For the next half a month, Su Zimo discovered that Night Spirit – the mysterious little beast – was extremely picky with its food.

It did not touch the flesh of ordinary demon beasts at all.

When it came to ancient remnant beasts, Night Spirit would choose to eat some.

It did not seem like it enjoyed them either, eating very little.

Su Zimo did not give much thought to it, merely assuming that they had not found the right food.

After all, most demon beasts would not eat every other demon beasts as well – they had their own preference too.

Su Zimo planned to wait till Night Spirit was older before taking it out so that it could hunt on its own to see the type of demon beasts it preferred.

As time went by, Night Spirit’s body began to turn rougher as though something was growing out.

A month later.

The disheveled old man came for a sudden visit.

“Zimo, I’ve got good news!”

He said with a smile the moment he entered, “Prepare yourself. Three days later, Wen Xuan and some of the elders are going to take you somewhere.”

“Huh? Where?” Su Zimo asked.

“Fifty kilometers away from the sect exists Dongling Valley, a place with a unique terrain that is a natural spirit gathering spot. All the surrounding spirit qi in the area are gathered in the valley and injected into a spirit pool.”

The disheveled old man continued, “Every 10 years, when the spirit pool is filled, it will open once for the perfected Foundation Establishment Cultivators of the sect to cultivate within. A single year of cultivation within is equivalent to five years outside!”

Su Zimo nodded.

In that case, Dongling Valley was truly a blessed place.

However, a doubt rose in Su Zimo’s heart as he said, “Master, I’m not at perfected Foundation Establishment.”

The disheveled old man chuckled. “This was initially none of your business indeed. However, Elder Chen made a suggestion to allow some of the inner sect disciples with immense talent and potential to cultivate within the spirit pool as well. In the main hall of Ethereal Palace, Elder Chen even mentioned your name specifically.”

“Oh?” Su Zimo was slightly surprised.

He had only joined the inner sect for a short period of time and was mostly in seclusion. As such, he truly did not know who this Elder Chen was.

The disheveled old man continued, “Zimo, when you see Elder Chen three days later, make sure to thank him properly.”

Su Zimo nodded.

After returning to the sect, Su Zimo’s schedule had been very packed.

Apart from researching weapon refinement techniques, he had to work on the Candlelight Sword Formation while raising his immortality and demonic cultivation alongside taking care of Night Spirit.

It was rare for him to have such an opportunity. Su Zimo could make use of this to put everything aside and focus on his cultivation so that he could make an early breakthrough!

…

In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

Su Zimo naturally could not take monkey, spirit tiger and little crane along with him for this trip.

Moreover, Dongling Valley was a place for immortality cultivators and it was useless even if monkey and the others joined him.

However, when it heard that Su Zimo was going to leave, Night Spirit ‘heeya-ed’ non-stop and insisted on tagging along no matter what.

After hesitating for a long time, Su Zimo’s heart softened and he finally agreed to it.

For the past month, under Su Zimo’s strict orders, Night Spirit had not taken a single step out of the cave abode.

“It’s probably time for it to take a look at the world outside.”

At that thought, Su Zimo stuffed Night Spirit inside his robes and instructed for it to not come out before leaving the cave abode.

The gathering spot was the front peak of the sect.

Upon arriving, Su Zimo caught sight of two familiar faces.

Little fatty and Leng Rou.

“Bro, here!” Little fatty waved to him.

Leng Rou nodded slightly and greeted, “Junior Brother Su.”

Given Leng Rou’s character, the fact that she would take the initiative to greet someone was already unprecedented.

It had been a while since they last met and both little fatty and Leng Rou were at late-stage Foundation Establishment.

Of course, that did not mean that Su Zimo’s cultivation speed was not fast enough.

It was the opposite.

Su Zimo’s cultivation speed was already extremely fast. Despite spending a good half of his efforts on elixir and weapon refinement, formations and demonic cultivation, his immortality cultivation realm did not fall behind!

Beside little fatty and Leng Rou stood thirty odd inner sect disciples.

Su Zimo swept his gaze across.

These inner sect disciples were all at late-stage Foundation Establishment!

Su Zimo raised his brows but did not say anything.

As time passed by, more cultivators arrived gradually.

Surveying from the beginning, be it the cultivators that arrived first or later on, Su Zimo realized that he was the only mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator!

Su Zimo sensed an unusual aura and felt that something was amiss.

If this Dongling Valley trip was based on one’s cultivation, late-stage Foundation Establishment disciples should be ranked before him who was at mid-stage Foundation Establishment.

If it was in terms of potential and endowment, why was it that other than him, the rest were all at late-stage and perfected Foundation Establishment?

The arrangement was filled with conflict no matter how he looked at it.

“Look! Those are the three great legacy disciples of our sect!”

Little fatty gave a low cry and pointed at three people who were flying over not far away, “The grey robed cultivator on the left is Ji Chengtian and it’s said that he’s a four meridian Foundation Establishment!”

Typically, perfected Foundation Establishment Cultivators would be referred to by the number of meridians they have unlocked.

“The blue robed cultivator on the right is Luo Yi and he’s also a four meridian Foundation Establishment. In the middle is the leader of the three great legacy disciples, Qin Yu. He’s at five meridian Foundation Establishment and is also the true number one of the inner sect! I even heard from master that Qin Yu has a chance of unlocking the sixth meridian before the sect competition!”

Normally, one would have an extremely high chance of forming a core if they had four meridians unlocked.

In the sect competition, four meridian Foundation Establishment Cultivators had a chance of ranking in the top ten while five meridian Foundation Establishment Cultivators were a shoo-in for the top ten!

As for six meridian Foundation Establishment Cultivators, it was considered to be very good if one or two of them appeared in the once every ten years sect competition.

From that viewpoint, one could understand the preciousness of one of Ethereal Peak’s three secret skills – Ethereal Foundation Establishment manual.

Cultivating Ethereal Foundation Establishment would ensure at least four unlocked meridians.

Thereafter, it would depend on the cultivator’s own endowment, talent, perceptiveness and fate.

Through thousands of years, there had indeed been disciples of the sect who had unlocked six meridians.

In Tianhuang Mainland, even if those at six meridian Foundation Establishment continued cultivating till they were 100 years old, they might not be able to unlock the seventh meridian.

If they wanted to progress, they had to enter the ancient battlefield.

That was the only place where they could obtain heavenly defying opportunities and lock their seventh… even eighth meridians!

The reason why cultivators wanted to unlock as many meridians as possible wasn’t only because of the increase in strength – it was preparation for core formation!

The quality of a Golden Core formed from four meridians was naturally incomparable to the quality of one formed from five meridians.

The quality of a Golden Core of five meridians was incomparable to a Golden Core of six meridians…

It was said that once the quality of a Golden Core reaches a certain level, the spirit energy in their bodies would achieve a harmony with the heavens and earth and a phenomenon that would shock the world would be born!

That was the famous Golden Core phenomenon of the cultivation world!