Yan Qianghu understood clearly that all of this was brought about by Zhang Fan. Without Zhang Fan's existence, their Black Tiger Gang would still be insignificant compared to giants like the Green Gang and the Hongmen.
Even though his strength had reached the mid-Innate realm, possessing the combat power of a late-stage Innate Grandmaster, and with Yi Feicheng, an invincible Grandmaster, by his side...
Still, in the face of the Green Gang and Hongmen, which had Saint Domain experts, they were as fragile as a building.
Therefore, Yan Qianghu naturally wished for Zhang Fan to become stronger and stronger.
"Breakthrough to the Golden Core Earth Immortal realm?" Yan Qianghu looked at Zhang Fan with anticipation.
"No, it's just a moment of enlightenment," Zhang Fan shook his head, not elaborating further.
Although he possessed the combat power of the peak Divine Realm, his current true strength was merely peak Divine Sea realm. Even if he entered seclusion to break through, it would only be to the Heavenly Human realm, still a long way from the Golden Core stage.
"Oh," Yi Feicheng nodded, finding it quite normal. After all, the Chinese martial arts world had not seen a new Golden Core Earth Immortal born for hundreds of years, which demonstrated how difficult it was to reach such a realm.
Afterward, Zhang Fan gave further pointers on cultivation to Yi Feicheng and Guangtou Qiang, explained things to his parents, and after making arrangements, he went to the basement beneath the villa to begin his seclusion, preparing to enter the Heavenly Human realm.
During Zhang Fan's absence from the lake island, Ailebella had been watering the spirit herbs daily with the catalyst solution, cultivating a significant amount of high-grade spirit herbs. They were piled before Zhang Fan, forming a small mountain.
However, for Zhang Fan's current level, high-grade spirit pills refined from high-grade spirit herbs had little effect. Their only use was to extract the spirit liquid from the high-grade spirit herbs for cultivation.
This method was quite extravagant, yet it was the most effective way for Zhang Fan to cultivate at present.
Of course, beneath the cave dwelling of the Half-Moon Immortal, there was also a small spirit vein. If Zhang Fan utilized that small spirit vein for cultivation, the effect would naturally be even better.
However, the last time Zhang Fan cultivated there, he had consumed a considerable number of spirit crystals. If he continued to cultivate, he might damage that spirit vein.
Zhang Fan casually summoned a cluster of golden flames. The flames possessed extremely high temperatures, and the moment they appeared, the temperature of the underground chamber rose drastically, akin to being inside a volcano.
If not for the defensive formation Zhang Fan had set up, the steel plates around the basement might have melted, considering this was the Divine Ability Flame that even peak Saint Domain experts found difficult to resist.
After summoning the golden flames, Zhang Fan did not delay further and began the first step of his seclusion: extracting spirit liquid.
The energy required to break through to the Heavenly Human realm was immense. Without a special cultivation environment or the aid of spiritual elixirs, relying solely on self-accumulation...
On this Earth, where spiritual energy was scarce, breaking through this threshold would likely require a considerable period of accumulation.
It was like the ancient Pill Ancestor, who remained at the peak Saint Domain realm for decades before finally breaking through with the aid of a peak-quality Saint Pill.
Compared to the Pill Ancestor, the energy required for Zhang Fan to break through to the Heavenly Human realm was likely tens of times greater. This was because the magical power cultivated by Zhang Fan was countless times purer than the true qi cultivated by the Pill Ancestor.
A blood-red spirit herb, under Zhang Fan's divine sense manipulation, was infused into the golden flames. A high-grade spirit herb, capable of making even Saint Domain experts' hearts race, was continuously refined by the golden flames. Finally, impurities were shed, leaving behind only a drop of spirit liquid the size of a fingernail.
The spirit liquid was as translucent as amber, emitting a faint medicinal fragrance that invigorated the senses with just a whiff.
Zhang Fan flicked his finger, and the refined spirit liquid fell into an iron bucket that Zhang Fan had prepared earlier.
Although the extraction of spirit liquid was not as complex as refining spirit pills, it was undeniably quantity-driven. Even with Zhang Fan's current divine sense strength, comparable to a Golden Core stage cultivator, continuously extracting from thousands of spirit herbs would leave him mentally exhausted.
After nearly two weeks of spirit herb extraction, all thousands of high-grade spirit herbs were processed by Zhang Fan. What remained of the small mountain of high-grade spirit herbs was a pile of residue and a bucket of incomparably pure spirit liquid.
"It's still not full..." Looking at the iron bucket, which was the size of a water vat, the spirit liquid inside was still about a third short of filling it.
"Although it didn't meet my expectations, it's almost enough." Zhang Fan had originally thought that after extracting from thousands of spirit herbs, the bucket would be full, but it seemed it was still a little short.
After the spirit herb extraction was complete, Zhang Fan spent a day allowing his mind to recover to its optimal state.
"Let's begin!" As his spirit reached its peak, Zhang Fan, who had been sitting on the ground with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them. His dark eyes appeared incredibly bright.
Zhang Fan opened his mouth and inhaled. The spirit liquid in the iron bucket transformed into a fine stream and flowed ceaselessly into Zhang Fan's mouth.
Zhang Fan's body was like a bottomless pit, continuously swallowing the spirit liquid, which weighed hundreds of pounds, becoming less and less.
In less than half an hour, the spirit liquid that Zhang Fan had spent nearly two weeks extracting was completely swallowed, not a drop remaining.
"Ten Absolute Heavenly God Record!" After absorbing the spirit liquid, Zhang Fan immediately circulated his cultivation technique, beginning to refine it continuously, dispersing the spirit liquid throughout his body, strengthening his meridians and flesh.
As Zhang Fan circulated the Ten Absolute Heavenly God Record, a colossal beast phantom appeared above his head. It was the mythical beast from the first diagram he had cultivated.
The primordial fierce beast, the Sky-Splitting Si!
The Ten Absolute Heavenly God Record had a corresponding diagram for each cultivation stage. To break through to the Heavenly Human realm and enter the Golden Core stage, one had to cultivate the Sky-Splitting Diagram to great completion.
For other cultivators, breaking through to the Heavenly Human realm was a troublesome matter. In addition to the breakthrough in realm, they had to transform their mental power into divine sense and communicate with the power of heaven and earth to fully enter the Heavenly Human realm.
This was also why whenever a cultivator broke through to the Heavenly Human realm, it would cause a localized anomaly in the natural world.
However, Zhang Fan did not need to go through such trouble, as his mental power had long since been completely transformed into divine sense, which was even more potent than that of an ordinary Heavenly Human realm cultivator.
As Zhang Fan refined the spirit liquid within his body, the dense spiritual energy of heaven and earth on the lake island was also influenced, converging towards Zhang Fan. This caused the spiritual energy on the lake island to become extremely thin for a time.
...