After waking up again, Krune went back to the Order Hall and threw a tantrum in front of Hase Hasik. Unfortunately for him, the name couldn't be changed anymore, it was an onetime opportunity. Krune looked around, but the culprits had long since disappeared. They obviously fled somewhere, and Krune felt like crying but had no tears.
Time passed, and just like that, another month went by. Today Shinja had finally crossed the ten levels of the endurance test and became an ordinary disciple of the Mohi-cough, cough, Rainbow Sect. She went to the Books Hall to search for a soul cultivation technique suited for her. Krune still had an annoyed face but again helped her select a good one. He had already committed to memory all the introductions of techniques when he came here before, so he took all the water-related techniques.
"So, those are all the ones that have water element as base. Some are focused on attack, others, on defense. There is quite a lot for support as well. Few of them are suited for water and lightning as the skills you like to use. So you might want to give them a little more attention. I also know the techniques of the fourth and fifth floors, so I left out the techniques that wouldn't be compatible with higher techniques for when you reach a legacy disciple level."
Shinja nodded and took a look. All techniques were good ones, probably because they could be changed after becoming a legacy disciple. Shinja started to read through the descriptions, and Krune left. She will definitely take much more time to select one that he did. After all, there were almost no techniques for all five elements. But there is a lot if only water is considered.
Back to the Order hall, Yusa and Ao were still going through the endurance test. Ao is much further ahead since Yusa had to stop for her Spiritual Energy Meridians creation. He had already got to the sixth Divine Sense attack of the last level. Yusa didn't have any more spirit stones for the Spiritual Energy Meridians creation. So she started to take the endurance test again, and it was at the second attack.
During this last month, Ao achieved the 7th stage of the Foundation Establishment, so his combat prowess went a step further, too. He should have no problem in fighting ordinary 9th stage cultivators.
Although Yusa seemed to have fallen behind, the truth is that she was far ahead. The four Spiritual Energy Meridians had helped her improve her elements control by a lot. So she could fight Ao head-on even being one cultivation stage behind, and it won't take long for her to break through into the 7th stage as well.
'They don't need anything other than time at the moment. I guess it won't take long before we move back to the city, but we are now lacking combat experience. I also have to return to the Alchemist Guild to make some money. It should be okay for me to start focusing on Four Stars Pills from now on as well.'
Krune then went back to his own training. He still had a long way to go before becoming an expert with his soul cultivation technique.
A few days later, Krune received a message from Shinja to gather in the Order Hall. He thought it had something to do with her choice of cultivation technique, but arriving there, he could also see Yusa and Ao.
"Did something happen?"
Yusa and Ao just shook their heads, they also received a message from Shinja and just came out of the soul endurance test.
Shinja looked at them and smiled.
"I can now breakthrough into the Core Formation Realm."
Krune and the others were surprised, but that was to be expected! She had been accumulating experience and energy for a long time. With the improvement of her soul, it goes without saying that she could take the next step.
Krune decided that this was a good chance to ask about the Core Formation Realm breakthrough. He was far away from that realm before. So he didn't care too much, but his cultivation is improving every day. The only reason he stopped at the 5th stage was simply to stabilize his foundation that was showing some problems due to the speed of his breakthroughs.
"So, exactly how does that Core Formation breakthrough work?"
Yusa and Ao were also interested. If it was not for their encounter with Krune, they would be far from considering something like Core Formation, so they haven't looked into the requisites for the breakthrough.
Shinja, of course, was different. She had already been at the peak of the 9th stage when she joined the group. Her reason to go to the Furiu Realm was exactly to find an opportunity to make the breakthrough.
"You could say that the Core Formation breakthrough is a lot easier than the Foundation Establishment. Of course, I don't mean easier in difficulty, but easier in understanding the process. You had heard before that this breakthrough had a lot to do with the soul, right?"
Krune and the others nodded. They remembered that someone had commented that before.
"So, simply put, your future golden Core is being nurtured, but for what is it being nurtured for? The answer is: to become a 'home' that will 'gestate' your Divine Soul."
Krune and the others were puzzled.
"Aren't we talking about the Core Formation Realm? Where did the Divine Soul come from?"
Shinja was already expecting that question.
"It isn't that hard to understand! A Divine Soul can't appear out of anywhere. It has to be created at some point. The 'gestation' of the Divine Soul is done by none other than the nurtured Core of the Foundation Establishment Realm."
They had to admit that it made sense. It's just that the concept of Divine Soul Realm was something really far away from them.
"Basically, you are saying that the entire Core Formation Realm is nothing more than a gestation period of the Divine Soul, is that right?"
Shinja nodded.
"Correct!"
Yusa then asked:
"So, how exactly you make your core nurture a soul, does the soul appear out of nowhere?"
Shinja shook her head.
"As I said, the Core Formation Realm is just easy to understand but hard to achieve. That's because you will need to literally use a part of your own soul and fuse it together with your Core."
Krune and the others were alarmed!
"Use a part of our own soul? Is it even possible? No, first of all, doing something like that might get you killed instead."
Shinja didn't deny that.
"The old saying can be applied here: to cultivate is to go against the will of the heavens. There is no lack of cultivators who died during their Core Formation Breakthrough. But if you desire to move further in the path of cultivation, this is a step that you must take."
Krune and the others took a deep breath. Core Formation was a lot more dangerous than they thought it would be. But a look of determination appeared in their eyes.
"So what if it is dangerous? I refuse to believe that we won't encounter even more dangerous situations in the future. This is just another one, nothing more."
Shinja smiled after hearing that. That's how a cultivator should be.
"So, how exactly do you take a part of your soul?"
"You don't! You let your Core absorb it on his own, just like the way you let it absorb spiritual energy before. When it is satisfied, it will stop on its own."
Krune understood the crux of the issue.
"I see. No wonder you wanted to enter the Furiu Realm before. You wanted to find something that would help your main soul resist the absorption without killing yourself. The reason you don't need that anymore is that thanks to the soul tempering plus the soul cultivation technique, your soul now is strong enough to resist the process."
Shinja nodded.
"Exactly! In fact, this way is even better. If you use external help to get past this barrier, you will be leaving behind impurities that came together with whatever you used to help you enter the Core Formation. So you must understand this, although we didn't get any big amount of resources or whatever here. The Mohi- errr, Rainbow Sect was a fortune several times more valuable than the Furiu Realm could have ever been. Let's not even mention the lack of any danger! So you must make use of this opportunity as much as you can."
Although Krune wanted to kill someone every time he heard the sect's name, Krune and the others still nodded vigorously. They have already considered this a great fortune, now even more than ever! Krune then remembered something.
"What about the tribulation you will probably be in a weakened state after succeeding in entering the Core Formation Realm due to the injury of your soul? How do you plan to surpass it?"
Shinja just laughed at that.
"What else can I do? I can only take it head-on! If I survive, I will get great rewards. If I don't, I'm dead. That's just it!"
It was this moment that Hase Hasik, who had been hearing their conversation without saying anything so far, intervened.
"That's not necessarily true! Our Rainbow Sect does have a way to help you with that."
Immediately, all eyes focused on Hasik.
"You mean?"
"There is no way to stop the tribulation, nor can we help with it since it would only become stronger if someone intervenes. Our sect does have a way of reducing the effects of soul injury after part of it is absorbed by the Core."
Shinja took a deep breath.
"Is that true?"
Hasik nodded.
"In fact, it's quite easy! Exactly because of the problem of the soul injury. Our sect created a technique that will stabilize the soul temporarily. It won't leave any side effects either. That way, you will have a greater chance to overcome the tribulation since you won't feel the pain in your soul for some time."
A book called 'Stabilizing Soul Technique' then appeared on the teleport formation.
"Of course, it is just a short term help. It won't heal your soul in the end. Sometime after the tribulation is done, the stabilization provided by the technique will fade away. You will then feel all the pain you were supposed to have felt before, but by then, the tribulation will already be over, and you can take your time to heal your soul."
As expected of a sect fighting head-on with one of the big four in the past, Shinja and the others were ecstatic! Shinja immediately took the book and started to read it. She was ready to begin her breakthrough anytime, she just needed to practice this technique.
Hasik then asked another thing.
"Are you intending to go through the Heavenly Tribulation here in the Rainbow Sect?"
Shinja heard that and pondered a bit. In the end, she decided to ask first.
"Is there any risk of someone find this Secret Realm if I go through my Heavenly Tribulation here?"
It was Hasik's time to think now.
"If it were in the past, I would be confident to say no. But it has been a very long time since anyone underwent a Heavenly Tribulation here. So I'm not sure if the dimension formation can conceal your breakthrough or not."
Krune looked at that and said:
"In that case, when you are ready, let's go outside. Even if the chances are small, we shouldn't risk it. We can't let anyone find this place! It will become a calamity if that happens."
Everyone, Hasik included, nodded.
Shinja looked at the book in front of her and then said:
"I will study this technique first. When I master it, I will send a message to your communicators."
Krune and the others agreed with that idea and then left. Shinja would probably need a few more days to master the technique before trying the Core Formation Breakthrough.