Inside the cave abode, the stone door of the secret chamber finally swung open.
A figure flashed by, and a disheveled person with an obscured face slowly emerged from the chamber.
A yellow light flickered, and Qu Hun immediately appeared beside this person, his expression utterly blank.
“Hehe, Core Formation—finally, the Golden Core is complete!” After glancing at everything outside the chamber and Qu Hun by his side, the person suddenly threw his head back and laughed, the sound faintly echoing like the roar of a dragon or the growl of a tiger.
The face revealed through the messy hair was none other than Han Li, who had entered the secret chamber sixty years ago. However, his eyes now gleamed with a sharp light, and his every movement exuded an immense aura, as if he were a completely different person.
After his laughter subsided, Han Li looked around and felt a sense of unfamiliarity. Sixty years of seclusion had made everything seem distant, as if the past had become a remote memory.
Without lingering, Han Li made his way back to his bedroom based on his memories.
After the time it takes to finish a meal, Han Li emerged from his bedroom looking refreshed, having restored his appearance and attire from decades ago—once again resembling a young man in his twenties.
Yet, his expression was now icy and detached as he calmly made his way to the insect room.
The Gold Devouring Beetles inside were completely different from decades ago. Not only had their numbers reached a terrifying tens of thousands, but their originally silver shells now bore golden spots, making them appear far more ferocious and menacing.
Han Li showed no surprise at this sight. Years ago, he had already learned of this development through his avatar, Qu Hun. Now, he was merely witnessing the reality firsthand.
Truth be told, Han Li had never expected that a sudden inspiration to use these beetles for experiments with Rainbow Skirt Grass would serendipitously solve the problem of breeding them.
After he entered seclusion, Qu Hun continued to feed the beetles Rainbow Skirt Grass every month. The insects grew increasingly aggressive after consuming it. After three or four years of feeding, the beetles underwent a mutation.
After devouring the Rainbow Skirt Grass, they began cannibalizing each other. Within days, only a dozen or so beetles remained from the original hundreds, but the survivors were far larger and more powerful than their predecessors.
Shortly after consuming their kin, these beetles began laying eggs. Each beetle produced nearly a hundred eggs before slowly dying. In one fell swoop, Han Li obtained over a thousand eggs.
These eggs hatched after just a year. Qu Hun then continued feeding them Rainbow Skirt Grass, prompting them to cannibalize each other and lay eggs again.
After several cycles of this, the number of Gold Devouring Beetles skyrocketed.
Had it not been for the limited quantity of mature Rainbow Skirt Grass, which delayed the cannibalism process, their numbers would have been even greater!
What was even more astonishing was that each generation of beetles produced through this method of cannibalism and reproduction grew stronger and fiercer than the last. Their shells, once pure silver, now bore golden spots that seemed to be growing larger.
Han Li wondered to himself whether the beetles would truly advance once their shells turned completely golden.
Standing outside the insect room, Han Li gazed at the beetles for a long time without uttering a word. He knew full well that this method of breeding Gold Devouring Beetles was certainly not the orthodox approach used by ancient beast-taming cultivators.
He believed that the miraculous effects of the mysterious small vial were unparalleled in the mortal world. Perhaps this method even surpassed the insect-rearing techniques of predecessors.
With this thought, Han Li smiled faintly and made his way to another insect room nearby, where two Jadeblood Spiders were kept.
Although, under Han Li’s instructions, Qu Hun had used only a small portion of the green liquid produced over the years to cultivate spirit medicines for Beast Nurturing Pills, the prolonged feeding had allowed the two Jadeblood Spiders to advance several stages. They were now peak fourth-grade demon beasts.
They looked exactly like the White Jade Spiders he had once seen in an underground cavern—their bodies crystalline and jade-like, incredibly beautiful.
Han Li’s arrival clearly startled the two spiders. Having long been connected to him through shared consciousness, they immediately rushed toward the stone door, eager to play and interact with him.
Delighted, Han Li opened the stone door, and the two spiders leaped out, circling around him excitedly.
After stroking the backs of the two demon beasts for a while and marveling at their crystalline bodies, Han Li stored them in a spirit beast pouch and left the insect room.
He had no intention of using the Gold Devouring Beetles just yet. He planned to wait for a few more generations of breeding, allowing their bodies to turn completely golden before deploying them as his hidden trump card.
Next, Han Li toured the rest of the cave abode before returning to his bedroom in high spirits. Lying on his comfortable wooden bed, he recalled the process of forming his Golden Core in the secret chamber.
Truth be told, the speed of his successful Core Formation had far exceeded his expectations. He had not completed the third cycle of the “Triple Revolving Cultivation Art,” having only achieved the second cycle after over thirty years of effort.
Relying solely on medicinal pills to cultivate the “Triple Revolving Cultivation Art” had progressed much faster than he had initially anticipated. He had originally feared that completing all three cycles would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. Yet, he had finished the second cycle in just over a decade, leaving him with more than enough lifespan to complete the third cycle.
This realization stirred his ambitions, but he dared not place all his hopes for Core Formation solely on the “Triple Revolving Cultivation Art.”
After all, this cultivation art was created by someone else, and no one else had ever practiced it! Moreover, the art claimed only a fifty percent success rate for Core Formation even after completing all three cycles. This meant that even if he finished the third cycle, there was still a fifty percent chance he would fail to form his core.
This worried him greatly, and he began considering additional methods to increase his chances of success.
It was then that he recalled the words of the former Young Master of the Thousand Bamboo Sect, “Senior Brother Lin,” whom he had killed. Lin had claimed that mastering the Great Development Talisman to a high level could increase the success rate of Core Formation. After careful consideration, Han Li decided to cultivate the third layer of the Great Development Talisman.
“Whether this claim is true or not, cultivating it can’t hurt,” Han Li thought simply at the time.
The third layer of the Great Development Talisman naturally took longer to master than the second layer. Han Li spent over twenty years struggling to break through the bottleneck and barely succeeded. As for the fourth layer, he had no intention of cultivating it, as the time required was something he could not afford to waste.
Afterward, with the aid of various spirit medicines, Han Li began the years-long process of forming his core.
To be honest, due to his previous devastating failure during the first cycle, Han Li had not held high hopes for Core Formation during the second cycle. He had merely approached it as an experiment, expecting to spend a few years testing the waters. While Qu Hun had taken four years to form his Evil Core, Han Li, with his inferior aptitude, had spent over five years before unexpectedly succeeding in forming his Golden Core not long ago.
Even as he felt the heaven and earth spiritual energy madly pouring into his body and his true essence churning violently in his dantian before condensing into a thumb-sized, four-colored pearl, Han Li felt as if he were dreaming.
“Just like that, I’ve reached Core Formation?” He could hardly believe it. Unprepared for such a windfall, the sheer surprise nearly caused his unstable Golden Core to collapse. Terrified, he quickly calmed his mind to avoid a major setback that would have sent him tumbling back to Foundation Establishment.
Recalling this, Han Li, lying on his bed, couldn’t help but curl his lips into a faint, almost imperceptible smile.
With a soft sigh, he sat up and stepped out of bed.
Even now, long after his Core Formation, the more he thought about it, the more excited he became, unable to remain still.
Reaching Core Formation not only meant he was now a senior expert in the world of cultivation but also that his lifespan had extended to a terrifying five to six hundred years, allowing him to cultivate with peace of mind.
Most importantly, he could now use his core flame to refine and temper his own magic treasure.
Speaking of magic treasures, Han Li currently possessed two. One, the “Primordial Chaos Bowl,” had been refined by Qu Hun. The other, the “Green Scimitar,” he intended to use for self-defense temporarily.
Ultimately, however, what he truly wished to refine was the “Emerald Bamboo Cloud-Summoning Sword” from the golden page, a treasure he had coveted for a long time.
This sword was designed to be refined as a set, and once completed, its power would be immense, easily overwhelming cultivators of the same level. Moreover, having now reached the seventh layer of the Azure Essence Sword Art, he could finally use the “Sword Shadow Light-Splitting Technique.” This filled him with anticipation for his path of cultivation after Core Formation.
What he needed to do now was quickly gather the materials required to refine the “Emerald Bamboo Cloud-Summoning Sword” so he could soon temper this treasure with his core flame and divine sense, unlocking its great power.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage