Chapter 284 : Pioneering a New Path
Chapter 284: Pioneering a New Path
“Good job, Golden Egg.”
Chen Beiwu offered praise, his gaze falling upon Golden Egg, whose appearance had drastically changed, exuding a mighty and domineering aura.
On its left, the dragon head had no horns, and its whiskers flowed like water. The central dragon head bore sword-like horns, emanating Gold-Edge Qi. The right head was hornless as well, its jade-glass-like skull gleaming, with eyes flashing like lightning, cyan mane trailing like clouds, a neck covered in golden scales that reflected sunlight, a back shielded in black armor, and a tail like a dragon’s.
There was no doubt—even without sensing its aura—just its appearance and bearing clearly marked this three-headed flood dragon as a formidable being not to be provoked.
“Hehe, that’s nothing.”
Golden Egg lifted its water head, revealing a goofy grin.
In response, the central gold head suddenly breathed out a sharp burst of dragon breath. “What are you grinning about? I’m Golden Egg!”
“No no no, you two stop fighting. I’m Golden Egg,” said the wood head, shaking slightly, appearing to mediate but clearly fanning the flames.
As expected, the gold and water heads ceased their squabbling and turned to glare at the wood head. “Who did you say is Golden Egg?”
“Woof.”
Seeing this scene, Iron Egg blinked and looked toward Chen Beiwu.
Chen Beiwu shook his head and said helplessly, “Alright, Golden Egg, cut it out.”
Iron Egg had assumed that Golden Egg’s evolution had caused a split in its consciousness—but that wasn’t the case.
The Three-Headed Mystic Flood Dragon possessed a unified trinity of lives; one in three, three in one—all ruled by the same true spirit, governing the consciousness of each head. The difference lay in the distinct attributes of each head, which led to slight temperament variations.
But one thing was certain: Golden Egg was still Golden Egg. There was no way it had split into three separate consciousnesses.
Sure enough, as soon as Chen Beiwu spoke, Golden Egg’s three heads stopped fooling around and all six eyes turned toward him, a trace of guilt flickering within them.
“No more jokes for now. Guard me.”
Feeling the increasing tremor from his Spirit Platform, Chen Beiwu gave Golden Egg a reminder, then stopped suppressing the turmoil of mana within his Dantian Sea of Qi, immediately sitting cross-legged on the ground, multitasking as he simultaneously activated All Laws Converge, Heaven Book of the Divine Tree and Five Great Emperors’ Taiyi Pill Forging Method.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
Through the feedback of the Companion Contract, a ceaseless torrent of immense mana surged into Chen Beiwu’s Dantian, making him resemble a steaming lobster, radiating an aura on par with a Golden Core True Person.
Seeing this, Golden Egg ceased its mischief, eyes growing solemn as it stood vigil by Chen Beiwu’s side, occasionally glancing toward its master with concern.
Golden Core and Foundation Establishment were fundamentally different realms.
Though its recent evolution stemmed more from a bloodline leap than a breakthrough in cultivation, the resulting spike in cultivation years and feedback from the Companion Contract were far beyond what a Foundation Establishment cultivator could normally endure.
“Woof.”
Iron Egg gave a low growl, its gaze toward Chen Beiwu also filled with worry.
Iron Egg knew Chen Beiwu’s ambition. From its spiritual sense, it could tell that Chen Beiwu’s aura had become unstable, as if he could break through the Boundary Barrier at any moment and step into the Golden Core realm.
If that happened, Chen Beiwu’s aspiration of condensing a Golden Core worthy of bearing a title would be shattered.
“Tai Xuan Guarding the One, Five Qi Preserve the True.” Chen Beiwu operated his cultivation method with full focus, refining the Companion Contract’s feedback.
One day, two days, seven days... half a month!
As time passed under the watchful eyes of Golden Egg and Iron Egg, the crimson hue of Chen Beiwu’s skin faded to a healthy pallor, his aura growing increasingly calm and profound.
Thirteen wisps!
Twenty-three wisps!
Thirty-three wisps!
When all the vast mana within his Dantian had been refined into Taiyi True Qi and gathered almost to the point of forming a Virtual Core, inspiration struck Chen Beiwu. Drawing from the Yuqing Ninefold Yuanshi Pill Canon, he used Taiyi True Qi to construct a swirling vortex of power.
Before long, this vortex reached a critical threshold, triggering a dramatic upheaval within his Dantian Sea of Qi.
“Buzz!”
Deep within the core of his Taiyi True Qi, a spark of pure, golden radiance suddenly ignited—like the first light of creation itself.
Under the suppression of this light, the Taiyi True Qi within Chen Beiwu’s Dantian began to revolve and condense in a mysterious pattern, eventually swelling and erupting to give birth to a single entity.
It was an unusual proto-core, the size of a pigeon egg, hovering between the real and unreal.
Rather than a perfect golden orb, this proto-core resembled a budding lotus seed, or perhaps a miniature Five Elements Mountain formed from Taiyi’s Five Elements, exuding a Dao’s Rhythm that hinted at eternal indestructibility, instinctively making Chen Beiwu think of the Indestructible Golden Core.
With the Dao Foundation nurturing the core—the proto-core had formed!
Sensing the change in his cultivation realm, Chen Beiwu’s tightly shut eyes suddenly opened.
A mighty, mountainous pressure erupted from him as the ground beneath cracked inch by inch, and the thin spiritual energy in the air let out a faint wail.
“Phew.”
Chen Beiwu exhaled a deep breath, then slowly lowered his head and opened his palm, his expression filled with unconcealed excitement.
“Metal returns to its nature—thus, it is called the Return Core.”
To a cultivator of the Immortal Alliance, condensing a Golden Core was a pivotal moment of life and death on the path of cultivation—a complete rebirth.
Yet forming a Golden Core was extremely difficult. If a cultivator’s foundation was unstable, heart impure, external aids insufficient, or burdened by the bloodline of a Companion Beast, and thus failed to refine the Dragon and Tiger within or draw from innate Earthly Sha, they might stumble at the final threshold and perish. The lucky survivors could only form a False Core.
What was a False Core?
A False Core was loose and dim, resembling a pile of sand or a ball of fluff, lacking the balance of Kan and Li (Water and Fire), unable to revert to Jade Liquid Return Core or nourish the five organs of the cultivator.
Although it retained a trace of Indestructible Gold Attribute, it was like a rootless tree, like water without a source. Attempting to condense a core again would be even more dangerous.
Therefore, those who failed and ended up with a False Core had essentially reached a dead end in their path—Immortal Alliance cultivators called it a “Core Womb Deadlock.”
The seed now forming in Chen Beiwu’s Dantian through Taiyi True Qi was clearly no False Core. It was a proto-core forged through reversing cultivation with his Flawless Dao Foundation, blending Golden Egg’s mana and Taiyi True Qi to aim directly at the innate, and crafted through the principles of the Marvelous Method of Companion Beast Landscape.
This proto-core was the ultimate manifestation of Taiyi True Qi, pointing directly at the essence of a Golden Core. In nature, it was infinitely close to a true Taiyi Golden Core, far beyond what any False Core could compare to.
“Does this count as pioneering a new path of beast-aided cultivation?” Chen Beiwu wondered silently.
Having yet to truly condense a Golden Core, yet already forging a proto-core—this was unheard of in the Immortal Alliance. Such a feat had neither been seen nor recorded before. Calling it the birth of a new path in the Dao of cultivation was hardly an exaggeration.
It was no overstatement to say that if his method of core formation could be streamlined and passed on, allowing Foundation Establishment cultivators across the Immortal Alliance to emulate and follow this path into the realm—it could very well rewrite the entire cultivation system.
Between the peak of Foundation Establishment and the Golden Core stage, a new transitional realm had been created—Proto-Core Realm—greatly increasing the success rate of Golden Core formation for Foundation Establishment cultivators, allowing Immortal Alliance cultivators once trapped at the Foundation Establishment stage, unable to break through and form a Tribulation-Breaking Golden Core, and with no hope on their path, to now possess “the potential of Golden Core.”
And as the founding patriarch of this Core-Forming bloodline, Chen Beiwu would undoubtedly be remembered throughout Immortal Alliance history, his light shining through the ages.
In the future, his status might even rival those few cultivation titans of the Immortal Alliance who pioneered the orthodox path of beast-aided cultivation toward Golden Core, and perhaps even invisibly gather immense fate energy from many cultivators.
“Buzz.”
Just then, the Guarding-the-One Mirror cleansed desire and calmed thoughts, snuffing out the wild ambitions in Chen Beiwu’s heart.
One must eat a meal one bite at a time.
Compared to simplifying a cultivation method, opening a new path, and spreading his name across the Immortal Alliance, what mattered more right now was fully mastering the Yuqing Ninefold Yuanshi Pill Canon, forging the Yuanshi Golden Core, and obtaining full support from the Yuqing Immortal Sect.
After all, opening a new path sounded simple, but was unimaginably difficult in truth.
The Immortal Alliance was vast, its orthodoxies numerous. The Five Great Grotto-Heavens, Thirteen Immortal Sects, Seven-Nine Upper Sects, Ninety-Nine Orthodox Clans, and other cultivation forces had long histories and had established strict boundaries and enormous chains of vested interests.
Without the backing of the Yuqing Immortal Sect, even if Chen Beiwu used the Five Great Emperors’ Taiyi Pill Forging Method and Yuqing Ninefold Yuanshi Pill Canon to simplify a “Proto-Core Realm” cultivation system, he would become a target of public criticism.
At this thought, Chen Beiwu shook his head slightly and began to feel the enhancements brought by the Taiyi Proto-Core.
“My Divine Sense now covers nine hundred zhang, surpassing even the peak of Golden Core—perhaps comparable to a Golden Core Perfection cultivator.”
“My Earthly Sha mana has attained the attribute of Indestructible Gold, so releasing the Silent Radiance God-Slaying Spike ten times shouldn’t be an issue. Mana reserves can rival that of a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator—a third-grade Golden Core.”
“In terms of lifespan, with feedback from the Companion Contract and the support of All Laws Converge, Heaven Book of the Divine Tree, I can enjoy at least a thousand years.”
After finishing his self-assessment, Chen Beiwu couldn't help but glance toward Golden Egg.
Unaware before, but shocked upon calculation.
He hadn’t even condensed a Golden Core yet, and already he could join forces with Golden Egg to easily suppress late-stage Golden Core cultivators from the Southern Wastes, or even contend against Golden Core Perfection cultivators.
If, in the future, he truly forged a Yuanshi Golden Core and reached Golden Core Perfection, wouldn’t he be able to challenge a Nascent Soul True Monarch?
Golden Egg slightly lifted its dragon head, clearly agreeing with Chen Beiwu’s thoughts.
“So, what do you plan to name your species?”
Chen Beiwu casually asked via Divine Sense while probing into Golden Egg’s three meridians.
The Immortal Alliance’s Celestial and Earthly Beasts Rankings had limited slots; only thirty-six Heavenly-Gang Mystic Beasts existed to correspond to the Heavenly Gang number, and the titles were renowned.
However, among fourth-tier Mystic Beasts, the varieties were numerous and many possessed formidable Mystic Arcana—far beyond what a single ranking could cover.
Thus, privately, Immortal Alliance cultivators often referred to Mystic Beasts possessing Legendary-Grade Origin Meridians, or those with top-tier fourth-tier talents, as Heavenly-Gang Mystic Beasts.
Of course, officially, the Immortal Alliance did not acknowledge this designation.
“It’s actually a Legendary-Grade Origin Meridian!”
When Chen Beiwu saw the pure and radiant innate gold, wood, and water essences deep within Golden Egg’s origin meridians, his heart trembled violently.
Rumor had it that a Companion Beast possessing a Legendary-Grade Origin Meridian could cause a Companion Cultivator’s Spiritual Root Aptitude to undergo a complete transformation.
With the support of Golden Egg’s three meridians, wouldn’t his aptitude take off completely?
“Gold 61, Wood 90, Water 93, Fire 23, Earth 22.”
After carefully sensing the changes to his spiritual roots, Chen Beiwu took a deep breath.
The Legendary-Grade Origin Meridian was indeed as strong as the rumors claimed.
His gold root purity had soared by 41 points in one go—transforming from a meager Mixed-Grade Root to a full Earth-Grade Gold Root.
His wood root purity had a smaller increase due to its already high base, rising by 7 points. Water root rose only 3 points.
Of course, without the previous support from the Profound-Grade Origin Meridian, both water and wood root purities would have increased by 7 points this time. No real difference in numbers—but the efficiency of absorbing spiritual energy had increased more than tenfold.
“I’d like to hear your thoughts.”
Golden Egg thought for a while, but its three heads were completely blank—unable to come up with a single name. It could only hope Chen Beiwu would help.
“Taiyi Three-Aspected Manifestation Sovereign Flood Dragon Mystic Flood Dragon—how about that?” Chen Beiwu offered without hesitation.
“Too long.” Golden Egg’s three heads tilted. “Why not just Three-Aspected Manifestation Mystic Flood Dragon?”
“That works.”
Chen Beiwu nodded and then extended his Divine Sense into Golden Egg’s five-element attribute meridians.
“Gold 95, Wood 94, Water 96, Fire 23, Earth 80.”
The five-element meridians reflected the bloodline aptitude of a Companion Beast.
What’s more, the higher the purity, the harder it was to raise. Golden Egg’s gold, wood, and water meridian purities reaching 95, 94, and 96 was terrifying.
Adding in the ridiculous boost from the Legendary-Grade Origin Meridian, calling it a Heavenly-Gang Mystic Beast was no exaggeration.
As for Golden Egg’s bloodline path, Chen Beiwu didn’t bother looking further.
With the five Golden Core Beast Generals as benchmarks, he already fully understood the four innate Mystic Arcana awakened by Golden Egg—there was no need to look again.
The only thing that puzzled Chen Beiwu was why Golden Egg’s strongest illusion art, Mirror Flower, Water Moon, had not awakened as an Innate Divine Ability.
Could it be that the Mirror-Origin Moonfruit Profound Illumination Heart Sutra jade slips hadn’t been eaten enough?
“Beiwu, when are we challenging the Flintrock Coiled Dragon again?” Golden Egg’s gaze burned.
Its loss in the Struggle Realm was unforgettable.
Now that it had successfully undergone Flood Dragon Transformation, even mid-stage Golden Core Beast Generals were no longer its match. It was the perfect time to reclaim honor and help Chen Beiwu rise as the strongest of the Yuqing Immortal Sect’s new generation.
“No rush.”
Chen Beiwu shook his head, eyes falling atop Golden Egg’s head.
As a Heavenly-Gang Mystic Beast, the Flintrock Coiled Dragon was no pushover.
From the perspective of innate Mystic Arcana, Golden Egg now had the edge after evolving into a Three-Aspected Manifestation Mystic Flood Dragon.
But overall, the Flintrock Coiled Dragon was undoubtedly strong.
Truth be told, compared to competing with Yu Zhaohua in spell duels for a hollow title, Chen Beiwu cared more about surpassing his limits, mastering immortal arts, and forging the Yuanshi Golden Core.
“Alright.”
Golden Egg lowered its heads, allowing Chen Beiwu to activate his Divine Ability and examine its fate.
Under Chen Beiwu’s gaze, the Crimson Fortune Dragon, which should have been coiled around Golden Egg, swallowing sun and moon, now appeared as if its spine had been removed.
Its spirit was low, its glow of fate dimmed—now lacking even half of its former might.
“Destroying a Dragon Vein, stealing Heaven’s fortune to undergo Flood Dragon Transformation—sure enough, brings Heaven’s backlash,” Chen Beiwu thought.
Golden Egg, though protected by the Crimson Fortune Dragon’s fate, still faced calamity during its Flood Dragon Transformation due to the Dragon Vein’s destruction—and was targeted by five Golden Core Beast Generals.
Flood Dragon Transformation was that dangerous—no wonder ancient records spoke of a nine-in-ten chance of death.
Only one in ten thousand variant flood dragons could defy the heavens and survive the ordeal.
“Let’s go. Back to the sect.”
Chen Beiwu stored away Golden Egg and Iron Egg, urgently summoning his Escape Light and flying toward the Yunlong Marsh market.
Being a Mirror Moon Dao Child was fine, but what could compare to being a twenty-two-year-old Golden Core True Person? Far more dazzling, more worthy of promotion, and more likely to earn full investment from the sect patriarchs.
What’s that? You say the higher-ups of the sect could easily tell Chen Beiwu wasn’t a true Golden Core cultivator?
What a joke—there wasn’t even a recognized Proto-Core Realm in the Immortal Alliance. How could the Southern Wastes possibly have one?
Besides, Chen Beiwu could freely command a Third-Realm variant Golden Core Flood Dragon and easily annihilate mid-stage Golden Core cultivators.
Even if he claimed he wasn’t Golden Core, no cultivator in the Southern Wastes would believe a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator could slay a Golden Core True Person in seconds.