Gao Wu: Oh no! Young Master Zhen is a cultivator!

The two left the guest room and strolled slowly along the corridor behind the mountain.

As dusk deepened, mist swirled through the mountains, making pavilions and towers appear and disappear in the fog.

Disciples were still practicing along the way, and the sound of sword light cutting through the air could be heard from afar.

The two continued on their way, passing through the white jade archway, and arrived at the mountain gate.

A cool night breeze was blowing, and the stars were just beginning to appear.

"Brother Ye, please take care." Lu Huai'an bowed and said, "If you have time in the future, you are welcome to visit Qingxuan Sect again."

"must."

Lin Ran leaped into the air, transforming into a streak of light and disappearing into the night.

He circled around for a long time to make sure he wasn't being followed before quietly returning to the entrance of the spatial rift.

Although he had already set up a concealment formation, he still felt it wasn't secure enough.

Therefore, based on the original formation, crystal cores and spirit stones were taken out and a triple formation was carefully arranged.

The first layer of the concealment array uses nine seventh-order crystal cores as array eyes to completely isolate the aura and divine sense fluctuations within a radius of a hundred feet.

The second layer of illusion array, based on seventy-two sixth-order crystal cores, interferes with the intruder's sense of direction, causing them to wander around unknowingly.

The third layer of the trapping formation is made up of 108 sixth-order crystal cores. If anyone forcibly breaks in, it can trap a Nascent Soul cultivator for a short time.

The triple array, layered and interlocked, completely concealed the entrance to the spatial rift within the mountains and wilderness.

After doing all this, Lin Ran sat cross-legged in front of the rift entrance and began to circulate his internal energy.

He planned to seclude himself here for three months to try and break through to the Nascent Soul stage.

He usually only cultivates at night, and it took him more than two months to break through to the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm.

Now he devotes all his time to cultivation, which is equivalent to twice the cultivation time before. Three months should be more than enough.

First came the fifth-order crystal nuclei, then the sixth-order crystal nuclei.

After reaching the peak of the Golden Core stage, he ran out of sixth-order crystal cores, so he took out a mid-grade spirit stone and continued to absorb them.

The Qingxuan Sect has disciples patrolling the mountain every day, and they have never noticed anything unusual when passing through this area.

The triple formation completely concealed Lin Ran's aura, so much so that even the spirit beasts in the mountains did not realize that someone was in seclusion there.

Time passed day by day, and three months flew by.

Lin Ran vaguely sensed that his cultivation was about to break through, and the spiritual power in his dantian had already reached its limit.

The golden core spun violently, as if it might shatter at any moment.

The previous breakthrough to the Golden Core stage triggered a tribulation of lightning, and this breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage was no exception.

For safety's sake, he decided to return to Earth to undergo his tribulation.

"I need to go back." Lin Ran looked at Li Zhu Wanwan, who was leaning on his shoulder. "You stay here and guard the entrance."

"Okay." Li Zhu Wanwan reverted from her bird form to her girl form and stretched.

Dressed in red with bright red hair, her phoenix eyes sparkled brightly in the moonlight.

"However, you have to leave me some spirit stones."

Lin Ran was slightly taken aback: "You can also absorb spirit stones?"

"Why can't I absorb spirit stones?" Li Zhu Wanwan asked matter-of-factly.

"You should have said so earlier."

"It's as if you would have had spirit stones if I had told you earlier."

Lin Ran paused slightly.

What Zhu Wanwan said wasn't wrong.

He only obtained some spirit stones after he came out of Secret Realm No. 0.

Before that, he had always cultivated using crystal cores.

However, the crystal core contains the remnants of the spirit of a strange beast, which needs to be refined by the Xuanhuang Cauldron to be transformed into the purest spiritual power.

Others don't have the Xuanhuang Cauldron; if they absorb a large number of crystal cores, their spiritual power will definitely be contaminated.

Even the Phoenix Princess was no exception.

Lin Ran chuckled awkwardly, took out one hundred high-grade spirit stones from his Nine Heavens Pendant, put them into a storage bag, and handed them to Li Zhu Wanwan.

Consider this my start-up capital. If you want spirit stones in the future, you'll have to earn them yourself.

"So stingy." Li Zhu Wanwan took the storage bag and pouted.

"Then give it back to me."

"If it's given to me, it's mine."

Lin Ran shook his head helplessly: "You stay here and guard it well. I'll be back as soon as possible."

"Go ahead, go ahead." Li Zhu Wanwan waved her hand and sat down cross-legged.

Lin Ran passed through the rift and returned to Earth.

The sea breeze swept over me, carrying a familiar salty, damp scent.

He went straight to the uninhabited island where he had undergone his tribulation.

The rocks are jagged, and the waves crash against the shore.

Lin Ran cleared a space in the center of the island and set up several layers of defensive formations.

He then sat cross-legged, took out a seventh-order crystal core, and attempted to absorb it.

Under normal circumstances, using a sixth-order crystal nucleus yields the best results.

However, to break through to a higher realm, one must naturally try even more violent spiritual energy.

He took a deep breath, held the crystal core in his palm, and began to circulate his cultivation technique.

The moment the spiritual energy surged into the meridians, a violent shock burst forth from the palm.

The spiritual energy of a seventh-order crystal core is several times more abundant than that of a sixth-order core, and it feels as if molten lava is surging through its meridians.

Lin Ran frowned slightly, steadied his mind, and guided the spiritual energy into the Xuanhuang Cauldron.

Within his sea of ​​consciousness, the Xuanhuang Cauldron shimmered with golden light, transforming the raging spiritual energy into pure spiritual power that flowed into his dantian.

After absorbing a seventh-order crystal core, the spiritual power in his dantian increased again.

One seventh-order crystal core after another was consumed, and the rising and setting of the sun and moon on the island seemed to have nothing to do with him.

The spiritual power contained within these high-level crystal cores is extremely vast, and each one requires several hours to be fully refined.

Over two days and two nights, he absorbed a total of eighteen seventh-order crystal cores.

The meridians became more resilient with each rinsing, and the multicolored halo on the surface of the golden elixir became increasingly dazzling.

The spiritual energy in his dantian had expanded to its limit, and his golden core trembled violently, as if it would shatter at any moment.

But there was always just one last crucial opportunity missing.

Lin Ran slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air.

"Just one last step."

He looked down at his palm, where there was only one seventh-tier crystal core left.

However, the effect of continuing to absorb crystal nuclei is already negligible.

The spiritual energy in the meridians is already overflowing; absorbing any more would be futile.

"It's time to choose a treasure to refine."

Lin Ran fully activated his cultivation technique, draining the last seventh-tier crystal core, and his spiritual power surged wildly into his sea of ​​consciousness.

The Xuanhuang Cauldron shone brightly, and several treasures within it also began to shimmer.

The Demon-Revealing Mirror, the Myriad Scales Armor, the Heaven and Earth Seal, and that unnamed incense burner.

These treasures have undergone preliminary refinement, but Lin Ran is still unable to control them due to his own cultivation level.

At this moment, the Demon-Revealing Mirror inside the Xuanhuang Cauldron seemed to sense that Lin Ran was about to break through, and began to spin rapidly.

Gold, red, cyan, blue, and white—five colors of light intertwined and surged within the Xuanhuang Cauldron.

The Demon-Revealing Mirror spun faster and faster until it finally flew out of the Xuanhuang Cauldron, transforming into a stream of light that headed towards the dantian.

At the same time, the sky suddenly darkened.

Dark clouds loomed overhead, and lightning flashed.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

One bolt of lightning after another struck down, but Lin Ran easily withstood them by raising his spiritual energy shield.

After the eight lightning tribulations, Lin Ran was unharmed.

"This tribulation seems to be much weaker than when I broke through to the Golden Core stage."

Previously, due to the involvement of the Twelfth Grade Chaos Black Lotus, he, at the Golden Core stage, withstood the eighty-one tribulations of lightning that only Golden Immortals were entitled to enjoy.

Finally, even the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder and the Chaos Divine Thunder made their appearances.

Looking at this ordinary Nascent Soul Tribulation now, it suddenly seems rather dull and uninteresting.

As the ninth lightning tribulation began to condense, Lin Ran's heart stirred, and he summoned the Jinghong Sword, soaring straight into the sky.

boom!

The moment the lightning struck, the Jinghong Sword flashed a beam of light, scattering the entire thundercloud.

Lin Ran remained seated, and although he had several scorch marks on his body, he had not suffered any real harm.

Just as the last bolt of lightning dissipated, a strange movement occurred in his dantian.

The golden core trembled violently, and its spiritual power expanded wildly, but it still failed to shatter and form a nascent soul.

According to the normal procedure, when a Golden Core cultivator breaks through to the Nascent Soul stage, the Golden Core shatters and the Nascent Soul is born.

However, Lin Ran's golden core is special, as it evolved from the Xuan Chen Pearl.

The spiritual energy continued to expand, but the golden core remained completely still.

Just then, the phantom of a mirror appeared in the air. The mirror had intricate patterns and its surface radiated countless rays of light.

The phantom was initially only the size of a palm, but it grew larger and larger as it rose into the sky.

Ten zhang, a hundred zhang, a thousand zhang.

The mirror-like surface obscures the sky and stretches across the entire heavens.

The ancient, verdigris-green patterns spread across the mirror's surface, with five-colored rays of light flowing within them.

The mirror surface seems to contain a world within it, with mountains, rivers, the sun, moon, and stars faintly visible.