Sitting cross-legged, Aotian was strengthening his dantian, still extremely moldable. But he needed to be quick—once the dantian solidified, the opportunity to improve it would be lost.
While fixing the small damages from the breakthrough, an extremely potent energy, incomparable to what he had at the start, gathered around the dantian.
The stronger the dantian became, the greater the efficiency of the roots and the control over spiritual energy.
It was the core of a cultivator's energy control, and strengthening it meant expanding mastery over spiritual energy. Now that his dantian had truly evolved into a Golden Core, his control was stronger than ever.
Many would have crippled themselves before even transforming their dantian into a Golden Core; others might interrupt the process upon realizing they couldn't succeed. In such cases, they would strengthen the dantian a little, but the changes would quickly solidify. Once the dantian solidifies after a failed breakthrough, it becomes more fragile and brittle during a second attempt to shape it, making it far more dangerous.
After finishing the strengthening and repairing the cracks, Aotian once again guided the potent energy circulating his dantian to smash it—now as a Golden Core.
Aotian's body trembled more than before with the impact, but there was no pain on his face, only seriousness. Inside, it was as if an explosion was happening, though no sound was made.
Boom… Boom… Boom…
Each smash made the dantian more condensed, but increasingly larger cracks spread. Aotian needed to spend more time repairing them, only to smash it again with even stronger energy, controlled by an ever more powerful core.
The golden radiance of the dantian increased, as did Aotian's aura.
As it was shaped, the core shrank in size until it almost couldn't shrink any further. Even so, Aotian persisted in compressing it.
However, a point came when there were no more changes—and without changes, the Golden Core's strength would not increase; consequently, he couldn't mold higher-level energy to proceed with a more powerful compression.
At that point, Aotian's breakthrough was complete.
The Golden Core is divided into nine quality levels, determined by the degree of compression endured and the number of cracks present at the end.
At the start, right after the transformation of the dantian into a Golden Core, Aotian's core had undergone the minimum number of compressions, being classified as a 9th-grade Golden Core—the weakest in the category. Even so, with his near-perfect foundation, he still surpassed many others, even without additional compressions.
From that point on, with the strength of a Golden Core, each subsequent compression had far more power than those performed with Foundation Establishment strength during the breakthrough.
Each new compression at full Golden Core power increased the quality by one level:
- Initial compression: 9th-grade Golden Core
- Second compression: 8th-grade Golden Core
- Third compression: 7th-grade Golden Core
- Fourth compression… and so on.
From 9th to 7th grade: Low-Quality Golden Core.
From 6th to 4th grade: Mid-Quality Golden Core.
From 3rd to 1st grade: High-Quality Golden Core.
In truth, throughout the entire process, the core is constantly trying to solidify. Because of this, there is only a brief window of time to improve the quality of the Golden Core — and each strike must be delivered with full force. Otherwise, the core won't just be poorly shaped; it will also solidify even faster. However, with each increase in quality, a new window of time opens before the final solidification.
The major problem in raising a Golden Core's quality is knowing when to stop. With each compression, energy control increases, and consequently, so does the power of the next compression—and the risk of performing it.
Without proper control, the core can shatter.
Furthermore, one must avoid excessive cracks. Once the core stops being shaped, it begins to solidify; if it isn't restored to its peak before that, it will remain with cracks, severely damaging its quality and power. And fixing it later may take a long time—if it's even possible.
But that applies to ordinary people.
Aotian hammered his core as if in anger. Although he managed only nine compressions—the possible limit—he kept trying without effect.
As for the cracks? To him, they were irrelevant. Small fractures were fixed almost instantly.
In the end, not even using all his strength could further compress the core or create cracks in it, thus ending Aotian's realm breakthrough in an exceptional way.
What remained was a small, dazzling Golden Core, smaller than a walnut, perfectly round and radiant, flawless.
During the process, Aotian had Bao Wuji inspect it, leaving no problems behind.
Although he reached the limit of nine compressions, Aotian knew there were still differences within that limit.
His foundation, slightly more perfect than that of his avatars—who had used pills only to achieve perfection at Foundation Establishment—allowed him to compress a little more, even with the same number of hammer strikes, simply because the power of each strike was greater with his stronger foundation.
Looking at the core, Aotian felt he could call it a perfect core. Normally, such a core is known as a Supreme Golden Core, but his could be called a Supreme Supreme Golden Core.
Aotian had learned from Rihai that supreme cores are extremely rare, almost never seen. Even divine physiques, the kings of talent, might not always be able to form one.
That's why, if the world knew that the 50 outer elders of the Infinite Dao Sect all possessed Supreme Golden Cores, they would probably suffer Qi deviation.
Regarding Golden Cores, interestingly, they were actually the cultivators' own Dantians condensed.
That's why it was so dangerous to externalize them — if they were broken, it was the same as shattering the Dantian and killing the cultivator. Even damaging them would practically cripple, or even destroy, the owner.
But the benefits of externalizing a Core were also immense. Normally, to attack, a cultivator had to channel energy through the roots, limited by what they could handle, and then form the attack. However, by spitting out the Golden Core, all the cultivator's energy was already stored within it, allowing them to unleash an attack with all that power at once.
It was like the difference between spraying water with a hose and dumping an entire bucket of water at once.
Of course, it wasn't wise to keep externalizing the core, since it was both a source of power and a vulnerability.
Aotian, having solidified his core and stabilized his foundation at record speed, opened his eyes with a smile and clenched his fists, feeling the immense power of the energy flowing through his roots.
'Well, even though I'm used to higher cultivation realms, it still feels great to feel such power running through my main body.'
He thought with a smile, then closed his eyes, looking into his Golden Core.
There, a sea of compressed spiritual energy stretched out, and in the middle of it, a green energy full of vitality floated calmly. That was Aotian's life force.
'With the compression of the Dantian, even my life force has condensed, and along with the sturdy walls of my Golden Core, its dissipation has greatly decreased. A normal Golden Core cultivator can live about 500 years, but I feel that even a thousand years wouldn't be a problem for me.'
He thought, feeling excited. Not that he cared much about his lifespan — after all, he had barely spent any of it yet — but still, for someone from Earth, the idea of living a thousand years was incredible.
'A thousand years… how much of human history and evolution could I witness in a thousand years on Earth? I would see from the Middle Ages to the space race… how crazy.'
Aotian's gaze couldn't help but drift as he realized the insane world he lived in.
'It seems that whenever I start to get a little used to the cultivation world, I realize just how far I am from my old life.'
He massaged his neck, his expression slightly tired.
'A thousand years… in a thousand years, will I still remember the family I love so much? Will I still long to see them, to hug them, to tell them I'm alive? Or will they become just distant memories, hard to reconcile with my life? Will I look at them as children, with their few years of life compared to my millennia of existence? And in higher cultivation levels? It seems so… difficult…'
Aotian's chest tightened. He wanted to grit his teeth and say a determined no, but he knew how terrible time could be.
He took a deep breath, looked at the ceiling with lost eyes, and made a request to himself.
'Please, me from the future, don't forget them…'