The Elven Cultivator

The years passed in a flash.

In the blink of an eye, two years had gone by.

「Chenxi Calendar, Year 9306. Autumn.」

「The Treehouse. The Meditation Chamber.」

Anton sat cross-legged, his eyes gently closed. His breathing was long and fine as silk.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes. With a mere thought, a glint of cold light shot out from his chest, silently hovering in the empty air before him.

It was the successfully refined Sword Pill.

After two years and three months of refinement, the Sword Pill was finally complete.

Its entire body had a subtle, silvery-white luster, gentle as moonlight yet possessing a sharp, piercing edge.

The previous intense, almost blinding blood-red color had completely faded. It had been digested and smelted by the Sword Pill itself, transformed into a part of the vast life force within.

Anton gazed at the Sword Pill before him, his eyes focused and calm.

He didn’t rush to activate it. Instead, he first used his Divine Sense to perceive it in detail.

The moment his Divine Sense touched the Sword Pill, a profound connection washed over him like a tide.

It didn’t feel like controlling an object; it was more like extending one of his own limbs.

What the Sword Pill sensed, he sensed.

What the Sword Pill touched, he touched.

It was as if the Sword Pill had always been a part of his body.

After a moment of this, Anton’s thoughts stirred. The Sword Pill erupted with a dazzling, sharp light, instantly transforming into a three-foot-long beam of silver sword-light. It hovered before him, its tip trembling slightly and emitting a clear hum.

“Go.”

Anton whispered.

The sword-light moved abruptly, like a startled swan’s fleeting shadow, darting and flashing within the small space.

At first, it was like a fish playing in water, graceful and free. Then it suddenly became like a thunderclap splitting the sky, tearing through the darkness. A moment later, it was like moonlight spilling onto the ground, silent and without a trace.

Wherever the sword-light passed, the air seemed to freeze, as if sliced by an invisible blade.

Anton’s Divine Sense merged with the sword-light. Wherever his will went, the sword followed, without the slightest delay.

This was the “human-sword union” of a Sword Cultivator.

Controlling the sword with Divine Sense, guiding it with intent.

Its speed was far beyond what ordinary martial skills and Techniques could compare to.

A moment later, Anton beckoned with his hand. The sword-light reverted to the Sword Pill, hovering motionlessly before him.

The room was still filled with a clear brilliance, while he sat as motionless as ever.

Anton let out a long, turbid breath, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.

“Not bad.”

He was very pleased with the Sword Pill’s speed, agility, and controllability.

The saying “as easy as moving an arm or pointing a finger” wasn’t even enough to describe it.

After all, a person’s arm is limited by joints and muscles, but controlling a sword with Divine Sense has no physical constraints.

Wherever his thought went, the sword-light went.

Moreover, the true power of the Sword Pill was far from just this.

Anton circulated the Star-Luo Sword Scripture again. The sword-light before him surged, then slowly began to divide, showing a tendency to split in two.

But before it could completely separate, he felt the True Essence in his body dissipating at an extremely fast rate. At the same time, the sword-light began to tremble violently, its glow flickering as if about to collapse.

Anton’s eyes flickered. He decisively withdrew his power, retracting the sword-light until it vanished back into his Dantian.

Although he had successfully cultivated the Star-Luo Sword Scripture, he was still just a beginner and not yet proficient. Attempting to use the Light Splitting and Reunification technique at this stage was a bit of a stretch.

Furthermore, his Cultivation Level was not yet high enough to support this technique.

Even so, Anton didn’t feel disappointed.

The road ahead was long and arduous. He was only at the beginning of the path of the Dao. He couldn’t afford to be complacent, but there was no need to rush.

Regardless, from this day forward, he was a true Sword Cultivator.

With his most important goal achieved, Anton felt a great weight lift from his heart, and a wave of relief washed over him.

But he was used to being prepared for danger even in times of peace. After a moment of joy, he began to ponder his next steps.

Refining his True Essence was, of course, a given.

He was now just one step away from breaking through to the Second-Layer Foundation Establishment. With a little more effort, he could cross that threshold.

Beyond that, the quality of his Sword Pill also needed continuous improvement.

A Sword Pill refined with the Devouring Spirit Dao had “growth” as its core characteristic.

Unlike ordinary Magical Treasures, it wasn’t static. It could continuously strengthen itself by devouring the essence of creatures from the same bloodline.

And since the Sword Pill was refined from the essence of a Rock-Horned Dragon, it naturally needed to devour the essence of creatures that also possessed Dragon Race blood.

’The Molten Spike Tribe is gone, and the Dragon Beasts of the Thousand Rock Hills are needed for taming and raising.’

Anton shook his head.

Even without these two reasons, he didn’t really think much of the Lizard-men and Dragon Beasts anyway.

The Dragon-Lizardmen, however, were acceptable.

’Unfortunately, the Silver Moon Clan doesn’t have many Dragon-Lizardmen slaves right now. They’re all part of the “material stock” for refining Origin Pills and can’t be killed carelessly.’

In that case, there was only one suitable target left on the entire Eldron Plain.

The Dragon Race!

Those humanoid creatures with Giant Dragon blood flowing through their veins and complete sapience. Whether in terms of bloodline purity or Spiritual nature, they were far superior to Lizard-men and ordinary Dragon Beasts.

If he could hunt some high-bloods, or even Pure-blooded Dragon Race members, the Sword Pill’s quality would definitely improve significantly.

’Looks like I’ll have to walk the same path as the Fallen Dragon Association.’

Anton sighed to himself, reined in his thoughts, and turned his focus back to important matters.

Refining his True Essence and improving the Sword Pill were important, but there was one more thing he had to start preparing for in advance.

Forming the Core.

If Foundation Establishment was laying the foundation of the Great Dao, then the Golden Core was the ladder to immortality. That’s why achieving a Golden Core was also known as “raising the heavenly ladder.”

And the Golden Core that a Cultivator ultimately solidifies also has different grades of quality.

First Grade is the highest, Ninth Grade is the lowest.

The higher the quality of the Golden Core, the stronger the Cultivator becomes after breaking through, and the greater their future potential.

With a Golden Core below the Sixth Grade, there is basically no hope of reaching the Nascent Soul realm.

With a Golden Core below the Third Grade, there is no hope of reaching Divinity Transformation.

If one wishes to achieve the Mahayana realm, a First-Grade Golden Core is an absolute necessity.

Needless to say, Anton’s goal was a First-Grade Golden Core.

However, the higher the quality of the Golden Core, the greater the difficulty in solidifying it.

For a Golden Core of the Sixth Grade or higher, one must cultivate a high-level Cultivation Technique and have the aid of a Solidifying Pill to have a chance of success.

For a Golden Core of the Third Grade or higher, one must cultivate a top-tier Cultivation Technique and have the aid of a high-grade Solidifying Pill.

As for the highest-tier First-Grade Golden Core, in addition to the above conditions, solidifying it would also trigger a ’Heart Demon Tribulation’. One must see through illusion and attain inner clarity to succeed.

Anton already had a top-tier Cultivation Technique; now he just needed a high-grade Solidifying Pill.

And the Taoist Jade Scroll contained the corresponding refinement principles.

Back when he refined the Foundation Establishment Pill, he needed five main ingredients corresponding to the Five Elements.

But a high-grade Solidifying Pill, in addition to the five main ingredients of the Five Elements, also required the two energies of Yin and Yang.

Unlike the “tangible things” of the Five Elements ingredients, the energies of Yin and Yang were “intangible qi.”

The Five Elements ingredients were “matter,” while the Yin and Yang energies were “energy.”

Matter is the body, energy is the function.

The key to refining the Solidifying Pill lay in using tangible matter to carry intangible qi, using the rotation of the Five Elements to catalyze the interaction of Yin and Yang, and thus form the pill.

Besides the seven main ingredients, the rest were a large number of supplementary materials.

The latter were relatively easy to find substitutes for.

The real difficulty lay with the main ingredients.

’The main ingredients needed to refine the Solidifying Pill are of much higher quality than those for the Foundation Establishment Pill. The Life Spring Water and the Eternal Tree branches are too low-grade; at best, they can only be used as supplementary materials.’

Anton calculated silently in his mind.

’For the Water Attribute main ingredient, I can use Life Source Crystals.’

Life Source Crystals were essentially highly concentrated crystalline forms of Life Spring Water. They contained an extremely rich life energy, a level above the Life Spring Water.

It was more than enough to serve as the Water Attribute main ingredient.

’For the Wood Attribute main ingredient, I can use the heart of the Eternal Tree.’

Anton felt that if he applied to the Elder Council to take a small piece of the Eternal Tree’s heart, there shouldn’t be much of a problem.

’The Metal, Earth, and Fire Attribute main ingredients… I wonder if I can find them if I commission the Tulip Commerce Association?’

Anton didn’t have high hopes.

Last time, it had taken so long to commission the Tulip Commerce Association to find the Earth Attribute main ingredient for the Foundation Establishment Pill. In the end, it was only by a stroke of luck that he came across the heart of a Burrowing Dragon.

Now that he needed even higher quality materials, the chances of finding them through the Tulip Commerce Association’s channels and connections were extremely low.

As for the Yin and Yang energies…

Anton got a headache just thinking about it.

The energies of Yin and Yang were pure forms of energy.

Or rather, they were naturally formed energy aggregates with Yin and Yang properties.

Unlike the Five Elements ingredients, they had no physical form, were difficult to capture, and even harder to preserve.

The difficulty of finding them was more than a level higher than finding the Five Elements ingredients.

The simplest way to obtain them was to gather Sun Essence and Moon Radiance.

Sun Essence could be refined by facing east around sunrise, with one’s back to the north and facing south, to collect the nascent purple qi.

Moon Radiance could be refined when the moon was high in the sky, by facing the direction of the moonrise and collecting its glow.

However, simple Sun Essence and Moon Radiance were not qualified to be the main ingredients for a high-grade Solidifying Pill. One had to gather a large amount of them, then temper and condense them using a special method, finally refining them into Yang Crystals and Moon Marrow to meet the requirements.

The Taoist Jade Scroll did contain complete methods for gathering and refining them, with clear steps and detailed principles.

The problem, however, was time.

Following this method, Anton would have to gather Sun Essence and Moon Radiance for at least two to three hundred years to collect enough to refine Yang Crystals and Moon Marrow.

After all, in the Cultivation Realm, orthodox sects had countless low-level disciples acting as laborers, working in shifts day and night with a clear division of labor, allowing them to complete the gathering task in a relatively short time.

But on the Dawn Continent, he was the only Cultivator.

Two to three hundred years’ worth of Sun Essence and Moon Radiance—he would have to accumulate all of it by himself, bit by bit.

By the time he refined the Yang Crystals and Moon Marrow, it would be far, far too late.

Anton shook his head, rejecting this method.

However, he didn’t completely give up on this line of thought either.

Gathering Sun Essence and Moon Radiance was time-consuming, but it was a definite, viable path.

If he couldn’t find a better substitute in the future, at least he had this option to fall back on.

Anton decided that from now on, he would set aside some time each day to gather Sun Essence and Moon Radiance. Every little bit would add up, so he wouldn’t be empty-handed when the time came.

After thinking for a long while without any leads, Anton shook his head and stopped dwelling on it.

Since he had no leads on the Yin and Yang energies for now, he would start with the Five Elements main ingredients.

’When I have time, I’ll make a trip to the Root Archives and see if I can find any information on suitable materials.’

The Root Archives contained a vast amount of information on ores, Spirit Plants, and Magical Creatures. Perhaps he could find some clues there.

Having laid out his future plans, Anton finally relaxed.

Then, a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

’Speaking of which, I still haven’t gotten revenge for the Flame Trade Association’s attack.’

’Now that I’ve had a major breakthrough, it’s the perfect time to settle the score.’

Anton’s eyes narrowed, a plan quickly forming in his mind.

’Once I break through to the Second-Layer Foundation Establishment, I’ll pay a visit to Bishui Port.’