Without giving Yun Ze time to think, he quickly began his third Spirit Refinement.
With the experience of the previous two Spirit Refinements, this third one progressed extremely smoothly.
He only took six hours to successfully refine the last four Soul Pills. Now that he had twelve Soul Pills gathered within him, he was only one step away from condensing all the spiritual liquid in his Qi Sea into a single Void Core!
This final step was simple: to fill the Qi Sea with spiritual liquid again.
For others, this step might require years of arduous cultivation, but for Yun Ze, who had twelve Soul Pills filling his body and happened to be in a pool of spiritual liquid, this step could be completed in just a few hours.
Yun Ze opened his eyes and found that besides Shi You, even Bu Bu was in a state of cultivation.
He seemed to understand why Bu Bu's cultivation had progressed so rapidly.
It was likely that Shi You had taken her through the Nine Nether Gates countless times, leading to her current cultivation level.
Seeing everyone cultivating, Yun Ze did not engage in much conversation and once again immersed himself in cultivation.
Several hours later, a large amount of demonic liquid condensed in the air!
Breakthrough!
A faint golden Void Core was now suspended in his Qi Sea.
Beside the Void Core were the twelve newly formed Soul Pills.
Although Soul Pills were solid and the Void Core was void, if seen with the naked eye, the power of the Void Core was clearly much greater than that of the Soul Pills!
The Qi Sea surged, and Yun Ze could feel his lifespan increase once again!
Twelve hundred years!
Unlike the lifespan rewarded during the Zhou Tian Foundation Establishment, the lifespan increase this time was entirely supplied by the Soul Pills.
Each Soul Pill could increase lifespan by a hundred years, so twelve Soul Pills meant twelve hundred years!
Yun Ze's lips curved slightly, but he soon discovered another problem.
His Qi Sea... had expanded again!
It was already three hundred and sixty-five times the size of a normal Qi Sea, and after the Void Core was successfully condensed, his Qi Sea expanded tenfold again!
To condense the next Void Core, he would need to fill this tenfold expanded Qi Sea!
With this volume, even with the assistance of twelve Soul Pills, even with his current lifespan of two thousand two hundred years, it would be difficult to fill it!
Yun Ze's mouth twitched.
He now understood why Senior Sister Mu had remained in the Golden Core stage for so long without breaking through.
Just one breakthrough to condense the core would expand the Qi Sea to such an extent, so wouldn't the Qi Sea expand again after breaking through the Golden Core?
Then, under the condition of a nine-realm Qi Sea, who could break through to the Nascent Soul stage?
Yun Ze frowned slightly. After stabilizing his realm, he gradually emerged from his cultivation state.
The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Shi You smiling at him.
"You broke through?"
"Yes."
Yun Ze replied and couldn't help but smile wryly, "It's just that I don't know how to proceed on the path ahead."
"Golden Core, Nascent Soul, then Soul Departure."
Shi You replied calmly, glancing at the spiritual liquid pool below. "Don't worry, even with your Zhou Tian Qi Sea, the spiritual liquid here is enough for you to break through to the Divine Transformation stage. After that, I'll dig a bit deeper, and perhaps I can help you break through to the Integration stage."
"Senior, you jest."
Yun Ze smiled, "I've only been cultivating for a few years. If I were to reach the Divine Transformation and Integration stages so quickly, I'd probably become the weakest Divine Transformation and Integration cultivator in history, right?"
"When one path is understood, all paths are understood."
Shi You continued to smile, "The current world's inheritance is in ruins. Even if you were to train for a hundred or a thousand years, what could you learn?"
"The highest you could learn would be from cultivators like Tan Jing Sheng and Xiu Li Tian. Even if you were a peerless genius and could surpass them, even if you could kill them with one hand, what would that make you?"
"Not to mention comparing yourself to beings below the Nine Nether and above the Nine Heavens, even comparing yourself to ancient beings, can you truly be their equal?"
Shi You's series of questions made Yun Ze frown in silence, his heart filled with worry.
Yes.
As Shi You said, even if he learned all the Heaven-tier cultivation techniques and secret arts remaining in the world, could he compare to those ancient beings? To the beings below the Nine Nether and above the Nine Heavens?
The answer was clearly no.
If it were possible, the current cultivation world wouldn't be in such a state.
Yun Ze's brows furrowed, and he asked Shi You, "Then I..."
"Continue cultivating."
Shi You uttered four words calmly, a slight smile on his lips. "I will give you a surprise then."
A surprise?
Yun Ze's heart indeed felt a surge of joy. He then cupped his fists and said to Shi You, "Then I thank you in advance, senior."
Shi You said nothing more, merely waved his hand, signaling Yun Ze to continue.
As Yun Ze closed his eyes, he heard Shi You's voice again.
"Ah, right."
Yun Ze opened his eyes again and looked at Shi You. "Does senior have any further advice?"
"Now that you have condensed your core, you can try to release the five origin items that suppress your origin energy from your origin. Cultivating this way might be faster."
"Okay, I'll try."
Yun Ze responded and closed his eyes again.
Following Shi You's instructions, he released the five items that suppressed his origin power from his origin and put them into his Qi Sea.
The five origin items—Xin Jue, Miao Jue, Glazed Pupils, Wood Spirit, and Heavenly Mandate Blood—all hovered outside the twelve Soul Pills.
Yun Ze attempted to absorb spiritual liquid again and found that the speed had indeed increased significantly!
Roughly estimated, it was about four times faster than before!
This was not insignificant!
Yun Ze could even feel the spiritual liquid in his Qi Sea surging at a visible rate!
At this speed, it might not take half a month for him to condense his second Void Core.
As Yun Ze focused on cultivating, the others nearby were also not idle.
Shortly after he broke through to condense his core, Tu Xiu also officially broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage!
Yun Ze used his newly born divine sense to sense it. Just by perception, he knew that Tu Xiu's method of Foundation Establishment was no weaker than the Zhou Tian Foundation Establishment method!
At this moment, his Qi Sea had even reached the Zhou Tian realm!
Although he didn't have Immortal Jade to suppress his Qi Sea and achieve Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, it was only slightly weaker, far stronger than a nine-realm Qi Sea.
As for Yun Xiao and Tan Chen Yu...
After condensing their cores, both of them had been cultivating. Now, their second Void Core was close to being condensed, and they would soon reach the mid-stage of core condensation.
After three Void Cores, they would reach the late stage of core condensation, and then filling their Qi Sea would mean the perfection of core condensation.
Finally, by condensing the three Void Cores into one, and with the aid of the Six Paths' Qi, they would achieve the Golden Core!
Once the Golden Core was formed, the Great Dao would be set!
The path of cultivation henceforth would be largely determined.
Yun Ze collected his thoughts and looked at his continuously filling Qi Sea, thinking...
Although he only had an Earth-grade spiritual root, he had achieved Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment and refined thirty-six kinds of soul-nourishing spirits to condense his core. If he were to swallow the Qi of the Six Paths when forging his Golden Core, he wondered how many core patterns it would ultimately form.
According to the calculation method previously told to him by Ancestor Master, an eight-realm Qi Sea had two core patterns, so a Zhou Tian Qi Sea should have at least three core patterns.
Earthly Dao Foundation Establishment had one core pattern, so Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment should have at least two core patterns.
Swallowing nine spirits yielded one core pattern, so swallowing thirty-six kinds of soul-nourishing spirits, using a conservative estimate, would yield at least two core patterns.
Swallowing the Qi of the Six Paths would be calculated as one core pattern, so in the end, even without considering the core patterns granted by his spiritual root, he would have seven core patterns.
This would barely catch up to Ancestor Master's seven core patterns.
Alas...
It seemed that spiritual roots were indeed the foundation of all cultivation. Being at a disadvantage in this regard meant paying much more effort to catch up.
Yun Ze sighed inwardly but didn't dwell on it, continuing his cultivation.
Everyone spent a month in the spiritual liquid pool like this.
Yun Xiao and Tan Chen Yu both achieved perfection in core condensation, only one step away from the Golden Core stage.
When Tu Xiu broke through to condense his core, Yun Ze finally reached perfection in core condensation and emerged from his cultivation state.
Just as he was about to speak, he heard a sound from Bu Bu's direction.
Buzz!
Then, another cloud of demonic liquid condensed in the air!
This was... a breakthrough?
Yun Ze frowned. It wasn't that Bu Bu's breakthrough was bad, but from his divine sense, the realm Bu Bu had broken through to seemed to be... perfection in core condensation!
He couldn't be mistaken!
Currently, he, Yun Xiao, Tan Chen Yu, and Bu Bu were all at the same realm!
This in itself wasn't surprising, but Bu Bu had previously killed a Golden Core stage demon with a single blow!
At that time, she hadn't even reached perfection in core condensation!?
Yun Ze was slightly stunned but quickly regained his composure.
For anyone else, it might be strange, but when the subject was Bu Bu, it made sense.
"There's only one last one left."
Shi You looked at everyone and smiled, "Just wait a little longer, just a little longer."
"Senior, what are we waiting for?"
Tan Chen Yu asked.
Coming out on this trip had directly elevated her nine-realm Qi Sea to the late stage of core condensation, and she had also learned a new method of core condensation. This had far exceeded her expectations.
Now, she only needed to return to the Immortal Mansion, find her father to obtain the Qi of the Six Paths, and swallow it to forge her Golden Core.
At her current age, her future achievements might even surpass her father's.
Unless...
This senior in front of them had a new method for forging cores!
Yun Xiao had the same thoughts as Tan Chen Yu, but she did not ask, merely looking at Shi You, waiting for him to speak voluntarily.
"You don't need to look at me like that."
Shi You couldn't help but laugh. "There's still so much spiritual liquid here. If I let you leave without breaking through to the Golden Core, wouldn't that be a waste?"
"Then the Qi of the Six Paths..." Tan Chen Yu pressed further.
"No need for the Qi of the Six Paths."
Shi You spoke again. "In ancient times, there was not only the method of swallowing the Six Paths' Qi to condense the Golden Core. The best method was to find five people with different but complementary destinies, and all of them, at the perfection of core condensation, break through to the Golden Core simultaneously.
This way, the Golden Core forged would have an additional core pattern on top of the foundation."
"Five people?"
Tan Chen Yu glanced around.
Herself, her master, plus Yun Ze, her grand-master, and Bu Bu, who had just broken through to perfection in core condensation.
Weren't these exactly five people!
This meant that not only could she use the ancient method to condense her core, but she could also use the ancient method to break through to the Golden Core!
This... this was too good!
Not only Tan Chen Yu, but Yun Ze beside her was also shocked.
An additional Golden Core pattern!
This meant that he would have at least eight core patterns as a baseline! As long as his spiritual root was above the Profound grade, he would gain another core pattern, achieving the legendary nine-pattern Golden Core!
Yun Ze suddenly looked at everyone and asked, "By the way, does anyone... have a spirit-testing ball, or a method to test spiritual roots?"
"I have one here."
Shi You said, handing a spirit-testing ball to Yun Ze. "What's wrong, young friend? Don't tell me you haven't had a chance to check your own spiritual root after obtaining the Immortal Jade?"
"To be honest, I really haven't found an opportunity."
Yun Ze smiled and scratched his head, taking the spirit-testing ball. "I wonder what my current spiritual root is like."