Chapter 16  Seventy Thousand Shock Points! Opening the Second Secret Realm

“Yueying, are you serious? You can really attempt the Core Formation stage?” Xiao Ding asked, his voice trembling with emotion.

Xiao Yueying nodded.

“This energy is incredibly vast. Even if I can’t form a true core in one go, I can at least form a pseudo-core and reach the Half-Step Core Formation stage.”

As soon as she said this, the entire Xiao family was in an uproar!

Half-Step Core Formation—what kind of concept was that?

The Xiao family had just seen it perfectly demonstrated by the Wang family’s patriarch, Wang Li, who nearly swept across all of Blackstone County with his power.

Even someone like Xiao Yun, at the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm (Ninth Heaven), was no match for him. And now Xiao Yueying claimed she was fully confident she could condense a pseudo-core—or even directly advance into the Core Formation stage?

That was terrifying beyond belief!

The joy in the hearts of the Xiao clan members multiplied tenfold. Once Xiao Yueying advanced to the Core Formation stage, the Xiao family would undergo a complete transformation—a true rebirth.

“Someone, clear out my private cultivation chamber! And fetch one hundred mid-grade spirit stones from the treasury to power the formation. Make sure the young lady breaks through under the best possible conditions!”

The Grand Elder, Xiao Yun, shouted with heroic enthusiasm.

As the most senior member of the Xiao clan, he had always occupied the best cultivation chamber. Inside this secluded cultivation chamber, there was a small Spirit Gathering Array that could draw in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, accelerating the cultivation process. However, activating the array required a large amount of spirit stones.

Xiao Yun would only occasionally activate it, and even then, he used the low-grade spirit stones with thin spiritual energy. After all, mid-grade spirit stones were far too expensive—just one was worth ten thousand low-grade spirit stones.

Even for a large clan like the Xiao family, their entire annual income was only about forty mid-grade spirit stones. After accounting for various expenses, a hundred mid-grade spirit stones would nearly equal the Xiao family’s net income for five years. Yet, not a single elder opposed his decision.

Let alone five years’ net income—even if it cost ten or twenty years’ worth, they were willing to spend it if it could help Xiao Yueying break through to the Core Formation Realm.

Inside the cultivation chamber, Xiao Yueying sat cross-legged, feeling the surrounding spiritual energy, and exclaimed in amazement, “So this is the power of a Spirit Gathering Array? Incredible! The spiritual energy concentration here is nearly three times that of the outside!”

“Don’t make such a fuss. This is just a low-grade Spirit Gathering Array. In the Central Region, every inner disciple of the sacred sects has their own personal cultivation chamber, equipped with more than a dozen arrays. Among them, a high-grade Spirit Gathering Array is the most basic, increasing the spiritual energy concentration by twenty times. There are also arrays like the Mind-Focusing Array and Essence-Stabilizing Array.”

Yan Fei’s voice rang out in Xiao Yueying’s mind, as lofty and superior as ever.

“A high-grade Spirit Gathering Array with twenty times the spiritual energy?”

Xiao Yueying couldn’t help but gasp. That was far too extravagant—how many spirit stones would be wasted every day?

“And that’s just for ordinary inner disciples,” Yan Fei continued explaining. “Core disciples and true inheritors have even better resources. As for the highest-ranked Holy Sons, they cultivate in special spiritual realms—miniature pocket worlds—where one day of training is equivalent to a year in the outside world.”

Xiao Yueying was completely speechless—how could the gap between people be this huge?

As an ordinary cultivator, it was extremely difficult to surpass the disciples of the sacred lands who possessed vast cultivation resources. Fortunately, she had the mysterious expert Yan Fei aiding her, and had even inherited the legacy of the Golden Crow Sixth Prince from the Primordial Era.

If she could achieve the Golden Core Dao, she would possess the foundation and potential to rival the ancient emperors. So what if someone was the Holy Son of the Central Province? She could still trample them underfoot!

With this thought, Xiao Yueying’s determination to break through grew even stronger. She immediately held her breath and focused all her energy on refining the remaining Golden Crow essence blood within her body.

_____

While Xiao Yueying was in seclusion…

The Xiao family estate was decorated with lanterns and festivity—it was a scene of joyous celebration. Meanwhile, the entire Blackstone County had erupted in an uproar!

“Did you hear? The Wang and Lu families were wiped out. All of their Foundation Establishment cultivators were killed!”

“Of course I heard. It’s said they offended the Xiao family.”

“The Xiao family is that powerful? They actually managed to annihilate the Wang and Lu families, who were of the same level?”

“It wasn’t the Xiao family—it was just the Xiao family’s eldest daughter, Xiao Yueying. She killed them all herself.”

“Xiao Yueying? That’s impossible, wasn’t she rumored to have lost her cultivation and become a cripple?”

“Apparently, Xiao Yueying had a great encounter. She can manifest a Golden Crow Battle Robe, traverse the void, and even catch the sun with one hand!”

“I was there that day. The Xiao family’s eldest daughter is terrifyingly powerful. With just one Solar Divine Fist, she directly killed the Wang family’s half-step Core Formation ancestor!”

“Golden Crow Battle Robe, Solar Divine Fist… What kind of legacy did the Xiao family’s eldest daughter obtain?”

Such exchanges were unfolding in every corner of Blackstone County. The common folk who had been watching outside the Xiao residence were spreading the news far and wide, telling everyone they met. Soon, the entire county knew about it.

The fall of the Wang and Lu families was a massive shock. It meant that the power structure of Blackstone County was about to undergo a major change. And all of it had been caused by a mere nineteen-year-old girl.

_______

“You received +1 Shock Point from Zhang Wu.”

“You received +3 Shock Points from Li Qisi.”

“You received +1 Shock Point from Wu Meng.”

“You received +5 Shock Points from Zhao Hu.”

“You received from Qian Deming…”

“You received from…”

_____

In a guest room somewhere in Blackstone County, Ling Chen had already lost count of how many times the Shock Point notifications had popped up. Ever since Xiao Yueying killed the Wang family’s Half-Step Core Formation ancestor, the shock points had been pouring in like crazy.

One could only say that Ling Chen was incredibly lucky. He happened to encounter Xiao Yueying, someone blessed with the destiny of a protagonist.

If it had been anyone else, even with the inheritance from the Golden Crow Secret Realm, it would’ve been nearly impossible to develop such overwhelming strength in a short time—let alone cause such a massive sensation.

At this point, Ling Chen’s shock points had already exceeded 73,000. The value of the Golden Crow Secret Realm had basically been exhausted. It was time to open up a second secret realm.