In the forbidden grounds, Li Dalong stood proudly with the Azure Cloud Sword in hand.
Bang!
At a thought from him, the supreme-grade flying sword, the Azure Cloud Sword, shot out of its sheath with a swish. It streaked forth like lightning, reducing a boulder over a hundred meters away to dust.
The power of that single strike was more than ten times what it had been a few years ago!
"Not bad, not bad."
"With my current cultivation, if I use the Yin-Yang Ninefold Splendor Sword-Controlling Art, probably no one below the Nascent Soul Realm can match me."
A pleased look crossed Li Dalong's face. With his cultivation realm elevated, he had used only a tenth of his power, yet the force he unleashed far surpassed what he had possessed before mastering the art.
After his cultivation broke through to the late Golden Core Realm, his progress had slowed. He had already encountered a bottleneck, leaving Li Dalong feeling somewhat regretful.
Ding-dong. Would you like to begin checking in?
Just as Li Dalong was reflecting on this, the system's notification suddenly sounded in his mind.
"Check in."
Li Dalong responded.
Check-in successful. Congratulations, host! You have received one Nascent Soul Transformation Pill!
"What?... A Nascent Soul Transformation Pill."
Zhao Fan froze for a moment, then was overcome with wild joy!
The Nascent Soul Transformation Pill was an exceptionally precious supreme-grade pill in the cultivation world. Most importantly, it could help cultivators transform their Gold Core into a Nascent Soul, increasing their chances of breaking through from Golden Core Realm completion to the Nascent Soul Realm by at least thirty percent. Countless cultivators stuck at Golden Core Realm completion sought it in vain.
All the major sects possessed the recipe for the Nascent Soul Transformation Pill, and although the required spiritual herbs were rare, assembling them was not particularly difficult. The difficulty lay in its stringent refining requirements: only a Grandmaster-Level Alchemist or above could refine it, and the success rate was painfully low. This made Nascent Soul Transformation Pills exceptionally precious in the cultivation world. Even the Righteous Qi Sect had gone who knew how many years without obtaining one. Cultivators without a Nascent Soul Transformation Pill had to rely entirely on talent and luck to attempt a breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Realm.
Li Dalong had now encountered the bottleneck at Golden Core Realm completion. With normal cultivation, he was confident he could break through smoothly to the Nascent Soul Realm, but doing so would take at least roughly a year.
Now, however, this Nascent Soul Transformation Pill would save him a great deal of cultivation time, allowing him to enter the Nascent Soul Realm soon.
"This couldn't have come at a better time! The system really delivers. I just hit a bottleneck, and it sent me a Nascent Soul Transformation Pill."
"With this Nascent Soul Transformation Pill, breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm will be effortless."
"Once I enter the Nascent Soul Realm, I'll have at least some ability to protect myself in the cultivation world."
Li Dalong was a little excited. The system truly was rain arriving just when it was needed!
With a swish, Li Dalong darted into his cave abode and sat cross-legged. Without the slightest hesitation, he swallowed the Nascent Soul Transformation Pill.
The Nascent Soul Transformation Pill dissolved the moment it entered his mouth. Li Dalong hurriedly circulated his cultivation method, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth surged into him. The pill's medicinal power flowed with his spiritual power into his Gold Core. Within his dantian, the gleaming, immensely hard Gold Core gradually began to undergo obvious changes.
As waves of energy radiated from Li Dalong's body, signs appeared that he was about to break through beyond the Golden Core Realm. While circulating his cultivation method, he sensed the surging spiritual power within him and the steadily rising aura of his cultivation realm, immersing himself in the insights of cultivation.
Time passed second by second. Li Dalong's breathing grew longer and deeper, and his cultivation method began circulating faster. Without his noticing, his efficiency at absorbing spiritual energy improved considerably, and a faint, milky-white mist began to appear around his body.
Suddenly, his body shuddered, and a cracking sound came from within. The Gold Core in his dantian shattered in an instant, turning into a powerful surge of energy that spread throughout his body. A heart-rending pain swept through him, and every cell in his body seemed to be undergoing a metamorphosis.
Li Dalong could clearly feel the immense power filling his body as his internal organs underwent a complete transformation. As spiritual power began gathering and compressing in his dantian once more, a tiny Nascent Soul gradually formed within it. It resembled a miniature Li Dalong, crystalline and translucent. His Nascent Soul had formed! Li Dalong successfully broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm, and his lifespan increased to 1,000 years.
How many cultivators remained stuck in the Golden Core Realm, unable to advance an inch, gazing toward the Nascent Soul Realm without ever gaining entry, until their lifespans ran out and they became a mound of yellow earth? The Righteous Qi Sect now had over ten thousand disciples, yet its Nascent Soul Realm disciples and elders numbered only twenty or thirty. This showed just how rare Nascent Soul Realm cultivators were in the cultivation world.
He opened his eyes and carefully began sensing the changes in himself. His body had become more perfect, brimming with explosive power, and his control over his aura and body had grown more refined. His divine sense had also become stronger, and his thoughts clearer.
After smoothly breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm, Li Dalong spent some time experiencing and contemplating his new state before beginning to consolidate his cultivation. Once he had thoroughly stabilized his Nascent Soul Realm cultivation, he resumed studying formations, hoping to become a Formation Great Grandmaster as soon as possible, unravel the restrictions deep within the forbidden grounds, and explore the sealed battlefield there.
However, he knew well how profound the Dao of formations was. Reaching the great grandmaster level required the patience to endure solitude, the perseverance to bear hardship, and fortuitous opportunities.
He began cultivating diligently every day, constantly strengthening his formation techniques. Having already finished studying "Introduction to Basic Formations" and "Detailed Guide to Basic Formations," he had established a fairly solid foundation in formations. With his talent and the advanced formation knowledge he had drawn from the system, Li Dalong was now equivalent to a master in the cultivation world. He began studying the "Formation Grandmaster's Commentary." Judging by the formation information he obtained from the jade talisman, a Formation Master could not become a Formation Grandmaster through study and deduction alone; extensive practical experience and simulations were also necessary.
He laid out all kinds of formations in his cave abode, constantly deducing and correcting them in an effort to break past his own limitations. At night, he went deep into the forbidden grounds to study the core sealing formation, trying to find a way to unravel its restrictions. At the same time, he used the pills and spirit stones obtained from checking in to raise his cultivation realm.
Day after day passed, and Li Dalong's mastery of formations gradually improved. He began to understand the mysteries contained in the restrictions deep within the forbidden grounds. Although he still could not completely unravel them, each probing attack and attempt at dismantling them allowed him to identify nodes within the great formation.
Within a formation, time, space, and spiritual power were all forms of power. Formations used various magical artifacts, spirit stones, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, mountains and rivers, and even the stars to create circulating bodies of energy. By harnessing this power, formations controlled the elements between heaven and earth to perform active or passive functions such as attack, defense, and illusion. Some formations could also control the growth of all things or increase the concentration of spiritual energy to aid cultivation. Still others could alter the flow of time and reverse the cycle of life and death.
Li Dalong immersed himself in studying formations and cultivating. He cultivated day and night without ever slacking, allowing his cultivation to rise rapidly.
Two years later, Li Dalong sat cross-legged in his cave abode. As he finished absorbing the final strand of spiritual power from a pill, he smoothly broke through to the late Nascent Soul Realm.
Ding-dong. Would you like to check in?
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