Jian Dan spent ten years solidifying her late-stage Golden Core realm. Once her foundation was steady, she began cultivating the Ice-Skin Jade-Bone Demon Body Art, preparing for the next phase: tempering the bones and breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage.
In truth, by the time she reached peak Golden Core, all her major and minor meridians had already been fully opened. All that was left was to pierce the final veil. But Jian Dan wasn't in a rush. She planned to trigger her breakthrough through the tempering of her demon body.
Advancing to the bone-forging stage of the Ice-Flesh Jade-Bone Demon Body Art required the aid of beast blood. Jian Dan had previously exchanged her sect contribution points for some, but it was only enough to complete the basic forging of her meridians. This time, she intended to push through in one go.
She took out a small porcelain vial from her storage.
Inside was Yingge's blood. He had gritted his teeth and offered up three drops with his tiny claws, eyes welling with tears the entire time. Jian Dan could still recall how pitiful he had looked. She had to make all sorts of promises to cheer him up.
Originally, Yingge had wanted Jian Dan to extract a drop of his essence blood as payment for helping him rebuild his spiritual foundation, but she had refused.
Back then, Yingge hadn't officially started cultivation, and his bloodline had only just begun to purify. If she had taken his essence blood at that point, it might have harmed his foundation—and Jian Dan couldn't bear that. She had only taken three drops of regular blood instead.
She now planned to use one of those drops in a medicinal bath to aid her breakthrough. Since she hadn't sensed any surveillance over the past decade, it seemed she had finally passed the Heavenly Sword Sect's Law Enforcement Hall's unspoken test. So this time, she intended to break through inside her personal space.
Before entering, she checked on Yue Liang again. The little beast was already deep in cultivation, fully immersed and unlikely to wake unless forcibly roused. With the support of the spirit-gathering formation and mid-grade spirit spring water, Yue Liang's cultivation was steadily progressing.
Returning to the inner chamber, Jian Dan cautiously activated a high-grade isolation array. She placed a top-grade spirit stone at its center. With a brush of her spiritual sense against the magnolia pendant, her figure vanished on the spot.
Inside the space, the spiritual energy felt even denser than before. Several new peaks had appeared in the distance. The four-story bamboo pavilion remained unchanged, and the vast spiritual fields in front of it had become lush and vibrant.
There were spiritual grains transplanted from the secret realm, grains that had existed here originally, and others Jian Dan had cultivated herself: pearl rice, golden jade rice, emerald rice, and violet rice, all heavy on their stalks, waiting to be harvested.
She planned to stay here for a while, letting both body and mind relax.
First, she used her divine sense to gather all the mature grains, then cooked herself a bowl of spiritual rice porridge to warm her stomach. After that, she picked the ripe Purple Heart Fruits and sealed them in jars on the second floor of the pavilion.
The Yan Fruit tree she had transplanted bore only two pitiful fruits this year—likely due to being too recently moved. Jian Dan didn't mind. She casually popped one into her mouth, and a stream of cool energy flowed over her face and skin.
Once the fruit's effect dissipated, she touched her cheek. Her skin felt supple, smooth, and radiant. She looked noticeably more beautiful—by at least three degrees, in her opinion.
In high spirits, she began harvesting the spiritual herbs needed for her breakthrough: Xuantian Ginseng, Bone-Mending Grass, Moonwhite Flower, and most importantly, a three-thousand-year-old Verdant Flame Artemisia. This herb was the core of the medicinal bath. Its blue petals flowed like water, with golden-yellow stamens pulsing with vitality.
She refined the herbs one by one using Verdant Flame, removing all impurities. Then, following the proper sequence, she placed each essence into a prepared jade basin. Once the Verdant Flame Artemisia was melted down into a translucent blue liquid and poured into the basin, the water changed from blue to a vibrant green.
Jian Dan removed her clothing and sat cross-legged in the basin. She wrapped the beast blood in spiritual energy and added the final drop into the mixture.
One breath. Two. Three.
The water in the basin began to churn like boiling soup. The medicinal effects seeped into her body, and Jian Dan entered a realm of alternating agony and relief. Her meridians were first scorched with blazing heat, then soothed by icy currents, only to be scorched again. The cycle repeated endlessly, until all medicinal properties had been fully absorbed.
With a surge of movement, Jian Dan leapt out of the basin and plunged into the mid-grade spirit spring beside the bamboo house. Slowly, she sank to the bottom as torrents of spiritual energy surged into her body from all directions.
She became like a massive whirlpool, drawing in energy that traveled directly to the Yin-Yang Taiji Disk in her dantian. The Mò Xī Sword devoured the energy greedily, its silver light sharp and brilliant. Soon, a cocoon of swirling water formed around her.
As the cocoon thinned, the Golden Core in her dantian grew fuller and more radiant, expanding steadily. When the final strand of energy was absorbed, the core gave a loud crack and shattered.
At its center, a tiny figure of Jian Dan slowly emerged.
The figure opened its mouth and began absorbing spiritual energy at a frightening pace. Within moments, the figure became solid. Her Yuányīng had formed. At that exact instant, Jian Dan and the tiny figure in her dantian opened their eyes at the same time.
The space began to reject her presence.
This time, Jian Dan didn't hesitate. She rose from the bottom of the spring, put on her robes, and left the space in a flash.
When she returned to the meditation cushion inside the cultivation cave, dark clouds immediately gathered over the Advancement Hall's peak. Lightning crackled through the sky. Purple bolts danced overhead, ready to strike at any moment.