Chapter 130: Forming the Golden Core

Ruan Xing sat in place to regulate her Spiritual Power, and after waiting for nearly half an hour, the second bolt of Tribulation Lightning arrived as scheduled and descended.

The heart-protecting mirror emitted a dazzling yellow halo, which, combined with the Spiritual Power Ruan Xing continuously poured into it, maintained a sturdy defense.

The second bolt of Tribulation Lightning lasted much longer than the first; after the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the lightning light finally grew faint, and Ruan Xing moved her wrists with slight tension, letting out a temporary sigh of relief.

Wiping away the thin sweat from the tip of her nose, the originally bright yellow heart-protecting mirror now had some cracks and rust, and since the third bolt of Tribulation Lightning was the most powerful one, she feared this Dharma Artifact would not be preserved.

She had originally intended to use a Flying Sword to resist it; Qintai He's action had actually saved her a Flying Sword, and since a Flying Sword was not a defensive Dharma Artifact, she might have had to pay the price of being injured, so this was not bad either.

After waiting for another half an hour or so, the third bolt of Tribulation Lightning also crashed down, the blinding blue-white electric light pouring down like a torrent, resembling a waterfall.

Qintai He stood in the distance, a trace of worry appearing in his eyes, and he muttered to himself, "Why do I feel that the power of this lightning tribulation is greater than when I underwent my own?"

Ruan Xing, directly beneath the tribulation clouds, was completely unaware of Qintai He's internal thoughts; she had long since prepared, unleashing the heart-protecting mirror with all her might, and a massive turtle-shell-shaped phantom appeared, isolating the descending lightning light in mid-air, the two colliding to produce a deafening roar.

Ruan Xing gritted her teeth, feeling as if before her eyes was both a blinding white and an endless, void-like black.

Under the continuous descent of the lightning light, the turtle shell gradually could not withstand it and quietly developed a crack; Ruan Xing keenly sensed that the Dharma Artifact was on the verge of complete destruction, so she threw the heart-protecting mirror toward the sky above her head without hesitation, then used her Flying Sword to guide away the scattered lightning light while using her Dharma robe to protect her body.

The heart-protecting mirror went *bang* and shattered into several pieces.

Some straggling bolts broke through the barrier of the Dharma robe and entered Ruan Xing's body; the hair tie holding her hair together was also scorched brittle by the electricity and snapped, causing her hair to scatter and float around her head as if it had lost gravity, moving without wind.

The meridians in her body were also damaged by the rampaging lightning light, forcing her to consume two Healing Pills and divert a portion of her Spiritual Power to digest the medicinal efficacy and repair her meridians.

Not until the Dharma robe was also on the verge of damage did the dark clouds finally show signs of fading.

Ruan Xing breathed a sigh of relief, took off the tattered Dharma robe, and found a black cloak in her Storage Bag to drape over herself.

Although she was currently in a child's body, she could not just be naked.

She continued to guide her Spiritual Power to circulate through her body; after the dark clouds faded, the lingering rhythm of the lightning tribulation was no longer violent and rampant, but instead became gentle, and the faint cloud light fell upon her, being absorbed by the continuously circulating Spiritual Power, making the meridians that had been destroyed and repaired by the lightning light even tougher, while her Spiritual Power grew increasingly vigorous, appearing as if it were about to overflow from her meridians.

It gradually converged at the dantian in her lower abdomen, forming a rapidly rotating small vortex, continuously drawing the Spiritual Power circulating in her meridians into the vortex.

This was the final step of forming the Golden Core.

Ruan Xing took a deep breath to soothe her restless heartbeat, then took out the Breaking Boundary Pill from her Storage Bag and swallowed it.

Once the Pill entered her stomach, it quickly transformed into a stream of pure Spiritual Power, giving Ruan Xing an instantaneous sense of spiritual satiety; without her needing to deliberately guide it, that Spiritual Power automatically followed her meridians to her dantian, and after entering that small vortex, the speed of rotation became even more frantic, giving her the illusion that her internal organs were about to be sucked in.

But this feeling soon vanished; after all the medicinal power of the Breaking Boundary Pill had entered the vortex, a tiny white dot of light appeared at the very bottom, and all the Spiritual Power absorbed by the vortex slowly covered it layer by layer, eventually forming a platinum-gold Golden Core the size of a soybean.

On it were several ice-blue patterns thinner than a strand of hair, which Ruan Xing guessed likely originated from her modified Spirit Bone.

In the world of Cultivation, aptitude is determined by one's Spirit Bone, so the Golden Cores formed vary in color and size, mainly depending on the Spirit Bone and the technique practiced, though most people form golden or white spherical Golden Cores. A small number of techniques or special constitutions might result in extremely rare colors like purple or green.

Ruan Xing was quite satisfied with her Golden Core; nothing had happened beyond her expectations, and later, as long as she slowly cultivated to strengthen the Golden Core, once it reached the size of an infant's fist, she could begin to attempt to break through to the Nascent Soul Stage.

Seeing her open her eyes and stand up, Qintai He, who had been watching her from the surroundings, also walked over, his face wearing a rare, joyful smile, "Congratulations, Junior Sister, on successfully forming your Golden Core."

Her entire being possessed a different aura than before, and she could feel that this was likely something called pressure.

She had felt it once before when fighting Elder Xu and the others; even though his pressure was not directed at her, it still caused a fear to arise in her heart that made her not dare to resist.

After all, the Golden Core Stage is the first watershed in the world of Cultivation.

Many Cultivators with low aptitude never reach the qualification to form a Golden Core in their entire lives, and those who obtain a Spirit Bone through a Luoqi Pill have absolutely no possibility of touching the threshold of forming a Golden Core; as long as Ruan Xing did not say it herself, she feared no one would ever guess that her Spirit Bone was also obtained through a Luoqi Pill.

Moreover, the Golden Core tribulation is a hurdle that filters out the trash on the path of Cultivation, just like a college entrance exam; either one has the ability and capability to withstand the lightning tribulation, or one has a strong backing to rely on various powerful Dharma Artifacts to resist it, while those who possess neither and only harbor wishful thinking can only die silently beneath the lightning tribulation.

She simply adapted a few times and was then able to control her Golden Core pressure with ease; feeling the unprecedentedly abundant Spiritual Power in her body and the Golden Core at her dantian where all her essence resided, she felt high-spirited and laughed, "Many thanks to Senior Brother for guarding the formation for me, but the two Dharma Artifacts you lent me have both been damaged, and I have no way to return them to you."

"It is of no consequence," Qintai He said, not caring at all, "I will simply give you more in the future."

Oh? There are more Dharma Artifacts to be had?

That's truly great.

Although it was only a Simulation, having personally experienced a complete tribulation, she was in a very good mood; after thanking Qintai He, she proposed her plan to leave as originally intended.

"Leaving?" Qintai He was surprised.

Ruan Xing nodded, but she did not tell Qintai He the truth, instead saying casually, "Yes, I need to travel for a while, and I still need to think of a way to return to the Xuanbing Sect. Don't forget that both of our techniques are the Tongxuan Scripture; if we just stay in Xizhou and work behind closed doors, where would we get the Nascent Soul Stage technique?"

Qintai He was speechless; having experienced too many shocks in two days, he had indeed forgotten about the technique. As long as it was confirmed that the Qintai Family was safe, he could actually, with the help of Canglin, abandon a portion of his cultivation to switch to the Qintai Family's ancestral technique, but that would be equivalent to putting himself in a passive position controlled by the Qintai Clan Leader. He still viewed the other party as an enemy and truly could not get past this hurdle in his heart. After being reminded by Ruan Xing, he thought for a long time and felt it was better to continue practicing the Tongxuan Scripture; he could not let the channel for his own cultivation be mastered by an unfamiliar enemy.

Qintai He murmured, "That is indeed so, what you say makes sense, but you have just formed your Golden Core, shouldn't you stay for a period of time to stabilize your cultivation before leaving?"

"I won't delay for that," Ruan Xing paused, "I will find a way to inquire about what punishment the Peak Master actually received, and I will send you a message then. When I come back to find you next time, perhaps I will have good news to bring you; who knows, it might not take long before I can bring back the Nascent Soul Stage technique for you. You must practice hard."

She winked playfully at Qintai He.

Qintai He opened his mouth, somewhat moved, but for a moment, words were stuck in his throat and he did not know what to say, finally stating, "I have nothing to give you, take some Spirit Stones with you."

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