Chapter 098

Chapter 98: Core Formation Again

With her first success as experience, Ye Wan Wan refined furnace after furnace. At first her success rate was only three in ten. Then it climbed from thirty percent to fifty, then seventy, then ninety.

After a month, her success rate reached one hundred percent: every single furnace of pills succeeded.

Each batch came out as High Grade pills. Limited by materials, they were still First Grade, otherwise Illusory Dream Elder estimated that Ye Wan Wan could already refine Second Grade pills. He told her calmly: “When every batch you produce is High Grade, it proves you can move up to the next tier.”

Ye Wan Wan counted the pills she had made during this time and reported in a low voice: “One thousand three hundred and seventy.”

She thought for a moment, her fingers pausing over the bottles: [This many pills should let me push into the late stage of Foundation Establishment.]

She put away the pills and said with resolve: “I won’t rush Second Grade yet. I’ll go into seclusion and attack the next realm first.” Leaving the Alchemy room, she turned toward the practice room.

Halfway there, the girl stopped. She looked back toward the exit and murmured: “I don’t know how long this seclusion will take. I should step outside first.”

With that, Ye Wan Wan withdrew from the Spirit Market.

Her Puppet Construct was sweeping the cave abode; seeing her come out, it bowed and greeted: “Master.”

Spotting extra items on the table, she guessed the reason at once. The Puppet Construct explained with a neat voice: “Second Senior Sister sent mulberries. She said Fifth Senior Uncle brought them from the south. There are other fruits too, all here.”

The basket was piled high and preserved with a small spell.

Ye Wan Wan’s eyes softened as she whispered, almost to herself: “Second Senior Sister…”

The Puppet Construct then offered a letter with both hands: “This is from Senior Brother Li.”

Ye Wan Wan opened it and read the few short lines: “I thought I was already very diligent! But you are going way too far!!! I’m going into seclusion right now!”

Just from those words, she could picture Li Wan Zhi’s angry face. She smiled.

She asked in passing: “Did anyone else come?”

The Puppet Construct answered at once: “Senior Brother Fang came, told you not to push yourself too hard, and left. Also, Master…” At that point its brows drooped, as if a bit wronged, and it added softly: “He praised that what I refined was decent, but said the materials were a bit stingy.”

Ye Wan Wan paused, touched her nose, and looked a little embarrassed.

Of course Master had seen through the Puppet Construct’s true body. She was short on materials and had relied on illusions to make do. She could fool senior sisters and senior brothers, but not Master.

Ye Wan Wan nodded and gave instructions: “Alright, keep watch here.” She stored the fruit into her Violet Cloud Ring, then suddenly remembered something and asked: “Did Shen Nan Zhou come by?”

The Puppet Construct replied: “No.”

[He didn’t come… did something change with Ye Yi Ran’s situation?] Her fingers curled slightly.

She separated five bottles and handed them to the Puppet Construct as she said: “Then go down the mountain and deliver these pills to them in person. Tell them these are my recent gains from cultivation and ask Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters to try them.”

The Puppet Construct answered briskly: “Yes.”

After arranging all this, she returned to the practice room. She set a Spirit Gathering Array. The Spirit Market was safe, but Ye Wan Wan still asked Dream Spirit and Star Marsh to stand guard. As a reward, she gave each of the two spirits five Mystic Spirit Pills. Then she focused all her heart on impacting the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

Even after giving some away, she still had over a thousand pills. She didn’t hold back. She took them ten at a time, absorbing spiritual power as fast as she could. Later, with a strained little laugh, she muttered: “I’m really stuffing myself with pills.”

Mystic Spirit Pills were not as strong as third or fourth grade pills, but they had two big advantages. First, their mystic power wasn’t tied to any attribute, so any cultivator could use them. Second, there were a lot of them.

She absorbed over and over, guiding all the power into her dantian, constantly filling the five whirlpools within.

Day after day passed.

At last, movement stirred inside. The five whirlpools trembled faintly. Ye Wan Wan knew: it was about time.

She sat cross-legged and circulated her art. Ten golden cores popped out to orbit her. Spirit Refining Art ran fast. The five whirlpools suddenly expanded, then, under her steady suppression, contracted again. They were still whirlpools, only much smaller.

She had reached late stage Foundation Establishment.

This time, though, Ye Wan Wan took out five Core Formation Fruits and swallowed them in one breath. She would ride this momentum to break the next realm.

Outside, Dream Spirit and Star Marsh sensed the change. They were shocked and whispered to each other: “Didn’t she say she would stop at the late stage of Foundation Establishment?”

But she wasn’t stopping. Ye Wan Wan aimed straight for Golden Core.

The whirlpools, pushed by this new force, exploded again.

Her Primordial Spirit sank into her dantian. She seemed to sit in a sea of stars, watching five black holes burst, storms raging. At the center of the cosmos, she felt as fragile as a drifting leaf, about to be torn apart or swallowed whole.

Yet Ye Wan Wan sat unmoved. Ten golden cores guarded her like a small world, shutting out the raging wind and sudden rain so they could not touch her.

Her fingers flew as she formed seals, forcing Spirit Refining Art to run. She used its meridian route to gather all the scattered elements, guiding them along her meridians, one cycle after another.

Again and again.

No matter how the outside storm shook, she did not.

She tempered the five forces, each different and mutually repelling, washing them through her meridians until they slowly gathered together, reached a subtle harmony, and ran safely as one.

A thunderclap boomed overhead.

Before she could even sense the coming Thunder Tribulation, a force kicked her out of the Spirit Market. When she reappeared, she was in the Purple Spirit Cave Abode.

High above Snow Mountain, tribulation clouds gathered. It was clearly a Golden Core Tribulation.

On Green Thicket Mountain’s Disciples’ Peak, everyone was stunned: “Another tribulation?”

“Has it even been a year?”

Li Wan Zhi stood there windblown and dazed. Under Yan Ju’s guidance he had been sensing the Thunder Command Art. After half a month, he had barely caught the most mysterious thread of Heavenly Tribulation lightning between heaven and earth. He was just about to rush to tell his Master that he could now grasp a tiny strand and that he could cast it.

Then today, a huge thundercloud appeared on the nearby mountains. He looked down at the little spark in his hand and collapsed onto his knees: “Junior sister is a total monster!”

“How am I supposed to make a name for myself now!”

Yan Ju sighed softly and, rare for him, offered a line of comfort: “Sensing lightning in half a month and even casting the Thunder Command Art is already good.”

Li Wan Zhi’s head snapped up at once and he puffed his chest: “Right, of course I’m good. I’m a genius. Junior sister is a genius among geniuses. I’m the senior brother of a genius among geniuses, which means I’m a genius among geniuses among geniuses.” He stuck out a thumbs up and declared with feeling: “I am excellent.”

Yan Ju went quiet: “…” The comfort had been wasted.

Done reassuring himself, Li Wan Zhi jumped up and shot toward Snow Mountain: “Junior sister’s injuries aren’t healed yet. Will this tribulation turn worse? I need to help!”

Not only Li Wan Zhi; Fang He An and Bai Jian also put everything down and flew by sword toward Snow Mountain. Together they saw the girl standing under the Heavenly Tribulation lightning. She paced within the light, calm-faced. Even bathed in thunder, her expression did not change.