Chapter 408: The Solution to the Third Tribulation of the Golden Core

I want to buy a drop of third-tier Green Snake essence blood. Senior, do you know anyone who might have it?

After connecting with Lan Haitan, Chen Mobai exchanged a few pleasantries before immediately stating the reason for his call, not daring to waste the time of a Golden Core True Man.

"I do," Lan Haitan replied, "but I doubt this will work out."

As the most prominent graduate of Kunpeng Dao Academy in recent decades, and having worked diligently for sixty years in the Immortal Gate's Heaven-Mending Group, Lan Haitan's network was far more extensive than Chen Mobai's. He actually knew of a senior alumnus from his academy who raised a third-tier Green Snake. However, that senior himself was a Golden Core True Man, and he had raised the Green Snake like a wife from an ordinary Garter Snake. Although the Immortal Gate's laws prohibit marriage between species with reproductive isolation, the Golden Core True Man named Xu Yanhe still invited friends to witness a Dao-companion ceremony with the Green Snake after she transformed into human form. Since they weren't officially registered and he was a Golden Core True Man, the Immortal Gate simply turned a blind eye, pretending not to know.

"This..."

After hearing Lan Haitan's explanation, Chen Mobai felt his youthful mind was once again greatly impacted. Compared to these senior cultivators who had lived for hundreds of years, he, a young man still in school, truly had too little experience. This incident reminded him of the various stories of love and hate between human cultivators and beautiful demon spirits he had watched in TV dramas as a child. He had thought they were fictional, but unexpectedly, they were drawn from reality.

"The Green Snake Immortal is True Man Xu Yanhe's Dao-companion," Lan Haitan said, subtly advising him after explaining the Golden Core True Man's situation. "If you want a drop of her essence blood, I'm afraid it's unlikely to happen."

Chen Mobai thought, if someone came to him asking for a drop of his wife's essence blood, he certainly wouldn't agree either.

"Thank you for letting me know." After listening to Lan Haitan's explanation, Chen Mobai temporarily abandoned the idea of seeking Green Snake essence blood.

The Extreme North and Extreme South are the two most distant Blessed Lands of the Immortal Gate, located at the poles of the Terra Star. Only Golden Core True Men have the ability to travel freely between them.

"Oh, right," Chen Mobai suddenly remembered Yan Bingxuan as he was about to exit the chat interface with Lan Haitan. "I have a friend with an Ice Spiritual Root who hasn't built her foundation yet. Are there spiritual materials like Water Mist Ice Crystal for sale in the Extreme North Blessed Land?" Yan Bingxuan's Foundation Establishment success rate could be increased by two spiritual materials, and Water Mist Ice Crystal could only be obtained from the depths of the extremely cold seas in the two polar Blessed Lands. He couldn't help but shamelessly ask again.

"I don't know about that," Lan Haitan replied. "I'll ask around for you when I have time."

There are very few Immortal Gate cultivators in the Extreme North Blessed Land. After all, conditions are harsh, and it takes many years to return unless one reaches the Golden Core stage. Precisely because of this, although the two polar regions are the Immortal Gate's most expansive Blessed Lands, they are often uninhabited for thousands of miles. Lan Haitan himself was in a place rich in extraterrestrial auroras and primordial magnetic force, using the Star-Gathering Stone gifted by the Weapon Dance Dao Academy to forge his natal magical artifact. He wasn't very familiar with the situation regarding Water Mist Ice Crystal.

Chen Mobai thanked him again and didn't bother him further.

After ending the call with Lan Haitan, Chen Mobai immediately searched online for True Man Xu Yanhe, the one who had taken the Green Snake as his Dao-companion. Every Golden Core True Man in the Immortal Gate has a dedicated encyclopedia entry, and he was no exception.

"Xu Yanhe, Principal of the Spirit Control Academy." Following that were his various accomplishments from Qi Refinement to Golden Core, including the mention of him owning a third-tier Green Snake spirit beast. However, there was no mention of him taking her as a Dao-companion. After all, this matter wasn't very glorious, so it was normal to omit it for the sake of a Golden Core True Man's reputation.

Chen Mobai involuntarily thought of the Sky-Swallowing Snake he raised in the Divine Tree Secret Realm. "This seems like another side of Yang Jing. If it transforms, will it look like Yang Jing? Didn't I watch a TV series called 'Under Qingcheng Mountain' as a child, which was about stories between humans and snake demons?"

He shook his head vigorously, dismissing these inappropriate thoughts. "Why do I keep thinking about things that affect my Dao heart recently?" Sighing inwardly, Chen Mobai felt that his transaction with Meng Huang'er must have sparked these thoughts, influencing his once single-minded focus on cultivation.

However, his ability to break through the Divine Sense bottleneck this time was still thanks to Meng Huang'er. Thinking of this, Chen Mobai sat upright in his cultivation chamber. His Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness was already mostly opened at this time. Streams of cool energy flowed out from the Jasper Parasol Tree, which was a manifestation of his Divine Sense, and began surging into the newly opened space within his Sea of Consciousness. This was the Divine Sense he had accumulated over the past year from consuming third-tier Snow Needle Immortal Sprouts. Previously, because he was stuck at a bottleneck, his Divine Sense had no room for growth, so he had condensed it into fruits and stored them. Now that the bottleneck was broken and his Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness was largely opened, this Divine Sense found its perfect use.

Under Chen Mobai's Spirit Manipulation Art, new young Green Parasol Tree saplings landed at the edges of these newly opened Purple Mansion areas. A Divine Sense bottleneck, like a spiritual energy bottleneck, will only become irreversible after a complete breakthrough. During the process of opening it, if one's foundation is insufficient, or if there's an unexpected forced battle, a breakthrough can fail, especially at the beginning. However, Chen Mobai had already opened a significant portion with the help of Meng Huang'er's Heart-Melody Profound Sound, and with the planting of the Green Parasol Tree saplings for stability, he had essentially declared his breakthrough a success.

After planting six Green Parasol Tree saplings, Chen Mobai opened his eyes with satisfaction. Generally, in normal cultivation, Divine Sense cultivation and spiritual energy cultivation advance simultaneously, with breakthroughs in one realm stimulating the other. However, Chen Mobai's breakthrough was abnormal; his Dantian Qi Sea had directly reached the Foundation Establishment Completion level with the power of the Longevity Tree Fruit, causing his Divine Sense cultivation to suddenly become a weakness.

Involuntarily, Chen Mobai recalled the fortune-telling session he had with the successor of the Divine Mechanism Pavilion. She had said he would face three tribulations upon forming his Golden Core. Among these, the tribulation of lifespan had already been resolved using his merit points. There was also the Golden Core Formation tribulation, caused by the condensation of Heaven and Earth spiritual energy; this could be avoided as long as he was within the Immortal Gate when forming his core. As for whether it would be triggered upon returning to the Sky River Realm, Chen Mobai felt that if he had already successfully formed his Golden Core by then, facing a mere heavenly tribulation would simply reinforce his persona as an unparalleled sword Dao genius. But for the final tribulation related to his mind, there had always been no good solution.

The successor of the Divine Mechanism Pavilion had said that his foundation was unstable and that he would be unable to control the surging cultivation base during Golden Core formation, leading to ultimate failure. Over the years, Chen Mobai had specifically collected insights on Golden Core formation in this regard and roughly understood the situation. It was nothing more than two types: one, a flaw in one's own mental state, which would lead to being defeated by inner demons during Golden Core formation. The other was insufficient Divine Sense, preventing one from breaking through to the corresponding realm as spiritual energy condensed into a Golden Core, thus rendering them unable to control the sudden surge of power, which could be dozens or even scores of times greater.

If such a situation occurred, most cultivators in the Eastern Desolate region would explode and die due to a lack of sufficient experience and the various sects' tendency to guard their secrets. The Divine Wood Sect, on the other hand, like Meng Hong, would simply self-shatter their Golden Core and drop their cultivation realm if they saw failure was imminent. Although failing Golden Core formation this way would damage vital energy, it guaranteed no life-threatening danger, and one could recover after several years of recuperation. However, the Immortal Gate, with its rich experience and countless insights into Golden Core formation, had a variety of targeted methods for such situations.

Even when it came to dispersing the Golden Core spiritual energy, the Four Great Dao Academies and Ten Major Immortal Palaces each had their own relevant research and secret techniques. For instance, the Artifact Forging Department of the Weapon Dance Dao Academy would inject the powerful spiritual energy after Golden Core formation into a pre-prepared natal magical artifact embryo. This way, even if one failed Golden Core formation, it could still help forge a natal magical artifact. Those with good luck could even directly produce a third-tier magical artifact or refine powerful talismanic artifacts and treasures. In any case, the Immortal Gate had many ways to prevent the Golden Core spiritual energy from being wasted when Divine Sense couldn't break through.

Chen Mobai was cautious in his actions and felt he should tackle both issues. He needed to consider both inner demons acting up and the inability of Divine Sense to break through. Among these, for inner demons, the Immortal Gate had various targeted magical artifacts, elixirs, and even formations and talismans that could be used as external aids. However, breaking through the Divine Sense realm could only be accomplished by oneself.

Chen Mobai wasn't very confident in his own talent. He originally thought that, like with Foundation Establishment, he would first try a small attempt. Even if he failed, it wouldn't matter much, as he was young and could accumulate experience for Golden Core formation. For the second attempt, he would then prepare Golden Liquid Jade Return Pills and various elixirs to suppress inner demons, striving for success on the second try.

But now, he had a better option. Chen Mobai hadn't initially taken Meng Huang'er's third condition seriously, as it was only a possibility to break through by listening to the Great Dao's Heavenly Melody during the state of union, not a guaranteed success. Moreover, he was a righteous person, capable of withstanding temptation. However, after breaking through his Divine Sense bottleneck this time with the help of Meng Huang'er's Heart-Melody Profound Sound during Foundation Establishment, Chen Mobai felt that he might have underestimated the wondrous Profound Sound art. As the Immortal Gate's foremost auxiliary cultivation technique, and even the hope for many Nascent Soul True Lords to reach Spirit Transformation, it indeed had its merits.

Chen Mobai felt that if he could truly listen to the Great Dao's Heavenly Melody through Meng Huang'er's Heart-Melody Profound Sound at its most intense, even if his Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness couldn't directly break through to the Golden Core level, there would definitely be some movement. Even if it only opened a sliver, the experience of the breakthrough would at least give him more confidence in success when he truly formed his Golden Core. This temptation was quite significant.

Therefore, Chen Mobai wanted Meng Huang'er to achieve Foundation Establishment not only to repay her kindness but also to prepare for his own third Golden Core tribulation. If he could truly open his Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness to the Golden Core level while still in the Foundation Establishment realm, then he was confident he could easily overcome the third tribulation mentioned by the Divine Mechanism Pavilion's successor.

But how could he help her? Given Meng Huang'er's shattered mental state after two failed Foundation Establishment attempts, probably only by mastering the "Critical Method" could she regain the courage to attempt it again. Otherwise, even giving her a Foundation Establishment Pill would likely result in failure.

As Chen Mobai pondered, in a high-rise building within the Immortal Gate's Weiyu Blessed Land, a young female employee wearing glasses saw a string of data freshly transmitted to the backend.

"Oh, client 021745 failed."

This was an information processing company, specifically founded by Bi Yuya to collect various outcomes after the use of the "Equal to Heaven Art" talismans. Among them, Meng Huang'er was client 021745. After the "Equal to Heaven Art" talisman was used, it would quantify the fortune of the two linked individuals into modern data, allowing them to view it. Before Bi Yuya's decline, there was actually an "Aura Observation Art" that allowed one to infer a cultivator's fortune by observing their facial features, status, etc., at close range. However, after two Golden Core Old Ancestors perished in another realm, this Aura Observation Art was lost. This was the downside of ancient Daoist traditions: they tended to guard their cultivation techniques as their own. However, after thousands of years of dormancy within the Immortal Gate, Bi Yuya, utilizing various high technologies, developed a fortune quantification program. Combined with the "Equal to Heaven Art" talismans, it could perform even better and more accurately than the Aura Observation Art.

The young female employee with glasses finished reviewing the data from Meng Huang'er's use of the "Equal to Heaven Art" and couldn't help but look puzzled. She then printed the document and knocked on her supervisor's office door.

"What's wrong?"

The person in charge of the ancient Daoist tradition here was a mature, beautiful woman. She took the document from her subordinate with a puzzled expression and, after reading it, couldn't help but frown.

"A Foundation Establishment cultivator." The "Equal to Heaven Art" talismans, besides quantifying the fortune of the two users, also estimated their cultivation level based on spiritual energy, with all this information transmitted as data to the company. After checking the code, the young female employee with glasses discovered that the fortunes of the two individuals who used Meng Huang'er's talisman were surprisingly similar, so much so that there would be little difference even without the Equal to Heaven Art balancing them. One of them was certainly Meng Huang'er. The other, whose fortune was not much different from hers, a Qi Refinement cultivator, was clearly just an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator.

After hearing her subordinate's report and finishing the document in her hand, the beautiful woman, Ms. Li, waved her hand without a word. The young female employee with glasses immediately withdrew.

"That shouldn't be..."

Before closing the door, the young female employee with glasses heard her supervisor's bewildered words. It seemed she couldn't quite believe Meng Huang'er's Foundation Establishment failure. This major celebrity was a premium client that her supervisor had personally monitored for a year. She had initially thought that with her extensive network and abundant resources, Meng Huang'er would easily achieve Foundation Establishment by borrowing great fortune with the "Equal to Heaven Art." Once she achieved Foundation Establishment and saw the importance of fortune, she would then purchase "Equal to Heaven Art" talismans for every subsequent breakthrough, and even encourage those around her to try it. But who would have thought that this premium client would actually fail? "What a shame. She would have been an excellent living advertisement."

As the young female employee with glasses felt regret, the beautiful woman, Director Li, in the office made a call: "Help me investigate something..."

Chen Mobai was completely unaware of all this. He bought a bouquet of flowers and a basket of fruit and was visiting the hospitalized Meng Huang'er. When she saw him enter and sit down, her pale face showed a hint of guilt.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Even though you did so much for me, I still failed."