Chapter 677: Forcing It Is Pointless. I’m Not Breaking Through!

A hundred zhang beneath Greenwood Court, at the underground river fissure.

In the dim, moisture-laden space, not a sound from the outside world could be heard. Only the underground river washing against the hard rock walls produced a low, monotonous roar.

Only the final half of the night remained before the eighth day ended.

Su Ming sat cross-legged atop a raised, slick black rock. Before him, his lifebound formation plate radiated a faint, deep-blue glow. The only eight grains of Void Condensation Sand he had left were precisely positioned around the plate. As he infused it with Ruo Shui spiritual energy, the gray-brown patterns on the grains gradually turned transparent.

“Hiss—”

A hair-thin spatial crack was forcibly torn open above the formation plate. There was no violent turbulence, only a thread of spiritual energy from the Void, pure to the extreme, slowly descending like a viscous silver filament.

Su Ming turned his wrist, and the sealing spirit jade box containing the Divine Sap of the Sacred Tree appeared in his palm. He did not take all of it out. Instead, using the Like Water Art to form invisible water tongs, he carefully drew out a trace of green medicinal power finer than a strand of hair.

The instant that trace of medicinal power left the jade box, it converged with the descending Void spiritual energy above the formation plate.

The formation lines on Su Ming’s lifebound formation plate unfurled like countless slender leaf veins, entangling and filtering the surging Void spiritual energy and domineering life-force. At last, they transformed it into a drop of liquid shimmering with a gentle green light, hovering at Su Ming’s lips.

Su Ming opened his mouth and swallowed it.

In an instant, the Golden Core in his Dantian, already perfectly round, shuddered violently.

This first wisp of filtered medicinal power did not crash against the barriers in his meridians like a flood. Instead, it became countless tiny tendrils of life-force. Following the flow of his Ruo Shui spiritual energy, they seeped into every minute crevice in his meridians, leaving no opening untouched.

Although Su Ming had forced his way through several breakthroughs earlier to deal with the crisis, and seemed unharmed on the surface, imperceptible hairline cracks had long since formed deep within his meridians. Now, soothed by the tendrils of life-force, those cracks were healing and growing stronger at a visible pace, like parched earth welcoming spring rain.

Lin Yu’s Soul Body hovered in the deepest reaches of the Consciousness Sea, dark-golden patterns flickering across him. Watching the medicinal power circulate, he spoke steadily, with a trace of sternness. “Stay steady. Don’t get greedy. Though you forcibly filtered away half the violence in this divine liquid’s life-force, for a human body at your level, it’s still a potent poison disguised as a great tonic. Keep your Spiritual Platform clear. Don’t let that pleasant feeling go to your head.”

Su Ming said nothing, though a fine sheen of cold sweat slowly formed at his temples.

He guided the medicinal power around his heart meridian and finally into his Dantian. The deep-blue formation lines on the Golden Core’s surface flared brightly, swallowing that wisp of life-force completely.

After one incense stick’s worth of time, Su Ming opened his eyes and took a deep breath. He did not pause. Using the water tongs once more, he drew out a second portion of the Divine Sap of the Sacred Tree, just slightly more concentrated than the first, and swallowed it together with the Void spiritual energy.

As the second portion entered his body, the Golden Core in his Dantian suddenly swelled by a full circle, and faint cracks appeared on its surface.

These were signs that the Core was about to break and give birth to a Nascent Soul.

The spiritual energy within Su Ming had already reached a critical point. It seemed that if he took just half a step farther, he could break through that invisible barrier and form a Nascent Soul.

Yet no matter how the life-force surged against it, the Nascent Soul barrier remained as immovable as ten-thousand-year-old Mystic Iron rooted in the earth.

Su Ming’s brow furrowed tighter and tighter, and his breathing grew heavier.

“What’s going on?” Lin Yu drifted in the Consciousness Sea. The light of his Soul Body dimmed, and a trace of confusion entered his voice. “By rights, with your current accumulation of spiritual energy and the power contained in this Divine Sap of the Sacred Tree, that membrane should have broken long ago.”

Su Ming stopped circulating the Like Water Art and forcibly suppressed the roiling spiritual energy. He opened his eyes and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air tinged with faint green.

“What I lack isn’t medicinal power or spiritual energy.” Su Ming watched the underground river flow before him, his voice hoarse. “What I lack is resonance with the laws.”

Lin Yu fell silent for a moment, then gave a quiet “Mm.” The light of his Soul Body brightened slightly, showing that he understood what Su Ming meant.

“The laws of life in the spirit realm are ultimately different from those in the human cultivation world.” Su Ming took a spirit stone from his storage pouch and gently rubbed it in his hand. “For humans to break through and form a Nascent Soul, they must unite their own essence, energy, and spirit with the five-element spiritual energy of the world, condensing a Great Dao Nascent Soul unique to themselves. But in the spirit realm, there is only life-force and deathly stillness. No matter how powerful the Divine Sap of the Sacred Tree is, it is still a product of the spirit realm. It cannot be transformed into the foundation of the Heavenly Dao required for a human to form a Nascent Soul.”

Su Ming quickly weighed the options and made his calculations.

If he used this divine liquid to forcibly smash through the barrier, the laws of the spirit realm would surely take advantage of the opening and enter his newly formed Nascent Soul. In the worst case, his Nascent Soul would mutate, and he himself would be assimilated by the laws of the spirit realm, becoming half human and half spirit. If he returned to the human realm in the future, he would inevitably be rejected by its Heavenly Dao. This was a risk he absolutely could not afford to take.

If he stopped here and used all the remaining medicinal power to polish his Golden Core, he would not cross into a higher realm, but he could temper the core until it truly reached the state of “perfection.”

The purity and total amount of his spiritual energy would at least double, and his control over formations would reach a level of meticulous mastery. In the coming clash with the Manifestation Realm, an additional measure of power would mean one more bargaining chip for survival.

“I’m not breaking through.” Su Ming loosened his grip, and the spirit stone crumbled to powder and sifted between his fingers. “There’s no point in forcing it. I’d rather stop one step short than bury a hidden danger in myself.”

With that, Su Ming closed his eyes again. This time, he no longer guided the medicinal power to batter the barrier. Instead, he let his surging Ruo Shui spiritual energy coil around the Golden Core and began the Ninefold Tempering method.

The deep-blue formation lines and emerald leaf-vein phantoms continually overlapped and merged in his Dantian. With each rotation, the Golden Core grew denser. Its size no longer increased. Instead, it was compressed back down.

Beads of sweat welled at Su Ming’s temples, slid down his cheeks, and dripped onto the black rock. The pain of forcibly compressing his cultivation was no less intense than the tearing agony of a breakthrough.

Three incense sticks’ worth of time slowly passed in the silence of the underground river.

When the final trace of Kintsugi, used to repair the Golden Core’s surface, had completely vanished, all the deep-blue formation lines had become one seamless whole, transforming into a flowing halo of watery light.

Su Ming suddenly opened his eyes.

The spiritual energy fluctuations that had been somewhat difficult for him to control were now completely contained. He seemed to have become an ordinary stone, devoid of any spiritual energy fluctuations, even his breathing blending with the sound of the underground river around him.

Golden Core Perfection.

Shadow, which had been crouching beside his knee the entire time, sensed the change in Su Ming’s aura. It raised its head, tipped with a golden beak, and a flash of delight passed through its purple-gold eyes. Its feathers, made ever more lustrous by the life-force that had escaped and nourished it, quivered lightly. It gave a clear little “cheep,” then rubbed its head against Su Ming’s palm as if taking credit on his behalf.

The corners of Su Ming’s mouth lifted. He reached out and rubbed Shadow’s head.

He did not get up. Instead, he brought his index and middle fingers together and lightly tapped the space between his brows.

Observation of the Minute, activate.

With his divine sense doubled after reaching Golden Core Perfection, Su Ming’s vision instantly pierced the layers of rock above him and locked directly onto the three main roots hidden a hundred zhang underground.

The tide of life-force, which had once seemed somewhat obscure to him, was now as clear as patterns in the palm of his hand. He could see every rise and fall of life-force within the root veins.

And at the edge of that vast river of life-force, he keenly detected three currents that were profoundly out of place.

They were the three unfamiliar streams of death energy that the Dark Current Sect had sent in earlier.

“They haven’t driven anything directly into the main roots,” Lin Yu said in the Consciousness Sea, his voice tinged with caution. “They’re waiting.”

Su Ming narrowed his eyes slightly. Following the paths along which the three streams of death energy lay in ambush, he looked toward the sky above.

“They’re waiting for the moon.” Su Ming’s voice was ice-cold.