Mount Emei, Liuyun Peak, one month later.
"Finally, I have fully absorbed the power of all the medicinal pills that strengthen the physical body and the primordial spirit!"
Inside the wooden box he had modified with the Undetectable Extension Charm, Li Chuan, currently in his Second Form, formed hand seals:
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Instantly, one thousand Shadow Clones appeared around him.
After consuming all the pills that the Lotus Fairy had prepared for her tribulation at Drunken Immortal Cliff, he had finally absorbed the power of all the pills after one month, and his body had seen a huge improvement in all aspects.
First, his physical strength had increased by about 50% compared to before. His physical body was already far superior to the cultivators of this World, so a 50% increase already exceeded his expectations.
This meant that even without opening the Eight Gates, relying solely on his Second Form, he should be able to contend in strength with a Nascent Soul Stage demonic beast.
Second was his Chakra volume. Previously, his limit was five hundred Shadow Clones; now, he could create one thousand, a massive increase in Chakra volume.
Finally, there was his primordial spirit—that is, his spirit and soul. The improvement of his primordial spirit made him feel that the essence of his soul had been elevated, and his mental power had also significantly strengthened.
The effect of this was that he had better control when casting magic, even reaching the point where he could easily cast most spells wandlessly.
A wizard's bloodline is innate, but if the spirit and soul are improved, it is also of great benefit to spellcasting.
Overall, if he were to encounter that Blood God Child again now, he might not need to launch a sneak attack or take soldier pills; he could just face it head-on and fight to a draw.
Due to the dense spiritual energy of Mount Emei and his special body, he could cultivate at the speed of someone at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Stage. In just one month, he already felt like he was faintly approaching the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.
At that time, the Lotus Fairy had given him two bottles of Spirit Enhancement Pills, four pills per bottle, and instructed him to take one twice a year. After four years, he would likely be able to enter the Core Formation Realm.
But that was the Lotus Fairy's advice based on an ordinary early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. In reality, given the absorption speed of Li Chuan's body, this time could be greatly shortened.
Furthermore, in a place with such dense spiritual energy as Mount Emei, combined with his already exaggerated speed of absorbing spiritual energy, he might be able to reach the Core Formation Realm without even taking all eight pills.
"First, reach the Core Formation Realm, and then consider other things after that."
After roughly checking his body, Li Chuan sat cross-legged and entered meditation, circulating the Shangqing Great Cave True Scripture, and popped a Spirit Enhancement Pill into his mouth.
The Foundation Establishment Stage grants 150 years of life, and the Core Formation Realm grants 500 years. With a lifespan of 500 years, he would not have to worry about the problem of his body aging while traveling between various Small Worlds for the time being.
Therefore, the most important thing he needed to do next was to cultivate with all his might to break through to the Core Formation Realm and increase his lifespan.
As for the invasion of the Youquan Blood Demon, there should still be nearly three years left, so there was no rush.
And so, time flew by, and two years passed quickly.
For cultivators in meditation, a few years really pass in the blink of an eye; it is hard to have the feeling of time passing. This is why some cultivators who are hundreds of years old still have a very young mindset.
A person's mindset ages partly because their body ages, and partly because of their life experiences. Since a cultivator's body does not age, and they spend most of their time in meditation running their cultivation techniques without much life experience, how could their mindset age?
This is also why some cultivators sometimes need to go down the mountain to travel in the mortal World.
On one hand, it is to enrich their own experiences, and on the other, it is to find disciples with good cultivation talent to bring into the sect.
As for why they need to enrich their life experience instead of just staying in the mountains for hard cultivation, this involves the Four-Nine Heavenly Tribulation that one must pass to break through from the Nascent Soul Stage to the Earth Immortal Realm.
During these two years, apart from meditating and cultivating, Li Chuan would also come out to make friends with the Emei disciples. From the Master Brother Danchenzi down to the three hundred Qingcheng disciples, he did not miss a single one.
Because he had defeated the Blood God Child and saved the lives of the Yun Zhong Seven, everyone in Emei was very friendly towards him.
The only person he did not have the chance to meet was Baimei Zhenren (Immortal). Baimei Zhenren (Immortal) needed to suppress his cultivation breakthrough, so he generally would not appear unless a major event occurred.
It was precisely because of his interactions with the Emei disciples that he gained more common sense and knowledge about cultivation.
The gap between large sects and small sects lies not only in spiritual energy, cultivation techniques, and cultivation aptitude, but also in some intelligence regarding cultivation.
Large sects basically never lack Earth Immortals or Nascent Soul cultivators; they might even produce a Heaven Immortal every few thousand years. Small sects, however, only reach the Golden Core stage at best, so how could they have such detailed knowledge about the common sense of the Nascent Soul and Earth Immortal stages?
This is like the mortal World, where some children born into poverty, when they go out to work in factories, believe it is the only way they know to earn money.
But some children in cities with connections, because of the relationships and knowledge of their relatives and friends, have many more choices, and the gap widens immediately.
The information Li Chuan found in Li Qingfeng's memories regarding passing the Four-Nine Heavenly Tribulation was very vague, generally just stating that one needed strong strength, powerful magical treasures, and deep true essence.
In reality, besides these, the physical body cannot be weak, the primordial spirit must reach a certain level, and most importantly, one needs experience.
Because when undergoing the Four-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, in addition to various external dangers, the cultivator undergoing the tribulation will also fall into various illusions within their heart. If they do not have enough life experience to see through these illusions, they might very well remain trapped in the illusions and be unable to come out.
In that case, the tribulation would naturally fail, leading to death and dissipation, without even the chance for reincarnation through the dissolution of the body.
Reincarnation through the dissolution of the body is only possible if, before the Four-Nine Heavenly Tribulation begins, one has a premonition that they might not be able to pass it; only then can they choose to dissolve the body.
However, having cultivated to the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage, who would be willing to give up the tribulation to dissolve their body and seek an unknown Afterlife or future life?
Moreover, in this World, no cultivator is so sure of themselves before the tribulation; everyone holds the determination of "succeed or die." Without this determination, one need not think about the tribulation.
Therefore, in order to achieve the Earth Immortal Realm, traveling in the mortal World to gain experience is an essential process, and some have even done it more than once.
As for when to go for this experience, some choose to go earlier during the Foundation Establishment Stage; the closer they are to mortals, the more they can experience a different kind of life. Others choose to go after the Core Formation stage, or even the Nascent Soul Stage, which is safer.
However, as long as one goes for this experience, they will be tainted by karma, which is a headache for the Earth Immortal Realm.
Most cultivators in the Earth Immortal Realm are trapped there because, while they have passed the test of desire, they find it difficult to overcome the test of emotion. Their rich experiences while traveling in the mortal World have left them with many emotions and entanglements that they cannot cut off.
Wanting to cut off emotions does not mean killing the other party, because most of the related mortals have long since passed away due to their lifespans. The main thing is to let one's heart be liberated and find release.
Some people just cannot let go of those things, cannot let go of the people and events in their hearts, and so they will never be able to break through to the Heaven Immortal Realm.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right nobut who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/TripleCrown
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"