Because of the chaotic flow of mana in and out of the artificial wonder, it doesn't look like a lung to Arthur. It looks more like an organelle within a cell or even an entire single-celled organism.
But the one thing it had in common with a natural wonder is the instinctive inducement of temptation with any organism that is lacking in potential once that organism gazes at it.
Arthur can feel that temptation. The reaction of his existence to the sight of the wonder was more physical than mental. His cells were practically crying out for him to assimilate this wonder and elevate his existence.
The fatigue that he had been feeling after working hard for so long disappeared. He became full of energy and yearning. He felt like leaping forward to grab the artificial wonder and begin the process of establishing his foundation immediately.
But he didn't do as his body wished because his life was still at stake and he could die. If he rushes ahead and makes a mistake, he could die or have his foundation crippled. So he didn't rush ahead to break through immediately.
By his calculations, his chances of dying are very small because he made the artificial wonder to fit his existence, because he cultivates the Everlasting Wood Art and possesses excellent healing capabilities, and finally because he has life essence to maintain his life during the assimilation process.
Even so, it was still a good idea to increase his chances of success however he could. For that, he had four more things that he could do.
The first preparation to make was to convert the special life-saving plants that he had prepared for foundation establishment into life essence.
Using such expensive plants to make life essence will be far more expensive than using corpses, but the life essence produced from them will be purer and more wood-based, which aligns with his cultivation techniques better.
The second preparation is to get pills and energy stones to replenish both his mental and internal energy during the process of establishing his foundation. This way he won't have to stop halfway and jeopardize the process.
The third preparation was to make an energy-gathering formation and place it in his cultivation room in order to increase the concentration of mana within it.
His cultivation room is already the best in the outer sect and also has an energy-fixing formation there. But he can make it better by setting up an energy-gathering formation that will compress the mana that comes from the energy-fixing formation and increase the concentration of mana for his breakthrough.
The last thing he did to prepare was to sleep. This is perhaps the most important preparation for him to make because he hasn't slept in more than four months.
He still needs sleep, but he has been using pills to recover his mind instead of sleeping for the past four months. He thought it was safer to sleep naturally before going through a stressful process that will put him on the brink of death.
Before he went to sleep, he sent a message to Elder Storm Hawk telling her that he was about to establish his foundation.
There wasn't much she could do for him now. He was just informing her so that she would know where to look for his corpse if he isn't done in a week's time.
As soon as he texted her, he received a reply from her. Her reply said, "Better not die, or I will have to spend your remaining share of the loot from the Milton family."
He chuckled and went into his cultivation room to sleep. He had prepared everything he needed for his breakthrough and placed it in the cultivation room. So he wouldn't be coming out of the cultivation room until he succeeds in establishing his foundation or when his corpse is carried out.
The pressure of an upcoming life-or-death event was very high. It was so high that Arthur didn't think he could sleep at all. But he dropped dead as soon as the effect of the mind concentration pill ended.
He slept for more than a day before he woke up. Then he wasted no time in going through what he has been preparing for for so long.
He took out the box containing the artificial wonder and opened it. Then he placed the box beside the large mirror standing against the wall.
After that, he took out a knife and placed it beside the artificial wonder. Next he popped open the bottle of pills that he had prepared and began taking them.
He also drank a bottle of the life essence serum. All of these preparations made him feel alive like never before. Both his body and mind were active and full of so much energy that he thought he was invincible.
This feeling of invincibility helped increase his confidence as he began to undress for the inevitable. Then he placed a leather mat on the ground in front of the mirror and sat on it.
His heart was beating wildly, but it was mostly from excitement, not fear. The emotion of fear spiked a little bit as he grabbed the knife and brought it to his chest.
The fear that he was feeling reached its peak then. It made him hesitant to continue, but he didn't stop just yet. He brought the knife closer to his chest and then began to methodically cut his chest open.
This is something he had done many times while practicing with corpses. So he knew what he was doing. Still, the pain and the sight of a knife cutting into him in the mirror slowed his hand.
It took a longer time to cut his chest open. He made sure not to cut any important artery or vein, but he was still bleeding a lot.
He didn't mind the bleeding because it didn't affect him much. He had so many pills pumping through his bloodstream that even his exposed rib cage was no longer enough to make him pause.