Chapter 197 Achieving Dao Comprehension at Age 28
In the cultivation room, Yu Qingtan had already slept for a full day and night, replenishing her energy.
She then bathed and burned incense. Although she knew the Purification Spell, taking a leisurely bath after such a long time was extremely refreshing.
The wooden bathtub was sprinkled with various flower petals, and the water temperature was kept constant with spiritual power.
A beauty in the bath... A beauty emerging from the bath.
As the saying goes, a beauty who doesn't know how to bathe is not a sensible one.
The incense being burned was the Nourishing Soul Incense of the fourth stage.
After that, she played the Soul Cleansing Tune for a while to calm her heart until it was as tranquil as still water.
At this moment, her clone and original body were merged as one. Since Qing Shuang had left a Soul Marking Seal at her home in Tianxiang Valley, it had now temporarily dissipated and returned.
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Entering the Minor Dual Polarity Formation brought over through the System Space, Yu Qingtan drank ten drops of third-stage Spirit Dew, sat cross-legged, and began her cultivation.
Simultaneously, she tapped the use button on a third-stage Cultivation Upgrade Card in her consciousness, and immediately the spiritual power in her body's meridians surged.
As she circulated the Way of the Five Elements Primordial Scripture, the spiritual power rapidly cycled through her body, and the liquid spiritual power in her Dantian started to rotate as well, with increasing pressure.
Upon reaching a certain critical point, a solid core appeared within the liquid spiritual power in her Dantian and began to grow—this was the nascent form of the Golden Core.
The moment the Golden Core's nascent form emerged, the external spiritual energy madly flooded into Yu Qingtan's body, forming a small vortex of spiritual power that cleansed both her physical body and her meridians. At the same time, the power of Yu Qingtan's soul began to skyrocket.
With the laws of the Great Dao blessing her body, Yu Qingtan immediately channeled half of her blood essence and half of her soul power into the nascent Golden Core, beginning the process of core condensation.
Because both her flesh and soul were extremely strong, the Core Formation process was accomplished with ease, and the pain was within Yu Qingtan's tolerance.
Three days and nights later, all the liquid spiritual power inside Yu Qingtan's Dantian had transformed into a solid state. Her Dantian had expanded significantly, with a flawless, slightly multicolored Golden Core hanging in the middle, roughly the size of a quail's egg.
Yu Qingtan had also obtained a few cultivators' Golden Cores before, usually about the size of a quail egg as well, with more or fewer imperfections on their surfaces—a common phenomenon.
Compared to the descriptions in the classics, Yu Qingtan knew that the Golden Core she had formed was a flawless one, a top-notch amongst the superior ones, the very foundation of longevity.
There was a faint fog enveloping the Golden Core. This was the aura of the Golden Core, a transitional state between the core and the spiritual energy in the meridians.
Not only had the blood essence and soul power previously integrated into the Golden Core been restored, but the strength of her physical body and soul had also increased dramatically again.
Subsequently, various insights about the Dao came flooding into Yu Qingtan's mind—this was the benefit of successfully forming a Golden Core.
Yu Qingtan quickly grabbed a cup of prepared Enlightenment Tea, drank it down in one gulp, and began to consolidate her Core Formation cultivation level and to comprehend the Dao.
A month later, having consumed all the Enlightenment Tea made from two taels of tea leaves, with the realization from Core Formation, the Water Dao Domain directly reached the third level, and the Wood Dao Domain also reached the second level.
Not only that, but complete Dao Domains for Earth, Metal, and Fire were also formed. This was not only due to the effects of the Enlightenment Tea, but also because of the deepening understanding of the Way of the Five Elements following Yu Qingtan's Spirit Root upgrade and cultivation of the Way of the Five Elements Primordial Scripture.
Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, and Metal—these five elements generate and restrain one another, and as Yu Qingtan's comprehension of the Water Path outpaced the others, her contemplation of the other elements' paths became comparatively easier.
In addition, she employed two more third-stage Cultivation Upgrade Cards, not only solidifying her Golden Core Stage cultivation level but also reaching the middle phase of the early Golden Core Stage.
Afterward, while studying various third-stage spells, Yu Qingtan also used third-stage Spirit Dew to continue enhancing her cultivation level.
Although the density of spiritual energy from a fourth-stage Spirit Vein was already sufficient for her cultivation needs, she still found the absorption of external spiritual energy for improving her cultivation level too slow.
Thus, another month passed, and Yu Qingtan finally ceased her cultivation.
She had mastered the basics of most third-stage spells, and her Water and Wood Path spells had reached a high level of accomplishment or even perfection.
However, she was somewhat dissatisfied with the progress of her cultivation level, as her early Golden Core Stage cultivation had not yet reached three-quarters complete.
If other cultivators knew of such thoughts, even with her beauty, many would have wanted to strangle her.
After all, even the undefeated True Lord Wu Di, famously advancing one realm per year and ranked first on the Pride of the Heavens List, only meant breaking through a minor realm within that timeframe. Later stages took even longer.
Being at the Late Stage of the Golden Core before the age of thirty often meant a place within the top ten of the Pride of the Heavens List.
Still unsatisfied, Yu Qingtan stopped her cultivation. There were things to do, Charm Points to earn, the Immortal Body Activation Card was waiting for her, and Wan Ning was waiting for her too.
Moreover, her lifebound magical treasure had yet to be decided. Although she had been planning for a long time, it was still a far-off goal.
Before leaving her retreat, however, shouldn't she celebrate her Core Formation with a lottery draw? Yu Qingtan glanced at her remaining three million-plus Charm Points.
"Let's draw one million, eternal blessings from the Dao Ancestor!"
Yu Qingtan bowed down in worship, praying sincerely before she began the long-missed lottery draw.
"Thank you for your patronage x10!"
...
"One Top-Grade Spirit Stone, thank you for your patronage x9!"
...
"A complete set of erotic clothing designs, thank you for your patronage x9!"
...
"A comic book, thank you for your patronage x9!"
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"A set of exquisite kitchenware, thank you for your patronage x9!"
...
"One Third-Stage Holy Light Talisman, thank you for your patronage x9!"
...
"Love's Sharing, thank you for your patronage x9!"
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"One Third-Stage Great Sword, thank you for your patronage x9!"
...
"One plane ticket, thank you for your patronage x9!"
...
After finishing the draw, Yu Qingtan claimed all the items she had won. Most of them were of no use, but what really caught Yu Qingtan's eye was not the erotic clothing designs, but "Love's Sharing".
[Love's Sharing: Spend Spirit Stones to gain a Devotee's Spiritual Energy cultivation effect and Dao insights. Share everything below two major realms, share 20% below one major realm, share 4% with the same realm, and share 0.8% with one realm higher.
The sharing price increases with higher Cultivation Levels, starting from ten to a hundred Lower Grade Spirit Stones per year at the Qi Cultivation Stage, ten to a hundred Medium Grade Spirit Stones per year at the Foundation Establishment Stage, ten to a hundred Top-Grade Spirit Stones per year at the Golden Core Stage, and so on.]
It was as if the system was reading her mind, providing solutions right when she needed them. Just as she was complaining about her slow cultivation, "Love's Sharing" was set up for her.
Yu Qingtan couldn't wait to open the list of Devotees.
[Shi Kuang, Early Golden Core Stage, cultivating the Wood Path, Sound Path;
Yin Cen, Early Golden Core Stage, cultivating the Earth Path;
Fang Ling, Late Foundation Establishment Stage, cultivating the Metal Dao, Blood Dao, Path of Time;
Fu Nian, Late Foundation Establishment Stage, cultivating the Fire Dao, Talisman Dao;
Luo Xiang, Mid Foundation Establishment Stage;
Song Zhenbo, Mid Foundation Establishment Stage;
Hao Can, Mid Foundation Establishment Stage, cultivating the Water Path;
Ge Wenxiong, Mid Foundation Establishment Stage in Body Refinement, cultivating the Path of Killing;
Qi Hong, Early Foundation Establishment Stage;
Han Daniu, Early Foundation Establishment Stage;
You Xiwang, Early Foundation Establishment Stage;
Sun Deren, Early Foundation Establishment Stage;
...
Dong Er, Fourth Stage of Qi Cultivation;
...]