Ji An remained silent; the bloodline of a powerful Demon Beast indeed enables rapid cultivation improvement. Take his Cyan Deer, for instance, which progressed from the Qi Refining Stage to the Chao Origin Stage in just forty years with ample resources.

In terms of cultivation speed, he, as the master, seemed weak compared to the beast taming.

Jia Yu put away the Spirit Stones and walked into the Secret Vault, quickly returning to place thirty top-grade Spirit Stones on the table.

"Junior Brother, please give me your Identity Jade Token; we need to keep a record of the exchange."

Ji An took out the Jade Token and handed it over, storing the Spirit Stones into the Void Realm Space.

Jia Yu placed the golden Jade Token on the Spirit Disc, recording the time and quantity of Spirit Stones exchanged.

"Junior Brother, regarding your next cultivation steps, does the ancestor have any advice?"

"To travel and explore, seeking a breakthrough opportunity; no one can assist me with this. If I comprehend, it’s like crossing a threshold; if not, it’s just wasted time."

"The sect has accumulated for thousands of years, and it was only seven hundred years ago that we produced our first Golden Core Daoist Master, which then led to rapid development.

This indicates that once you reach a certain level of accumulation, success becomes inevitable.

Given your performance over the years, I believe breaking through to the Golden Core is only a matter of time."

Ji An cupped his hands and smiled, saying, "Thank you, Senior Brother, for your kind words. Your confidence has bolstered mine."

It’s not easy for quantity to transition into quality, but he was confident.

With high comprehension combined with the Dao Seed’s boost, if breaking through to the Golden Core was challenging for him, then other cultivators had no path forward.

"Haha, remember what you said? If you want me to call you ancestor, you’ll need to double your efforts; otherwise, I might not be able to wait."

"I won’t keep Senior Brother waiting long."

Ji An’s gaze was calm, and his tone confident and composed. "If I travel, I still need to ask Senior Brother to look after Red Flame Peak."

"No problem, Red Flame Peak is a treasured place of the sect, and it’s only appropriate to take care of it."

Jia Yu patted his chest, "Besides, the Spirit Wine in your Dao Field is never lacking. I welcome it."

After sharing a few jokes, they left the Treasure Pavilion, each returning to their Grotto Mansion.

...

Ji An returned to the Red Flame Peak mansion, sitting cross-legged in the Quiet Chamber, commanding the Stone Turtle to use all gathered Spiritual Mechanism to cultivate the Gourd World.

He stuck the Jade Slip recording the Five Elements Reincarnation Scripture’s Five Elements Mutual Generation Chapter onto his forehead, carefully comprehending it several times. He felt ready to attempt cultivation, set aside the Jade Slip, and began circulating the cultivation technique.

This new Chapter’s cultivation was time-consuming, linking the entire Five Elements Chapters together. One Grand Circulation took two periods, and no mistakes could be made during the process.

The challenge was in the differing transformation techniques between Chapters, consuming much Divine Sense and requiring high Spiritual Strength.

The benefit was that Magical Power refined by the Power of the Five Elements would show significant quality improvement.

All of this posed no problem for Ji An. After half an hour of attempting, he successfully operated the cultivation technique through one Grand Circulation.

Once successful, the subsequent tasks became much simpler.

Within Ji An’s body, Magical Power was withdrawn from the Dantian, circulating among the five Divine Mansions, each refining the power.

Within the Acupoints, the Dao Seed shined brightly, its mysterious aura permeating.

After extracting impurities once, the refined power returned to the Dantian; ten parts of Magical Power left only eight.

The Stone Turtle and Primordial Life Fire would devour one part. The Stone Turtle Shell became brighter, and the Eight Trigrams pattern deepened, with the Primordial Life Fire’s glow becoming fiercer.

The Primordial Life Fire directly influenced by the cultivator loaded it. Like a car engine, high-quality fuel grants more horsepower than low-quality fuel.

Ji An’s current cultivation aims to adjust all Divine Mansions to the same frequency, laying the foundation.

With a solid foundation, he could grasp an opportunity when it arose.

The night passed without words, ending his cultivation at dawn to fall into deep sleep.

When he awakened again at noon, feeling invigorated and refreshed.

He sat up, descended into the Dantian in mind, connecting with the Stone Turtle. The spiritual vein at Red Flame Peak had been upgraded to Tier Two Top Grade; he was curious about how much Spiritual Mechanism the Stone Turtle could absorb.

Rows of text appeared in his Sea of Consciousness, a silent smile crossing his face.

[Master: Ji An]

[Dao Rhyme: 0]

[Kan Spirit 1.5, Gen Spirit 1.4, Zhen Spirit 1.3, Xun Spirit 1.4, Kun Spirit 1.6, Qian Spirit 1.6, Dui Spirit 1.6, Li Spirit 1.7]

His mind withdrew from the Stone Turtle back to his body; the Spiritual Mechanism numbers exceeded his expectations.

"How can the Spiritual Mechanism embodied in a top-grade spiritual vein be so much more than that from an upper-grade spiritual vein?"

Ji An muttered softly, feeling something was off; he stayed at the Sunrise Peak’s Wuji Hall for too long, and the unit time of gathering Spiritual Mechanism couldn’t match staying at Red Flame Peak.

But Sunrise Peak was a Tier Three spiritual vein; staying here used to yield more Spiritual Mechanism than Red Flame Peak.

Brow furrowed in contemplation, he couldn’t decipher it.

To understand this odd phenomenon, he flew to a mediocre Spirit Field, stayed there for six hours, then connected to the Stone Turtle with Divine Sense.

Rows of text emerged in his Sea of Consciousness; Ji An was even more baffled.

[Kan Spirit 1.8, Gen Spirit 1.6, Zhen Spirit 1.3, Xun Spirit 1.6, Kun Spirit 1.9, Qian Spirit 1.8, Dui Spirit 1.8, Li Spirit 1.9]

In the tranquility of the moonlit night, his deep gaze was fixed on Yuan Mountain.

The Stone Turtle managed to absorb a quantity of Spiritual Mechanism from a subpar region unexpected by Ji An, especially as this land didn’t contain Gen, Zhen, Xun, Qian, Dui, Li spirits.

What does this imply?

Ji An contemplated seriously, suggesting that the Stone Turtle absorbed the eight types of Spiritual Mechanism from places unknown to him.

Could it be from the Gourd World? He instantly speculated, knowing a repeating experiment would confirm accuracy.

With this thought, Ji An swiftly returned to Red Flame Peak utilizing the Earth-Departing Flame Banner.

Under the moonlight, the trajectory of the Spiritual Artifact’s flight resembled a scarlet cloud.

Once back at Red Flame Peak, he instructed the Stone Turtle to consume all Spiritual Mechanism to cultivate the Gourd World.

He placed the Gourd Stone in the earth cave at the mountain’s foot, entrusted to the care of Golden Fur and Dahuang, and then returned to his Grotto Mansion midway up the mountain.

...

On the following day at noon, after returning to Red Flame Peak six hours past, Ji An submerged his Divine Sense into the Dantian and connected to the Stone Turtle.

[Kan Spirit 1.3, Gen Spirit 1.2, Zhen Spirit 1.1...]

"This confirms it; the Stone Turtle absorbs Spiritual Mechanism from the Gourd Stone; all types of Spiritual Mechanism are present."

With the truth revealed, Ji An burst into joyful laughter.

The Gourd Stone served as a personal Red Flame Peak, perfectly resolving his concern about lack of Spiritual Mechanism diversity during travels.

Using Spiritual Mechanism to cultivate the Gourd World and then receiving it back from there in abundance was a profitable circle with returns!

A guess floated in Ji An’s mind, hinting that as the Gourd World’s spiritual vein continuously elevates, the proportion of received Spiritual Mechanism would similarly increase.

Contemplating further, he felt his speculation likely accurate, anticipating verification as the Little World’s spiritual veins evolved.

Ji An exited the Grotto Mansion, flying cloud to the earth cave at the mountain’s foot, collecting the Gourd Stone.

He strolled to the Cold Pool intending to savor a mid-day meal, when Wei Songtao rushed over, saying:

"Ancestor, I’ve prepared over two hundred Spirit Worms; when shall I present them to you?"

Having long ready the items, Wei Songtao had been unable to find the ancestor.

"After the meal, deliver them."

Ji An recalled his instructions, "Apologies for inconvenience, I forgot due to other tasks. Later, go to the warehouse to retrieve five Spirit Stones as a reward."

"It’s no trouble; serving the ancestor is my honor."

Wei Songtao responded cheerfully, earning Spirit Stones on Red Flame Peak effortlessly and joyfully.

Turning away, he walked off with wind stirring his now entirely white hair, changed by time’s passage.

’Must quickly find his replacement.’

Ji An sighed softly, deciding to request assistance from two disciples, thus extracting two Communication Golden Swords, recording his needs within before sending them forth.

Two golden rays wavering in sunlight, gradually vanishing beyond Red Flame Peak.

Zhang Xueling presented Spiritual Food, and after consuming, Ji An delivered the Spirit Worms to the Grotto Mansion to release into the Gourd World.

The worms joyfully twisted their bodies before burrowing deep into moist yellow earth.

The soil’s essence brought them comfort.

Ji An extended his Divine Sense into the earth without detecting any sprouting from the Gathering Essence Tree, deciding to await half a month more for progress assessment.