Chapter 204: The Golden Core Stage, Arrives! (Seeking Subscriptions)

As of today, that light-prism cylinder has become extremely dim and is covered in cracks.

Meng Changqing's patchwork repairs, in the end, have their limits.

At the same time, by continuously consuming and restraining him, the High Envoy is also unable to recover in peace; the methods previously used on him have not been removed, and the damage from the bitter battle with the resentment-wraith is also not healing well.

One is exhausted, the other is crippled; the combat power of both can be said to be at rock bottom. If a decisive battle truly breaks out next, it will be, at most, a fifty-fifty split.

Therefore, the deciding factor still lies with others.

The thirty-some guards on Du En's side, although they have been resting and gathering strength, and some even attempted to break through to the Golden Core stage, unfortunately, after holding back for a month, they made no progress at all, resulting in nothing. Thus, they will not be the key factor.

Therefore, Meng Changqing is actually still quite pessimistic right now.

Because the situation on the opposite side is clearly much better.

Those seven hundred armored soldiers have quickly healed their injuries, possess ample supplies, are capable of forming arrays to meet the enemy, and have a deep foundation of knowledge and learning; if they were to gather at a single point, they truly cannot be underestimated!

Tang Yiping, a top-tier cultivator, is also no fraud; he has already finished adjusting the nesting of his middle dantian, and his strength has clearly increased greatly, one could even say it has doubled.

Fu Yong, on the other hand, is even more like Du En, stirring up the restlessness of Qi; it is a sign of a breakthrough. He is likely timing his build-up and will probably break through at the same moment as Du En.

"Surrender now, and you can still stop."

The High Envoy spoke only this.

Meng Changqing subconsciously turned his head to look at Du En's side.

He had just finished this round of circulating his energy, feeling that he had already piled up to 99/100; in reality, he was just a tiny bit short. With the accumulation of one more round of circulation, he sensed something and opened his eyes to look over.

He did not speak, but those calm eyes could always provide a sense of solidity and reliability, capable of bearing the wild waves of the outside world.

Thus, Meng Changqing turned back, sat cross-legged in mid-air, and assumed a posture of recuperation, preparing for the decisive battle.

The High Envoy did not say anything more either, also stopping to make pre-battle adjustments.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense, oppressively so, making people feel extremely uncomfortable.

As Du En closed his eyes to circulate his energy again, and as Fu Yong neared his breakthrough, the restlessness of the Qi also began to grow wild and unbridled.

Tang Yiping was the first to break out of his meditative state, having been affected by this situation.

Because the Qi from all directions was being subjected to two huge gravitational pulls, constantly converging toward those two people, even gradually stirring up visible ripples of Qi.

Both sides were contending and tugging at the Qi, invisibly having already started the vanguard battle.

Tang Yiping flew up to stand and watched closely, and then, after having watched for only the time it takes to draw a breath, Fu Yong's side collapsed like a mountain, the flow of Qi from all directions suddenly changed, leaving only one absolute core point.

Du En!

When breaking through from the Foundation Establishment stage to the Golden Core stage, there is actually only one core point.

Collapse!

It is to take the Dao foundation built within the lower dantian's sea of Qi and cause it to collapse and change toward the center point, achieving extreme condensation, thereby transforming into a Golden Core, which becomes the center point of one's cultivation.

Fu Yong's side was following the standard procedure; after accumulating enough, he began to release his restraints and use his technique to promote the process, using his own perfectly complete Dao foundation to pull on the heaven and earth Qi, thereby triggering the collapse and formally entering the breakthrough process.

Either live, or die!

After all, if the collapsing Dao foundation does not successfully transform, it will simply collapse into nothingness, and the person can be said to have had their Dao destroyed on the spot. Only a small number of lucky ones can survive, but they are basically unable to start over and cultivate again, directly becoming cripples!

Therefore, this vanguard battle of the two people's breakthroughs is already one where life and death will be decided!

However, the reason Fu Yong lost so quickly was not just because Du En's Firm-Spirit was perfect and his Dao foundation was fully built, possessing the fullest ten-out-of-ten, with his hard foundation being superior to his in every aspect, but also because the sequence of the breakthrough details was different.

The normal, ordinary breakthrough process is to first collapse the prototype of the Golden Core, and with the pulling force that instantly becomes dozens of times stronger, draw one's own spiritual intent from one's own hidden upper dantian Divine Palace, and cast it into the Golden Core's formation, thereby allowing the process to continue.

This is a very important point; the combination of spiritual intent and the Golden Core must be sufficiently tight, sufficiently perfect, and sufficiently deep. Only then can the subsequent shattering of the Core to form a Nascent Soul be sufficiently vivid and sufficiently real!

And only such a Nascent Soul can reach the next great hurdle of cultivation, the one before the Transformation to Divinity stage.

But the process on Du En's side was not the same.

Because his Divine Palace was unexpectedly revealed early, and he had sensed his own spiritual soul in advance through a state of enlightenment, he could therefore use another, non-standard method of breakthrough.

Actively project spiritual intent into the Dao foundation, and use this to directly trigger the collapse!

In this way, the spiritual intent is the absolute core, and the Golden Core that subsequently transforms will be in the most perfect state.

In middle-grade techniques capable of cultivating to the Nascent Soul stage, it is unanimously pointed out that a breakthrough form that can be initiated by spiritual intent is a path that can be met but not sought; once such an opportunity is obtained, one must choose to proceed in this way.

Du En followed the advice, choosing this method.

Thus, as his spiritual intent was drawn down and cast in, his Dao foundation suddenly changed.

The pulling force was originally only slowly increasing, a normal phenomenon after gradually releasing restraints, but at this moment, nine-tenths, seven-tenths, three-tenths, half-a-tenth, a tiny bit... the collapse of the Dao foundation directly happened in such a rapid form, changing and shrinking in an instant!

Thus, a massive amount of Qi was completely snatched away by him; his body was like a bottomless sea eye, crazily whale-swallowing this Qi, not leaving even a tiny bit for Fu Yong!

The Firm-Spirit Body spontaneously emerged, shining brilliantly; it was a screening and smelting vessel, and the surging blood-Qi was like furnace fire, smelting the Qi while gathering it, and under the further pressure and pulling influence of the rapidly collapsing Dao foundation, it condensed into solid crystal dust in the blink of an eye.

The magic power that was originally somewhat fluid now directly transformed into a one-hundred-percent crystal dust state, flowing out from the middle dantian Crimson Palace and descending, flowing together into the sea eye within the sea eye, the very center of the lower dantian's sea of Qi, that boundless point of pitch black.

The people gathered here were all watching, and then they saw brilliant golden radiance erupt from the darkness, as if the world were opening up and stars were being born.

A round, flawless, and perfect Golden Core leaped out, breaking through the darkness, emitting its own radiance, illuminating the entire sea of Qi, causing everyone to temporarily lose their vision.

As the tail-stream of Qi was swallowed up, a belt of crystal dust resembling a star ring began to linger around the Golden Core, translucent with golden brilliance, its quality far exceeding the past by nearly ten times!

In a silent tremor, the Divine Palace seemed even more distinct, emitting a rumbling sound; his divine sense was stimulated, rapidly expanding and changing, and in every aspect, it had already surpassed what it was before!

His spiritual soul was jubilant, his consciousness clear, and all sorts of profound principles welled up; he had finally realized his Dao foundation, crossed the threshold, and truly stepped into the realm of a genius!

(End of this chapter)