54: Chapter 54 The Fallen Prodigy

After stepping into the Golden Core Stage, Su Yu naturally became a powerful elder of the inner sect of the Cangxuan Sect.

Regarding his breakthrough, the Sect Master and the various Golden Core elders all showed extremely warm welcome.

The Cangxuan Sect governs a territory of hundreds of thousands of miles; it has a large establishment, and the mineral veins, Qingmu Market, and secret realms under its control are countless, all requiring high-level cultivators to guard them.

The Qi Refining Stage are consumables, and the Foundation Establishment Stage are the backbone.

But the Golden Core cultivators are the high-level combat power that can truly determine the situation of a region.

Having one more Golden Core cultivator means that the overall deterrent power of the sect is strengthened, and the resource map that can be controlled is also stabilized.

As for the distribution of resources.

Once reaching the Golden Core Stage, the monthly allowance and offerings issued by the sect are just the basics to maintain daily cultivation.

True rare treasures and top-grade magical artifacts all need to be explored by the Golden Core cultivators themselves in ruins, or exchanged for by making great contributions to the sect.

"Elder Su, being able to form a core at the age of one hundred is truly the fortune of our Cangxuan Sect."

The Sect Master sat on the main seat, with a smile on his face and a gentle tone.

He had already read the dossier submitted by the Internal Affairs Pavilion, so he naturally knew that Su Yu had formed a lower-grade 8th Grade Golden Core.

But no one cared at all.

The dozens of Golden Core elders sitting in this hall now, more than half were of the lowest 9th Grade.

8th Grade was already considered a decent quality.

Everyone basically had no hope for the Nascent Soul Stage, and the gap in strength could mostly only be made up by magical treasures and time.

According to the rules, newly promoted elders need to take on a sect duty.

Su Yu chose to go to the Scripture Transmission Hall to lecture for the newly promoted inner sect disciples.

This chore sounds complicated, but it is actually extremely leisurely.

As a Golden Core cultivator, he only needs to sit on the Scripture Transmission Platform for one hour every seven days and casually give some pointers on the bottlenecks in cultivation.

For those inner sect disciples still struggling in the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment Stages.

A Golden Core ancestor personally taking time to lecture is undoubtedly a huge gift.

Every time he lectures, there is not a single empty seat under the Scripture Transmission Platform.

And during these days in the Scripture Transmission Hall, Su Yu also keenly noticed a change in himself.

He discovered that his spirit had scattered.

That sharp spirit of climbing upward with all his might and fighting against heaven for his life completely dissipated the moment he formed the 8th Grade Golden Core.

Su Yu sat by the stone table in his cave dwelling, poured himself a cup of spirit tea, and watched the white mist rising from the cup.

He did not feel any panic or self-blame for this change in state.

Because he understood that he had already reached the absolute apex that this body could achieve.

This apex does not mean the apex of spiritual root aptitude.

Spiritual roots have always only controlled the speed and capacity of absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth.

What stuck him was his Comprehension Ability.

Before the thresholds of Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and even Core Formation.

Cultivators can still rely on strong physical bodies, massive resources, and the experience of predecessors to forcibly break through.

But after the Golden Core Stage, the path of cultivation fundamentally changes.

The further one goes, the more important Comprehension Ability is compared to aptitude.

To shatter the Golden Core and give birth to a Nascent Soul.

It requires an extremely profound realization of the laws of heaven and earth, and an understanding of space and the origin of life.

Theoretically, even the lowest 9th Grade Spiritual Root can shatter the core and form a soul.

But without extremely high Comprehension Ability to capture that trace of the Heavenly Dao trajectory in the dark.

Even if you possess a Heaven Spiritual Root, it is absolutely impossible to touch the threshold of the Nascent Soul.

Having figured this out, Su Yu completely abandoned the thought of continuing to climb upward.

Just like that.

Su Yu lived a peaceful life in the inner sect of the Cangxuan Sect, similar to an ordinary elderly person enjoying their twilight years.

Drinking tea, giving lectures, and occasionally going into seclusion to polish his existing realm.

Time flies.

Ten years passed quietly in an extremely stable rhythm.

During these ten years, Su Yu's base salary as a Golden Core cultivator, plus the sect contribution points exchanged for lectures, had accumulated a huge amount of resources.

In his storage bag.

Tens of thousands of medium-grade spirit stones, hundreds of bottles of high-grade medicinal pills suitable for the Foundation Establishment Stage, and more than a dozen top-quality Foundation Establishment magical artifacts.

Su Yu had not touched any of these things.

Because they were useless.

The daily consumption of a Golden Core Stage cultivator is huge.

But those medicinal pills aimed at the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment Stages could not cause any ripples for him at all.

Rare treasures that are effective for the Golden Core Stage require terrifying contribution points to exchange within the sect, or require fighting in extremely dangerous secret realms.

Su Yu did not intend to fight for them.

He even had a faint premonition.

With his current foundation and lifespan, even if he practiced steadily, he would at most polish himself to the mid-Golden Core Stage in this lifetime.

Spending huge costs to exchange for a few Golden Core Stage pills would only mean reaching this end point a few decades earlier, which is meaningless.

Therefore, he kept all his accumulations from these ten years intact.

Using these resources on himself would be a waste.

But if taken back to the border of the Yue Kingdom and handed over to the Qianlong Su Family.

That would be a terrifying foundation sufficient to cause a qualitative change for the entire family.

It would be enough for the Su Family to cultivate several late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators without pressure in the next one or two hundred years.

Su Yu had already planned that in a few days, he would ask the sect for leave and return to the Qingmu Market.

Just as Su Yu was silently sorting out the supplies in his storage bag.

Within the Cangxuan Sect, two extremely violent spiritual energy fluctuations suddenly erupted one after another.

These two fluctuations originated from the two most core True Inheritance Peaks of the sect.

Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er, who had been in closed-door seclusion for sixty years, had finally formed their cores.

This movement was huge; it not only caused the heaven and earth to change color, but even the Sect Master and several Supreme Elders personally came out to protect them.

However.

When the thunderclouds dispersed and the celestial phenomena calmed down.

The two people who walked out of the cave dwelling disappointed all the high-level sect members who were full of expectations.

In the main peak hall.

Su Yu, as a Golden Core Elder, was also seated on the side.

He looked at Lin Wan'er and Chu Tiankuo standing in the center of the hall.

Their appearances had not changed much, but the aura on their bodies revealed an unconcealable lethargy and depression.

They had failed.

To be precise, they had failed to impact the high-grade Golden Core.

During the sixty years of seclusion, they attempted to perfectly fuse their own Dao intent with the laws of heaven and earth to form that high-grade Golden Core.

But the Heavenly Dao is ruthless, and the backlash was extremely cruel.

At the last moment, in order to force a 3rd Grade Golden Core, Lin Wan'er was nearly frozen to death by the backlash of the ice-attribute laws.

At the brink of life and death, she could only choose to shatter part of her foundation and condensed her Golden Core in a very hurried manner to save her life.

In the end, it became the lowest 9th Grade Golden Core.

And Chu Tiankuo, who possessed the Earthly Spiritual Root, had a deeper foundation.

He forcibly stabilized his sea of qi during the backlash of the laws; although he failed to touch the threshold of the high-grade Golden Core, he eventually formed a 5th Grade Golden Core.

Mediocre aptitude.

Although a 5th Grade Golden Core is much stronger than a 9th Grade one, having not only three thousand more years of lifespan, but also considerable combat power.

But for a peerless genius who was once invincible among peers and raised by the sect as a Nascent Soul seed.

This result was tantamount to directly declaring that his Great Dao was cut off.

The atmosphere in the hall was extremely oppressive.

Several Supreme Elders looked at these two disciples who were once highly anticipated, all sighing repeatedly.

The defeat in the Taihuang Secret Realm sixty years ago had become an inescapable demon in their hearts.

That crack in their Dao hearts was infinitely magnified by the laws of heaven and earth at the most critical moment of core formation, eventually brewing today's bitter fruit.

Chu Tiankuo clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles turning white.

He did not defend himself, just stared fixedly at the bluestone bricks on the ground, his eyes filled with extremely deep unwillingness.

Lin Wan'er was even more pale, her body trembling slightly.

A genius falling from the altar.

This gap was more unbearable than killing them.

The Sect Master sat on the high seat, looking at the two, and remained silent for a long time.

"Forget it, the path of immortal cultivation is inherently defying the heavens; success and failure are both determined by fate."

The Sect Master's voice rang out in the empty hall, without blame, only deep regret.

"Being able to save your lives and form a Golden Core is already a great fortune."

"The two of you, just rest well in the sect and stabilize your realms."

Lin Wan'er bit her bloodless lips and finally couldn't help but raise her head.

"Sect Master, this disciple has one thing I don't understand."

Her voice was a bit hoarse, revealing a suppressed hatred.

"It has been sixty years, does the sect have any news about that Li Han?"

Hearing this name.

Chu Tiankuo suddenly raised his head, and an extremely intense murderous intent erupted in his eyes.

The hatred of having treasures snatched in the Taihuang Secret Realm was the root of the torment they had endured day and night for these sixty years.

If Li Han hadn't snatched away the inheritance pointing directly to the Nascent Soul Great Dao and the core formation spiritual objects out of thin air.

How could their Dao hearts have been damaged, and how could they have ended up like this during core formation?

And regarding their questioning, the atmosphere in the hall became even heavier.

The Sect Master looked at them and took a deep breath.

He did not hide it, but instead stated a fact that was enough to make both of them completely desperate in an extremely calm manner.

"Li Han had already formed his core thirty years ago."

The Sect Master's tone carried a trace of extremely complex emotion.

"Not only did he form a core."

"And what he formed was the legendary First-Grade Golden Core."

Once these words were spoken.

Not only Lin Wan'er and Chu Tiankuo, but even the dozen or so Golden Core elders sitting on both sides, including Su Yu, were deeply shocked.

First-Grade Golden Core!

That is a perfect Golden Core that completely conforms to the laws of heaven and earth without any flaws.

Such a grade has not appeared in the history of the entire Southern Wilderness cultivation world for thousands of years, not even a handful.

Everyone who forms a First-Grade Golden Core, as long as they don't die young, is almost certain to step into the Nascent Soul Stage in the future.

Everyone knows that Li Han being able to form a First-Grade Golden Core must mean he completely digested the supreme inheritance of that Nascent Soul expert in the Taihuang Secret Realm.

But that was originally an opportunity that belonged to them!

Chu Tiankuo's eyes instantly ignited with extremely intense hatred and unwillingness.

"Sect Master! This thief snatched our sect's fortune, this disciple is willing to lead the elites of the Law Enforcement Hall to skin him and pull out his bones..."

"Enough."

The Sect Master coldly interrupted Chu Tiankuo's request to fight, his tone extremely cold.

"The sect has already revoked all rewards and wanted posters for Li Han."

Looking at the incredulous gazes of the two, the Sect Master snorted coldly, his voice revealing an extremely helpless attitude towards reality.

"Did you think the sect hadn't sent people to hunt him down all these years?"

"Not just our Cangxuan Sect, the Blood Shadow Sect, the seven great hidden families, and even several rogue Nascent Soul old monsters are all secretly looking for him."

"But not only did he not die, he became stronger the more he fought."

The Sect Master threw several jade slips recording the battle reports directly at Chu Tiankuo's feet.

"In thirty years, he has been besieged seventeen times."

"Every time was a desperate situation, and every time he was able to erupt with combat power far exceeding his peers."

"Three Golden Core elders of the Blood Shadow Sect were counter-killed by him alone in the Death Soul Valley."

"The two Golden Core elders our Cangxuan Sect sent to hunt him were also stripped of their natal magical treasures and fell on the spot."

"His escape technique is extremely strange; not only does he have a broken Profound Heaven Spirit Treasure to protect his body, but he also seems to have some kind of ancient remnant soul guiding him in the dark."

"Now that he is already a First-Grade Golden Core, if a Nascent Soul ancestor doesn't make a move, no one can kill him."

"And once a Nascent Soul ancestor makes a move, it will inevitably lead to the interference of other sects, or even trigger a Southern Wilderness War."

The Sect Master looked at Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er, and sighed.

"An enemy who cannot be killed and whose aptitude is terrifying to the extreme—since he cannot be completely wiped out with thunderous force, then the only option is reconciliation, or rather, giving up."

"Not just the Cangxuan Sect, the Blood Shadow Sect and other forces have also secretly withdrawn their wanted orders."

"This is reality!"

The Sect Master's words were like a basin of cold water, dousing the last bit of revenge spirit in Chu Tiankuo and Lin Wan'er.

Unwillingness, anger, humiliation.

But in the face of absolute strength and sect interests, their personal hatred was worthless.

Su Yu sat on the side, watching all this with cold eyes.

He did not speak, nor did he feel any jealousy about Li Han's First-Grade Golden Core.

He just extremely clearly realized that this is the gold content of a Child of Destiny.

Unkillable, untrappable.

All crises will eventually turn into nourishment for his growth.