Back at Dragon Yuan Mountain...
The peaceful atmosphere surrounding the Lin Family was suddenly shattered.
Dark clouds gathered without warning above the ancestral mountain, spreading across the heavens with astonishing speed until daylight itself was swallowed beneath an ocean of rolling thunderclouds. Brilliant streaks of lightning flashed continuously within the clouds, illuminating the sky with blinding brilliance while an oppressive heavenly pressure descended upon every cultivator below.
The moment that pressure appeared, countless members of the Lin Family instinctively raised their heads.
"Heavenly Tribulation!"
"Someone is breaking through!"
Before the astonished cries could spread any further, a graceful figure soared into the sky.
It was the Head Elder.
Her white robes fluttered gently despite the violent winds surrounding the tribulation clouds. With her flying sword resting quietly beside her, she ascended until she stood directly beneath the heart of the heavenly tribulation before calmly sitting in a meditative posture.
Boom!
The first bolt of heavenly lightning descended.
Almost simultaneously, numerous formation patterns buried throughout Dragon Yuan Mountain awakened one after another. Spiritual light intertwined across the mountain range before converging into an enormous protective barrier that completely enveloped the Lin Family estate.
Layer after layer of defensive formations activated in succession.
The terrifying pressure of the heavenly tribulation was instantly isolated from those cultivating below, leaving only the thunderous roars echoing across the heavens.
Deep within the forbidden grounds of the Lin Family...
A middle-aged man slowly opened his eyes.
His long azure hair flowed naturally behind him while a simple scholar's robe draped over his tall figure. His appearance was refined and youthful, making him seem no older than thirty, yet the calmness hidden within those eyes carried the weight of centuries.
This...
Was the Golden Core Ancestor of the Lin Family.
Although advanced in age, his powerful cultivation had long preserved his youthful appearance.
He quietly looked toward the tribulation clouds before a faint smile finally appeared upon his face.
"Finally..."
"It has begun."
A figure silently appeared beside him.
It was the Grand Elder.
The old man stood respectfully beside the Ancestor, his weathered face carrying an unconcealed smile as he looked toward the distant heavenly tribulation.
"The Lin Family has finally produced another successor."
His voice carried obvious satisfaction.
"For the younger generation to witness a Golden Core tribulation with their own eyes..."
"...it will benefit them greatly."
The Ancestor nodded slightly.
His gaze never left the Head Elder.
"Her Spiritual Roots have indeed improved."
"The Heaven Mending Fruit Little Yan gave her wasn't wasted."
The Grand Elder naturally understood what he meant.
Several years ago, Lin Yan had obtained two Heaven Mending Fruits during the competition inside the secret realm. After consuming one herself to improve her Spiritual Roots, she had offered the remaining fruit to her master without the slightest hesitation.
That single fruit...
Had ultimately become the Head Elder's greatest opportunity.
The Grand Elder smiled.
"Isn't one Heaven Mending Fruit enough?"
The Ancestor remained silent for several breaths before slowly shaking his head.
"It is enough..."
"...to overcome the bottleneck before the Void Core Realm."
His voice remained calm.
"But..."
"It isn't enough to completely transform one's foundation."
Looking toward the increasingly violent tribulation clouds, he continued quietly.
"The Heaven Mending Fruit improved her Spiritual Roots considerably."
"Unfortunately..."
"One fruit alone cannot completely remove the impurities accumulated over an entire lifetime."
The Grand Elder gradually understood his meaning.
"So..."
"The Golden Core she forms..."
The Ancestor nodded.
"Will most likely be a True Core."
His tone carried neither disappointment nor criticism.
It was simply the truth.
"The foundation she possesses today is already far stronger than before consuming the Heaven Mending Fruit."
"Without it..."
"She likely wouldn't have dared challenge the Golden Core Realm at all."
The Grand Elder laughed softly.
"Ancestor..."
"You don't expect everyone to condense a Golden Core like yours, do you?"
The azure-haired man couldn't help smiling.
"Perhaps not."
His eyes reflected the countless flashes of lightning illuminating the heavens.
"But..."
"A True Core is ideal."
The Grand Elder gently stroked his beard.
"Even if she only forms an True Core today..."
"She's still entering the Golden Core Realm."
"Within the Southern Archipelagos and the surrounding regions, that alone is enough for countless cultivators to spend their entire lives pursuing."
"That is true."
The Ancestor nodded.
"A True Core still grants another several centuries of lifespan."
"It also opens the path toward Nascent Soul."
He paused briefly before adding,
"Although..."
"...every breakthrough will still become increasingly difficult."
The Grand Elder no longer replied.
They both understood what those words implied.
The quality of one's Golden Core didn't merely determine one's current strength.
It determined the height of one's future.
High above Dragon Yuan Mountain...
The seventh heavenly tribulation finally dispersed.
The Head Elder's breathing had become noticeably heavier.
Several scorch marks covered her robes, while blood slowly flowed from the corner of her lips. Yet despite her injuries, the determination within her eyes remained unwavering.
Far below...
Lin Yan stood amongst the younger generation, her hands unconsciously clenched together.
Her usually calm expression had long disappeared.
Everything had happened too suddenly.
Her master had entered seclusion without informing anyone before directly attracting the heavenly tribulation. There had been no farewell, no final instructions.
Only this overwhelming storm hanging above Dragon Yuan Mountain.
"Master..."
She silently prayed.
"You must succeed."
As though responding to the challenge below, the tribulation clouds suddenly churned violently.
The eighth bolt of heavenly lightning rapidly condensed.
The Head Elder slowly opened her eyes.
With a clear sword cry, her flying sword instantly left its sheath.
Sword Qi surged across the heavens.
One sword shadow became ten.
Ten became a hundred.
A hundred became a thousand.
The countless sword shadows filled the sky before rapidly merging together once more, returning to a single radiant sword that seemed capable of splitting heaven itself.
The Head Elder pointed forward.
The sword pierced directly into the descending eighth tribulation.
Boom!!
The collision shook the heavens.
For several breaths, sword light and heavenly lightning remained locked together before the tribulation was finally split apart by the overwhelming Sword Intent.
Cheers erupted throughout Dragon Yuan Mountain.
The heavens...
Responded with fury.
The remaining tribulation clouds violently contracted before every strand of lightning within them began converging toward a single point.
The final tribulation...
Was gathering.
The Head Elder quietly produced a jade bottle before swallowing a high-grade healing pill.
The medicinal power immediately spread throughout her body, rapidly restoring her injuries.
She slowly raised her sword.
Then...
The ninth heavenly tribulation descended.
Without retreating even half a step, she swung her sword with everything she possessed.
Boom!!
The collision erupted like the birth of a new sun, causing the entire protective formation surrounding Dragon Yuan Mountain to shake violently as countless runes flickered beneath the overwhelming force.
The dazzling light gradually faded.
The violent rumbling that had shaken Dragon Yuan Mountain for nearly an entire incense stick slowly subsided as the last traces of heavenly lightning disappeared into the sky. The enormous tribulation clouds that had covered the heavens moments ago began dispersing, allowing warm sunlight to once again descend upon the ancestral mountain.
For a brief moment...
The entire Lin Family fell silent.
Everyone looked towards the sky.
Waiting.
Then...
A figure slowly emerged from the lingering clouds.
Her white robes were tattered, countless scorch marks covered her body and traces of blood remained upon her lips, yet the aura surrounding her had undergone a complete transformation.
It was no longer the profound yet incomplete aura of the Purple Palace Realm.
Instead...
A powerful pressure belonging to the Golden Core Realm naturally spread throughout the heavens.
The Head Elder had succeeded.
A smile finally appeared on her pale face.
"I..."
"...have formed my Golden Core."
Her voice wasn't loud.
Yet carried by Spiritual Qi, it spread throughout the entirety of Dragon Yuan Mountain.
An instant later...
Cheers erupted from every direction.
"The Head Elder succeeded!"
"Our Lin Family finally has another Golden Core cultivator!"
"Hahaha! The heavens truly favour our Lin Family!"
Countless disciples bowed respectfully towards the sky, their expressions filled with admiration.
Every cultivator understood the meaning behind that successful breakthrough.
Golden Core...
Was never a realm one could simply attempt repeatedly.
The moment a Purple Palace cultivator chose to condense their Golden Core...
There was no retreat.
Either the Core was successfully formed...
Or both body and soul would collapse beneath the immense pressure generated during the condensation process.
There was no second attempt.
There was no turning back.
Unless...
One chose another path entirely.
The False Core Path.
That method didn't require true Golden Core condensation. Instead, a Peak Purple Palace cultivator refined the demon core of a Rank Four Yao Beast into their Purple Palace before forcefully using it as a conduit to create an artificial Golden Core.
Although called a Golden Core...
It possessed no life.
Nor did it undergo genuine condensation.
Its golden radiance remained faint and lifeless, forever lacking the vitality of a true cultivator's core.
Such cultivators could only remain within the Early Golden Core Realm for the rest of their lives.
Their combat strength was inferior to genuine Golden Core cultivators, yet still vastly exceeded those at Purple Palace.
Even their lifespan suffered.
While a true Golden Core cultivator naturally enjoyed a thousand years of life...
False Core cultivators possessed only eight hundred.
Even so...
Many still willingly chose that path.
For cultivators whose potential had already been exhausted, risking true Golden Core condensation often meant certain death.
An eight-hundred-year lifespan...
Was preferable to dying during the breakthrough.
Compared to the False Core...
The Void Core represented the most common result throughout the cultivation world.
During Golden Core condensation, the Core continuously transformed, purifying itself while condensing golden essence.
If the transformation stopped after only one to three cycles...
The result became a Void Core.
Such cultivators possessed respectable strength and a full thousand-year lifespan, allowing them to cultivate comfortably throughout most of the Golden Core Realm.
Yet...
Their path effectively ended there.
Almost all Void Core cultivators remained trapped somewhere between the Late and Peak Golden Core Realm.
Legends claimed a few extraordinary individuals had advanced further...
But they remained nothing more than exceptions.
A True Core...
Was entirely different.
When the Golden Core successfully completed four to six transformations, both the Three Treasures and Spiritual Roots reached a considerably higher degree of refinement.
Only cultivators possessing excellent talent, sturdy foundations and purified essence could hope to condense such a core.
Those with a True Core possessed genuine hope.
Although the probability remained slim...
The path towards Nascent Soul remained open.
Finally...
Above all others...
Stood the perfect Golden Core.
Seven to nine complete transformations.
Every layer represented another sublime refinement.
Its golden radiance became almost flawless while the Three Treasures achieved astonishing harmony.
More importantly...
The Core naturally possessed the capacity to nurture numerous Divine Ability Seeds.
Five...
Or even more.
Such cultivators possessed cultivation speeds far beyond ordinary Golden Core experts while their chances of reaching the Nascent Soul Realm rose dramatically.
Even then...
Nothing remained guaranteed.
Void Core cultivators were almost universally believed to possess no hope of reaching Nascent Soul.
Those possessing a True Core perhaps held a five to ten percent chance.
As for those fortunate enough to condense a perfect Golden Core...
Their chances might rise to forty or even fifty percent.
Yet...
Heaven never guaranteed success.
Heart demons.
Heavenly tribulations.
External enemies.
Or simply insufficient opportunity.
Any one of those factors remained capable of ending a cultivator's journey before Nascent Soul.
Because of that...
Every improvement in one's Golden Core quality remained invaluable.
The better the Core...
The more Divine Ability Seeds it could support.
The greater the Core's capacity...
The faster one's cultivation became.
The stronger one's future foundation grew.
Ultimately...
Everything revolved around that single moment of condensation.
Far above Dragon Yuan Mountain...
The Head Elder slowly descended before landing within the forbidden grounds.
The moment her feet touched the earth, she respectfully bowed towards the azure-haired Ancestor.
"This junior greets Ancestor."
The Ancestor quietly observed her for several breaths before a rare smile appeared upon his face.
"You've done well."
"You've condensed a True Core."
He nodded with obvious satisfaction.
"Although the road ahead remains difficult..."
"...you now possess the qualifications to continue walking it."
The Head Elder lowered her head once more.
"This junior shall not disappoint the family."
Around them...
The celebration throughout Dragon Yuan Mountain had only just begun.