The life-bound puppet completed its task without a hitch, and the main body of the underground palace showed no signs of disturbance, making this expedition even more flawless.
Li Ye quietly returned to Pingyang Mountain, as if he had never ventured to the Lava Palace at all.
Now that everything was ready, he had no intention of delaying any further. After indulging himself in food, drink, and a moment of relaxation to fully calm his mind and spirit, smoothing out any lingering urgency, he issued his orders and entered seclusion.
This matter had been discussed beforehand, so no one raised any objections. Everyone agreed without question and returned to their duties with the same caution and vigilance they had maintained when Li Ye had previously been away.
Each person was firmly determined not to allow anything to disturb Li Ye's closed-door cultivation.
Inside his cultivation cave, Li Ye adjusted the array of formations, gathering all the essence of spiritual energy atop Pingyang Mountain, temporarily creating an environment akin to a mid-to-low third-grade spirit land.
This was the absolute limit of what he could achieve without diminishing the power of the mountain's grand formation.
To form a Golden Core, was more than sufficient.
After several days of meditative breathing and regulating his internal state, Li Ye's mana, vitality, and spirit had all reached their peak condition. A glimmer of sharp light flashed through his eyes.
"Forming the Golden Core… It's time!"
Before him were placed a small black-gold cauldron and two jade bottles containing the Profound Fire Essence and the Frost Condensate Water as well as a Golden Core (dissolution) Pill for use as a last resort in case of failure.
Without hesitation, Li Ye activated two streams of mana, opening the cauldron and the bottles.
Immediately, waves of black-red heat and white-cold condensation erupted into the air, surging and clashing within the confined space. Yet whenever they collided, strands of even purer, more refined spiritual energy would burst forth.
Seeing this, Li Ye nodded with satisfaction, then gave a low shout as his blood energy roared to life.
On either side of his body, tangible manifestations of a black flood dragon and a fierce tiger suddenly appeared, roaring as they pounced toward the two streams of liquid spirit materials, swallowing them whole.
In an instant, the black flood dragon was crystallized into a gray-white hue, while the fierce tiger blazed into crimson flames the forces of water and fire were pushed to their extremes within their forms.
At that moment, both spirit beasts abruptly returned, rushing into Li Ye's body.
Crack
Boom!
Frost and flame erupted across Li Ye's body, intertwining and colliding fiercely against his physical form.
"Just as the Bihu Notes described these two Core Formation spirit materials not only temper mana but also violently impact the physical body. That's the real difficulty of using them for breakthrough..."
Li Ye smiled faintly. "But for me, this poses no problem at all."
His blood surged turbulently, yet his body remained unshaken, his flesh radiating with a crystalline luster.
The white dragon and red tiger manifestations swirled around him.
Becoming the furnace, forging the Golden Core with water and fire!
Amidst dragon roars and tiger growls, the profound intent of dragon and tiger interwove, guiding the water and fire forces within his body. What was once pure conflict transformed into a cycle of mutual generation, drastically reducing their destructive backlash and massively amplifying their effects.
All of his mana already condensed to a semi-solid, liquid state was poured into this process.
With the refining power of the water and fire energies, impurities were burned away, leaving only the purest essence to ascend.
Like a giant whale drinking from the sea, the surrounding spiritual energy poured incessantly into him.
At the very core of his dantian, under the fierce burning of the Wood God True Flame, the phantom of a purple-blue Golden Core gradually began to condense and solidify.
......
Not long after Li Ye entered seclusion to form his Golden Core, unrest erupted in the Kingdom of Huan a place that had been calm for many years, so much so that even Patriarch Zixuan (Purple Profound Sect Master), a Golden Core cultivator, hadn't left his sect grounds in a long time.
The once celestial and serene Purple Profound Sect was breached.
Under the rampage of numerous demonic cultivators and demonic tribes, the mountains of Purple Profound Sect were drenched in blood and slaughter.
The disciples of Purple Profound Sect fought back valiantly, but amidst their confusion, fury, and terror, they were quickly overwhelmed by the flood of enemies, offering almost no resistance.
Countless sect members were massacred, their bodies sacrificed and refined through demonic arts to become nourishment for the invaders.
"Disciples of the Purple Profound Sect, hear my command run! Flee, quickly!"
High above, the aged Patriarch Zixuan, his eyes wide with rage and despair, spat out mouthfuls of blood as he gave his final order.
His dantian and chest had been pierced through, leaving bloody holes. His Golden Core and heart had been ripped out.
He clung to life by a mere thread, sustained only by the demonic energy binding him, keeping him from immediately falling from the sky.
Before him stood two Golden Core cultivators.
One, dressed in flowing robes with white hair and a youthful face, held a still-beating heart in his hand, his gaze dark and bloodthirsty.
The other, clad in bone armor, had long gray hair cascading down his back. His face was covered in demonic markings, twisted and fierce.
Casually toying with the rapidly disintegrating Golden Core in his hand, he flung it into a flag saturated with thick demonic energy.
"Feiyu... you... you traitors to humanity..."
Patriarch Zixuan glared at them, his voice broken and weak, hatred burning in his eyes.
"The nations will never tolerate such treachery!"
"Traitors to humanity? We're on the brink of death, our life spans nearly exhausted what use is talking about humans or demons now?"
Daoist Feiyu sneered as he swallowed the heart whole. A flush of pleasure appeared on his face. He let out a chilling laugh.
"Old ghost Zixuan, the only thing that matters now is that I live and you are already at death's door!"
"As for the neighboring nations... the investigators have already confirmed that the realm passage has been sealed. The remaining demons are supposedly manageable by the four kingdoms themselves. They've long since withdrawn and relaxed their vigilance. By the time they realize something's wrong, we'll have already slaughtered billions across the four kingdoms and achieved Nascent Soul!"
"And when that happens, what can the nations and their sects possibly do to stop us?! Hahahaha!"
Listening to Feiyu's mad laughter, Patriarch Zixuan's eyes bulged in fury but he could do nothing.
Feiyu then turned toward the gray-haired, bone-armored demonic cultivator.
"I'm tired of wasting words. Fellow Daoist Baigu, finish it."
"Should have done so earlier," the bone-armored cultivator said coldly.
He immediately acted, casting out his Bone Banner. A thick surge of demonic energy engulfed Patriarch Zixuan.
"Ahhh!"
A horrific scream tore through the air, accompanied by sounds of snapping and twisting.
Moments later, Zixuan's shriveled corpse was flung out of the demonic mist like discarded trash, smashing into the ground where it shattered into dust.
The mighty Golden Core Patriarch had fallen!
A transparent soul, wrapped in swirling demonic mist yet resembling Zixuan's likeness, fled from the scene, still bearing an expression of terror and struggle. It was drawn into the Bone Banner, merging with the remains of the broken Golden Core.
Immediately, the Bone Banner's power surged, its seals strengthening and maturing from a mere prototype into a true magic treasure, its might greatly enhanced.
On the banner, countless twisted faces writhed vividly, with Patriarch Zixuan's visage placed prominently at the center, clearest of them all.
Watching this scene, Daoist Feiyu's eyes flashed with a hint of wariness, but he quickly laughed and said,
"Congratulations to Fellow Daoist Baigu on completing your life-bound treasure! Truly, you were chosen by the demonic tribes for good reason your progress is nothing short of astounding!"
"You flatter me, Fellow Daoist,"
The bone-armored demonic cultivator said indifferently, suppressing the greed in his heart.
"Now that Zixuan is dead, there's no one left in the Four Kingdoms who can stop us."
"Once we finish harvesting the Purple Profound Sect, our next target will be Thousand Isles Water City. I wonder what the blood of a flood dragon tastes like..."
"Well said!"
Daoist Feiyu laughed heartily.
"From now on, these Four Kingdoms will be the stepping stone to our ascension!"
-support me on Patreon for more chapters, 535+ chapters in there (Completed)
patreon.com/LordoftheReader