Chapter 504 - 475: Shattering the Core to Supreme Grade

Chapter 504: Chapter 475: Shattering the Core to Supreme Grade

After leaving Celestial Peak Marketplace, he traveled directly to Mozhou via a Teleportation Array.

Deep beneath Mozhou, at the location of a Spirit Vein.

This Spirit Vein was a branch of a medium-sized Earth Vein that Li Yuan had previously discovered. It was located a hundred zhang deep beneath a desolate, hilly region. The area was sparsely populated, and the surface was covered by a thick layer of sand and rock. Li Yuan controlled the Spirit Vein, completely sealing off any fluctuations of Spiritual Qi from leaking out from underground.

Li Yuan used a Void-splitting Slash to cut open the layer of sand and rock, then followed the passage straight down to the underground rock chamber where the Spirit Vein was located.

The rock chamber was not large, about three zhang square, with its four walls seeping damp groundwater. In the very center of the floor, the main trunk of the Spirit Vein, as thick as an arm, lay exposed.

Li Yuan set up three layers of Arrays around the rock chamber. The outermost layer was a Concealment Array, to block any aura from leaking out. The middle layer was a Defense Array, using a cracked Array Hub Crystal Stone as its core, capable of withstanding a full-power strike from an Early-stage Golden Core cultivator. The innermost layer was a Spirit Gathering Array, which drew the Spiritual Qi from the Spirit Vein to the center of the chamber, creating an environment with an extremely dense concentration of Spiritual Qi.

Once the three layers of Arrays were activated in sequence, the concentration of Spiritual Qi within the rock chamber abruptly soared to a terrifying level.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged directly above the Spirit Vein.

He took the Realm-Breaking Yuan Condensing Bead and a Core Formation Platform from his personal storage space.

The Realm-Breaking Yuan Condensing Bead floated in front of him, its milky-white surface emitting a soft and steady Spiritual Light. The Core Formation Platform was placed before his knees. On its ancient surface, Array Patterns automatically lit up, and an auxiliary force capable of precisely manipulating Spiritual Power enveloped Li Yuan’s Dantian.

’Equip.’

Li Yuan closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into his Dantian.

The Mid-grade Demon Pill was slowly rotating in the center of his Dantian. A dark purple membrane of light enveloped the extremely condensed Demonic Qi, its internal crystalline structure neatly arranged and far denser than that of an ordinary Golden Core.

But in the end, it was only Middle Grade.

’Shatter the pill.’

With a thought, Li Yuan acted.

Inside his Dantian, a stream of exceptionally precise Spiritual Power, guided by the path indicated by the Demon Pill Creation boon, pierced into the core of the Mid-grade Demon Pill.

This was not an attack, but a deconstruction.

Cracks began to appear on the dark purple membrane of the Demon Pill’s surface.

The cracks spread rapidly, like a spiderweb on ice, radiating outward from a single point in all directions.

CRACK.

An incredibly dull, shattering sound echoed from the depths of his Dantian.

The Mid-grade Demon Pill shattered violently.

An immense, almost uncontrollable amount of Demonic Qi instantly erupted from the shattered Golden Core, crashing wildly through his meridians like a bursting flood.

Li Yuan’s face turned deathly pale in an instant.

The pain of shattering his core far exceeded his imagination. It felt as if his Dantian was being torn apart from the inside by an invisible giant hand, and the rampage of Demonic Qi made every one of his meridians scream as if on the verge of collapse.

At this moment, the permanent boon ’Meridians of Steel’ played a crucial role. The walls of his reinforced meridians, as if forged from refined steel, managed to withstand the impact of the rampaging Demonic Qi without a single crack appearing.

Several permanent boons related to physical protection—Qi Blood River, Three Elements Body Protection, and Medicine-Refined True Body—activated simultaneously, suppressing the backlash from shattering the core to a minimum.

After the Demonic Qi had rampaged through his body for more than ten Grand Circulations, it finally began to calm down under the combined suppression of his various boons.

His Dantian was empty.

The Mid-grade Demon Pill that had once occupied the center of his Dantian had completely vanished, leaving only countless fine fragments of Demonic Qi slowly drifting about.

But shattering the pill was not destruction. The effect of the Demon Pill Creation boon allowed the fragments to retain a memory of their original quality, like a fine mold left behind after shattering a piece of pottery, providing a higher starting point for the new condensation.

Li Yuan gave himself no time to breathe.

He immediately began the process of Core Formation again, before the quality memory of the fragments could dissipate.

This time, he would not form a Demon Pill.

He would form a Spirit Pill.

Li Yuan activated the Spiritual Power Cultivation Techniques within his body. Several perfected Spiritual Power Cultivation Techniques—the Cyan Wood Longevity Skill, the Cold Stream Spirit Fusion Skill, and the Hundred Veins Returning to Origin Skill—were launched simultaneously.

The Spirit Gathering Array continuously drew Spiritual Qi from the Spirit Vein into his Dantian. He also unreservedly drew upon the Spiritual Qi reserves of his thirteen personal Spirit Veins, turning them into a surging torrent of Spiritual Power that poured into his Dantian.

The purple boon, All Spirits Return to Veins, operated at full capacity, maximizing the complementary effect between his Spirit Veins. As the Spiritual Qi of different attributes flooded into his Dantian, it was automatically harmonized and purified, its quality rising again and again.

The Spiritual Power began to condense within his Dantian.

Seated on the Core Formation Platform, the auxiliary force precisely enveloped his Dantian, controlling the condensation process of the Spiritual Power with perfect accuracy.

The blue boon, Flawless Spiritual Power, ensured that every wisp of Spiritual Power entering his Dantian reached the ultimate level of purity. A great number of permanent boons related to Spiritual Power quality—such as Spiritual Power Condensation, Spiritual Essence Refinement, and Yuan Gathering to Oneness—activated simultaneously.

Inside his Dantian, the condensation of Spiritual Power grew faster and faster.

A tiny point of light appeared in the center of his Dantian, like the first star born from chaos. The point of light spun rapidly, pulling in the surrounding fragments of spiritual energy and pure Spiritual Qi, its volume expanding at a visible rate.

At this moment, the Realm-Breaking Yuan Condensing Bead began to exert its power.

In his equipment slot, the milky-white light flared brilliantly. The effect of accelerating breakthrough speed by 100% acted like an invisible force, violently compressing the Solidifying Pill process that would have originally taken days or even months.

In a very short time, the point of light expanded to the size of a pigeon’s egg, and an extremely dense film of Spiritual Power began to form on its surface.

Inside the film, the crystalline structure of the Spiritual Power was arranging itself with unprecedented precision. Each node of the crystal lattice was as flawless as if it had been tempered a thousand times, without a single impurity or gap.

The threshold of the Top Grade was easily surpassed.

But the condensation did not stop.

Under the threefold superposition of the quality enhancement from Demon Pill Creation, the breakthrough acceleration from the Realm-Breaking Yuan Condensing Bead, and Li Yuan’s own immense foundation, the quality of the Spirit Pill continued to climb.

The crystalline structure began to evolve from a neat arrangement toward a deeper level of fusion. The once distinct fibers of Spiritual Power intertwined and permeated one another, their boundaries dissolving until they finally merged into a single, seamless whole.

Supreme-grade.

The Spirit Pill was no longer a structure stacked together from countless fibers of Spiritual Power, but had transformed into a single, perfect crystal with no internal divisions.

BOOM.

A silent explosion erupted in the depths of his Dantian.

The Supreme-grade Spiritual Golden Core was formed.

A Golden Core emitting a pure white, gentle light floated in the center of his Dantian, slowly rotating. The light was warm and restrained, not leaking out in the slightest, but the density of the Spiritual Power it contained had reached a staggering level.

At the same time, the second effect of the Realm-Breaking Yuan Condensing Bead triggered.

After a breakthrough, gain an increase in Cultivation and foundation based on one’s own underlying potential.

An immense power surged out from the depths of his Dantian, sweeping through his entire body like a tsunami.

His meridians were expanding, his Dantian was widening, and his sea of consciousness was shaking violently.

His Cultivation soared in an extremely brutal fashion.

The climb in his Cultivation came to an abrupt halt at the peak of the Early-stage Golden Core realm, like a high-speed train slamming into an invisible wall.

But even though it stopped at the peak of the early stage, it was only a single step away from the Mid Stage.

Li Yuan opened his eyes.

Most of the dense Spiritual Qi that had filled the rock chamber had been drawn away. The Spiritual Light of the Spirit Vein’s main trunk on the floor had dimmed considerably, obviously having been consumed in large quantities during the Core Formation process.

Li Yuan looked down at his hands.

A faint, extremely restrained white luster flowed across the surface of his skin, a sign of the overflowing Spiritual Power from his Supreme-grade Golden Core.

Everything inside his body had changed. Although his overall power had dropped significantly, the changes brought about were numerous.

His meridians were an entire size wider than before, and the circulation speed of his Spiritual Power had increased severalfold. The Supreme-grade Spirit Pill in his Dantian was like a miniature sun, continuously radiating Spiritual Power of the utmost purity throughout his body.

His foundation had also taken a qualitative leap. The very act of condensing a Supreme-grade Golden Core was a complete reforging of one’s foundation, and with the additional boost from the Realm-Breaking Yuan Condensing Bead, the stability of Li Yuan’s foundation now far surpassed that of others at the same stage.

Li Yuan stood up and stretched his limbs.

His Spiritual Power completed a Grand Circulation through his meridians without the slightest obstruction, flowing smoothly and freely.