Book 2: Chapter 202: Dao Heart Shattered
Vol 2 Chapter 202: Dao Heart Shattered
In a classroom on University Island, the first Golden Core Engineering seminar was being held.
Zheng Fa stood at the front of the classroom, looking at the twenty-some attendees seated below.
Among them, aside from Senior Sister Zhang, Master, and Martial Uncle Pang—
There were also thirteen disciples from the Jiushan Sect sitting in the classroom, all at the peak of Foundation Establishment.
Zheng Fa had assigned them to the Talisman Group.
In addition to the Talisman Group, there were two other groups—the Artifact Crafting Group and the Pill Refinement Group.
These two groups had fewer people;
most of them were disciples from the Hundred Immortals Alliance, and their cultivation levels varied:
At most, Foundation Establishment.
Most were in Qi Refining. It couldn’t be helped. Once this batch of disciples entered the Jiushan Realm, they were meat on Zheng Fa’s chopping board, ripe for slicing.
No matter how generous the Hundred Immortals Alliance was, they would keep their truly prized talents within their own ranks.
These people were mostly mediocre talents.
So when it came to the Artifact Crafting and Pill Refinement Groups… let’s just say they’d have to make do.
“All of you here have signed confidentiality agreements and taken the Heart Demon Oath, so I won’t waste words,” Zheng Fa didn’t bother with preamble and began directly, “Let me first explain what Golden Core Engineering is.”
With a wave of his hand, a light screen appeared in front of everyone.
On the screen, densely packed writing displayed a secret technique.
Aside from Senior Sister Zhang and a few others, the rest couldn’t help but be curious.
“This is the Core Formation secret method from Jiushan’s true inheritance, Divine Thunder of Shenxiao. By cultivating this method, one can form the Shenxiao Golden Core.”
There was a stir among the crowd—even the Jiushan disciples at peak Foundation Establishment couldn’t hide their surprise—
Not only was Divine Thunder of Shenxiao one of Jiushan’s finest inheritances, but more importantly, the Jiushan Realm was extremely suitable for cultivating this method.
Moreover, both the current and former sect masters of Jiushan Sect had cultivated this very technique—they were its best spokespersons.
One could say, thanks to the Jiushan Realm’s environment and Elder Yuan’s ongoing efforts, this method was rapidly becoming Jiushan Sect’s signature cultivation method. Ŗ𝘢₦ƟBĘꞩ
And Zheng Fa was just showing it to them like that?
Some had felt minor resentment about the confidentiality agreement, but at this moment, like Mu Qingyan, they could only sigh inwardly: maybe it was actually too lenient.
Who in the Xuanyi Realm didn’t know how strict things were?
Willingness to keep secrets had never been the criteria for receiving a secret technique.
If one could get a legacy like this, who cared about secrecy?
People would even risk their lives for it.
“Of course, this technique…” Zheng Fa waved his hand again, and the text on the screen flickered, transforming into a different passage, “is merely the unedited original data. It’s not enough to make us Nascent Soul cultivators truly invested.”
Down below, Elder Yuan’s face stiffened. His lips moved slightly, as if wanting to curse.
The other disciples were also speechless.
The looks they gave Zheng Fa were tinged with disbelief—
That previous secret technique? That was more than enough to get them invested!
And it still needed to be revised?
But as they looked at the newly appeared secret method, they began to understand Zheng Fa’s point—
Not to mention anything else, just in terms of length, this new version was nearly two-thirds shorter.
And in terms of content, it was indeed more concise and easier to understand.
“This is the revised version of the secret technique,” Zheng Fa explained. “You can all see that it’s much simpler, but our goal isn’t just simplicity—it’s perfection!”
“In other words, the purpose of this new secret method is to use less spiritual energy, a weaker divine soul, and still condense an upper-grade Golden Core!”
After Zheng Fa finished speaking, the light screen slowly faded away.
Everyone looked slightly lost—it was clear they were reluctant to part with that new secret technique.
Even if they didn’t cultivate Divine Thunder of Shenxiao, seeing such a method was still thrilling!
But Zheng Fa laughed again, “A simplified secret technique like this isn’t much to brag about.”
The disciples: “……”
Everyone looked a bit numb, and then they heard Zheng Fa continue:
“The goal of the Golden Core Engineering course is to revise every single Golden Core inheritance in the sect this way!”
“Every inheritance?”
A Jiushan Sect disciple couldn’t hold back and shouted, despite the presence of Nascent Soul elders:
“Yes!”
“Our techniques too?”
The disciple pressed urgently, clearly stirred with emotion.
“Golden Core Engineering doesn’t confine itself to any one Golden Core method—this is a discipline that aims directly at the essence!”
Zheng Fa declared firmly.
And he had every reason to say so. The theoretical foundation of Golden Core Engineering was, in fact, the nature of the Golden Core itself—not the specific technique.
At this point, the Jiushan disciples were all breathing heavily—they had long reached peak Foundation Establishment, and their cultivation methods were basically set.
No matter how Divine Thunder of Shenxiao got revised, it would be hard for them to pick it up again.
But if other methods could be transformed in the same way...
“Wouldn’t that mean everyone could form upper-grade Golden Cores?”
“Not everyone,” Zheng Fa answered honestly, “But the difficulty should decrease significantly—even if you still don’t form an upper-grade core, the overall challenge of Core Formation will be lower.”
Even though Zheng Fa was being modest, the eyes of those disciples were filled with fanaticism—In other words, folks, he just slashed Golden Core prices!
Who wouldn’t be excited?
And not just the Jiushan disciples—even the disciples from the Hundred Immortals Alliance were equally fired up:
Even though they were still far from Core Formation, they understood what a reduction in difficulty meant.
Seeing their eager expressions, Zheng Fa knew the timing was perfect. He smiled and said, “First, we’ll begin by verifying the content in this Divine Thunder Golden Core Analysis.”
With a wave of his hand, three jade slips flew to the disciples.
“The Nascent Soul cultivators and I have divided the verification work into three main parts—the Talisman Group will need to master the various techniques in the Analysis.”
The Jiushan disciples looked at the techniques within the jade slip and nodded lightly, seemingly confident.
This part wasn’t difficult. These were Jiushan’s elite disciples with deep foundations in talismans.
Another jade slip flew toward the Artifact Crafting Group.
“Your first task is to familiarize yourselves with the structure of the Alchemical Furnace. I’ll have the Hundred Immortals Alliance and Wushuang Society purchase more furnaces for your research. On the other hand—and this is the most important—you’ll begin studying the External Pill Method.”
The first part was relatively straightforward.
Zheng Fa’s team had also gathered and organized many rumors about the External Pill Method.
Among those was a particular requirement regarding Alchemical Furnaces:
In the Xuanyi Realm, alchemical furnaces came with many intricacies. One type, for instance, was designed to mimic the human body, with Three Gates and Nine Apertures forged into the furnace to simulate spiritual energy circulation.
External pills were often refined using this type of furnace.
Of course, this was merely a rumor, which was why Zheng Fa had instructed the Artifact Crafting Group to first familiarize themselves with the structures of various alchemical furnaces.
As for researching the External Pill Method, that was naturally more crucial—but clearly much harder—most records about it within the sect were based on rumors from the Xuanyi Realm, a mix of truth and fiction, and had to be tested bit by bit.
He then turned to the final group, the Pill Refinement Group, and said:
“Like the Artifact Crafting Group, your most important task is to research the External Pill Method. Of course, you also need to become familiar with the Divine Thunder Golden Core Analysis. What you need to do is think about the core formation process of the Shenxiao Golden Core from the perspective of alchemy.”
From Zheng Fa’s division of tasks, it was clear—the Golden Core Engineering project actually relied most heavily on the Pill Refinement Group.
Looking at these silent disciples, Zheng Fa couldn’t help but sigh—this was tough!
Not only was what he was attempting unprecedented.
But the capabilities of these disciples, especially those in the Artifact Crafting and Pill Refinement Groups, honestly didn’t meet the project’s requirements.
But Zheng Fa wasn’t entirely without hope—he believed that if their hypothesis about Golden Cores was correct...
Then they had already grasped the fundamental principles.
As for whether they’d succeed… it all depended on whether they tried hard enough.
In fact, in Zheng Fa’s eyes—Golden Core principles weren’t just vaguely related to atomic bombs;
the current situation also greatly resembled the era of China’s “Two Bombs, One Satellite”:
The theory was crystal clear—what they lacked was the engineering capability.
Back then, those great scientists built nuclear bombs with nothing but abacuses.
Now his own Golden Core pioneers had Senior Sister Zhang—a walking calculator—to help.
He didn’t even expect quick results—just like he told his Master, a hundred years, he could wait a hundred years.
Zheng Fa even had the patience to let the next generation take over if this one failed.
All it would take was hard, bitter struggle.
He could afford to wait.
…
Stepping out of the classroom, Mu Qingyan heard her Senior Sister let out a long sigh.
She turned her head to look and heard her Senior Sister say, “What Zhenren Zheng just said... was too incredible…”
“Never mind just the Golden Core secret method.”
“He wants to simplify the method?”
“Wants everyone to be able to form upper-grade Golden Cores?”
“I was completely stunned! You looked dazed too!”
Mu Qingyan said nothing, but inwardly mocked herself:
Dazed?
My Dao Heart is about to shatter.
Her Senior Sister had never formed a core, so when looking at the Divine Thunder Golden Core Analysis, she only thought it was shockingly impressive—but probably didn’t understand why.
But for cultivators who had already formed a core… it was different.
In her past life, Mu Qingyan had formed a high-grade Golden Core quite smoothly—by the age of two hundred.
But to achieve that, she not only spent years refining her divine soul and spiritual energy, more importantly, she risked her life countless times in search of spiritual materials and treasures that could push her power further.
It had truly been a journey of near-death experiences.
But now, looking at the Divine Thunder Golden Core Analysis…
Two lines echoed back and forth in her mind:
It can be done like this? How can it be done like this?!
Wasn’t this bullying honest Golden Core cultivators?!
…
Mu Qingyan held a newly transcribed book in her hand, brows furrowed in hesitation.
The cultivation method recorded inside was called Boundless Sea External Pill...
An External Pill Method that Jiushan Sect didn’t have!
She had already studied the Divine Thunder Golden Core Analysis for several days, and in her view, she had never seen such a “great Dao through simplicity” core formation method…
If this so-called Golden Core Engineering really succeeded, wouldn’t her future core formation process be a lot faster?
She couldn’t help but be moved.
Her current hesitation stemmed from a cautious heart... and she even took pride in this caution—without it, she’d have died in her previous life.
“Qingyan! Come on!”
“Hmm?”
“Sect Master Zheng says he’s launching some kind of Jiushan News, and everyone’s going to check it out! Aren’t you coming?”
“News?” she looked a bit lost. “What is that?”
“I don’t know either, but I heard it’s from Elder Yuan. Wasn’t that stage play also his doing? I haven’t even seen a stage play yet!”