65: Illusion? If the side effects turn positive, won’t it become real?
As Ember Immortal cried out in urgency, Li Yan stepped into the Lycoris radiata.
Below the beautiful Lycoris radiata bushes lay piles of corpses.
The white-robed women, who had been tirelessly dancing in circles, slowly stopped and looked at Li Yan.
One of them, with a beautiful face and wearing a wreath, extended her hand to Li Yan with a distant smile.
In Li Yan's mind, the System's voice echoed.
[Host has actively triggered a side effect!]
[You have been drawn into a Blood Realm illusion by Bloodline Emperor Lord's Joyful Fairy.]
In an instant, the scene before Li Yan's eyes began to distort.
The dim cave and the corpse-strewn divine tomb vanished.
In their place was a paradise like an immortal realm.
Countless Fairies lived within this illusion, an illusion constructed from blood.
In the immortal realm before him, the ground was white marble, and the pools flowed with an endless supply of Spiritual Liquid.
Countless graceful Fairies bathed in the Spiritual Liquid pools, absorbing the boundless Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
It was as if he had returned to the ancient era when Heaven and Earth first opened and Spiritual Qi was abundant.
Spiritual Qi was as plentiful as seawater! Even a simple breath allowed him to feel the dense Spiritual Qi.
Yet, Li Yan clearly knew that all of this was an illusion.
It was the illusion of Cultivators on the verge of death in the Age of Dharma Decline; there was no such dense Spiritual Qi at all!
[Side effect normalized: When the Host enters the Blood Realm, the dream comes true! Spiritual Qi from this place can be absorbed.]
Upon seeing this message from the System, Li Yan couldn't help but exclaim.
"Although I knew side effects could be normalized, for a dream to come true is quite remarkable."
Even though everything in the Blood Realm was fake, by utilizing the normalized side effect System, Li Yan could actually absorb real Spiritual Qi within this illusion!
What was this?
A true Tathagata had appeared in the Small Western Paradise!
The illusion was fake, but after conversion by the side effect System, Li Yan didn't want to waste it!
The Spiritual Qi was so dense it was intoxicating; he greedily sat cross-legged, absorbing the Spiritual Qi from the illusion.
Though the illusion was fake, Li Yan absorbed real Spiritual Qi!
It was rare in the world, extremely scarce, pure Spiritual Qi.
The quality of Spiritual Qi from the beginning of Heaven and Earth; one breath would make him feel refreshed from head to toe.
Unlike the Blood Core formed by Blood Qi Cultivators, a Golden Core began to condense in Li Yan's Dantian!
A large amount of Spiritual Qi surged in, making him feel an unprecedented comfort.
"No wonder cultivation was possible in the Immortal Dharma Era, whereas now only false cultivation is possible."
"The difference in Spiritual Qi quality is too great. The Spiritual Qi absorbed in this illusion is from the beginning of Heaven and Earth, so its quality is even beyond words."
Li Yan continuously sighed with emotion. This illusion was good! It was indescribably wonderful.
In this place, like a human immortal realm, the Spiritual Qi was so dense it could form a stream, and the joyous laughter of countless Fairies surrounded his ears.
Both real and fake, it was as if he had arrived in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss; though it was fake, for Li Yan, it was also real.
He touched it, felt like he was touching the threshold of Core Formation.
Dense Spiritual Qi continuously surged into Li Yan's Dantian; the pure Spiritual Qi here contained not a single impurity.
Li Yan's Dantian gradually glowed faintly, and the power of the Five Elements of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth appeared around the Golden Core.
While Li Yan was Cultivating, Ember Immortal, inside the Magic Eye, was pacing anxiously.
"I originally hoped this boy could become my disciple and recast my Physical Body for me."
"This ignorant child has actually been dragged into an illusion."
"There's no hope..."
Just as Ember Immortal was feeling pity for Li Yan, she suddenly sensed a familiar power.
"What's going on? This little brat!"
Ember Immortal's remnant soul, residing in the Magic Eye, looked towards Li Yan's Dantian position.
The Dantian position faintly emitted a golden light, and the surrounding Blood Qi continuously surged towards Li Yan's body.
"What's happening? The Bloodline Qi in the divine tomb is gathering on him."
"But this boy, surrounded by the ancient god's Bloodline, is actually beginning Core Formation?"
"Could it be that I, the venerable one, am ignorant? Can Bloodline also be used as Spiritual Qi?"
At this moment, Ember Immortal's lips were slightly parted, and her eyes showed an indescribable shock.
Ordinary Cultivators, if Bloodline entered their bodies, would have their blood vessels burst and die in the illusion long ago.
But Li Yan could actually use the ancient god's Bloodline to gild his body and form a Golden Core?
Ember Immortal probably couldn't figure out the reason behind this even if she thought for ten days and ten nights.
"Does he possess some Spiritual Root Sacred Body? Able to purify all evil?"
"His Devilish Qi reaches the sky, yet his whole body radiates Holy Light. What kind of Prodigy is this boy?"
Li Yan's performance shattered Ember Immortal's worldview again and again.
As a Great Ascension Stage powerhouse, she had never seen such a bizarre situation.
Ember Immortal thought long and hard and came to a conclusion.
"This child's talent is comparable to a Prodigy; he must be a Sacred Grade Immortal Body not recorded in ancient texts!"
"However, the commotion from his Core Formation is a bit too big."
At this moment, on the ground, an anomaly appeared in the sky.
Dark clouds rolled, and the clouds rubbed together, flashing golden lightning, with electric snakes darting through the clouds.
Above Li Yan, on the ground of the Red Leaf Forest, a large amount of Qi gathered to form a vortex.
Everyone who saw this scene showed shocked expressions.
"Someone is forming a Core?"
"For tens of thousands of years, this old man has never heard of anyone being able to form a Core!"
"Only ancient Cultivators could form a Golden Core; we are all fake Cores!"
"Who could it be? They must have found an Immortal Opportunity underground."
The powerhouses from the Su Family and the four Sects of Mi Mountain City were all discussing animatedly.
Even Quiet Void Old Taoist, hiding in the dark, was filled with regret.
"That brat Li Yan, can he actually form a Core?"
"Could it be that he is about to become the first Cultivator with a Golden Core in tens of thousands of years?"
Quiet Void Old Taoist was both anxious and angry; seeing Li Yan find an Immortal Opportunity was more unbearable than having his entire family killed.
"This old man has excavated this place for a hundred years and has never obtained an Immortal Opportunity, yet he comes and snatches my Opportunity. How preposterous!"
The old Taoist felt that the Opportunity was his, and Li Yan, that shameless little thief, had stolen his Opportunity.
Seeing the Heaven and Earth anomaly caused by Li Yan's successful Core Formation, countless emotions surged in Quiet Void Old Taoist's heart.
Regret, unwillingness, indignation, jealousy, madness...
Watching the Cultivators from the Su Family and Mi Mountain City rush into the cave.
Quiet Void Old Taoist regained a sliver of rationality. He gnashed his teeth and said, "Li Yan, as the only one to successfully form a Golden Core in nearly ten thousand years."
"Heh... hehe, how could those old ghosts let you go! This old man will wait here, biding my time, waiting for you all to come out."
Forming a Golden Core.
For the Cultivators of the Age of Dharma Decline, that temptation needed no explanation.
Countless greedy Cultivators poured into the underground cave; they wanted to see with their own eyes who had formed the Core.
If Li Yan fell into their hands, everyone would surely disembowel him and scramble for the Golden Core!
Facing countless ferocious figures rushing into the underground cave, Li Yan, who had just formed a Core, slowly woke up from the illusion.
Having absorbed the Spiritual Qi, Li Yan was still pondering in his heart, "The first illusion was Spiritual Qi; what other treasures are in the other illusions?"