Chapter 452 - 333: Finally Achieving Core Formation
"Sect Leader, you don’t plan on leaving?" Zhong Yankun asked, looking at Duan Qingyun with a smile.
"There’s no hurry. I don’t have anything pressing at the moment anyway."
As the Sect Leader, Duan Qingyun had seen Elders off to secluded cultivation to attempt Core Formation many times.
On other occasions, he would typically leave right after watching the Elder enter their cave residence.
It was all part of the tradition; as Sect Leader, he had to see the process through.
But Fang Yun was truly different from the other Elders.
The reason was that Fang Yun’s influence on their sect was simply too great.
"Fair enough," Zhong Yankun said, not pressing the matter.
The last time his great-granddaughter had entered seclusion for Core Formation, Sect Leader Duan Qingyun had left just as promptly as he usually did.
In Zhong Yankun’s heart, his great-granddaughter was naturally more important than Fang Yun.
Within the entire Celestial Cloud Sect, Fang Yun held the second-place spot in his heart.
"Qiaoqiao, let’s go." Zhong Yankun said to Song Qiaoqiao. Noticing the subtle expression on his great-granddaughter’s face, he, as her great-grandfather, quickly understood her thoughts. "Don’t worry about Fang Yun attempting Core Formation. I’d say that kid’s chances are at least ten percent higher than yours were back then."
"I understand, Great-grandfather."
Song Qiaoqiao nodded and left with Zhong Yankun.
Soon after, Xiong Xingfeng and Duan Qingyun also left one by one.
During Fang Yun’s seclusion, tasks at both Dan Cloud Peak and Artifact Casting Peak would require minor adjustments.
Song Qiaoqiao and Xiong Xingfeng would take over some of his duties.
Having already succeeded in Core Formation, Song Qiaoqiao no longer participated in the daily administrative affairs of Dan Cloud Peak, but she still continued to refine pills as usual.
After Core Formation, her very being had undergone a transformation. With her Divine Sense providing much stronger assistance to her alchemy, her skill level had improved significantly in a short time.
She could now perfectly refine the Spirit Ascension Pill, a Second Tier pill used to aid cultivation, putting her on the same level as Fang Yun.
「Inside the cave residence.」
Fang Yun had already moved to the very center.
A cave residence specifically designed to help Elders with their breakthroughs was essentially a large-scale Cultivation Room.
Anything a Cultivation Room had, this cave residence certainly had as well.
The concentration of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was highest at the center.
A normal-sized Cultivation Room would typically have a miniature Gathering Spirit Array, whereas the one in this cave residence was a small-scale Third Tier Gathering Spirit Array.
"Miniature" and "small-scale" referred to the Spirit Array’s area of effect; for comparison, the Celestial Cloud Sect’s All Things Five Elements Array was a large-scale Third Tier Spirit Array.
For Spirit Arrays of the same grade, the larger the scale, the more difficult it was to set up, and the time required increased exponentially.
’Thanks to the Gathering Spirit Array, this is definitely the place in the sect with the densest Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.’
The higher the concentration of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, the more comfortable the cultivation environment it provided for a Cultivator.
When attempting to break through from Foundation Establishment to Core Formation, if the concentration of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi fell below the standard required for a normal cultivator at the Peak of Foundation Establishment, it would lower the chances of success. Below a certain point, failure would be guaranteed.
He sat in meditation for the better part of half a day to regulate himself.
Only then did Fang Yun take out the Middle-grade Golden Core Pill, consume it, and officially begin his attempt to reach the Core Formation Realm.
Now was not the time to use the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Object, the Cloud Ink Water.
Fang Yun had already placed the grayish-white Spiritual Water to his side, ready for immediate use when the time came.
Foundation Establishment has three trials.
Core Formation has three minor trials and one major trial.
The so-called three minor trials were similar to the three trials of Foundation Establishment, testing a cultivator’s physical body, Spiritual Power, and Divine Sense.
Cultivators who had been through Foundation Establishment already had experience with this, so when comparing the three minor trials to the one major trial, the latter was far more difficult.
This was a matter of comparison, however.
In reality, the three minor trials were also exceedingly difficult.
He pushed the final part of his Cultivation Technique to its limit. The Great Fire Lotus in his Qi Sea began to burn, and the power generated from its combustion spread throughout Fang Yun’s entire body.
Just like the Golden Core Pill he had ingested, it began providing assistance from the very start of the breakthrough.
The difference between the Great Fire Lotus and the Golden Core Pill was that the Great Fire Lotus only affected the first three minor trials, while the Golden Core Pill’s effects covered the entire Core Formation process.
「As time passed.」
After passing through the initial stable phase, the test of the three minor trials of Core Formation had begun.
During the Qi Refining Stage, one’s life force would begin to decline after age sixty, when roughly half their lifespan was spent. For a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, however, this decline in vitality would only begin when they had about ten years of their lifespan remaining.
As for after Core Formation, a Core Formation Stage Cultivator possessed a Leakless Golden Core, and the notion of declining vitality due to lifespan was no longer a concern.
For the first of the three minor trials of Core Formation, the younger a cultivator was when they achieved Foundation Establishment, the easier it was to pass.
Fang Yun was not yet one hundred and fifteen years old. For a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, as long as they weren’t over two hundred, they weren’t considered old. At his age, Fang Yun was among the younger group of cultivators at the Peak of Foundation Establishment.
Therefore, for him, the first of the three minor trials of Core Formation was the easiest.
With the help of the Great Fire Lotus and the Middle-grade Golden Core Pill, he passed this minor trial with exceptional smoothness.
The second minor trial was related to Spiritual Power.
This trial was more difficult than the first. If one attempted it without having truly reached the Peak of Foundation Establishment, the difficulty would increase dramatically. At this stage, the quality of the Spiritual Power cultivated by one’s technique was paramount.
As long as the quality of one’s Spiritual Power was high enough, one could attempt Core Formation as soon as they entered the Peak of Foundation Establishment.
Cultivation Techniques of this type were usually extremely slow to practice.
The Spiritual Power produced by Fang Yun’s Cultivation Technique, the Nine Fire Lotus Technique, was considered normal among Foundation Establishment Techniques, with nothing particularly special about it.
The greatest advantage of the Nine Fire Lotus Technique lay in the Fire Lotuses it produced.
With the help of the Great Fire Lotus, this minor trial did supplement the quality of his Spiritual Power to some extent. However, once the Great Fire Lotus was consumed, it was gone for good; there was no getting it back if the Core Formation attempt failed. In contrast, one’s actual Spiritual Power was tangible—its effects would still be there for the next attempt.