Chapter 118: How Did I Attract the Core Formation Phenomenon by Just Building a Foundation?
With the increase in insight brought by Chu Feifei's mysterious fragrance, Gu Mo finally grasped some of the principles of the Core Formation technique. Though there was still a long way to go before fully mastering it, at least now he could see some progress, which was much better than before when he couldn't even see the progress bar.
While Gu Mo was immersed in comprehending the Core Formation technique, Yuan Niya was also making her way towards breaking through to the eighth level of Qi Refining. This hurdle was not particularly difficult for Yuan Niya.
As the restless spiritual power gradually settled, Yuan Niya's aura surged significantly.
"Junior Brother Gu Mo, I'll catch up to you soon!" Yuan Niya slowly opened her eyes, her gaze full of joy.
"Congratulations, Senior Sister, for advancing in cultivation!" Gu Mo smiled and congratulated her.
The Qi Refining stage would not be Yuan Niya's final stop, and even the Foundation Establishment stage wouldn't be her limit. Yuan Niya had the potential for Core Formation, especially after undergoing Gu Mo's Full-Stage Cleansing Technique, which greatly enhanced her foundation. Additionally, Chu Feifei's mysterious fragrance helped her resolve some of the side effects in her cultivation technique.
In the future, Yuan Niya might even have the potential to reach the Nascent Soul stage, and this possibility was quite high.
"Hee hee!"
Upon hearing Gu Mo's compliment, Yuan Niya's face broke into a wide smile. However, her smile quickly faded as she was pulled away by Chu Feifei to help repair the resource point's formation.
The two of them came under the pretext of repairing the formation, so they couldn't forget their main task.
Time passed, and Yuan Niya and Chu Feifei stayed at the resource point for nearly half a year. During this time, Chu Feifei successfully repaired the formation there.
The resource point's formation was a 2nd-grade formation, and since Chu Feifei was a 1st-grade formation master, her ability to repair a 2nd-grade formation proved her extraordinary talent in formation techniques.
In addition to her talent in formations, Chu Feifei's cultivation talent also began to show as her special physique continued to activate. A direct example was that, in the past six months, Chu Feifei successfully reached the seventh level of Qi Refining, becoming a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator.
However, the one who advanced the fastest was still Yuan Niya. She had reached a new bottleneck—the eighth level of Qi Refining. Once she broke through this, she would step into the ninth level of Qi Refining.
Once Yuan Niya reached the ninth level, Gu Mo's Full-Stage Cleansing Technique would come to an end. The technique was only effective for Qi Refining cultivators, and the ninth level marked the final stage of the Qi Refining period.
The difference between Qi Refining Great Perfection and Qi Refining Ninth Level was significant in terms of combat strength, but in theory, they were not entirely different stages. It was merely a process of accumulating spiritual power. There was no real bottleneck between the ninth level of Qi Refining and Qi Refining Great Perfection. As long as one reached the ninth level, they could almost always break through to the Great Perfection.
The only difference was that the time it took to go from the ninth level of Qi Refining to Great Perfection varied depending on a cultivator's resources, companions, methods, and environment.
With sufficient cultivation resources, a Qi Refining Ninth Level cultivator could quickly refine their spiritual power into a mist-like state and break into the Great Perfection. For those with fewer resources, like wandering cultivators, it could take a long time.
As the second true disciple of Qinglu Sect, Yuan Niya had no shortage of cultivation resources. Therefore, once she broke through the ninth level, she would quickly enter Qi Refining Great Perfection, completing her Qi Refining period.
As for Gu Mo, over the past half year, with the assistance of Chu Feifei's mysterious fragrance, he had made some progress in understanding the spiritual power compression technique in the Core Formation method and was now preparing to try it out with his clone after some further contemplation.
Months passed, and Yuan Niya's cultivation successfully broke through, causing no ripple at all. At the same time, it had been nearly a year since Yuan Niya and Chu Feifei arrived at the resource point.
"Junior Brother Gu Mo, we're heading back now. After the sect's alchemy is finished, I'll have Master summon you back." Yuan Niya and Chu Feifei bid farewell to Gu Mo outside the large formation of the resource point.
As the sect's eldest senior sister, Yuan Niya could not be absent during the crucial moment of refining the Core Baby Pills. Many important places in the sect would require trusted disciples like her to be stationed there.
"Be careful!" Gu Mo nodded and advised.
Although he had a hunch that Qinglu Sect would face a crisis soon, Gu Mo couldn't prevent it. He could only repeatedly remind Yuan Niya and Chu Feifei to be cautious.
"Understood!"
Yuan Niya and Chu Feifei nodded. From Gu Mo's repeated warnings, they also sensed an impending storm.
Thinking of how Gu Mo had warned them about He Shaogang, they couldn't help but wonder if He Shaogang was hiding something. But since Gu Mo had revealed nothing more, they could only remain on high alert.
Watching Yuan Niya and Chu Feifei leave, Gu Mo turned back into the resource point and immediately saw curious eyes from the distance.
Since Yuan Niya and Chu Feifei had stayed at the resource point for almost a year, the disciples stationed there naturally knew about it. Especially since the two often stayed at Gu Mo's place for days at a time, this had ignited a strong sense of gossip among the disciples.
However, when Gu Mo's gaze swept over, all those curious looks vanished. While the gossip was there, no disciple dared to spread rumors about the two true disciples.
Back in the spiritual field formation, it felt much emptier now that Yuan Niya and Chu Feifei had left. However, this gave Gu Mo the peace of mind to focus on his breakthrough.
After a year of contemplation, Gu Mo had barely grasped the technique of compressing spiritual power in the Core Formation method. Now, it was time to give it a practical try.
As for why he didn't wait until he was more proficient, the reason was simple—this was already the limit of what Gu Mo could achieve.
Taking his clone out from the black mist space, Gu Mo's consciousness entered the clone, and he sat cross-legged to begin operating the spiritual power compression technique.
"Mm?"
As soon as he activated the compression technique, Gu Mo immediately felt tremendous resistance and delay. It was like a three-year-old child swinging a huge iron hammer.
This was because Gu Mo's divine sense was still too weak to smoothly drive the compression technique. After all, the Core Formation method was meant for cultivators at the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment. If it weren't for Gu Mo's divine sense reaching the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, he might not have been able to operate the technique at all.
Despite the sluggishness, the technique still began to work. Once it got going, it was like pushing a car—initially hard, but much easier with momentum.
As expected of a technique from the Core Formation method, the effects were immediately noticeable. The liquid spiritual power, which had been dormant in the Foundation Establishment method, began to compress under the spiritual power compression technique.
The once watery liquid spiritual power grew more viscous as it was compressed, and the change in its nature allowed the stagnated Foundation Establishment method to proceed smoothly.
"Success!"
Seeing this, Gu Mo was overjoyed. He was about to stop the technique, but soon his expression changed. The compression technique wouldn't stop.
It was like a car speeding out of control, and Gu Mo couldn't stop it with his current strength.
"Looks like something went wrong after all."
Gu Mo knew that using the Core Formation method at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining was risky, but he had hoped for the best. Now, it seemed that luck had failed him.
Fortunately, this was just a clone, so it wouldn't affect his true self. Moreover, he had already extracted a drop of the viscous liquid spiritual power from the clone.
With that drop, his true self would likely be able to smoothly enter the Foundation Establishment stage.
Though the plan succeeded, Gu Mo still didn't want to abandon the clone so easily. Therefore, he decided to try to save it.
At this moment, the clone's spiritual power compression technique was running non-stop, continuously absorbing all the spiritual power from the clone and compressing it into its dantian.
But now, there was no more spiritual power in the clone to compress. The high-speed compression technique was like a machine running dry and was becoming unstable, threatening to explode at any moment.
To solve this problem, Gu Mo needed to either stop the compression technique or replenish the clone's spiritual power to prevent it from burning out.
The first option would be the most thorough, but Gu Mo couldn't do it. The second option was only a temporary fix, but it was something Gu Mo could manage.
Over the past year, Gu Mo had accumulated a lot of second-grade Solar Essence. Although some was used to upgrade plants, half of it was still left for cultivation.
Sensing the clone's deteriorating condition, Gu Mo no longer hesitated. He took out a large amount of second-grade Solar Essence from the black mist space, refined it, and then injected the transformed liquid spiritual power into the clone.
With the infusion of spiritual power, the operation of the Spiritual Power Compression Technique became steady again. However, as more and more spiritual energy was compressed in his dantian, Gu Mo began to feel a growing sense of heaviness.
This heaviness continued to increase, a weight that came from the spiritual energy itself—something Gu Mo had experienced when he first acquired the misty spiritual power during his Qi Refining stage.
At that time, Gu Mo's physical strength was formidable, allowing him to bear the weight with ease.
But now, in this avatar form, his foundation was not as deep as his true self's, and the weight of the spiritual energy was only continuing to rise. As the liquid spiritual energy was further compressed, it seemed as though it was heading toward the formation of a Golden Core.
If a Golden Core were to form inside this avatar's body at this moment, its weight would directly crush it.
Though the possibility of this happening was unlikely, if this avatar could form a Golden Core, it would make those cultivators who struggled, risking their lives for years just to break through to the Golden Core realm feel deeply disheartened.
The Golden Core would not form, but if the compression of spiritual energy continued in this avatar's body, it could still be dangerous. Stopping the infusion of spiritual energy to prevent further compression would cause the high-speed Spiritual Power Compression Technique to destabilize, which would also put the avatar in great danger.
At this point, Gu Mo realized that he was caught in a vicious cycle. No matter what he did, it seemed that the outcome for this avatar was inevitable.
"Well, I guess this is a chance to experience the process of forming a Golden Core in advance," Gu Mo sighed, knowing that his avatar was beyond saving.
However, Gu Mo was not about to give up. He decided to continue refining the essence of the sun, injecting the transformed liquid spiritual energy into his avatar, hoping to experience the process of Golden Core formation a little more, accumulating valuable experience for when he eventually achieved the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment and formed his own Golden Core.
As time passed, Gu Mo continued to transform the essence of the sun, pouring it into the bottomless pit of his avatar's body. The essence of the sun was produced by the solar flower in his spiritual field, and it had accumulated for half a year.
Gu Mo's spiritual field could produce 50 portions of second-tier sun essence per day, and over half a year, that amounted to 9,125 portions. Each portion of second-tier sun essence could replace three days of hard cultivation.
The total amount of second-tier sun essence produced by the spiritual field in half a year could substitute for 75 years of cultivation for an average Foundation Establishment cultivator. At this moment, these 75 years of cultivation were all sent into the avatar's body.
This resulted in the formation of a semi-solid spiritual energy mass in the avatar's dantian. The weight of this semi-solid spiritual mass caused numerous cracks to appear in the dantian, a result of the immense pressure being exerted on it.
Once the spiritual mass fully solidified, it would mean that Gu Mo had created a fake Golden Core. Many Foundation Establishment cultivators with insufficient foundation, when attempting to break through to the Golden Core realm, might end up forming a fake core, even if they were lucky enough to succeed in the process. These cultivators would then become fake Golden Core cultivators.
Fake Golden Core cultivators possess some of the power of true Golden Core cultivators, far surpassing Foundation Establishment cultivators, but still falling short of true Golden Core cultivators. Furthermore, they would typically lose any chance of further advancement.
Thanks to the 75 years of cultivation from the sun essence, Gu Mo's avatar had gained a slight chance of forming a fake Golden Core. However, if the fake Golden Core were to fully form, the avatar would be finished.
This was because, while the spiritual energy of the avatar had barely reached the threshold for a fake Golden Core due to the 75 years of cultivation, the avatar's dantian and physical body were nowhere near capable of bearing such a core. Once the fake core formed, the avatar would die without a doubt.
But it seemed Gu Mo had no way to complete the formation of this fake Golden Core, as his stock of second-tier sun essence had already been depleted, and the first-tier sun essence would be ineffective.
With the depletion of the second-tier sun essence, the infusion of spiritual energy ceased. This meant the high-speed Spiritual Power Compression Technique would turn into a wild, uncontrolled force…
"Hmm?"
Gu Mo, sensing that the operation of the Spiritual Power Compression Technique was still stable within his body, was momentarily stunned. But soon, he looked up and saw something that left him stunned.
At some point, a massive vortex of spiritual energy had formed above the resource point. The vortex was continuously drawing in spiritual energy from all directions, and at its center was Gu Mo.
With Gu Mo's true self halting the supply of spiritual energy to his avatar, the high-speed Spiritual Power Compression Technique began to draw energy from the vortex, funneling the massive amount of spiritual energy into the avatar's dantian to continue the process of forming the fake Golden Core.
"Supervisor Wei, this is bad!"
The strange phenomenon in the sky quickly caught the attention of the cultivators stationed at the resource point. Someone rushed to report it to Wei Yuancai in a panic.
"I know."
Wei Yuancai gazed at the enormous vortex in the sky, his eyes filled with shock. He had already sensed it the moment the vortex formed, without needing anyone to report it.
"That's... the omen of Golden Core formation!" Wei Yuancai murmured.
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