Xue Mo approached Lu Yao and extended his finger to tap her head. In the meantime, Lu Yao didn't move and let him do as he wanted, showing her complete trust in him.
While tapping her head Xue Mo began to explain, "do you know why I named this realm Foundation Opening?" Lu Yao shook her head. "It's because this realm no one but us can enter it."
"You know that after the Qi Condensation stage, there is the Foundation Building/Establishment realm." Xue Mo made sure she was paying attention before continuing. "In the Foundation Establishment stage, Cultivators of this Universe use their Condensed Qi and fuse it with their dantians. This process will allow the dantian to store energy and make it become a sort of generator and storage for more energy.
However, in my world, we had the Arch Pillar realm. We turned Arch energy into as many pillars as our energy and purity could create. We based the strength and talent of the individuals using these Arch Pillars; I myself had over 69 Pillars in my last life." Lu Yao felt the pride in Xue Mo's voice even if he didn't mean to show it. It featured just how exceptional the Sage of Nightmares was in his past life.
Lu Yao smiled at Xue Mo's display of pride, which prompted him to cough and look away before carrying on with his explanation. "Anyway, this time, I won't merge these levels like previously." He stopped, looked at the listening Lu Yao, and smirked, "do you remember what I said initially?"
"You mean what you said about no one but us being able to enter this realm?" she replied.
"Yes," he nodded. "Do you know the reason for that?" Seeing her shaking her head, he happily explained. "It's because we are special!"
Lu Yao started to tire from Xue Mo beating around the bush and as if he read her mind, which he actually did. "You see, I have discovered that you and I have Magic/Demon cores. At first, I thought that it was something everyone in this world had, but after I checked several creatures and people, it turned out I was wrong. For me, it wasn't a surprise that I had a core since I made it when I made this body, but you have it too!"
Lu Yao was surprised. She had no idea; all her life, she knew she was special from her lineage and had something only beasts without human forms had, which made her wonder.
Xue Mo let her contemplate for a while before regaining her attention. "I created mine so I can use it if need be, and if not, it wouldn't matter much, but after I found that you also have a core and that this Universe also had Cultivators, I had an idea."
Xue Mo raised a finger, "why not fuse the core and the dantian? At first, this idea seemed crazy and unrealistic even for me, but it kept coming back. Both the dantian and the core are for Cultivation. They are organs especially created for that. If so, then merging them although hard and comes with deadly factors and high chances of death, the outcome from success would create something new."
Lu Yao could feel the excitement in Xue Mo's voice; his eyes blazed with ambition. He created fantastic and unique things, a new body, a Cultivation power-system, and now this merging idea, she felt happy listening to him.
"If we succeed, we will be the first and maybe only beings in this universe to have this new power," Xue Mo calmed himself as his one turned serious. Narrowing his eyes, he asked, "this is why I want to make sure, will you, Lu Yao, take this risk with me?"
This time Lu Yao didn't immediately answer. She needed to think this through. If it were anything else, Lu Yao would gladly accept, even if it led her to death. But until she finished her business, she couldn't just agree!
Xue Mo saw Lu Yao's hesitation, he could read her thoughts and know what stopped her, but he didn't want to invade her privacy. If she wanted him to know, she would tell him. He wouldn't pressure her for this; it concerned her life after all.
Lu Yao took several minutes to ponder before making up her mind. She would do it; she would risk it all with Xue Mo. And after succeeding, she would tell him everything. If she died here, then it just wasn't meant to be for her to continue living.
She looked at her partner, whom she spent years of her life with, and smiled. "Let's do it, Mo!"
Xue Mo looked at Lu Yao and nodded. He didn't ask and started the procedure. He transmitted his thoughts to her to make the process smoother and give her a better picture.
At the same time, they started. Xue Mo showed her where her core was. They used their newly acquired Arcane Energy and moved the core. This was extremely painful as it was an organ and a part of their bodies. Yet, the pain they went through when creating their Arcane Energy made this feel like nothing.
Through Arcane Energy, they preserved and protected their organs, and through their blood, bones, and organs, they guided their cores to their dantians. After reaching the naval area a few inches above their stomachs where the dantians were, they stopped.
Now was the real-life and death part, the merge. As Xue Mo instructed, they simultaneously used their Arcane energy and crushed their cores. CRASH, BLAM! Sounds of organs bursting, and crushed rocks sounded from Xue Mo and Lu Yao, but as if they didn't feel anything, they proceeded.
After they crushed and hardened their cores into dust using Arcane Energy, Xue Mo and Lu Yao made a small incision in their dantians. They threw the dusted core inside and immediately closed the whole by pressuring it using Arcane Energy-Soon after, the holes closed and healed.
Once inside the dantian, Xue Mo and Lu Yao scattered the dusted core in the dantian, where it absorbed and harmonized with the True Arch Energy inside. Soon shining blue lights swam in the True Arch Energy.
Xue Mo and Lu Yao were under immense pressure and had concentrated more than they ever did as any small mistake would lead to their deaths. When they inspected their dantians with the Arcane energy, they noticed how everything was going according to Xue Mo's estimations, but still, they didn't relax, for the most dangerous and last step was upon them.
Using the mystical Arcane Energy again, they assembled the blue dust and covered the whole dantian with it. The walls of the dantian pulsated at the foreign feeling and started heating Xue Mo and Lu Yao. In a few minutes, Xue Mo and Lu Yao had their skin coated with a red hue, and their insides were steaming hot.
This was the dantians attack response and what Xue Mo counted on to complete the experiment. The dantian, the source of the heat, appeared on fire. Even the blue dust started melting from the high temperature.
Lu Yao found her chance and began the last step of the procedure. She used Arcane energy as a conduit and let Mana into both their dantians. She started inscribing runes using Mana, and the blue dust was its main component.
She followed Xue Mo's exact instructions and let the blue dust enter the hot dantian walls. The walls merged with the blue dust and became one. It was at that time that the runes Lu Yao inscribed in the cores lit up. The whole dantian shined in a bluish dark color.
When it dimmed, the whole dantian looked different. It still housed the accumulated True Arch Energy, but it looked like a barrier formed in the newly upgraded dantian! It was thrice as large as before yet retained its previous size from outside.
Half of the dantian was filled with shining, pure, True Arch energy, and the other was weirdly empty. The dantians' walls were blue with glowing dots covering it as if a gem mind existed inside!
Once the procedure ended, Xue Mo and Lu Yao released breath they didn't know they were holding. They looked at each other and smiled; they felt each other's warmth. They just got through two consecutive ordeals and survived.
The Arcane Energy was necessary for this procedure, but Xue Mo's forging and Lu Yao's runes were just as important. Without any of these, they would have perished.
"You looked real red back there," Lu Yao sniggered. "what were you blushing for?"
Seeing Lu Yao making jokes, Xue Mo also teased, "you were no different. Were you perhaps thinking something dirty? Maybe sexual?" he smirked as he enunciated the last part.
"So, what if I was?" she jabbed, not losing in the slightest. "We had the same thoughts, eh Mo?"
Xue Mo felt it was enough, and with a serious and concerned gaze, he asked, "do you feel anything uncomfortable?" Lu Yao was always honest when she wanted to, and now was one of these times. "Of course, I feel uncomfortable!? That was painful, although not as much as when we created Arcane, it was painful nonetheless."
Lu Yao suddenly realized something. "Speaking of Arcane, how were we able to use it so easily?"
Looking at Lu Yao acting cute, Xue Mo answered, "it's because it's made of our souls and mental energy! Although I could control my soul freely before, when we used Arcane Energy, it was far easier, probably because the mental waves in it helped." He hypothesized with a shrug.
After getting her explanation, Lu Yao asked, "so now that we have reached Foundation Opening, what do we do?" Lu Yao realized that she lets Xue Mo take the lead too much and continued, "tell you what, never mind! Let's go back; that's what we will do next."
Xue Mo nodded as Lu Yao took the lead. He picked her up, and with speed incomparable to before, they made their way back to the Academy. Their journey in this world was coming to an end; it was time to move on. They reached the Academy in no time.