CHAPTER 147: BREAKTHROUGH, CORE FORMATION! 3

This was exactly what gave Golden Core cultivators of old such arrogance and confidence to spout lines like, "When my core turns, Heaven’s will detours," or, "A mortal stores breath in the lungs; a cultivator stores worlds in his Golden Core."

Unlike us earthlings who had to rely on esteemed Daoist Galileo, cultivators of Firmament Heaven discovered the truth behind celestial bodies long ago on account of being able to fly up to the firmament and see for themselves.

So they recognized that after compressing into a spherical shape, they should make their cores rotate like the sun and the moon to generate their own unique force, ambiently attracting spiritual energy in the air to refine into Dharma Power.

However, getting the core to start spinning was not easy, requiring a lot of focus and effort, as at this stage it was newly born and a little fragile, not to mention it was full of Magic Power that hadn’t been converted yet.

The same logic applied here as with lifting an empty barrel versus lifting a barrel full of liquid. The effort and difficulty between those two actions were vastly different, not even in the same league.

The goal was to reach maximum rotation speed, because the maximum speed decided the quality of your core, its future potential, and how much spiritual qi you could absorb per second compared to your peers.

For other cultivators, it was about kick-starting the rotation multiple times, like trying to push a boulder forward until it began spinning on its own. But for Li Ling, his newly formed core didn’t even spend time accelerating; it simply hit max speed the next second.

WHOOSH!

Immediately, a huge phenomenon occurred in the Shen Clan estate in the outpost as a giant funnel formed above the entire estate that was growing in size, sucking in torrents of ambient spiritual qi. This made all eyes and spirit senses scan over with shock and confusion, wondering what the hell was going on, because it seemed more like someone was entering Soul Formation rather than merely Core Formation.

ZIU! ZIU! ZIU!

Powerhouses who maintained the encampment came over in a rush, standing outside of the range of the Shen Clan estate out of respect for boundaries, even if their cultivation was higher. These persons numbered around thirty, split between both the Six Paths Demon Sect and the Boundless Joy Sect.

The Boundless Joy Sect’s people were much higher in number, accounting for 18 persons, all matronly and stylish women with extremely voluptuous figures and tempting beauty. Fifteen of them were at various stages of the Nascent Soul Realm, all elders of the Boundless Joy Sect who managed various ventures and pavilions in the upper level, while the remaining three were at Soul Formation.

On the Six Paths Demon Sect’s side, there were only a dozen fellows, four of whom were at Nascent Soul, five at Soul Formation, and three at Dao Integration realm. This kind of gap in institutional power was exactly why the Boundless Joy Sect had to swallow their anger and behave properly, because even within their own lands, in the main outpost fighting their sworn enemies, they were not the top dogs.

The three Dao Integration powerhouses were in the lead of the group, at the very forefront close to the edge of the estate and closest to the still-growing funnel of suction power.

One of them was an old man with a very long beard in regal attire, his eyebrows long and curly at the very tip. He was quite tall, almost seven feet, and his stature was quite thin, but not yet bony, with a feeling of vicissitudes yet grandfatherly affection.

Part of his flowing white hair was tied into a long ponytail while he held a black and green fan in front of him, his lips curled into a slight smile of providence.

"My, my! It seems that we are about to witness a very significant event, dear friends!" he spoke jovially, his tone very strong despite his looks.

Beside him was another Dao Integration powerhouse who had completely pale skin like a corpse, her body stitched in various places like some sort of zombie Frankenstein monster, though her visage was that of a very beautiful noble daughter.

Her eyes were wide open and never actually seemed to blink while her rosebud-red lips were pressed against each other without a hint of movement—as if her facial muscles were paralyzed—yet she was easily able to move them to speak.

"Indeed, it seems that the Shen Clan are about to rise. Talents have been overflowing from their fold in this past half-century," she added in a cold tone.

The final Dao Integration powerhouse was another young-looking woman with scaly green skin and two pitch-black horns shaped like tridents emerging from her temples. Her iris radiated a pure amber color while her pupils were split into serpentine slits, her lips curled upward in an arrogant sneer.

Her figure was slightly voluptuous, but was thicker in terms of bone density than most women in the cultivation world, her thighs alone enough to crush a man’s head in between. She wore what looked to be a mandarin dress that was emerald green in color to match her skin tone, with a hole at the back to allow her huge scaly tail to breathe.

"To be able to cause such a commotion, doesn’t this fellow fear any interruption?" she pointed out with narrowed eyes.

However, the grandfatherly daoist laughed as he stroked his beard. "Come off it, Path Elder Diao Qing, who would dare to make a move here in our presence?"

The zombie-like woman also nodded stiffly. "Indeed, Path Elder Li An is correct. The only one who could decide the fate of this youngster here is us ourselves."

The arrogant serpentine woman snorted gently and folded her arms. "That’s exactly my point. I was having my beauty sleep when this phenomenon occurred and now my mood is spoiled. I’m tempted to squash this ignorant bug for his actions, and I believe you won’t stop me, Path Elder Gu Yin?"

Path Elder Gu Yin shook her head, looking like she might snap it due to how stiff it moved. "Your actions and their consequences are for you to bear alone. I will not interfere, lest they affect me as well."

"Heh, typical cowardice towards karma. And what about you?" Path Elder Diao Qing rolled her eyes towards Gu Yin and looked at Path Elder Li An, who maintained his kindly smile.

"Why in such a rush? Let us wait to witness the fate of this rising star and then decide what to do, yes?" Path Elder Li An suggested with a laugh.

Diao Qing seemed to be unamused by this response, yet also seemed to have expected it. "Tsk, it was a waste of time to ask you, old man. Who doesn’t know of your disgusting habit of protecting talents?"

"Haha, the future is not yet seen, not yet seen," Li An responded with a laugh, saying nothing more afterward.

As for the others, they could only listen in without daring to comment, only passing their thoughts between those of the same group through voice transmissions. Especially the other four Nascent Soul fellows, seeing such a phenomenon from the area apportioned to the Shen Clan made their expressions become gloomy.

For Core Disciples, the competition was extremely heavy and brutal, with a lot of restrictions present in the lower sect being lifted to allow them to compete better. If Shen Ziyan were to break through to the Soul Formation realm, not only would she leave them behind, but the amount of power she would wield in this outpost would soar past theirs.

But what they didn’t understand was that Shen Ziyan was here for the same reason as them—to accumulate war merits to exchange for the fifth-realm scripture of the sect. They knew she didn’t have enough merits yet, as none of them were even close, so how could she be breaking through at this time?

"Hahaha, worry not, young ones; Little Ziyan is not the one breaking through at this time," Li An revealed with a chuckle, seeing the confusion of those below who had mistaken the phenomenon’s scale for something else.

Li An’s words made the faces of those present here change slightly, because if it wasn’t Shen Ziyan, then who? Was there another person in the Shen Clan at the Nascent Soul that had been hidden all this time, only showing themselves now as they were breaking through?

Diao Qing seemed to lose her patience and grunted with disdain. "Ugh, what a stupid bunch! Use your damn senses—do you sense any Soul Power or True Essence?"

Her words startled the group as they initially hadn’t dared to be too presumptuous, but now that they were given permission, they carefully scanned the phenomenon and were immediately left utterly shocked by what they found.

This... all of this...

It was just the phenomenon of someone breaking through to Core Formation?!