Nightmare realm's desolate mountain range.
A few meters above the mountain range, just barely out of the range of the miasma mist, three figures could be seen assimilated into a cultivation state.
Naturally, these three were Cain, Kali, and Amber.
The trio was intently focused, completely ignoring everything from the outside world as they neared a critical breakthrough.
Two weeks have passed since the meeting with Qiao Tu.
During this duration, Cain, Kali, and Amber were protected from suspicion because of Shi Wei's supposed close-door training.
And her reasoning indeed wasn't far off from the mark.
Cain could certainly say because of Shi Wei, he had perfect guidance to blast through the Sky Ruler realm with the extraordinary help of the Nightmare realm.
Great changes had occurred within Cain's dantian.
Now, his Sky Ruler mist turned denser, hazy enough to a point where a mortal would have great trouble seeing through it. And very rarely, a brief spark of lightning flashed within the mist.
The Sky Ruler mist stretched on for a few miles, showcasing Cain's great potential.
For geniuses like Huang Dulong, their Sky Ruler mist would expand for thousands of meters at best.
Rarely would one have a foundation stretching for half a mile.
The primary reason for Cain's great Sky Ruler mist would be his Advanced Peak Success level attainment in the Heaven and Earth path. With this, his control of origin energy is already dozens of times greater than Huang Dulong.
It was only a matter of time for him to expand his Sky Ruler Mist.
At the borders of the Sky Ruler mist were 19 beautiful dark blue thread lines. Each was pulsating with great waves of power.
These were Cain's 19 Origin Marks that were filled to the brim with Sky Qi.
The Origin Marks causes a qualitative change in the dantian. They specifically fuse into the space of the dantian, allowing it to become several times firmer than before.
From the Spirit Opening Realm to the Innate Lord Realm, the space of the dantian would be as fragile paper.
It is true that the various previous forms of Qi strengthen the dantian's space, but it would only be to the degree of being to withstand that level of Qi.
Starting from the Sky Ruler Realm would be when the dantian space gradually strengthened.
And for the Sky Ruler Realm to reach its peak, one would need to create and slowly fuse 19 Origin Marks into the dantian.
It was an intriguing cultivation method that Cain found bore a resemblance to building a house.
A weak straw house can't possibly hold significant volumes of items or even an abundance of water. Only through continuous evolving the house through stronger materials could it withstand great volumes of water.
A Martial Cultivator's dantian is their critical foundation. Only through constant space reinforcement could one bring continuous qualitative evolution to it and, by proxy, their entire being.
Not only did Cain's Qi cultivation rapidly grow, but his Minor Lightning Law sphere also experienced a significant change.
Now, the Law sphere shined several times brighter, there were more sparks of Lightning flashing out, and its crystal skin became stronger.
Cain's Minor Lightning Law comprehension had officially reached Early Stage, Peak Success! He could now freely control and absorb 100% of Early Stage Minor Lightning Law essence.
This change brought a great sense of familiarity for Cain.
Lightning still had a great unpredictable quality about it. But now, Cain felt far closer to it, as if he was directly digesting a portion of it into his gut.
As for his origin attainment path levels, none of them saw a significant rise.
After all, even for Heavenly Great World geniuses, it takes dozens or even hundreds of years to rise to a single success stage.
But because Cain had access to numerous Soul's Core, he could already feel he was close to attainment breakthroughs!
It came in the form of an instinctive sensation.
Cain wouldn't be able to explain the process, but he would just have the natural feeling of his understanding towards the Heaven and Earth path, Origin Source Law path, and Origin Spirit Law path increase.
His intuition about them will become sharper, and he would be able to make more precise guesses on their mysterious sensations.
The combination of Shi Wei's perfect guidance, the abundance of resources with zero negative effects, and the Heavenly energy environment allowed Cain to reach the peak of Sky Ruler at lightning speeds!
His momentum didn't even slow down. Currently, he was undergoing the breakthrough process for the Sage Core realm!
This would be an immense milestone for even God Galaxies inhabits.
It is called the proper transition into peak Mortalhood.
Under normal circumstances, one would need to meticulously prepare for this breakthrough.
They would need their mental accumulation and dantian accumulation to reach the absolute peak before even attempting a breakthrough.
Furthermore, even with the greatest of preparation, the risks of falling and incurring unresolvable consequences were prevalent no matter who they were.
Unless they were very rare circumstances like Cain.
His comprehension of both Sky Qi and an Early Stage Source Law had reached its peaks, causing his mental psyche to be broadly enhanced dozens of times.
And his accumulation of dantian's energies and the dantian's space reached its maximum limit.
Cain was completely prepared. He treated the breakthrough as a natural process.
His Soul Sense spread into the atmosphere at a leisurely pace until it detected an entirely new form of energy.
It far surpassed Sky Qi, being numerous times stronger to the point where the two can't even compare. The sensation also exuded a far closer feeling towards nature itself.
And above all, the sensation was immensely intense!
Cain felt as if he was sticking his face into a powerful gale of wind. This energy leagues above Sky Qi was called Sage Qi, the late form of Heaven and Earth Origin energy.
In the Lower Realms, one would be considered a genuine powerhouse among the masses.
For example, Heaven Sky Planet's Nine Provinces mostly have Sage Core experts as Sect Masters, Clan heads, or Martial Family heads. They hold the highest combat prowess and influential strength.
Even in the number one ranked province, Sage Core experts are at least the Vice-leaders of large organizations.
As for the strongest organizations on that Lower Realm planet, Sage Core experts again make a good portion of military strength.
Reaching this realm would be the equivalent of entering high-class society for the Lower Realms.
In the God Galaxies, the Sage Core realm is just another critical milestone all Martial Cultivator must challenge.
If one can't even breakthrough here, they would be deemed as the very bottom of society.
After all, the law of the jungle is the number one and perhaps only rule permeating throughout the God Galaxies.
Cain had calm emotions when detecting Sage Qi.
He continued to stimulate his Soul's Core, causing his soul sense to slowly absorb a small portion of Sage Qi.
In an instant, an powerful, intense stream of energy stormed through Cain's mental psyche.
The pain was actually quite noticeable. It even made Cain feel slightly surprised. This would be the first time he ever felt a bit of pressure from absorbing and perceiving a new form of Qi energy.
However, that was just it, a slight sensation of surprise.
Cain quickly suppressed all distracting thoughts and began comprehending the small portion of Sage Qi.
Soul energy washed all throughout his mental psyche, bringing his comprehension abilities to their peak state.
Seconds drew by, and Cain could already tell distinct differences between Sky Qi and Sage Qi.
Sky Qi, as the name, suggest felt as if he was literally studying the properties of the sky. Anytime he comprehended Sky Qi, he was learning more about everything related to the free-flowing form of air.
It brought him ten times closer to the natural environment of the Divine Boundless Heaven.
Sage Qi, on the other hand, had a direct connection to both the sky and the soil in the ground.
It was as if he was entering into a new boundary of nature never once discovered before.
The more Cain comprehended, the more he felt instinctive sensation slowly arise within him.
These sensations were similar to what he felt towards his origin attainment path levels.
Putting it into words would be challenging for Cain. But he felt far more in tune with the world around him, and it came as a natural process.
Even as he didn't experience it before, the instinctive sensation allowed Cain to automatically link himself with nature, clearing up mysterious sensations that he couldn't comprehend while in the Sky Ruler realm.
Seconds soon turn into minutes.
And within a blink of an eye, twenty minutes have already.
It was at this moment, Cain felt the click within his mental psyche. He had already comprehended a small portion of Sage Qi.
His Soul energy could now engulf the Sage Qi without any resistance, providing him complete control.
Cain willed the Sage Qi to travel directly into his dantian and absorb right into his 19 Origin Marks.
As Sage Qi soared through his internal body, it released powerful fluctuations of energies that fused into various parts. To his bones, flesh, and organs, many parts were getting continually strengthened by Sage Qi.
When the Sage Qi fused into his dantian and absorbed into the Origin Marks, it underwent an automatic process.
The small portion of Sage Qi was automatically converted into dense energies as it fused into the 19 Origin Marks.
Within moments, the small portion of Sage Qi was nearly used up.
For the average cultivator, this amount of Sage Qi would be enough to fill up the Origin Marks.
Sage Qi contains dozens of times more quantity than Sky Qi; it had a significantly higher reserves capacity.
But for Cain, it wasn't enough. He continued to absorb more Sage Qi without rest.
The process lasted for several minutes until Cain's 19 Origin Marks finally reached a qualitative transformation. From the harsh dark blue of Sky Qi, the 19 Origin Marks transmitted into a beautifully light green glow.
It was the signal that the Sage Qi conversion process was a complete success!
Cain's Sage Qi Origin Marks instantly pulsated, beating like roaring veins. At the same time, the 19 Origin Marks quivered as it released a massive wave of purely dense Sage Qi.
Cain focused his control on the wave of Sage Qi, directly flowing it through his Sky Ruler's mist and into the depths of his dantian where his Qi Origin Seed resides.
Dense Sage Qi rapidly flowed into the Qi Origin Seed, bringing to the very cusps of a new evolution.
This was the biggest critical moment of the Sage Core process. A single mistake here could lead to absolute death.
Not even Cain could avoid this. He would fall prey just like any other cultivator at the failure of transforming the Qi Origin Seed into a Sage Core.