31: Murong Xue successfully formed her core, and Li Yi provided a detailed tutorial.

Spirit Sword Peak, Sword Burial Pool.

The moment the eighth lightning bolt fell, all protective formations instantly collapsed.

"Not good, it seems the lightning shows no sign of dissipating!"

"Oh no, Murong Xue is in trouble."

"Peak Revered Master, quickly find a way to save Murong Xue."

Amidst the discussions and pleas of the crowd, the several Peak Revered Masters shook their heads helplessly.

They had no way; if they joined forces to block the lightning, it would be equivalent to trading their lives for Murong Xue's.

Was it truly worth it?

Clearly, this was a losing deal.

Qingyun Sect was currently standing with one foot on a cliff; if they died to save Murong Xue, the Qingyun Sect would truly fall off the cliff.

"Rumble!"

The thunder roared down, smashing rapidly toward Murong Xue.

Sensing the danger, Murong Xue snapped her beautiful eyes open, condensed the Golden Core within her body, and headed toward the Lightning Tribulation.

Everyone who saw this scene was stunned, completely unable to understand what Murong Xue was doing.

One must know, this was the process of forming a Golden Core; who would use their Golden Core to block the lightning?

"Boom!"

The Golden Core and the lightning collided violently, but in the next moment, the lightning shattered like stars, reflecting the expressions of the people below.

"The Golden Core didn't shatter?"

"How is this possible?"

While everyone was still speculating, Murong Xue spat out a mouthful of blood and then hurriedly withdrew her Golden Core.

As the Golden Core disappeared, the thunderclouds in the sky also began to gradually dissipate.

"Murong Xue, how are you?" Lu Wuxiu was the first to ask with concern.

"I'm fine, just suffered a bit from the lightning strike. A few days of rest will suffice," Murong Xue responded.

Hearing she was fine, everyone's hearts finally settled back into their chests; they were terrified of something happening to Murong Xue.

"How many rotations is the Golden Core?" Duan Tianhai asked.

"It was originally seven rotations, but to resist the final lightning bolt, it became six," Murong Xue answered.

Hearing this, everyone was shocked. They had guessed three or four rotations, but no one dared to think of anything above five.

One must know, as long as it exceeds five rotations, there is a great chance of entering the Nascent Soul Realm.

The reason no one in the Qingyun Sect had reached the Nascent Soul Realm was that most of them chose to Cultivate using a False Core.

And most of those False Cores were only three to four rotations; subsequently, after each use, the False Core would lose one rotation.

People are naturally afraid of death; after all, they had never heard of anyone who could withstand the lightning.

Even in secret records, the Blood Ancestor, who had reached Major Achievement in Body Tempering, could not withstand being blasted by the lightning.

As the news of Fairy Murong's successful Core Formation spread, the entire Qingyun Sect immediately fell into a frenzy of celebration.

To the Disciples, Fairy Murong was the absolute best role model; many even took pride in her.

The Sect was not stingy either. To celebrate the addition of another Core Formation expert, Outer Sect Disciples were issued two Spirit Stones and one qi yuan pill, while Inner Sect Disciples received fifty Spirit Stones, two Essence-Nurturing Pills, and one Spirit-Gathering Pill.

Of course, this didn't have much to do with Jiang Yan.

He exchanged all the pills he received for Spirit Stones; in his view, nothing was as practical as currency.

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, half a month had gone by.

Every day, just as the horizon began to turn pale, Jiang Yan would carry his sword to Spirit Beast Peak.

In these two weeks, Jiang Yan had grinded his way up to Level 18.

Although the experience from killing monsters remained the same, the experience bar had grown significantly. Also, after Level 17, hunting chickens, rabbits, and rats in the lower area no longer yielded life span.

Jiang Yan was very dissatisfied with this, but he had no way to argue; after all, his life span was already close to that of the Nascent Soul Realm.

As for other gains, there were the weapon proficiencies for swords and Martial Skill proficiencies.

However, legends of Jiang Yan had already spread in the Mission Hall, and people even gave him the nickname "Butcher of Spirit Beast Peak."

Jiang Yan just smiled and said nothing about the nickname; after all, mouths belong to others, and he couldn't argue with everyone, so he just let it be.

Standing in the middle area of Spirit Beast Peak, Jiang Yan was in a particularly good mood.

'From today on, I don't have to hunt lower-area Spirit Beasts anymore.'

Just as Jiang Yan rolled up his sleeves and prepared to start with the Spotted Flower Spirit Snake, Li Yi's voice reached his ears.

Upon arriving at the Animal Rearing Chamber and seeing Li Yi's haggard face, Jiang Yan was stunned.

"Revered Master, you are..."

Li Yi waved his hand: "Your Revered Master has consumed too much essence lately; it's no matter."

Hearing this, Jiang Yan immediately thought of something, but on second thought, it was quite reasonable.

After all, Li Yi looked like a middle-aged man; he surely couldn't compare to a strong young man like himself.

"Revered Master, you need to know how to be moderate in that regard," Jiang Yan advised earnestly.

Li Yi didn't understand the implication in Jiang Yan's words and said with a smile: "Kid, what do you know? Your Revered Master calls that striving for perfection. For that matter, I haven't rested at all. Fortunately, I didn't fail my mission and finally found the right path. From now on, I'll be able to move forward smoothly on this path."

Hearing Li Yi's words, Jiang Yan's eyes twitched, feeling quite speechless.

He began to suspect that his Revered Master was a novice who had just found the way, tasted a bit of sweetness, and was now beyond saving.

"Alright, stop daydreaming." Li Yi waved his hand dismissively, signaling Jiang Yan to be serious. "From today on, you come to the Animal Rearing Chamber in the morning. I will teach you the methods of Divine Ability and Talismans. In the afternoon, continue hunting Spirit Beasts to complete Sect missions. Once the middle area missions are done, we'll proceed to the final step: actual combat."

Hearing that he was going to learn real skills, Jiang Yan hurriedly stood up and bowed.

Seeing Jiang Yan's attitude, Li Yi nodded in satisfaction, then with a wave of his sleeve, the doors and windows of the Animal Rearing Chamber instantly closed, followed by a formation covering the entire room.

"Next, you must listen carefully to every word and every character I say. If there's anything you don't understand, you may raise your questions," Li Yi said solemnly.

"Yes, your Disciple understands." Jiang Yan cupped his fists in a salute.

"The path of cultivation is the cultivation of the essence of life, transitioning the life essence of the body into an immortal body. Although you may find it incredible, it is the truth. The reason we haven't reached it is that Spirit, Dao, and essence have not become one."

"Ancient secrets record that humans are descendants of immortals and gods, made from the essence of heaven and earth, thus naturally possessing the Three Ethereal Souls and Seven Corporeal Spirits. Humans have two states: death and perishing. One is the decay of the shell and the annihilation of the Soul; the second is the stiffening of the corpse and the escape of the Soul. Perishing does not mean death, but flying..."

As Li Yi explained carefully, Jiang Yan's heart was somewhat shaken.

He had originally thought that just cultivating according to the plundered traits would be fine.

But after hearing Li Yi's explanation, he seemed to finally understand what cultivation was, and what death and perishing were.

"You've participated in the Outer Sect Disciple Trial and have seen Spirit Beasts and Yao Beasts. I won't explain those in detail. What I'm going to talk about now are Evils and Demons."

Li Yi's expression was very serious, fearing Jiang Yan might not understand.

"Evils are actually evil spirits, transformed from the remains of humans, Spirit Beasts, or Yao Beasts after death. Demons are products born from the heart, caused by the seven emotions and six desires. Demons are also things formed after the desires in the hearts of humans, Spirit Beasts, or Yao Beasts expand and consume them. They are alive, but their hearts are dead; they are controlled by the brain, as only the brain produces such emotions. We cultivators must clear our Heart Demons and leave behind our true spirits to ensure the path to immortality remains clear."

After Li Yi finished explaining the basic outline, he gently waved his sleeve, and a yellow Talisman abruptly appeared in his hand.

"This is called a Talisman. Unlike the formation Talismans of Hua Ling Peak, it is just a piece of ordinary paper before being activated. If you use Spiritual Qi to activate it, it becomes a Sharp Weapon for killing!"

As soon as Li Yi finished speaking, the Talisman in his hand was activated. Then, with a flick of his finger, the Talisman shot out like a bullet, instantly hitting a nearby chair.

"Crack!"

The chair turned into powder piece by piece as if it were ancient rotten wood, leaving Jiang Yan's jaw nearly dropping.

"This Talisman is called the Spirit-Suppressing Talisman; it is an intermediate Talisman specifically for dealing with evils and demons below the fourth Realm."

"And the first thing you are to learn today is how to write Talismans!"

As Li Yi's voice fell, three stacks of yellow Talisman paper appeared before Jiang Yan.

"This item is called the Spiritual Qi Yellow Talisman. It is made from a mixture of Spirit Feather Chicken eggshells, Spirit Rice stalks, Blazing Fire Grass, and Spirit-Returning Flower roots." Li Yi explained carefully, picking up a piece of Talisman paper with his left hand and holding a brush to dab the inkstone with his right. "This is the Dust-Cleansing Talisman, the simplest and introductory Talisman. Remember, this kind of Talisman must be completed in one stroke. Do not release too much Spiritual Qi; ensure your Spiritual Qi does not overflow or cut off. Give it a try."

Jiang Yan nodded, and just as he picked up the brush and began to circulate his Spiritual Qi to mimic the drawing method, he froze.

'What's going on? Why is there a sudden sense of blockage?'