"Senior, please calm your anger. I would never have dared if I had known." Village Chief Li was startled, falling to his knees with a thud.

Cold sweat beaded on his back, and he dared not even take a full breath. The instant Ye Qin had spoken, an invisible spiritual pressure enveloped him, causing him to tremble in terror.

He had indeed sent these women here harboring a faint hope that they might earn favor with the visitor. Survival on the East Sea islands was exceptionally difficult; a single sea beast could wipe out an entire village.

The waters around this Great Desolate Island were home to numerous low-level sea beasts that occasionally crawled ashore. Every year, many islanders perished in the jaws of these creatures.

Fortunately, the ancestors of this island's residents were all cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage, which increased the probability of their descendants possessing spiritual roots. Among the thousand residents on the island, many possessed these roots and, after cultivating, became low-level Qi Refining stage cultivators.

They possessed enough strength to hunt the low-level sea beasts that scaled the island, defending their settlements. Otherwise, the villagers of the three settlements on Great Desolate Island would have long since been slaughtered by the beasts.

For the village to survive longer, the more cultivators the better. Therefore, whenever a Foundation Establishment stage Senior arrived on Great Desolate Island, the villagers would send the island’s women to serve them; this was established custom.

It was just that Village Chief Li had not anticipated Ye Qin would scorn such an arrangement. "If you truly wish to apologize, then tell me: who was that young woman who killed the Sea Scorpion on the beach?

Where does she live? And how many others like her are in this vicinity?" Ye Qin let out a cold laugh, stepping slowly toward the entrance of the cave dwelling, his sleeves draped as he gazed into the distance.

"Her? She is not one of the Great Desolate people.

This humble one does not know her." Village Chief Li’s expression grew panicked. He jumped up, shaking his head vehemently as he denied it.

"Oh? You don't know her, yet you knew her name was Bai Xiuer and questioned why she came to Great Desolate Island?" Ye Qin turned back, looking coolly at the Village Chief.

Village Chief Li was instantly dumbfounded, his mouth agape, unable to utter a word. How could he know that Ye Qin had witnessed the entire process of them hunting the Sea Scorpion, knowing everything about these matters?

"Speak. Who is she?" Ye Qin snorted, deeply displeased.

"Senior, the reason this humble one hesitated to speak was due to extenuating circumstances. Since Senior already knows of this woman, this one dares not conceal anything further.

This Bai Xiuer is a woman from a small native tribe, residing on a nearby island called Scarlet Pine Island, which is about several hundred li from Great Desolate Island. That island is home to at least one or two thousand native people.

Our Great Desolate Island has absolutely no connection with these natives," Village Chief Li explained hurriedly, his face drawn with distress. "Oh, so there are that many natives?" Ye Qin’s expression immediately sobered.

After pondering for a moment, he asked, "Are all these native people as strong as she is?" "No. The vast majority of the natives are like ordinary people.

Only a very small number possess special innate talents. Natives with such talents are as rare as cultivators with spiritual roots." "What kind of talents do the natives possess?" "There are many talents, but this humble one has only ever encountered the talent of 'Innate Divine Strength.' Such natives are called Native Strongmen.

That Bai Xiuer is one such Native Strongman, possessing astonishing divine power. Among the native tribe on Scarlet Pine Island, Bai Xiuer is the strongest.

There are no more than a dozen such gifted clansmen on Scarlet Pine Island." After listening to Village Chief Li’s explanation, Ye Qin’s grave expression noticeably relaxed. "Furthermore, Scarlet Pine Island and Great Desolate Island have often disputed the ownership of sea beasts in the past, which is why this humble one knows of their affairs.

I wonder if Senior is interested in the native women? I can guide you there," Village Chief Li suddenly grew eager.

"Enough. I have no interest in the grievances between your two islands, nor will I help you settle your dispute," Ye Qin glanced at him, waved his hand, and said coldly, "That’s enough, you may withdraw.

If I intend to go into secluded cultivation here, no one from this island is to approach within ten li of this place without my summons. If you die due to an accident, do not blame me for failing to warn you." "Yes, Senior!" Village Chief Li, crestfallen, dared not say another word and quickly led the women out of the cave dwelling.

Ye Qin gazed at the distant azure sea, falling into deep thought, his eyes unusually calm. He had seen several East Sea native women before on Glass Island, aboard a large sailing ship.

However, he had been too occupied at the time to pay them much mind. He hadn't expected to encounter natives again on this remote island.

He could not afford to be careless about these East Sea natives, with whom he had minimal prior contact, and needed to question them thoroughly. However, since it was merely a small native tribe, possessing only ten or so gifted low-level natives, the threat they posed to him was minimal, and there was no need for excessive worry.

What mattered now was focusing entirely on secluded cultivation to break through the Golden Core bottleneck and pass the minor heavenly tribulation. Once he became a Golden Core cultivator, the number of cultivators and demonic beasts that could threaten him in the East Sea would be drastically reduced.

For a Foundation Establishment cultivator, breaking through the Golden Core bottleneck to form the long-desired Golden Core was an exceedingly difficult endeavor. Although Ye Qin possessed the Water Spirit Fruit, a rare spiritual medicine, and numerous other advantages, he dared not treat the matter of forming his core with any complacency.

He sealed the entrance to the cave dwelling. Using formation flags, he laid down a protective guardian array within the cave, stationing the Golden Core Skeleton Demon within it.

Any cultivator attempting to break through the formation would alert this creature. He had already commanded the Golden Core Skeleton Demon: anyone attempting to break the formation was to be killed without mercy.

Subsequently, Ye Qln purified himself by burning incense and bathing. Inside the cave, he burned a precious essence, the Muxiang Jade Paste, known for centering the mind and clarifying the spirit.

He meditated for three days, bringing his body to its optimal state, preparing to ingest the Core Formation Pill. Ye Qin had refined the Core Formation Pills back on Glass Island.

Because each Core Formation Pill required one Water Spirit Fruit and hundreds of rare spiritual herbs, all of which needed massive amounts of spirit stones to cultivate within the Purple Mansion. Spirit stones were not abundant on Glass Island.

Ye Qin cautiously gathered spirit stones for alchemy while evading the notice of the two Island Masters. In the ten years he spent on Glass Island, after accounting for the seven or eight parts that failed during refining, he had managed to produce only five water-attributed Core Formation Pills.

These five pills were suitable only for cultivators possessing the Water Spirit Root. Given Ye Qin’s alchemy skill, this was the limit of his achievement; he also lacked the time to gather more spirit stones.

Despite the small number, for ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators, possessing five Core Formation Pills was astonishing, enough to drive any Foundation Establishment cultivator to madness for their acquisition. Ye Qin retrieved a dazzling, lustrous Core Formation Pill from a vial in his storage pouch, swallowed it in one gulp, closed his eyes, and sat down, circulating his energy to slowly refine it within his abdomen.

The Core Formation Pill gradually transformed into a vast current of icy, Yin energy, flowing slowly through the meridians of his body. This frigid current was unremarkable at first, but as time passed, it grew stronger and stronger.

Every minute meridian was invaded by the Yin coldness, chilling his heart, lungs, and bone marrow to the core, akin to plunging into a bottomless, subterranean, frigid cavern. The entire cave dwelling became shrouded in an endless, biting cold.

The Golden Core Skeleton Demon, waiting within the array, looked over with uneasy, black, hollow eye sockets before sinking back down onto the ground, dormant. Even with his cultivation at the ninth layer of the Foundation Establishment stage, Ye Qin could not suppress the slight trembling of his bones, and his complexion turned extremely pale.

This coldness, seeping into the marrow and impossible to expel, almost provoked an urge within him to conjure a sea of fire for warmth. However, once he began circulating energy to refine the Core Formation Pill, he was utterly immobilized, forced to endure the agony.

Only then did he understand why only cultivators with Water Spirit Roots could consume the Water-attributed Core Formation Pill. Cultivators lacking the Water Spirit Root would be unable to withstand such intense Yin coldness and would be instantly frozen to death by the chilling essence.

Thus, time flowed by swiftly. To refine and absorb the vital energy of one Core Formation Pill required half a year of dedicated effort to absorb it completely.

One day, half a year later, a thin layer of hoarfrost covered every surface inside the cave dwelling, including Ye Qin himself. He suddenly opened his eyes, and an incomparably sharp light flashed away from them.

After absorbing all the medicinal power of this first Core Formation Pill, his cultivation had advanced from the early stage of the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment to the peak, the Great Perfection state of the ninth layer, in just six months. Yet, his face held more regret than satisfaction.

Because, despite reaching the peak of the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment with his nascent soul after consuming the pill, there was not the slightest indication of a breakthrough. No matter how profound the cultivation at the Foundation Establishment stage, it was still Foundation Establishment; it could not be compared to the Golden Core stage.

This barrier absolutely had to be crossed. "Again!" Ye Qin hardened his resolve.

After resting for several days, he swallowed the second Core Formation Pill. He hadn't hoped that a single pill would allow him to break the Golden Core bottleneck; otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to such lengths to prepare a total of five pills.

It was just that the process of assaulting the bottleneck was agonizing, so painful that even with his resolve and endurance, he found it nearly unbearable. What shocked him, however, was that the pain from taking the second pill was even more intense than the first.

When he consumed the first pill, his nascent soul could still absorb the Yin coldness of the medicinal power, allowing the frigid energy within his body to gradually diminish. But this time, his nascent soul had already reached the Great Perfection state of the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment.

Even though he directed all his energy to absorb the pill’s power, he found he could absorb almost none of it. As the pill refined, the Yin cold energy grew increasingly potent, rampaging violently within him and torturing him to the brink of death.

Half a year passed, and time seemed to freeze. Ye Qin sat cross-legged on a straw mat in the center of the cave, his eyes cast down, his face utterly bloodless, his expression calm and detached.

The energy transformed from the second Core Formation Pill was still running rampant inside him, yet his nascent soul showed no sign of breaking through. He knew clearly that the attempt with the second pill had also ended in failure.

He dared not proceed to the third pill immediately. With his cultivation at the Great Perfection of the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment, he absolutely could not withstand the Yin cold energy generated by double the quantity of a Core Formation Pill.

He had to dissipate this current medicinal power before attempting the third trial. What troubled him most was precisely how to eliminate the residual energy already coursing through his body.