59: Chapter 59 Core Formation Method

Water cascaded down from a cliff wall about thirty or forty feet high, neither fast nor slow, shimmering like scattered silver in the sunlight. The cliff was covered in unknown vines blooming with tiny white flowers, their light fragrance mingling with the mist and wafting toward him.

Below the waterfall was a small pond.

The pond water was crystal clear, revealing pebbles at the bottom and a few small fish swimming about. Sunlight filtered through the gaps above the waterfall, refracting into seven-colored light within the mist—

A rainbow.

It wasn't large, just arching gently over the small pond, its colors faint, as if painted with the lightest of brushstrokes.

Yun Ming stared blankly at the rainbow, remaining still for a long time.

Then he saw something next to the pond.

A stone table.

Four stone stools.

The stone table was bluish-gray, its surface smooth as a mirror, faintly reflecting shadows. The stone stools were the same bluish-gray, arranged neatly around the table as if waiting for someone to take a seat.

Sunlight spilled down.

The rainbow arched across.

The sound of water gurgled.

"The scenery is actually quite nice."

Yun Ming stood by the pond for a long while before finally stepping toward the stone table.

The patterns on the stone table gradually became clear. The bluish-gray stone surface was polished extremely smooth, reflecting the drifting clouds in the sky and the curve of his eyelashes when he lowered his eyes. There was no dust on the tabletop, no trace of moss, clean as if wiped daily.

Two books and a piece of paper lay on the table.

The books were ordinary thread-bound volumes, one slightly thick and the other thinner, with no titles on the covers. The paper was plain white Xuan paper, folded neatly and pressed between the two books.

Yun Ming lowered his head and picked up the paper.

The paper was very light and felt cool to the touch. He unfolded it—

And then he froze.

His pupils shrank suddenly.

His breathing stalled.

The first line of text on that paper struck his Sea of Consciousness like a thunderbolt:

"I am Daoist Lord Wanfa, a Void Refining Realm Cultivator."

Void Refining.

Yun Ming's hands trembled slightly as he held the paper.

He was merely a Qi Refining Cultivator. Above Foundation Establishment was the Golden Core, above the Golden Core was the Nascent Soul, above the Nascent Soul was Soul Transformation, and after Soul Transformation—

Was Void Refining.

That was a Realm that existed only in legends. It was a True Immortal that the billions of commoners in Great Gan might never see even if they kowtowed in worship. It was the threshold that the Nascent Soul Middle Stage True Lord of the Sunset Glow Sect could not touch in his entire life.

And the paper before him was left by a Void Refining Daoist Lord.

Yun Ming took a deep breath, steadied himself, and continued reading.

The handwriting on the paper was elegant and ethereal, yet the strokes carried a hint of inexplicable loneliness. The writing unhurriedly recounted the life of a Daoist Lord—

Daoist Lord Wanfa, famous from a young age.

He possessed extraordinary talent, achieving Foundation Establishment within three years of joining a Sect, Golden Core within ten, Nascent Soul at fifty, and entering the Soul Transformation Realm—which countless Cultivators could not reach in their entire lives—at three hundred. At that time, his name was known throughout the world; his peers looked up to him, and his elders marveled, all saying this youth would surely achieve the Great Dao.

He also thought so.

He thought Void Refining was the end, that shattering the Void Realm and living as long as heaven and earth was the ultimate goal for a Cultivator.

But when he truly stepped into Void Refining, he discovered—

This was not the end.

Above Void Refining, there was still a path.

But he could no longer walk it.

His talent, his skeletal structure, and everything he had exchanged his life's blood for were only enough to get him this far. Void Refining was the highest mountain he could climb.

He was unwilling.

He explored Secret Realms, collected ancient texts, and visited masters across the world, spending a thousand years—

To no avail.

That mountain, he could not cross.

As Yun Ming read to this point, his fingers tightened slightly.

There was no resentment or bitterness on the paper, only a very faint, almost liberated calm. Like someone who had walked a very long way, finally stopped, looked back once, and then continued forward—forward toward that mountain he could not cross.

At the end of the letter, the Daoist Lord wrote:

"I have sought the Dao all my life, only to finally know that the Great Dao is endless. Void Refining is not the end, yet I stop here. I have chosen this blessed land to pass away into meditation, leaving this letter here to await one destined."

Yun Ming held the paper, speechless for a long time.

He suddenly thought of that crimson embryo and those eyes that had turned him to ashes. That Devil Head at the Nascent Soul Great Perfection would not hesitate to refine the entire Great Gan just to shatter the threshold of the Nascent Soul.

But above Soul Transformation, there was still Void Refining.

And after Daoist Lord Wanfa stepped into it?

It was still an endless search, still a mountain that could not be crossed.

Yun Ming lowered his gaze and continued reading.

The second half of the paper spoke of the origins of this blessed land.

It turned out this place was not naturally formed, but was a pocket of the Void Realm refined by Daoist Lord Wanfa using supreme methods after he stepped into Void Refining. A Void Refining Cultivator could already touch the laws of heaven and earth, capable of opening a mustard-seed world within the void and drawing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi into it, creating a blessed land of their own.

This blessed land was the Daoist Lord's residence in his later years.

After his passing, this blessed land became ownerless. If someone could refine it, they would become the new master of this world; if no one refined it, this blessed land would slowly dissipate over time and return to heaven and earth.

"Damn," Yun Ming cursed under his breath. Returning to heaven and earth meant that if he couldn't refine this blessed land later, he would die again.

So to get out, he either had to refine this place or die once more.

At the end of the paper, the Daoist Lord mentioned the two books he had left behind.

One was the chronicles of the xuanhuang continent, which recorded the things he had seen and heard while traveling everywhere. It covered mountains, rivers, geography, local customs, Sect secrets, and Yao Beast lore—encompassing everything.

The other was the Youxuan Pill, a Core Formation Method he had obtained by chance in his later years.

Yun Ming's gaze fell upon the words "Core Formation," and his heart skipped a beat.

He was currently at Qi Refining Level 8, and after this year, he wasn't far from Qi Refinement Level 9.

Once he achieved a Breakthrough to Foundation Establishment, the next step would be the Golden Core.

And the Youxuan Pill formed by this Core Formation Method was extremely extraordinary.

The Youxuan Pill was realized by an ancient Loose Cultivator while observing clouds and water.

The Five Spiritual Roots were mixed and impure, but he chose not to suppress them; instead, he let the five Qis circulate freely.

When the Golden Core was formed, there were no auspicious glows or strange phenomena, only the gathering and dispersing of clouds three times.

This pill had no fixed form, shifting between void and reality at will, making it difficult for enemies to gauge its depth.

Power arrived with a thought, and strikes were like instinct, keeping one step ahead of others.

Every action, whether walking, staying, sitting, or lying down, was cultivation; one could borrow power from all things in heaven and earth.

Most mysteriously, the pill was not confined to the Dantian; it could travel throughout the body and leave the body to protect its master in times of crisis.

It was difficult for later generations to achieve, not because the Cultivation Technique was hard to find, but because it was hard to match the Heart-Nature—it required a heart of clouds and water, without struggle or attachment.

The more one deliberately sought it, the more it would slip through their fingers.

Once the pill is formed in the Realm of Youxuan, one dwells freely in the mortal world.

Presumably, Daoist Lord Wanfa left this Core Formation Method to remind future generations not to be trapped by their Realm.

After putting away the Core Formation Method, Yun Ming began reading the chronicles of the xuanhuang continent so he would know the way back to Great Gan after getting out.

The cover had no title, but the inside was filled with misty clouds of ink.

The first page contained only a few words; the ink was calm, yet it possessed an aura that seemed to swallow heaven and earth—

"The heavens are divided into north and south, the earth into east and west. The seas are endless, the mountains boundless."

As Yun Ming's fingertip brushed over that line, his heart shook inexplicably.

He continued turning the pages.

The pages were very thin and slightly yellowed, yet they were as resilient as if new. Every page was filled to the brim, the handwriting sometimes sparse and sometimes dense, occasionally interspersed with a few sketched topographical maps; the mountain ranges and city locations were clear at a glance.

As he flipped through, a magnificent world slowly unfolded before his eyes—

Tiannan Region.

Purple Qi stretched across thirty thousand miles of the sky, and Sects stood as numerous as the stars.

The three strongest were: "Xuanxiao Sword Pavilion," which reigned supreme in the way of the sword—it was said that a hundred and eight thousand swords were planted in the Sect's back mountain, each a relic of a fallen Sword Immortal; the "Shenxiao Sect," which specialized in lightning techniques—its Disciples could draw Nine Heavens divine lightning for Body Tempering, making Undergoing Tribulation thirty percent easier than for others; and the mysterious "Tianji Pavilion," which specialized in the art of deduction—it was said they could glimpse a corner of the future, but their Sect rules were strict, and Disciples were forbidden from descending the mountain for life.