Before taking the spirit medicine, Han Li spent several days sitting in meditation within his sealed chamber, adjusting the True Essence and vital energy throughout his body to their peak condition. Only then did he produce the small bottle containing the Heavenly Fire Liquid.
He tilted his head back and carefully dripped several drops into his mouth, then hastily stowed the bottle away and closed his eyes to await the medicine's effects.
Before long, the Meridians throughout Han Li's body began to scald with heat. The True Essence inside him churned like boiling water, surging rapidly through his channels.
A flicker of alarm passed through his mind, but Han Li hurriedly produced an unmarked packet of spirit medicine from his robes and poured its contents straight into his mouth without a second thought. Then he settled into focused cultivation of the Green Element Sword Art, throwing everything he had at the bottleneck.
The moment the seventh layer of the sword art reached completion would be the day he successfully formed his Golden Core.
Of course, before this, Han Li had already used his spiritual sense to issue instructions to Qu Hun in the adjacent chamber, having him similarly consume the Heavenly Fire Liquid along with the other supplementary medicines.
The "Blood Refinement Divine Light" that Qu Hun cultivated belonged to a class of rapid-advance demonic techniques. Under normal circumstances, forming a Golden Core was utterly impossible with it. But with the Blood Condensation Five Elements Pill, things were different entirely. As a result, his process was quite unlike Han Li's Core Formation attempt.
Rather than using a particular technique to condense a Golden Core, Qu Hun had simply ingested the Blood Condensation Five Elements Pill one after another and directly refined the pill's power to form an Evil Core.
Relatively speaking, his procedure was far simpler than Han Li's.
After issuing a detailed set of commands, Han Li left Qu Hun in the next chamber and ceased devoting any further attention to him.
Though Han Li himself knew his chances of forming a Golden Core this time were exceedingly slim, he had to give it a serious attempt regardless. Even if he failed, the experience would serve him well for his next attempt.
With these thoughts, Han Li gradually sealed off all perception of the outside world and sank fully into bitter, secluded cultivation.
From that point on, the passage of time outside held no meaning for him.
Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. Spring gave way to winter, and winter yielded to spring once more.
Four years later, on a certain day, Sea Ape Island was as chaotic as ever. The docks and the island's sole city buzzed with a subtle undercurrent of excitement. This was the season when great numbers of sea apes surfaced to mate, and low-ranking cultivators hurried on and off the island in droves, hunting down these otherwise elusive demonic beasts.
The cultivators were, of course, earning spirit stones hand over fist, and the merchants wore beaming smiles as they purchased catches without pause.
But around midday, on a desolate, remote hill somewhere on the island, something occurred that left the seclusion-practicing cultivators in the vicinity utterly dumbfounded.
Without warning, the cloudless azure sky began to transform.
A vast mass of oppressive black clouds descended over the hill from who knew where. Silver lightning arced wildly, and deafening thunder cracked like writhing serpents.
At the same time, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth from all directions began spiraling inward toward the hill as its center, forming a colossal vortex several li in diameter beneath the black clouds. The vortex devoured every wisp of spiritual energy within dozens of li, leaving the loose cultivators around the area stunned beyond belief.
They poured out of their cultivation retreats of their own accord, rushing toward the hill where the anomaly had appeared.
Even the most ignorant cultivator understood what this meant. Such an awe-inspiring celestial phenomenon could only occur when a senior expert of the cultivation world was on the verge of successfully condensing a Golden Core.
The Starfall Sea was about to gain a new Core Formation cultivator!
Yet that someone would choose to form their Core in a place as spiritually barren as this — it was entirely beyond the loose cultivators' expectations.
Mixed with their envy and astonishment, they naturally wanted to witness it for themselves. If they could form a connection with this expert, or even be taken on as disciples, what a wonderful thing that would be.
But before they even reached the hill, the spiritual energy vortex seemed to have absorbed all it needed. With a clear, resonant cry like a phoenix, it collapsed completely.
Amid the turbulent spiritual currents, a shimmering radiance of five colors faintly materialized — breathtakingly beautiful.
Then the clouds parted, the mist cleared, the lightning vanished, and everything returned to normal. It was once again a fine day of gentle breezes and warm sunshine.
By this time, the loose cultivators had only just arrived near the desolate hill. But before any of them drew close, a voice of bone-chilling cold rang simultaneously in all their ears.
"Approach this hill and die."
The words were utterly devoid of emotion. The dozen or so low-ranking cultivators' faces drained of color, and they halted in unison, exchanging uneasy glances.
Clearly, this newly ascended Core Formation expert had no desire to be disturbed.
After staring at one another for a moment, none of them were foolish enough to press on. They turned around in silence and retreated.
Before long, word that a cultivator had successfully formed a Golden Core on Sea Ape Island spread like wildfire.
The other cultivators on the island who had not yet heard the news were left gaping for half the day.
That someone would choose Sea Ape Island of all places to form their Core — it was utterly beyond comprehension!