Regardless of whether this space was a living entity or not, the forms of attack here were likely not limited to blood mist and blood cloud.

There should be even higher-level existences.

Perhaps only by defeating those higher-level entities could one obtain the so-called great treasure mentioned by the Gou brothers.

Fortunately, he had not gone with them.

If he had followed them earlier, even after putting in effort to fight, the final winner would surely have been Xiao Ran.

No.

It was even possible that the higher-level existence was at the Spirit Transformation stage.

In that case, going there would have been no different from walking into death as cannon fodder.

Thinking of this possibility, Xiao Shou felt a wave of relief.

At the same time, while focusing on two tasks at once, he swung his sword energy and cut down all the blood cloud figures emerging from the broken pillar.

In an instant, the dispersed blood clouds gathered again and surged toward him.

Xiao Shou did not resist.

Instead, he relaxed his body and actively absorbed the blood cloud energy, allowing it to enhance his body and cultivation.

After a few breaths, he opened his eyes with a trace of regret.

He looked at the stone pillar again.

This time it did not regenerate.

Then he checked his cultivation.

Still not enough.

Even the blood cloud energy was unable to push him from the peak Foundation Building stage into the Golden Core stage.

What exactly would it take?

Qi Refining stage corresponded to blood mist.

Foundation Establishment stage corresponded to blood cloud.

So could it be that to reach Golden Core stage, he needed blood shadow level enemies?

But leaving aside where he would even find blood shadows, the main issue was that both blood mist and blood cloud attacked together in groups.

Qi Refining stage blood mist and Foundation Establishment stage blood cloud were still manageable in numbers.

But if Golden Core level ones appeared in groups of dozens or hundreds, then even someone cultivating the Ninety Nine Calamities Cycles Art might be overwhelmed.

Sigh.

If only these blood mist and blood cloud could be merged and evolved.

But the problem was how to store them in the first place, let alone merge them.

Xiao Shou absentmindedly played with the Void-Time Calyx in his hand, lost in thought for a long while.

Xiao Shou’s not-so-clever mind kept thinking it over and over.

He reviewed everything he had on him, but still could not find a solution. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

It was only when the Void-Time Calyx that he had been absentmindedly toying with slipped from his hand that a sudden flash of inspiration struck him.

Ah.

Ordinary items could not store blood mist or blood clouds, but the Void-Time Calyx was a spiritual treasure capable of isolating space itself.

If he used it to open a separate space that was large enough for his Absolute Fusion ability, then he could store the blood mist and blood clouds inside it.

Since there was no spatial property inside to let them escape, he could then activate his Absolute Fusion ability within that space.

Would that allow him to create higher level evolved substances?

Thinking of this possibility, Xiao Shou immediately acted.

He multitasked at once, controlling the Void-Time Calyx, gathering fusion energy, and swinging his sword to cut down the blood pillars.

He shattered the blood clouds, drew them into the Void-Time Calyx and released his ability in one continuous motion.

Inside the Void-Time Calyx space, the fusion light vanished in an instant.

Seven or eight blood beads the size of water droplets floated quietly at the center of the space.

Xiao Shou quickly opened the Void-Time Calyx and caught the beads in his hand.

The moment the blood beads seeped into his body, his entire body shook.

Spiritual energy began circulating rapidly on its own.

It rushed through his meridians at high speed.

He scanned his body with divine sense and found that all of his spiritual energy was converging toward his dantian.

Was he about to break through?

Realizing this, Xiao Shou quickly tossed out his formation disk and set up a high level defensive array.

He sat down cross legged at the same time and took out all the remaining top grade spirit stones, placing them around him.

Very quickly, spiritual energy became abundant.

He also took out a bottle of spirit spring water that has been diluted to be usable for Golden Core cultivators and drank it all in one go.

Only then did he close his eyes and begin controlling his spiritual energy, absorbing it rapidly.

Bit by bit, the spiritual energy filled his dentian.

The unstable and illusory core in his dantian gradually began to solidify.

Its quality slowly changed.

In the end, it condensed into a small colorless core.

Xiao Shou stabilized his cultivation once more before finally stopping his circulation technique.

It was not a normal Golden Core, but he did not panic.

The Ninety Nine Calamities Cycles Art had already stated clearly that this cultivation method only truly began at the Golden Core stage.

At the first cycle, the colorless core would transform into a colorless energy core.

At the second cycle, it would become a white mist core.

At the third, a red cloud core.

At the fourth, an orange dew core.

At the fifth, a yellow water core.

At the sixth, a green liquid core.

At the seventh, a cyan solid core.

At the eighth, a blue viscous core.

At the ninth, a purple crystal core.

Furthermore, with each cycle, the core would grow in size until, at the ninth cycle, it reached the size of a normal Golden Core.

This transformation of the core held many profound mysteries, otherwise it would not be considered a top tier cultivation technique.

These thoughts flashed through Xiao Shou’s mind, but they were not what mattered most to him.

His cultivation technique also gave him a new spirit root every three major realms.

Now that Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core had all been completed, covering three major realms, the Illusion Spiritual Root should have been born.