Chapter 35: Core Formation
High above the sprawling area, where the peak of the mountain pierced the rolling white clouds, the world was entirely silent. The air was incredibly thin, yet the ambient spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth was surplus here, so thick and untamed that it practically clung to the skin like morning dew.
Lin Yuan sat cross-legged in a perfect lotus position upon a flat boulder near the very precipice of the summit.
His eyes were closed, his breathing slow, and incredibly profound. Typically, for an ordinary peak Foundation Establishment cultivator, crossing the threshold into the Core Formation realm was a step that required decades of preparation, and a hoard of pills. But for Lin Yuan, with his supreme talent thanks to his root bone, and his newly tempered physical vessel, this monumental breakthrough was but a single step.
Lin Yuan took a deep, deliberate breath.
Whoosh.
As he inhaled, the ambient spiritual energy of the mountain peak violently rushed toward him. A visible, swirling vortex of concentrated qi materialized above his head, funneling directly into his crown chakra.
Within his body, his dantian was a vast, boundless ocean of qi. This was the absolute pinnacle of Foundation Establishment—where the gaseous spiritual energy of the Qi Condensation realm had been entirely compressed into a dense, powerful liquid state. Now, it was time for the final compression.
Time was a blur and a day passed.
The liquid qi inside his dantian began to churn and rotate, forming a massive, violently spinning whirlpool. The sheer centrifugal force generated by this internal tempest was catastrophic. Normally, the incredible pressure of attempting to solidify a liquid ocean of qi into a single, dense point would tear a cultivator’s meridians to shreds and cause them to cough up blood. But Lin Yuan’s internal pathways were fortified by the Ancient Beast Body. His veins were like indestructible rivers of iron-bark, his bones as dense as a behemoth’s skull. He bore the terrifying pressure without a single flinch, sitting as unmovable as the mountain beneath him.
Three days passed.
The vortex above his head expanded, drawing in the spiritual aura from miles around. The wild beasts of the lower elevations whimpered and fled from the base of the peak, terrified by the sheer pull of the anomaly occurring at the summit. Inside Lin Yuan’s dantian, the vast ocean of liquid qi had been compressed down to the size of a small lake, boiling with intense heat.
Five days passed.
The true fire of cultivation ignited. At the very epicenter of the spinning whirlpool in his dantian, the intense pressure finally sparked. The liquid qi began to rapidly boil and vaporize, burning away the last impurities that lingered within his spiritual energy. As the liquid evaporated, it left behind a heavy residue at the very core of his being.
Seven days passed.
The passage of a week meant nothing to a cultivator deep in a major breakthrough. On the dawn of the seventh day, the final drop of liquid qi in his dantian was violently sucked into the center of the whirlpool.
BOOM!
An explosion echoed directly within Lin Yuan’s Sea of Consciousness.
The vortex in his dantian abruptly collapsed inward. The chaotic, spinning storm of energy instantly vanished, replaced by an absolute stillness.
Hovering perfectly in the center of his now-empty dantian was a sphere. It was roughly the size of a longan fruit, perfectly round, and flawlessly smooth. It radiated a blinding, brilliant golden light, intertwined with faint, ethereal traces of deep azure from his Rain Dao.
The Golden Core had been formed! And his was a Supreme Grade Golden Core, completely devoid of even the slightest crack or impurity.
As the Golden Core slowly rotated within him, it began to pump out a dense, purified qi, refined far beyond anything the loose spiritual energy of Foundation Establishment could compare to. This concentrated qi flooded his meridians, feeling infinitely heavier, denser, and vastly more powerful than anything he had wielded before. A single drop of it contained enough explosive power to level a city block.
Furthermore, the formation of the Golden Core triggered a profound leap within his life force. The mortal shackles of time loosened their grip. His lifespan, previously hovering around two centuries, violently expanded. He could now easily live for five hundred years. With that, he had taken another step in shedding his mortal coils and stepped into the ranks of the true experts of within the Azure Cloud City.
Lin Yuan slowly opened his eyes.
There was now a deep crimson-lit glow within his pupils, carrying an oppressive weight that could force a Foundation Establishment cultivator to their knees with a mere glance. The world around him looked completely different. His vision was sharper, his hearing more acute, and his connection to the natural energy of Heaven and Earth was incredibly intimate.
He uncrossed his legs and stood up on the flat boulder. His joints popped softly, the Ancient Beast Body perfectly harmonizing with the dense qi now coursing through his veins. He felt as though he held the power to split the heavens and sunder the earth with a mere wave of his hand.
He exhaled a long breath of air accumulated over the seven days of meditation. The breath shot forward like a physical arrow, piercing directly through a nearby bamboo stalk with a sharp thwack.
A deeply satisfied smile spread across Lin Yuan’s handsome face.
He had done it. He had successfully broken through. He then turned his gaze toward the horizon, in the direction of Azure Cloud City. "I should return to her. A week is a long time to leave her waiting—"
"Are you quite finished using my cave’s front porch, brat?"
The voice was abrupt, dry, and echoed with an unmistakable tone of extreme annoyance.
Lin Yuan’s smile vanished. His crimson-lit pupils narrowed, and his new Core Formation Divine Sense instantly swept the area. The voice had come from directly behind him.
He turned around, his gaze locking onto the jagged front of the mountain peak. There, hidden perfectly behind an overgrown cascade of thick mountain vines, was a dark, narrow fissure in the stone. It was a natural cave entrance that had completely eluded his perception when he first arrived.
Standing in the shadows of the cave entrance was a figure, arms crossed, tapping a foot impatiently against the stone.
"Seven days of you cultivating," the voice grumbled. "I was in the middle of a very delicate refinement, you know! If you’re done breaking through and flexing your fancy new might, move along so I can get some peace and quiet!"