The Master and His Wealthy Fiancée

The exceptionally pure Spiritual Power was still surging wildly. Chen Dong reached his limit once again. A mysterious black aura suffused him, and as his Golden Core spun, it grew a size larger, becoming even smoother and more perfect—an Eighth-grade Golden Core!

Chen Dong was shocked again. 'No Thunder Tribulation, no Dao Heart Tribulation… isn't forming this Golden Core a little too easy?' But on second thought, it hadn't been easy at all. The pain of feeling like he was about to burst from the Spiritual Qi had been constant from the very beginning.

Chen Dong decided to stop dwelling on things he couldn't understand. He forced himself to endure the pain, calmed his mind, and focused on quietly comprehending the black aura.

The moment his consciousness touched it, Chen Dong's perspective shifted dramatically. In an endless darkness, two auras, one black and one white, appeared. They seemed to both attract and repel one another, circling and chasing each other. Finally, the two auras merged, erupting like cosmic dust. In that instant, it was as if the principles of heaven and earth, the supreme Great Dao, and primordial creation itself were born, with three thousand worlds emerging from the chaos...

Chen Dong's consciousness became lost within the vision, unable to pull itself free. A single tear falling from the corner of his eye finally startled him awake. At that moment, he understood the origin of the black aura. When the black and white auras had merged, some infinitesimally small, invisible wisps of black and white had failed to fuse, breaking away during the explosion. The wisp of black aura that had entered his body was one of those very strands.

Chen Dong was in a state of sudden enlightenment, his heart swelling with emotion. The experience had given him a completely new understanding of the Dao.

He then inspected himself. The Golden Core within his body was incomparably profound and as large as a fist. It was smoother and more solid than a First-grade Golden Core, containing limitless Dao Essence. This was a Transcendent-grade Golden Core—an existence beyond the First-grade. His cultivation had also reached the Third-Layer Golden Core realm, and the wisp of black aura had fused with him completely.

"Chen Dong, Chen Dong? What's going on?"

Chen Dong once again heard Mu Qingzhu's transmitted voice. He could also perceive her aura, her soul, her techniques...

Chen Dong murmured, "What happened to me?"

Mu Qingzhu's voice shot up several octaves. "You're asking me? I should be asking you!"

Chen Dong felt as if he had lived through several epochs, his thoughts still a chaotic mess. Yet, when he looked within himself, the Transcendent-grade Golden Core was undeniably real. In his sea of consciousness, the Floating Mountain was now three times its previous size, covered with flowers, trees, clear springs, and babbling brooks—it was like an Immortal Realm on earth.

The once-dim surface of his sea of consciousness now held a sun, and a Fire Phoenix soared through its sky. At the edge of the floating expanse, lightning occasionally flashed. In the very center, the Spiritual Golden Lotus had bloomed eighteen petals. Among the surrounding Six Paths Light Pillars, a new one had appeared, named the Creation Dao, though it held not a single speck of light.

At this, Chen Dong shook his head slightly and asked, "How much time has passed?"

"What do you mean, 'how much time has passed'?"

Chen Dong furrowed his brow and glanced into the distance. Li Zhixuan was still refining the Five Senses Calming Flower. "I mean, since we parted ways with Li Zhixuan?" he asked.

Mu Qingzhu replied with certainty, "Not even a quarter of an hour!"

Chen Dong let out a soft sigh. "But it felt like several epochs to me!"

He then had a realization. In the vastness of the cosmos, perception and reality could diverge; in truth, less than a quarter of an hour had passed. He decided then to name the black aura the "Qi of the Profound."

He immediately followed up, "I was just chasing a black flash of light. What did I do after that?"

He couldn't quite explain the full situation to Mu Qingzhu, so he stuck to asking about the "black flash of light."

Mu Qingzhu sounded confused. "What black flash of light? You were just walking along when you suddenly sat down cross-legged. Then it was like... like you were about to ascend to immortality right then and there! Your cultivation started skyrocketing, and you even formed a Golden Core without a Thunder Tribulation. It's simply unbelievable!"

'It seems the wonders of Creation are not bound by the illusion of reality,' Chen Dong realized. 'I really was chasing that black flash of light, but from that very moment, I had already entered the process of Creation itself.'

Chen Dong sensed that Mu Qingzhu's soul had also grown significantly stronger. He then perceived the Jade Embryo within his body; it had already reached its third stage.

Then he asked, "Did you not feel anything during that time?"

Mu Qingzhu said, "That's what confuses me even more! I suddenly received countless insights into the 'Dao,' pointing directly to the origin of the Great Dao. I'm only at the third stage of the Jade Embryo, but I've somehow completely comprehended the entire Yuqing Immortal Technique! And there are even more profound mysteries within it that I can't put into words."

Chen Dong nodded. When he tried to examine the Yuqing Immortal Technique himself, he still found it abstruse and difficult to understand.

'This must be Dao affinity,' Chen Dong thought, no longer agonizing over it. Although he coveted the Great Divination Art within the technique, if he couldn't grasp it, he couldn't grasp it. 'I'll just have to try and comprehend it slowly when I have time. Clearly, that's not right now.'

Chen Dong stood up and started walking out of the black, misty Mire. To him, the black mist now seemed nonexistent; his Divine Sense could see through it with perfect clarity. He also finally understood how such an ordinary mountain area could produce a treasure like the Five Senses Calming Flower. Clearly, the black aura had influenced a normal flower, causing it to spiritually evolve.

"Qingzhu, help me conceal my cultivation level!"

Mu Qingzhu knew the sudden benefits she'd received were inextricably linked to Chen Dong, so she didn't argue.

A flash of light shone in Chen Dong's left eye, and his Golden Core cultivation level was instantly concealed. Now, even if a Divinity Transformation Cultivator were to inspect him, they would only detect the cultivation of someone at Foundation Establishment Perfection.

With his cultivation level properly hidden and a few other adjustments made, Chen Dong walked out of the black mist without any lingering worries.

The moment he stepped out, Tang Lian, who was standing guard by the Mire, immediately asked, "Martial Nephew Chen Dong, what exactly is inside that black mist?"