The mouth of the Crimson Lotus Bandit Lair was a cauldron of chaos. Mei Lan sat cross-legged amidst the corpses of the initial wave, ignoring the whimpering 'Iron Fist' Zhang, who was now a spiritual slave carrying her message. The high-pitched spiritual plea sent out by her enslaved puppet had successfully drawn every greedy rogue cultivator within fifty miles to this desolate canyon.
The dense canyon air was saturated with the violent, raw energy of ambition, spilled spiritual essence, and pain. Though she appeared passive, she was the eye of a terrifying storm she had intentionally brewed. She had designed the battlefield to be her furnace.
She kept her eyes closed, absorbing the chaotic energy. Her goal was pure and brutal: to use the overwhelming, volatile spiritual energy released by the surrounding conflict to crush her Foundation Establishment into a perfect Core. She ignored the sounds of clashing swords and collapsing meridians, treating the suffering as nothing more than necessary fuel.
[Cultivation Status: Core Formation Stage Compression Initiated. External Pressure Required: MAXIMUM. Current Pressure: 35%]
She needed more. Her Innate Sword Soul demanded a crucible of pure anarchy.
A concentrated burst of sickly yellow Qi, launched by Grandmaster Huo, aimed directly at Mei Lan's unmoving form. Mei Lan's eyes remained closed. She channelled her pure Sword Intent outward, manifesting an invisible, razor-sharp spiritual field. The moment Huo's attack entered the field, it was analyzed and shredded. The pure, focused Sword Intent instantly dissected the complex Qi structure, turning the sickly yellow burst into useless, dissipating smoke.
"Stop her! Her core is a greater treasure!" the Black Spear Master shrieked, recognizing the terrifying potential of the girl's energy.
The battle intensified. The remaining high-level rogues realized that the key to survival—and massive power—lay in stopping the girl at the center.
Mei Lan rose to her knees, releasing a sudden, involuntary burst of pure Sword Intent—a sonic wave that paralyzed every living cultivator within fifty paces. The sheer purity of the energy felt like a physical shock, momentarily stunning the desperate fighters.
"Fight!" Mei Lan commanded telepathically, focusing her will on the remaining fighters. "Unleash your full force! Destroy each other!"
The cultivators, trapped in her terrifying field of intent, went insane. Their fear and rage, amplified by her spiritual command, turned them against each other in a final, vicious frenzy. Spiritual techniques that had been held in reserve were unleashed without control, targeting allies and enemies alike.
The ensuing chaos was catastrophic. Spiritual cores ruptured, Foundation Establishments were obliterated, and the resultant flood of raw, uncontrolled spiritual energy surged outward, creating a massive, unstable vortex over the canyon.
Mei Lan acted as a perfect, spiritual vacuum cleaner, pulling the violently released Qi of the defeated cultivators directly into her Dantian. The energy was coarse and poisoned by resentment, but the Divine Purity of her compression chamber instantly filtered and refined it into a stable, usable force.
Her entire body began to glow with a blinding, pristine white light. Her Foundation Establishment stage disintegrated, melting into the raging vortex of energy, beginning the painful compression phase.
[External Pressure: 98%. Core Structure Imminent. Warning: Minor meridians are fracturing due to energy volume.]
Mei Lan grit her teeth. The pain was immense, but she pushed through the physical trauma. She allowed the meridians to fracture, knowing the newly forged core would mend them perfectly in the aftermath. The chaos was necessary.
BOOM!
A massive, silent spiritual shockwave erupted from Mei Lan's Dantian. It was the sound of a Core being successfully forged, a sound that cracked the granite cliff walls and sent massive dust clouds swirling out of the canyon.
Mei Lan rose, perfectly still. Her body radiated an immense, terrifying calm. She had achieved the Core Formation Stage—but not just any core. The chaotic spiritual flow of the region had fueled the forging of a Divine Core.
[BREAKTHROUGH ACHIEVED! Core Formation Stage 1 (Initial).]
[Core Forging Purity: 100% Divine Purity (Unprecedented in Mortal Realm History).]
[Core Designation: The Purity Core.]
Her eyes, cold as glaciers, settled on the remaining combatants. She dissolved the paralyzing spiritual thread, allowing the remaining cultivators to flee in terror. The canyon floor was littered with crippled cultivators and shattered spirit stones.
"The harvest is complete," Mei Lan announced, her voice now ringing with the absolute authority of her Divine Core. "The price of my breakthrough is paid."
She left the canyon without looking back, carrying her new Purity Core and the full spiritual wealth of the defeated bandit lair. Her legend was born in blood and fire, and the Azure Cloud Kingdom now had two terrifying, unstoppable forces—one in the Imperial Palace, and one in the wilds—who would soon converge to shake the heavens.