The last time he encountered the Spirit Testing Orb was when Yun Ze, disguised as Tu Sheng, participated in the Ascension Assembly and tested Ji Xiu... no, it should be Tu Xiu's spiritual roots.
Back then, the Spirit Testing Orbs were all under the unified custody of the Immortal Mansion, and he hadn't had a chance to try it on himself.
Now, it was his first opportunity to examine his own spiritual roots after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.
Yun Ze raised his hand and placed it on the Spirit Testing Orb, pouring a thread of spiritual energy into it.
Instantly, the entire Spirit Testing Orb blazed with light!
Four-colored radiance filled the entire spirit liquid pool!
Crimson, gold, blue, and green!
Among them, the fire, metal, and water attribute spiritual roots were the most vibrant. The wood spiritual root, represented by green, although slightly weaker, had also reached the strength of an Earth-grade spiritual root.
As for the fire, metal, and water attributes, their spiritual roots had reached the level of High-grade Heaven-grade!
"This... this is..."
Yun Ze was completely bewildered.
If it was understandable for the water and metal attribute spiritual roots to be High-grade Heaven-grade, why was the fire attribute spiritual root also at such a level?
Even with him absorbing two Immortal Jades, the improvement wouldn't be this significant, unless...
A thought flashed through Yun Ze's mind. He turned to look at Shi You, his eyes filled with shock.
"It seems I hid it too well, not allowing young friend to discover it!"
Shi You chuckled.
He raised his hand and tapped Yun Ze's forehead, a surge of spiritual energy instantly spreading out.
Immediately, Yun Ze felt the Heavenly Mandate Blood in his Qi Sea rapidly transforming, changing from liquid to solid!
In an instant, a jade slip, ninety percent similar to Xin Jue and Miao Jue, but entirely crimson, appeared in his Qi Sea.
Yan Jue!
The Heavenly Mandate Blood was actually Yan Jue!
Yun Ze looked up at Shi You and saw him smiling at him. Shi You then said, "I've been in this world for so many years, and I chanced upon this Yan Jue."
"I tried many times but never resonated with it. I even gave it to Tu Xiu to see if he could merge with it, but the result was still disappointing."
"Later, I used Shi Jue for divination, and only then did it return to its rightful path."
"I believe... it's time for it to regain its original form."
"No wonder."
As soon as Shi You finished speaking, Tu Xiu, who was beside them, grumbled, "I once saw fire-attribute immortal jade in a dream. The dream was extremely vivid, and I found it strange. So it was you old rascal's doing."
"It was me, but didn't Yan Jue ultimately end up in your bloodline?"
Shi You said calmly, then looked at Yun Ze and said, "Young friend, you're eager to check your spiritual root attributes, presumably to determine the Golden Core patterns after forging your Golden Core, right?"
"Yes."
Yun Ze did not deny it. He was still immersed in the joy of suddenly acquiring Yan Jue.
No wonder his cultivation speed had increased so much after obtaining the Heavenly Mandate Blood. He had initially thought it was the effect of the two Immortal Jades, but he hadn't expected it to be three Immortal Jades!
Now that three of the Five Elements Immortal Jades were gathered, and he had seen Sen Jue, only Ao Jue was missing to complete the Five Elements Immortal Jades.
As for the remaining four... Shi Jue was in Shi You's possession, the whereabouts of Kong Jue were still unknown, and there was no news of Xian Jue and Mo Jue.
Yun Ze looked at Shi You and followed up on his previous question, "Senior, you mentioned that the spiritual root level increased by Xian Jue, will that be counted in the Golden Core patterns?"
"Of course," Shi You replied with a smile.
"That's great!"
Yun Ze was overjoyed.
If he calculated based on his current spiritual root grade, three attributes of High-grade Heaven-grade spiritual roots, plus one Earth-grade spiritual root.
Such a configuration would satisfy at least three Golden Core patterns!
And according to his previous calculation method, combined with seven Dan patterns, he should be able to achieve the legendary Nine-Pattern Golden Core!
"Young friend, don't be too happy yet. Forging the legendary Twelve-Pattern Golden Core is not as simple as that."
"I know... Wait? You said how many patterns?"
Yun Ze was stunned. He thought he heard Nine-Pattern Golden Core, not something else!
Not only him, but Yun Xiao and Tan Chenyu, who had emerged from their cultivation states, looked at him with shock.
Twelve patterns!
This was different from the Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment that had appeared before; this was a term that had never appeared before!
From all the ancient texts they knew, there was no mention of the existence of a Twelve-Pattern Golden Core!
"Twelve patterns."
Shi You replied calmly. He knew that everyone would react this way and then chuckled, "You don't need to be so surprised. Although the Twelve-Pattern Golden Core was an achievement never reached even in ancient times."
"But think about it, how many people from ancient times to the present have been able to gather three Immortal Jues before the Core Formation stage, complete the Circulatory Heavenly Sea, achieve Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, and then use thirty-six Soul Spirits to complete Core Formation?"
"Yun Ze himself is already a miracle. We are just going to go a step further on top of this miracle."
I don't believe you!
You just want to use me as an experiment!
But... a Twelve-Pattern Golden Core, unprecedented throughout history!
Just hearing it was exciting!
Yun Ze pondered for a few moments and then asked, "Senior, what is the probability of completing the Twelve-Pattern Golden Core you mentioned?"
"You can calculate it."
Shi You began to calculate, "Your spiritual roots have now reached the limit for Golden Core patterns, providing three Golden Core patterns."
"Then there is your Qi Sea. The Circulatory Heavenly Sea can also provide three Golden Core patterns, making it six."
"Next is your Foundation Establishment method. Although I have never seen anyone establish their foundation with such a lavish method, since you have achieved Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment as determined by an ancient existence, we will count it as Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, which can provide two Golden Core patterns."
"After that is your Core Formation method. Forming the core with Soul Spirits also provides two Golden Core patterns."
"This already makes it ten."
"If we were to use ordinary methods, such as absorbing the Qi of the Six Paths to forge a Golden Core, it would at most provide one Golden Core pattern. Therefore, we must find another way and forge the Golden Core using the method of mutual complementation of the Five Elements!"
"If it succeeds, then you will have twelve Golden Core patterns! Which is exactly right!"
This calculation method was simple and easy to understand, but the prerequisite was that this method of mutual complementation of the Five Elements must succeed!
Yun Ze frowned and remained silent, only to find that Tan Chenyu and Yun Xiao already had eager expressions!
The method of mutual complementation of the Five Elements could provide two Golden Core patterns!
For Tan Chenyu, even if she forged her Golden Core using the method of absorbing the Qi of the Six Paths, she could achieve nine Golden Core patterns. Whether to use this new method to forge her Golden Core was merely an attempt out of curiosity.
But for Yun Xiao, this was different.
Her spiritual roots were even inferior to Yun Ze's initial spiritual roots, unable to provide even a single Golden Core pattern.
Although reaching the Eighth Realm Qi Sea could only provide one Golden Core pattern.
The subsequent Foundation Establishment method also provided one, plus the two from the Core Formation method, making it only four Golden Core patterns.
Without this method, she would ultimately only have five Golden Core patterns, but if she used the method of mutual complementation of the Five Elements, she would have six Golden Core patterns!
Even though it was only a difference of one pattern, let alone the difference in strength, just the difference in lifespan was three hundred years!
One-pattern Golden Core could extend lifespan by three hundred years, three-pattern Golden Core by five hundred years, and six-pattern Golden Core by eight hundred years, while Nine-pattern Golden Core was one thousand two hundred years!
He didn't know how much lifespan the legendary Twelve-Pattern Golden Core could extend!
Yun Ze also began to look forward to it.
Everyone couldn't help but turn to look at Tu Xiu, who was still in cultivation. Now, they just had to wait for him to reach the peak of Core Formation before they could proceed to the next step!
...
About half a month later.
Tu Xiu's aura had been fluctuating. After he reached the peak of Foundation Establishment.
In an instant, his aura dropped back to that of a mortal, and even his Qi Sea dissipated.
But just as Yun Ze thought something had happened to him, in a flash, his aura surged to the third level of Qi Refining!
And it was Qi Refining third level with a nine-realm Qi Sea!
Yun Ze blinked again, and he was already starting to break through to Foundation Establishment.
In just an hour, his realm continuously climbed, then fell, then climbed again.
He absorbed the spirit liquid in the spirit liquid pool until he reached the peak of Foundation Establishment nine times before finally breaking through to Core Formation!
Nine times!
The amount of spirit liquid he absorbed was almost comparable to Yun Ze's Circulatory Heavenly Sea.
However, since there was enough spirit liquid here, he would absorb it.
While Tu Xiu was busy breaking through repeatedly, the others were not idle.
Not only had Yun Ze broken through to his current realm, lacking practical combat experience, but Yun Xiao and Tan Chenyu were also in the same situation.
A sudden increase in realm by so much would make a normal person feel unaccustomed.
Fortunately, Shi You was here.
As a top-tier expert in the current era, a Di Zun realm powerhouse who might not even be the third strongest, he was more than enough to spar with a few people who had just reached the peak of Core Formation.
Half a month was enough for Yun Xiao to familiarize herself with her abilities and reach a new level by combining her mastery of myriad paths.
After that, Shi You stopped participating in the sparring, and Yun Xiao sparred with Yun Ze and Tan Chenyu.
Another half a month passed.
Yun Ze and Tan Chenyu had also mastered the offensive and defensive techniques of the peak Core Formation realm, and Tu Xiu, who had been in seclusion for a long time, finally showed signs of activity.
His realm began to drop again, and he started cultivating from the first level of Qi Refining once more.
This time, it only took three attempts to successfully break through from the late stage of Core Formation to the peak of Core Formation!
The last peak Core Formation finally broke through!
Almost simultaneously, Bu Bu, who had been silent all along, finally opened her eyes.
She looked at everyone and, without saying much, directly stated, "Later, when we perform the ritual, I will be the leader. I won't say much more. I will only remind you of one thing."
"After the breakthrough, the Heavenly Tribulation will descend. We must disperse as quickly as possible and must not let the tribulation clouds overlap, otherwise, I will not be responsible for your death."
"Do you all understand?"
Everyone did not answer, but silently nodded.
Heavenly Tribulation!
After the Golden Core, it was the first Heavenly Tribulation that all cultivators faced!
Yun Ze couldn't help but recall the Heavenly Tribulation he witnessed when Li Po broke through.
That majestic heavenly might, even in retrospect, was incredibly awe-inspiring!
"Alright, let's begin."
Bu Bu said calmly and then began to draw upon the surrounding spirit liquid with her own cultivation!
Instantly, countless spirit liquids actively surged into everyone's bodies, beginning to impact the last barrier of the Core Formation realm!