Chương 68: Host & System’s Teamwork During Golden Core Advancement.

While watching Ren Xuan's monologue, the attention I left on Ren Qingquan is triggered. That means Ren Qingquan is ready to break through to the Golden Core realm. The process of advancing from the Foundation Building realm to the Golden Core realm is relatively simple and largely the same as advancing from the Qi Refining realm to the Foundation Building realm.

Ren Qingquan needs to use the spirit qi he has absorbed and refined to strengthen his lower dantian, a metaphysical organ located near his lower stomach that functions like a combination of the heart and lungs. But instead of circulating blood or breathing air, the dantian circulates spirit qi around the body to strengthen it and breathes in ambient spirit qi, allowing cultivators to recover their spirit qi naturally.

The method for strengthening the dantian and achieving a breakthrough in cultivation level is also relatively simple in theory. First, a cultivator at the Qi Refining or Foundation Building realm must collect refined spirit qi to the limit of their dantian. Once they have collected enough refined spirit qi, they have reached the peak of their realm.

After reaching the peak of the Qi Refining or Foundation Building realm, the cultivator can attempt to break through by compressing the gathered refined spirit qi and slowly inserting it into the wall of their dantian until sufficient spirit qi has been inserted and the dantian wall's strengthening solidifies. Here, the cultivation method and talent will affect the cultivator's strength and potential.

The denser the spirit qi generated by their cultivation method and spirit root talent, the more they can reinforce their dantian's wall. The dantian wall's final strength will also affect their advancement from the Golden Core to the Nascent Soul realm. Inserting the refined spirit qi into the dantian's wall is also the trickiest part of the breakthrough process. It tests the cultivator's instinct, spirit qi manipulation speed, and courage.

Insert it too slowly, and the refined spirit qi will disperse into the outside world in the process, causing the breakthrough to fail due to a lack of refined spirit qi. Once the breakthrough fails, the refined spirit qi inserted into the dantian wall will not remain, causing the dantian wall's strength to revert to its pre-breakthrough state, and the refined spirit qi used during the breakthrough will be returned with some loss. Inserting spirit qi too slowly can lead to cultivation regression.

Some might only fall to the ninth stage from the peak of their realm, while more serious cases might drop to the sixth or seventh stage. By contrast, inserting spirit qi too quickly has a far more serious consequence; a cultivator who imbues refined spirit qi into the dantian wall too quickly during a breakthrough will literally explode.

In the mildest case, their dantian will explode, permanently damaging it and removing any chance of further advancement unless healed with the help of precious natural treasures capable of healing such injuries. The most severe case involves the cultivator exploding into pieces. The kind that even an expert at 3D puzzles can't fix. I've seen the latter case once while doing my research to help Ren Qingquan advance from the Qi Refining to the Foundation Building realm.

At that time, Ren Qingquan visited the Pure Wave Sect's special breakthrough room. The room is located within the Pure Wave Sect's cultivation area, where the ambient spirit qi is much denser than in the outside world. The special breakthrough room contains a formation that helps the cultivator partially recondense the refined spirit qi dispersed during the breakthrough process, thereby increasing the chance of a successful breakthrough. But that doesn't mean the chance of success is 100%.

Unfortunately, I witnessed the worst possible breakthrough accident firsthand while scanning a breakthrough room to collect data that could help Ren Qingquan break through. The trauma of that scene etched itself deeply into my memory. After I shared the scene with Ren Qingquan, it was enough to scare him from entering the breakthrough room. I can understand him. After all, most breakthrough rooms probably have at least one person who failed to break through and exploded inside.

Staying in a location where someone might have exploded will take a lot of nerve. Of course, that explosion should be an extremely rare occurrence. After so long, the cultivators in the world have also tried their best to address the abysmal breakthrough success rate, resulting in the Tier 2 Foundation Establishment Pill, Tier 3 Golden Core Solidification Pill, and other higher-tier breakthrough-assistance pills.

The Tier 2 Foundation Establishment Pill and the Tier 3 Golden Core Solidification Pill help protect the dantian to some extent and temporarily strengthen it. making the breakthrough process much safer. The cultivator who exploded is most likely either poor and can't afford a pill, or accidentally injected an insane amount of refined spirit qi into his dantian wall. Damn it, who the hell am I even explaining all this to? It seems my 'explaining to thin air' illness has gotten worse.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. I seriously need to find a way to leave this empty space as soon as possible, before I go fully bonker. With Ren Qingquan preparing for his breakthrough, I also prepared to assist him. Before officially beginning his breakthrough, Ren Qingquan consumed the perfect-grade Golden Core Solidification Pill, one of the pills stored in the portable space given by his uncle.

After the pill took effect, I sent a message to Ren Qingquan. [Ding! The Golden Core Solidification Pill is in effect. System will begin the breakthrough assistance function] Ren Qingquan sat and closed his eyes as I began my support. My support came in four forms. First, I activated my [Calculate] ability to help him sense the optimal rate of imbuing refined spirit qi into his dantian wall.

Second, I used [Transfer] to send the refined spirit qi that had dispersed from Ren Qingquan's body during the breakthrough process back to his dantian. Third, I constantly observed the progress and was prepared to use [Transfer] to remove any excess refined spirit qi if Ren Qingquan accidentally imbued too much into his dantian's wall. I didn't want to see Ren Qingquan explode. Lastly, I activated [Scan] to check Ren Qingquan's surroundings and ensure he wouldn't be disturbed.

In case of danger, with so many points at my disposal, I could teleport Ren Qingquan to the sect's main hall, where the sect master resides. After a gruelling 18 hours, I finally finished helping Ren QInqguan deliver his bab- Ahem breakthrough. With his successful breakthrough, Ren Qingquan took a week off work to celebrate. For a whole week, Ren Qingquan stayed cooped up in bed, reading the novels he had collected or watching Ren Xuan's adventures.

When his break ended, Ren Xuan finally left his house to visit the Demon Slaughtering Area. Starting today, he intended to resume his daily routine of heading to the Demon Slaughtering Area to gather points and souls, then returning home to cultivate. But less than two hours after arriving at the Demon Slaughtering Area, Fatty Zhang came to visit him there. Once he saw Ren Qingquan, Fatty Zhang immediately asked, "Young Master Ren, have you already preapred your things?"

"What things?" I can sense Ren Qingquan's confusion as he asks.

"The things you plan to sell while joining the Pure Wave Sect's travelling merchant group, of course! I heard that the sect's merchant group will return in less than a month." Fatty Zhang continued.

"I actually wanted to remind you a few days ago, but I heard you're in seclusion, trying to break through to the Golden Core realm." Fatty Zhang added, "I suggest you bring only useful, rare specialties that don't take up too much space, because there are limits on the size and weight of items a person is allowed to bring. Also, don't bring common items or those useful only to an extremely niche group, because they're extremely hard to sell."

Ren Qingquan nodded, thinking, 'Well, I don't think the weight and size limitations matter for me. I still have the portable space, which doesn't take up much space or add much weight. Furthermore, I have no intention of using this chance to trade. I simply want to find a suitable target to be subsystem hosts.' After hearing Ren Qingquan's thought, I felt it was simply too much of a waste, so I suggested.

[Host, if you didn't plan to trade, how about lending the portable space's extra area to help Fatty Zhang store more items? You can ask him to share the profit with you in exchange for borrowing your portable space.] Although I believe the profit from Fatty Zhang's endeavour won't reach even a fraction of the wealth Ren Qingquan got from his uncle, who'll say no to what's basically free money? Ren Qingquan also agreed with my suggestion and told Fatty Zhang, who happily promised to share 30% of the profit.

Before Fatty Zhang left to procure more goods, I remembered something. [Host, System, think it's a good idea to place a Level 1 subsystem with a [Scan] function on Fatty Zhang.] Ren Qingquan thought for a moment, then instantly agreed to give Fatty Zhang a [Scan]. I asked Ren Qingquan to add a subsystem to Fatty Zhang to observe him and see whether he gets close to anyone who might seem like a xianxia protagonist. In xianxia novels, a fatty companion is a pretty common trope.

Although there's more than a 50% chance that Fatty Zhang is Ren Qingquan's fatty companion, just in case Fatty Zhang is actually another child of destiny's fated fatty companion, I can make the first move and decide how to respond. After all, unlike common xianxai protagonists, Ren Qingquan doesn't start as an underestimated country bumpkin from the middle of nowhere. Instead, he has an extremely strong backer even in the cultivation world.

What if he is actually fated to be a cannon fodder young master, rather than a protagonist? After a lot of consideration, I decided to have Ren Qingquan give Fatty Zhang a subsystem. Ren Qingquan agreed because of a simple reason - he is getting bored with watching Ren Xuan's adventure and thinks watching Fatty Zhang's business management show will be a breath of fresh air. Time passed quickly amid Ren Qingquan's boring daily life, and the Pure Wave Sect's merchant group would soon arrive at the sect.

Ren Qingquan was busy helping Fatty Zhang load many items into the portable space given by Gui Ruwen. Once Ren Qingquan finished storing Fatty Zhang's goods, both of them flew atop a crane to another mountain, where the sect's merchant group would dock. Unlike a normal mountain, the one used as a port for the flying ship had a flat summit where many people and items had gathered.

Apart from the lack of water and the sight of cultivators flying or moving items with magical technique, the sight was pretty similar to a normal harbour. Both Fatty Zhang and Ren Qingquan, who remained still, felt out of place amid the busy scene. When evening arrived, the sky above the mountain suddenly darkened as several massive flying ships descended from the clouds. With a brief glance, there were at least a dozen flying ships slowly descending from the clouds.

The busy cultivators began to make way for the flying ships as they descended. Slowly, the flying ships descended until they settled in the middle of the mountain. Once they had fully landed, the busy cultivators quickly went to load the items they had brought onto the ship. Meanwhile, Ren Qingquan and Fatty Zhang casually entered the largest ship. The Sect's merchant ships carried not only workers and sect-affiliated merchants but also sect members who had brought tickets to join the trip.

Although the ticket cost a considerable number of spirit stones and joining as a guest greatly limited the number of items that could be carried, in exchange, it gave Ren Qingquan the freedom to act.