Core Formation

The three flew toward the spirit stone mine. Although they traveled more slowly than Lin Yun would have on his own sword, they encountered only scares along the way, with no real danger.

Only after six or seven days of flight did Lin Yun bring Xin Ruoyin and Xiao Mei to the outskirts of the spirit stone mine.

Seeing that cultivators from the Seven Sects were still standing guard outside the Spirit Stone Mine, Lin Yun knew that the Seven Sects probably had not yet suffered their crushing defeat—or perhaps news of it had simply not arrived.

Lin Yun concealed himself with Xin Ruoyin and Xiao Mei on one side of the gorge. Pointing at the spirit stone mine below, he told Xin Ruoyin, "Ruoyin, the Ancient Teleportation Formation is beneath this mine, hidden by an array I set up. I'll take you both inside now."

Xin Ruoyin looked curiously at the bustling Spirit Stone Mine below and nodded. "I'll leave everything to you, Brother Lin."

Lin Yun slipped one hand around Xin Ruoyin's slender waist and grasped Xiao Mei's shoulder with the other. Invisible sword light flashed before him, and he carried them into the void, using Formless Sword Escape to rush into the spirit stone mine beneath the gorge.

A moment later, the three appeared in a spacious underground cavern. At its center stood an ancient, hexagonal Teleportation Array.

Too absorbed to dwell on the novel experience of entering the void, Xin Ruoyin immediately found her gaze drawn to the Ancient Teleportation Formation and could not help walking over.

For an array master like her, the Ancient Teleportation Formation held an immense allure. Although she had already studied its diagrams, the actual formation still held her gaze firmly captive.

Looking at the intricate array patterns on the Teleportation Array, Xin Ruoyin could not help exclaiming, her eyes shining, "To think an ancient Teleportation Array really has survived in this world!"

After studying it carefully for a while, Xin Ruoyin noticed the damaged corner of the Teleportation Array. She compared it with the other intact corners, then said with confidence, "Brother Lin, repairing this damaged corner won't be difficult. There are no errors in the diagrams I reconstructed. But repairing the actual formation will require care and precision, so I'll need at least seven days."

Lin Yun nodded. Repairing the Teleportation Array was an extremely delicate and complicated undertaking. To ensure their safety during teleportation, she certainly ought to be meticulous.

"No problem, Ruoyin. Handle it as you see fit. A junior brother of mine will be coming with us, and he hasn't arrived yet. We have enough time to repair the Teleportation Array," Lin Yun said with a nod, while calculating inwardly, Seven days? That should be enough.

After a moment's thought, Lin Yun added, "Ruoyin, stay here with Xiao Mei and focus on repairing the Teleportation Array over these seven days. I need to go out for a while."

Xin Ruoyin faltered at his words and asked with some concern, "Is everything all right, Brother Lin?"

Lin Yun shook his head and smiled. "Everything's fine. In fact, it's something good, so don't worry. I'll be nearby, and if anything happens, I'll return in time."

"Oh, right. I set up a Small Forward-Reverse Nine Palaces Array here. This is the token for entering and leaving it, so you don't need to worry about anyone outside discovering you. Take this as well. Within a thousand-mile radius, we can speak through this pair of Voice-and-Image Transmission Talismans. If anything happens, you can use the Jade Talisman to contact me."

Xin Ruoyin accepted the token and Jade Talisman from Lin Yun before saying, "That's good, then. Go without worrying, Brother Lin. Leave everything here to me."

With that, Xin Ruoyin took out the materials needed to repair the Teleportation Array and began working.

"Rest assured, Young Master Lin. I'll take good care of my young lady," Xiao Mei hastened to promise from beside them.

Watching Xin Ruoyin's busy figure from behind, Lin Yun smiled, then vanished from where he stood.

After leaving the spirit stone mine that housed the Ancient Teleportation Formation, Lin Yun flew on his sword into a nearby stretch of remote mountains. It was neither too close to nor too far from the mine, lying roughly within a thousand-mile radius and thus within the communication range of the Voice-and-Image Transmission Talismans.

Lin Yun reflected that whether Xin Ruoyin needed to contact him about something or Han Li arrived near the spirit stone mine and notified him, they would both be able to reach him.

Moreover, whatever disturbance he might cause afterward should not interfere with Xin Ruoyin's repairs to the Teleportation Array.

After casually carving out a temporary cave abode in the mountainside, Lin Yun began preparing to refine qianyang five elements stellar qi together with five elements yin fiend. He intended to use these two strands of stellar and fiend qi to create a Primordial Qi External Elixir and test the Core Formation method he had deduced.

Lin Yun did not intend to advance to the Core Formation Stage directly through this world's methods. In his eyes, its methods of Core Formation were somewhat crude.

Whether this was simply their nature or a consequence of the spiritual energy environment, those below the Spirit Transformation Stage in the Mortal Realm could not draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. When Mortal Realm cultivators used their magical power, they could only draw on the true essence within their own bodies.

Thus, every time Mortal Realm cultivators raised their cultivation, they had to compress their true essence furiously, doing everything possible to increase its quantity and quality-from its gaseous form in the Qi Refining Stage to its liquid form in the Foundation-Building Stage.

Even the golden core they formed was nothing more than solid true essence, created by compressing and condensing it to the utmost limit.

This method could not be called bad, since it lowered the threshold for Core Formation sufficiently. As long as cultivators refined and compressed their true essence to sufficient purity during the Foundation-Building Stage, and the outside world supplied abundant enough spiritual energy during Core Formation, they would have a high chance of forming a golden core.

Consequently, the most common way for cultivators in this world to improve their chances of Core Formation was to use natural treasures that could purify true essence and supply large quantities of spiritual energy.

But to Lin Yun, this method of Core Formation was far too unrestrained. It involved no finesse whatsoever and failed entirely to uncover the full potential that the Core Formation realm ought to possess.

Take lifespan, for instance, the issue immortal cultivators cared about most.

Core Formation cultivators in the mortal world had lifespans of only five or six hundred years, merely twice those of Foundation-Building Stage cultivators. Even after consuming natural treasures that extended their lives, they could live only seven hundred years. Even Nascent Soul cultivators had a basic lifespan of just a thousand years.

Each advance through a major realm gave cultivators only a few hundred additional years of life, while advances through minor realms did not increase their lifespans at all.

Lin Yun had studied the Core Formation methods of several different cultivation arts. He discovered that the mortal world's methods cultivated only one's own vital qi during Core Formation, neglecting primordial essence and the primordial spirit. They relied entirely on the passive strengthening of primordial essence and the primordial spirit that came with advancing through a major realm.

Yet primordial essence was the very root of lifespan. Without cultivating primordial essence, how could one's lifespan increase?

The Nascent Soul Stage had the same problem. Cultivators purified their true essence until they could shatter their cores and form nascent souls, yet after forming a nascent soul, their primordial spirits were so weak that they could not immediately control it. They still had to cultivate their nascent souls for a time before they could control them perfectly.

As for cultivation in the Spirit Transformation Stage and beyond, Lin Yun lacked the necessary cultivation arts and therefore knew nothing of their mysteries for the time being. He could offer no judgment.

In the Zu Mountain World, however, the cultivation realms preceding Heavenly Immortal and Golden Immortal could broadly be divided into the steps of refining essence into qi, refining qi into spirit, and refining spirit to return to emptiness.

Although this appeared crude and simple, it clearly described the entire process of cultivating to immortality. With the cultivation of essence, qi, and spirit at its core, one gradually strengthened all three until they united as one and evolved into primordial qi. Refining that qi was itself refining the spirit. Finally, that single qi transformed into the primordial spirit; so long as the qi remained undying, the primordial spirit would never perish.

The various lineages of Zu Mountain might have different methods for refining primordial qi.

But in their pursuit of strengthening essence, qi, and spirit and evolving primordial qi, their different paths all led to the same destination.

Once someone completed this entire process and refined primordial qi, cultivating a primordial spirit and attaining the rank of Loose Immortal was merely a matter of time.

And that process was very swift. Most Loose Immortals in Zu Mountain made significant progress within a few hundred years and attained the rank of Loose Immortal within a thousand.

But what about the mortal world? A few hundred years? That was not even enough for a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator to advance to the late stage! A thousand years? That was the entire lifespan of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Although the environment of heaven and earth certainly played a part, the gulf between them was still beyond reckoning.

Yet, although the mortal world's cultivation methods fell far short of those in the Zu Mountain World,

after carefully comparing the two, Lin Yun discovered that the mortal world's cultivation methods were not entirely without merit.

They could even be called distinctive in their own right.

For they paid almost no heed to temperament or spiritual attainment, requiring only resources.

Judging by the cultivation arts Lin Yun had studied so far, advances in cultivation realms were almost entirely unaffected by temperament or spiritual attainment. Only the inner demons encountered when forming a nascent soul seemed to be influenced by temperament.

If one's cultivation stalled, one simply found natural treasures to force a breakthrough. If there were not enough natural treasures, one went out and seized them.

Thus, murder and robbery were practically commonplace in the cultivation world. Cultivators could not care less about this or that consideration. What damned karma? It was merely a matter of beating the young and having their elders come after you. If you could win, you fought; if you could not, you fled. Once you could win, you returned to settle your grudges and karmic debts.

But in the Zu Mountain World? Temperament and spiritual attainment were what mattered most to cultivators of the Dao!

Those who possessed magical power but lacked temperament and spiritual attainment were often beset by tribulation after tribulation. Even with magical power as vast as a sea of mist, when calamity descended upon them, they were like castles in the air, helpless as wind and rain swept away all the fruits of their cultivation.