Having received Li Fan's suggestions, Jiao Xiuyuan treated them like precious treasures. He hurriedly and gleefully took his leave to make the arrangements.
"Cough, cough..." Li Fan's clone coughed, spitting out another mouthful of fresh blood.
"No wonder people only conduct theoretical research nowadays and no one actually practices this art of the human body's secret treasure.
"Compared to the new method, where one can advance with absolute certainty once conditions are met, developing the human body's secret treasure is not only terribly slow, but relies entirely on groping in the dark. The slightest carelessness leaves one depleted of qi and blood, severely sapping one's vitality.
"Fortunately, this is only a clone, so there's no need to worry about lingering repercussions. As long as it accumulates cultivation experience, it's a win."
Purchasing a Dragon Tiger Pill to replenish his qi and blood, Li Fan swallowed it down. His complexion quickly turned ruddy again, and the clone resumed its exploratory trials.
The remainder of year fifteen of the anchor slipped by in a flash.
In year sixteen of the anchor, aided by two sudden surges of reciprocal cultivation within his body, Li Fan shuddered all over and awoke from seclusion.
His cultivation could advance no further; not an inch of progress was possible.
Li Fan knew he had reached peak Foundation Establishment. Now, he only had to break through the bottleneck, and he could begin Core Formation.
Those two substantial surges of reciprocal cultivation had come from Ye Feipeng and Xiao Heng, respectively.
With a thought, Li Fan checked the events recorded by the blue crystal in his sea of consciousness regarding what had happened to the two over this period.
Ever since Ye Feipeng swallowed the Azure Wind True Intent, his cultivation speed had become far faster than before. He quickly reached peak Qi Condensation.
As if no bottleneck existed for him at all, barely half a year later, he followed the example of Zhang Haobo from his memories and established his Dao Foundation with the Azure Wind Sword Intent.
Having succeeded in Foundation Establishment, Ye Feipeng returned to the deserted island and flaunted his achievement smugly before everyone. Putting on airs, he adopted the tone and posture of a "senior" to lecture Xiao Heng and the others.
Spurred by this provocation, Xiao Heng threw himself into cultivation with even greater abandon.
A month later, after reaching peak Qi Condensation, Xiao Heng obtained the superior wonder of Man, the Buried Sea Bone Sword, via the altar in the White Bone Vanguard Realm, successfully stepping into the Foundation Establishment stage.
This Foundation Establishment wonder had naturally been prepared for him by Li Fan.
After establishing his foundation, the first thing Xiao Heng did was seek out Ye Feipeng for another spar.
Both had only recently advanced and were not yet able to control their power with precision. After fighting for a long time without either gaining the upper hand, they had no choice but to call it a draw.
Xiao Heng sighed, the elation that had just surged in his heart instantly vanishing without a trace. Meanwhile, a renewed sense of crisis welled up within the previously self-satisfied Ye Feipeng.
He no longer lingered on the deserted island, but set out to travel, cultivating while seeking opportunities based on his memories from his previous life.
Li Fan then checked on the others.
Among them, Su Xiaomei had progressed the fastest and possessed the highest cultivation. Even though she was still just a child who spent most of her day playing and lacked any proactive drive for bitter cultivation, her innate talent was simply too extraordinary. She had already reached the late Qi Condensation stage, and breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment stage would surely not be far off.
Next was Zhang Haobo, currently at the mid Qi Condensation stage.
Su Changyu and the Yin sisters had already cleansed all the miasma from their bodies and formally embarked upon the immortal path.
Feeling the reciprocal cultivation—greater or lesser—continually welling up inside him from each of them, Li Fan felt like a hardworking farmer watching fresh green chives push eagerly through the soil in vigorous, delightful growth, or like beholding a golden wheat field ripe for a bountiful autumn harvest, heavy heads of grain bowing the stalks.
The joy of harvest was beyond words.
In his delight, a flash of insight suddenly struck him, and his heart eased. That stubborn bottleneck crumbled on its own without a fight.
No barrier remained ahead—only a wide, smooth path. As long as he glimpsed the laws of heaven and earth, he could naturally condense a Golden Core.
He had not expected things to go so smoothly this time, giving him a distinct feeling that his fortunes had turned.
Fortunately, Li Fan remained entirely clear-headed. Having lingered in the late Foundation Establishment stage for so long, this breakthrough was merely the natural result of accumulated preparation. Furthermore, he had only broken through the bottleneck; there was still some distance to go before genuinely forming a Golden Core.
"Glimpsing the laws of heaven and earth..."
Reflecting on the various records he had read in the Heavenly Profound Mirror, as well as the scene of Zhang Haobo condensing a False Core with the Water Wind Sword Technique in his previous life, Li Fan pondered in silence.
"With my accumulated experience, condensing a Golden Core would be an easy task.
"Whether it's the law of water corresponding to the Congyun Sea, the law of the sword corresponding to the Twenty-Eight Congyun Swords, or the law of wind touched upon by Zhang Haobo and Ye Feipeng...
"If I pick any one of them and study it briefly, it probably wouldn't take long to form a core.
"However, a Golden Core formed that way would fall far short of matching my True Reversion Dao Foundation.
"Creating something from nothing, the false made real. That was the basis of my foundation establishment with True Reversion.
"Because of that, I can transform True Reversion into any wonder of heaven and earth I have absorbed. All wonders of heaven and earth are for my use.
"Correspondingly, when applied to the path of the Golden Core, that means..."
Li Fan's thoughts paused for a moment.
"The laws of Heavenly Dao are all my laws.
"If ordinary cultivators forming a core only condense one or a few pure powers of law, then what I must do is condense a...
"Myriad Laws Golden Core."
Li Fan took a deep breath, suppressing the sudden thrill rising in his chest.
"For other cultivators, no matter how genius they might be, even exhausting a lifetime of effort would never suffice to achieve this.
"Yet for me, who possesses True Reversion, as long as I can ensure successful cycles of reincarnation, it is nothing less than a certainty.
"Still, this process will inevitably take a tremendous amount of time. Perhaps I can first select a suitable law to break through to the Golden Core stage before considering the rest.
"Ideally, one that maximizes my combat strength."
When it came to pure lethality, among all that Li Fan had witnessed since stepping into the cultivation world, the Heaven Fiend Sword and Mo Sha were by far the most terrifying.
"Mo Sha is a purely destructive power that annihilates everything."
The blue crystal in his sea of consciousness gently shone with light, vividly replaying in his mind the scene where Mo Sha had wiped out all existence.
"Back then, the one witnessing that world-ending spectacle was merely a Qi Condensation clone. His comprehension is still not enough to support me in condensing a Golden Core with that law.
"However, when Mo Sha descends once again in this life, it will be a splendid opportunity to make up for that. I can observe it anew.
"As for that Heaven Fiend Sword..."
Thinking of this, Li Fan's brow furrowed slightly.
That sword was filled with slaughter, chaos, madness, and tyranny. Its origins were unknown. Yet a mere broken sword hilt could contend against the Azure Wind of the Dao Integration stage. Its original, complete might was truly unimaginable.
"If I want to form a core with the Heaven Fiend Sword Technique, my previous accumulation won't be enough."
Li Fan's eyes flickered, recalling the scene he had witnessed before, when the Master forced his way into the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace ruins.
A green ox pulling a cart; the Master forcing out the Heavenly Physician's avatar; followed by all the anomalies inside the palace rioting together.
And plunged deep into the body of that turtle-snake beast was the blade of the Heaven Fiend Sword.
Chapter 240