Chapter 164: False Core Forged, Killer Star Descends

Chapter 164 – False Core Forged, Killer Star Descends

“Too bad I didn’t get to use the Hua She Bone Spear.”

Xiao Chen sighed as he walked, his tone tinged with regret.

The Western cultivator’s reinforcements had arrived too quickly. The Southern cultivator had been utterly torn apart by the Lesser Trinity Sword Array, his defensive magic artifacts shattered into fragments.

Fortunately, Xiao Chen had still managed to seize a mirror-like Golden Light Technique shield from the Western cultivator.

Following the array formation blueprint, he located the final formation disk and claimed another hundred middle-grade spirit stones. Only then did he search for a nearby cave to begin refining his spoils.

“Boom!”

The moment he shattered the sealing formation, a swirl of orange mist erupted from the storage bag. The mist was strangely unusual—it dissolved rapidly into the surrounding mana.

“Oh? Interesting. They left a hidden trap,” Xiao Chen muttered, inspecting himself for abnormalities.

This was likely some toxin, but it had no effect on him. The Western cultivator’s elaborate ambush had been nothing more than a childish prank.

Sweeping his spiritual sense through the two storage bags, he tallied 58,679 spirit stones. Among them were twelve chests of varying sizes, with even more stones scattered loosely. The sources were clearly diverse—these had been looted from multiple orthodox Daoist cultivators.

Unlike most cultivators, these two had carried only three cultivation manuals: Nine Secrets of Yellow Spring – Winter Toad, Divine Flame Division Cultivation Method, and Kaiyang Spirit Talisman Sutra.

“Another Nine Secrets of Yellow Spring? Could there really be an entire series?”

Curious, Xiao Chen flipped open the first manual. True to his suspicions, its writing style and formatting matched the Binding Immortal Manual and Linsui Divine General he’d seen before.

All three secret techniques shared a common trait—they required no Vital Blood or lifespan as a cost. Instead, they demanded specific Spirit Herbs and complex cultivation methods.

“Wait, there’s even an advanced stage?”

Leafing further, he found references to advanced cultivation techniques within the Winter Toad manual. Unfortunately, this version was incomplete, containing only foundational building-stage content. Clearly a fragmented relic, not a complete legacy.

This hoarding behavior reminded him of the Blood Refinement Divine Manual—only Dongfang Xingzhe possessed the true complete version, while the copies circulating outside were incomplete.

The second manual was the demonic fire technique the Southern cultivator had used initially. It allowed one to implant a fire seed within another cultivator’s body, detonating it later at will.

The third manual, judging from its appearance, belonged to the Spirit Origin Sect’s Talisman Dao lineage. Xiao Chen confirmed this with a quick glance—it was indeed a stolen trophy from the Western cultivator’s collection.

Beyond the manuals, he discovered a peculiar demonic weapon in the storage bag: the Ghost-Headed Seven-Fold Blade.

Measuring three chi and seven cun long, the blade bore eerie white patterns along its hilt. Instead of a conventional tip, its end formed a grotesque ghostly visage snarling with malevolence.

Lifting it, Xiao Chen estimated its weight at 440 jin. Most cultivators carried only one or two spare magic artifacts in their storage bags, reserving their best tools for battle.

But this time, circumstances had been unusual. Trapped in the sword array, the Southern cultivator never got to wield this weapon. Another addition to his collection.

Among the other treasures were rare Spirit Herbs: a millennium sword bamboo, two vials of Five-Luster Mysterious Water, three vials of Spirit Melt Pills, and a box of extremely precious Golden-Threaded Honey.

The millennium sword bamboo was nearly identical to the one he’d used during Foundation Building—likely from the same bamboo grove. This herb benefited not only Foundation Building but also cultivators walking the sword path, aiding comprehension of sword techniques when its latent sword intent was extracted via mana.

He’d used Five-Luster Mysterious Water multiple times before—it was worth every penny. The Spirit Melt Pill, a relatively rare second-tier nourishing pill, could cleanse meridians and enhance mana circulation, indirectly accelerating cultivation. While its effects were subtle short-term, they compounded over time.

Young cultivators gained the most benefit, but the pill’s defining trait was its extravagance. The costly ingredients made it prohibitively expensive, typically gifted by elders to favored disciples rather than purchased. Though occasionally found in Hezhou, it was nearly nonexistent in Lizhou.

All three were treasures, but none rivaled the value of the Golden-Threaded Honey. Xiao Chen recognized it from pre-Hezhou studies—specifically, the Bian You Hezhou: Chronicles of Rare Treasures, which described this Eastern Territory specialty.

In the Eastern Territory’s Golden-Threaded Forbidden Realm grew countless Golden Nectar Flowers, tended by thousands of Golden-Tailed Silver-Ringed Bees. Every fifty years, when the realm opened to Foundation Building cultivators, they risked harvesting honey from the bees’ nests.

Though the bees were Foundation-Formed spirit beasts, the real danger lay in the realm’s restrictions—only Foundation Building cultivators could enter. Even successful harvesters obtained only raw Golden Nectar Honey, requiring a decade of artificial brewing with ingredients like borneol and dragon’s musk.

Only when the honey’s threads stretched three feet without breaking did it become Golden-Threaded Honey—a second-tier herb rivaling third-tier treasures in rarity and value.

It served as a critical auxiliary ingredient in numerous third-tier pills, a potent antidote neutralizing 99% of non-legendary poisons, and directly nourished the lungs to enhance affinity with metal mana. Its effects rivaled Zijin Spirit Sand, with the added benefit of long-term accumulation.

Body cultivators even used it as a healing pill during cultivation to prevent injuries.

Even in the Eastern Territory, Golden-Threaded Honey was invaluable. Xiao Chen weighed the box—it was a standard three-tael portion worth at least 60,000 spirit stones.

“Hmph. Whose family heirloom is this?”

The box’s age suggested centuries of storage—its embedded spirit stones indicated at least eight hundred years old. Like fine wine, its potency had likely improved with time.

“This must’ve come from the Eastern Territory.”

Tracing the box’s intricate carvings, he mused that the Eastern Territory was far more prosperous than Hezhou to lavish such detail on storage containers.

After carefully packing the herbs, only two items remained: a bounty order and a Storage Box.

The bounty order’s portrait looked eerily familiar.

“Why does this look like me?”

Reading the description confirmed his suspicion—it was a wanted notice targeting him. The back bore multiple marked prices, each with a blood-red “kill” character.

He’d seen similar notices in Jingchuan County, where his initial bounty was 5,000 spirit stones—the cheapest tier. This one had risen to 60,000.

“Is this all they’re offering? Do they think little of me?”

He’d once failed to recognize the mark in Lizhou, but now identified it instantly—the Huidong Merchant Guild’s emblem.

“How amusing. I’ll remember this.”

Regardless of their motives, the guild would pay for this insult. At minimum, he’d raze their headquarters once he reached Golden Core.

Stowing the bounty order, he opened the Storage Box. Inside floated a round orb radiating a Yao Beast’s aura.

“Hiss!”

Xiao Chen inhaled sharply, closed the box, then reopened it.

Yes—a genuine Yao Beast Internal Elixir.

He lifted the orb, channeling a thread of mana through his spiritual sense. A six-foot-long fish apparition materialized—ovate, yellow-finned, with six horizontal stripes along its flank.

Undoubtedly, this was a true Internal Elixir from an aquatic Yao Beast, likely from the Eastern Territory as well.

“This is one of my two Hezhou goals!”

He’d originally planned to hunt demonic cultivators, earning points to redeem one of six elixirs from the Spirit Origin Sect.

Fate had gifted him this ahead of schedule.

“Time to forge my False Core?”

Taking a steadying breath, he recalled the process—using the Wind-Thunder Pair Swords’ awakening as a catalyst.

Since the day Liu Feng mentioned this method upon arriving in Hezhou, Xiao Chen had silently taken note of it and already investigated the matter thoroughly beforehand.

Forming a false core also provides a perfect opportunity to awaken the sword's spiritual essence, refining the Flying Sword into a life-linked sword embryo. Once successful, the practitioner could continue refining the wind-thunder pair swords into a spiritual artifact. According to Chang Shunping, such feats had occurred multiple times in history. One of the Chang family's ancestors had once formed a false core and refined a life-bound flying sword of their own. During that era, Qingyang County's northern territories up to Qiuping County and western regions extending to Dongyuan County all fell under the Chang family's dominion.

However, this method carried significant risks - it would double the difficulty of forming a golden core. Failure would waste the Internal Elixir painstakingly obtained by the cultivator. Over the years, as yao beast Internal Elixirs became increasingly scarce, fewer cultivators dared to take this risk.

Xiao Chen gazed at the Internal Elixir in his palm: "Should I try it?" Others feared wasting resources, but his eureka moment came from realizing this Internal Elixir was practically free. Even if he failed, he could still exchange for another from the Spirit Origin Sect as originally planned.

With this thought, Xiao Chen ceased hesitating. He spread his five fingers, igniting a ball of spiritual flame in his palm. Then he decisively channeled his mana to guide the Internal Elixir, beginning to roast it with the spiritual flame.

Within a quarter of an hour, the Internal Elixir transformed into a glowing mass of spiritual elixir shimmering with golden light. Xiao Chen inhaled sharply, drawing all the spiritual elixir into his body in an instant.

Above his dantian, the Internal Elixir - already expanded to its limit - suddenly began spinning irregularly upon receiving this supplement. As massive amounts of spiritual elixir were absorbed without corresponding expansion, violent tremors ensued.

At the critical moment, the Internal Elixir suddenly stretched to double its size, its volume expanding eightfold. A wave of extreme emptiness followed as it began spontaneously drawing in surrounding mana.

Xiao Chen suddenly realized: if he couldn't supply sufficient mana immediately, the refinement would fail. Not only would he fail to form the false core, but the original Internal Elixir would also be damaged. With eight times the volume, the Internal Elixir's mana requirements had skyrocketed.

Without hesitation, Xiao Chen grabbed the Five-Luster Mysterious Water he'd just obtained and downed an entire bottle. As continuous mana replenishment surged in, the Internal Elixir quickly became full and taut with energy. However, this was only the beginning. After absorbing massive amounts of mana, the Internal Elixir began expanding again. Before long, the entire bottle of Five-Luster Mysterious Water had been completely consumed. Xiao Chen immediately grabbed another bottle and drank it. At the same time, he retrieved from his storage bag the premium wood-element spirit herbs acquired at the Xianghe Bazaar.

After absorbing massive amounts of mana, the Internal Elixir began expanding again. Soon, the consumed Five-Luster Mysterious Water was completely depleted. Xiao Chen immediately grabbed another bottle and drank it. At the same time, he retrieved from his storage bag the premium wood-element spirit herbs acquired at the Xianghe Bazaar.

Currently, what he wouldn't lack was wood-element spirit herbs - and all of top quality. After consuming another spiritual elixir, the Internal Elixir expanded to match his dantian's size. Then massive amounts of mana flowed from the Internal Elixir into the dantian, circling before returning.

Using his spiritual sense to observe internally, Xiao Chen saw the Internal Elixir had evolved into a second dantian. This process lasted approximately an hour before completing. The original Internal Elixir had now become nearly identical to his dantian.

This meant everything had proceeded smoothly so far. Now came the critical phase - forming the false core.

Xiao Chen took a deep breath, retrieved his wind-thunder pair swords, and placed them horizontally before him. Then he grabbed a spirit fruit and consumed it to ensure sufficient mana reserves.

With a flick of his storage bag, he scattered four thousand spirit stones in all directions, surrounding himself completely. While not necessarily needing them all, he refused to skimp on essential resources at crucial moments.

Soon, the Internal Elixir began slowly contracting, its surface faintly glowing with a golden sheen. Though called "false core", it shared similarities with golden core formation - a simulated version, inferior to the real thing but functionally comparable.

Xiao Chen focused intently on this process. This precious opportunity would only come once - absolutely no room for mistakes. As it turned out, his cautious preparations proved somewhat excessive.

Forming a false core wasn't as perilous as actual golden core formation. After consuming three more spiritual elixirs without needing the prepared spirit stones, the entire process concluded safely.

Above his dantian, the former Internal Elixir had transformed into a small, faintly glowing false core. Now was the critical moment!

While channeling mana into his Flying Sword to maintain resonance, Xiao Chen concentrated his spiritual sense on the false core, attempting to separate it from his dantian.

"Rise!"

The newly formed false core trembled violently, making his heart race. This action was extremely dangerous - normally one should wait until the false core stabilized completely before attempting separation. But by then, it would be impossible to integrate with the Flying Sword.

Fortunately, he successfully completed this perilous step without major incident. Having crossed the most dangerous threshold, the subsequent steps proceeded smoothly.

Slightly parting his lips, Xiao Chen guided the false core with his spiritual sense, making it fly from his mouth and hover above the wind-thunder pair swords. Then he channeled mana between the false core and Flying Sword until they synchronized.

Clear imprints of the wind-thunder pair swords appeared on the false core. Simultaneously, the swords' dormant spiritual essence activated under the false core's influence.

Without secret techniques to aid this process, the success rate should have been low. However, as Liu Feng mentioned, the wind-thunder pair swords originated from the Donghua Yin-Yang Tree, possessing inherent spiritual essence merely awaiting activation.

With the critical ignition spark, the transformation completed successfully. Of course, this alone wouldn't make them spiritual artifacts yet - merely granting growth potential. Subsequent refinement with wood-element spirit herbs would be required for true ascension.

Even so, compared to before awakening its spirit, the wind-thunder pair swords' power had already doubled.

After completing the spirit awakening, Xiao Chen quickly reabsorbed the false core. Even true golden cores weren't particularly durable - better not risk leaving the body, lest any mishap occur.

Half an hour later...

"Phew!"

Xiao Chen exhaled a breath of turbid air, solidifying his false core completely. Sensing the abundant mana within, he couldn't help but smile.

After forming a false core, a cultivator's mana capacity surged from 84 to 333 channels - quadrupling their reserves. Though cultivation realm hadn't advanced, this mana volume alone enabled effortlessly suppressing ordinary Foundation Building peak cultivators.

More importantly, the false core allowed breakthroughs beyond Foundation Building's normal limits. With it, cultivators could perceive heaven and earth like Golden Core True Men, comprehending the Five Elements Dao, Vital Energy Path, Sword Path, and more. They would learn to harness surrounding heavenly qi when casting spells.

While spells remained unchanged, their actual power would differ dramatically. In ancient times, false cores were even considered an intermediate cultivation stage between Foundation Building and Golden Core. Some ancient texts still described them this way.

For Xiao Chen, his greatest joy came from no longer worrying about having too many top-grade magic artifacts. Though it sounded strange, he'd previously considered selling surplus artifacts like the Golden Bamboo Hairpin and White Bone Staff due to excessive accumulation.

Now with a false core, this concern vanished - he could use them all. Facing Southern and Western Travelers previously, mana had been tight despite having top-grade magic artifacts. He'd relied mostly on spells. If more demonic cultivators appeared, he could win but might let some escape due to insufficient mana.

But now, even two more opponents wouldn't trouble him - he'd confidently capture them all.

"Ah, why hasn't dawn come yet?"

Stepping out of the cave, Xiao Chen looked up to find night still blanketing the sky. When he first arrived, it had been around 9:45 PM. Forming a false core should have taken time.

Carefully observing the stars, he realized it was now 9:15 PM. While forming his false core, a full day had passed outside. Including Chang family's pill forging period, Xiao Chen had gone nearly thirty hours without sleep.

Yet thanks to the false core, he felt no fatigue - instead, invigorated. By moonlight, he unfolded his map, identified directions, and immediately set off toward Dongyuan County to begin his score-farming journey.

He hadn't forgotten - according to recent intelligence, nearly forty Foundation Building demonic cultivators had invaded. Only four had been eliminated so far, leaving thirty more ripe for the taking.

Meanwhile, at Hezhou's Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion...

Yinxi Zhenren gazed at the night sky, his brows furrowed. As an inheritor of the star-observation lineage, he'd long maintained nightly star chart observations. Yet tonight's constellations felt strangely unfamiliar.

"Heaven has unleashed a killing omen; the stars have shifted", Yinxi Zhenren suddenly declared, startling his disciples.

Looking up at the stars, then at each other, the disciples couldn't comprehend his words. To their eyes, tonight appeared no different from the past thousand nights.

Yet Yinxi Zhenren's expression shifted between surprise and delight: "Strange... why this sudden change?" He looked around, stroking his beard excitedly. "See? The killer star has fallen in the east, dispersing clouds and mists. This perfectly aligns with the demonic cultivator invasion - excellent news indeed!"

The disciples exchanged puzzled glances. Their received reports indicated demonic cultivators had already occupied eastern Dongyuan County, with the Spirit Origin Sect's situation deteriorating. What good news could there be in this?

Could it be a literal "killer star" would descend and eliminate the invaders?

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end