Of course the freedom they have comes with its own set of disadvantages. The first and most obvious one is the lack of the empowerment of an armament.
Not only does the lack of an armament make them weaker than their counterparts in the Blood Skull sect, but using shortcuts during the process of advancing also increases the chances of failure and death.
There is also the fact that changing the golden core after it has been formed is not safe. Each section of the golden core that they couple with increasing mastery of the host technique can cause the golden core to explode.
So even though they technically have the possibility of forging a perfect golden core even after they've formed their core, many of them eventually give up on it because it becomes too dangerous to do so.
At the end of the day, none of them ever produce a perfect core. And at the beginning when they just become golden core cultivators, because their host mastery is low and they can't mobilize all the power of their core at once, the difference between them and those at the third mortal coil.
But the cultivators of the Blood Skull sect are not like that. When they try to become golden core cultivators, they do so with a bang. And when they succeed in becoming golden core cultivators, a line is immediately drawn between them and their old selves.
People who are similar to their old selves, for example, people like other cultivators at the third mortal coil, are the ones who feel the existence of this line of demarcation most clearly.
Their perception of the difference between them and the golden core becomes even more exaggerated when that golden core is pressing on their heads and heart for up to a month.
This is not an experience that they should be having. So they deserve to complain.
But even though they grumbled and complained, they tried to be quiet about it so that the golden core cultivator that they were complaining about wouldn't get mad at them.
It was a good and cautious move, but it was one that was bound to go to waste because Arthur couldn't hear then. Even if he could hear them, he wouldn't care because their complaints don't affect him and won't change anything.
What he would have done if he had heard them is either chuckle and say, "Deal with it."
Or snort and say, "I don't want to live next to you weaklings either."
Right now, though, his mind is preoccupied with the upcoming council meeting. As he approached the council hall, he was thinking about what could happen.
His mind raced as he flew onto the floating island where the council hall was and flew towards the grand building sitting at the center of the island.
He didn't stop thinking about what to expect until he entered the council hall and saw what was waiting there for him. What he saw wasn't what he expected at all.
He expected to see every golden core elder of the sect present at the meeting. It was not necessary that every golden core elder drop everything they were doing to attend the meeting. But he expected that most of them would be present.
But the only people in the large council hall were four people. These four people were him, Storm Hawk, and two avatars belonging to the Thunder Drake Patriarch and Lady Evergreen.
So aside from him, who the meeting was supposed to be held for and had to be present, there was only Storm Hawk. None of the other golden core elders could be seen.
Storm Hawk saw him looking around in bewilderment and explained, "They will be here soon. But they won't be here physically because they are very busy with a mission."
She was talking with him through a silent fluctuation of mana called the voice transmission spell, but what she said didn't escape the notice of the two avatars.
Lady Evergreen heard what Storm Hawk said and said with a calm, mellow voice, "Yes, they are very busy. They are so busy that they can't come to the sect at all."
"Fortunately, Sword Flash has made some arrangements for them to attend this meeting and any other meeting in the council hall. So they will be able to attend it."
She said that to Arthur with a cordial tone that didn't show any disgruntlement.
Then she turned to the humanoid being made of lightning beside her and said, "We have to thank Sword Flash for this. He is always so thoughtful."
Inwardly, she was gnashing her teeth and wishing she could bite Sword Flash. But outwardly, she was the picture of a calm matriarch who had everything under her control.
Arthur didn't know what was really going on, and he had no reason to suspect that there was a big undercurrent beneath the surface of all of this cordiality. So he took his seat beside Storm Hawk in peace.
The two of them exchanged pleasantries and chatted for a while. As time went on, certain formations within the hall began to light up. These formations projected the form of a golden core elder.
This was what Storm Hawk meant when she said that the golden core elders would attend the meetings but wouldn't do so physically. The projections also made him understand what Lady Evergreen said about the arrangements of Patriarch Sword Flash.
In just five minutes, everyone had arrived. This didn't make them late. In fact, they were early.
It was Arthur that came five minutes before the time for the council meeting. So no one was actually late, and the meeting was able to start on time.
As the meeting began, a formation spirit with artificial intelligence was projected into the center of the hall too. This formation spirit was in the form of a small boy and when observed with the divine sense, he appeared to be made up of a bunch of dust and mana.