"It’s open!"

Jiang Yuebai first put away the Fire Dragon Small Sword and then sent her Divine Sense into Big Dog Thief’s storage ring.

After looking through it, Jiang Yuebai felt a bit disappointed. Inside the ring were only over a thousand top-grade Spirit Stones and three bottles of Elixirs.

Two Tokens, two beads, a Jade Scroll, a Jade Plate, a Jade Talisman, a dagger, and a shuttle-shaped Magic Treasure.

Jiang Yuebai strongly suspected that Big Dog Thief didn’t bring all his belongings out with him. Given his arrogant demeanor, he shouldn’t be this poor.

The Elixirs were common healing and spirit-restoring Elixirs, still better than those in the Earth Spiritual Realm. The Tokens had a Green Dragon Totem on them. Jiang Yuebai’s Divine Sense couldn’t probe their secrets; they were likely identity Tokens from their faction, with a special verification method.

Regarding the Upper Realm and this Green Dragon Totem, I need to consult the Supreme Elder in the Sect; she’s a Divinity Transformation Cultivator who returned from the Upper Realm and must know.

Both beads contained black Poisonous Miasma. Jiang Yuebai had another one, prepared by Big Dog Thief for dealing with dragons. Given his confidence in taking down a Winged Dragon, it must be quite formidable.

Jiang Yuebai set the Jade Scroll aside and picked up the Jade Plate and Jade Talisman.

The material of the Jade Plate was unknown. Infusing it with Divine Sense, she could vaguely sense the aura of Five-Colored Beads, like seeing flowers in the mist. In the Sea of Consciousness, she saw only a vast expanse of blue sea.

The Jade Talisman looked like a Passage Order for an Array. Jiang Yuebai considered it might be Big Dog Thief’s house key and decided to keep it for now.

"This dagger looks similar to my Dragon Scale Dagger, isn’t this shuttle what Big Dog Thief used to chase me on the sea? There’s writing below... Cloud-Breaking Charge?"

After examining it for a while, Jiang Yuebai discovered that this palm-sized Green Jade Shuttle was a Void Flying Magic Treasure. Its material was so unique she couldn’t identify it, even harder than the hardest Dragon Marrow Iron of the Earth Spiritual Realm.

"It seems its escape speed is faster than that of a Golden Core Master’s, otherwise he wouldn’t have used it specifically to chase me. This hardness... could it be they used it to travel the Boundary River to the Earth Spiritual Realm?"

Jiang Yuebai thought it was highly possible. She had read that apart from Divinity Transformation Cultivators who can ascend directly from the Earth Spiritual Realm to the Upper Realm, there were three Boundary Rivers where one could traverse the void storms.

These three Boundary Rivers were located in the Demon Clan’s Qingqiu, the Netherworld Sea Ashura Domain, and the Extreme South Chaos Land.

Without a Divinity Transformation Cultivator to protect and guide, anyone below Divinity Transformation would die if they ventured into the void, and even if not dead, they would become lost without direction.

But the three great Divinity Transformations remaining in the Earth Spiritual Realm had conditions, one of which was not to randomly send people to the Upper Realm.

So, throughout history, cultivators of the Earth Spiritual Realm could only ascend through cultivation to Divinity Transformation.

Holding the Cloud-Breaking Charge, Jiang Yuebai couldn’t help but look up, her gaze passing through the cave into the vast sky, towards another broader world.

"After Core Formation, return to the Sect, and ask the Supreme Elder if this thing can break the boundary and leave. If it can..."

Then to the Upper Realm!

Once the thought was set, Jiang Yuebai’s mood brightened, like finding a thicker, more captivating book upon finishing a good read; she enjoyed the thrill of exploring the unknown.

But she couldn’t rush; from the two Dog Thieves, she felt the formidable strength of Upper Realm Cultivators and must prepare carefully before going.

Moreover, when she raised the Cloud Mushroom Grass Bloodline to the 10th level, she heard the call of the Qingqiu Divine Tree; Jiang Yuebai felt a mysterious urge to visit the Demon Clan and take the opportunity to leave via Qingqiu’s Boundary River.

"Let me see what’s in the Jade Scroll... ’Dragon Herding Song’?"

Jiang Yuebai scratched her head where Lingzhi was growing, studying the content of the Jade Scroll intently.

The ’Dragon Herding Song’, as the name suggests, involves controlling dragons, flood dragons, and snake clans with a melody, needing coordination with the Green Dragon Order, to amplify and suppress the aura of high-class dragon clan Essence Blood, making these long creatures obedient.

The song includes parts like intimidation, confusion, provocation, and calming, a combination that would bewilder these elongated creatures.

"If only I’d asked the silly dragon for a drop of Essence Blood earlier; then I wouldn’t fear dragon creatures in the Upper Realm."

Jiang Yuebai knew Essence Blood, like Primordial Essence, requires centuries of hard cultivation to refine and harm one’s cultivation, after all. Big Dog Thief’s Green Dragon Order had only a hair-thin strand, and Little Dog Thief’s Cyan Dragon Spear just the same.

This was all Jiang Yuebai gained this time. After a careful moment of consideration, she threw both storage rings and Identity Tokens into the Five Elements Lotus Platform for refinement.

The storage rings were valuable, but exposure might trace back to her. The Tokens were even more dangerous.

She also needed to modify the appearance of things like the Cyan Dragon Spear and Fire Dragon Small Sword before using them again.

Thunder roared increasingly louder outside, with faint dragon roars rising and falling. In the mountain cave, the surrounding Spiritual Energy gave Jiang Yuebai an almost electric sting, indicating the outside Heavenly Tribulation was formidable.

"The Divinity Transformation Thunder Tribulation must last several days. Silly dragon, you must hang in there!"

Jiang Yuebai prayed again for the dragon and prepared for her final stage before Core Formation.

Over three days, Jiang Yuebai combined the Fire Dragon Small Sword with the Sword Sky Puppet, then visited Seven Stars Island to seek help from True Monarch Fuyi, refining the Dragon Scale into the Sword Sky Puppet and placing it in the Ruyi Golden Gourd.

She also asked True Monarch Fuyi to identify a pill from Little Dog Thief, confirming it as a lost Top-Grade Profound Essence Elixir from the Earth Spiritual Realm, able to increase Core Formation success by fifty percent.

Unfortunately, True Monarch Fuyi had no Earth Element Magic Treasure. Jiang Yuebai ran around the island, finally exchanging with Li Shen Zhi three drops of Dragon Blood for a Fifth Grade Earth Element Magic Treasure.

Li Shen Zhi, originally an Earth Element Single Spiritual Root, exchanged her for the piece named Thousand Layers Peak, appearing as a small mountain. When activated, it rained layers of mountains and its thick earth aura permeated cultivators, weighing down Spiritual Energy, hindering activation.

Although not particularly suitable for the Yellow Sand Spirit of her Earth Dao Platform, as she was about to achieve Core Formation, she had no time to look for other Earth Element Magic Treasures, and had to make do with five pieces.

With all five Magic Treasures, Jiang Yuebai returned to the cave dwelling on Eight Diagram Island to enter seclusion.

At this moment, her Dantian had five Dao Platforms. Apart from the self-realized and slightly weaker Spiritual Water Dao Platform, the other four Dao Platforms were evenly matched.

Above the Dao Platforms, five Ruyi Treasure Gourds sparkled with spiritual light.

The Golden Gourd contained the Sword Sky Puppet, the Wooden Gourd held the Green Jade Bamboo Flute, the Water Gourd housed the Condensing Light Mirror, the Fire Gourd kept Lantern Little Green, and the Earth Gourd had the Thousand Layers Peak.

In the center of the Dao Platform, a walnut-sized vortex spun slowly, with the five Spiritual Energies continually merging into a new colorless, transparent Spiritual Energy.

The Five Elements Lotus Platform hung above the Qi Elixir, dancing with colorful light, resonating with the Five-Colored Beads at the Lotus Platform’s center.

The Lotus Platform had already absorbed five kinds of Spiritual Energies, needing only the wash of a Heavenly Tribulation.

Everything was ready, except for the east wind.

Jiang Yuebai took out ten Demon Cores, "Absorbing these ten Demon Cores will bring perfection, I’m finally here, and yet, I’m a bit nervous and afraid."

Facing her first Heavenly Tribulation, everyone had advised her about the overwhelming strength of her tribulation; how could she not be afraid?

Fearful as she was, retreating would never be an option!

Taking a deep breath, Jiang Yuebai steadied her emotions and began absorbing the Demon Cores.

She hoped to see the silly dragon successfully transform into Divinity Transformation before she began Core Formation.