Killing

For a time, storm clouds gathered.

And just as Big Brother Tu Shan had said, thunderclouds converged, yet no lightning fell—only surging mana and a painful transformation.

Xu Sanniang sat cross-legged inside the cave dwelling.

The Spirit Gathering Array swallowed the spiritual energy from all directions like a whale, turning it into vortices that filled the sky. Like a great river, they poured down from the hole at the center of the heavens, splashing ink with reckless abandon.

Xu Sanniang leaned against the Soul Banner, her sword laid across her knees.

Her fingers formed seals as she circulated her cultivation technique.

Within her sea of consciousness, her Yin Spirit remained unmoving beneath the protection of the four-winged butterfly behind her.

Countless streams of clear qi curled around her, gathering into a figure.

Its spiritual radiance shone like a full sun. At first, that figure stood far from Xu Sanniang, but as her churning sea of mana steamed and surged, it gradually drew closer.

Xu Sanniang turned her divine sense inward. Her false core was like a bright moon rising from the sea. As moonlight shone down and the full moon hung high, her liquid mana transformed into raging tides, gathering toward the illusory Golden Core.

The meditating Sanniang resembled a clay statue.

This state continued for half a month.

Until the figure manifested from clear qi merged with her body, with no distinction remaining between them.

Xu Sanniang opened her eyes.

Two pillars of divine light shot forth.

Her spiritual radiance blazed.

She burned like a tiny sun.

"Has the Golden Core formed?"

Her divine sense swept over it, and the Golden Core bloomed with brilliance.

Xu Sanniang felt that heaven and earth had become crystal clear. The Dao's resonance seemed right before her eyes, within reach of her hand.