After watching his disciple Gu Qingkong depart, Lu Li immediately sat down cross-legged on the spot, focusing all his efforts on circulating the Golden Core section of the [Supreme Broken Affection Manual], guiding and refining the torrent of rebate energy in his body that surged forth like a broken dam!
As he ran the cultivation method, Lu Li’s whole body seemed to become a massive vortex, madly absorbing not only the pure energy welling up inside him, but also forcefully drawing in the Heaven and Earth Vital Essence from Duanqing Peak, and even further afield!
Very soon, with Lu Li’s Dongfu as the center, an enormous invisible tornado seemed to form around Duanqing Peak.
The Heaven and Earth Lingqi surrounding Xuling Sect responded as if summoned, converging crazily toward Lu Li’s Dongfu!
Above Duanqing Peak, the once-clear sky suddenly became turbulent, clouds rolling as vast quantities of Heaven and Earth Vital Essence gathered, forming a Lingqi vortex visible to the naked eye, its center pointing straight at Lu Li’s Dongfu.
At the same time, a resplendent pressure belonging to the Dao of the Golden Core began to emanate from the heart of the Dongfu, enveloping all of Duanqing Peak and spreading outward.
Witnessing this, many disciples throughout Xuling Sect, whether cultivating or simply passing by, instinctively sensed something and looked up in surprise toward Duanqing Peak.
“Hm? What an astonishing Lingqi fluctuation! Which Senior Brother or Shishu is breaking through?”
“Hiss… Judging by the direction, it’s Duanqing Peak…”
“Duanqing Peak? Isn’t that Senior Shishu Chongyangzi?”
“No mistake. It should be Shishu Lu.”
“Hm? This pressure… Could it be… forming a Golden Core?”
“I heard… Shishu Lu truly is a prodigy favored by the Broken Affection Ancestor! He just reached Zhujishi not long ago, and now he’s directly going to form a Golden Core?”
As Lu Li’s Golden Core breakthrough sent waves through the area, the elders of each peak and the more advanced disciples of Xuling Sect all swept their divine senses toward Duanqing Peak at the first instant, detecting the aura of a Golden Core condensing, their faces filled with astonishment.
Within the Gongxun Hall of Xuling Sect, Duan Xueyan’s face showed a flicker of surprise after sensing the immense pressure from Lu Li’s breakthrough to the Golden Core stage:
“That brat Lu Li, barely back for a few days, and he’s making a ruckus again!”
On Sect Leader Peak, the Sect Leader of Xuling Sect stood with his hands behind his back, gazing into the direction of Duanqing Peak, his eyes flashing with a mix of surprise and gravity.
“This Lu Li, to reach Golden Core so soon? Looks like the Duanqing Peak legacy will have a worthy successor after all… It seems Shishu Duanqing can ascend in peace now…”
The Sect Leader muttered to himself, then waved his sleeve, sending an invisible barrier spreading outward to temporarily seal off the area of Duanqing Peak, lest any disciples wander in and disrupt him.
It was, in a way, also a form of protection for Lu Li.
Inside the Dongfu, Lu Li was completely oblivious to the commotion outside.
His entire mind was immersed in the earthshaking transformation occurring within his body.
With the surge of energy from the System’s reward flooding into him without reservation, the vortex in Lu Li’s Dan Tian collapsed and condensed at an unprecedented speed!
Unlike ordinary cultivators, who have to search arduously and even make grand vows to elicit a response from the Heavenly Dao’s laws during the Golden Core formation, Lu Li seemed to be wielding a special permit.
After all, the [Supreme Broken Affection Manual] he cultivated naturally resonated with the Dao of Tian Yi Gui, the path he was seeking to attain.
With energy coming together at the perfect moment, Lu Li faced almost no obstacles.
He could feel it—deep within him, a crystal-clear, translucent Ninefold Golden Core, inscribed with faint, mysterious runes, was beginning to take shape.
Moreover, this Golden Core wasn’t of a single hue.
At its heart swirled a trace of noble purple, while its surface glimmered with a pure golden-red radiance—the very manifestation of Tian Yi Gui, the Celestial Path Lu Li was on the verge of attaining!
“Hah! The Golden Core… is formed!”
Lu Li let out a quiet exclamation in his heart, circulating his technique with all his strength.
The moment he stepped completely into the Golden Core realm, he suddenly felt the core in his Dan Tian begin to boil, surging with Dao power.
Then, all at once, it rushed throughout his body before finally converging in his mind.
He felt his sea of consciousness roar, as though it had connected with some supreme law of the void.
The myriad details of his cultivation, the profound principles and subtle methods of the [Supreme Broken Affection Manual], as well as his own alchemical and talismanic skills, flashed rapidly through his mind like a lantern show, being reorganized and understood from a new, closer-to-Dao perspective.
At this moment, Lu Li’s perception of his cultivation path became clearer than ever.
In particular, everything relating to his chosen Dao of Tian Yi Gui was imprinted upon his soul as if by instinct.
As his Ninefold Golden Core stabilized, a torrent of power, purer and vaster than anything from his Zhujishi days, suddenly surged forth from within his Golden Core.
It swept through every corner of his body, right to his crown, elevating Lu Li’s very being to an entirely new level!
His Dao heart, too, broke through the fragile shackles of Zhujishi under the constant nurturing and moistening of Golden Core law, growing ever more resilient.
Lu Li’s ability to deduce and comprehend Dao also improved dramatically.
Almost simultaneously, his physical body, under the baptism of Golden Core energy, underwent a transformation.
His flesh and Dao force merged on a deeper level, every particle of his being rejoicing at the newfound power, evolving toward a more perfect state of existence.
This was the sign of a Golden Core cultivator’s Dao foundation being forged, laying the groundwork for further strengthening of his physical body in the future.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully breaking through to the initial stage of Golden Core! Main quest: Exemplary Teacher (Break through to Golden Core within three months) completed!]
[Quest reward: Random Earth-grade Spirit Tool has been issued to the System space, please check it yourself]
[Failure penalty: Soul Dispersal (exempted).]
As the System prompt sounded again, Lu Li’s nascent Golden Core trembled fiercely, growing more solid and stable.
The Golden Core’s pressure now fully formed, surging forth in all directions!
The Lingqi vortex above Duanqing Peak gradually faded, but the aura belonging to a Golden Core True Person left an indelible mark in the hearts of every Xuling Sect disciple who sensed it.
From this moment, Lu Li officially stepped onto the Golden Core path, becoming yet another Golden Core elder of Xuling Sect!
It also meant that Lu Li, at this very moment, had completely shed his former mortal shell and become a true person—what both cultivators and ordinary folk called a Golden Core True Person.
The term “True Person” referred to one who had united with the Dao, now holding true power in his hands.
Lu Li, upon hearing the System notification, did not immediately check the reward, instead continuing to stabilize his realm.
The vast amount of Vital Essence drawn in by the Magical Formation was now absorbed into Lu Li’s body at a rate ten times faster than when he was at Zhujishi, transformed by his Golden Core into power unique to his Tian Yi Gui path.
Lu Li could clearly sense a qualitative leap in his control over Heaven and Earth Lingqi, as well as the efficiency with which he used his own Dao power.
“Oh? So this is the power of the Golden Core… Moreover, it’s the Tian Yi Gui Golden Core that leads directly to the Celestial Path!”
Gazing inward at the noble, mysterious Ninefold Golden Core in his Dan Tian, Lu Li’s heart surged with crystal-clear understanding and satisfaction.
At last, he could truly say, “With a single Golden Core swallowed, my fate is mine to command, not Heaven’s!”
However, condensing the Golden Core and establishing his Dao foundation was only the first step for a cultivator on the path of immortality in the Kongxuan Realm.
What truly marked Lu Li’s entry into the Golden Core realm, and bestowed him with unique combat power, was the shentong awakened with his Dao attainment.
At the instant his Golden Core fully formed and perfectly matched the Tian Yi Gui Dao Fruit, a mysterious message naturally surfaced in Lu Li’s sea of consciousness.
This was Tian Yi Gui’s shentong: Reversal Creation.
It was the innate shentong granted to Lu Li by the Tian Yi Gui Dao path, bestowing a trace of the authority to control creation itself—allowing him to interfere with and reorganize the order of matter and energy at the microscopic level, manipulating the gaps in causality and creation between Heaven and Earth.
Almost instinctively, Lu Li raised his hand.
He did not perform any known spell, but simply channeled the newborn Reversal Creation shentong.
His sleeve fluttered even without wind, and within that small space, the light suddenly distorted, as if space itself was being kneaded and reshaped by an invisible, strange power!
An invisible, transparent force field spread out from Lu Li’s hand.
Within its range, the air alternately froze solid, swelled, or drew inwards with strange suction.
Light and shadow flickered unpredictably at the edge of his sleeve, as though the tiny space there was silently deducing the secrets of opening up the primordial void!
“So that’s how it is… Reversal Creation, interfering with Heaven and Earth’s laws, reshaping the forces on a microscopic scale…”
“If so, perhaps it can be used this way…”
At that thought, Lu Li’s eyes gleamed.
Combining it with his basic understanding of Dao Fruit, he willed the distorted spatial force to retract, drawing it into his sleeve.
The next moment, the mouth of his sleeve suddenly became an invisible vortex, faintly exuding suction.
Any light that approached it would subtly bend away, as if within that tiny sleeve a whole new universe existed!
“Mm… I’ll call you Sleeve Universe!”
Lu Li smiled faintly, quite satisfied with this technique derived from his own shentong and understanding.
For now, with this Sleeve Universe shentong, he could open up a space of about thirty cubic meters inside his sleeve, storing anything he wished within—living creatures, inanimate objects, even an opponent’s spirit tools or incoming energy attacks could all be swallowed up.
Moreover, this space would continue to grow and expand as his cultivation advanced.
Though this was merely the most basic application of the Reversal Creation shentong, it already revealed the extraordinary potential of the Celestial Path’s shentong.
And it was not a fixed spell, but a rule-like special ability with limitless possibilities!
Feeling the surging Golden Core power within him, grasping the mysteries of the Tian Yi Gui path, and wielding this nascent, possibility-filled Reversal Creation shentong, Lu Li knew he had truly stepped into a whole new realm.
“Mm… The Golden Core is formed, the shentong just awakened. Next, it’s time to stabilize my realm and explore the mysteries of my Dao path and shentong…”
Lu Li smiled calmly, his eyes brimming with confidence.
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