Severing the Golden Core

The triangular battle formation's spiritual energy flowed, transforming into a golden barrier that trapped Lu Chen.

The three outside the formation quickly formed hand seals, and three chains shot from the void, coiling towards Lu Chen's limbs.

"Tricks of a minor artist," Lu Chen sneered, the Myriad Manifestations Furnace emerging from his dantian.

With a pull from the furnace's opening, the chains melted like ice and snow, becoming pure spiritual energy that was completely devoured.

Seizing the moment the formation wavered, he activated Wind and Thunder Steps to their limit, ghosting behind the formation's core cultivator and slashing with his blade.

Crack!

The formation core cultivator's neck snapped, and the golden barrier collapsed.

The remaining cultivators' livers and gallbladders split, scattering in all directions. Lu Chen caught up and slew them one by one.

In less than the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn, over twenty corpses littered the woods. Blood seeped into the rotten soil, stirring a chorus of bloodthirsty insects.

"Trash!" Luo Mingyuan, the third elder of the Luo Family, roared from the edge of the dense forest.

The Trace Seeking Crane in his hand trembled violently. He pointed, "Follow me in!"

Lu Chen expanded the Myriad Manifestations Furnace's phantom image to the size of a millstone, drawing all the corpses on the ground into the furnace.

"Refine!"

The furnace fire blazed, and bones and flesh transformed into pure energy, surging into his sea of qi and dantian like a tide.

His depleted Blood Essence instantly recovered by more than half.

"Roar--"

A beast's roar suddenly erupted from not far away. Luo Mingyuan's curses and the roar of his spells intertwined.

Unfortunately, they had run into a beast attack while pursuing Lu Chen.

Lu Chen's eyes lit up. The opponents were fighting the beasts in the forest, which meant...

He glanced up at the Trace Seeking Crane in the sky, a curve forming on his lips.

He climbed to the treetop and then exploded upwards, his bone blade cleaving the air. A blade light like a crescent moon slashed towards the Trace Seeking Crane!

Clang!

The bronze crane's wings flapped rapidly, narrowly dodging the blade's edge. The crane's pupils glowed green, shooting out two chains that coiled towards Lu Chen.

"This is what I was waiting for!" Lu Chen didn't dodge, allowing the chains to bind his right arm.

The Myriad Manifestations Furnace shot out from his body, its opening widening, and swallowed the Trace Seeking Crane and the chains in one gulp!

"Shatter!"

The furnace's malevolent fire surged. The bronze crane let out a mournful cry and exploded.

Lu Chen turned and lunged towards the chaotic battle ahead.

Luo Mingyuan smashed an approaching Ironclad Rhinoceros with a palm strike, then suddenly felt a jolt in his heart—the Trace Seeking Crane's aura had vanished.

"Retreat!" he roared, only to see a figure violently cutting through the beast horde. Blade light, like a blood-red rainbow piercing the sun, slashed directly at his face!

"Insolent brat, you court death!" Luo Mingyuan roared with laughter, his Golden Core Realm pressure erupting. Spiritual energy condensed into solid golden armor around him.

He was a Golden Core First Layer expert of the Luo Family. If Lu Chen hadn't caused such a massive disturbance, he wouldn't have bothered coming out.

The blade's aura struck the golden armor, splashing a string of sparks.

Luo Mingyuan flipped his palm and struck out. A giant golden seal descended like a mountain, forcing Lu Chen back over ten feet, snapping ancient trees in its path.

"A mere Qi Surge Realm cultivator, and you dare contend with me?" Luo Mingyuan hovered in the air, looking down arrogantly. "Hand over the furnace treasure, and I'll leave your corpse intact."

Lu Chen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and suddenly grinned, "Old dog, what are you so proud of!"

As soon as he spoke, he stomped heavily. The Myriad Manifestations Furnace, lurking underground, suddenly rose, its opening aimed at Luo Mingyuan, spewing forth a torrent of black flames.

This was the ultimate yin malevolent fire refined from the Trace Seeking Crane and nearly a hundred corpses!

"Tricks of a minor..." Luo Mingyuan waved his sleeve to block, only to discover that the moment his spiritual energy touched the black flames, it vanished like a clay ox entering the sea. His golden armor rapidly dissolved.

He retreated in horror, but Lu Chen had already calculated his escape route. With a flash of Wind and Thunder Steps, his bone blade, wrapped in Qi and Blood Protective Aura, stabbed towards his back!

Gurgle!

The blade tip pierced the gap in the golden armor and emerged from his chest.

Luo Mingyuan looked down in disbelief, seeing the blade energy spread along the wound, his internal organs instantly pulverized.

"You... how dare you..."

"Golden Core Realm? Nothing more." Lu Chen twisted the blade, and Luo Mingyuan's body exploded.

The Myriad Manifestations Furnace swept up, devouring the dissipating Golden Core, flesh, and blood. The furnace's blood patterns brightened, feeding back a stream of pure energy.

Lu Chen closed his eyes to regulate his breathing. When he opened them again, the blood-red hue in his eyes had faded, leaving only a cold, clear light.

His figure flickered as he killed his way towards the others.

As the east turned the color of fish belly, he shook the bloodstains from his blade and stepped into the mountain forest, hidden by the morning mist.

On a hilltop outside Qingshi Town, thirty li east of Cangwu City, Lu Chen sat wrapped in a coarse cloth cloak.

He held a Golden Core the size of a pigeon's egg in his palm.

Fine cracks floated on the surface of the Golden Core, and within it, a wisp of golden light slithered like a snake. This was precisely Luo Mingyuan's Golden Core, cultivated for a hundred years.

"The essence of a Golden Core cultivator is truly extraordinary."

He activated the Myriad Manifestations Furnace. A dark glow from the furnace's opening engulfed the Golden Core and the bronze short halberd found on Luo Mingyuan's corpse, drawing them both inside.

The furnace fire instantly shifted from red to gold, the sound of smelting rolling like muffled thunder.

Half a day later, the furnace body vibrated with a "hum," and three items floated out: a pool of golden liquid, a fragment, and the iron essence formed from the melted bronze short halberd.

As the golden liquid entered his abdomen, Lu Chen felt as if his limbs and bones were immersed in a hot spring. The blood-colored furnace in his Qi Sea suddenly expanded by a circle, and his realm stabilized at the peak of the second level of the Qi Surge Realm.

His strength increased by another 144 Bull Strength.

The moment the fragment touched his palm, it transformed into a stream of light and drilled into his bone blade.

Clang!

The bone blade trembled violently, spiderweb-like patterns appearing on its surface. An arcane message flooded into his consciousness: "Spirit artifact, newly forged."

Lu Chen swung the blade lightly, and a large rock in the distance silently split into two halves, its surface as smooth as a mirror.

"The low-grade spirit artifact, Soul Severing Saber, is complete?" Lu Chen's mind was greatly shaken.

The implications were self-evident.

Forging a spirit artifact was not something just anyone could succeed at.

Even King Yanbei couldn't produce a handful of them.

Yet he managed to create one by borrowing the power of a Golden Core...

Unbelievable!

He put away the bone blade, opened his palm, and a slightly "bloated" broken blade composed of Qi and Blood Protective Aura appeared in his hand.

He then threw it, boom!

The broken blade shot into the ground, blasting a three-meter-deep pit.

"This is the lowest tier of Qi and Blood Protective Aura, not yet condensed into a Gang Soldier, but the sudden explosive power..."

Lu Chen blinked.

It was no less than his own violent strike.

He had gained another means of attack.

At noon, he entered the only tavern in Qingshi Town, the Drunken Dust Residence.

Inside, a few rogue cultivators sat sparsely at greasy wooden tables. The innkeeper was arguing with a grey-clothed man.

"Zhou Yan, if you delay your liquor payment this month any further, don't blame me for throwing out your broken Formation Disks!"

"Just three more days! Once I sell this batch of talismans..." The grey-clothed man clutched a faded formation diagram, his knuckles turning white.

The innkeeper scoffed, raising his hand and flipping over the wooden box in the man's arms.

Over a dozen low-quality fire talismans scattered across the floor. The edges of the talismans were scorched and curled, clearly indicating that the heat control had gone awry during their crafting.

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes—though the grey-clothed man was down on his luck, a damaged Profound Iron Formation Disk hung from his waist. Faint lightning patterns flowed across its surface, indicating it was no ordinary item.

"I'll settle his tab." He flicked a spirit stone, and the bone blade was casually placed on the table.

The pressure of the spirit artifact emanated, and the innkeeper immediately fell silent, retreating with a fawning smile.

Zhou Yan looked up in astonishment. He saw that although the man before him had an ordinary face, his eyes were as deep as an abyss. He quickly clasped his hands:

"Thank you, brother, but I have nothing of value to repay this kindness."

"No need to repay it." Lu Chen picked up the wine pot and took a sip. "I only want to ask you, do you know about the Luo Family's blood sacrifice in Cangwu City?"

This was intelligence gathered during the prolonged conflict with the Luo Family.

However, he only knew about their blood sacrifice; the specific details were unknown.

This was the main reason for his appearance here, as he wished to inquire about it.

Zhou Yan's pupils contracted, and he lowered his voice, "It's not convenient here. Please follow me."