Having cultivated his physical body to the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm, even the Dragon-Tiger Intent he had specially developed to assist with golden core turned out to have an unexpected but significant effect on refining his blood energy into a "Blood Qi Golden Core."
Even if he were to cease further cultivation, his perfected and seamless Blood Qi Intent was already thoroughly solidified.
Though the paths of physical and magical cultivation differ, in the end, they lead to the same destination. From this, one could glimpse the efficacy of his approach evolving the Dragon-Tiger Intent through the myriad beasts of the body. It had indeed proven useful.
Even if the results weren't as remarkable on the magical cultivation side, it would still serve well as an auxiliary method to slightly boost his success rate when forming a Golden Core.
"That gives me even more confidence in forming my core..."
Sitting cross-legged on a jade bed within his cave residence, Li Ye murmured with joy as he reviewed the state of his cultivation.
Since advancing to the late stage of Foundation Establishment, his mana had begun to show signs of solidifying.
Over the past ten years, through diligent cultivation and the refinement of the Void Realm's spiritual essence, he had managed to solidify over 10%, approaching 20%, of more than 200 drops of liquid mana in his dantian.
At that rate, when he eventually reached full completion of his cultivation in another decade or so, his mana solidification would likely hit nearly 40%.
That was already a very high ratio.
If he could reach over 50% before attempting his breakthrough even without acquiring a special core-forming spiritual treasure his chances of success using the Dragon-Tiger synergy method might actually be higher than the average Foundation cultivator attempting to form a core with a non-five-elemental substitute!
And just as Foundation Establishment could be aided by Foundation Pills, Golden Core should naturally also have its own supporting elixirs.
Though such pills didn't exist in the current era, only certain rare spiritual materials that were exceptionally compatible, it didn't mean that Li Ye couldn't develop one himself.
By now, whether in terms of key breakthroughs, profound techniques, or his understanding of alchemy, Li Ye lacked nothing.
Over the years, he had thoroughly studied the Notes of the Bihu Sanren, dissecting and analyzing the insights on the Golden core it contained, trying to use his knowledge to deduce a formula for a supportive core-forming pill.
If he could succeed, it would certainly offer a better chance than just waiting endlessly for a suitable core-forming spiritual treasure to appear!
However, having never personally experienced the intricate transformations involved in Golden Golden core, he felt there was still something lacking in his understanding. As a result, his research progress remained slow, and the formulas he had come up with were still riddled with flaws.
What's more, even the incomplete pill recipe he had deduced required precious third-grade herbs. Managing to acquire even a single one was already difficult, let alone enough for repeated experiments.
Even attempting to cultivate such herbs and accumulate spiritual essence for future alchemical trials would take an extremely long time considering how slowly third-grade spiritual plants matured.
By the time he got results, he would likely have already been at the peak of Foundation Establishment for many years...
So this path essentially fell under the "backup plan" a way to bide time in the absence of any core-forming treasures, relying on the Void Realm's spiritual energy to steadily increase mana solidification over time.
Though his success with a supportive pill was still limited, Li Ye had made more progress in the opposite direction a defensive, contingency solution.
Through reverse deduction, he developed a pill he named the "Dissolving Golden Core Pill."
This pill not only couldn't aid in forming a core it would cause an incomplete or flawed Golden Core to rapidly disintegrate, reverting it into mana.
It was a safeguard Li Ye devised in case of golden core failure, to protect both his life and his future potential.
After all, breaking through to the Golden Core stage carried significant risk. If the process failed, the backlash from a collapsing and incomplete Golden Core could severely damage one's cultivation even destroying the dantian and sea of qi.
At best, it would result in serious injuries and the permanent loss of the ability to break through again. At worst it meant instant death from the backlash!
Li Ye's approach was to immediately dissolve the unstable Golden Core and volatile true essence the moment a failure occurred, transforming them back into manageable mana. This would drastically reduce the destructive impact.
This way, the cultivator would no longer suffer irreversible harm.
Unless he obtained a Five Elemental Golden Core Fruit a spiritual item specifically designed to form cores even with all his supplementary methods, there would still be a chance of failure. Although Li Ye's vitality was extremely strong and could likely withstand the backlash, he still didn't want to risk derailing his cultivation path.
Hence, the Dissolving Golden Core Pill would have its use.
"The only issue is, this pill also requires third-grade herbs, which are hard to come by. I'm not even sure if I'll have the chance to try refining it once..."
Li Ye shook his head and couldn't help but mutter with a wry smile:
"Why does it feel like I need to collect more and more things just to form a core?"
That said, he understood these things were ultimately alternatives and options, not all strictly necessary. If the day came when success was nearly guaranteed, most of these measures would become irrelevant.
"Forget it… It's unrealistic to expect to collect everything, but even obtaining just one or two could give me that extra bit of confidence. I'll keep gathering what I can."
.......
Another six full years passed.
Suddenly, the state of Wu, led by Jiuding Valley, began to frequently harass the borders of Jing, seizing land and plundering resources.
The long-standing balance between the four nations was abruptly shattered.
At first, it seemed to be the usual skirmishes between border factions of the two countries.
These forces had long been accustomed to conflicts arising over the vague boundary lines and the resources scattered throughout the region. They were also used to the bloodshed and hatred that came with such disputes.
Yet, at the same time, as border dwellers, they frequently engaged in trade with each other and had intertwined economic interests.
Unless a dispute involved highly valuable resources, both sides typically kept their tempers and hostilities in check, unwilling to disrupt the border's delicate balance or cut off profitable trade routes.
It was precisely because of this established pattern that the Jing border forces initially misjudged the situation.
They had assumed the Wu forces would play by the usual rules only to fall into an ambush. Many of their men were slaughtered, and Wu cultivators took the opportunity to seize multiple resource points and spiritual lands.
A significant number of these belonged to the forces under Thousand Island Water City, or were territories they had personally dispatched people to occupy and develop!
This single blow dealt as much damage as the losses Thousand Island Water City had suffered over the years by voluntarily yielding profits and shrinking its sphere of influence to other nations.
It was nearly the same as carving off a piece of flesh from their body!
And behind almost all of these assaults, the involvement of Jiuding Valley was barely concealed.
The current leaders of Thousand Island Water City were well-versed in the art of strategic retreat yielding less important resources to consolidate strength and stabilize their subordinate forces.
But this provocation could not go unanswered. If they didn't retaliate with force, they would immediately be seen as weak and hollow within.
It wouldn't just invite the ambitions of other Golden Core sects who would surely band together to bite off a piece for themselves.
Even the various powers within Jing, who had once been subdued through iron-blooded suppression, would begin to stir and reignite thoughts of rebellion.
If it came to such a dire situation beset by enemies both within and without then even with the Third-Rank Black Flood Dragon holding the fort, Thousand Island Water City would still suffer enormous losses before the crisis could be brought under control.
Thus, without delay, Thousand Island Water City mobilized the islands of the lake, as well as the other forces within Jing, to launch a fierce counterattack against the invading Wu forces.
The conflict between the two sides ignited in an instant and rapidly escalated!
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