What's more, Arthur wasn't the only one who was called that day to get something from the Patriarch. There were other people who were mostly golden core elders there too to see the Patriarch.
He had left the meeting feeling weird because it felt as if the Patriarch was dying and was trying to resolve loose ends before he died.
It felt that way because he had paid too little for the rank 4 and rank 5 techniques. That is according to his estimate, and he believes that his estimate is correct because Patriarch Sword Flash didn't put the Life Pill Art in the library for everyone to see and exchange for.
So the Life Pill Art is clearly very valuable. Yet, he had paid just contribution points that were worth 10,000 energy stones for it. It felt a little off.
Now that he thought about that day, he could still remember that weird feeling. Then he shook his head and said, "He is a genius after all. It is not strange for them to be eccentric. He might have simply picked that day to get rid of appointments that he made with many people so that he could enter seclusion in peace and focus on something."
He stopped thinking about that day and began listing the materials he would need for the upgrade project. The main material he needs will be the core of rank 4 golems.
This core is similar to the golden core in that it can store a lot of high-quality energy. It will be used as an alternative to energy stones because it can be easily recharged from the atmosphere instead of burning money.
He needs this golem core to provide the vast amounts of energy to upgrade the external foundation to the golden core realm. And since the golem core is rechargeable, unlike energy stones, he won't lose much when the process fails and he has to start all over again.
After making a list of the materials he wanted, he called Roar over and gave him the list to fetch the materials on it. Then he got to work.
He decided to tackle the last step first since it is not too difficult and would take the most amount of time to complete.
The first step is cutting away part of his body to create a new batch of life pills. He doesn't want to use the old external foundation because even though it is capable of growth and can reach the fourth mortal coil, it will be very difficult for it to do so compared to new life pills created with the flesh of a golden core cultivator.
The old external foundation will have as many chances of advancing as he did in the past. It would require a lot of preparation and care to help it advance.
Meanwhile, the new life pills will have an easier time reaching the golden core realm because it would be like returning to their peak state for them, not ascending to a new state.
These new life pills will be raised from the first mortal coil to the peak of the second mortal coil. Then, one by one, they will be fed the previous external foundation in order to help them advance to the third mortal coil.
The first one to advance to the third mortal coil will then be pushed to advance to the fourth mortal coil in one fell swoop.
This is where things will become a little tricky. The process will require a lot of energy and assistance from him. The assistance will be similar to the process of forging a pill.
According to the initial Life Pill Art created by Daoist Blood Pill, the process of creating a rank 4 life pill will involve pill-making techniques used by alchemists. But Patriarch Sword Flash has changed this step to formation engraving procedures.
This step of assistance from his part is required because the external foundation has not mastered any host techniques and can't initiate a breakthroughon its own.
The external foundation can't begin to fuse the 1,024 life seeds within it, and it certainly can't make all of them fuse into one. So it will require his help every step of the way.
Daoist Blood Pill had used the process of forging pills to do this, while Patriarch Sword Flash used formation forging to fulfill this part. What they both have in common is that he has to work hard during the breakthrough of the life pill.
He is going to go with Patriarch Sword Flash's method because it is superior and because he knows how to engrave spells. He doesn't know how to refine pills at all, so he can't consider the Daoist Blood Pill's subpar method.
In a nutshell, he will engrave formations onto the external foundation that will serve to initiate the breakthrough, control the direction of the fusion of life seeds, and finally lead to the creation of a golden core life pill.
If he fails, the external foundation will be destroyed, and he will have to start all over again from scratch. There is no other alternative to failure.
He was confident of eventually creating a rank 4 life pill, but when he remembered how much work he had to do to make the rank 3 one, he couldn't help but sigh and harden his resolve for tedious work.
He was working on the life pills when Roar came over with the materials he wanted. Roar expressed some interest in what he was doing. But when Arthur told him and he realized that it wasn't fun, he lost interest and went back to nap.
Arthur called after him, "You are not an old dog. Why are you always napping like one?"
Roar replied as he laid down, "I'm just lazy, and I like napping. You should do that sometimes."
His reply made Arthur think back to the last time that he slept. He really had to dig deep to remember because it was a long time ago.