Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 391: 227: Infuriating Festivity, Jiushan Auction
Chapter 391: Chapter 227: Infuriating Festivity, Jiushan Auction
Master Tongming watched as two Qi Cultivation disciples in the arena competed, his gaze focused and unwavering, his expression numb.
What?
You say the frequent flashes of radiance every now and then could distract people?
Looking down on whom, exactly?
Being such a formidable Divinity Transformation cultivator himself, seeing two or three… four or five… about a dozen disciples achieving Golden Core, he’s acted like it’s nothing new!
Oh, you’ve never seen such a concentrated occurrence?
Neither have I…
A dozen Golden Cores are indeed trivial for him, definitely not something he would regard highly.
But in less than half a month, Jiushan Sect unexpectedly gained a dozen new Golden Core cultivators…
Like a hen laying eggs, one each day…
With that thought, he couldn’t help but turn his head to look at Zheng Fa.
Zheng Fa also raised his eyes, glancing in the direction of Seeking Immortality Island, his brow furrowed, devoid of any smile, seemingly somewhat dissatisfied.
Master Tongming’s gaze grew even deeper:
This Sect Leader Zheng really knows how to irk people.
At this moment, the other Nascent Soul cultivators in attendance were not focusing on the competing disciples, but were instead whispering amongst themselves;
“Fourteen now, if I recall correctly, Jiushan Sect used to have about that many Golden Cores, right?”
“Doubled?”
“Not only that, out of these fourteen Golden Cores, there are seven top-grade Golden Cores! Given time, won’t there be an additional seven Nascent Soul cultivators? Currently, Jiushan Sect only has five Nascent Souls, right?”
With that, the gaze of all the Nascent Souls turned to Zheng Fa.
Among the group seated here, there were two Divinity Transformations, with the vast majority being Nascent Souls.
Only Zheng Fa, the youngest and merely a Golden Core cultivator, seemed somewhat out of place.
But at this very moment, he was the center of attention.
The radiance of the Golden Cores emanating from afar shone upon him, dazzling and unforgettable.
Yet, that furrowed brow made everyone ponder in their hearts—
Is Jiushan Sect so pitiable?
With so many promising talents,
You still furrow your brow like this?
So dissatisfied?
This led the crowd to reflect:
Perhaps we have set our expectations too low for our own disciples?
Haven’t we seen how prosperous Jiushan Sect is now?
Could it really be that strict teachers produce outstanding students?
Zheng Fa truly didn’t realize that his expression could cause such a predicament for the disciples of other sects.
He was indeed a bit disappointed.
Only half of these fourteen disciples managed to condense top-grade Golden Cores, which was somewhat below his expectations.
In theory, this ratio, if placed in any Xuanwei Sect, would definitely be considered a huge joy.
But Jiushan Sect was different.
After the “Golden Core Project”, the twelve Golden Core Skills of the sect had become optimized.
That would be enough.
Even the principles behind the Golden Core had been made clear by the disciples, leaving them with almost no doubts in mind.
Of course, this did not guarantee that everyone would form a top-grade Golden Core.
The issue was—simplification.
The benefits of simplification could be calculated with a simple probability problem:
If there were originally twenty steps to be followed, each with a 90% success rate, the overall success rate would be just over 10%.
If simplified to only ten steps, the overall success rate raises to over 30%.
About three times better.
Of course, Core Formation is not that simple—he also couldn’t halve the number of steps for every method, and there’s no accurate way to measure this “success rate” with different spells and varying cultivators’ conditions, so one couldn’t neatly calculate it.
But the principle is roughly the same.
On the other hand, fewer steps have another benefit:
The process of Core Formation consumes Spiritual Power and Divine Soul, leading to lower control over the Core Formation process as the number of steps increases, which means the “success rate” actually diminishes.
Fewer steps naturally eliminates this risk.
Therefore, Zheng Fa believed… the proportion of top-grade Golden Cores should be higher.
Thinking it over, Zheng Fa shook his head, concluding that this was the first large-scale implementation of the “Golden Core Project”, and it couldn’t be expected to reach the ideal state outright; on the other hand, the different conditions of each Foundation Establishment disciple played a significant part, with some having less than perfect foundations, which probably had a significant impact.
He planned to reflect on each disciple’s experiences after they left seclusion, in order to further refine the theory behind the “Golden Core Project”, and to improve the Golden Core Skills once more.
In the future, with “Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method” for Foundation Establishment and “Golden Core Project” for Core Formation… a completely different scene would await!
As for those disciples who had not managed to form top-grade Golden Cores, Xuanwei cultivators might see them as having no hope for Nascent Soul…
But the “Nine Reincarnation Golden Core Method” might just bring Zheng Fa some pleasant surprises.
Having realized all this, Zheng Fa looked around and saw the peculiar glances from the surrounding Nascent Soul cultivators.
“You all looking at me like this…” he asked blankly, “is the competition over?”
“Hm?”
Everyone turned back around to see the victorious disciple standing in the middle of the arena, hands on hips, his expression lonely, aggrieved, and utterly bland.
…
After a sports event, you have the awards ceremony; naturally, after the Hundred Immortals Conference, it’s the same!
The Hundred Immortals Conference comprised of Golden Core, Foundation Establishment, and Qi Cultivation categories, with the top eight from each category receiving awards from Master Tongming.
Zheng Fa looked at Seventh Young Master, standing on the podium with a silly grin, and shook his head:
This guy, he actually ranked seventh in the Qi Cultivation category!
The quality of this generation’s disciples in the Hundred Immortals Alliance is really worrisome!
But it was somewhat understandable—
Seventh Young Master had already reached the late stages of Qi Cultivation, and setting aside the Jiushan Sect’s disciples, his mastery in talismanic magic could definitely be considered top-notch within the Hundred Immortals Alliance.
Especially since… talismanic magic gives an impressive advantage among Qi Cultivation disciples, as after all, Magical Treasures and such are things only Golden Core cultivators can play with.