"That means compressing gaseous true essence to its absolute limit until it becomes solid. The slightest mistake will make your dantian explode, condemning you beyond all redemption! What ordinary genius doesn't spend twenty or thirty years honing himself at Xiantian Paragon before daring to try?"
Mu Qing was so anxious that he stamped his feet and waved his hands repeatedly. "No! Absolutely not! Chen'er, you have extraordinary talent and a limitless future. You mustn't ruin your foundations by recklessly chasing quick gains! The heavenly lightning tribulation triggered by Core Formation is a deadly thing!"
Seeing how desperately worried the two old men were, Qin Chen was moved, but he merely smiled and released a wisp of his aura.
Boom!
An exceedingly pure, domineering surge of dark-gold true essence, condensed to an outrageous degree, rose from Qin Chen's body and formed a faintly visible phantom of a Primordial Ancestral Dragon in midair.
Feng Yuzi and Mu Qing fell abruptly silent. As though struck by an immobilization spell, they froze where they stood, staring blankly at the ancestral dragon's phantom.
Only after a long while did Feng Yuzi swallow with difficulty and exchange a glance with Mu Qing. Both saw a profound sense of helplessness in the other's eyes.
"A monster... a bloody monster who defies all reason..." Mu Qing yanked out a whisker, baring his teeth in pain, yet he could not help laughing.
"Fine, fine. I must have water in my brain to try to reason with you, brat." Feng Yuzi casually tossed the pack on his back to the ground and swept his wide sleeve. "Since you're this confident, Old Ghost Mu and I will stake these old lives of ours and stay a while longer! I'd like to see just what a terrifying spectacle the lightning tribulation summoned by a thirteen-year-old at the Golden Core stage will be!"
Several days later, in a secret chamber at the Eastern Pacifying Prince's Residence in Yanjing City.
Qin De sat in a broad grandmaster's chair, tightly clutching a secret letter that had just arrived by urgent delivery from Cloudmist Manor.
The handwriting in the letter still bore Qin Chen's familiar iron strokes and silver hooks, but its contents stirred towering waves in Qin De's sea of thoughts.
"Preparing to attempt a breakthrough into the Golden Core Realm and face the lightning tribulation..."
Qin De stared fixedly at those words. Light flickered violently in his deep eyes, and even the muscles of his face twitched slightly from the overwhelming surge of emotion.
At that moment, Qin De's heart was a jumble of every flavor.
How many years had he spent preparing to reach the Golden Core Realm?
Ever since his wife had died and he had sworn a blood oath to overthrow the Xiang Family's dynasty, he had cultivated tirelessly, day and night.
After switching to the cultivation technique Qin Chen had given him, he had spent another three years honing himself before he felt confident that, a year later, he could face his Four-Nine Heavenly Tribulation and formally step onto the great path of the Golden Core.
He had thought he would become the Qin Family's first Golden Core stage expert, using his broad shoulders and formidable strength to hold up a blue sky free of slaughter and oppression for his three sons.
But now, what was he seeing?
At thirteen years old, Qin Chen had actually sent him a letter saying, as casually as could be: Dad, I'm going to achieve Core Formation. I'm going to undergo my tribulation.
Shock, bewilderment, disappointment, doubt... all manner of emotions intertwined in Qin De's heart.
For an instant, he even wondered whether all his decades of painstaking cultivation had gone to the dogs.
But immediately afterward, every negative feeling melted away like ice and snow, replaced by irrepressible elation and overwhelming pride!
"Hahaha... hahahahaha!"
A deafening burst of wild laughter suddenly erupted in the empty, dim secret chamber. Qin De sprang to his feet, his powerful frame trembling slightly, a hint of redness already rimming his eyes.
"Good! Excellent! Truly a son of mine, Qin De! Truly the son Jingyi risked her life to bring into this world!" Qin De slammed his palm onto the thousand-year ironwood desk before him, actually leaving a deep palm print in its incomparably hard surface.
"The Golden Core stage at thirteen... when, throughout all history, has the Qianlong Continent ever produced someone with such astonishing brilliance? The Xiang Family? The Martial God Hall? Before such heaven-defying talent, they're all nothing but clay chickens and earthen dogs!"
Once his excitement passed, Qin De quickly calmed down, and a commander's keen instincts instantly took over.
A Golden Core lightning tribulation was no trifling matter.
Once the lightning tribulation descended, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a hundred li would run wild, with tribulation clouds bearing down overhead in an immense display.
If the Chu State's royal Xiang Family or those hostile forces discovered that the one triggering the lightning tribulation was actually the thirteen-year-old third young master of the Eastern Pacifying Prince's Residence, they would stop at nothing, even pouring out in full force, to kill Qin Chen during his tribulation!
When a tree rose above the forest, the wind would surely batter it down.
A genius who had matured was a deterrent, but an unparalleled prodigy undergoing his tribulation, at his weakest, was a juicy morsel in everyone's eyes.
"He absolutely cannot undergo his tribulation at Cloudmist Manor. It's too close to the towns, with too many people and prying eyes. Once heaven's might descends, there'll be no concealing it."
Qin De strode over to the enormous military map of the Qianlong Continent hanging on the secret chamber's wall, his gaze sweeping rapidly across it like a hawk's.
"The outskirts of the Primordial Wilderness? No. Demonic beasts roam everywhere, and there are too many variables."
"The coast of the Eastern Sea? Too far. His movements could easily be exposed along the way."
At last, Qin De's gaze fixed firmly on a dangerous location eight hundred li from Yanjing City, within territory under the Eastern Pacifying Prince's Residence's absolute control-the Black Wind Grand Canyon.
Poisonous miasma filled it year-round, fierce winds raged through it, and people rarely ventured there. Moreover, the canyon lay extremely deep, screened by several surrounding peaks a thousand zhang high, making it a naturally excellent place to conceal an aura.
More importantly, the reserve camp of his most trusted and loyal secret army, the Blackwater Ironclad Army, was stationed there.
"Attend me!" Qin De's voice was cold and sharp as a blade, carrying an unquestionable air of deadly severity.
The secret chamber's door opened, and Xu Yuan, chief steward of the Eastern Pacifying Prince's Residence, strode in with a solemn expression. "Your Highness."
"Pass down my highest military command!" Qin De turned, fixing Xu Yuan with a blazing gaze. "Effective immediately, mobilize three battalions of the Fierce Tiger Army. Under the pretext of field exercises, seal off the area within fifty li of the Black Wind Grand Canyon's perimeter. Anyone who dares trespass is to be killed without mercy!"
"Order every elite member of the Heavenly Web into action. Eliminate all suspicious spies within a hundred li of the canyon. Better to kill the wrong person than let one escape!"
"Go to the treasury and take out the formation discs for that Eight Desolations Spirit-Locking Formation, along with all the high-grade spirit stones."
Xu Yuan listened with his heart pounding. He, too, was filled with delighted surprise at that moment and immediately accepted the orders. "As you command!"
Watching Xu Yuan leave, Qin De drew a deep breath, clasped his hands behind his back, and looked toward Cloudmist Manor, his eyes filled with anticipation and regret.
Although he very much wanted to go there in person to stand guard over his son and watch Qin Chen survive the lightning tribulation and become a Golden Core cultivator with his own eyes, he knew he could not. All of Great Chu's eyes were on him; if he moved, the Chu State's gaze would follow. He did not want to add more uncertainties to Qin Chen's breakthrough because of himself.
At Cloudmist Manor, Qin Chen received Qin De's reply and prepared to set out for the Black Wind Grand Canyon. Just then, a sturdy youth walked in. "Third Brother, I want to go too."
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