CHAPTER 368: CHAPTER 298: THAT IS THE GOLDEN CORE (ADDED MORE 2 IN 1)_2

Chen Yi felt her consciousness sinking, gradually descending into her own body.

Slowly entering the Dantian Cave Abode, Chen Yi "saw" her—a figure ephemeral and misty, as if carefully examining the foundation of this cultivator.

The cultivation path consists of ten stages: Qi Cultivation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Golden Core, Spirit Refinement, Nascent Soul, and so forth. Unlike the division of Mahayana, Hinayana, and Vajrayana in Buddhism, the stages of cultivation are relatively unified. After all, whether Southern or Northern sects, they share the same lineage.

Within the Dantian Cave Abode, mist swirled and Primordial Qi permeated the air, condensing into rushing streams, flowing into and out of a body of water named the "Heart Lake," endlessly circulating.

After Zhou Yitang surveyed the Cave Abode, she remarked:

"It’s decent enough."

Chen Yi understood the weight of those words.

When she first opened this Cave Abode, Chen Yi hadn’t realized she possessed the Heavenly Vision. She had simply poured True Yuan into it, and the Cave Abode opened naturally.

Thinking back now, if opening a Cave Abode were so straightforward, why would Taoists go through such lengths to seek Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures?

At the center of the Cave Abode stood a tree of dusky green.

The tree was neither a towering giant nor a fragile sapling. Its form was shrouded by an immense, illusory shadow—the representation of the Great Ch’un, the symbolic tree of the cultivation path.

Chen Yi gazed at the tree and replied to Zhou Yitang’s earlier remark:

"I’ve reached the Core Formation Realm now. Over these recent days cultivating the Resentment Yin-Yang Technique, I’ve accumulated nine True Yuan fragments. If I were to merge them all together, perhaps I could directly reach the Golden Core stage."

Zhou Yitang retorted, "What meaning is there in building castles in the air?"

Chen Yi nodded slightly and said, "I think the same. Moreover, directly reaching the Golden Core stage might expand my apertures’ capacity for Primordial Qi but reduce my True Qi. Mishandling it could cause my martial cultivation to regress instead."

Eating must be done bite by bite, and paths must be walked one step at a time. Even if possessing the Heavenly Vision enabled the accumulation of thousands or tens of thousands of True Yuan fragments to ascend to immortality in a single stroke, what would be the point? At best, one would earn the title of a wandering immortal in the heavens.

Hence, Chen Yi never rushed things. Rather than pouring all nine True Yuan fragments into the Eternal Dao, she preferred to integrate them into the Resentment Yin-Yang Technique.

As Chen Yi pondered, Zhou Yitang interrupted her train of thought:

"Let’s get to business."

Chen Yi nodded without objection and asked, "The Heavenly Eye you mentioned—where is it?"

Zhou Yitang’s figure slowly descended, sinking into the Heart Lake’s waters. With a slight lift of her hand, ripples spread across the lake.

Chen Yi felt a tingling in his heart. It was strange yet oddly wondrous.

The one-armed woman’s hand stood firmly upright before she pushed.

The entire expanse of water parted slowly, dividing to either side.

In an instant, Chen Yi saw it. Beneath the surging waters, golden luminescence burst forth, sketching the shape of an eye like ink strokes—half-living, half-dead.

The moment that eye re-emerged, Chen Yi’s mind roared, syncing immediately with its vision.

It was as if, while asleep, his eyes had been devoid of sight—and now, in awakening, they could behold the world clearly.

With the Golden Heavenly Eye’s vision, Chen Yi peered upwards and downwards. The first thing he saw was... Zhou Yitang’s spiritual form and her feet.

Chen Yi didn’t rush to move his gaze and observed for quite a while. Only when her expression turned slightly cold did he quickly avert his eyes.

"So... this is the Heavenly Eye?" He swiftly spoke to diffuse the awkwardness.

"Indeed."

"What now? Surely I’m not just supposed to stare at it, right?"

Chen Yi stared at the Heavenly Eye, practically engaging in a standoff.

It felt almost like having both a first-person and third-person view simultaneously.

"The incantation to activate the Heavenly Eye—I’ll recite it, and you remember it."

Upon Chen Yi nodding, Zhou Yitang’s voice resonated by his ear:

"By the edict of the Supreme Lord, grant me communion, open the Celestial Gates, illuminate the Nine Apertures—Heaven, Earth, Sun, and Moon, transform and sanctify me—hasten, by divine command!"

Without hesitation, Chen Yi stared intently at the Heavenly Eye and followed her words, chanting:

"By the edict of the Supreme Lord, grant me communion..."

As the first eight words fell, the Heavenly Eye stirred, its golden radiance growing stronger than before.

A subtle golden glow emanated, carrying a profound aura, though it also seemed drowsy, as if on the verge of shutting again at any moment.

"Open the Celestial Gates, illuminate the Nine Apertures,"

In an instant, the Heart Lake surged. Waters flowed toward the Heavenly Eye, splashing against it. Chen Yi felt the eye awakening fully, its brilliance expanding as if seeking to encompass all things in the world.

Chen Yi experienced a perspective beyond his physical body, akin to a soul’s excursion. His perception detached instantly from his mortal form, allowing him to witness the vast mountains and forests. Turning his gaze further, he saw soldiers marching in seamless formation, observed the Princess’s carriage and the Prince’s retreating figure, and, casting his gaze eastward, noticed an island shrouded in mist—that was Penglai.

On the Lake Heart Pavilion, he spotted a figure both familiar and unfamiliar. Dressed in white robes, the person seemed unaware of Chen Yi’s gaze.

"The next verse," Zhou Yitang prompted urgently.

Without hesitation, Chen Yi recited, "Heaven, Earth, Sun, and Moon, transform and sanctify me—"

His perspective snapped back to the Cave Abode immediately.

However, this time, the scenery within had undergone subtle changes.

To be precise, the changes weren’t entirely new.

It felt more like another layer of reality had been revealed—a glimpse into the hidden truths of the Cave Abode.

Among the apparitions, a golden, ethereal mirror materialized, seemingly connected to the Heavenly Eye itself.

Swirling with potent energies, the mirror’s interior held a ceaseless flow of True Qi.

"This mirror, formed by the Heavenly Eye—could it be deducing cultivation techniques?" Chen Yi muttered in amazement.

"That’s the Kunlun Mirror. You and I encountered it during a past life in Kunlun Mountain. Though... you may not recall it," Zhou Yitang remarked nonchalantly.

Her words made Chen Yi strain to remember, but all he could summon was a faint, blurry recollection of visiting Kunlun Mountain—a vague impression of the mirror at most.

Still, the Heavenly Vision’s wonders continued to astonish him.

The Heavenly Eye could seemingly reconstruct sacred artifacts it had beheld in the past within the Cave Abode and bestow upon them fragments of their abilities.

Apart from the Kunlun Mirror, Chen Yi also noticed an enormous phantom copper tripod present within the space. Its colossal form brimmed with a mystical essence, exuding vapors that nourished the Great Ch’un’s spectral representation.

"That’s Fu Xi’s Tripod. You used it during the patching of the heavens," Zhou Yitang casually added.

Chen Yi nodded thoughtfully. "So this tripod helped me carve out the Cave Abode."

His gaze shifted once again to the depths of the Heart Lake. There, buried beneath its waters, lay an assortment of shimmering, multi-colored stones.

Like translucent river pebbles, they radiated a crystalline brilliance.

"And those?" Chen Yi asked, curiosity lacing his voice.

"Fragments of your memories... and, what’s the term... ’strategies’?" Zhou Yitang still seemed perplexed by the word.

Chen Yi observed the stones for a long moment before nodding slightly.

It seemed that the Heavenly Eye had used these memory fragments to conjure countless constructs in his mind and surroundings.

With the three major changes explored, he shifted focus and resumed chanting the incantation:

"Hasten, open the grand gate, transform soul into spirit—by divine command!"

The golden Heavenly Eye blazed with intensified radiance. Its energy surged like tides, engulfing everything. Heart Lake roared with golden waves while Chen Yi’s emotions fluctuated wildly—joy, rage, sorrow, and more.

The entire Heart Lake turned luminous with golden hues.

A trace of surprise flickered across Zhou Yitang’s gaze, though she quickly composed herself.

The multitude of apertures in Chen Yi’s body spiraled with Primordial Qi. Countless strands of energy flooded into the lake, while the Shangqing Heart Method and Resentment Yin-Yang Technique simultaneously operated in harmony, converging entirely into the Heavenly Eye.

The golden brilliance exuded an unparalleled might. With a resounding hum, a golden speck—a tiny sphere resembling an insect egg—manifested from the Heavenly Eye, as if formed through endless accumulated power, revealing itself only today.

This sphere, this core, represented why sages on the mountain believed that those who mastered six divine abilities could ascend as celestial beings or Buddhas.

That was the Golden Core.