The Strongest Golden Core
Lu Yang followed his senior sister's instructions and obediently went to the Scripture Depository.
In front of the Scripture Depository, he encountered Senior Sister Zhou Lulu, whom he hadn't seen since she took him to the cafeteria to buy weapons.
"Senior Sister Zhou Lulu, it's been a long time."
Senior Sister Zhou Lulu was engrossed in the world of her book when she heard Lu Yang's voice. She looked up and smiled, "It's Junior Brother Lu! It's been so long since I've seen you. When you became the Sect Master a few days ago, who didn't see you?"
Lu Yang smiled awkwardly, unsure of what to say.
I can't exactly say that it wasn't actually me who wanted to Sect Master, but rather the sixteen-year-old fairy inside me who wanted to be.
"I haven't been to the Scripture Depository for two or three months. Are you looking for a book?"
"I'd like to find a book about how to form the Golden Core."
Zhou Lulu suddenly realized. "Oh right, you're in the Foundation Establishment Late Stage now, you should start thinking about how to form your Core."
"How did Senior Sister Zhou achieve her Core Formation?"
Senior Sister Zhou recalled the situation and said, "It was a rainy day. I was reading under the eaves when, for some reason, I felt the words in the book jumping and entering my mind. The words traveled down from my mind, through my internal organs, and into my Dantian. My spiritual energy transformed from mist into liquid, into a babbling stream, and then merged with the words, condensing into a Golden Core pill."
"Senior Sister Zhou has such talent!" Lu Yang exclaimed. He had heard that for those with extraordinary talent, forming their core was a natural process that didn't require much effort. Some geniuses even succeeded after taking a nap.
For example, Huang Doudou, a genius from High Antiquity times, formed his core after taking a nap.
Zhou Lulu waved her hands repeatedly, somewhat embarrassed. "Junior Brother Lu, you can't say that about me. There are many senior brothers and sisters in the sect who are more talented than me. They went through a lot of trouble when they formed their cores. You can't judge someone's talent by how easy it is to form a core."
"I heard that Senior Brother Dai Bufan and Senior Brother Ji Hongwen made many preparations when they formed their cores, and they also needed the help of their sect to succeed."
"The books that Junior Brother Lu needs are on the easternmost bookshelf on the first floor of the Scripture Depository."
Lu Yang thanked Senior Sister Zhou and entered the Scripture Depository, but he was a little puzzled. The Scripture Depository was very large, and he didn't know how many bookshelves were against the walls. In the past, when he was looking for a book, Senior Sister Zhou Lulu would tell him which row and column it was in. Why was she so vague today?
Lu Yang soon found out the answer.
The entire east wall of the Scripture Depository is covered with books about Core Formation techniques. A small portion of these are from outside sources, but the majority are the culmination of 120,000 years of the Ask Dao Sect.
Books from 120,000 years ago wouldn't be displayed here; what's displayed here are all photocopies.
"Fairy, do you have any advice on Core Formation?" Lu Yang decided to ask the Immortal Fairy, who was the head of the Five Immortals of High Antiquity (as she called herself), first.
"In High Antiquity times, I once saw a Golden Core that could be called the strongest Grade One Golden Core, even surpassing the Golden Core I have formed."
"There's actually such Golden Core?" Lu Yang was surprised. The Immortal Fairy was always stubborn and never admitted that she was the most shameful one among the Five Immortals of High Antiquity. He never expected that she would take the initiative to admit that she was inferior to others this time.
Furthermore, the various Golden Core Elixir systems have different focuses, so how should we evaluate the number one one?
" In High Antiquity times, before anyone became an immortal, all sorts of geniuses vied for the throne, competing in methods, backgrounds, and talent... I was the number one in the world back then. Even the Celestial Immortal and the Nine Heavens Immortal were no match for me; I beat them to a pulp."
"Back then, there was a prodigy whose luck with women was extremely good. When he formed his Golden Core, he had seven confidantes, who were also famous talented women, witches, and saintesses at the time. When that prodigy and his seven confidantes formed their Golden Cores, they all became first-grade Golden Core. Among them, the prodigy's Golden Core was the main one, and the Golden Core of the seven confidantes were the auxiliary ones, forming a seven-star arrangement. In battle, that prodigy could absorb the Golden Core of his confidantes for his own use, increasing his combat power by at least seven times."
"This is the strongest Golden Core I know of."
"Thanks, but this is completely irrelevant." Lu Yang rolled his eyes. He'd just treat it as listening to the Immortal Fairy tell a story; where was he going to find seven confidantes?
Are you looking for the Calabash Brothers?
"I also know of a kind of Golden Core, which is extremely powerful, but I've only heard about it and I'm not sure how much of it is true. It happened before my time."
" In High Antiquity, there was a couple who were cultivators. At first, when the wife formed her Golden Core, there was nothing unusual; it was just an ordinary Grade One Golden Core. But as the days went by, the Golden Core grew larger and larger, and the wife seemed to be pregnant."
"After three years of pregnancy, my wife's Golden Core detached from her body on its own, shattering into an infant, becoming her external Nascent Soul."
"And then what?"
"Later, his wife discovered that it wasn't Nascent Soul, but her son."
"... Fairy, if you have nothing else to do, you should go back to sleep."
"These are High Antiquity secrets, and I don't usually tell them to just anyone!" The Immortal Fairy was very dissatisfied with Lu Yang's nonchalant attitude.
She is the head of all High Antiquity immortals, the controller of the Immortal Dao Fruit. Every word she speaks is worth its weight in gold. Do you understand? Cherish it!
The story of the Immortal Fairy fits Lu Yang's consistent impression of her—unreliable.
After realizing that the fairy was unreliable, he stopped taking shortcuts and began to diligently study the Core Formation insights of his senior brothers, uncles, and grandmasters.
Whether following the Immortal Fairy's guidance is a shortcut or a wrong path is another matter.
"A single Golden Core, a first-grade Golden Core, the Golden Core is like the great sun, upright and incorruptible, residing in the center of the Dantian, guarding all directions. Demons, ghosts, and other evil things cannot approach it; if one gets close to women, the Golden Core will be destroyed and the person will die."
Lu Yang was quite lucky; he randomly picked up a book, flipped through a few pages, and found the Golden Core related to Meng Jingzhou.
Lu Yang closed the book and saw on the cover that it read "Insights into Core Formation - Written by Shendu Daoren".
The Daoist of Self-Reflection was the senior cultivator who named a single Spirit Root. This senior was a cultivator in the early days of the Great Yu Dynasty. It is unknown whether he died from exhaustion of his lifespan or buried himself to awaken when the great era arrived.
Lu Yang continued reading and discovered that the book, which claimed to be a guide to Core Formation, was more like a complaint from the Daoist of Self-Discipline.
"Damn it, why do I have such an unprecedented Spirit Root?"
"Was I being punished for doing bad things in my past life, or did I have too many wives in my past life, and this life is a way to balance things out?"
"Isn't the point of cultivating immortality to have multiple wives and concubines? Why am I the only one who's different from everyone else? What's the point of cultivating immortality then?!"
Lu Yang silently closed the book, put it back in its place, and pretended nothing had happened, continuing to read the next book.
"Huh, is this Senior Sister's Core Formation Insights?" Lu Yang exclaimed as if he had discovered a treasure. It was a thick book that recorded the Core Pill Formula and insights of his senior brothers and sisters.
The one ranked first is naturally the eldest sister.
He suppressed his excitement and read on, only to see that his senior sister had written:
"My method of achieving the Golden Core has no reference value whatsoever; please do not imitate it. Those who try to emulate me will die, and those who resemble me will die. To prevent future generations from imitating my Pill Formula, I cannot disclose it publicly."