: Forming the Golden Core and Nourishing the Nascent Soul

vice versa.

If Xin Ruyin can successfully form her core and become an infant in the Chaotic Star Sea.

Then many subsequent plans can be started in advance.

The spiritual energy in the human realm is already scarce and limited, and the resources needed for cultivation take a long time to develop.

What's even more troublesome is that Kunwu Mountain suppresses a massive amount of true demonic energy, causing most of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the entire human realm to be bound here for sealing and suppression.

In Lu Jianghe's view, whether it is the purest spiritual energy of the five elements in the world, the true demonic energy under Kunwu Mountain, or the Yin Sha energy, they are all, in essence, a differentiation of the original source of primordial energy, and there is no difference in their quality.

The so-called effect of true demonic energy eroding the mind and corrupting the body is merely an additional characteristic it carries.

However, if the chronic problem of Kunwu Mountain is not resolved, and the scattered true demonic energy is not eliminated or transformed, his cultivation path in the human realm will probably only be able to stop at the Nascent Soul stage at most.

Of course, this "Yuanying" is not the same as that "Yuanying".

With his original foundation in swordsmanship and his understanding of higher realms.

At most, it can become the first threshold, giving birth to Yin and Yang spirits, but it is estimated that it will be difficult to truly condense and perfect it.

Therefore, the only way out is to dismantle Kunwu Mountain.

And fundamentally resolve the problem of the true demonic energy eroding the human realm.

These demonic energies are something that cultivators in the human realm would avoid at all costs.

But for Lu Jianghe, if he could use it as a "whetstone" to hone and refine his natal flying sword, tempering it inch by inch, its essence would be no different from the pure primordial energy he had absorbed from heaven and earth.

Xin Ruyin suddenly coughed twice, her face turning pale abruptly.

Lu Jianghe noticed the commotion and pulled himself back to reality.

She chuckled and explained, "I just finished taking the pills made from that thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum these past few days. My meridians are probably a bit damaged again, but I'll be fine after a short rest. It's nothing to worry about."

Lu Jianghe didn't say anything more about it.

During these past few months, he attended several auctions to see if there were any spiritual herbs over 500 years old that he needed for alchemy.

The Tiannan region is generally lacking in resources, and spiritual herbs are indeed scarce. However, relatively speaking, most of the herbs circulating in the market are suitable for low- and mid-level cultivators.

The resources needed by Core Formation cultivators are often controlled by major sects or aristocratic families, who exchange resources or have stable sources.

Although rare herbs are seldom encountered, they are not entirely impossible to come across by chance.

The path of cultivation is long and arduous; not all opportunities can come to one person. Each person has their own destiny.

Rare and precious herbs are scarce, but not entirely nonexistent; they are simply difficult to find.

The "White Bone and Flesh" pill that Lu Jianghe needs to refine has several top-grade spiritual herbs as its main ingredients, which are of great benefit to Nascent Soul cultivators and even Core Formation cultivators.

Moreover, the age requirements are stringent, often requiring more than five hundred years.

Such rare and precious herbs are extremely difficult to find in the border towns and markets of the Tianxing Sect.

Furthermore, since he needs several different kinds, it will probably take a lot of time and luck to collect them all.

Lu Jianghe possesses a nearly 500-year-old Dragon's Eye Ginseng, which he painstakingly acquired at an underground auction, costing him almost 900 spirit stones.

As for the other two missing main ingredients—"The Nightless Marquis" and "The Courtesan's Bride"—there is still no news about them.

He even considered attending the exchange events organized by cultivators at the Core Formation stage and above.

Unfortunately, he was ultimately a rogue cultivator with no sect or school and an unknown origin.

Although he had heard of such gatherings over the years, the elite cultivators' small circle was heavily guarded, and without a powerful person to introduce or vouch for him, he had no way to get involved.

The circulation of such high-level resources is often consumed within that circle, making it extremely difficult for him to intervene.

He did indeed still have a few plants that were a couple hundred years old in his storage bag, though they weren't even that old.

The biggest problem lies in the potency of the medicine, especially for things like reshaping the meridians and curing the domineering dragon roar physique, which are things that defy fate. He really doesn't have complete confidence in that.

These few medicinal herbs, the oldest of which is the Dragon's Breath Ginseng, is less than five hundred years old.

If the other medicinal materials used cannot reach the crucial age threshold of five hundred years, the power of creation contained within them will not be sufficient to support the core process of medicinal fusion and transformation.

If the medicinal potency is insufficient, refining it rashly would be too risky. Not only would it fail to eradicate the hidden dangers of the Dragon Roar Body, but it might also trigger unpredictable changes.

It should be known that the age of a precious herb is its fundamental essence.

Within a narrower scope, the difference between three hundred and five hundred years is significant, as the medicinal essence and the spiritual energy nourished by heaven and earth within these two periods are vastly different.

The difference between five hundred years and a thousand years is like heaven and earth, not just in years, but also in a mysterious "power of creation".

The core of the elixirs that Lu Jianghe needs to refine, especially the miraculous pills that can regenerate flesh from bones, lies in the pure medicinal power contained in the spiritual herbs that are over five hundred years old, which is enough to trigger a qualitative change, and that trace of "creation opportunity" that comes from the long history of heaven and earth.

Otherwise, how could severed limbs be regenerated, muscles reshaped, or even flesh grow back from bones?

The former is manageable, but achieving the latter would require more than a thousand years.

With this in mind, Lu Jianghe understood that this matter could not be delayed any longer.

If we wait until the Chaotic Star Sea, the spiritual herbs will probably be even harder to find.

Although the area is rich in monster resources, it is extremely lacking in rare and ancient spiritual herbs, which is in stark contrast to the fact that spiritual herbs are abundant in the south but monsters are scarce.

Based on her current condition, she mentally calculated...

Relying on his own breathing, he can barely sustain himself for about two years at most.

Two years...

We can keep Han Li as a backup plan.

Could it be that I really want to break through to the Golden Core stage in the Tiannan region?

With Lu Jianghe's Golden Core stage strength, he could certainly make a trip to Tiantian City.

In the city of cultivators, there is a high probability that one can obtain the last two spiritual herbs through a trade.

The reason he hesitated to advance in Tiannan was because he was drawn to the unique, moist atmosphere of the Chaotic Star Sea.

Using this energy as a guide, when breaking through to the Golden Elixir stage, it can nourish the meridians and permeate the whole body, playing a miraculous role in compensating for one's innate constitution.

This kind of blessing is a subtle and gradual nurturing, which will greatly benefit one's future advancement and even the attainment of the higher realm of Nascent Soul.

This is the fundamental reason why Lu Jianghe, despite already possessing the strength to break through to the Golden Core stage, insisted on not being in Tiannan.

If one forces a breakthrough in the south due to impatience, the resulting golden core will be unaffected, but it will lose its moist and pure essence.

In the long run, it is a losing proposition.

In barren land, large creatures do not thrive; in shallow water, large fish do not swim.

Kunwu Mountain suppressed the true demonic energy, harming human cultivators for countless years.

If not for these, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth would be abundant and plentiful.

Otherwise, in ancient times, whether in the southern sky, the chaotic star sea, or even the Great Jin Dynasty, there would not have been large-scale teleportation arrays spanning tens of millions of miles.