although some cultivators occasionally flew past the edge of Ma Island, none of them showed any intention of landing on the uninhabited island.

The storm passed quickly, and the day Han Lu planned to break through to the Core Formation stage soon arrived.

On this day, just as the sun rose, the three cultivators on the island noticed that the spiritual energy in the air was much more active than in the previous days.

Han Lu took a deep breath. With her excellent sense of qi, even without entering a meditative state, she could almost see the water-attribute spiritual energy in the air slowly gathering, preparing for a gathering on Ma Island.

Nian Haoge and Xianyu Ji were marveling at Wen Erya, the successor of the ancient cultivation tradition, for truly living up to his name, being able to calculate the situation of this place and this day so far in advance, from such a distance.

Because Han Lu has a water-elemental root, the best time for her to form her core is at night. However, considering that the amount of spiritual energy in her dantian far exceeds that of ordinary cultivators, she is still very fortunate.

Taking into account the Five Elements, Han Lu decided to begin forming her core before sunset.

As for the daytime, Han Lu followed her original plan, calming her mind through meditation and filling her Qi Sea to begin forming her core in the best possible condition.

As soon as Han Lu entered a meditative state, Nian Haoge and Xianyu Ji left their wooden huts and kept at least a kilometer's distance from her, protecting her in their own ways.

When the sun reaches its highest point in the sky on this day.

The density of spiritual energy on Ma Island is already comparable to that of Hanchan Peak of the Zhengyi Sect, and it continues to rise.

Once she entered meditation, in a trance, Han Lu felt as if she were immersed in an ocean of spiritual energy, and every inch of her skin felt an unparalleled comfort.

Needless to say, the spiritual energy in the dantian and dantian was exceptionally active.

In particular, the sword pellet that Han Lu intended to use as a fake core and a catalyst for forming a core was jumping around in Han Lu's dantian, as if it was actively seeking battle, wanting to complete the final step of transformation as soon as possible.

If Han Lu hadn't planned ahead, most other cultivators would have been unable to suppress this instinctive impulse and used their spiritual power to "detonate" the fake core, thus prematurely forming their own core.

With patience, Han Lu followed the mental techniques of the "Seven Kill Sword Technique," repeatedly visualizing clouds, swords, and other things in her mind, preparing the spiritual energy sword within her body, which was already in harmony with her, to transform into spiritual energy and merge with the sword pellet.

This process lasted for about two hours.

Everything was going according to Han Lu's plan.

As the color of the spiritual energy sword became lighter and lighter, and gradually became transparent, the time for Han Lu to form her core finally arrived.

Within her dantian, Han Lu used her mind to raise the spiritual energy sword and aimed it at the sword pellet floating in the sea of ​​spiritual energy.

Before taking the final step of opening the core formation stage, countless fragments of her cultivation over the years flashed through her mind.

The two experiences, in particular, in Xiaoyaozi's cave and the wilderness, occupy a large portion of the text.

Overwhelmed with emotion, Han Lu felt her mind becoming increasingly clear, just like when she suddenly broke through at Helian Che's funeral.

"This is a good omen."

After muttering something, Han Lu did not hesitate. She swallowed the various medicinal soups and pills she had prepared in a certain order, and then commanded the spiritual sword to pierce the sword pellet in her dantian. In her capacity, she took the crucial step that she had dreamed of since she began her cultivation.

Chapter 650 Core Formation

Under Han Lu's control, the spiritual energy sword accurately struck the sword pellet that was churning in the sea of ​​spiritual energy.

This seemingly suicidal and self-harming method is the starting move for Core Formation in the Seven Kill Sword Technique.

Compared to other mainstream cultivation techniques in the Central Plains, it seems reasonable that the already highly aggressive "Seven Kill Sword Technique" would begin its core formation process in such a "violent" way.

The spiritual energy sword pierced the sword pellet.

Normally, this should have been a clash of titans, ending with the sword pellet shattering. However, the result was that the spiritual energy sword seemed to transform into a phantom, an illusion, and did not even damage the sword pellet in the slightest. It directly penetrated into it, attempting to merge with it.

After completing all this, Han Lu focused her attention on breathing in spiritual energy, patiently waiting for the sword pellet and the spiritual sword to merge.

This process lasted for about fifteen minutes.

As the spiritual energy sword fully merged into the sword pellet, it became like a key, unlocking the lock and opening the door.

The sword pellet, much like a fake core formed by a cultivator during the formation of their core, exerted an endless attraction on the outside world. It began to churn within Han Lu's dantian, greedily devouring all the spiritual energy around it, as if it were a bottomless pit.

By absorbing this spiritual energy into its "abdomen," it strengthens itself, allowing the sword pellet to develop and grow towards a true golden core.

The process of forming the Golden Core has already begun, and Han Lu doesn't need to do too much in this matter, because most of the factors affecting the outcome of the Golden Core formation are related to the preparations beforehand.

The diligence of daily cultivation, the solidity of the foundation for Foundation Establishment, the amount of spiritual power in the dantian, the innate sense of qi, the quality of the spiritual root, and the quality of the location, time, pills taken, and spirit-gathering formation used for Core Formation, etc.

Everything, it could even be said, was already predetermined. Whether the result of Core Formation is excellent, passable, or perfect depends on the steps each cultivator takes on the path of cultivation.

Now, all Han Lu can do is to inhale and exhale as much spiritual energy as possible to replenish the spiritual power in her dantian, so that the sword pellet can maintain its black hole-like absorption of spiritual power for a longer period of time, absorb more spiritual power, improve the quality of her golden core, and improve her score of "98 points" to a higher level, moving towards a perfect score.

Han Lu made extensive preparations for the formation of her core, even consulting numerous classic texts at the Zhengyi Sect Academy to summarize the experiences and insights of her predecessors.

Han Lu's choice was to free up as much space in her dantian as possible, so that more external spiritual energy could be converted into spiritual energy to replenish her dantian during the initial slow absorption of spiritual energy.

Initially, everything went quite smoothly under Han Lu's precise control.

The gaseous spiritual energy that occupied a considerable space in the Qi Sea was gathered more around the sword pellet, and was captured and absorbed by the outward attraction emanating from the sword pellet.

The empty space was filled with spiritual energy generated by Han Lu's rapidly transformed spiritual energy.

Throughout the entire process of forming the Golden Core, the spiritual energy in Han Lu's dantian remained almost constantly at a "full" level.

However, this is only temporary.

Even with all the preparations Han Lu had made, her talent was outstanding, and her knowledge was substantial, the spiritual energy in Han Lu's dantian would eventually be unable to keep up with the replenishment as the sword pellet attracted spiritual energy at an increasingly faster pace.

When the spiritual energy in a cultivator's dantian is completely absorbed by the fake core, the process of core formation is considered complete.

The later this moment arrives, the higher the grade of the golden core that the cultivator will form.

The process of the spiritual energy being slowly absorbed lasted for a full three hours.

During those three hours, the sword pellet that Han Lu had condensed changed from its original brown color to an earthy yellow.

The reason for the change in color of the fake core is something that no cultivator can explain clearly. However, almost all cultivators who are about to undergo or are currently undergoing the process of forming their core know that this means that the "fake core" they are forming has completed its initial transformation. Even if they stop forming the core at this point, they can still be active in the cultivation world as a Golden Core cultivator who has formed a ninth-grade Golden Core.

This proves that you are not one of the less than one percent of fake Core Formation cultivators who are useless, and that you will not fail at the almost effortless threshold of Core Formation due to a lack of ability.

Han Lu observed the change in the sword pellet's color, but her heart remained calm and her state of mind was not disturbed by this external factor.

Sensing that the speed at which the sword pellet was absorbing spiritual energy had increased slightly, Han Lu appropriately manipulated some liquid spiritual energy to satisfy the sword pellet's growing appetite.

While Han Lu was doing the work of a "logistics captain" and trying her best to form a high-grade golden core in the wooden house.

The two guardians on Ma Island were fulfilling their duties while chatting aimlessly.

Because of the master-disciple relationship between Nian Haoge and Han Lu, Xianyu Ji, who doesn't act like an elder brother in front of his juniors, doesn't make the atmosphere awkward when he's alone with Nian Haoge.

The topic of their conversation naturally revolved around Han Lu's Core Formation. Occasionally, Nian Haoge would interject with a few words of digression, prompting Xian Yuji to recall the various details of his Core Formation, so that she, a cultivator who was only at the early Foundation Establishment stage, could feel more involved in the matter rather than being a mere bystander.