"How is this possible! How long has he been in the Foundation Establishment Stage? A month?" Dark Department's Xiu Ju stared in astonishment in the direction of Shen Qiang's room, "No one can break through so quickly, not even I. It took me nine and a half months to reach the Golden Core Stage from the Foundation Establishment Stage. At that time, the instructor even said I was a top-tier Cultivation genius."

"If what the instructor said back then was true, what does that make Shen Qiang? What is he? Just three months ago, he was just a guy at the Body Refinement Stage, and now, he has already entered the Golden Core Stage. Compared to such terrifying speed in cultivation, I was simply an idiot back then!"

While Dark Department's Xiu Ju was shocked,

Shen Qiang was immersed in joy inside the room.

Deep in the Sea of Consciousness,

Shen Qiang tightly embraced the graceful Qingxuan.

The mighty True Qi surged into Qingxuan's body, purified then entered Shen Qiang's body.

This not only made Shen Qiang's cultivation speed rapid.

But also allowed Shen Qiang to clearly feel the tremble from the depths of Qingxuan's soul.

Not only that.

What excited Shen Qiang more was,

at that moment, he clearly felt a mysterious connection with nature's spiritual energy.

Just having entered the Foundation Establishment Stage,

Shen Qiang could feel the presence of nature's spiritual energy, but he was not able to use it just like he did with True Qi, which was freely dispersed in nature.

But now it was different.

As the Cultivation Technique operated at high speed,

the spiritual energy around him, as if hearing Shen Qiang's call, like curious little children, followed the flow of True Qi and slowly entered Shen Qiang's body.

One Grand Circulation, two Grand Circulations.

The influx of nature's spiritual energy, after circulating with the True Qi in the Grand Circulation, transformed into Primordial Energy and slowly condensed into a pearl above the Qi Sea in the Red Palace.

Golden Core Stage!

Shen Qiang, still maintaining his cultivation posture, was ecstatic in his heart.

In the realm of cultivation, each stage brings different enhancements.

Compared to the Foundation Establishment Stage, the most significant change in the Golden Core Stage is not about becoming much stronger, nor how high the Power has increased, nor how much strength has been gained.

Entering the Golden Core Stage, the core quality change it brings to a cultivator lies in the change of energy.

The most crucial point is that the True Qi inside the body, after being tempered by nature's spiritual energy, turns into True Yuan.

This is also why, for cultivators below the Foundation Establishment Stage, the most effective Spiritual Medicine is called Gathering Qi Powder, and after reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage, the most helpful Elixir Pills for cultivation are the Pei Yuan Pills.

True Qi, Primordial Energy.

Although there's only a difference of one word.

But the distinction is fundamental.

True Qi, cultivated within the body.

After being tempered by nature's spiritual energy, it transforms into True Yuan.

It's not just a little stronger!

Not only that.

What excited Shen Qiang even more was that entering the Golden Core Stage meant he was not far from the next stage, the Nascent Soul Stage.

By then, not only will Shen Qiang possess stronger capabilities, be able to refine Elixir Pills that he couldn't refine before, but once he enters the Nascent Soul Stage, he could also start using real spells!

In addition, entering the Golden Core Stage also meant that after this period of cultivation, Shen Qiang had completely shed the label of being considered useless by the people in the Cultivation World.

It should be known that under normal circumstances, for an ordinary cultivator without the support of powerful cultivation techniques and spiritual pills,

even if they started cultivating from a young age, reaching the Golden Core Stage by their twenties was already considered quite good.

For example, the previous young master Jing Haotian of the Jing Family who died at Shen Qiang's hand, the crime scene simulation expert Ali from Dragon Group, the later investigator Ye Xiaolei, Zhong Yongxi of the Zhong Family, and that guy surnamed Li who Shen Qiang sent to the hospital with tuberculosis during a bragging contest with Cheng Xinyi—all of them were at the Golden Core Stage.

Thus, between the ages of twenty and thirty, ordinary cultivators who could reach the Golden Core Stage would no longer be considered useless wherever they went.

Of course, malicious derogation and insults were exceptions.

The Golden Core slowly condensed.

But the color was not the golden hue Shen Qiang had anticipated.

Instead, it was a very dull reddish-brown.

According to the records of the Longevity Technique,

once the Golden Core had been sufficiently refined and all the impurities in the Qi Sea of the Dantian were removed, it could ascend to the Mud Pill Palace, face tribulation, and then it could transform into a Nascent Soul.

So Shen Qiang dared not be negligent with it.

True Qi surged through his limbs and bones as Shen Qiang exerted all his power to attract nature's spiritual energy.

"This Golden Core has been condensing for so long and is only the size of a fingernail, too small, bigger, bigger, I need you to be bigger!"

Shen Qiang had a clear goal in his mind and was actively condensing the Golden Core.

At this moment, Xiu Ju of the Dark Department, who had inadvertently reached the outside of Shen Qiang's bedroom door, also showed a hint of worry in her beautiful eyes.

"Entering the Golden Core Stage, the size of the Golden Core formed for the first time is fixed, and it will not change with further cultivation,"

"So you must keep pushing, Shen Qiang! If the Golden Core is too small, no matter how you cultivate, it is impossible to achieve great success because it directly affects the future transformation into a Nascent Soul, and the use of techniques. Just like the core hardware processor of a computer,"

"A small Golden Core is like a single-core CPU; a large Golden Core is dual-core; an even larger one is quad-core; and an extremely large one is eight-core, sixteen-core, or even thirty-two-core. When dealing with simple issues, there may not be a noticeable difference as they are all at the Golden Core Stage; but once it involves large-scale techniques and high-rank cultivation, a small Golden Core will hinder your progress no matter how hard you try,"

"So you must try hard!"

Xiu Ju, with a worried gaze, could feel the increasingly restless spiritual energy of the world and cheered for Shen Qiang in her heart, filled with anticipation.

"Three months to enter the Golden Core Stage! Then his talent and qualifications must be very excellent. The instructor once said that firstly concerning innate talent, for human cultivators a Golden Core diameter of 1 centimeter is considered adequate, 2 centimeters is considered excellent, and 3 centimeters is first-rate,"

"And when I was at the Golden Core Stage, a core diameter of five centimeters was considered elite, an existence beyond first-rate,"

"Although Shen Qiang started his cultivation late and progresses at a shocking speed, given that he began cultivating at an old age, it's definitely not possible for him to form a very large Golden Core, considering humans are limited by their physique. It's recorded that the largest human Golden Core is just 6.5 centimeters in diameter, not even as large as an adult's fist,"

"And since he started cultivating late, taking everything into consideration, the best-case scenario would be for his Golden Core to reach a diameter of around 3 centimeters."

As Xiu Ju speculated in her mind,

Shen Qiang, who was actively condensing the Golden Core, indeed encountered trouble.

Because no matter how hard he tried, the Golden Core hovering above the Qi Sea in his Dantian, after reaching about 2 centimeters in diameter, stopped growing, which made Shen Qiang feel unwilling because the Medical Saint's Longevity Technique explicitly stated that the size of the Golden Core could not be increased through later efforts, and its size was related to the future Nascent Soul, Primordial Spirit, and whether one could attain the long-life path.

So even though he felt fatigued, Shen Qiang still refused to give up.

"Bigger! I've had enough of the cold looks and doubts, I want to become the strongest, this small Golden Core is not enough!"

Amid Shen Qiang's angry roar,

a dragon cry suddenly erupted from the silent Dantian.

Immediately, under Shen Qiang's shocked inner vision, a Thunder Dragon, wrapped in electric light, fiercely plunged into the Golden Core.

Swoosh!

The previously slowly rotating Golden Core, stimulated by the dragon's cry, not only started spinning rapidly but also visibly swelled at a visible speed.

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