"Oh~"
He was back!
Entering the game world once again, a hint of nostalgia flickered across Li Wei's face. It had only been an hour since his last visit, yet he felt a sense of timelessness, as if ages had passed.
And this time, it was completely different from before.
Previously, he was a formless black mist, only able to perceive himself as such. But now... he had a physical body!
He finally experienced the fresh air of this world, the spiritual energy many times more abundant than on Earth, and the real, tangible people.
Even... the giant in front of him.
This fellow was two meters tall, built like a bull, the clinking sound of his dark red armor rubbing together crisp and clear. Seemingly with nothing to do, he was strolling around, picking his nose as he went!
He recognized this kid, Li Yundou, the idiot who spoke without thinking.
Just as he was about to throw a punch, Li Wei froze.
Li Yundou's body passed right through his own.
"Unable to be targeted, unable to attack. Li Yundou is at the Foundation Establishment stage; even at his weakest, he should be able to sense the presence of ghosts and spirits. This means I'm not even considered a true spirit. I can only exist within a specific range in this world and absorb spiritual energy for my breakthrough, right?"
Li Wei suddenly understood. No wonder entering the world to fight for five minutes costs so much incense value.
While merely existing in this world for a year only costs 1,000.
Furthermore, Li Wei looked into the distance. Within a ten-thousand-meter radius around the ancestral hall, a boundary had formed. He sensed that he couldn't step outside this circle.
"There's a reason why it's cheaper."
Li Wei didn't mind.
He exhaled deeply and simply walked to the Blood Spirit Fruit Tree to meditate. This further confirmed his guess. Previously, when he descended as a misty figure, the Blood Spirit Fruit Tree had been the most excited. This thing originally had some kind of contract with his spirit tablet, but now it showed no reaction at all.
"One year in this world is only an hour outside. This skill is already heaven-defying; there's no need to dwell on it."
Li Wei didn't overthink it any further.
In an instant, he closed his eyes and began his breakthrough.
...
Breaking through from Qi Refinement to Foundation Establishment was the easiest step.
As long as one's spiritual roots reach 60 points or above, they can accommodate enough spiritual energy from heaven and earth to forcefully open the body's acupoints, transform the dantian into a sea of Qi, and obtain the Core Flame. This also initiated the process of cleansing impurities from the body, bringing about a transformation in aptitude and even discarding weak or unnecessary spiritual roots.
The reason why the previous members of the Li family, despite their ordinary aptitudes, were able to break through to Foundation Establishment one after another was because they had consumed Li Wei's "Heaven's Secret Replenishing Pill." That thing was basically an entry ticket to the Foundation Establishment.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be hailed as a divine medicine in the real world.
The reason why breakthroughs took a long time was that cultivators needed to accumulate sufficient spiritual energy within their spiritual roots to reach the optimal state for the breakthrough. The process was complex and often required repeated deductions and calculations.
The realms beyond were like crossing a heavenly chasm!
From the early Foundation Establishment to the peak of Foundation Establishment, it was a process of condensing the sea of Qi within the dantian into a Golden Core. At the same time, one's spiritual power would become denser and more potent.
After forming the core, it was tempered with the Core Flame. This tempering period was known as the False Core Formation stage.
The Golden Cores forged during this stage also varied in strength.
The process involved inscribing one's own techniques or martial skills onto the Golden Core. The more complete the inscription and the more powerful the technique, the higher the quality of the resulting Golden Core. They were classified into three grades: Heaven, Earth, and Human. These grades determined the Golden Core's capacity to store spiritual power, the speed of absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth, the speed of casting techniques, and other innate qualities.
The stronger the Core Flame formed from one's spiritual roots, the easier it was to temper the Golden Core.
Li Wei had also heard that if one had insights into the workings of heaven and earth during the tempering process, the Golden Core could even surpass the three grades and reach an even higher level!
For instance, Elder Qiuli's Golden Core was of the Earth grade, which was why he could effortlessly fight against three other Golden Core cultivators simultaneously.
At this moment, Li Wei was tempering his False Core!
Within his dantian, flames roared, and the Yin-Yang Diagram served as his meditation mat.
The Yin-Yang Diagram was his most powerful cultivation technique, far surpassing the Phantom Shadow Steps. It was this technique that he intended to inscribe onto his False Core.
Li Wei's ambition was not small. He was still young. If he couldn't inscribe the Yin-Yang Diagram technique before his life ended, then he might as well spend a year inscribing a useless technique and give up on any further progress.
Either be the head of the dragon or the tail of a turtle—that was his philosophy in life.
Otherwise, he would have already broken through to the Golden Core stage.
...
As Li Wei tempered his core, the spiritual energy from heaven and earth, drawn by the Yin-Yang Diagram, gathered around the Blood Spirit Fruit Tree, resonating with his Golden Core breakthrough.
In just one year, the spiritual energy grew increasingly abundant.
This phenomenon couldn't escape the notice of the Li family. Eleven-year-old Li Tianyi, carrying his Sixth Uncle's newborn child, ran to where Li Yunbing was handling family affairs, his face beaming with joy. "Second Uncle, our ancestor has manifested his divine power!"
"What?!"
Li Yunbing was overjoyed. He had always consulted the ancestor whenever he faced a difficult decision, but the ancestor hadn't responded to him for a whole year. "Quickly, take me there!"
Soon, Li Yunbing followed Li Tianyi to the Blood Spirit Fruit Tree.
The tree's branches reached towards the sky. The Li family members, who were supposed to be in secluded cultivation, had already emerged and gathered together, their eyes filled with wonder as they gazed at the sight before them.
Because the spiritual energy surrounding the Blood Spirit Fruit Tree, shimmering with fluorescent light, had practically materialized!
They remembered the Yin-Yang Diagram that their ancestor had used before, its aura filled with paradox, extreme Yin on the left and extreme Yang on the right, forming a world of its own.
And now, the five elemental energies of heaven and earth converged. For those with keen eyesight, five pillars of light representing the five elements could be seen forming a pentagram that enveloped the Blood Spirit Fruit Tree. The interplay of creation and destruction between the five elemental energies grew increasingly apparent.
All the members of the Li family could sense it.
Cultivating here would yield twice the results with half the effort!
"I understand now!"
Li Dalong let out a cry of surprise, startling everyone. He grabbed Li Yunbing's shoulders with excitement. "Yunbing, you came to me a few months ago, saying you couldn't contact our ancestor, didn't you?"
"Yes, it's been a year."
Li Yunbing nodded, stunned.
"Our ancestor is right here!"
Li Dalong stared at the sky above the pillars of light, his eyes reddening. "I understand now. That must be the legendary Immortal Realm. Our ancestor is an immortal! Last time, he used a wisp of his divine soul to descend, so he couldn't stay for long."
"He saw that we couldn't defeat the Su family with our own strength, and we had no Golden Core cultivators. So, he specifically found a way to connect with us from the Immortal Realm and transmit his understanding of the five elements to aid our cultivation!"
"That's why we couldn't sense his presence in the ancestral hall."
Upon hearing this, the Li family members fell silent.
Their eyes reddened with emotion. So that was it! No wonder the Li family was experiencing such extraordinary phenomena. With this explanation, everything made sense.
"Ancestor!"
"Your unworthy descendants have caused you concern. We will surely live up to your expectations and cultivate diligently!"
In an instant, led by Li Dalong, the Li family members took out their spirit tablets and sat down to cultivate, facing the directions corresponding to their respective spiritual roots.