59: Demon Pills, Golden Pills, and Taoist Evils

Core Formation emphasizes Opportunity, and even more so, the flow of Qi.

Gu Changsheng already had the Evil Qi Opportunity for condensing a True Core.

Only this flow of Qi he had been waiting for ten years.

Unexpectedly, at the moment of refining the Blood Lotus Seed, it arrived.

“This is an Opportunity not to be missed...”

Gu Changsheng's eyes lit up slightly.

With a thought, the two thick, brass-like arms on his back quickly shrunk, submerging into the Blood Lotus on his spine.

In the blink of an eye, his spine was smooth and radiant, with only the eerie Blood Lotus tattoo remaining.

Whoosh—

Under Gu Changsheng’s feet, a Five Elements Heaven Evasion Divine Light flickered.

The next moment, his body turned ethereal and he vanished into the Void Realm.

After only a few dozen breaths, he arrived deep within a desolate mountain.

His palm pressed against the mountain wall, and the Mountain Refining Art was activated. The hard stone wall immediately softened like tofu, undulating like waves.

Before long, an Immortal Cave appeared.

Gu Changsheng stepped inside.

The commotion of condensing a True Core would be significant, and he didn't want anyone to disturb him.

“Gather Qi and focus the spirit... embrace the origin and guard the One... True Core... condense!”

The Yuanshan Body Fusion Technique, a Heaven-grade visualization method, was rapidly activated, and surging black Qi rushed out, forming a towering black mountain phantom.

In the heart space, the Spirit of the Demon roared.

Gradually, a layer of black, oil-like Impurities appeared on the surface of Gu Changsheng’s body.

It smelled incredibly foul.

This was the precursor to condensing a True Core—cleansing the Qi and refining the marrow!

Upon internal inspection, black Qi droplets gathered into a twisted mass, constantly wriggling like a living creature.

Gradually, it took on the shape of a sphere.

The embryonic form of a True Core!

A terrifying aura was born from within it.

Three days later.

A mountain path.

A group of bandits wearing red scarves were plundering a caravan.

At this moment, the guards in the caravan had all been cut down, with blood and dismembered limbs scattered everywhere.

Cries and pleas for mercy merged into one continuous sound.

Many bandits had lustful eyes, fixated on the women in the caravan.

Those who were quick had already torn off clothing on the spot, disregarding the women's wails, and began to rampage.

“Haha, what a thrill!”

“So satisfying!”

“Lads, after this job,

we'll sell this batch of goods on the black market, exchange them for armor and bows, and the officials won't be able to do anything to us... Haha.”

A one-eyed bandit with a scar on his face laughed wildly.

Suddenly, dark clouds gathered, and strong winds rose.

Dense black Qi ascended from the desolate mountain, forming a funnel shape, frantically devouring the clouds.

Amidst the swirling black Qi, a bizarre phantom, nearly a hundred zhang tall, was revealed.

The phantom resembled a human, covered in pitch-black scales.

Its head was like a lion's, but from its mouth protruded tiger teeth and venomous fangs.

Its back was humped like a turtle's, its limbs were claw-like, and venom seeped from them.

From its back grew multiple strange tails, like those of snakes, foxes, and scorpions...

This was precisely the Spirit of the Demon, a Fusion of various demonic cultivation methods, including the Animal Husbandry Method, Lame Foot Technique, Python-Fox Method, and Yuanshan Body Fusion Technique.

“What... what is this?”

“Could it be... a demon?”

Such an anomaly naturally attracted the attention of the bandits.

Many showed fear, a sense of foreboding rising in their hearts.

“What the hell are you scared of?!

A strangely shaped dark cloud frightens you all.

If this gets out, it'll truly disgrace my Black Wind village...”

The one-eyed bandit with the scar showed an expression of enjoyment, and the speed of his lower body suddenly increased.

Suddenly, raindrops began to fall from the sky.

They were pitch-black like ink.

A drop of rain, wreathed in black Qi, fell onto the brow of the woman beneath him.

In an instant, the woman's pupils dilated, and dense black scales emerged from her brow, spreading towards her cheeks, neck, and body.

At the same time, her flesh rapidly wriggled and mutated, as if something strange was being born in her abdomen.

Whoosh—

A black tongue, as thick as an arm, shot out from the woman's abdomen, instantly piercing through the one-eyed bandit with the scar who was on top of her, as if skewering meat.

Internal organs mixed with blood slid down the thick black tongue onto the ground.

The one-eyed bandit with the scar was filled with terror, staring at the monster before him.

At this moment, the woman was almost unrecognizable.

Her entire body was covered in black scales, her hair had mutated into countless gnarled black snakes, and her limbs were thick, ending in sharp claws.

Most terrifyingly, a gaping maw opened in her abdomen.

Triangular serrated teeth gleamed with a cold light.

A spear-like black tongue extended from it.

At the same time, screams rang out one after another.

Many bandits and women mutated into various grotesque monsters, frantically tearing and devouring flesh.

“dao karma... so these things have always existed within my body.”

Gu Changsheng's gaze penetrated the mountain, looking at the mutated monsters.

The cultivation methods of this world were incredibly bizarre; the more one cultivated, the higher the risk of losing control.

The Impurities produced by cultivation were called dao karma.

Normally, they hid within the Spirit of Visualization, showing no signs, only appearing when breaking through a major Realm.

Like this black rain, it was the manifestation of the dao karma within Gu Changsheng's body.

Gu Changsheng had cultivated countless visualization methods.

That singular, fused Spirit of the Demon could cause flesh to mutate and minds to twist if an ordinary person merely glanced at it.

He relied entirely on sacrificing his life to forcibly advance.

Now, taking advantage of the Breakthrough, he finally expelled the dao karma from his body.

“The cultivation methods of the world pollute the Cultivator's mind, and the dao karma produced by a Cultivator's Breakthrough is expelled to the outside, in turn polluting the world... No wonder this world is becoming increasingly bizarre...”

However, a Cultivator expelling the dao karma from their body at the moment of Breakthrough did not mean a permanent solution.

In reality, as long as cultivation continued, dao karma would be continuously generated.

Until the next Breakthrough, when it would be expelled from the body.

Gu Changsheng's eyes were clear, and he unleashed several Sword Qi, instantly annihilating the grotesque monsters that had mutated due to dao karma.

Their bodies instantly melted into pus and dissipated.

“This is treating the symptoms, not the root cause.

The dao karma, the moment it was expelled, merged into this world.

It cannot be eradicated at all...”

Gu Changsheng shook his head.

Not long after, the demonic phantom collapsed.

Floating in the Void Realm were two True Cores, one black and one yellow, the size of lychees, rotating and circling each other.

The black one was the demonic core condensed from demonic cultivation methods.

The yellow one was the Daoist Golden Core.

Divine Ability secret patterns were inlaid upon it, and its aura had impressively reached the third grade.

Whoosh—

Gu Changsheng opened his mouth and inhaled, and the two Golden Cores fell into his abdomen.

Black Qi circulated.

Both in quality and quantity, it far surpassed before.

“Once the True Core enters my abdomen, my fate is mine, not heaven's... The ancients were truly honest, they did not deceive me.

It's just a pity... I couldn't condense a sarira.”

Buddhist sarira condense in the Mud-Pill Palace, equivalent to the demonic core of the Demonic Path and the Daoist Golden Core.

Gu Changsheng cultivated all three paths: Buddhist, Daoist, and Demonic.

He only lacked a Earth-grade Buddhist secret method.

The sixth-tier Dragon-Elephant Spirit and Asura Spirit were insufficient to condense a sarira.

“In the future, I still need to find a way to acquire a Earth-grade Buddhist secret method, or... fuse multiple Mysterious-grade ones... However, there's still a long way to go, so I'll take my time...”

Gu Changsheng's feet produced a Escape Light (Dun Guang - Evasion Light).

His speed was now more than three times faster than before.

After breaking through to True Core, the Divine Ability imprinted on the True Core could truly exert its proper power.

“Now, with my speed, even a True Core Perfection Cultivator... would not dream of catching me.”

Not long after, Gu Changsheng entered a mountain cave.

Inside, the roots of the five qi gathering tree were deeply embedded throughout the entire mountain, intertwined and wriggling like a living creature.

A brilliant green light shot out from the tree trunk.

“Congratulations, Master, on your Breakthrough to True Core; the Great Dao is within sight.”

The Sword Spirit, Azure Dragon Tong Er, knelt on one knee and said.

“Haha, well said.

Now that I, your Master, have broken through to True Core, it's time to elevate your true form into a Magic Treasure...”

The True Core Cultivator's True Core black Qi could nourish a Natal Spiritual Artifact.

Gu Changsheng's Natal Spiritual Artifact was naturally the longquan sword.

Hearing this, Azure Dragon Tong Er trembled all over, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

“Thank you, Master...”

“No worries, you and I are inherently one in prosperity and loss...”

The next moment, Gu Changsheng spat out a yellow Daoist Golden Core, and with a flash of verdant evasion light, it submerged into the five qi gathering tree.

This was the Wood Evasion method from the Five Elements Heaven Evasion Divine Light.

Upon internal inspection, the Golden Core absorbed and expelled pure black Qi, continuously refining the longquan sword.

Visibly, the longquan sword's aura grew stronger bit by bit.

“At this rate... it will transform into a Magic Treasure in at most three years... Now that I've broken through to True Core.

Buddhist secret methods can be set aside for now.

I can, however, consider refining an Incarnation ahead of time.”

With an Incarnation, Gu Changsheng could completely let the Incarnation explore some dangerous places, while his true body remained steadily in the main camp, cultivating peacefully.

Who would have thought that a remote county town would have a True Core Ancestor living in seclusion?

“It's just that the Materials for refining this Incarnation... are best made from Heaven And Earth Treasure as the body, so I'll have to search for them slowly...”

Gu Changsheng murmured.