Golden Core Celestial Venerable

Golden Core Immortal Sect, Hall of Morality.

Golden Core Celestial Venerable sat reclining inside the slit-open belly of a Maitreya Buddha statue, preaching scriptures and expounding the Dao.

He held a red-covered scripture book and droned on at the disciples below. Whenever he encountered a character he did not know, he simply skipped it.

As he read on, the Celestial Venerable smacked his lips, feeling a little thirsty.

So he climbed down and walked over to a female disciple. Lifting her clothes, he began feeling around near her navel.

With a tug, a twist, and a pull, he actually pulled a golden fruit with a branch attached from inside her.

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Several glistening droplets still hung from the fruit.

The Celestial Venerable took a few bites of the fruit, looking satisfied as he praised her. "Your Golden Core is refined quite well. Very sweet."

The female disciple's face had already turned the color of gold paper, as though she had aged several decades in an instant. Yet she still answered respectfully, "It is all thanks to Master's excellent guidance."

Afterward, she stiffly took out a piece of cotton cloth and plugged the hole that had just been dug out near her navel.

Gu Qingfeng stood beside her, looking dazed, unable to believe that everything before him was real.

Just yesterday, he had been staying up late at home watching the World Cup. He had bet on Brazil to win, but just as he saw Brazil miss a penalty kick, his agitation had sent him here.

He had arrived in this strange and bizarre place, becoming a disciple of the Golden Core Immortal Sect.

The memories in his mind were fragmented and scarce, as if he had amnesia, making everything before him feel unfamiliar, terrifying, and incomprehensible.

He wanted to go home!

He would never gamble on football again!

Gu Qingfeng quickly realized he had been overthinking it. Forget going home—he might not even survive this immediate trial.

Because he discovered that he had gotten hard.

As Golden Core Celestial Venerable continued preaching, his breathing grew hurried and his body stiffened.

Even stranger, branches began sprouting from his shoulders and navel. Small golden fruits hung from those branches, and his entire body nearly turned into a tree.

A human tree?

Inside the Hall of Morality, every disciple of the Golden Core Immortal Sect was the same. Branches sprouted from their bodies, and golden fruits of varying sizes grew upon those branches.

These golden fruits were called "Golden Cores" by the Golden Core Celestial Venerable before them.

"When life stirs, a single yang is born; dimly appears the true lead water.

Heart fire, true yin, is like a woman; water, true yang, surges vast and mighty.

This is the Golden Core Dao!"

"Now let your master see how well you have cultivated your Golden Cores."

Golden Core Celestial Venerable finished reciting the scriptures and began testing his disciples.

Gu Qingfeng stood there like a stake, fear rising in his heart.

Even with his missing memories, he could tell that this so-called test would not be anything good.

His fellow disciples all wore grave expressions as well.

Yet at that moment, a string of giggles rang out in the solemn Hall of Morality, especially piercing to the ear.

It came from a tall senior sister standing opposite Gu Qingfeng. She was beautiful, tall, and long-legged. Branches sprouted from her body as she stood there laughing incessantly, making the Golden Cores on her branches sway without stop.

Gu Qingfeng and the nearby disciples all sensed disaster. Twisting their stiff bodies, they tried to move farther away from her.

In the blink of an eye, Golden Core Celestial Venerable appeared before the laughing female disciple.

"Is what your master said so funny?"

Golden Core Celestial Venerable was quite short, under five feet tall, nearly a head shorter than that senior sister. Yet when he raised his head to look at her nostrils, everyone's hearts clenched.

The senior sister had long since gone pale with fright, yet she continued to laugh as she explained in a trembling voice, "Master, Core Branch... itchy."

She laboriously raised her arm. At some point, a small branch had appeared beneath her armpit, with a tiny Golden Core hanging from it.

It must have been that ever-growing little branch that made her armpit itch so badly that she could not help laughing.

Seeing this, Golden Core Celestial Venerable said, "Your Core Branch has grown crooked. Let your master straighten it out for you."

As he spoke, he grabbed the protruding Core Branch and pulled!

A violent sound of flesh tearing rang out. The Core Branch, along with a large chunk of flesh from beneath the senior sister's armpit, was ripped out alive, blood spraying across the floor.

The tall senior sister let out a miserable scream, yet she did not move an inch.

Because she was now a "tree."

A bleeding "tree."

Afraid of displeasing the Celestial Venerable, she even forced down her screams almost immediately, her face drenched in sweat.

"Not itchy anymore, right?"

Golden Core Celestial Venerable asked with concern.

The senior sister hurriedly replied, "In reply to Master, it is no longer itchy."

Golden Core Celestial Venerable picked up the blood-dripping Core Branch and bit off the Golden Core on it, chewing.

His expression shifted between light and shadow, and no one dared even breathe loudly.

"Pah!"

The Celestial Venerable spat out a mouthful of pulp and sighed. "As expected of a crooked branch and crooked core. Astringent and bitter."

Then he looked gloomily at the senior sister again, at the thickest Core Branch above her navel, and asked, "How long have you been in the sect?"

"R-replying to Master, five months."

The tall senior sister answered, trembling all over.

Golden Core Celestial Venerable looked at her solemnly. "Five months means nearly half a year. During these six months, your master provided your food and drink, taught you wondrous methods, and bestowed spiritual pills upon you. Why is your Golden Core still so tiny and dim?"

"Everyone knows that I have always loved my disciples like my own children. But those who do not cultivate diligently are unworthy of being my disciples!"

"Master, spare my life!"

The tall senior sister begged in a tearful voice.

Instinctively, she wanted to kneel and beg for mercy, but it was already too late.

The Celestial Venerable had seized the thickest Core Branch above her navel and pulled!

In an instant, the entire Core Branch, along with the intestines in her belly, was torn out. Blood sprayed forth like a cascading waterfall.

The tall senior sister froze there at once, as if her soul had been violently ripped away. She did not even have time to scream.

She was dead!

She still stood there like a tree. Her once beautiful eyes were opened even wider, but her entire face and body seemed to have withered, like a dried corpse.

Overwhelming panic spread through the hall, and goosebumps rose all over Gu Qingfeng's body.

This senior sister had died just like that?

Just because her Core Branch had grown crooked and her Golden Core was not large enough?

The corpse stood right before him. Some of the blood that had sprayed from her belly moments ago had even splashed onto his neck.

The warm blood and the senior sister's wide, unclosing eyes constantly reminded Gu Qingfeng that this was not a dream, but a terrifying reality!

He wanted to go home!

Yet by an unfortunate coincidence, the Celestial Venerable's wise gaze soon fell upon him.

Upon his "Golden Cores."

Cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

Because Gu Qingfeng had compared them just now. His Golden Cores were not much larger than those of the senior sister who had just died. Two of them were even smaller.

Just like before, Golden Core Celestial Venerable came before him, grasped the Core Branch on his belly, and said with a divine expression, "The immortal sect does not raise idlers. Your senior sister just failed in her cultivation and left full of guilt. What about you?"

Gu Qingfeng stood there with a pale face, his mind completely blank...