Chapter 665: Dispersing Cultivation and Re-cultivating (4000+)

Over a dozen years later.

Qianyang City Grand Auction House.

Inside a private room that cost Aaron one thousand Spirit Stones.

He calmly operated a Token Magic Tool to join the bidding.

"Eighty-seven thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones!"

"This 'Duer Pill' belongs to the guest in room Earth-37!"

Aaron stood up, paying no mind to the increasingly rare items at the auction; those had nothing to do with him.

"Fellow Daoist, excellent insight!"

Because the Cave Abode had abundant Spirit Qi, was aided by a large quantity of Spirit Pills, and because re-cultivating was indeed faster, it only took him twenty years to reach Foundation Establishment Perfection again, and he began his second Golden Core formation...

"You don't understand; buying two is for fear of failing the Golden Core formation once... but being unable to afford a Five Elements Golden Core Pill... this is the poor man's choice..."

"The Duer Pills at the auction house have dropped quite a bit in price recently..."

"Two hundred and fifty thousand Spirit Stones!"

Aaron had long anticipated the first failure.

After going to the auction organizers to settle the Spirit Stones and obtaining two 'Duer Pills', he went to the City Lord's Mansion, rented a Cave Abode with better Spirit Qi and a better environment than where he had lived before, and paid for one hundred years of Spirit Stones in one go!

Subsequently, he took the Token to his new home and spent several more days checking the old Array Formations and setting up new ones...

On the contrary, he completely relaxed for a few days, spending each day on Zither, Chess, Calligraphy, and Painting, burning incense, bathing, and cultivating his character...

For the next period of time, Aaron holed up in his Cave Abode, swallowing medicinal pills daily to heal his injuries, and after spending several years, he finally finished recuperating and began frantically swallowing pills to increase his Dharma Power for cultivation...

Only then did he have the mood to look inward and check his condition: "The injuries in my body are somewhat serious, but fortunately they can be treated with medicinal pills... My Essence Qi is severely damaged, and my cultivation has regressed to the Foundation Establishment Mid-stage? Fortunately... there is no bottleneck in re-cultivating; as long as the Dharma Power is sufficient, one can break through naturally. Otherwise, if I had to spend another fifty years waiting for a bottleneck to pass, I would cry myself to death!"

"The Golden Core formation failed..."

Immediately, Aaron entered the training room and began a deep-level seclusion.

Counting them up, he already had five 'Duer Pills' on his person.

After reaching Foundation Establishment Perfection, Aaron did not immediately begin attempting the Golden Core formation.

"Hmm, it is said that after the 'Lure Fish Pill' came out, it stimulated the enthusiasm of many alchemists, who invested in the research and development of various monster-luring pills, and they really did come up with a few with good effects... This has caused the price of Monster Beast materials to drop again and again over the last dozen years or so... And the main material for the 'Duer Pill' seems to include a large amount of Monster Beast materials... Naturally, the price followed suit."

Aaron reached into the Storage Bag at his side, took out a jade bottle, poured out a healing Spirit Pill he had refined himself, and swallowed it.

Aaron did not rush to form the Golden Core, but chose to disperse his cultivation!

That was because inside his dantian, the originally liquid Foundation Establishment true essence seemed to have become... a bit more viscous?

The appearance of this situation made Aaron make a decision.

He muttered to himself.

He first came out of seclusion briefly, let Shen Fei reveal his Foundation Establishment Perfection cultivation, and then renewed the Cave Abode lease for fifty years!

When he sealed the Cave Abode again.

Having cultivated for over five hundred years, Aaron finally touched the threshold of the Golden Core!

It was not until one day, when he felt his essence, energy, and spirit were full and his state had reached its peak, that he entered the seclusion room, swallowed a 'Duer Pill', and began to attempt the Golden Core formation!

Several months later.

Aaron, who was circulating his energy, suddenly changed his expression and violently spat out a large mouthful of essence blood.

The first time was mostly experimental in nature, which also let him know just how difficult it was for an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator to form a Golden Core.

But it did not matter; relying on the Spirit Qi of the Cave Abode and the help of medicinal pills, after only a few years of cultivation, Aaron successfully reached Foundation Establishment Perfection and entered the False Core realm!

After the False Core, a Foundation Establishment cultivator has nowhere left to advance; to break through, one must form a Golden Core!

Compress the liquid true essence Dharma Power within the sea of energy and dantian into a single Golden Core!

A single Golden Core swallowed into the belly, my fate is up to me, not the heavens!

Soon, color returned to his face.

Meanwhile, the Qi Refining cultivators in the hall were discussing heatedly: "This is already... the second one, right? Room Earth-37 is truly wealthy!"

It was also thanks to the abundant cultivation resources in Qianyang City that Foundation Establishment Pills could be bought with Spirit Stones, and the price was much cheaper than in the Far West.

Aaron knew that this was the 'Duer Pill' taking effect.

After all, forming a Golden Core with Three Spirit Roots was indeed quite difficult.

"The next auction item is a 'Five Elements Golden Core Pill'; fellow Daoists who specialize in Five Elements arts should not miss it... The starting bid is two hundred thousand Spirit Stones!" At this moment, the host announced the name of the next auction item, which immediately sparked a wave of enthusiastic pursuit.

"It is also time... to begin seclusion for the Golden Core formation."

On stage, the host announced the owner of yet another 'Duer Pill'.

The thick Mingyu Art Dharma Power in his body reversed, and in an instant, a small portion dissipated...

During these few months, no matter how he circulated his art or compressed his dantian, the Foundation Establishment true essence showed no sign of solidifying.

It took a full sixty or seventy years of cultivation to return to the Foundation Establishment Perfection realm.

But Aaron did not care; after all, even if he turned back into a mortal, he would still be immortal!

At this time, his cultivation was low, so he would not go out, but instead stayed in the Cave Abode to heal and cultivate in seclusion, returning to the Foundation Establishment stage by swallowing a Foundation Establishment Pill!

Yes... Aaron had even prepared several Foundation Establishment Pills just to deal with this situation.

This time, Aaron was truly severely injured, and perhaps he had even lost quite a bit of his lifespan.

This time he failed again!

Over these dozen years, he had actually acquired two more 'Duer Pills' through other channels, and as for other Spirit Pills for increasing Dharma Power and healing, he had stored up a large batch by buying them in addition to refining them himself.

Just as his cultivation was suffering from Backlash, a force rose from his dantian, smoothing everything out.

Inside the private room, Aaron sighed: "And... it would inevitably attract attention, so let's forget it."

"Three hundred thousand!"

Not only that, but he was also unlucky enough to encounter the worst-case scenario, with his cultivation base falling all the way back to the Qi Refining realm!

If it were any other Foundation Establishment cultivator, they would likely have exhausted their lifespan and passed away right then and there...

And while practicing, Aaron also discovered a strange situation.

In reality, the thirteenth level of his Mingyu Art still had some parts that were not yet perfected.

"This auction for the Golden Core Formation Pill is much more intense than the one for the Duer Pill..."

He dissipated his entire Foundation Establishment Perfection cultivation base, turning back into a mortal!

Then, from the mortal stage, he continued to practice the 'Mingyu Art', recovering his Dharma Power bit by bit!

Because he was not injured and did not need to heal, even though he had turned back into a mortal, this time it took him a mere fifty years or less to cultivate to the Foundation Establishment Perfection realm.

At this moment, the liquid Foundation Establishment true essence within his dantian had even become incomparably viscous and extremely refined, presenting a 'semi-solidified' state.

(End of this chapter)