The overall situation across the Four Nations remained stable. Although minor disturbances occurred from time to time, they all stayed within manageable bounds.
Most importantly, none of these incidents affected the Chidi Mountains in the slightest, meaning they had no impact on Li Ye at all.
This allowed him to remain fully focused on cultivation and tending his spiritual fields. With no distractions, his cultivation speed saw a slight uptick.
Having already approached full accumulation, it took him less than a year to cultivate his mana to a hundred drops.
However, unlike his smooth breakthrough into the mid-stage Foundation Establishment, his first attempt at breaking into the late stage was blocked by a bottleneck and failed.
He tried again not long after but still fell short.
Now, half a year later, he was making his third attempt.
Within the cave residence, purified spiritual energy swirled like a vortex, flooding into Li Ye's body.
At the same time, the Wood Vitality Pill he had swallowed rapidly released its medicinal power, transforming into mana and rushing to his dantian to assist the breakthrough.
Inside his dantian, a hundred translucent, bluish-purple liquid mana drops were circulating ceaselessly. As the external spiritual energy continued to be refined, the drops slowly grew in size and became increasingly rounded and full.
Li Ye sat with eyes tightly shut, his body wrapped in a dense spiritual glow, the blue and purple light blazing brightly like gemstones.
Before long, he reached a critical point. His surging aura paused for a brief moment then suddenly broke through, instantly intensifying in strength!
The force with which he drew in spiritual energy surged again, resembling a great whale swallowing the sea, absorbing vast amounts of energy with every passing moment.
His entire qi sea and dantian expanded as a result. The swirling mana vortex grew significantly, and the Wood God True Flame danced within, effortlessly refining the incoming spiritual energy into pure mana, fueling the multiplication of liquid mana after the bottleneck was shattered.
As time passed, Li Ye's aura became increasingly powerful and stable.
Eventually, the spiritual glow around him began to subside, and his absorption of spiritual energy gradually slowed. With a sudden motion, Li Ye opened his eyes.
A flicker of blue-violet light danced in his gaze, faintly forming the image of a towering, evergreen tree.
By now, the original hundred liquid mana drops had increased to a hundred and fifty. Furthermore, the texture of the mana had become more refined and pure.
There was even a subtle hint that the liquid mana was beginning to transition toward a solid state!
"My mana grew by more than half just from this breakthrough…"
Feeling the changes within, Li Ye's face lit up with delight.
"And this density... I've just entered the late Foundation Establishment stage, and already there's a trace of solidification in my mana thanks to the breakthrough?!"
He had always been confident in the quality of his mana.
After all, the Wood God Art was exceedingly profound. The spiritual essence of the Void Realm provided extraordinary refinement, and the pills he used for cultivation were spirit-patterned pills pure in effect and nearly free of toxic side effects.
There were virtually no weak links in his cultivation. Every aspect had worked to his advantage.
But achieving even the faintest hint of mana solidification so soon after reaching the late Foundation Establishment far exceeded his expectations.
"Even though it's only the subtlest feeling for now, nowhere near a measurable level… it's still a fantastic beginning."
"If this continues until I reach complete Foundation Establishment, I can't even imagine how solidified my mana might become!"
Li Ye made no effort to hide his joy.
Doing the math, it had taken him five years to break into mid-stage, and now less than ten years more to reach late-stage.
And the Wood God Art, being at least a top-tier technique passed down from the Nascent Soul level, required mana to reach its highest liquid state specifications before a Golden Core breakthrough could be attempted.
Specifically, one needed 365 liquid mana drops to fully complete the technique and become eligible to form a core.
That was more than double his current count!
A rough estimate meant he still needed to accumulate 215 more liquid mana drops. Even at his current cultivation speed, that would take another 20 to 30 years to reach completion.
For a Foundation Establishment cultivator, such a timeframe was not long at all.
Moreover, the mana refined through his diligent cultivation coupled with years of continuous tempering from the Void Realm Tree would only grow purer with time.
By then, there was a significant chance that the degree of mana solidification could reach 30–40%, perhaps even higher!
According to the personal notes of Bihu Sanren, at the time of his breakthrough, his mana had only solidified to around 20 to 30%.
And that was as a water-element cultivator whose cultivation methods were naturally suited to deepening one's foundation and accumulating mana second only to earth-element cultivators in this aspect.
Even then, it took years of tempering to reach that state.
In the end, with the help of Frost Condensation Water, whose elemental affinity aligned well with his own, the auxiliary effect it had in assisting Golden Core proved crucial allowing him to succeed in forming a core by the narrowest of margins.
That's right!
Although Li Ye had yet to attempt the blood-sacrifice method recorded in the Blood Ritual Talisman Codex a technique for enhancing talismanic power and had no leads regarding Profound Fire Essence, he had found clues about the Frost Condensation Water.
Somewhere atop a high mountain in Jing Nation, during periods of extreme cold, this rare spiritual substance could potentially condense.
However, such weather conditions occurred extremely infrequently, and the resulting Frost Condensation Water was produced in extremely limited amounts only forming briefly amid the mountaintop snowstorms. A single occurrence wasn't even enough to gather a full portion.
And once the short-lived weather passed, if the water wasn't collected and preserved in time, it would quickly dissipate.
This greatly increased the difficulty of harvesting it.
Even though the Thousand-Isle Water City had secretly controlled that location for several hundred years, they hadn't managed to gather much.
It was unclear just how many full portions they had actually collected, or whether Li Ye's former sect disciples had already used them up.
That said, given that the phenomenon of Golden Core produces a celestial anomaly even third-tier formations can't hide, and no such news had ever emerged from Thousand-Isle Water City, it was likely the spirit material was still in storage.
Compared to the elusive and possibly nonexistent Profound Fire Essence, this particular resource seemed far more attainable.
Judging by the current state of Li Ye's mana with solidification already beginning to show even if he reached the peak of Foundation Establishment without acquiring any external aids for Golden Core...
He could still maintain his current cultivation realm, continuing to rely on the Void Realm's spiritual essence to refine his mana year after year.
The effects might not be immediate, but based on what he was seeing now, over time it would surely deepen the solidification of his mana.
Eventually, his cultivation would reach the point where he could form a core even without any external spiritual aids.
And as for the time it might take?
With the lifespan-boosting effects granted by the Void Realm's spiritual essence, did he need to worry about that?
In a way, this spiritual essence was no less than a kind of Golden Core resource for Li Ye!
"At this point, the Lava Palace holds little attraction for anyone not just low-level cultivators. Even a Golden Core expert likely wouldn't venture in unless they were desperate…"
"Even if war were to break out among the Four Nations, this little backwater corner I've settled in would probably be barely affected. Maybe I can stay hidden here and quietly cultivate for decades, even a century or more, slowly tempering my mana…"
"If it truly becomes impossible to acquire any Golden Core materials, then this path may be the one best suited for me!"
Li Ye muttered to himself, a trace of excitement in his voice.
With that thought, while he would still try to seize any opportunity for spirit materials that presented itself, his mindset had fundamentally shifted he was no longer being led around by such desires.
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