Cultivation Starts with Rejuvenation

The process of a cultivator forming a core is when the dantian’s liquid magical power condenses into a solid-state pill. It is a change of higher quality compared to the compression of gaseous magical power into a liquid during Foundation Establishment, making the magical power more refined and the process more difficult.

The conditions for forming a core also differ.

First step: Gathering Spirit!

The cultivator uses the Whale Swallowing Technique to draw in the surrounding spiritual qi into the cave mansion, preparing it for the next step of the spirit root absorbing it into the dantian, and then the cultivation technique operates at high speed to refine it into magical power, instantly increasing the amount of dantian magical power, creating extremely strong spiritual pressure.

The stronger the spiritual pressure, the greater the hope of compressing the liquid magical power into a solid-state pill with higher purity. Conversely, insufficient spiritual pressure makes it hard for the Dharma liquid to be compressed into a crystal, leading to failure in forming a core and causing backlash. The Dharma liquid might vaporize, the realm might fall, and the success rate for forming a core again would be even lower.

The assessment of the success of the first step of Gathering Spirit for a cultivator attempting to form a core depends on the amount of spiritual qi they can gather using the Whale Swallowing Technique.

This basic condition is the Spirit Vein Dao Field!

Based on the cultivation realm’s experience over the past six thousand years, a Tier Three Spirit Vein is a necessary condition for solidifying the pill. Only when attempting to form a core on a Tier Three Spirit Vein is the amount of spiritual qi absorbed barely enough for subsequent spiritual pressure.

However, the spiritual qi provided by a Tier Three Lower Grade Spirit Vein still only reaches the minimum threshold, barely offering hope for solidifying the pill. For further condensing and purity, a Tier Three Middle Grade Spirit Vein is almost the baseline for forming a True Pill.

Apart from the Spirit Vein Dao Field as a basic condition, the richness of the magical power of the person attempting the breakthrough is also crucial.

The richer the magical power, the more spiritual qi can be gathered when using the Whale Swallowing Technique.

At the moment, the spiritual qi gathered by Xiao Changfeng in the first step almost affects half of the Biyun Sect’s Spirit Vein Dao Field, providing a solid foundation for the absorption of spiritual roots and cultivation technique refining, comparable to Elder Tian’s True Pill formation years ago. Just this step alone signals the hope of a True Pill.

However, this is just the beginning, only proving that Xiao Changfeng’s magical power accumulation over the years is quite substantial.

With relatively insufficient cultivation techniques, attaining this level of condensed and abundant magical power is directly related to his years of honing and refining.

The Seven Great Elders were all pleased when they saw Xiao Changfeng’s first step in core formation.

Faced with the contest between Zhao Qi and Xiao Changfeng’s spiritual talents, they eventually chose Xiao Changfeng, though still with some unease.

Given Xiao Changfeng’s spiritual root talent and cultivation techniques, there indeed exists an innate disadvantage, and even with the sect’s rich core formation spiritual talent resources, the likelihood of a Fake Pill is the highest.

Theoretically, if Zhao Qi lacked rich core formation spiritual talent resources, even with his Earth Spirit Root talent, and cultivated the Biyun Sect’s foundation technique, the probability of a True Pill would still be slim, likely resulting in a Fake Pill. After all, the Biyun Sect’s foundation technique is only an Earth Level technique.

Thus, if both Xiao Changfeng and Zhao Qi form Fake Pills, the Seven Elders would have no major concerns.

But they were afraid that Zhao Qi might unexpectedly form a True Pill.

Therefore, only if Xiao Changfeng could form a True Pill would they be entirely relieved.

Previously, their biggest concern was Xiao Changfeng’s magical power situation.

Now, it seems that they have reason to be hopeful.

Half a day later, the spiritual energy vortex above Xiao Changfeng’s cave mansion finally calmed down, then a cloud covering a mile radius appeared.

The cloud is a reflection of the cultivator’s immediate refining of magical power during the core formation impact, where refining a large amount of magical power at once results in a mist of light gathering into a cloud, which directly reflects the amount of magical power being refined in the dantian and the efficiency of the magical power refinement.

After the first step of Gathering Spirit, it is now a crucial test of the cultivator’s talent: Bursting Technique!

Within limited time, the dantian magical power must surge.

The more magical power refined, the stronger the spiritual pressure.

And the amount of magical power refined depends not only on the spiritual qi gathered in the first step but also on the spirit root and cultivation technique.

The better the talent of the spirit root, the faster and in greater quantity the Whale Swallowing spiritual qi from the previous step can be absorbed into the body, and then the cultivation technique can quickly refine it.

"A one-mile cloud?" Upon seeing the scope of the cloud above Xiao Changfeng’s cave mansion, the Seven Great Elders appeared slightly serious.

The latest record of forming a True Pill in the Biyun Sect was by Elder Tian, who had a three-mile magical power cloud at the start of the second step in those days.

"It still comes down to the limitation in spirit root talent."

"Changfeng has twenty-three strands of Upper Grade Spirit Root, considered the lowest among Upper Grade Spirit Roots, and achieving a one-mile cloud is already commendable."

"With the aid of Core Formation Spirit Treasures, could he catch up?"

Back when Elder Tian was forming his core, he received support from the sect with a Core Formation Spirit Treasure ranking in the ninety-something, resulting in a magical power cloud covering ten miles, a truly spectacular sight that stirred the enthusiasm of countless disciples.

Until an hour later, the magical power cloud above Xiao Changfeng’s cave mansion expanded from one mile to two miles, where the momentum nearly halted.

This was the limit of Xiao Changfeng’s twenty-three strands of Upper Grade Spirit Root.

"Boom~"

At the moment when the cloud just stalled, like an explosion, the two-mile cloud resounded with an air burst, suddenly swelling several folds, reaching an eight-mile range.

"Hiss~ What kind of Core Formation Spirit Treasure in the core formation spiritual talent preparation caused such a six-mile surge?"

"Could the rumors be true that a top fifty Core Formation Spirit Treasure was obtained from a relic?"

"Most likely, such a surge degree is by no means achievable even with a Core Formation Spirit Treasure beyond the fiftieth rank!"

"An eight-mile cloud! There’s hope for a True Pill!"

This round of the sect’s core formation talent preparation is known inside as quite rich, but the extent of its richness was always a mystery.

The main point is the ranking of the Heaven and Earth Spirit Treasure at the core of the core formation spiritual talent resources.