232: Chapter 232 Shi Yin Forms His Core!

Outside the secret chamber, the Golden Core Formation Phenomenon above Hanyue Peak suddenly collapsed.

The ice crystals and snowflakes filling the sky lost their guidance, falling in a flurry and piling up into a thick layer on the peak...

The phenomenon dissipated with extreme speed; from its peak to its annihilation, it took no more than a dozen breaths.

"The phenomenon has dissipated!"

"This is bad, this is a sign of Core Formation failure!"

Halfway up Hanyue Peak, Zhou Yan's face turned pale.

Those ice crystals and snowflakes landed on his shoulders, chilling him until he trembled all over, but he couldn't tell if it was from the cold or from fear.

"Tianle..."

He sprinted toward the secret chamber, with several members of the Zhou Clan following closely behind.

The stone door of the secret chamber was covered in a layer of solid ice three feet thick; it took the group half an hour of roasting with spiritual fire to chisel it open.

The moment the door opened, a suffocating chill surged out from within.

The secret chamber was empty, with a layer of fine ice powder covering the floor, reflecting a bleak glimmer under the spiritual light.

Zhou Tianle's aura could not be felt, not even a trace.

In the corner, Shi Yin was curled into a ball, his gray-white fur covered in ice shards, looking extremely weak...

He raised his head and let out a weak whimper toward Zhou Yan.

That sound was filled with grief.

Zhou Yan knelt on the ground, looking at the ice powder in the secret chamber, all his strength drained away.

"The backlash from the heaven and earth qi was too violent, he has Dao-ified... not even his remains were left."

Zhou Yan murmured, his vision went black, and he collapsed to the ground on the spot, falling into a faint. The Old Ancestor was gone, and Tianle was gone too.

The Zhou Clan was finished!

...After the news spread, the reaction within the Shangqing Sect was indifferent.

A Golden Core family with no successors was not uncommon in the Sect. Some sighed a couple of times, some shook their heads, and most people just chatted about it casually before going back to their own business.

"What a pity, a Dual Spiritual Root plus heaven and earth qi, and he still failed."

"What's so strange about that? heaven and earth qi isn't omnipotent; the success rate for Core Formation with a Dual Spiritual Root is only about forty or fifty percent."

"The Zhou family is having a run of bad luck; the Old Ancestor just passed away, and now the younger generation has run into trouble, tsk tsk..."

The funeral for the Zhou Clan was held in a cold and desolate manner.

There were not many people who came to offer condolences, but quite a few who just went through the motions.

The few families that used to be on good terms with the Zhou family had a very subtle attitude; the formalities were still there, but the distance had grown.

This was the rule of the cultivation world.

If you have a Golden Core, you are a noble family. If the Golden Core is gone, you are nothing.

After Zhou Yan finished handling the funeral, he seemed to have aged more than ten years. He sat in the ancestral hall, facing the spirit tablets of Master Luanshan and Zhou Tianle, not closing his eyes all night.

"Clan Chief, what should be done about that Spirit Beast, Shi Yin?"

The Clan Elder's question pulled him back from his trance.

"What?"

"Shi Yin, Young Master Tianle's Spirit Beast. After the Master-Servant Contract was broken, this bear demon became masterless. How should it be handled?"

Zhou Yan was stunned for a moment. The contract was broken?

Right, if the master dies and the servant lives, when Zhou Tianle Dao-ified, the Master-Servant Contract should have dissolved, yet Shi Yin survived by luck.

There was some doubt about this point.

"It can't be..."

Once suspicion appeared, various guesses kept emerging in Zhou Yan's mind, and he even vaguely felt it made sense...

Just as Zhou Yan was preparing to order the capture of Shi Yin.

Suddenly, Spiritual Qi gathered between heaven and earth; a massive vortex of spiritual power shrouded the area, and countless Spiritual Qi flowed like a great river, endless!

"What is happening now?!"

Zhou Yan left the main hall and flew into the clouds.

From afar, he saw that on Hanyue Peak, violent Spiritual Qi was constantly gathering, setting off waves of Spiritual Qi shockwaves.

"This... this is a Core Formation omen!"

"How can this be!"

At this moment, countless people were attracted by this disturbance, and all the factions that had originally been badmouthing the Zhou family began to watch.

No one expected that the Zhou family would have a second candidate for Core Formation!

At this moment—the Spiritual Qi vortex above the firmament roared continuously, and majestic Spiritual Qi poured into the mountain below like a tide...

The next instant, a phantom of a giant pale bear condensed above the sky!

The giant bear phantom roared at the sky, devouring the Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth like a whale swallowing the ocean, looking as if it intended to drain all the Spiritual Qi in this region.

When the giant bear phantom dissipated, the spiritual power barrier was considered broken.

Immediately following, countless frost and snow fell from the sky, sweeping across a hundred miles and covering the entire mountain range. The frost descended upon the world, and the wind and snow shrouded all realms of the mortal world!

Extreme frost froze the earth.

Frost spread across the earth and mountains, and countless hundred-foot ice pillars shot into the sky, turning the region into a polar land of ice and snow!

Everyone craned their necks in anticipation.

This second stage was the most difficult stage of Core Formation; once crossed, Core Formation would be a certainty...

Just as the phenomenon gradually became chaotic and faintly threatened to collapse.

"Roar!!!"

A bear's roar resounded through heaven and earth!

Between heaven and earth, a giant pale bear stood tall, its massive figure growing and surging along with the wind and snow.

The wind and snow crowned him, and the extreme cold offered him a crown!

Clearly, he had succeeded!

The giant bear spat out its demon core, and under the continuous gathering of extreme cold power, the demon core was finally burst, then instantly gathered and reformed from the ice and snow.

An ice-blue, pure demon core once again gathered between heaven and earth.

When the demon core was swallowed back into the giant bear's body, the terrifying Golden Core pressure was released without reservation, illuminating the entire firmament!

A great demon traversed the sky, its aura sweeping across a thousand miles.

Rising and breaking through in one day, it suppressed all directions. All the beasts in the mountains and forests submitted and bowed, and even countless minor Qi Refining cultivators prostrated in submission.

Furthermore, Foundation Establishment Cultivator bowed and saluted, not daring to look directly at that mighty heavenly prestige!

From various places in the distant sky, phantoms also looked toward this place, witnessing the rise of a new Golden Core together, one by one sending voice transmissions to congratulate.

"I, Shi Yin, have broken through to the Golden Core stage here today."

"Title: Frost and Snow!"

"To continue my master's last wish and protect my master's Zhou Clan."

"I am willing to serve Shangqing and fight for another thousand years!"