As soon as the words fell, the three Core Formation Cultivators swung their arms in unison. More than a dozen streams of true essence emerged from their palms, flew several yards beyond the cloud platform, and began to transform.
Once the Qi Gathering Realm had been cultivated to perfection, the next breakthrough required condensing spiritual power into true essence within the qi mansion.
As true essence accumulated without cease, it would eventually form an origin pellet. Only then could one be considered to have entered the Core Formation Realm.
This method of breakthrough appeared simple, yet because every step had to be carried out within the qi mansion, it was exceedingly difficult in practice and exceptionally dangerous.
Without guidance from the proper method, it was simply courting death.
Even with a Core Formation method, one still had to proceed with utmost caution. The slightest mistake could result in severe injuries and a fall in cultivation; at worst, death and the dissipation of the Dao.
There were two main dangers in condensing true essence.
First, transforming spiritual power into true essence was not a matter of simple compression and condensation. It required refining it repeatedly to purge the dross and retain the essence. If anything went wrong here, the unformed true essence would explode within the qi mansion, damaging the very foundation of one's cultivation of the Dao.
Second, before the origin pellet was formed, true essence was extraordinarily unstable within the body and had to be suppressed at every moment. Otherwise, it would run rampant, ultimately bursting through the body and killing its wielder.
This was also why many Qi Gathering Perfection cultivators remained stalled at the Twelfth Layer for years.
A lifetime of cultivation was not easily earned, and many were the pillars holding up their Lineage. Without overwhelming