At times I had to be distracted from meditation by noticing the movements of the bearded creatures, sometimes even someone at the stage of Core Formation flew by pretty close.

Maybe they still decided to look for him or something.

But these abandoned lands were truly huge, and given the fact that Sam could sense enemies in advance with his mutation, he did not care at all.

Usually he didn't even have to move from place to avoid someone, maintaining a safe distance.

These lands became a real home for Sam. In the sect, above his head there was always a patriarch who could crush him at any moment.

But here he felt himself great. There are no conveniences, but it doesn't hurt at all.

He had previously tried to dig for himself something like an underground cave, but it was impossible. The land here was somewhat rock-like and extremely durable.

At times, he just lay on the ground at night, when the small sun was not on the horizon, and looked at the stars in the sky.

So month after month passed, Sam was not at all bothered by loneliness, and meditation was a great way to get rid of unnecessary thoughts.

Of course, he could have used one of the pills to speed up his progress, but decided not to. This is an awesome and calm place, there was nowhere to rush.

Almost five years later, on abandoned lands, one could see a motionless statue of some kind of monkey sitting in the lotus position.

Tousled hair and beard, the color of the statue was no different from the dark gray of the surrounding lands.

Suddenly, all the dust flew off the monkey and whirled in the air, his hair fluttered with spiritual energy, but everything quickly calmed down.

Sam opened his eyes and examined himself. This was so convenient, you can get rid of dust and dirt with breakouts.

It turns out that if I make breakthroughs from time to time, then I won't have to wash at all. A good reason to chase after power.

He was already over 40, on earth he would probably suffer from heartburn, indigestion and who knows what else. In Sam's case, he wouldn't be surprised if he developed an Alzheimer's.

But now, as a cultivator, he felt great.

He has finally reached the completed Foundation Stage and only the last dash is left to the goal.

He had a special pill from Mason to break through to the Core Formation stage, it was in one copy and of course Sam kept it for himself.

After a good rest, Sam continued to stabilize the cultivation for a month. In theory, it would have been worth spending more time on it, but he felt ready.

To reach this stage, it needs to turn its nine nodes into nine cores. Nine stars should be formed that will be the mainstay of his small galaxy.

The scholar at the spirit node mentioned that the mentor often helps the spirit cultivators in this process. However, he forgot to mention that there is a similar option for body cultivators.

If Sam had a mentor, Sam would be able to form one core after another in succession, as long as the mentor helped him keep the spiritual network stable.

For Sam, this was certainly not an option, he would create all nine stars at the same time and in synchronization, otherwise serious problems could arise.

This requires, it seems, not weak concentration, talent, and all that kind of nonsense.

But Sam did not experience any problems going through the previous stages, so he read such lines with disdain.

Well, with the support of the enormous energy necessary to form and stabilize all stars at the same time, a magic pill will help him.

Once again checking and replaying the whole process of his breakthrough in his head, Sam took the pill and got down to business.

The energy of the pill did not explode in the body; rather, on the contrary, the energy came in gradually and was extremely soft and malleable.

Sam easily divided it into nine equal parts and slowly began to form cores according to the cultivation method.

After a couple of days, the process was completed. All the cores stabilized at the same time and the spiritual energy rushed along the spiritual network with a new force, completely incomparable with what it was before.

This time, the impact of his breakthrough became really noticeable, a storm raged within a radius of 50 meters while Sam stabilized the breakthrough.

The Core Formation stage practitioners lived for about 200 years, so Sam looked a little younger. Although, due to the facial hair, it was difficult to notice.

Sam opened his eyes, his eyes radiated spirituality and depth, if you cover Sam's face, and look only at his eyes, it looked very impressive.

- Ah ha ha now I'm a terminator!

Of course, Sam was pleased with the breakthrough, although he didn't really suffer for these 5 years, rather he went on vacation.