Chapter 456: Breakthrough to Jin Dan

Song Qingming, who was in the middle of Core Formation, could not see the celestial phenomena happening outside, but he was clear about it in his heart.

Regardless of whether a cultivator can eventually succeed in Core Formation, as long as they reach the step of condensing the Jin Dan, they will trigger celestial phenomena. It is just that once a cultivator fails to condense the Jin Dan, the celestial phenomena will not last long before slowly dissipating.

Only when a cultivator succeeds in condensing the Jin Dan, like Song Qingming now, will the celestial phenomena continue until Song Qingming successfully breaks through to the Jin Dan realm, at which point the celestial phenomena outside will dissipate on their own.

After successfully condensing the Jin Dan, Song Qingming only felt that this Jin Dan in his body was like a fierce beast that had been hungry for a long time and had been released from a cage, constantly devouring the surrounding heaven and earth spiritual energy in large gulps.

The mad rush of surrounding spiritual energy into his body made all the meridians in Song Qingming's entire physical body ache. Seeing this, Song Qingming immediately raised his hand and grasped the "Red Essence Jade Stone" he had already placed to the side.

Following a stream of cool earth-vein spiritual energy from the "Red Essence Jade Stone" flowing into the Jin Dan in Song Qingming's body, the Jin Dan in his body clearly became brighter, and the speed at which the surrounding heaven and earth spiritual energy rushed in also slowly slowed down.

Just when condensing the Jin Dan, the magic power in Song Qingming's body had already been consumed by more than half. Before he could fully recover, he was scared out of his wits by the heaven and earth spiritual energy rushing madly into his body. Fortunately, he had also made preparations before this. With the help of the "Red Essence Jade Stone," Song Qingming finally managed to ease up and hurriedly seized the time to adjust his own state.

The earth-vein spiritual energy in the "Red Essence Jade Stone" can help a cultivator quickly temper the Jin Dan in their body during Core Formation. After absorbing this special spiritual energy, the Jin Dan in Song Qingming's body became increasingly solid.

The newly condensed Jin Dan was still very fragile. Facing too much spiritual energy rushing madly into his body all at once, it would easily be crushed. Song Qingming, having obtained a breather, hurriedly swallowed another drop of thousand-year spirit milk to quickly restore the magic power in his body, letting himself maintain a relatively good state.

This continued for nearly a month. It was not until he had absorbed enough heaven and earth spiritual energy that the Jin Dan in Song Qingming's body slowly stabilized and stopped devouring the surrounding heaven and earth spiritual energy.

Next, Song Qingming reached the final step of Core Formation: tempering the Jin Dan.

This step of tempering the Jin Dan is not difficult, nor does it take a long time. It only requires the cultivator to stabilize their mind and move their own Jin Dan out of the body to accept the tempering of heaven and earth spiritual energy for a few days, and they will be able to successfully break through to the Jin Dan realm.

After a cultivator breaks through to Jin Dan and reaches this step, as long as there is no external influence, they basically will not fail. At this moment, Song Qingming already had more than 90% certainty of his breakthrough to the Jin Dan realm this time, and a trace of confident smile appeared on his face.

No sooner had Song Qingming moved the Jin Dan out of his body than the spiritual energy in the entire pool-bottom cave dwelling also rapidly gathered toward the location of his Jin Dan. Not only that, but at this moment, even the white clouds and mist gathered above the pool-bottom cave dwelling also surged violently.

On a high mountain dozens of miles away from the pool-bottom cave dwelling, the displeased demon king Qingluan was currently confronting a one-horned giant bull that had just arrived here.

"Stinking water buffalo, this is my territory! Get out of here quickly!"

Hearing Qingluan's angry scolding, the one-horned bull demon did not retreat; instead, its eyes turned toward the celestial phenomena happening not far away, seemingly suspicious that some treasure had appeared there and wanting to go over to see what was going on.

Ever since Song Qingming reached the step of condensing the core, because of the celestial phenomena produced by Core Formation, the area around the pool-bottom cave dwelling not only attracted many low-tier demon beasts but soon also alarmed the nearby high-tier demon kings.

During this month, besides this one-horned bull demon, Qingluan, who was guarding the pool-bottom cave dwelling, had already sent away two third-tier demon kings who had come to cause trouble.

The two third-tier demon kings who had come earlier only had strength at the early stage of Jin Dan, and Qingluan defeated them without much effort. Only this one-horned bull demon, because it had already advanced to the mid-stage of Jin Dan, had strength that was not bad. The confrontation over the past few days had already caused Qingluan to suffer quite a bit.

Qingluan's cultivation base was also only at the early stage of Jin Dan, but because of her relationship with Huo Feng, her strength was still a few points stronger than ordinary demon kings of the same tier. However, the one-horned bull demon before her was not only a demon king who had advanced to the mid-stage of Jin Dan for many years, but it was also a water-attribute demon beast, and its divine abilities somewhat restrained the fire-attribute Qingluan. Both its cultivation base and strength were stronger than Qingluan's.

Seeing that this one-horned bull demon still would not give up and was changing direction to fly toward the pool-bottom cave dwelling, Qingluan had no choice but to flap her wings again to chase after it and intercept it.

"You stupid bull, since you are so disobedient, then do not blame me for being impolite!" After Qingluan finished speaking, she spat out a red palm-leaf fan from her mouth and used her magic power to control the fan to fan toward the one-horned bull demon.

Soon, a violent gale arrived, fanning the one-horned bull demon in mid-air directly out more than a hundred zhang, almost falling to the ground.

The palm-leaf fan used by Qingluan was precisely a treasure bestowed upon her by Huo Feng. Usually, in order not to reveal her identity and attract the attention of other high-tier demon kings, Qingluan would not easily take it out. Today, encountering this one-horned bull demon, she had truly met a difficult opponent, so she had no choice but to use the last trump card she had on her.

The one-horned bull demon, caught somewhat off guard by this strike, also became angry. Soon, its eyes turned red, and it flew into the air again to tangle with Qingluan.

Not far from where Qingluan was fighting the one-horned bull demon, Huo Feng and Long Feng were also quietly watching them.

"Your Highness, Qingluan is afraid she is no match for that one-horned bull. Should I go and drive it away?"

Huo Feng, dressed in red, looked ahead and shook her head gently, saying, "No hurry. Qingluan's temper has been too big these years, and her nature is becoming increasingly wild. It is time for her to suffer some setbacks.

Rest assured, although Qingluan cannot beat it, she will not be defeated for a while. This one-horned bull is just right to temper her. You stay here and watch. When the timing is right, you can go over."

After Huo Feng finished speaking, she left Long Feng behind, while she herself turned and vanished from where she was. Before long, she appeared again in the pool-bottom cave dwelling where Song Qingming was.

After glancing around this cave dwelling, Huo Feng came to the stone door where Song Qingming was in seclusion. Standing at the entrance, she closed her eyes to sense the situation inside and revealed a faint smile.

"To think you could find such a good place to break through to Core Formation. Sure enough, I truly underestimated you." After muttering to herself, Huo Feng quietly left the pool-bottom cave dwelling again, not knowing where she went.

Three days later, the clouds and mist still rolling above the pool-bottom cave dwelling suddenly began to slowly dissipate, and subsequently, a bright rainbow slowly appeared in the sky.

As the celestial phenomena slowly disappeared, the area around the pool-bottom cave dwelling, which had been bustling for more than a month, gradually began to calm down, and the spiritual energy between heaven and earth also slowly returned to a normal state.

In the seclusion cave dwelling, following the successful completion of the tempering of the Jin Dan, Song Qingming successfully retrieved the Jin Dan from outside back into his body. His entire aura changed accordingly, and he had already successfully stepped into the Jin Dan realm.

However, Song Qingming, having reached this step, although he had successfully broken through and entered the Jin Dan realm, still needed to spend quite a bit of time to stabilize his own cultivation base, preventing his cultivation base from falling back to the Foundation Establishment realm due to a moment of carelessness.

Two years later, following the gentle opening of the seclusion cave dwelling's door, Song Qingming, who had successfully stabilized his cultivation base, finally walked out slowly from inside.

Just after walking out of the cave dwelling, Song Qingming glanced around and immediately saw a tall figure staring at him. He hurriedly stepped forward, cupped his hands with a smile, and said, "Junior greets Senior Long Feng. Thank you for guarding the law for me during this period, Senior."

Long Feng nodded and said with a light smile, "Good brat, you truly did not disappoint His Highness, and it was not in vain that Qingluan and I guarded you here for so long."

"Senior, where has Senior Qingluan gone? Junior wishes to go and thank her in person!" When Song Qingming was in seclusion before, the one he asked Huo Feng to guard this cave dwelling was clearly Qingluan. He did not know when Long Feng had arrived here.

Hearing Song Qingming mention Qingluan, Long Feng replied directly, "Qingluan has long since returned to His Highness's place. If you want to thank her, just go there directly. This time, she indeed contributed quite a lot to help guard the law for you, and she even had a great battle with another demon king. You truly must thank her well!

However, you also know her temper. I advise you to think it over before you go. Do not just bring a mouth to thank her, lest she find you unpleasant again."

"Senior's words are correct. After I return, I will certainly prepare well before going to find Senior Qingluan." Facing Long Feng's well-intentioned reminder, Song Qingming hurriedly nodded with a smile.

"This item was placed here by His Highness, who instructed me to hand it directly to you after you break through to Jin Dan. His Highness said that this item was originally deposited with her by you. Rest assured and take it!" After Long Feng finished speaking, he took out a cyan jade pendant from his person and threw it directly into Song Qingming's hand.

Seeing this somewhat familiar jade pendant before him, Song Qingming immediately recognized it. This item was precisely the space magic treasure he had obtained after killing Xiao Huang back then.

"Alright! Now that you have successfully achieved Core Formation, my mission is complete, and it is time for me to return to report to His Highness." After handing this jade pendant to Song Qingming, Long Feng directly bade farewell and prepared to leave this place.

Seeing this, Song Qingming stepped forward and cupped his hands, "If not for His Highness's support for Junior's Core Formation this time, it would certainly have been difficult to achieve anything. After Senior returns to see His Highness, please convey Junior's greetings."

After seeing Long Feng off, Song Qingming did not rush to leave the pool-bottom cave dwelling but hurriedly and joyfully held the cyan jade pendant Long Feng had just given him in his hand.

The reason this item fell into Huo Feng's hands back then was precisely because Song Qingming's cultivation base was not enough to use this space magic treasure. Now that he had broken through to the Jin Dan realm, he could naturally use this item as he pleased.

Following Song Qingming's spiritual sense slowly probing into the jade pendant, his originally excited expression gradually turned to disappointment.

"Damn! Where are the things inside?"

One million words, the protagonist has finally broken through to the Jin Dan realm.

Here, I also wish Fellow Daoist Pan Long Teng Kong a speedy recovery. Thank you all for your companionship and support along the way.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 457 =====