Chapter 368 - Chapter 368: Chapter 18 Upper Third-Grade_1

Chapter 368: Chapter 18 Upper Third-Grade_1

“I didn’t expect the formation of an upper third-grade Golden Core to be so troublesome.”

In the quiet room, only Wang Ba remained, toying with the wooden handle in his hand, deep in thought.

The wooden handle was a treasure that he had received from Wen Yong. It recorded the process and insights of Wen Yong’s father during Core Formation as well as the method of condensing an upper third-grade Golden Core.

Perhaps because it was a heritage object deliberately left for descendants, the recording of the Core Formation process was extremely detailed, each step recorded the projection, practice, and summary of this Golden Core cultivator.

Having looked through it, Wang Ba generally understood the process involved.

However, owing to his current realm not being high enough, he only understood surface knowledge and could not gain deep insights. Maybe only until later date, when he reached the realm of transforming mana into Golden Liquid at the Perfect Foundation Establishment stage could he hope to gain deeper insights.

In addition to these experiences and insights, the most crucial information was the method of condensing the upper third-grade Golden Core.

“Unlike what I initially thought, cultivators of any qualification have the opportunity to condense an upper third-grade Golden Core.”

“Of course, it’s just an opportunity. In reality, the requirement of a profound level of mana alone directly eliminates the majority of cultivators.”

Wang Ba recalled the information he had seen earlier.

Pills are divided into nine grades, and the lower third-grade Golden Core does not require a special method. As long as all mana is transformed into Golden Liquid, and one successfully condenses the Golden Liquid into a Core, and survives the Golden Core Thunder Tribulation, there is a chance to achieve the lower third-grade.

Even the poorest ninth-grade Golden Core can still gain control over the life and death of Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Of course, any ambitious cultivator is not content to stop at the lower third-grade.

After all, a lower third-grade Golden Core may have a chance to advance into the Nascent Soul stage, but a low-quality Golden Core greatly slows down cultivation progress, and ultimately there is almost no chance of achieving the Nascent Soul stage.

Some might even be stuck in the middle or early stages for their entire lives.

Such kinds of people exist in large numbers in the Cultivation World.

Back during the Tianmen Cult days, it is feared that the lower third-grade Golden Core cultivators made up the majority.

In contrast, the middle third-grade Golden Core has achieved a very perfect balance in terms of cultivation progress and the profound level of mana.

The cultivation speed is much faster than lower third-grade, and the mana that the Golden Core can contain is just right.

To achieve the middle third-grade, one starts to need some special methods or even some special spirit materials for assistance, to produce a Golden Core with special effects.

For example, increasing the speed of mana circulation, attaching some special effects to mana, and so forth.

Generally speaking, once a middle third-grade Golden Core is achieved, it is undoubtedly much stronger than the lower third-grade.

Of course, compared to the upper third-grade, it’s nothing.

The difference between them is like tofu and chopsticks.

Just as chopsticks can easily pierce tofu, an upper third-grade Golden Core cultivator can easily suppress the middle third-grade.

However, the difficulty is so great that it almost destroys the aspirations of ninety-nine percent of cultivators.

Not only are there requirements for the basic level of mana, but the corresponding Core Condensing Method, as well as matching cultivation methods and spirit materials, are also required.

It even makes use of Golden Core Thunder Tribulation.

“With my current foundation, if I transform mana into Golden Liquid, there is hope of condensing a third-grade Golden Core…”

Wang Ba checked these requirements against his own circumstances.

His level of mana is undoubtedly profound. After all, he is in Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment stage, and in terms of mana alone, only cultivators who are at the same Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment stage can compete with him.

This easily meets the condensing standard for a third-grade Golden Core.

Apart from this, he has almost nothing else to offer.

Although the “Three-phase Creation” cultivation method is considered good, it does not fit well with him, feeling like it’s slowing him down instead.

As for spirit materials, they are mostly resources monopolized by Sects. As a Rogue Cultivator, he hardly has any chance of getting them.

Wang Ba has only two types of third-grade spirit materials that meet the requirements, and he got these materials ten years ago when he tricked Lu Yuansheng in the Tianmen Cult.

After looking at other requirements, Wang Ba could only put them down in disappointment.

“Best to focus on the present.”

Packing up the wooden handle, he then concentrated on refining the second-grade chicken essence.

…

Half a year later.

In the specially made spirit kitchen.

“Ssh”

Hearing the small sound, Wang Ba carefully lifted the pot lid.

He saw at the bottom of the pot, a piece of amber colored transparent chicken essence, like a beautiful jade, slightly swaying.

And along with the action of opening the lid, Wang Ba didn’t notice any loss of Spiritual Energy.

A look of surprise immediately appeared on his face.

“It’s 100% pure!”

He immediately took a small pinch from the chicken essence in the pot, put it in his mouth, and his eyes lit up.

Let’s not talk about the taste. The main point is that the 100% pure chicken essence was quickly absorbed and digested by his body as soon as he took it in.

There were no impurities affecting his absorption efficiency at all.

“This half year was not wasted.”

Wang Ba sighed.

The whole person can’t help but relax a lot.

During this period, he has been busy refining chicken essence, even his cultivation has been somewhat delayed.

But as the saying goes, ‘sharpening your axe will not delay your work at cutting wood’. The improvement in the purity of the chicken essence brings greater benefits than drawbacks to his cultivation.

Without hesitation, he devoured the chicken essence.

Then he sat down and began to refine it.

Two shichen later, he slowly opened his eyes.

Feeling the change in the mana in his dantian, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

Perhaps because he hadn’t cultivated for a while, his cultivation base increased quite a bit after refining a piece of second-grade chicken essence.

Of course, it’s still far from reaching the late-stage of Foundation Establishment, it would probably take at least another ten or twenty years.

The situation left him little choice. Benefiting from Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, his cultivation speed was extremely fast, and he freely utilized the Spirit Chicken Essence.

However, due to his solid foundation, the amount of mana he needed to accumulate far exceeded that of ordinary people.

Thus, the process was naturally not going to be short.

Regardless, Wang Ba maintained calmness and proceeded step by step according to his plan.

Before long, Wang Ba vaguely sensed some activity and couldn’t help but frown.

After giving it some thought, he tidied up and left the kitchen.

From a distance, he saw the formation quickly converge, and Bu Chan was walking back reluctantly with her hands full of things.

Seeing what Bu Chan was carrying, Wang Ba quickly stepped forward to help carry some of it.

He looked down and was surprised to see a second-grade tiger penis among the items, which was quite eye-catching.

“These people are sending gifts every day… Brother, why don’t you make it clear to them? If they keep sending them like this, it’s not a good thing either!”

Even the patient Bu Chan was getting annoyed.

“Gift givers again…”

Upon hearing this, Wang Ba also felt helpless and responded,

“I have no other ways, they all expect me to give them the quota to buy the second-class Spirit Chicken Essence, but actually, I don’t have any quotas left.”

“I gave everything to Wen Yong.”

“The problem is that they won’t believe it.”

Since three months ago, when the Shanli Changyi Society at Yong’an City unveiled several amounts of second-grade Spirit Chicken Essence as the finale, Wang Ba, who was already popular, became even more famous overnight as expected.

Those Foundation Establishment Cultivators who had previously shown little interest in Wang Ba flocked to him, politely asking to make purchases.

Even some of the Golden Core Masters from the three major sects appeared personally, hoping to obtain more second-grade Spirit Chicken Essence.

Although the effect on Golden Core Masters was significantly reduced, it could still produce some effects after all.

However, on the advice of Wen Yong, Wang Ba, despite his desire to trade spirit materials with the people from the three major sects, rejected all their offers.

The reason provided was simple: the second-grade Spirit Chicken Essence was difficult to produce, the raw materials were limited, and it wasn’t that he didn’t want to provide more, but that he genuinely couldn’t.

What he could procure wouldn’t be enough to divide amongst everyone, so they could only be put up in the Changyi Society for everyone to compete.

Seeing that Wang Ba didn’t show favoritism, the cultivators of the three major sects didn’t make things difficult for him.

They also dared not to.

After all, only Wang Ba had mastered this craft.

However, in the following days, Wang Ba was bombarded.

All sorts of strange creatures came to pay their respects, offering gifts and spirit stones, just for the chance to buy the second-grade Spirit Chicken Essence,

Of course, the Golden Core Masters wouldn’t stoop to such things. As a matter of fact, some of these visitors were actually hired by the Golden Core Masters to procure the Spirit Chicken Essence on their behalf.

Upon hearing this, Bu Chan didn’t know what to say, so she simply took the tiger penis back from Wang Ba, planning to use it to make a soup.

The tiger penis of a second-grade Azure Tiger was rich in spiritual energy and abundant in essence, making it an excellent supplement for cultivators.

Of course, it could also have some minor side effects.

For the sake of improving himself, Wang Ba was willing to bear these side effects.

However, he soon recalled that Wen Yong seemed to have given him something similar before, claiming it was a treasure bestowed upon the Chu royal family.

Initially, he intended to bring it back to examine it, but he had forgotten about it due to a run-in with some Rogue Cultivators from Huifeng Valley.

With that thought, he immediately opened his storage ring and from the corner, found the royal treasure Wen Yong had given him before.

A dainty little wooden box.

He promptly opened the box and saw a silk cloth inside.

As he carefully lifted the cloth, Wang Ba froze.

The silk cloth was embroidered with lifelike men and women, all naked, each with a pill in their mouths, making a series of strange gestures.

On the side, tightly packed were verses and explanations.

“Is this… a Dual Cultivation Method?”

Having read many books, Wang Ba quickly recognized what the content on the silk cloth was.

And from the content, he learned this was a Dharma of Dual Cultivation specially supplied for the princes of the Chu Dynasty.

Combined with the corresponding elixirs, the effect was indeed remarkable.

He then noticed a luxurious white porcelain bottle under the silk cloth.

He gently uncorked the bottle and took a sniff.

“Purified vegetation…”

Wang Ba’s face revealed a surprised expression.

He was somewhat tempted.

Having been Dao companions with Bu Chan for so many years, they had always cultivated independently.

Compared to Wang Ba, Bu Chan’s cultivation speed was somewhat slower.

Wang Ba was sometimes quite worried about Bu Chan’s cultivation progress.

After all, Bu Chan was different from him. He had an almost endless lifespan, whereas Bu Chan had only about 180 years.

To achieve Golden Core within such a short time was not an easy task.

But if they could practice dual cultivation to speed up Bu Chan’s cultivation progress, this could potentially alleviate Wang Ba’s worries.

The night soon fell, they drank the tiger penis soup, enjoyed some wine.

They naturally began to discuss the Dao of Cultivation…

The next morning.

As soon as Wang Ba got up, he received a Sound Transmission Talisman from Wen Yong.

“Beware of the Xuli Sect.”