Profound Heaven Sect

Three years later.

Inside the cave dwelling.

Aaron emerged from his cultivation state and opened his eyes. "Cultivating techniques at the Core Formation stage truly is difficult... Judging purely by a Core Formation cultivator's perception, it seems my mana hasn't improved at all over the past three years..."

Yet after glancing at his attribute panel, he knew that was merely an illusion:

[Technique: Bright Jade Art, Fourteenth Layer (100/10000)]

"The technique has still progressed, only by such a tiny margin that I can barely feel it... But that also means that even cultivating atop a spiritual vein of Qianyang City's caliber, I'll likely need three hundred years to complete the Fourteenth Layer. And with my aptitude of three spiritual roots, encountering bottlenecks during Core Formation cultivation is perfectly normal... It would be strange if I didn't encounter any."

"Even those with heavenly spiritual roots find cultivation after Core Formation exceedingly difficult. The fact that not a single Nascent Soul Cultivator has emerged from the Far Western Lands in all these years says it all..."

"Without heaven-defying spirit pills and fortuitous opportunities, even if I form my core at two hundred, Shen Fei's path of cultivation will still be utterly bleak..."

"As expected, single-minded bitter cultivation is a dead end... How heartbreaking..."

"But I'm immortal and ageless. I can absolutely afford to wait three hundred years... So it's fine."

Wiping away tears that did not exist, Aaron leisurely rose to his feet and left the meditation chamber.

Within the formation at the entrance of the cave dwelling floated a white transmission talisman.

He reached out and caught it. After listening to its message, he left the cave dwelling, turning into a streak of black light as he flew to White Phoenix Fairy's cave dwelling—the Phoenix Cry Pavilion.

Within a