No matter how hard he tried to compress it, the mana remained completely immovable.

So, is my cultivation at its limit?

No!

First, I’ve just advanced to the Fake Pill, my cultivation has clearly broken through; after a while, the Spiritual Qi can surely continue to compress, it just happens slowly.

Second... I still have the Pill Essence Fruit.

What is there to be afraid of?

One Pill Essence Fruit down, and I can definitely compress a lot more mana.

But Ji Yuan merely thought about this; the Pill Essence Fruit... must be saved to forge the Golden Core in one go.

He perceived his Fake Pill, along with the mana around it, estimating in his mind: "One Pill Essence Fruit isn’t enough for me to break through. Two have hope, three are safe, four are certain!"

"I already have one now, and in five years, there will be a second one."

"I’m still young, even if I really wait another forty years, I’m not yet a hundred, and formation of the Core is totally feasible. At worst, I’ll find an uninhabited island on the Jiyuan Continent, go into seclusion for thirty years, and take the plunge into Core Formation."

"Oh no, nobody knows me there, so I don’t have to be so cautious. Rather than breaking through outside, it would be better to rent a Cave Mansion with ample Spiritual Qi in a big city and calmly aim for the Core Formation Realm."

Ji Yuan already had beautiful hopes for the future in his heart.

He then spent a few days stabilizing his cultivation before emerging from the Scripture Pavilion.

Time to exit seclusion!

A Fake Pill is still not a Golden Core, unable to comprehend the Divine Power of transforming into Escape Light, so Ji Yuan had to honestly fly out of the stone chamber.

Finally riding on Monday’s head, he reached the peak of Profound Crystal Mountain.

It was dusk, Ji Yuan stood at the mountaintop, the sunset rays scattered, the setting sun was like blood, and two Frost Serpents guarded him left and right.

Ji Yuan crossed his arms in front of his chest, feeling somewhat settled in his heart.

Yet, seeing the current scenery, he inevitably thought of the situation in the world... Difficult, so difficult.

This time in seclusion enhanced his strength immensely; not only has his cultivation reached the Fake Pill Realm, but he owns two Tier Three Spirit Beasts.

If he encounters any Fake Pill Cultivators or early-stage Core Formation Cultivators in the future, perhaps he won’t need to take action himself. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Just send out these two Frost Serpents, and that’s almost enough.

As Ji Yuan was thinking, suddenly he sensed a strong tingling wave of demon aura beneath his feet. The two Frost Serpents, originally lying on the ground, instantly stood straight, and Monday soared into the air, wandering around.

Tuesday didn’t leave, but it emitted a low growl from its throat.

"Stop calling, it’s one of ours."

"Guard here, I’m going back to check."

Ji Yuan leapt down from the mountain peak, his figure disappeared in a flash when he landed at the entrance to the Hundred Insects Cave.

The Bee King is breaking through!

It’s about to advance to Tier Three, and once the Beehive upgrades, his strength can once again ascend a notch!

Ji Yuan hurried, but as he reached the entrance of the Beehive...

"Boom—"

The stone gate in front of him burst from the inside, a violent noise rang, and debris scattered, prompting Ji Yuan to summon a Protective Spirit Light with a hand gesture.

Soon after, a massive black shadow squeezed out from the stone chamber.

"Buzz buzz buzz—"

The intense vibrating sound of its wings resounded, blowing away the dust in the cave instantly, allowing Ji Yuan to see its true form before him.

The body of the Tier Three Spirit-Devouring Bee was finally no longer pitch black like before but transitioned to a noble dark gold color, from head to toe, even its wings had a hint of dark gold.

Ithad no hair on its body, instead possessed a layer of dense dark gold scales, which looked extremely hard.

"Come down."

Ji Yuan gestured, and the Tier Three Bee King obediently descended before him.

He stepped forward, gently stroking the Bee King’s scales, tapping them lightly, producing a sound akin to metals colliding.

This reminded Ji Yuan of the Spirit Effect of the Tier Three Beehive.

"Spirit Devouring Armor".

The Spirit-Devouring Bee transforms into armor, devouring surrounding Spiritual Qi, unnoticed by other cultivators.

This is truly a technique for concealing aura.

Thinking of this, Ji Yuan was filled with anticipation.

"Come, follow me inside!"

Ji Yuan spoke, returning inside the Beehive. Compared to before, the Beehive was now filled with demon aura; he also saw the remnants left by the Bee King after its breakthrough.

He glanced aside at them indifferently, then swept his eyes over the panel, checking the upgrade conditions of the Beehive.

First, he took out 900 Mid-grade Spirit Stones from his Storage Bag, then placed the corpse of the Demon Spirit Bee, given by Hundred Insects Old Immortal, on the ground.

The moment this item appeared, the Spirit-Devouring Bee emanated a strong, unsettling aura, and the Bee King even wanted to lash out at the corpse.

But Ji Yuan ultimately stopped it.

The Beehive upgrade also required 3 Tier Three Demon Pills, Hu Yaoyue left quite a few before departing, plus Ji Yuan’s prior accumulation, bringing the total to 10... oh no, also having slain the Tier Three Mouse Demon and found 3 more in the Hundred Insects Old Immortal’s Storage Bag, totalizing 14.

Taking out 3 now was a breeze.

"With mostly water attribute ones, I’ll take out two, the rest with mostly earth attribute ones, so I’ll take out one."

Finally, Ji Yuan placed these three Demon Pills on the corpse of the Demon Spirit Bee, made the decision to upgrade the Beehive without any hesitation.

As the thought passed.

The Beehive ahead visibly expanded several times over, the beehive cells increased significantly, and the overall size grew considerably. The pupae that had yet to transform pushed out numerous Spirit-Devouring Bees, forming a substantial quantity.

Ji Yuan even felt like he suddenly gained up to a thousand Spirit-Devouring Bees in one go.

"No wonder upgrading yields a critical hit!"

Then Ji Yuan gently patted the Spirit Beast Bag at his waist.

From it flew out tens of thousands of densely packed Spirit-Devouring Bees.

Now that’s done, it’s time to test the Spirit Devouring Armor’s effect!