Chapter 117: Breaking Through the Foundation Establishment Stage with the Golden Core Technique
The traditional path of Foundation Establishment had hit a roadblock. In fact, Gu Mo could abandon this step entirely and directly cultivate the techniques for the Foundation Establishment stage. After all, his physical body, spiritual power, and divine sense were all at the Foundation Establishment level, so practicing Foundation Establishment techniques would be perfectly feasible.
Cultivation at the Foundation Establishment stage primarily involves filling the nine small meridians opened up during the Qi Refining stage with liquid spiritual energy. One complete small meridian represents the first layer of Foundation Establishment, two small meridians represent the second layer, and so on.
Once all the meridians in the body are filled with liquid spiritual energy, that marks the completion of Foundation Establishment. Afterward, the goal is to condense the abundant liquid spiritual energy into a golden core, thus becoming a Golden Core cultivator.
Although skipping the Foundation Establishment step was possible, Gu Mo was uncertain if it would lead to any hidden consequences, whether it would cause an imperfect realm or affect future breakthroughs in higher stages.
Currently, there was no one he could consult. The Qingmu Sutra given to him by Elder Qi ChunDe didn't contain any solutions for situations like this.
Gu Mo reasoned that anyone who reached the Foundation Establishment level from the Qi Refining stage must have existed in the history of the cultivation world. He would never underestimate anyone.
But so what? Right now, he had no way to obtain the necessary solution and could only explore it himself. Fortunately, Gu Mo had an avatar, allowing him to experiment with it first. Once successful, he could transfer the experience back to his true self.
Since the bottleneck was in compressing and refining the spiritual energy, Gu Mo decided to try transferring all of his spiritual energy to his avatar, hoping to bypass the issue by triggering some kind of bug.
Naturally, this attempt failed. Every Foundation Establishment method had been perfected through countless years of effort by previous cultivators, and bypassing such a system wasn't an easy feat.
"I don't believe it!" Gu Mo exclaimed, leaving his small house. He then gathered all the solar essence condensed by the sunflowers in his spirit field, and immediately, 100 portions of solar essence appeared in his hands. Of these, 50 portions of first-tier solar essence were stored in his Black Mist space, while the remaining 50 portions of second-tier solar essence were absorbed into his body, transforming into droplets of liquid spiritual energy.
During this time, Gu Mo had already increased the number of second-tier sunflowers to 50. This was the maximum limit for this spirit field—without acquiring more advanced second-tier spirit fields or a larger area, he couldn't increase the quantity further.
For Gu Mo, 50 second-tier sunflowers were barely sufficient, especially for cultivation. They were more than enough.
A full portion of second-tier solar essence could support an average Foundation Establishment cultivator for three days of hard work. Fifty portions of second-tier solar essence were equivalent to 150 days of cultivation, nearly half a year's worth of effort. And this was only the result of one day's harvest for Gu Mo.
A single day's harvest was enough to equal half a year's work for someone else, causing Gu Mo's cultivation to skyrocket. However, such intense training couldn't be maintained indefinitely, and he needed to reserve some solar essence for upgrading and purchasing plants.
At present, the second-tier low-grade Peashooters, Potato Mines, Nuts, and Cherry Bombs were clearly insufficient. If he could upgrade them to second-tier high-grade, they could even challenge late Foundation Establishment cultivators.
If he tightened his belt and carefully upgraded the plants to third-tier, they would be able to crush 99.99% of Foundation Establishment cultivators. As for the remaining 0.01%, that was just to leave some face for the top-tier geniuses.
Upgrading plants to third-tier and advancing to the Golden Core stage—if it came to a choice, Gu Mo would undoubtedly opt for upgrading the plants, since that was the simpler path.
But of course, right now, Gu Mo's main concern was to find a way to overcome the hurdle of Foundation Establishment. So, after refining the 50 portions of second-tier solar essence, Gu Mo transferred all the resulting liquid spiritual energy to his avatar.
The avatar continued operating the Foundation Establishment method, hoping to use the spiritual energy sent by Gu Mo to bypass the issue.
A Foundation Establishment cultivator's hard work equivalent to half a year was fed to the avatar, but there was still no significant change in the Foundation Establishment technique. Seeing this, Gu Mo didn't give up just yet.
The next evening, another half-year's worth of cultivation from a Foundation Establishment cultivator was transferred to the avatar, and this process continued for half a month.
Given that one day's worth of effort equaled 150 days of cultivation, half a month amounted to six years of hard work. Gu Mo's true self had sent the avatar six years of cultivation, but at this point, the avatar still hadn't passed the spiritual energy compression step. Instead, it had reached the full Foundation Establishment first layer.
A few more attempts, and the avatar would directly break into the second layer of Foundation Establishment.
Seeing this, Gu Mo finally gave up. Through these attempts, Gu Mo understood that the Foundation Establishment method could only compress fog-like spiritual energy and could not compress liquid spiritual energy. To continue compressing liquid spiritual energy, cultivators used the Golden Core technique.
"The Golden Core technique…"
Gu Mo took out the Qingmu Sutra, which naturally contained a set of techniques for advancing to the Golden Core stage, including methods for compressing liquid spiritual energy.
"Why not try using the Golden Core technique to compress the energy?" Gu Mo thought to himself. If it were his true self, he would never dare to take such a risk, but since it was his avatar, and especially with five more backup avatars available, he could easily replace one if it failed.
Using the Golden Core technique to bypass the Foundation Establishment threshold—if it worked, would it lead to something resembling a Golden Core? After all, continuing to compress liquid spiritual energy would eventually form a Golden Core.
Of course, Gu Mo felt that the possibility of success was close to zero. Even a Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivator, with all their vast liquid spiritual energy compressed within, couldn't guarantee the formation of a Golden Core. Without the necessary foundation, it was incredibly difficult for a Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivator to form a Golden Core.
If it was so hard for them to succeed, then with Gu Mo's limited spiritual energy in his avatar, it seemed impossible to even think about succeeding.
But even if he didn't succeed, as long as this process helped him break through the Foundation Establishment bottleneck, Gu Mo would be satisfied.
With no other options, Gu Mo decided to try the Golden Core formation method. Immediately, he focused his energy and began to study the method of Golden Core formation. Although it was only a portion about the compression of spiritual energy, it still gave Gu Mo a headache. This method was meant for Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivators, and here was Gu Mo, a Full Realm Qi Refining cultivator, trying to make sense of it. Of course, his head was aching.
"Hmm?"
As Gu Mo painfully studied the Golden Core formation method, the communication jade talisman on his body began vibrating. Surprised, Gu Mo froze. Since leaving the sect, the talisman had been completely silent.
The distance from the sect was far too great, beyond the range of the talisman's transmission. But now that it was vibrating, it meant that someone familiar to him was approaching.
Glancing at the jade talisman, Gu Mo withdrew his avatar into the black mist space. Since he was about to attempt the Golden Core formation, there was no need for his avatar to wander around, as it could get injured and disrupt his attempts.
Besides, meeting friends while using his avatar would be a bit awkward.
Gu Mo activated the Spirit Field Formation and waited. After a while, two graceful figures appeared—it was Yuan Niya and Chu Feifei.
"Junior Brother Gu Mo, you've become famous now," Yuan Niya exclaimed as soon as she saw him.
With Shi Tianlu's return to the sect, Gu Mo's achievements at the resource point had spread, and it quickly led to many exclamations of awe. A Qi Refining Full Realm cultivator killing a Foundation Establishment cultivator—what extraordinary talent! Even the Golden Core elders had been forced to wear painful masks. Such a genius, and they had handed him over to that Qi Chunde!
Even Yuan Niya and Chu Feifei, who knew some of Gu Mo's trump cards, were stunned. They had seen him use a special plant to kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator before, but this time, Gu Mo had killed one with his own strength.
The significance of these two actions was entirely different.
"Does Senior Sister want me to sign something for you? It'll be worth many spirit stones when I become an immortal," Gu Mo said with a smile, listening to Yuan Niya chatter about the news in the sect.
"Not interested!"
Yuan Niya rolled her eyes at Gu Mo and then got to the point.
Yuan Niya and Chu Feifei had come to repair the formation at the resource point, though this was just secondary. The real goal was to find Gu Mo to cultivate together.
At present, Yuan Niya was only one step away from breaking through to the eighth level of Qi Refining. The reason she hadn't broken through yet was that she wanted Gu Mo to perform the Perfect-level Cleansing Technique on her to solidify her foundation.
As for Chu Feifei, her cultivation was progressing quickly—she had already reached the sixth level of Qi Refining. The Perfect-level Cleansing Technique wouldn't be able to help her as much as it did with Yuan Niya, nor did Chu Feifei need to refine her marrow through it anymore due to her unique physique.
Gu Mo's Cleansing Technique would only help remove the impurities covering her body and activate her special constitution.
"Alright then!"
Since he hadn't been able to sell his signature, Gu Mo shrugged and led the two women into the small room for magic tools. There, Chu Feifei began to set up the Spirit Dispelling Array. The two women had brought ample cultivation resources.
Especially Yuan Niya. She had come prepared to cultivate to the ninth level of Qi Refining before returning. As the second true disciple, Yuan Niya knew many secrets that most disciples of Qinglu Sect weren't aware of. For example, in a year, the sect would begin refining the Embryo Condensation Pills, and the entire sect would be sealed off during the process to prevent any accidents.
Such a fourth-tier pill, especially an important pill for breaking through large realms, was incredibly difficult to refine, and the process would take years.
Thus, Yuan Niya had to use the final year to rely on Gu Mo's Perfect-level Cleansing Technique to reach the ninth level of Qi Refining. Otherwise, she would either break through without fully solidifying her foundation or pause her cultivation and wait until after the Embryo Condensation Pills were made to continue with Gu Mo's assistance.
Both of those options were unacceptable to Yuan Niya, so her only choice was to seek out Gu Mo now.
"Junior Brother Gu Mo, after the Embryo Condensation Pill refining process is over, you should be able to return to the sect as well," Yuan Niya said to Gu Mo while Chu Feifei continued to arrange the formation.
But Gu Mo knew that the refining of the Embryo Condensation Pills was bound to face issues. He Shao Gang, who was now acting as the sect leader, was a major internal traitor. With such a force behind him, Qinglu Sect's chances of successfully refining the pills were in jeopardy.
Even though Gu Mo was aware of the risks, he had no power to change anything. This was a clash between the forces behind He Shao Gang and Qinglu Sect, like a battle between two giants. Gu Mo, a mere ant, had no ability to stop the war between them.
As for reporting He Shao Gang's betrayal, it would be pointless. He had already become the acting sect leader. Questioning him was akin to questioning the entire sect.
The only thing Gu Mo could do was warn Yuan Niya and Chu Feifei to be cautious around He Shao Gang.
"Don't worry, we've kept our distance from him all this time," Yuan Niya reassured him, though she didn't fully understand why Gu Mo kept warning them about He Shao Gang. At least she had listened, and both she and Chu Feifei had kept their distance from him.
Other true disciples, however, were getting closer to He Shao Gang, especially Ye Yuqi, who had already become one of his lackeys.
"Alright!"
At this point, Chu Feifei completed the formation, and Yuan Niya placed a large number of spirit stones on the Spirit Dispelling Array. The formation activated, and the rich spiritual energy began to leak out.
Seeing this, Gu Mo raised his hand, casting a Perfect-level Cleansing Technique on Chu Feifei. Immediately, a rich and fragrant scent filled the entire room.
"Junior Brother Gu Mo, give me a super-strengthened version of the Cleansing Technique! I'm about to break through to the eighth level of Qi Refining," Yuan Niya said confidently as she sat next to Chu Feifei, inhaling the fragrance from her.
"Ah!!"
No sooner had Yuan Niya spoken than a powerful burst of Cleansing Technique light descended, and soon, a painful cry escaped her lips. Given Gu Mo's current power, the Perfect-level Cleansing Technique he cast was more than enough to make Yuan Niya endure.
However, after the initial pain, Yuan Niya gritted her teeth and endured the agony caused by the super-strengthened Cleansing Technique. She wanted to solidify her foundation as quickly as possible and break through to the eighth level of Qi Refining—that was the fastest way.
Only by quickly solidifying her foundation and reaching the eighth level could she free up enough time to break through to the ninth level.
Seeing Yuan Niya in pain, Chu Feifei couldn't help but feel sympathy. Yuan Niya always gave her all when cultivating, but her efforts were also rewarded in full.
Not wanting to fall too far behind Gu Mo and Yuan Niya, Chu Feifei closed her eyes and began cultivating as well. She was about to face the bottleneck between the mid and late stages of Qi Refining, and it wouldn't be easy to break through.
Seeing that both women had entered cultivation mode, Gu Mo sat down next to Chu Feifei. However, he didn't enter a cultivation state himself. Gu Mo was still at the Full Realm of Qi Refining, but his ability to absorb spiritual energy was already at the Foundation Establishment level. The little spiritual energy leaking from the Spirit Dispelling Array wasn't enough for him to cultivate.
Besides, Gu Mo could directly refine the essence of the sun, so why would he waste time refining spiritual energy?
Inhaling the refreshing fragrance from Chu Feifei, Gu Mo was struck by inspiration. He didn't choose to cultivate using the Wine God's Forging Technique but instead took out the Qingmu Sutra and began studying the method of spiritual energy compression in the Golden Core formation.
Soon, Gu Mo discovered that the previously difficult and obscure Golden Core formation method had become just a bit clearer.
"Could it be that this is some kind of heavenly treasure reincarnated?"
Gu Mo glanced at Chu Feifei and couldn't help but marvel. The fragrance from Chu Feifei didn't just aid in cultivation—it also slightly enhanced his comprehension. Gu Mo would gladly call Chu Feifei the ultimate cultivation assistant treasure.
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