My mother really did not waste a single part of the rabbit. Besides the stomach, everything else went into the pot. She even set aside the demonic beast core for me. It would need to be purified, but that was a simple process especially for rank one cores. But once it was purified, I could use it to help me break through to the qi gathering realm. Only when you are about to break through can you start taking in qi to help open up your meridians all the way and start collecting qi in your dantian.

While demonic cores were not the best of resources since they had very little qi in them, it was still enough to help me breakthrough. I hoped to get more before then as well.

The light of the fire flickered as we ate our soup. I could feel the spiritual qi within the meat, strengthening every part of my body even more. “Hmmm?” I suddenly felt as if my strength had risen again by a great deal. “I think I broke through.”

“Again!?” My mother’s eyes widened. “Ruo’er, you have gone from no cultivation to rank six in less than a month. Will this hurt your foundation?”

I could understand my mother’s worries, but with how hard I trained, there was no way my foundation would be destroyed so easily. A cultivator’s foundation was something that helped a cultivator progress faster. If they rushed their cultivation too much, using things like pills without doing anything to help strengthen their bodies in the process, they could end up with many roadblocks on their path of cultivation and maybe even end up making it so they could only reach a certain realm to never progress any further. While for some, this was okay for those who seek immortality, it was not something they would want. Some would hold off from breaking through until they had a completely solid foundation. One where their entire body was perfectly strengthened to the peak of their current realm.

“There is nothing to worry about, Mother. The last thing I lack is a solid foundation.” This was not a lie. At my words, my mother nodded and continued to eat her rabbit soup.

A full month passed and our daily lives were getting much better. I continued to train as hard as I could, staying out of view of those from the village the entire time. Any time I wanted to go into the forest, I always stayed off-trail and cut out my own path. Today was no different, and currently, I was already at the peak of body fortification. I could easily push forward and break through to qi gathering, but I am currently pushing my foundation to its peak, so when I do breakthrough, I will be much stronger than a normal rank one qi gathering cultivator. I could probably deal with at least rank three or maybe even rank four qi gathering cultivators.

“Maybe I will go a bit further in.” I had been following the same path while hunting and had encountered a few rank one demonic beasts, but now, since I was about to break through, I wouldn’t mind a few more cores. I currently had four cores, which was normally enough, but I wanted to use a bit of extra qi to refine my body once more as I broke through.

I pushed through the thorns and thickets, making sure to stop to pick up any herbs I saw that could be used in pill refinement. I already had a lot of herbs waiting for me to refine them once I entered the qi gathering realm. I was kind of excited. This was not only my ticket to quickly raising my cultivation but also my ticket to money.

“Hmm? What’s that?” I cocked my head to the side when I saw a faint light coming from within a bunch of bushes lined up against a cliff wall. I readied my stone spear and made my way over.

I could not see anything out of the ordinary about the cliff. I could clearly see behind the vines hanging from the cliff itself as well as behind the bushes. But there was indeed a light coming from the bushes itself.

I had no idea what it was, but if it was something good, I did not wish to pass up this chance. I used my spear and moved the branches of the bushes out of the way to reveal a ball of golden light floating there soundlessly. The light itself was dim but bright enough to see from a distance.

“This is…” I reached out to touch the ball of light only to feel a sudden sharp pain in my finger and then the ball of light shot into my datian. I had no time to even try to stop it. The ball of light moved so quickly that I was starting to second guess that I had even seen it in the first place.

I looked down at my right index finger to see that there was a bit of blood coming off of it. “What was that!?” I cried out, but soon, I felt as if my world was spinning, and then the next thing I knew, I was in a dark space.

“This place is?” I looked around, but the entire space was dark except for the area around me. The light was so dim that it only revealed a small blotch of black stone floor.

“Welcome to the Nine Heavens Pagoda.” A voice filled the air.

I looked around but did not see anything. “Who’s there?” As I said this, the room suddenly lit up. The area that I was in was empty, with many columns, except for a single platform with a golden jade pillow on it.

“I am the Nine Heavens Pagoda. I have no physical form. At least not until you have opened up the fourth level.” The voice replied. As it replied my head began to hurt as some information began to appear in my mind.

“This… This is a god tool?” I asked as I felt the pain subside. God tools were tools born from the heavens. They were not made by my cultivators but by the heavens themselves. Each one was mysterious and wielded great power.