Chapter 714: The Opportunity for Golden Core Level 6

A battle between Golden Core Cultivators follows a general rule: at ten li, attack from afar; at five li, focus your mind; at three li, the outcome is decided; at one li, it’s a fight to the death.

This is considered a universal principle for combat between Golden Core Cultivators.

In other words, launching an attack from more than ten li away is considered long-range. As the distance closes to five li, one must concentrate completely and become vigilant. Once inside three li, the momentum toward victory or defeat is already clear. If the fight takes place within a one-li radius, it can easily become a battle to the death.

But for a Nascent Soul Cultivator, this distance can be extended to over a hundred li, or even a thousand, if they so wish.

This is another reason why it’s so difficult for Golden Core Cultivators to match Nascent Soul Cultivators—their attack ranges are on completely different scales.

But this was a spar, a chance for Fang Qingyuan to test his cultivation in the Sword Dao. So, Bear Wind did not increase the distance. He stood calmly before Fang Qingyuan, the man and the beast separated by a hundred zhang. Bear Wind’s incredibly powerful physique exuded a sharp, oppressive aura.

This oppressive feeling was tangible, like a weight of ten thousand jin had suddenly descended upon Fang Qingyuan’s body. It distributed itself evenly, causing the circulation of his Magical Power to become sluggish.

“To challenge a Nascent Soul as a Golden Core, you must first withstand the Nascent Soul’s pressure. If you can’t even do that, you don’t have the right to stand before them.”

High in the sky, under a canopy of stars, Fang Qingyuan felt the biting cold wind and listened to Bear Wind’s guidance.

A strong wind rustled Fang Qingyuan’s hair, causing it to stream behind him. He hovered in mid-air, his left hand resting on his sword, silently feeling the pressure that Bear Wind was now emitting.

At first, Bear Wind’s pressure only affected Fang Qingyuan’s physical body. But as time passed, this pressure began to seep from the outside in, permeating Fang Qingyuan’s very soul.

At this moment, Fang Qingyuan felt as if a giant boulder had been stuffed into his soul, throwing his thoughts into chaos and stagnation.

This was different from when Fang Qingyuan had fought the Bow-holding Nascent Soul. As a newly ascended Nascent Soul, that Cultivator clearly lacked Bear Wind’s profound cultivation.

Fang Qingyuan now felt as if he were in a furnace, allowing Bear Wind’s Nascent Soul pressure to roast him without restraint.

As Bear Wind slowly increased his output, the terrifying pressure of a veteran Nascent Soul Cultivator washed over Fang Qingyuan in endless waves, like a tide about to drown him completely.

Yet even under these circumstances, Fang Qingyuan’s breathing remained steady. As he felt the immense pressure Bear Wind was deliberately releasing, he was mentally summarizing the Sword Formulas he had cultivated.

The *Mirage Dragon Illusion Sword Scripture* from the Illusion Sword Alliance, according to the teachings of the Sword Dao, followed the “Path of Vaporization.” Its counterpart was the “Path of Iridescence.”

Iridescence speaks of “unrestrained intent,” while Vaporization speaks of “meticulous detail.” These are the two fundamental directions for a Sword Cultivator. But regardless of the path one takes, what Sword Cultivators value most is a single principle: purity.

Total devotion to the sword—this is the pursuit of every Sword Cultivator. And in his five years of cultivation, Fang Qingyuan had barely managed to achieve this.

Suddenly, Fang Qingyuan’s breathing stopped. But on some other level, a brilliant power like erupting magma naturally coalesced into the blade of his sword. As he drew it from its sheath, it let out a resonant CLANG.

The moment Fang Qingyuan drew his sword, the immense pressure Bear Wind had been applying to his body and soul was instantly blasted away. At this instant, Fang Qingyuan was like a newly unsheathed blade—impossibly sharp.

Layer after layer of Xuanli Sword Intent spread out in a three-zhang radius around Fang Qingyuan, forcefully carving out a domain of his own within the great tide of Bear Wind’s pressure.

“Good! Watch out, I’m releasing my Domain now!”

Seeing Fang Qingyuan break free from his restraints, Bear Wind’s expression was one of delight. That Fang Qingyuan could accomplish this was proof enough that his cultivation in the Sword Dao had already borne some fruit.

‘Still, a sword presence of this level isn’t quite enough to deal with a Nascent Soul Cultivator.’

As Bear Wind’s words fell, black rings materialized around him. Accompanied by a violent suction, they began pulling at Fang Qingyuan’s body from every direction.

At the center of each inch-wide black ring was a pitch-black point. It was from these spots, no bigger than sesame seeds, that an immense suction force erupted—powerful enough to lift a ten-thousand-jin boulder.

Moreover, thousands upon thousands of these black rings danced about ceaselessly. Everywhere they passed, they sliced through the air with a sharp HISS.

The moment Bear Wind’s Dao Domain appeared, all the Spiritual Qi within a radius of dozens of li was absorbed by it. Spiritual Qi from even farther away was then involuntarily drawn in to fill the void. If one were to look from a distance, Bear Wind’s position resembled a gigantic Spiritual Power funnel, continuously pulling Spiritual Qi from over a hundred li away to gather here.

If this was the fate of the distant Spiritual Qi, the Spiritual Qi within the Domain itself was completely under Bear Wind’s control. In other words, inside Bear Wind’s Domain, Fang Qingyuan was completely cut off from the surrounding Spiritual Qi.

Now, Fang Qingyuan could only rely on his own Spiritual Power reserves to withstand Bear Wind’s Domain.

This is precisely what makes it so difficult for a Golden Core Cultivator to fight a Nascent Soul Cultivator. They cannot compete for control over the surrounding Spiritual Qi, they don’t have a Domain of their own, and if they try to resist head-on, they simply can’t last.

On the path of cultivation, being a major realm higher creates an immense gap in combat power. There’s still a glimmer of hope for a Qi Cultivation practitioner to counter-kill someone in the Foundation Establishment Stage, but for a Golden Core to face a Nascent Soul… that is truly a monumental task.

Faced with such a dire situation, Fang Qingyuan remained as steady as ever. He held the Xuanli Sword, allowing Bear Wind’s Dao Domain to compress his Xuanli Sword Intent until it was pressed right up against his body.