Chapter 47: Six Months of Cultivation

Six months had passed since the Heavenly Twin Stars left to enter the secret realm.

During that time, Gu Yuan remained in his room and focused on cultivation. After learning the true identities of the twins, he needed some time to calm himself down. At the same time, with the Sect Master and many elders dead, he hoped that the chaos within the sect would gradually settle down.

During these six months, Gu Yuan had discovered a few things about the abilities granted to him by the Orb of Creation.

Starting with Qi Absorption, what exactly determined its absorption speed?

He had made several hypotheses before, and after spending six months observing it, he had confirmed a few factors.

His cultivation realm, his Spiritual Root grade, and the density of the surrounding Spirit Qi.

For now, these were the three factors he knew affected his absorption speed. The exact degree to which each factor affected it, however, remained unknown.

That was not the main point, though.

Compared to when he was in the Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment Realms, his Qi Absorption speed had naturally increased after reaching the Golden Core Realm. However, the amount of Spiritual Power required for each breakthrough had increased by an even greater margin.

In other words, while his cultivation speed had become faster, his actual rate of advancement had slowed down.

Gu Yuan had spent four years reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm, relying almost entirely on his Qi Absorption ability. It had then taken him another eleven years to reach the Golden Core Realm, but this time, Qi Absorption alone had been far from enough.

His Spiritual Root Enhancement ability had transformed his Spiritual Root into a First Grade Spiritual Root. The pure, refined essence of the Twin Sessions Tree had also played a major role, along with the various pills he had consumed.

With all these factors combined, it had taken him eleven years to break through from the Foundation Establishment Realm to the Golden Core Realm.

Now, to reach the Spiritual Core Realm? It would take far longer. ℯ

Moving on, there was also his Spiritual Root Enhancement ability.

He had noticed something about it during these six months as well.

The gap between a Second Grade and First Grade Spiritual Root was by no means small, but compared to the gap between a First Grade and a Top Grade Spiritual Root, the difference was enormous.

Gu Yuan couldn’t expect his Spiritual Root to transform again anytime soon.

Both discoveries sounded rather disappointing, but Gu Yuan was fine with them. Both were problems that could be solved with enough time.

And he had plenty of it.

Standing up, Gu Yuan left his room and headed toward the place where he had met his master, Luo Yunjin. Upon arriving, he announced his presence.

The door opened on its own, revealing the person inside.

"Welcome, Junior Brother. Did you need something from Master? Unfortunately, she isn’t here."

The person inside wasn’t his master, but his senior sister, Bai Yuning.

Gu Yuan still paid his respects before saying, "I wanted to ask for permission to set up my forge here. What do you think, Senior Sister?"

Gu Yuan didn’t plan to intrude on someone else’s place like he had done with Deacon Zhao. He had enough money now, so he planned to establish a place of his own where he could practice forging.

His intentions were good. Unfortunately, Bai Yuning shook her head.

"Hmm, I don’t know if Master would allow that. It’s better if you wait until you can ask her personally."

"Then when can I see Master? Do you know, Senior Sister?"

"I don’t. She’s currently busy handling the duties of the sect master."

Gu Yuan blinked.

"What do you mean?"

"The Heavenly Twin Stars have entered seclusion, it seems. Our master was appointed as the Deputy Sect Master and is responsible for handling the sect in their absence." Bai Yuning looked at him strangely. "You really didn’t care enough to find that out?"

"Hahaha, well, I was busy."

"Always busy..." Bai Yuning grumbled.

Gu Yuan had to chat with her for a while before her mood finally improved, and only then did he take his leave.

He had wanted to resume forging, but if that was out of the question, then perhaps it was time to find out some information.

Gu Yuan pondered for a moment.

There were actually many things he wanted to look into, starting with the Ascension Door the twins were searching for, then the sacred ceremony he had gone through, the method of refining the Treasure Flame he had received, and more.

He didn’t like having unclear matters hanging over him and preferred to make things as transparent as possible.

Before looking for information elsewhere, Gu Yuan decided to sort through the pile of information slips in his storage treasure first.

That was why he returned to his room.

It was only three months later that Gu Yuan finally finished sorting through them.

He didn’t find anything about the sacred ceremony, but he did find some useful information.

First was the pill he had consumed.

Apparently, it was called the Heavenly Awakening Pill.

It was an extremely precious pill, and its concoction method had already been lost. Furthermore, consuming it didn’t guarantee that a special ability would be awakened.

It only provided a possibility.

He had simply been lucky enough to awaken an ability from it.

Moving on, there was the Treasure Flame.

To refine it, he either needed to find a special place cold enough to withstand its heat, set up an array formation to assist him, or simply possess a high enough cultivation to refine it through his own strength.

The third option was obviously out of the question. The Treasure Flame he had received from the twins was far too powerful for his current cultivation.

That left him with the first two options.

The first was naturally the easiest, but finding such a place could probably prove to be the hardest part.

Perhaps setting up an array formation was his only realistic option.

To do that, he needed to become an Array Master.

And that was actually possible.

Among the cultivation resources Ji Yue had given him, there were many materials related to arrays. If he focused on it, becoming an Array Master shouldn’t be too difficult.

Or...

He could simply wait until Ji Yue returned.

He could ask her to set up an array formation for him. Or, with the fate-related abilities she seemed to possess, perhaps she could help him find a suitable place related to ice.

There were plenty of options.