Chapter 207: Vital Energy Embrace Twin Golden Core · Spirit Herb Bounty

Chapter 207: Vital Energy Embrace Twin Golden Core · Spirit Herb Bounty

In the inn courtyard, the Nine Aperture Linked Formation was fully deployed.

Nine overlapping layers of rune-laced light screens interwove, completely enveloping the main hall.

Even if a Golden Core cultivator suddenly launched an attack, it could automatically resist for a moment.

"Embrace primordial unity, let mind and spirit merge..."

Inside the main hall, Xiao Chen sat cross-legged in the lotus position, channeling his vital energy according to the secret technique.

Within half a quarter-hour, his immense vital energy was almost entirely mobilized, converging toward his dantian.

Massive amounts of vital energy condensed rapidly, becoming as dense as mercury, growing increasingly viscous as his dantian grew heavier and heavier.

"Body like a blazing furnace, mind guiding the way."

Xiao Chen's muscles tensed, his entire body heating up until he felt like a molten ironworks.

Simultaneously, vast quantities of spiritual sense branched from his spirit sea, guiding residual vital energy within his limbs and bones into the dantian.

This process was normally extremely difficult.

The main issue was that cultivators' spiritual sense intensity was usually insufficient, requiring them to consume spirit-enhancing Foundation Breaking pills to assist.

But for Xiao Chen, already at the Golden Core cultivation realm, his spiritual sense far surpassed that of Foundation Building cultivators.

He completed this step effortlessly.

When sufficient vital energy gathered in the dantian and was intensely compressed through secret techniques, a qualitative transformation finally occurred.

A thread of innate vitality emerged, immediately splitting into one hundred and eight life lines that linked all his acupoints.

Normally, these life lines would connect the acupoints to the dantian, solidifying the life elixir.

However, Xiao Chen had already formed a Golden Core. Sensing the disturbance within his dantian, the Flawless Golden Core spun rapidly, deflecting all the life lines.

This dantian was already its domain—no other force could coexist.

Though Xiao Chen could forcibly connect them, it would damage the Flawless Golden Core.

But he didn't need to.

With a flick of his divine consciousness, all life lines surged toward the false core. Using the false core, which was no less potent than a Foundation Building cultivator's dantian, as his cultivation foundation, he began commanding his acupoints and shaping the life elixir.

The subsequent condensation of true mana proceeded smoothly.

But when the new true mana surged forth, the most difficult stage arrived: "Thunderous resonance in tendons and bones, inner and outer unity!"

Unlike arcane cultivators who condensed true mana outside the Golden Core before drawing it inward for refinement,

Body cultivators condensed true mana within the life elixir, then dispersed it along meridians to all major acupoints throughout the body.

It would even penetrate deep into the marrow, purifying the physical form and forging a Golden Body and Jade Bones.

This process was extremely perilous—any misstep could result in bodily explosion.

In most cases, without Spirit Herbs or secret techniques for protection, nine out of ten Body cultivators failed to survive this stage.

As the life elixir solidified, torrents of true mana surged into his limbs and bones before the life lines dissolved.

Xiao Chen's heart thundered like a war drum, his ears filled with the roaring of blood surging through his veins like raging torrents.

His entire skeleton cracked and popped, his tendons and muscles vibrating in unison, emitting thunderous roars like tigers and leopards as they refined his organs.

This thunderous refinement was both evolution and trial.

If he endured, his internal organs would gain enhancements hundreds of times stronger than during Foundation Building.

But if he faltered, he'd suffer internal injuries at best—or worse, his breakthrough would fail, ending his life.

At this moment, ordinary cultivators had to focus completely, relying on cultivation manuals to strengthen themselves and repair damage in real-time.

Though Xiao Chen had previously forged a Golden Body, the intensity of arcane cultivation paled compared to Body cultivation.

As true mana erupted, blood droplets seeped from his skin.

The thunderous resonance caused cracks to spread through his internal organs.

Just as Xiao Chen struggled to channel true mana for healing, he was delighted to discover the Ten Thousand Phenomena Spring Return Sutra suddenly activating.

As a Yellow Rank cultivation manual, besides cultivating true mana, it had only one other trait—restoring injuries.

Most wood-attribute cultivation manuals possessed this characteristic, since wood governed vitality.

Yet this usually negligible trait now solved his crisis perfectly.

The damage from the life elixir's true mana was instantly healed by his Golden Core's true mana.

"Huh... So the wood spirit root has this benefit too?"

Truly, Xiao Chen's low-grade spirit root had always been a liability, but now it finally proved its worth.

But this was only possible due to his unique circumstances.

Ordinary cultivators, even with wood spirit roots, wouldn't pursue the Dual Cultivation of Body and Techniques path, thus never utilizing this advantage.

After all, Dual Cultivation meant consuming additional cultivation resources.

Those with exceptional talent often specialized in one path to pursue greater cultivation stages.

Those with poor talent lacked sufficient resources, making dual cultivation impossible.

"Fuse yang into the elixir, unify as one essence—merge!"

With the final incantation, the life elixir successfully connected all meridians, forging a Golden Body and Jade Bones, its surface radiating golden brilliance.

Xiao Chen focused inward with his spiritual sense.

Within and outside his dantian, two golden treasures shone in mutual brilliance.

The twin Golden Cores!

"Phew, excellent!"

Feeling the immense true mana within, Xiao Chen was overjoyed.

The first benefit of forming twin Golden Cores was naturally that his total true mana nearly doubled.

The life elixir could also provide one hundred and eight true mana threads, which would continue growing as he opened new acupoints in the future.

This meant he finally had enough true mana to simultaneously activate his three spiritual artifacts.

Or, when needed, he could unleash the Spirit Ascension Form of the White Bone Soul Summoning Banner.

As for the Ghost Face Mystic Light Shield... he'd have to wait a while longer.

Unfortunately, the two spiritual artifacts left behind by the Yellow Spring Path prioritized power so heavily that their true mana consumption was unavoidably immense.

This was also why Xiao Chen, despite having ample spirit stones, hadn't purchased new spiritual artifacts during his market visit—acquiring them without sufficient true mana to power them would be pointless.

Ordinary cultivators might choose to buy cheaper foundational spiritual artifacts as temporary tools, upgrading later when capable.

But Xiao Chen felt his cultivation speed was already fast. Increasing his true mana reserves wouldn't take long, so there was no need to waste money needlessly.

Now, with his Dual Cultivation of Body and Techniques, as long as both paths progressed smoothly to the Golden Core Initial Stage's perfection, his true mana limitations would naturally resolve themselves.

Forming twin Golden Cores had a second benefit too:

It made refining a life-bound flying sword far easier, and as his cultivation realm advanced, the Flying Sword's power potency could evolve in tandem.

Previously, the Wind-Thunder Pair Swords had potential to evolve into spiritual artifacts.

But limited by the false core's binding ceiling, they could barely match ordinary spiritual artifacts in power.

But now it's different. Since his Life Core is no different from a true Golden Core, it means he possesses all the corresponding abilities.

From now on, every time his Body Tempering Cultivation Realm achieves a breakthrough, the Wind-Thunder Pair Swords will also strengthen accordingly.

Once he reaches the Golden Core Late Stage in the future, the swords will surpass even the Spirit Ascension Form of ordinary spirit swords by a wide margin.

Judging purely from the spiritual artifact itself, it could be called the ultimate offensive artifact!

Worth mentioning is that normally, whether it's activating a Spiritual Mechanism or binding a Life-Bound Flying Sword, these are abilities exclusive to sword cultivators.

Some sword cultivators even refine only a single sword, pursuing the ultimate unity of man and blade.

Other spell cultivators and body cultivators don't enjoy such benefits.

Of course, every advantage has its drawbacks.

While binding a Life-Bound Flying Sword grants an incredibly powerful spiritual artifact, the two become inextricably linked—prosper together, suffer together.

If the Flying Sword sustains damage during battle, the cultivator's Golden Core will also be directly harmed.

At best, this causes severe injuries requiring years of recovery.

At worst, it leads to cultivation realm regression and a damaged foundation, forever closing the door to advancing to higher cultivation stages.

"But what does Life Core damage have to do with my Flawless Golden Core?"

Xiao Chen resolutely retrieved the Wind-Thunder Pair Swords and began channeling true mana to refine them.

Not only was it nearly impossible for him to damage the Flying Sword, even if the one-in-ten-thousand calamity occurred, the Life Core would bear the cost instead.

It wouldn't even affect his cultivation.

Even if the Wind-Thunder Pair Swords were completely destroyed, Xiao Chen himself wouldn't sustain a single injury.

This is the power of dual Golden Cores—reaping the benefits of a sword cultivator without bearing the corresponding risks.

Of course, binding a Life-Bound Flying Sword would increase the resources consumed during Life Core cultivation.

But this was only natural—the Flying Sword couldn't grow stronger without reason. These additional resources were essentially the cost of reinforcing the blade.

"Buzz~!"

A sharp sword cry rang out. The Wind-Thunder Pair Swords, still only partially awakened, struggled to withstand the refining process, their blades trembling violently.

But it didn't matter. Xiao Chen had purchased the Sword Stele precisely to assist in the sword's complete ascension.

He promptly retrieved the Sword Stele and channeled true mana to melt it down, unleashing its Sword Intent.

With this external reinforcement, the Wind-Thunder Pair Swords immediately stopped trembling, beginning to absorb both the Sword Intent and true mana as they ascended to become a spiritual artifact.

Just as he had anticipated, they successfully completed their transformation before the Sword Stele was entirely consumed.

"Merge!"

With a single shout, Xiao Chen spat out his Life Core.

Since the Wind-Thunder Pair Swords already shared a connection with his false core, re-forging them now required little effort.

Under the cleansing of abundant true mana, the originally slender blades gradually shrank—within less than an hour, they had condensed to just half an inch in size.

Finally, guided by his spiritual sense, the swords shot directly into his Life Core.

"Excellent! The Flying Sword has merged with the core—artifact and life have become one."

Xiao Chen retrieved his Life Core and nodded in satisfaction. "Since I now have a Life-Bound Flying Sword, I suppose I can officially call myself a sword cultivator from now on."

He thought this mainly because the title of sword cultivator often sounded more impressive.

The most famous example was the Dragon Subduing Sea.

According to ancient records, the Dragon Subduing Sea wasn't always called by that name, nor did humans inhabit it. Back then, it was filled with various yao beasts.

Later, a human cultivator discovered its spiritual vein and attempted to establish a territory there.

Unfortunately, they accidentally disturbed a sleeping true dragon, causing catastrophic storms, raging floods, and countless cultivator deaths.

At that time, a peerless sword cultivator happened to pass by and witnessed the tragedy.

With a flick of his sleeve, he summoned a white rainbow—his Flying Sword cleaved through the true dragon.

Henceforth, the place became known as the Dragon Subduing Sea, attracting countless sword cultivators.

Even today, sects like the Demon Subduing Sword Sect, Divine Soul Sword Pavilion, and Star-Plucking Sword Pavilion all clustered in the Dragon Subduing Sea, as it had become a sacred land in the hearts of sword cultivators.

"I wonder if I'll ever have the chance to leave behind a similar legacy."

Xiao Chen sighed, though he didn't dwell on it.

After all, such fame was ultimately hollow. No matter how legendary a cultivator became, it paled in comparison to the title of True Sovereign—the latter held far greater significance.

Thus, he quickly retrieved the Golden-Threaded Honey, taking advantage of his recent Life Core formation while his body was still primed to absorb its medicinal properties, nourishing both his lungs and flesh.

In the following days,

Xiao Chen remained in his courtyard, rotating through various cultivation manuals.

Every morning at the Mao Hour (5-7 AM), he'd rise and start with ten jin of sea fish meat to line his stomach.

Then he'd practice the Sharp Light Piercing Cloud Sword for an hour, followed by another ten jin of sea fish meat.

Next, he'd cultivate the Ten Thousand Phenomena Spring Return Sutra for three consecutive hours, having lunch with White Jade Xiao Qinglong paired with twenty jin of sea fish meat, occasionally adding a small bowl of Rolling Pearl Spirit Rice for variety.

In the afternoon, he'd spend three hours straight cultivating the Nine Transformations Dragon Ascension Formula, then eat twenty jin of sea fish meat to replenish his strength.

Before sleeping, he'd alternate between cultivating the Xuanzong Synchronization Secret Technique and the Xuanzong Phantom Form Technique for an hour each.

By the time he finished, it was already the Zi Hour, so he'd have ten jin of sea fish meat as a late-night snack.

Finally, he'd take a two-hour nap to rejuvenate. For a Golden Core Zhenren, two hours of rest was already sufficient to refresh the body and mind without affecting cultivation.

However, this peaceful routine lasted only a month and a half before Xiao Chen discovered he'd already devoured all the sea fish meat he'd previously purchased.

"Ah, didn't I buy 3,700 jin?"

He rummaged through his Han Hai Ring. "Have I really eaten that fast?"

To be fair, Xiao Chen wasn't eating excessively.

The main issue was his Hextech Reinforcement—cultivating the Nine Transformations Dragon Ascension Formula consumed too much energy, far exceeding what his body could naturally produce.

In the path of body cultivation, seven parts relied on refining, three parts on nourishment.

With his intense training volume, his dietary needs naturally skyrocketed.

"Let me calculate—each jin of sea fish meat costs seven spirit stones, seventy jin a day would be 490 spirit stones."

Xiao Chen checked his Han Hai Ring. He currently had 115,000 lower-grade spirit stones and 8,700 middle-grade spirit stones.

"At this rate, one million spirit stones would only last 2,000 days—roughly over five years."

"Ah, that doesn't seem too bad."

Since he could afford it, Xiao Chen decided not to cut corners here.

He immediately left to head to the east city to purchase another batch of sea fish meat.

The inn was located in the north city, and on the way, he passed through the large plaza.

Today, there were far fewer cultivators gathered here than usual, though a few still lingered, chatting and gossiping.

"Brother Zhang, have you heard? The Three Great Clans of Jingkong Sea and the Jin Xia Sect from Xi Lai Country have started fighting!"

"It's been all over the place for two days already. A friend told me they're fighting over the ownership of a newly discovered forbidden realm."

“Zhang Brother, you don’t know the whole story,” the man replied. “There’s no real forbidden realm—it’s just an excuse.”

“Oh? So there’s more to it? Li Brother, you’ve always been well-informed. Tell me about it. Later, let’s go eat at the Fighting Crab Workshop.”

“Hehehe, let me tell you,” Li Brother whispered. “Just a month ago, those two factions were still working together to track down Chen Xiao’s whereabouts.”

“You mean the Chen Xiao with a million spirit stone bounty two years ago?”

“Exactly! I heard the Jin Xia Sect captured Chen Xiao but refused to hand him over, wanting to keep him for themselves. That’s what provoked the three factions from Jingkong Sea to act together.”

Arriving at East City, the scene was completely different from the Sea Spirit Festival. The colorful decorations hadn’t diminished at all—they were even more elaborate, preparing for a grander celebration. Compared to the annual Sea Spirit Festival, the Baicao Forbidden Realm, which opened only once every fifty years, was clearly considered far more significant.

Almost every shop had added one or two temporary display counters. These counters displayed spirit herb handbooks or tools needed for collecting spirit herbs—mainly special gloves for picking spirit herbs and custom-made jade cases for storing them. Xiao Chen even bought The 1001 Common Spirit Herbs Identification Guide and The 189 High-Rank Spirit Herbs Compendium. The former listed the most common spirit herbs in the Eastern Territory for just ten spirit stones—a worthwhile read. The latter compiled all Third and Fourth Stage spirit herbs that had appeared in every previous opening of the Baicao Forbidden Realm. Though priced at thirty spirit stones per copy, they sold like hotcakes. Almost every cultivator entering the forbidden realm for the first time would buy one, betting their luck on finding these spirit herbs.

“Come to think of it, I’ve never actually collected spirit herbs before,” Xiao Chen suddenly realized, noticing he didn’t even have the proper tools. He approached a shop manager. “Do you have tools suitable for collecting Fourth Stage spirit herbs?”

“Bring out the best ones for me to see.”

“You’ve come to the right place!” the manager beamed, producing a set of artifacts. “Esteemed guest, look at our Bai Lu Fu Liu gloves. They’re woven from Fuyang Weeping Willow branches and Bai Lu silk, inscribed with runes like ‘Vibrant Vitality,’ ‘Spring Rejuvenation,’ and ‘Gentle Wind Energy’ to ensure no damage to spirit herbs. They also come with two sealed medicine jade cases.”

He handed over a spirit contract. “These jade cases are personally designed by Lord Huo. We guarantee not a single trace of spiritual energy will escape.” The contract was proof of purchase from the city lord’s forging workshop.

“How much for this set?”

“You know spiritual artifacts aren’t cheap. Including this bottle of Linglu Dew, the total is one hundred and twenty thousand spirit stones.”

Linglu Dew itself was a Third Stage spirit herb, preserving Fourth Stage herbs’ potency for ten uses. Xiao Chen nodded. “Add ten more bottles of Linglu Dew and thirty sealed medicine jade cases.”

“Thirty?!” The manager blinked. “That’s excessive! A normal cultivator would be lucky to use one. Are you here to stock up?”

Xiao Chen shrugged. “The Han Hai Ring is spacious. Even if I don’t use them all, I can save them for later. When refining high-stage pills, these items are indispensable. Better to prepare more than risk running short.”

The shopkeeper hesitated. “Esteemed guest, some herbs can be stored together. For example, Jin Zhi Mei Guo fruits from the same tree can fit in one jade case.” He scrutinized Xiao Chen. “No offense, but we’d hate to damage our reputation if there’s a misunderstanding.”

“I’m certain. Just bring them out. What’s the total?”

“Three hundred and fifty thousand spirit stones. I’ll throw in an extra bottle of Linglu Dew. And if you find a Thousand Flowers and Myriad Leaves Vine, we’ll buy it for two hundred and eighty thousand spirit stones—valid until next February.”

Xiao Chen nodded. “I’ll remember that. If I find one, I’ll come by.” High bounties were tempting.

He then purchased ten thousand jin of sea fish meat, securing a 30% discount. The Han Hai Ring’s vastness made storage effortless.

On his way back, Xiao Chen slowed his pace, eavesdropping on nearby conversations.

“The Baicao Forbidden Realm is opening soon! Study your handbooks and don’t miss this opportunity!”

“Lanzhi Immortal on the opposite island once found a Zheng Qi Fruit in the forbidden realm. He exchanged it at the city lord’s mansion for a Stage Breakthrough herb, giving him a shot at golden core cultivation!”

An elderly man lectured his Foundation Building disciples. “Senior Sect Brother Zhao, I heard Elder Qian posted a bounty—three hundred thousand spirit stones for a thousand-year Qi Ling Hua!”

“Reliable? The last auction four years ago was only two hundred thousand.”

“Absolutely! An Inner Sect Senior Sect Brother told me himself. He also said whoever finds a Shen He Shou Shen Hua can exchange it at the apothecary for a True Yang Genesis Pill.”

Xiao Chen paused at those words. (End of Chapter)

Chapter end