Artificial Core Formation (5,000 words)

The Hu Mang brought the small Golden Nature ball close to its eyes and examined it carefully.

In the palm of his hand, a small Golden Nature sphere, formed from the medicinal power and vital energy, was slowly rotating, radiating a warm and gentle golden light.

The small ball was about the size of a pigeon egg, with a smooth, mirror-like surface. Inside, faint wisps of silvery-white lightning could be seen moving about, like lightning trapped in amber.

He had just taken the "True Condensation Pill" and reached a critical moment. His entire body trembled, and although the "Flower of Spirit" had not yet condensed, he almost formed the Golden Core.

This "True Condensation Pill" truly lives up to its description.

This elixir is specially refined for cultivators to purify their true essence and solidify their Law Power foundation. Taking it can increase one's cultivation level by ten years.

With just one pill, the Hu Mang almost formed its golden core, and based on its Hu Mang, it was certain that this time it had condensed a high-quality Golden Core.

Then, the Hu Mang was startled. A flash of inspiration struck him, and he remembered the "Flesh and Blood Golden Core" from before. He immediately spat out the condensed Golden Core pill.

Then he was dumbfounded.

Can this Golden Core really be spat out?

Isn't it said that the Golden Core cannot leave the body, only the Nascent Soul can?

Then what am I?

"Could it be because of this?"

Hu Mang immediately recalled that when he was digesting the pill, the "Flower of Essence" and the "Flower of Qi" shone brightly.

"The Golden Core cannot leave the body because it is the foundation of Golden Core Heavenly Gate cultivator, just as the physical body is to the soul of a mortal."

"However, my foundation has shifted from the Golden Core to the Three Flowers stage, so the Golden Core leaving my body is not a major problem."

"If we do it this way, even if my core is shattered, it won't affect me much."

The Hu Mang muttered to itself.

Without saying a word, he swallowed the condensed Golden Core pill in one gulp.

Continue with the Core Formation!

The condensed Golden Core elixir slid down his throat into his abdomen, returning to his Dantian and re-establishing a connection with his essence, energy, and spirit.

He closed his eyes, formed hand seals, and the Mystic Peak True Qi within his body began to circulate again, guiding the Golden Core to slowly sink into the core of his Dantian, continuing the process of core formation.

This time, he did not suppress it, allowing that power to flow, condense, and sublimate naturally within his body, steadily progressing towards that true, complete Golden Core.

The reason why shattering the core damages a cultivator's foundation is primarily because the core is located in the Dantian. Once shattered, the Law Power impacts the Dantian and even all the meridians surrounding Dantian. Therefore, no one would choose to shatter the core unless absolutely necessary.

However, since the Hu Mang can "separate its Golden Core from its body," it can certainly repeatedly form a golden elixir.

There's no need to resort to sophisticated maneuvers like Gu Yunshu, only to retreat at the crucial moment.

Soon, the golden patterns reappeared on his skin, a result of the Spiritual Qi of the Golden Core projecting outward through his meridians.

During this process, Hu Mang took two more "True Condensation Pill." According to his senior brother, more pills are not necessarily better; three are the best.

This time, there were no disturbances or setbacks.

The Hu Mang successfully formed its elixir.

High-quality Golden Core!

He opened his eyes, looked down at his Dantian, and could feel the warm, pulsating energy of the Golden Core, like a small furnace burning within him, even through his clothes.

He clenched his fist, feeling the Spiritual Qi within his body, many times stronger than before, surging through his meridians, and a satisfied smile appeared on his lips.

Then he opened his mouth and spat out the Golden Core.

A single Golden Core, perfectly round, radiant with light, pure and radiant, hung suspended in the vast void.

The surrounding matter seemed to have vanished, leaving only the Golden Core before them.

It's even smaller than the previous pigeon egg, and according to Daoist teachings, it's called a millet pearl, only the size of a grain of rice.

It's not actually gold in color, but rather an extremely bright shine.

According to the Heavenly Gate standard, successful Foundation Establishment Formation directly increase Law Power by 30 times.

This is also the standard for high-quality Golden Core.

However, Hu Mang already possessed Golden Core level Law Power, so he only felt that his Law Power had increased several times.

Regardless, Hu Mang is now a standard Golden Core cultivator, and in terms of Law Power alone, he is not much inferior to the powerful figures of the unorthodox sects in this world.

"What a pity, it still hasn't reached perfect Core Formation."

"It seems that unless I pursue a purely demonic path to Core Formation, with my talent, my upper limit is only a high-quality Golden Core."

The Hu Mang muttered to itself.

He doesn't have obsessive-compulsive disorder about achieving a perfect Core Formation. There are ordinary Core Formation cultivators who can even reach Nascent Soul or Spirit Transformation, let alone someone with a high-quality Core Formation.

However, he was quite interested in the idea of the unity of the three religions that Old Xie mentioned.

He then attempted the "Buddha-Devil Transformation".

Sure enough, it was as if an invisible membrane was blocking the "Buddhist teachings" and the "Devil Cultivation Method," and the efficiency of the Buddha-Devil Transformation was only 60% of the original.

This barrier will grow thicker as the Hu Mang's Law Power increases, until it completely blocks the "Buddha-Devil Transformation".

"But since the Golden Core can leave the body, it doesn't matter."

Looking at the tiny golden particles emitting a burst of spiritual light in mid-air, the Hu Mang could try again and again.

Until the perfect Core Formation is achieved.

No, it is the perfect condensation of the three teachings into one.

"By the way, isn't the Heavenly Gate Core Formation supposed to require Artificial Lightning Tribulation Tower? I didn't use it. Would it be more effective if I had?"

After swallowing the Golden Core once more, Hu Mang confirmed that the array outside the Seclusion Chamber was still functioning normally. He then teleported back to Earth Star in a flash of lightning.

Zheng Family Garden

Top floor of the research building

An Artificial Lightning Tribulation Tower that crossed the ocean

With Hu Mang's financial support, Sun Jidao didn't come alone. He brought a team with him and, before leaving Heavenly Gate, made a large-scale purchase of high-precision research equipment that was only available in Heavenly Gate.

They even managed to acquire a second-hand Lightning Tribulation Tower.

This Lightning Tribulation Tower alone cost Hu Mang 100 million, and that was an internal price.

Sun Jidao only managed to get his hands on it by using his Nascent Soul mentor's connections.

At this moment, he was chatting casually with his assistant while adjusting the equipment.

"Senior brother, is the Spiritual Qi here enough?"

"The Spiritual Qi is definitely enough, the key is electricity. Fortunately, the second phase of the spiritual power station in Java is finished, and our boss happens to have an acquaintance at the station, so he stole some electricity from us, so there's no problem."

"By the way, Little Zhang, where's your Senior Brother Wu?"

"Senior Brother Wu has gone off to study his little devil from Nanyang again."

"That good-for-nothing," Sun Jidao cursed.

In his newly formed team, most of the students were Foundation Establishment students he recruited from medical school, the kind with very innocent eyes. The only Golden Core Elixir researcher was Wu Cai, who was in the same class as him. He was a postdoctoral fellow and went to work for a pharmaceutical company after graduation. He was the one who developed a famous Golden Core drug. He was a high-end talent that he had spent a lot of effort to recruit.

However, once this guy arrived in Nanyang, he became obsessed with all sorts of ghosts and monsters, especially the Jiangtou Ghost sealed in the skin of a dead dragon in Zheng Family Garden. He would go out to collect data on ghosts every day before dawn.

If it weren't for the fact that his regular work wasn't being neglected, he would have dumped the other person.

My acupuncture project isn't even on track yet, what are you doing?!

As Sun Jidao manipulated the power, rolling dark clouds began to rise from the first floor of the eight-story Lightning Tribulation Tower, then the second, the third...

With each layer you pass, the terrifying dark clouds grow several layers thicker.

By the time they reached the eighth level, it was pitch black, and countless artificial tribulation lightning bolts had reached their limit.

Not all Core Formation cultivators need to reach the eighth level.

In fact, most Core Formation cultivators do not need to unlock the eighth level.

The eighth level is reserved for those who are confident in condensing a high-quality Golden Core.

He had only reached the seventh level back then. He originally intended to reach the sixth level, but his Nascent Soul doctoral supervisor kicked him to the seventh level.

He was very grateful for his doctoral supervisor's intervention; without his guidance, he would not have been able to condense a high-quality Golden Core.

I was just a hair's breadth away from reaching the level of the Industrial Golden Core.

"Is the Spiritual Qi detector turned on?"

"It's open."

"Body detector."

"It's open."

"Monitoring Law Artifact."

"It's open."

As the words were spoken, the screen displayed the image of the eighth floor.

As the wealthy and powerful boss, Sun Jidao naturally had to provide personal service. He just has thinning hair, not low emotional intelligence.

However, he didn't really think it was a big deal.

Based on various medical examination reports, the boss was quite confident in condensing "high-quality Golden Core".

As expected, the Hu Mang quickly adapted to the environment of the "artificial thundercloud".

The dark clouds and lightning began to generate a vortex of Spiritual Qi around him.

Sun Jidao glanced at the peak Spiritual Qi level and found that it had exceeded 1.5 million.

Even a typical Golden Core might not be able to withstand this level of intensity.

"Did the boss work in the government before starting his business overseas? How come he's so physically imposing?" Assistant Little Zhang asked, puzzled.

He knew that some departments within the system could forcibly increase physical strength.

But these are usually classified departments.

Can people from this department be easily released?

Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask.

Sun Jidao said without looking up.

He couldn't very well say that this "boss" was only in the Qi Refining Realm half a year ago, could he?

"Brother Sun, Brother Sun, look, look!!"

"What's wrong now?"

Sun Jidao frowned and looked up. "Aren't all the data normal? These college students these days really make a fuss over nothing."

Then he looked up and blurted out, "Holy crap!"

In the scene, the Hu Mang opened its mouth and spat out a point of golden light that fell into the dark clouds. Then, the golden light exploded, and the Artificial Lightning Tribulation Tower, Treasure Artifact, roared.

Amidst this thunderous sound, the Hu Mang began to form its core once again.

Sun Jidao was so happy he couldn't close his mouth.

Can the Golden Core leave the body?

Can it even shatter the elixir?

Can a shattered core seamlessly regenerate?

What kind of operation is this?

Sun Jidao stood there with his mouth agape, watching from the moment the other person's core shattered until it reformed.

Sun Jidao only snapped out of his daze when Hu Mang's voice came through the walkie-talkie.

"Hey, hey, Old Sun, let's try again. I feel like I didn't perform very well this time. I'll try again next time. Maybe I can form the core outside the body so that the artificial lightning tribulation can be most effective."

"Hey, Old Sun, are you listening?"

"Yes, yes, yes, wait a minute, wait a minute!!!"

Sun Jidao seemed to wake from a dream. Without saying a word, he pushed open the door and rushed to the top floor.

His assistant, standing beside him, paused for a moment, then followed suit.

Coming to Nanyang was definitely the right decision! I've really broadened my horizons; they've even managed to form the Golden Core multiple times!!