The Solar System, near the sun.
Li Xingkong's False Core was still slowly taking shape, while the net he used to collect Baleful Qi was growing larger and larger.
Nearly a year has passed since he began collecting evil energy. During this year, in addition to his daily collection of Baleful Qi, the sun experienced two significant outbursts, which greatly accelerated his Baleful Qi progress.
However, no matter how much Baleful Qi was collected, the False Core in his own Qi Sea was also absorbed without exception. In addition to the gradual refinement of the False Core, the tempering of his whole body by the Baleful Qi was also more than half completed.
His physical strength is now many times greater than it was on Earth Star.
Based on his previous strength, he felt that taking on ten people at once wouldn't be a problem.
On this day, Li Xingkong was gathering Baleful Qi as usual, but he suddenly discovered that the Baleful Qi he gathered was circulating in the Mana Circuit within his body, but it was not going into the False Core. Instead, it was all being used to temper his body.
After probing with his Divine Sense, Li Xingkong discovered that his False Core seemed to have been formed.
There were no special effects after completion, nor any deliberate reminders. Once completed, the False Core was like water being poured into a cup; the water overflowed as soon as it was full. The overflowing Baleful Qi had nowhere to go, so it began to circulate within the body.
When Divine Sense probed into the interior of the False Core False Core, it was a chaotic, gray mess where nothing could be seen clearly, like the ignorant scene before the creation of the world.
Countless Baleful Qi formed visible, almost liquid-like streams that flowed freely around the inside of the False Core.
In the center of the False Core was a small solid particle that had condensed from the radioactive material brought out by Li Xingkong.
Don't let its small size fool you; the energy it contains is unimaginable.
Li Xingkong filled with excitement as his Divine Sense broke free from the False Core.
The False Core has been constructed, and only the final step remains before the Core Formation is formed: igniting the Core Fire.
The Core Fire could not be ignited by ordinary means. To complete this step, Li Xingkong needed to use all of his magic Magic Power to compress the enormous energy carried by the Magic Power into the False Core. Then, he would use this high-pressure environment and the driving force of a large amount of energy to activate the radioactive material inside the False Core.
This triggers a nuclear fission within the Qi Sea, using the fission of nuclear materials to ignite the entire Golden Core.
This step is undoubtedly extremely dangerous; it's like swallowing a nuclear bomb and then having it explode inside your own stomach.
Although Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators are very strong—by Li Xingkong's standards, he could even react instantly to the sound of a nuclear bomb detonation and fly away from its blast radius at an extremely fast speed the moment it explodes—if the nuclear bomb detonates inside his body and something goes wrong, he reckon he'd be in trouble too.
Why are those who have reached the Golden Core stage called Great Cultivators, and why are their numbers far fewer than those of lower-level cultivators?
The main reason is this: the process of Core Formation is too dangerous, and this danger is not only for the individual. If the Core Formation fails, the resulting explosion can wipe out an entire city.
There is a second difficulty in Core Formation, which is the construction of False Core.
As a vessel for the Golden Core, the False Core serves to bind the energy within the Golden Core. The construction of this thing cannot have any problems. If there is any mishap, the energy of the Golden Core will leak out, and the person will not benefit from it.
Knowledge base, practical skills, attention to detail, and courage are the four essential conditions for entering the Golden Core. Lacking any one of them will turn the process of Core Formation into a matter of luck.
Of course, if a high-level cultivator guides you step by step, or even helps you Core Formation, then there's nothing to say.
Although Li Xingkong was confident in his practical skills and knowledge, he still made many preparations before igniting the Core Fire.
Being right next to the sun, with no better conditions, Li Xingkong first focused his mind and calmed his spirit for three days. Then, in space, using the materials in his Space Bag, he painstakingly built a small altar. He then worshipped all the gods he knew and had seen who represented fortune, and even some of the great cultivators he learned about from the system.
If the system hadn't taken it too far, Li Xingkong probably would have flipped through a book and dragged out all the known deities, big and small, for a spin.
After all, he could control all other factors; the only thing he couldn't control was luck.
This thing is truly unfathomable; Li Xingkong is completely clueless about it right now.
With all preparations complete, Li Xingkong sat cross-legged in mid-air and closed his eyes.
He focused his mind entirely on his Qi Sea, withdrew the energy gathering net around his body, and began to channel all his Magic Power into his Qi Sea.
The Magic Power flowed in sequentially through the entrance of the False Core False Core, accumulating inside.
When Li Xingkong's Magic Power reached its limit, the space inside the False Core looked as if it were filled with liquid energy, and even a slight shaking could cause the energy to overflow.
Li Xingkong then focused his Divine Sense on the edge of the False Core, constructing a spherical Magic Power structure around False Core.
With the formation of Magic Power, and a Divine Sense, eight fire dragons surged from the magic array toward the False Core.
Its energy was already abundant, and at that moment it encountered the fire dragon formed by the magic array, causing the Magic Power inside the entire False Core to explode with a bang.
The outer structure of the False Core was very solid, and the explosion of Magic Power failed to break through False Core.
As the Magic Power was detonated, the radioactive material located at the center of the False Core was also activated. After the first detonation, the radioactive material began to release a large amount of light and heat, and fission began.
And this spark ignited like a wildfire; with this initial fission, the entire False Core- core instantly spread from one to ten, from ten to a hundred, with numerous fissions occurring in succession.
The Baleful Qi inside the entire False Core was ignited. In an instant, it was as if countless flashbangs had been fired inside the False Core. Huge rays of light pierced through the walls of the False Core, through Li Xingkong's body, and shot out from his body.
The light did not disappear quickly; instead, it grew stronger and stronger, and the outer wall of the False Core became thinner and thinner, as if it was about to give way.
But Li Xingkong stared at the False Core without the slightest panic; all of this was within the plan.
Once the outer wall of the False Core is consumed to a certain extent, it will transform into a force field. This force field will be used to contain the energy inside the False Core. Otherwise, it would be practically unrealistic to rely solely on matter to constrain the energy inside the Golden Core.
Just as Li Xingkong was about to complete the transformation of his Golden Core, the Hexagram in his mind suddenly began to warn him.
Li Xingkong had no choice but to spare a sliver of his attention to see what was happening around him. What he saw startled Li Xingkong.
A large beam of particles was ejected from the sun and shot straight toward him.
At this crucial moment, Li Xingkong was igniting the Core Fire and naturally had no way to resist.
This long beam of particles struck Li Xingkong directly at extremely high speed.