Gateway of Immortality

The strength of a flying yaksha could only be considered that of a pseudo–Golden Core cultivator.

But at least it wasn't the worst outcome. Even possessing power on par with a flying yaksha already far surpassed that of other Fake Core cultivators. It would be of tremendous help in his search for Core Formation spiritual objects.

Qin Sang made up his mind without too much hesitation.

He retracted the ebony sword into his primordial spirit and linked his consciousness to the killing symbol on the blade. The familiar feeling returned.

Just as he was about to activate his cultivation art and absorb spiritual power, a sudden thought struck him. He tried to guide the true essence in his Qihai using his cultivation art only to discover that the two completely rejected one another.

ThePrimordial Spirit Sword Nourishmentcould only draw on the spiritual qi of heaven and earth to cultivate.

True essence itself remained utterly inert.

If thePrimordial Spirit Sword Nourishmenthad been compatible with true essence, he might have used it to refine the corpse core into a Golden Core of his own, triggering a true metamorphosis.

But reality crushed that hope.

"Thinking too far ahead."

Qin Sang gave a wry smile. "From now on, I'll just treat this corpse core as an External Core."

The problem was that absorbing spiritual qi from heaven and earth was simply too slow, especially in a place like this, where spiritual qi was scarce.

Delay could bring disaster.

Qin Sang quickly laid down a simple spirit-gathering array, then held a middle-grade spirit stone in each hand, drawing in spiritual qi at full speed.

At this point, his spiritual power had long been exhausted during the clash between the Celestial Gale Qi and Earth Malevolent Qi. Later, when the corpse core formed, he had only been able to use true essence. His Qihai had been completely drained of spiritual power—utterly wrung dry.

Now, as rich spiritual qi poured into his meridians, it followed a familiar route through one full cosmic orbit before finally gathering in the Qihai.

"Hmm?"

To his surprise, Qin Sang discovered that his Qihai wasn't entirely devoid of spiritual power after all.

At the moment the new influx entered, amidst the roiling sea of true essence, a nearly imperceptible wisp of spiritual power emerged, so fine and faint it was almost undetectable.

It was hidden so deeply within the true essence that no wonder he hadn't sensed it earlier.

Even now, though it had surfaced on its own, it remained elusive to the senses, barely discernible.

What startled him more was the intense hunger it radiated, something he had never experienced before.

It was like a starving beast cub, skin clinging to bone after years without food or water, finally catching the scent of sustenance. It lunged toward the feast with desperate glee, devouring mouthfuls in a frenzy.

Under Qin Sang's astonished gaze, that tiny strand of spiritual power began wildly devouring the new influx.

Compared to the newly arrived spiritual power, it was utterly insignificant, nowhere near the same magnitude. And yet, Qin Sang could clearly feel it devouring the rest.

It was like a snake swallowing a whale.

As Qin Sang continued drawing in spiritual power from the two middle-grade spirit stones, it poured steadily into his Qihai only to be consumed entirely by that single strand.

It resembled a seed, finally nourished, beginning to root and sprout, starting its own growth.

Qin Sang did not interfere. He waited patiently as it slowly grew stronger until he could finally sense it clearly.

Then, when he tried to guide that strand of spiritual power...

The cave fell utterly silent.

In the next moment, Qin Sang shot up from the ground, eyes wide in disbelief as he stared toward his dantian. He looked as if he had seen something beyond all imagination, stunned into speechlessness.

Frozen for a while, he finally suppressed the surge of emotion, took a deep breath, and quickly sat back down cross-legged, refocusing to examine that strand of spiritual power once more.

No longer was it the fleeting, unstable feeling of before.

It was solid and immensely dense.

Viscous and heavy like liquid mercury!

No wonder it had needed to consume so much spiritual power just to reach this level.

Qin Sang could hardly believe it. He checked again and again. Only after countless confirmations did he accept the truth: his spiritual power had really changed!

If he remembered correctly, the records left by the predecessors on Treasure Tower Peak of Shaohua Mountain described this exact condition. This was the sign of impending Core Formation!

In fact, even those cultivators in the records hadn't reached this level of density before successfully forming their cores.

According to their accounts, most had spiritual power that wasn't even half as refined as his own, and yet their success rates were already quite high. Those with more refined spiritual power than average had nearly guaranteed results but even they hadn't reached Qin Sang's current level!

So why had this happened? What had caused such a drastic transformation in his spiritual power?

Ecstatic though he was, Qin Sang couldn't help but ponder the reason behind it.

Qin Sang could be certain that before infiltrating the Demonic Qingyang Sect, there hadn't been the slightest sign of anything unusual. Back then, his Qihai still contained spiritual power, which had stood equal to the Earth Malevolent Qi.

There was only one possibility: charging the core with the Celestial Gale Qi and Earth Malevolent Qi!

Qin Sang carefully recalled the moment atop Divine Gale Peak. In order to prevent the Earth Malevolent Qi and Celestial Gale Qi from clashing prematurely, and to allow them to jointly charge toward the Golden Core, he had no choice but to wrap them in his spiritual power.

During that entire process, his spiritual power had endured constant impact and tempering from both forces.

At the time, Qin Sang had been wholly focused on ensuring the success of the process, with no time to observe any changes in his spiritual power. And after his spiritual power had been completely consumed, ground down until only the faintest thread remained, there was simply no way he could have noticed anything.

Later on, after the true essence of the corpse core took over his Qihai, that last strand of spiritual power had been completely suppressed, afraid to show itself.

"Yin and yang... Yin and yang..."

Qin Sang had a sudden realization.

That's it!

The Kanli Golden Pill—named after the Kan and Li[1]—embodied the fusion of yin and yang medicinal properties.

The Snow Spirit Lotus and Iris Flower were quintessential yin-yang spiritual herbs. They grew from the same root. One loved ice and snow, the other thrived in magma. Their environmental requirements were incredibly stringent.

Even other spiritual items like the Profound True Pill, as far as Qin Sang knew, all possessed the combined power of yin and yang.

As the saying went, "Solitary yin does not give birth; solitary yang does not grow."[2]

The Dao of the Golden Core was precisely the Dao of yin-yang harmony.

The Earth Malevolent Qi was the most extreme yin-based malevolent qi in the world, while the Celestial Gale Qi represented the purest, most blazing yang-based gale qi. One yin, one yang—two of the rarest opposing forces in existence!

Could it be... that they also aided in forming a Golden Core?

Condensing Earth Malevolent Qi and refining Celestial Gale Qi!

The ingenious concept from Wu Shang had actually come to fruition here!

Qin Sang didn't know whether cultivators from the ancient immortal cultivation world had ever discovered that the fusion of Earth Malevolent Qi and Celestial Gale Qi could assist in Core Formation. After all, he had read far too few ancient texts, most of which were incomplete and fragmented.

But at the very least, in all the modern records he had seen, and among the many fellow cultivators he had met in the Chaotic Island Waters, not a single one had known this.

The reason wasn't hard to imagine.

First, these two rare materials were simply too scarce.

Earth Malevolent Qi, at least, existed on the surface. With patience, it could be found and obtained with relative ease.

But Celestial Gale Qi resided in the heavens. Above lay the raging gale belts that even Spiritual Infant experts dared not cross. For those like them in the Fake Core Realm, who would dare ascend to the heavens to extract the Celestial Gale Qi?

They could only wait for it to fall and transform into the Celestial Gale Essence.

And in the vast expanse of the Small Cold Domain, there were only two known places where Gale Jade existed. One in the cave dwelling of the domain's number-one cultivator, the other seized by a long-established demonic sect.

Let alone trying to cultivate with it, most people couldn't even get near the Celestial Gale Qi, much less touch it.

1. In the Chinese raws, Kan also represents yin, while Li represents yang. ☜

2. This is an ancient Chinese saying. ☜