Feeling puzzled, I followed the manager to a large cave.
Piles of gold covered the ground. To me it was tasteless and a proof that this low-bloodline bird had no sense of beauty.
At the far end, on a tall throne, sat the Sparrow Demon King.
"I have been paying attention to you."
My face turned ugly at his words.
"You don't need to be wary," he continued. "After the great war thousands of years ago, the demon race cant engage in internal strife anymore. I called you here to ensure you can break through."
A great war? My inherited memories held nothing of it, small worlds like this are not worth occupying space.
"I'm certain," I replied, "as long as there is enough Qi."
"I will lend you my cave. In return, you owe me a favor."
It was a fair deal. I needed a safe place for the breakthrough.
My speed of growth is very fast, when he asks me for a favor it will be very easy.
I followed him deeper until we reached a stone chamber. In its center lay a jade bed.
"This is jade bed calms the mind that paid a great price for. You have six months at most and after that you need to leave."
I gave my thanks and coiled around the bed. Kind of narrow for my huge body, but still enough.
One hour passed. My breathing slowed, my thoughts cleared. I felt this was the best state I could reach.
I began to breakthrough.
The path to Core Formation was simple to describe, transforming liquid Qi into a solid core.
At the peak of Foundation Establishment, one body can hold a hundred drops of liquid Qi. All of that must be condensed into a single, peanut-sized core.
Plop!
I heard the sound, this was a sign of breakthrough.
The Qi from several hundred meters around surged toward the sealed chamber.
All the demons stopped what they were doing.
A Foundation Establishment demon asked, "Do you know who is this fellow daoist breaking through?"
Many monsters were puzzled.
Then, suddenly, the Qi stopped flowing.
"Did it fail?" someone muttered.
Whoosh!
With a sharp sound, I shot out of the chamber, my upper body was now humanoid, but my lower half was still a serpent tail.
The onlookers quickly reacted.
"Congratulations to senior for breaking through!"
Back at the throne hall, I met the Sparrow Demon King again. By looking at him, I judged he was probably at the 7th stage of Core Formation. He must have gained a lot from the last sect raid.
"Fellow daoist," I said, "I still need to seclude myself for a while. I won't bother you."
Returning to the waterfall, I discovered my body now could use with innate magic powers. Breaking through Golden Core officially meant I was no longer a newborn, but a baby, even though the next stage childhood was still far away.
Browsing my inherited memories, I decided to follow the path of flesh cultivation.
There was a spell in my bloodline called Berserker that could greatly increase my strength for a time, at the cost of my sanity. I also chose to learn the Rainbow Escape Technique; I had to admit, those golden crows were quite gifted in escape magic.
I went into seclusion once more, beginning my training.