The Long Journey to Immortality

Of course, Nian Haoge was also considering getting closer to Elder Xianyu, his "master".

Xianyu Ji was an honest man. Although the casual conversation between the two cultivators who were of different generations did not enlighten Nian Haoge, it did give this cultivator, who was still unaware of his own background, a greater sense of longing and anticipation for the future.

In the blink of an eye, the full moon rose into the sky, and the water-attribute spiritual energy, which had been suppressed by the daytime, became even more active.

The most obvious change brought about by this transformation is that it allows Han Lu, who is sitting in the Spirit Gathering Array, to convert spiritual energy at a faster rate.

Choosing the right place and time for Core Formation allowed Han Lu to have more spiritual energy to utilize. The pills and decoctions she took before Core Formation also enabled her, who already had a keen sense of Qi and a high-grade spiritual root, to replenish her spiritual energy at a speed far exceeding that of ordinary cultivators.

Six hours had passed, and the surface of the earthy yellow sword pellet inside Han Lu's body had been coated with a layer of light gold.

If we're talking about grades, this fake pill is now almost at the seventh grade.

In a meditative state, time flew by. When the sun rose again, Han Lu's dantian was still "fully loaded" with spiritual energy, but the false elixir had completed its second transformation, turning golden in her dantian and leaping into the category of a mid-grade golden elixir.

The situation was somewhat better than Han Lu had imagined.

Feeling the abundant spiritual energy still within her body, she was full of confidence. Even if fate did not choose to help her when she formed her core, she could still achieve the greatest success for a core cultivator through her ample preparation and accumulation.

Chapter 651 Fertile Soil

The quality of the Core Formation greatly affects whether a cultivator can advance to the Nascent Soul Realm or even the higher Divine Transformation Realm in the future.

The lower the quality of the Golden Core, the more difficult it is for a cultivator to apply spiritual power to the Golden Core through daily practice, and to "inscribe" the core patterns according to certain rules to improve their cultivation level.

This is similar to choosing between saline-alkali land and fertile farmland when planting crops.

Even if you work on saline-alkali soil like a low-grade Golden Core cultivator for three or four hundred years, it may not be as profitable as working on fertile soil like a high-grade Golden Core cultivator for ten or twenty years.

Like Piaomiaozi, whose talent was average, although due to some fortuitous events and his own efforts, he successfully formed the seventh rank of the Golden Core a hundred years ago, becoming a superior person in the Central Plains cultivation world, a Golden Core cultivator.

However, the seventh-grade golden core he formed limited his future development, essentially preventing him from reaching a higher realm and halting his progress halfway down the path of cultivation.

Han Lu's acquaintance in the Great Yu Dynasty, Xiao Ran, is a second-grade Core Formation cultivator, a promising Golden Core cultivator with at least a 30% chance of advancing to the Nascent Soul realm.

After quickly converting her spiritual energy, Han Lu carefully observed the changes in the total amount of spiritual energy in her dantian for a while. She found that the effects of using the "Iron Rod" magic weapon to modify the local five elements and drawing the spirit-gathering array were far better than she had imagined.

If it were any other cultivator, after their Golden Core had transformed into a mid-grade Golden Core, they would certainly no longer be able to maintain the balance of spiritual energy in their dantian.

However, at this moment, Han Lu could easily absorb spiritual energy and convert it into spiritual power, dynamically maintaining the total amount of spiritual power in her dantian at a very high level.

Of this, 50% of the credit should go to the "iron rod".

Judging from the current situation, Han Lu estimates that she can maintain a state of "spiritual energy balance" before advancing to the fourth rank of Golden Core.

It seems certain that the path from the current victory to the next stage of victory is a foregone conclusion.

With everything under control, Han Lu finally felt relieved.

And the story unfolded exactly as Han Lu had predicted.

Two more hours passed. At midday, under the blazing sun, the activity of water-attribute spiritual energy decreased, but Han Lu still did not feel the slightest pressure while the sword pellet greedily devoured spiritual power.

While breathing deeply and rapidly converting spiritual energy into spiritual power, Han Lu even had time to observe the surface of the sword pellet, trying to understand the process of core formation with an inquisitive spirit and a thirst for knowledge.

Unfortunately, Han Lu is not a scientist, nor can she conduct millions of experiments to study the formation of the core, explore its principles, and benefit the vast number of cultivators.

Although there was some theoretical basis, after observing for several hours, Han Lu could only come up with the same conjectures that had been proposed by senior cultivators, doing the same thing as others.

Of course, the well-informed Han Lu still had some ingenious ideas in her mind, imagining some ways to improve the efficiency of Core Formation.

But she didn't have the courage to put it into practice on herself. In the end, she honestly and obediently followed the old path of her predecessors, taking steady and solid steps, and dared not make any unorthodox moves.

With a deep sigh, Han Lu couldn't help but think of the ancient cultivators she had "met" in the Moon Pearl World, who had paved a wide path through the darkness, and marveled at the greatness of these seniors.

The law-abiding Han Lu never imagined that, a dozen hours later, she would also be forced by chance to try to forge a different path.

The scorching sun did not hinder Han Lu's progress. When twelve hours had passed and the setting sun once again only showed half of its face on the sea, Han Lu, who was forming her core, had already upgraded the pseudo-core of her sword pill to a higher level.

The colors on the sword pellet were faintly developing into a purer gold, and occasionally, when spiritual energy was incorporated into the golden core, it would shine outwards.

Having read many books about Core Formation, Han Lu knew that this was a sign that the False Core was about to advance to the High-Grade Golden Core.

"Then next..." Han Lu recalled the records in the book and was already prepared to deal with any unexpected situations that might occur.

Indeed, the experiences and insights of our predecessors were correct.

At this crucial juncture of upward breakthrough, the sword pellet, which urgently needs more spiritual energy to advance further, has amplified its attraction to absorb spiritual energy.

Finally, at this point, Han Lu's spiritual energy lost its balance and began to enter a phase where it could not sustain itself.

Seeing this, Han Lu did not hesitate to bring a batch of "sun, moon and stars" that she had prepared earlier closer to the sword pellet, so that they could become stepping stones for the sword pellet to go further.

With ample accumulation, many of the sun, moon, and stars in Han Lu's dantian are extremely close to the quality of a fake dantian, containing a large amount of spiritual power that can fully meet the needs of the sword pill at this time.

Sure enough, in just ten minutes, after consuming only a hundred stars and moons, the sword pellet completed what ordinary cultivators would consider the most crucial step.

A golden sword pellet appeared in Han Lu's dantian, its size having increased significantly, reaching the quality of a top-grade golden pill.

Han Lu did not feel the slightest bit of joy after accomplishing this great achievement.

At this moment, the sword pill, which had transformed into a superior golden elixir, increased its "eating speed" considerably. If it had previously eaten in small bites like a demure young lady, it was now like a beggar who hadn't eaten for three days, stuffing its mouth with food.

Seeing this, Han Lu remained calm.

The residual medicinal power in the spiritual veins was fully activated by her, acting as a reserve force to assist her in converting spiritual energy and continuing to fill the seemingly bottomless belly of the sword pill.

The reduction in total spiritual energy has been kept within a "preventable and controllable" range.

At this rate, Han Lu even estimated that when she achieves the first grade of Golden Core, she would still have nearly 30% of her spiritual power available for her to use.

Upon entering this stage of Core Formation, the "false core," now golden in color, begins to transcend its low-level nature and progresses towards a higher stage.

As spiritual energy entered, the colors on the golden core began to fade, and the golden core, which originally looked quite "thick" and "dense", became ethereal.

Han Lu interpreted this change as the spiritual power within her body being developed towards a higher level of power with the help of her already basically formed golden core.

If someone were sitting in Han Lu's wooden house at this moment, they would notice that Han Lu, who was still in the Pseudo-Core Realm, already had "protective qi" on her body, which only appeared on Golden Core cultivators.

Five hours later, in the early morning of the third day after Han Lu began forming her core, when Han Lu still had 70% of her spiritual energy remaining, the sword pill shed its golden shell under Han Lu's gaze, revealing a seemingly soft, translucent inner shell, and transformed into what cultivators called a "second-grade golden core".

Looking at the translucent inner shell of the Golden Core, Han Lu immediately thought of the word "fertile soil" and began to imagine the scene of "engraving" pill patterns on the surface of the Golden Core after she became a Golden Core cultivator.

Everything went smoothly, but she still dared not let her guard down.

Chapter 652 An Unforeseen Path

Han Lu was full of confidence in the wooden house, while Xian Yuji and Nian Haoge were preoccupied with their own thoughts outside.

Xianyu Ji wanted to use his divine sense to check on Han Lu's general condition in the wooden house, but he was afraid that his every move would affect Han Lu's state of mind when she was forming her core, and that Han Lu, who was unaware of the situation outside, would mistakenly think that there was danger.

Nian Haoge was simply worried about Han Lu as her disciple, even though Han Lu had warned her in advance that her core formation process might take two or even three days when she was teaching her about core formation.

However, Nian Haoge, who was only at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, couldn't help but feel a little worried.

Fortunately, Xianyu Ji, who often dealt with newly initiated Qi Refining disciples, was a master at "coaxing children," and he provided examples and assurances.

After listening to Xianyu Ji's words with a worried expression, Nian Haoge blinked several times and concluded, "Does Senior Brother Xianyu mean that Sister Han is very likely to be able to form a first-grade Golden Core?"

Xianyu Ji nodded and predicted, "Although I don't know the specifics inside, based on my own experience..."

"Junior Sister Han has already formed at least one Grade Two Golden Core."

"Judging from the flow of spiritual energy here, it is clear that Junior Sister Han still has energy to spare."

"In my opinion, there is at least a 90% chance that your master has reached the first rank of Core Formation."

Xianyu Ji's speculation was reasonable and well-founded. With just a few words, he calmed Nian Haoge down and turned her worries into expectations.

Seeing the change in Nian Haoge's expression, Xianyu Ji smiled slightly and casually dispersed the "strange horses" that wanted to cross the barrier and approach the wooden house where Han Lu was, so as not to disturb Han Lu, who was in the process of forming her core, because these mindless magical beasts simply wanted to get close to the area with abundant spiritual energy.

At this moment, Han Lu, whose golden core had become almost like white jade, encountered this final hurdle.

Once a Golden Core reaches the level of a superior Golden Core, any further advancement requires consuming a large amount of spiritual energy in a short period of time.

Even a cultivator as talented as Xiao Ran almost exhausted all the spiritual power in his dantian when he was about to advance to the second-grade Golden Core stage.

If advancing from Rank 3 to Rank 2 is this difficult, then advancing from Rank 2 to Rank 1 is even more challenging.

For ordinary cultivators, even three or four cultivators would not be able to meet the requirements for this advancement in one go.

However, Han Lu was no ordinary cultivator. She still had 50% of her spiritual power available to her at this checkpoint.

Don't underestimate the number "50%".

With the solid foundation laid by Han Lu during her foundation building, plus the enhancement brought about by taking the Earth Mother Spirit Liquid Decoction.

In terms of the amount of spiritual energy in the dantian alone, even Xianyu Ji, who had advanced to the Golden Core realm, was only on par with Han Lu.

With only 50% of his spiritual power, crossing this threshold, which is high but not as high as the heavens, is naturally not difficult.

Sensing that the sword pellet, which had already become semi-transparent, opened its mouth even wider, Han Lu, who was familiar with the core formation process, quickly took out all her resources.

The numerous solid spiritual energies that had been waiting in the wings finally made their appearance, replacing the few and refined "sun, moon, and stars" as the main force.

A large number of projectiles imbued with spiritual energy surged into the sword pellet all at once.

Such an exhilarating scene caused the spiritual sword, which was entrenched within the sword pellet and practicing the "original self" part of the Seven Kill Sword Technique, to let out a cry.

Originally, with this cultivation method, he could only eat scraps when he reached the Core Formation stage, but now he finally got the chance to taste the "dessert".

Thus, thanks to the Core Formation, it, which could only reach the level of a mid-grade spiritual weapon, now has two more possibilities to advance further.

Han Lu was unaware of this matter; she simply followed her pre-planned "blitzkrieg" strategy and readily satisfied the exorbitant demands of the sword ball.

This had a remarkable effect.

Sword Pill seemed to have choked from overeating. After swallowing nearly 30% of the solid spiritual energy, it obediently closed its mouth.

Everything ended abruptly, and looking at the sword pellet that had transformed into a glassy blue color, Han Lu felt a sense of unreality.

"Is that all? This is a Grade One Golden Core?"

But the next moment, something amazing happened.

The sword pellet, which had already completed its core formation, slowly rose into the air, replacing the original "sun" in Han Lu's dantian.

Meanwhile, the numerous solid spiritual energies that had reached the quality of pseudo-cores but had escaped disaster and were not used by Han Lu as "raw materials" for core formation trembled slightly in a posture of worship, as if in resonance.

Han Lu could clearly sense the desire of these fake pills to be used by Han Lu, which was generally referred to as the golden pill by the seniors.

In this scene, it seemed as if she only needed to use a little more catalyst to trigger the "switch" to condense another golden core in her dantian.

"Is this just my imagination?" Han Lu asked herself.