C3 Three Golden Pills

Time flew by.

Before he knew it, a year had slipped away.

Throughout that year, Wai Jiang had been a model of discretion, performing his duties as a menial worker without a single complaint. Yet, that didn't mean the year was uneventful.

One servant had his cultivation destroyed for sneaking into the second floor of the Heaven Dao Pavilion and stealing a technique. This served as a stark warning to Wai Jiang: he must keep his own cultivation a secret.

He viewed the entire Profound Heaven Taoism Sect as an immense treasure trove ripe for exploration.

His daily routine was simple: clean, sign in, and watch his strength surge. He also stumbled upon various fortuitous opportunities.

Such a deal was hard to come by.

Even when the Wai family sent word that their adversaries had been vanquished and were devising ways for his return, he was petrified. He hastily refused and, with a threat of death, insisted he would never leave.

Resigned to his resolve, the Wai family had no choice but to let him be.

During this time, Wai Jiang made an observation.

In the Profound Heaven Taoism Sect, there were places he could only sign in once or a few times, such as the Three Great Palaces, the Training Pavilion, the Guarding Door, and the Heavenly Mystery Gate.

After one or two visits, these locations no longer allowed him to sign in.

However, places like the initial Profound Heaven Treasured Pagoda, Heaven Dao Pavilion, and Spiritual Elixir Pavilion allowed for repeated sign-ins.

At the Profound Heaven Treasured Pagoda, Wai Jiang could acquire divine powers and secret techniques from previous Sect Masters, like the Short Distance Sword Finger, Divine Sense Dao Eye, and Thundercrash Step Technique. But due to their immense power, he could only grasp the basics with his current level of strength.

In the Heaven Dao Pavilion, Wai Jiang obtained a variety of cultivation techniques and martial arts, many of which were relatively low-level. However, he had mastered them to the extent that he could deploy them effortlessly.

Regarding the Spiritual Elixir Pavilion, he had lost count of the number of elixirs he had amassed simply by signing in.

Currently, within the system space, Wai Jiang had stored numerous spiritual treasures and artifacts he had obtained from the Treasure Pavilion. To conceal his identity, he dared not take them out.

There was also the Demon Sealing Tower.

Over the past year, he had cleaned the nearby area.

He had checked in a few times, but the rewards were peerless cultivation techniques and martial arts suited for demons. Even if he wished to practice them, it was impossible.

Beyond that,

The Profound Heaven Taoism Sect boasted five forbidden areas, with the Demon Sealing Tower being just one.

Another was the Sword Tomb, where countless famed swords were buried.

The swords interred here had slain numerous evil demons and monsters before their destruction.

The Sword Tomb, stacked with numerous broken swords, was perpetually filled with a deadly aura.

Only disciples specializing in swordsmanship, upon approval, could enter to comprehend the essence of the sword.

Ordinary disciples risked injury from the sword qi within, or worse, losing their lives.

Even near the entrance, gusts of wind laced with sword qi would howl by, claiming the life of an unsuspecting disciple who passed too close.

For this reason, the place was usually unguarded—who would foolishly seek their own demise?

Although Wai Jiang had been cultivating for a year, he was still uncertain of his strength and naturally did not dare to approach for check-in.

The other three forbidden areas lay beyond the confines of the Profound Heaven Taoism Sect.

The former Profound Heaven Holy Land spanned millions of miles, far larger than today's territory.

These three forbidden areas were nestled within the mountain ranges of the old Profound Heaven Holy Land.

They were the Purple Bamboo Forest, the Life-Ending Well, and the Ten Thousand Caverns' depths.

With numerous potent divine abilities at his disposal, Wai Jiang could faintly sense the presence of formidable beings in those places.

Hence, he refrained from approaching them carelessly.

At the martial arts field of the Profound Heaven Taoism Sect,

Excitement was in the air.

Today marked the annual assessment for Outer Sect Disciples.

Only those who reached the Spirit Condensation Realm before turning sixteen were eligible to participate.

Successful candidates would smoothly transition to the Inner Sect, becoming Inner Sect Disciples.

Wai Jiang was merely a servant and at seventeen years old, he was far from qualified.

But that didn't bother him.

He preferred his role as a servant to the life of an Inner Sect Disciple. The disciples were subject to annual assessments and their presence tended to draw attention wherever they went.

After observing for a short time, Wai Jiang returned to his chores.

That night, he retrieved a bottle of pills.

The "Meridian Gathering Pill," a fourth-grade pill, could increase the likelihood of a peak Spirit Condensation Realm cultivator successfully forming a core. The Spiritual Pill Pavilion produced only about ten of these pills annually, reserved for the most exceptional Inner Sect Disciples or those who had made significant contributions.

Yet, Wai Jiang held dozens of these pills in his hand, amounting to several years' worth of the Pavilion's output.

Sitting cross-legged, he tipped the entire bottle into his mouth without a second thought.

As the first pill dissolved, a wave of heat erupted and spread through his meridians.

Wai Jiang wasted no time, quickly channeling his Spiritual Force to harness the heat.

The Spiritual Force swept through his body's network of meridians, guided by the warm current.

Simultaneously, his body was soaked with sweat, his clothes clinging to him and emitting an unpleasant odor as impurities were expelled from his system.

With the Profound Heaven Record's guidance and a year's worth of accumulation, Wai Jiang's dantian had transformed into an immense sea of Spiritual Force.

As the last of the pill's effects began to wane, Wai Jiang hastily consumed another.

In an instant, above the sea of Spiritual Force, a golden core began to take shape.

After ingesting nearly ten Meridian Gathering Pills and with a thunderous roar from within, the vast sea of Spiritual Force churned, creating towering waves that, upon settling, revealed a perfectly round golden core.

Anyone witnessing this would be astounded, for Wai Jiang's golden core was many times larger than that of an average cultivator.

For the average person, advancing to the Golden Core Realm involves condensing the Spiritual Force gathered in the dantian into a pill. When they execute their cultivation techniques, they can draw upon a substantial amount of Spiritual Force directly from the golden core.

However, Wai Jiang's core formation was far from over after his initial success.

Supported by his Core Sea, a second golden core began to take shape.

Eventually, Wai Jiang's Core Sea boasted three golden cores, and he had fully consumed the Bone Gathering Pills he had been holding in his mouth.

A Core Formation cultivator possessing three golden cores was truly unprecedented.

Wai Jiang's remarkable progress in just one year was not only due to the system's assistance but also the result of the Profound Heaven Taoism Sect's extensive resources.

Otherwise, even the sect's most gifted disciples wouldn't achieve Core Formation until at least the age of 25, at the earliest.

Despite a sleepless night, Wai Jiang felt no fatigue. Cultivators work on refining not just their bodies but also their essence, energy, and spirit.

He could go without sleep for ten days and nights and still not feel the slightest bit weary.

Dawn was breaking.

Wai Jiang didn't dwell on his recent breakthrough. He quickly rose, washed off the grime from his body, and changed into fresh clothes before heading to a secluded part of the mountain to resume his cultivation.

As the golden rays of the sun bathed him in light, he activated the three golden cores within him, summoning forth a vast amount of Spiritual Force. He then proceeded with a series of incantations, continuously channeling the Spiritual Force.

The East-rising Purple Qi Technique!

This body-refining technique was a reward from the Jade Clear Hall.

By harnessing the sunlight with Spiritual Force, he could steadily fortify his physique.

Once fully mastered, his body would become virtually invincible, impervious to ordinary spiritual weapons and capable of rebounding any attacks back onto his foes.

And so, Wai Jiang maintained his routine, performing menial tasks by day and dedicating himself to cultivation by night.

After several days of reinforcement, his realm had finally stabilized at the Core Formation Stage.

That very night, he resolved to gauge his newfound power.