77: A breath of Jindan...

The scorching fire clouds came from the east, and all the farmers in Yue State looked up, gazing at the boundless, fiery red clouds, with confusion, shock, excitement, and joy.

“An Immortal Opportunity! An Immortal Opportunity has arrived!”

The elderly clan elder shouted, gesticulating wildly, his eyes fixed on the red clouds.

Immortal Opportunity?

Ye Chun snapped back to his senses. As a professional player, his reaction speed was unusually quick. He immediately realized that this was definitely not a weather change, but a huge commotion caused by Cultivators.

‘Such a commotion, at the very least, must be caused by an Immortal Foundation, right? And it would have to be several Immortal Foundations fighting fiercely, casting spells with no restraint.’

Ye Chun pondered to himself, thinking it was merely a fight between Immortal Foundation Outstanding Talents nearby, which had drawn the fiery red clouds and unleashed waves of heat.

Suddenly, the red clouds churned, and flames actually descended from within, like a fine rain, a rain of fire.

Most of the flames dissipated in the air, seemingly merging into the Heaven And Earth, but some still fell directly to the ground.

Once they hit the ground, they spread out, looking like a crimson river from afar. Closer up, one could feel the intense heat, enough to burn through flesh and bone, leaving no trace behind.

Ye Chun suddenly froze: “The Spiritual Qi is so strong!”

It turned out his character had a Spiritual Root. Normally, with the Spiritual Qi being thin and no breathing techniques, there was naturally no reaction. But now, with just simple breathing, he could feel the Spiritual Qi continuously surging into his body, hot and restless.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The descending flames continued to burn on their own. They seemed to have stirred the local ley lines, causing the earth to tremble incessantly. Veins of ore emerged from the depths. Ye Chun didn't know whether existing ore deposits were surfacing or if the power within the flames was spontaneously transforming into mineral veins.

‘It’s probably not Immortal Foundation Outstanding Talents fighting, but Golden Cores engaging in a Dao battle!’

Ye Chun immediately realized that such terrifying power and peculiar changes must be due to a Golden Core making a move.

He couldn't help but feel a great deal of emotion:

“This Golden Core truly seems formidable. During a Dao battle, it can even make the earth tremble, constantly altering the mineral veins below. According to Xuanhuan lore, it must be disrupting the earth veins, disturbing the water veins, and even making the Spiritual Veins tremble. It’s too powerful.”

Ye Chun looked towards the sea of fire, his mind racing. These flames seemed to be a Golden Core Divine Ability. If he could subdue them… As he was thinking this, a Heshui Prefecture Cultivator, likely a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, flew through the air from a distance, landing in the sea of fire with wild joy. He formed hand seals, attempting to subdue the flames.

However, in a mere moment, the Cultivator cried out in alarm, his entire body covered in flames. He fled frantically, desperately casting water-summoning spells, but it was useless. He could only watch as the flames consumed him.

After about fifteen minutes, the Cultivator finally exhausted his Spiritual Power, collapsing helplessly into the sea of fire, allowing the flames to devour him.

Ye Chun watched, deeply alarmed, and his original idea of subduing the flames immediately vanished.

He then saw that after the sea of fire swallowed the Cultivator, it didn't immediately burn him to ashes. Instead, as if it had a spirit, it continuously refined him. Before long, the Heshui Prefecture Cultivator transformed into a smooth Medicinal Pill, emitting an alluring Pill fragrance.

“Is this Alchemy fire?”

Ye Chun was greatly shocked, feeling that Golden Core Cultivators were too brilliant. The flames they unleashed during a Dao battle actually possessed sentience, knowing how to perform Alchemy on their own.

What was the difference between such an act and creation?

“Wait, maybe it’s not a Golden Core, but a Nascent Soul, which is even higher?”

Ye Chun’s mind raced. He logged onto the forum to check the situation, and what he saw immediately stunned him.

It turned out that it was neither a Nascent Soul casting spells nor Golden Cores fighting. It was merely the last breath of Clarity Qi exhaled by a Ninth-Grade Shattered Core Cultivator before his death!

This breath of Qi lingered within the tomb, unscattered for years, until the tomb opened, finally breaking free and attracting Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence, stirring Spiritual Veins for thousands of miles, and manifesting various anomalies.

“This, this, this…”

Ye Chun opened his mouth, unable to speak for a long time.

He had already held Golden Cores in high regard, but their display of power still exceeded his imagination, leaving him breathless.

‘Just the last breath of Clarity Qi possesses such a Divine Ability. What if it were the Golden Core himself? What if it wasn't just a Ninth-Grade Shattered Core? And what kind of splendor would a Nascent Soul, above a Golden Core, possess?’

Ye Chun swallowed, momentarily awestruck by the vastness of the Xuanhuan World’s worldview.

The next moment, his professional player instincts awakened him. He suddenly thought of the crucial point:

‘Since Golden Core Cultivators are so powerful, even the fierce fire summoned by mere Clarity Qi can leave a Foundation Establishment Cultivator without a corpse, then how would players dare to enter the tomb? And how would they dare to covet a Golden Core’s inheritance?’

Ye Chun felt a chill down his spine. He had already realized that the Golden Core Tomb was simply not something players at the current stage could covet!

He looked at the information on the forum, and it dawned on him:

‘No wonder only the Heshui Prefecture, Qingling Sect, Duan Kong Cave, and the Great Jiang Dynasty—these four factions—can enter the tomb. It’s because all four of them have Golden Cores overseeing them!’

‘As for the other Sects, no matter how great their influence, no matter how many Foundation Establishment Cultivators they had, without a Golden Core overseeing them, they didn’t even dare to think about it, and not a single one sent people in.’

‘It’s only those Loose Cultivators who don't know the immensity of Heaven and Earth, and players who don't know the situation, who dare to go to the tomb, rushing to their deaths…’

Ye Chun shook his head, knowing that the players who went to Efeng Mountain Range probably wouldn't have a good outcome. A Golden Core’s inheritance was not something they could covet.

After analyzing, he, as a professional player, thought about how players could benefit from this server-wide event, the Golden Core Tomb incident, which affected thousands of miles.

Ye Chun looked at the nearby sea of fire, then at the Heshui Prefecture Cultivators constantly gathering in the sky, as well as the accompanying Cultivators from smaller Sects, Loose Cultivators, and even Evil Cultivators. Finally, he understood.

‘So that’s it. A single breath casually exhaled by a Golden Core is enough for us low-level Cultivators to feast on. What we should be fighting for isn't the inheritance within the tomb, but the treasures descending outside!’

Ye Chun understood it clearly, but he wasn't in a hurry to contend for the flames. Instead, he walked towards the village. He was waiting for Heshui Prefecture to recruit people.

‘The clan elders in this village had long said that some people could grow Spiritual Veins by inhaling this Qi. It’s evident that Heshui Prefecture Cultivators should come to investigate and recruit people, and that will be my, Ye Chun’s, path to advancement…’

…Just as Ye Chun had planned how to proceed, in the Efeng Mountain Range, the players were completely dumbfounded.

Ye Chun’s location was, after all, thousands of miles away, so the power of the Golden Core’s last breath of Clarity Qi had diminished considerably by then.

But in the Efeng Mountain Range, it was at its most potent moment.

The sky was scorching hot, and the entire mountain range was boiling. Trees, birds, beasts, and even rocks were ignited by the high temperature, dissolving like mud.

At the same time, the ley lines of the Efeng Mountain Range were stirred, magma continuously erupted, Spiritual Ore constantly emerged, and the continuous mountain peaks shifted amidst a humming sound, as if someone was moving mountains with a great Divine Ability.

The Spiritual Veins were also in disarray. The surrounding Spiritual Qi was a chaotic mess. One could vaguely see Medicinal Pills constantly appearing in the air, some with Evil Qi, but also some with righteous Spiritual Qi.

The Efeng Mountain Range seemed to have become an entire sea of fire, an open-air Pill Furnace. The erupting magma was the furnace fire used for Alchemy, and the rolling Spiritual Ore and the Spiritual Qi escaping from the Spiritual Veins were the Materials for Alchemy.

As for the players… they were all dead.