Core Formed

After Lin Yun received word that Xin Ruoyin had met Han Li, he merely instructed them to repair the Teleportation Array as quickly as possible and activate it once he returned. Then he focused all his attention on refining the External Pill.

After two days of nurturing, the Five Elements Origin Pill had accumulated ample spiritual potency and was about to enter the final stage of core formation.

Outside the Origin Pill, the Taiji Eight Trigrams Furnace that Lin Yun had visualized had vanished, and the spiritual flame fueled by his true essence had also gone out.

Only a sky-blue qi current and a dark-red qi current remained around the Five Elements Origin Pill, flowing around it in alternation.

These two currents were the final, purest traces of stellar and fiend essence left from the Qianyang five elements stellar qi and five elements yin fiend-Qian Heaven yang qi and yin fiend qi.

A day later, having brought himself into optimal condition, Lin Yun initiated the final steps of Core Formation.

Beneath the night sky, the winds and clouds above Lin Yun's Temporary Cave Dwelling changed dramatically. A vast bank of dark clouds suddenly gathered overhead, blotting out the starlight.

Silver serpents danced wildly within the clouds, and thunderclaps rang out without end, frightening the nearby birds and beasts into fleeing through the mountain forests. Yet not a single bolt of lightning struck down.

Inside the Temporary Cave Dwelling, Lin Yun listened to the thunder with neither sorrow nor joy in his heart, silently urging the Five Elements Origin Pill within his profound aperture to begin absorbing the spiritual qi of heaven and earth.

As the Five Elements Origin Pill began absorbing spiritual qi, the spiritual qi outside the cave abode converged from every direction. Centered on the mountain where his abode stood, it began swirling with a sustained howl, forming an enormous vortex more than ten li across beneath the dark clouds and draining every last trace of spiritual qi from hundreds of li around.

As vast quantities of the essence qi of heaven and earth were refined, the rice-grain-sized Five Elements Origin Pill within his profound aperture gradually grew fuller, slowly reaching the size of a soybean.

Only by governing the five elements through yin and yang can one follow the true path of the Daoist Orthodox School.

Lin Yun watched the changes in the Five Elements Origin Pill without expression. At a thought from him, the Qian Heaven yang qi and yin fiend qi plunged into it like young swallows flying into an embrace.

Upon receiving this power of yin and yang, stellar and fiend, the Five Elements Origin Pill shuddered. A gleam of gold flashed across the surface of the five-colored pill embryo, followed by a sudden surge in its absorptive force. The spiritual qi within a hundred li was refined into the Origin Pill even faster.

The speed at which the five elements essence qi condensed into a core increased sharply, and it visibly grew from the size of a soybean to that of a longan.

Such tremendous fluctuations in spiritual qi naturally attracted attention from the outside world.

Just as Lin Yun triggered the spiritual qi vortex, at the Spirit Stone Mine several hundred li away from him.

The Ghost Spirit Sect and Joyful Union Sect cultivators stationed there immediately sent word to their superiors. At the same time, the two Foundation Establishment cultivators in charge took flight on their artifacts, heading toward the spiritual qi vortex.

However, the spiritual qi fluctuations Lin Yun had triggered were far too powerful. The two Foundation Establishment cultivators had barely taken to the air before the chaotic fluctuations disrupted the artifacts beneath their feet, nearly sending them plummeting from the sky.

The two exchanged startled glances. The Joyful Union Sect cultivator exclaimed, "Is this really Core Formation? I feel like even forming a Nascent Soul couldn't cause much more of a stir!"

The Ghost Spirit Sect cultivator shook his head and said with certainty, "It's not Nascent Soul formation. That causes a much greater disturbance than this. When an elder of our sect formed his Nascent Soul a few years ago, the spiritual pressure was far stronger."

Hearing this, the Joyful Union Sect cultivator nodded in understanding. He knew of the Ghost Spirit Sect elder who had recently formed his Nascent Soul. Without that breakthrough, the Ghost Spirit Sect's former strength would never have allowed it to take part in carving up the Yue Kingdom.

"Someone undergoing Core Formation here probably isn't from our Six Demonic Path Sects, right?" the Joyful Union Sect cultivator asked.

The Ghost Spirit Sect cultivator said with complete certainty, "Definitely not. One of our people would never choose such a remote place to undergo Core Formation. I'm certain it must be someone from the Six Sects."

A strange expression appeared on the Joyful Union Sect cultivator's face. "Then are we still going over to investigate? That's a Core Formation cultivator!"

The Ghost Spirit Sect cultivator's expression instantly froze. "How about we head back first? The Spirit Stone Mine is extremely important. We can't just abandon our posts, can we?"

The Joyful Union Sect cultivator nodded. With tacit understanding, the two immediately turned around and flew back to the Spirit Stone Mine on their artifacts.

Not long after the two Demonic Path cultivators returned to the Spirit Stone Mine.

Above Lin Yun's Temporary Cave Dwelling, the spiritual qi vortex finally absorbed enough spiritual qi. After a chorus of dragon cries and tiger roars rang out from its center, it began gradually dissipating.

As the spiritual qi vortex dispersed, five-colored radiance appeared in the air. At its center was a streak of the purest gold, dazzlingly brilliant against the night.

Then the thunder vanished, and the clouds began to part, revealing a sky full of stars. Starlight and five-colored radiance shone together, bathing Lin Yun's mountain in a dreamlike glow.

Inside the cave abode, a five-colored orb slowly revolved before Lin Yun. About the size of his thumb, it was perfectly round and flawless, its surface shrouded in a five-colored haze. On closer inspection, a trace of gold seemed to mingle with that haze, making it exceptionally beautiful.

With every revolution, the orb drew in and released spiritual qi. However, because nearly all the spiritual qi within a hundred li had already been devoured, the amount it now exchanged was almost imperceptible.

Looking at the Five Elements Origin Pill before him, Lin Yun nodded slightly. With a stir of his spiritual sense, he left his own spiritual sense imprint upon it.

Once he had left his spiritual sense imprint on the Five Elements Origin Pill, Lin Yun immediately felt a subtle connection between himself and the pill. With a thought, he instantly drew it back into his profound aperture.

As the pill entered his profound aperture, Lin Yun immediately sensed a deeper connection to it—the harmony between his innate five-element Dao body and the Five Elements Origin Pill.

With this harmony, the rate at which the Five Elements Origin Pill drew in and released spiritual qi instantly increased somewhat. Lin Yun also sensed that he could use the true essence in his Cinnabar Field to accelerate the pill's absorption of spiritual qi.

At the same time, after his true essence passed through the Five Elements Origin Pill and returned to his Cinnabar Field, it became a little purer.

Lin Yun already possessed an innate five-element Dao body and cultivated the method for refining five-element primordial qi recorded in the He Sha Marvelous Book. His true essence was already exceptionally pure.

Yet after being cycled through and purified by the Five Elements Origin Pill, it could actually become purer still. This change truly delighted Lin Yun.

After carefully examining the changes in his true essence, Lin Yun began trying to control the true essence within the Five Elements Origin Pill.

He formed a hand seal and pointed. Five-element true essence was rapidly drawn from the Origin Pill, and a Five-Colored Light Curtain immediately appeared above his head. Within it, the outline of a Five-Colored Light Wheel faintly emerged, though it remained extremely indistinct, almost imperceptible.

This was none other than the Great Five-Element Extinction Divine Light!

"Excellent! Now I can unleash my Great Five-Element Extinction Divine Light almost instantly. At last, I can use it to fight an enemy head-on

." A trace of delight appeared on Lin Yun's face.

But then he noticed that the Five Elements Origin Pill within his profound aperture had grown somewhat depleted after so much true essence had been drawn from it. His brows involuntarily furrowed. "It's just that this divine light consumes far too much when it relies entirely on the Origin Pill's own true essence..."

"It seems I still can't use the Great Five-Element Extinction Divine Light as a regular means of fighting enemies. I can only use it as my trump card."

After dispersing the divine light, Lin Yun was about to test the power of wielding a flying sword with Core Formation cultivation when he suddenly sensed two Core Formation Stage auras approaching from afar. One seemed to belong to a Joyful Union Sect cultivator, and the other to a Ghost Spirit Sect cultivator.