The Heart Ape Sits Upon the False Core, Flesh Transforms

The Third Realm of Life Cultivation is called Core Forging.

As its name suggests, the core and most important aspect of this realm lies in forging Inner Core, also known as the Golden Core, or, for demons, Demon Core.

The Inner Core cannot be achieved overnight; it requires gradual progress. This is why the Third Realm is divided into four stages.

In the first stage, the Seven Souls manifest and the Kidney Fire is generated, which can transform the Martial Dao Will and lay the foundation. Once you are familiar with the characteristics of the manifested Seven Souls, you can use the Kidney Fire to forge them into one.

This process requires a lot of energy, but this energy is not Spiritual Qi in the ordinary sense. In addition to Qi and Blood, soul power is also required!

The second stage of the Core-Forging Realm involves extracting the Three Souls: merging the Human Soul with the Four Souls strength, essence, qi, and heroism; introducing the Earthly Soul into the Central Pivot Soul and the Wisdom Soul; and introducing the Heavenly Soul into the Heaven-Rushing Soul.

Only when the Three Souls and Seven Souls combine, with the Seven Souls as the main element in the refining process, can the False Core be formed.

Strictly speaking, the False Core is merely the union of soul and spirit, perfectly round like a elixir, not yet a complete whole, yet it has already concentrated a person's life into one.

Only when the soul and spirit truly unite will they become one, and at that time, the True Core will be formed.

The True Core Elixir is the Fourth Tier of the Core-Forging Realm. Fire is generated within the elixir, preparing for further advancement and entry into the Fourth Realm, the Purple Mansion.

Therefore, to merge the False Core, one must Unity Return, but with life as the primary factor.

This is actually similar to the Third Realm of Nature Cultivation Unity Realm, the Unity Realm. The first level of the Soul-Nourishing by the Corporeal Soul of the Three Souls United, and the second level is the nourishment of the soul by the physical body. In fact, it is to use the physical body to nourish the soul.

Using the soul to nourish the Divine Soul is to gradually unite the soul and spirit, but the spirit is the primary element.

When Qiu Yan first entered this realm, his soul was in the Scholar Forest. By chance, he obtained the Realm Stone and, through various fortuitous opportunity and coincidences, nurtured his Divine Soul without relying on his own physical body. He even went further and entered the Third Tier of the Unity Realm, where his Divine Soul was like blood and gave birth to Divine Sense.

This blood-red color is the color of the body, similar to the color of blood and Qi and Blood.

In this way, Qiu Yan's path of Life Cultivation was impeded, because how could the Blood Divine Soul, with its Three Souls United, still be used to refine the False Core?

This is also why Qiu Yan did not advance further after entering the Core-Forging Realm.

Not long ago, when Qiu Yan was walking in the wild, Upper Spirit passing by. His Seven Souls showed faint signs of coalescing and seemed to be forming False Core. However, without the infusion of soul power and willpower, it was ultimately just a mirage.

It was because of this that Qiu Yan had an idea. This idea was not a spur-of-the-moment thought, but rather it had already taken shape when he was farming and studying outside the Eastern Capital.

"If you want to advance your Life Cultivation further, the prerequisite is to choose the Fate Dao as the foundation within the Way of Nature and Life, and then let the Nature Dao serve as a supplement. My Nature Dao was already advanced back in the Scholar Forest, so how can it be used as a condiment for cultivating Life Cultivation?"

Thinking this, Qiu Yan's gaze shifted and landed on the shadow of the Heart Ape not far away.

This Heart Ape, acquired from the Scholar Forest, is formed from a combination of distracting thoughts, much like an incomplete soul. In a sense, it can replace the Divine Soul to a certain extent.

"The Heart Ape is chaotic and disordered, but it is not truly without rules. The treacherous place on the Yin Side of the Scholar Forest's abode is not only home to the Heart Ape. The Mind Horse and the Winged Dragon seen at the last moment should all represent a certain characteristic. One of the characteristics of this Heart Ape is its frenzy, which originates from instinct. It is the desire for Transcendence in everyone's subconscious, a desire to be unrestrained and return to the primal state."

The size of the Heart Ape's shadow is determined by the mind, but to sustain Heart Ape movement, it requires a massive amount of mental energy and thoughts, which most people simply cannot bear. If one were to fight with another, releasing the Heart Ape would not be enough to win in one strike. If it were to be maintained for a short while, it could drain the mental energy of a Third Realm cultivator, causing them to become mentally exhausted.

As for ordinary mortals, they would probably be driven mad by their distracting thoughts as soon as they come into contact with the Heart Ape. If they try to control it, the best outcome will be the collapse of their thoughts and the loss of their self.

It can be said that the Heart Ape is a bottomless pit.

It was only because Qiu Yan had Divine Spirit Body as his backing that he was able to use the Incense Faith of millions of believers to fill this dark hole. However, in reality, due to the limitations imposed by the Incense Faith, the true power of the Heart Ape was not manifested.

"I have a treasure trove but cannot exploit it. However, although the Heart Ape is powerful, this constant use of Incense Faith will inevitably affect the normal operation of the divine Domain of Law in the long run. Rather than this, it would be better to use it in a different way. If we can understand the Heart Ape more deeply, perhaps we can find a way to save on Incense Faith. In addition, those two old Daoists also saw through the Heart Ape's potential and mentioned the concept of 'assistance to attaining the Dao.' I wonder what mystery lies behind this."

Thinking this, Qiu Yan reached out and summoned the Heart Ape, which transformed into a beam of light and returned. However, halfway through its flight, the beam of light suddenly split in two!

It split into two parts, one large and one small, one thick and one thin.

The smaller one is only one-third the size of the larger one.

"Ugh..." At the same time, Qiu Yan's face suddenly turned pale, a tearing pain erupted in his consciousness, followed by a roar in his five senses, as if his brain was about to explode.

"When I subdued the Heart Ape, I merged my consciousness into it. From then on, the Heart Ape became an extension of my consciousness. Besides my random thoughts and instincts, my will also controls the Heart Ape. Now, with this split, it's like cutting my consciousness in two. The pain involved is indeed unbearable for most people."

Despite the lessening of the pain, Qiu Yan still felt dizzy, unsteady on his feet, and swayed. The larger beam of light had merged into his body, transforming into the shape of Heart Ape, which sat cross-legged within the Heart Fire. However, compared to before, the Heart Ape appeared somewhat weak and would need some time to recover.

Immediately afterwards, the smaller ray of light also poured into Qiu Yan's body, but instead of flying towards the Heart Fire, it went all the way down to his lower abdomen, merging with the Kidney Fire and sparking!

Boom!

The next moment, as if a thunderbolt had struck the Earthfire, the Kidney Fire suddenly surged up, sparks scattered and fell to the surroundings, where they were absorbed by the seven Soul Shadow.

After Qiu Yan's Seven Souls returned to their orifices, they surrounded the Kidney Fire, as if protecting it. Now that they were touched by the sparks of the Kidney Fire, the Seven Souls immediately began to pulsate.

At this moment, Qiu Yan's mind shifted, and he silently recited scriptures and texts in his soul, evolving the Way of the Sages, which finally transformed into the prototype of his own doctrine.

The prototype was divided into two and quickly evolved into two characters, one for "knowledge" and the other for "practice".

The word "knowing" turned and entered the Divine Soul, while "walking" fell like a meteor shower, crashing straight down and directly into the Kidney Fire.

The next moment, the kidney fire surged, followed by the seven souls, and the word "Xing" inside slowly melted, and the prototype of a mental ape appeared, sitting cross-legged in the fire, stretching its legs and feet, but immediately after, its body shape was covered by the seven souls.

The Seven Souls connect and merge, and the artistic conceptions and phenomena they represent emerge one after another, then enter the Kidney Fire in succession, and gradually, a perfectly round elixir appears.

Tremble!

The moment the elixir took shape, Qiu Yan felt as if he were being electrocuted, a tingling sensation flowing through his body, and a strange feeling welled up in his mind.

With a sudden thought, he raised his right hand, and in a flash, the flesh and blood on his hand disintegrated, turning into wisps of black mist that vaguely condensed into the shape of Crow, causing the surrounding Fortune fluctuate.

"Once the False Core is formed, the flesh and blood can undergo a transformation. When Tang Lai fought me, he transformed into a stream of water, which was extremely unpredictable. When fighting, it was even more difficult to defend against. Moreover, a cultivator at the False Core level can already contend with Sixth-Rank Deity with just the strength of their physical body."

Thinking this, Qiu Yan's face grew paler and paler, and the round False Core throbbed in his lower abdomen.

This Great Elixir appears to be a single entity, but it is not a true elixir. Rather, it is formed by the fusion of the seven Seven Souls on the outside and the Kidney Fire residing inside, thus transforming the nature of the flesh and blood. It relies on the Divine Ability of the Seven Souls on the surface, but it still consumes the power of the Kidney Fire inside.

Kidney Fire is the essence of Qi and Blood in the body. This was Qiu Yan's first attempt to change the nature of his flesh and blood, and he was not very proficient at it. A simple movement consumed a large amount of Kidney Fire. In addition, the aftereffects of tearing his mind were still there. Even Qiu Yan felt that he could not take it.

He reassembled the scattered flesh and blood, then glanced around.

The room was completely unrecognizable. Not only were the furnishings gone, but the walls, the ceiling, and the floor were all melted away, as if lava had rolled down over them, leaving a scene of utter devastation.

But once outside that room, the rest of the area remained largely unaffected; only the corridor near the entrance was slowly melting away.

"Those two old Daoists' control over power was truly meticulous. If I hadn't relied on the Divine Sense of my Divine Spirit Body, I probably wouldn't have been able to achieve that level."

Thinking this, Qiu Yan waved his arm, his sleeves billowing, gathering the many traces remaining in the air and forming a colorful ball of light in his hand.

"This Martial Dao Spirit, like the Daoist methods of Nature Cultivation, is a level higher than Dao Arts and Martial Dao Will. Dao Arts and Martial Dao Will can only circulate the surrounding Spiritual Qi and borrow the power of the Five Elements, while Martial Dao Spirit and Daoist methods communicate with Yin-Yang and Yang, generate power out of thin air, and can even project the image in one's heart. Even after the caster withdraws their power, traces will remain, and these traces will still be there after several years or decades."

As Qiu Yan pondered, he gradually calmed his discomfort. He glanced at the colorful ball of light in his hand, then separated a wisp of his Divine Sense to tame it. Finally, he slapped the jade pendant at his waist.

The jade pendant immediately changed its luster, its color dimming slightly, revealing a mysterious aura.

After doing all this, he strode forward, grabbed the two old Daoists from the ground, turned to leave, but stopped at the door. With a flick of his sleeve, a silver ingot fell to the ground, and then he snatched the Incense Burner from the table.

Unexpectedly, the Incense Burner suddenly let out a howl, sprang up on its own, and then turned around, trying to escape through the window!

"Hmm?" Qiu Yan's heart stirred. He sent out several strands of his Divine Sense, which swiftly flew out, spun in mid-air, and released several bursts of intent, freezing the Incense Burner in mid-air. Finally, he pulled it back and grabbed it! (To be continued...)

P. S.: There will be another update around 11 PM, making it the third update.

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