Moon Marrow Golden Paste Pool

----- Mystic Firmament Palace, Moon Marrow Golden Paste Pool

"Kuai En greets Uncle!"

The head of the Kuai Household, who once guarded Dantong Cliff and eagerly awaited Kang Rongquan's cultivation of spiritual soil for him, has long since changed his appearance.

Kuai En now appears to have not only Core Formation stage much earlier than Sect Leader Kang Da, but after being raised by the Kuang Household's clan for so many years, he has also developed an air of nobility about him.

During his time living in the Fei Household's ancestral lands in Ying Prefecture, Kang Dabao gained some experience through his interactions with the Fei Household members. This allowed him to recognize that the seven-jeweled crown on Kuai En's head was indeed made by the Fang Household.

The main crown is inlaid with the seven treasures of the Buddhist family, which are of the highest Third Tier and surround the pearl of the merman from the outer sea. The main crown is covered with gold foil of divine birds, which is also a rare and Higher Vehicle spiritual object in Liangxi Circuit. Even the Golden Core of immortality is hard to come by.

This treasure, crafted from so many rare and precious items, must be an extraordinary protective artifact.

In addition, the peacock feather brocade cloak she wore was also eye-catching.

The cloak is covered with a hidden pattern of a thousand birds carrying lingzhi mushrooms. This craftsmanship not only requires Third Tier spirit tailor to make, but it is also specially outlined with spirit threads mixed with purple gold powder, which saves 30% of the consumption time for this Law Treasure that combines offense and defense.

The jade belt buckles on the shoulders of the cloak are engraved with dragon heads and phoenix feathers. This not only shows the wealth and nobility but also conceals two sharp skills, making it a force to be reckoned with.

As described above, such extravagant weapon-forging techniques are rarely seen in impoverished and remote military prefectures like Yunjiao Prefecture. It's easy to see that Kuai En has truly benefited greatly from his years of service under the Southern King.

What Sect Leader Kang Da saw in that brief moment was enough to lure many cultivators with no background or connections to him, making them willing to be at his beck and call.

"Fellow Daoist Kuai, how have you been?" Kang Dabao couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion. After all, back then, when Pei Yi insisted on giving up the He Household's lady and marrying the Kuai Household's youngest sister, no one could have imagined that things would turn out this way.

"I am unworthy of such a title, Uncle. The kindness you have shown to the Kuai Household Kuai En we will never forget!"

Kuai En spoke truthfully, and while the Sect Leader Kang Da was deeply moved by what he saw, he also remained somewhat wary.

After all, the former has already become Middle-Grade Golden Core cultivator thanks to the Great Wei clan. If Kang Dabao really treats Kuai En as a filial junior just because of this so-called "uncle" title, that would be a real joke.

However, since Kuai En's attitude remained unchanged, Sect Leader Kang Da was in no hurry to correct his title. After all, if this royal favorite with the Primordial Chaos Mysterious Pivot Physique truly still harbored some old feelings for the Chongming Sect, that would be an extraordinary thing.

Even though Kang Dabao had just entered the Mystic Firmament Palace, even when he was in the Fei Household, he had heard that the current emperor intended to emulate Shen Lingfeng's story and marry the princess to Kuai En.

Thinking about it this way, it's only a matter of time before this former head of a small family becomes another remarkable member of the royal family; sooner or later, he'll be of use.

Kang Dabao remained cautious, but Kuai En's enthusiasm far exceeded his expectations. He grasped Sect Leader Kang Da's arm, his voice tinged with excitement:

"During the last imperial hunt in the Jiazi year, my nephew ranked first among all the secretaries of the Imperial Secretariat, which earned him praise from the Emperor. The Emperor specially ordered the Ninth Prince to grant my nephew another opportunity to cultivate in the Moon Marrow Golden Paste Pool."

My nephew was halfway through his cultivation at home today when he suddenly had a whim and rushed over. I thought it was a fortuitous opportunity to break through to the initial stage of cultivation, but I never expected to see my uncle again. I'm truly overjoyed."

"This child is already about to break through to the Golden Core Early Stage?"

When the Grand Master Kang heard what Kuai En said, he was first surprised, and then he was impressed by how extraordinary the Mingxing Xuanshu Body was. No wonder that when the Southern King Kuang Shenzhi heard the news, he did not give Kuang Liuting any face and insisted on taking Kuai En as his disciple.

There was also the Ninth Prince mentioned by Kuai En. When Kang Dabao was still a Qi Refinement Refining cultivator, he had heard people talk about his feat of "being only twelve years old, yet fighting three Foundation Establishment alone with his Qi Refinement body and winning a great victory."

Now, several decades have passed, and even the Sect Leader Kang Da can't remember whether the acquaintance who spoke back then is alive or dead. This Ninth Prince, however, is even more remarkable.

Even many discerning young men from the Ying Prefecture Fei Household held him in high esteem. They all said that the Ninth Prince was gentle, kind, and modest, with exceptional talent, and indeed possessed the qualities of the current emperor.

In fact, before Kuang Liuting suddenly appeared, this ninth prince had always been a strong contender for the former's position as heir apparent.

Only after Kuang Liuting formed Upper-Grade Golden Core, became a disciple of the Palace Master of Billowing Dream, and was granted the title of Duke of Qin, did this struggle for the throne finally come to an end.

Outsiders often think that practitioners should be unrestrained and free, so why bind themselves to these titles and honors, thus losing their freedom? They never imagined that the current emperor, chosen by the previous kings to ascend the throne, has already lived for nearly three hundred years.

During this period, all the resources for spiritual practice were readily available, including scriptures, histories, philosophical works, and literary collections; classics, treatises, registers, and diagrams were readily available. The purpose was to hope that another True Lord would emerge from the royal family of Great Wei to restore order to this shattered kingdom.

In other words, whoever can sit on this throne is the next True Lord whom the Great Wei family has exhausted all their resources and cultivated with all their might.

However, human capabilities are ultimately finite.

Although Emperor of Wei devoted himself wholeheartedly to the throne after his ascension, he failed to achieve the status of True Lord as desired by the imperial clan and nobles. Even after expending countless resources, he still could not escape this constraint and remained only Dao Path Nascent Soul Peak Stage cultivator with no hope of advancement.

Even though few in the world could rival the True Person, the Great Wei Immortal Dynasty was still plagued by chronic illnesses and lacked vitality. In fact, due to Emperor of Wei's excessive spending on cultivation, the number of talented individuals among the imperial family members had become even scarcer and the dynasty had become increasingly desolate.

This has led to the current predicament where only three True Person Immortals remain in the Great Wei family, and all twenty-seven Daoist practitioners are in a state of turmoil. It was only in the last one or two hundred years that Emperor of Wei completely gave up the idea of breaking through, and the cultivation of the royal family members began to improve slightly.

In other words, if Emperor of Wei had not ascended the throne back then, he would have been buried in the mausoleum along with a large amount of treasure, just like all the other princes of his generation. How could he now, relying on the many methods left by the founding emperor, be able to rival True Lord as long as he stays within the Mystic Firmament Palace?

Compared to these benefits, the so-called treasures, beauties, and all kinds of enjoyment are even less worth mentioning.

Although the Ninth Prince is no longer destined for the throne, he is still one of the most prominent members of the imperial family. Although he has not yet been granted a title, having only achieved the Middle-Grade Golden Core a few years ago, the Emperor both inside and outside the court knows that he is highly favored by the Emperor.

From Kuai En's tone, Sect Leader Kang Da could tell that the latter was quite familiar with the Ninth Prince, which was one of the clear signs that he was highly regarded.

Kuai En probably had no idea that so many thoughts had flashed through the mind of his uncle in just a few words. He simply gave the latter some advice on the important points to note in the Moon Marrow Golden Paste Pool, and then arranged a time and place to catch up.

After bidding farewell to Kuai En, Kang Dabao was finally able to throw the talisman in his hand into the giant mouth of the beast outside the pool. When its teacup-sized pupils gleamed with silver light and the gate opened, he was able to enter a Moon Marrow Golden Paste Pool to cultivate.

This spirit pool is said to have a history. It was built after the founding ancestor won a bet with a venerable of the Li Mountain Lineage, and several peak Demon Lieutenant came and performed labor for more than a hundred years.

Originally, the Spirit Pool was a place for the cultivation of the imperial clan's True Person. However, after the fall of the Great Ancestor, the events of the Six Kings' struggle for the capital and the Nine Dukes' aid to the sea occurred, which not only severely damaged the vitality of the Kuang Household clan, but also left this Spirit Pool mostly in ruins.

The current effect of the pool, as seen by the current Sect Leader Kang Da, is still not as great as it was eleventh back then, which is quite regrettable.

However, to Kang Dabao, who had little experience, the spiritual spring in the pool was still as clear as jade and ice, and the rising spiritual mist was extremely dense, making it the best place for cultivation he had ever seen in his life.

If what Emperor of Wei said earlier in the Lone Dragon Hall is true, Kang Dabao only needs to cultivate in this pool for a month to save more than ten years of wasted time, solidify his elixir essence, and become like True Core.

This is a crucial step for cultivators after they Core Formation. Just like Gu Chengsen, the Crimson Heart Cult Sect back then, although he was able to crush all the Pill Master and True Cultivator after breaking through in battle, he was actually on the verge of danger.

If he had disregarded propriety and insisted on fighting to the death with Sect Leader Kang Da, Gu Chengsen himself would have faced the risk of unstable dantian and a regression in his cultivation level.

Kang Dabao was luckier than him, as he was spared these troubles.

He removed his robes and stepped naked into the spirit pool.

His Primordial Ancient Body, having reached the Great Perfection stage, had already made him incredibly strong and muscular. Despite his large size, he did not appear bloated at all, so even though he was completely naked, no one found him unsightly.

A silvery-white mist rose from the Moon Marrow Golden Paste Pool, condensing into water droplets that adorned the burly back of Sect Leader Kang Da. The silver liquid flowing in the pool rippled with indigo blue, reflecting the mysterious runes engraved on the stone walls by top-tier Demon Lieutenant.

Kang Dabao stood tall against the pool wall made of cold jade, his bare back taut like a bowstring in the bone-chilling cold.

The dozen or so Spirit-Forging Palace Lamps along the edge of the Spirit Pool suddenly lit up, and tiny flames leaped out. As the emerald runes manifested from the "Profound Clear Withering and Flourishing Secret Manual and Decline" floated in mid-air, the water in the pool suddenly boiled.

At the same time, the veins on the Sect Leader Kang Da bulged, and thick silver liquid seeped into his flesh and blood and flowed into his meridians from the pores of his body.

This process was far from pleasant; rather, it felt like ten thousand poisoned silver needles were vigorously rubbing against every inch of his bones. The essence of the moon marrow, which had been accumulating for who knows how long, meandered along Kang Dabao's trembling spine, exploding like thunder in his dantian, almost causing his internal organs to churn.

At this moment, the Golden Core no longer concealed itself, and the image of two fish chasing each other, shrouded in a layer of jade color, became apparent. The liquid in the pool began to become visibly clearer, while the Golden Core in Kang Dabao's Dantian became increasingly solid and gradually lost its ethereal appearance.

No one knows how much time passed, but suddenly a hint of emerald green appeared in the Golden Core stored in the Dantian.

Suddenly, Kang Dabao, who hadn't moved for a long time, swallowed hard and uttered a difficult, obscure syllable.

The text of the "Profound Clear Withering and Flourishing Secret Manual and Decline" that he had been silently reciting in his heart suddenly solidified into a physical form in his sea of consciousness. One by one, the vigorous and powerful green seal characters began to travel along the Triple Burner meridian, and when they passed through his lungs and internal organs, they made a crackling sound as if rotten wood had been reborn.

Suddenly, a bluish light appeared at the bottom of the pool, and the water ripples condensed into a dragon that circled its body three times. This was the manifestation of the wood flower in the pool being drawn out. Kang Dabao, having heard the teachings, acted swiftly, using his Divine Sense to create a cage of water and imprison the bluish light within.

Then, the thirty-six Greater Celestial Circuit Cycle were activated, and the azure light in the water gradually seeped into the body, swam into the Niwan Palace, was refined by the Core Fire, and merged into the Dan Body.

Then the entire spirit pool began to frantically steam up bluish-white mist, and the branches of several Spirit Plant by the pool, whose origins were unknown to Sect Leader Kang Da, were instantly covered with frozen ice crystals.

Another gentle breeze blew by, and the ice crystals instantly turned into a drizzle, pouring onto Kang Dabao's extremely hot body, making a sizzling sound.

It was at this point that the cultivation of the "Profound Clear Withering and Flourishing Secret Manual" reached its most crucial stage.

The moonlight falling from the sky suddenly twisted into a vortex, and the vegetation around the spirit pool rapidly withered and flourished. Tree bark-like patterns crawled across the face of the Sect Leader Kang Da, while emerald seal characters emerged one by one from the tips of his ten fingers.

The Withering and Flourishing Clear Qi that had settled within Kang Dabao's body burst forth with a blue light, as if refining the entire pool of Moon Marrow Golden Paste into flowing jade. By this time, the silver paste on the surface of the pool had lost its last layer of color.

Within the rising mist surrounding Sect Leader Kang Da, the phantom of a blue lotus faintly appeared. In the alchemy chamber, the withered and flourishing energies intertwined and coalesced. The image of two fish chasing each other's tails on the alchemy body became increasingly solid until it was perfect and flawless.

The clear sound of the water clock by the pond signaled the end of Kang Dabao's training.

The eyes of the guardian beast outside the gate regained their clear light, and the gate encircling the spirit pool opened again. The various restrictions around the spirit pool also dimmed.

Just then, a slow breathing sound came from the fading spiritual tide. When Kang Dabao opened his eyes, his face still seemed to be covered with some lingering fragments of moonlight, but his small eyes were filled with a look of satisfaction.

"Only now do I realize what kind of life I truly led during those hundred-plus years of arduous spiritual practice!"

No matter how much they savored the food and felt they hadn't had enough, the month was up, and Sect Leader Kang Da had no choice but to step out of the Spirit Pool and put on his robes.

That is, after it stepped out of the spirit pool, the pool of Moon Marrow Golden Paste visibly began to thicken.

"My Upper-Grade Golden Core cannot be measured by logic. If we follow what Grand Eunuch Wei taught me before, the Moon Marrow Golden Paste I used to stabilize the core is equivalent to six times the number of Golden Core that came with me? That's terrifying! Where will I find supplies after today?!"

For the first time in his life, Kang Dabao harbored such deep resentment towards these members of the imperial clan and powerful families.

He glanced once more at the Moon Marrow Golden Paste Pool, which had gradually returned to its original state, his eyes filled with lingering affection.

The ancients said, "It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality." This is indeed true.

Based solely on his fluctuating emotions, Sect Leader Kang Da has reason to suspect that Emperor of Wei's arrangement is meant to make him remember this encounter so that he might be willing to dedicate himself wholeheartedly to it in the future, in order to exchange it for another fortuitous opportunity to cultivate.

This time, Sect Leader Kang Da not only stabilized his elixir body and perfected his True Core with this pool of Moon Marrow Golden Paste, but even his Primordial Ancient Body, which had been stagnant for quite some time, seemed to have reached a higher level, and some new insights appeared in his mind.

This was an unexpected delight.

After leaving the meditation room with mixed feelings, Kang Dabao did not see Kuai En and did not know whether the latter had finished his cultivation, so he decided to leave the place first.

As soon as he stepped over the barrier, a burly Foundation Establishment Fire cultivator came to greet him, his tone full of ingratiating flattery:

"Marquis of Martial Peace, the Grand Pillar of State is waiting for you in the Elegant Book Garden, and has specially sent a servant to guide you."

Fei Ye Shui, as a high-ranking official, was only below the Three Dukes and the Two Chancellors. There was a huge gap between him and this burly fire-wielder who clearly had no background. Why would he come personally to give an explanation?

Kang Dabao didn't expose his ostentatious act. Instead, he took out a Second Tier jade pendant, which he had picked up from some unlucky guy's Storage Bag, and handed it to the fire cultivator.

"Please help me, fellow Daoist, to lead the way."

The latter seemed unsurprised, since few who emerged from the Moon Marrow Golden Paste Pool were not refreshed and invigorated. When these important figures were in a good mood, they naturally had plenty of money; without connections, he wouldn't have been able to secure such a cushy job.

Following the robust fire-wielding warrior Sect Leader Kang Da passed through numerous powerful restrictions, avoided many mysterious formations, and brushed past many beautiful palace maids before finally arriving at a very elegant study.

Having reached this point, the fire-wielder, being of lowly status, could not proceed further, lest the guardian beast at the entrance suddenly revive and devour him.

When Kang Dabao entered the room, he only saw Fei Ye Shui. As for that old bird Fei Tianqin, he didn't see him and didn't know where he had gone.

In front of Elder Ye Shui, a game of chess was laid out on a low table, and he was pondering it over and over, clearly quite engrossed in it.

After the Sect Leader Kang Da entered and paid his respects, the old cultivator did not rush to examine him or ask questions. Instead, he handed him a letter that had been forwarded from the Ying Prefecture clan territory.

Kang Dabao took the letter with both hands, unfolded it, and a look of surprise flashed in his eyes. He couldn't help but read aloud the key words on the letter, "Martial Uncle Lian's Three Immortals Cave can be broken in a day or two. After Senior Brother returns, he will reward you for your merits."