Chapter 356: Chapter 341: Jiang Fengxian’s Core Formation [2nd Update, Please Subscribe]
"The Tier Three High-Grade Demon Beast, the ’Four-winged Wind Snake,’ is indeed a rare kind of demon beast. Jinpeng, your ability to hunt even such a demon snake shows much improvement!"
In the Cyan Cloud Garden, Zhouyang looked at the blue snake thrown to the ground by the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.
The ’Four-winged Wind Snake,’ as the name suggests, is a flying snake-like demon beast with four fleshy wings.
These flying snakes are not known for their size, but as wind demonic beasts, their bodies are incredibly agile, and they excel at the Invisibility Technique.
Moreover, the ’Four-winged Wind Snake’s’ venomous fangs are extremely poisonous, so even a Purple Mansion Stage Cultivator bitten by it might face fatal consequences if they do not promptly consume an Antitoxic Elixir.
Zhouyang was indeed a bit surprised that the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle could hunt such a demon beast.
Undoubtedly, compared to the wild Golden-winged Thunder Eagles, his own Golden-winged Thunder Eagle’s growth was astonishingly fast due to the ten ’Beast Spirit Pills’ it had consumed over the years, going from a hatchling to a Tier Three High-Grade Demon Beast in just over a decade.
But due to such rapid growth, its hunting and combat techniques lagged compared to its peers that grew at a normal rate.
Zhouyang was not a Golden-winged Thunder Eagle himself, so could he possibly teach his eagle how to hunt step by step?
Thus far, his Golden-winged Thunder Eagle had been learning hunting and combat techniques through its own exploration.
In such a situation, for the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle to go out and capture a ’Four-winged Wind Snake’, which is skilled at evading and escaping, was indeed surprising to Zhouyang.
Goo Goo~
The Golden-winged Thunder Eagle, ’Jinpeng,’ was quite proud of its owner’s surprise and happily stretched its head forward to seek a reward.
In the past, whenever it returned with prey, Zhouyang would reward it with an ’Essence Pill’ made using the essence of Tier Three Demon Beast blood and flesh.
This time was no exception.
Zhouyang took out an ’Essence Pill’ and tossed it into its open mouth while gently stroking the feathers on its head, saying, "Don’t get too cocky yet. Let me ask you, what about the spirit elixir guarded by the ’Four-winged Wind Snake’? You didn’t secretly eat it again, did you?"
Upon hearing this, the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle quickly shook its head like a rattle drum, glaring angrily at the corpse of the ’Four-winged Wind Snake’ on the ground. It then used its claw to gesture at the snake’s belly, indicating that the spirit elixir had already been consumed by the ’Four-winged Wind Snake’.
"Alright, don’t be angry; what’s eaten is eaten. Since it consumed the spirit elixir, we’ll just cook it into snake soup and eat it together. A great tonic!"
Zhouyang, seeing the somewhat childlike Golden-winged Thunder Eagle, shook his head with a smile and waved his hand to summon the ’Mountain and River Cauldron,’ a magical artifact once used by Duanmu Yong, and began to genuinely cook snake meat soup on the spot.
However, before the pot of snake soup was even ready, the spiritual energy within the entire Cyan Cloud Garden suddenly became agitated.
"Spiritual Energy Vortex, Core Formation Celestial Phenomenon!"
Zhouyang suddenly stood up, both shocked and delighted, directing his gaze toward the main hall of the Cyan Cloud Garden.
Over the main hall where Jiang Fengxian was in seclusion, a funnel-shaped seven-colored spiritual energy vortex, about a zhang wide, had appeared without warning. The Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi from the entire Cyan Cloud Garden and the surrounding area for dozens of miles was surging like ocean waves into that spiritual energy vortex.
With this massive supply of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, the seven-colored spiritual energy vortex was spinning larger at an astonishing rate, visibly expanding by the eye.
A quarter of an hour.
A half hour.
Three quarters of an hour.
One and a half hours.
Six quarters passed after the appearance of the spiritual energy vortex, and it had swollen to more than a hundred zhang in width.
At this very moment, Zhouyang—even though he was surrounded by the Tier Five Spiritual Vein—could feel that the concentration of surrounding spiritual qi did not match even a Tier Three Spiritual Vein.
Over eighty percent of the spiritual qi from the entire spiritual vein had been drawn into the enormous seven-colored spiritual energy vortex due to Jiang Fengxian’s Core Formation Celestial Phenomenon.
After absorbing such a massive amount of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, the seven-colored spiritual energy vortex finally ceased absorbing from the external world and began to slowly descend toward the large hall below.
Zhouyang understood that whether Jiang Fengxian could succeed in forming her Golden Core depended on her ability to refine all the spiritual energy from this vortex into her own Golden Core True Essence.
A single Golden Core is no larger than a chicken egg, yet it contains energy as vast as the sea.
Moreover, the Golden Core True Essence is incredibly high in essence, such that ten portions of spiritual qi absorbed and refined by a Qi Cultivation Stage Cultivator could convert into seven portions of magical power; by a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, five portions; by a Purple Mansion Stage Cultivator, three portions; but for a Golden Core Stage Cultivator, converting just one portion of magical power from ten portions of spiritual qi is considered exceptional.
Therefore, when a Purple Mansion Stage Cultivator attempts to advance to the Golden Core Stage, they must choose a location rich in spiritual energy as their place of seclusion. This way, after triggering the Core Formation Celestial Phenomenon, they can gather enough Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to support the condensation of their Golden Core.
If the gathered Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi is insufficient, not only might the core formation fail, but even if successful by sheer luck, their Golden Core’s Dao Foundation will be unstable, inherently weaker than others, directly affecting their future path.
However, the gathered Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi is not necessarily better in larger amounts.
If the gathered Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi is too abundant, exceeding the absorption and refinement limits of the cultivator forming the core, it could potentially cause them to burst, resulting in a violent death.
Therefore, a Purple Mansion Stage Cultivator attempting core formation should not enter seclusion on a Tier Four Spiritual Vein with low spiritual energy nor on a Tier Six Spiritual Vein with too much spiritual energy. The optimal choice is to enter seclusion on a Tier Five Spiritual Vein.
The spiritual energy vortex formed during Jiang Fengxian’s Core Formation Celestial Phenomenon spanned a hundred feet. This is stronger than most Golden Core Cultivators’ celestial phenomena that Zhouyang had read about in the texts, but considering her possession of the "Green Wood Spirit Body", this situation seems normal.
"Once the Core Formation Celestial Phenomenon appears, it can be seen for miles around, and Golden Core Cultivators or Tier Five Demon Beasts within ten thousand miles will sense it. Hopefully, it won’t attract those troublesome beings!"
After taking a deep look at the spiritual energy vortex about to completely sink below the main hall’s secluded chamber, Zhouyang moved his figure, immediately exiting Cyan Cloud Garden to oversee the array outside the valley basin.
At this moment, many demon beasts were indeed gathering outside the valley basin due to the sudden triggering of the Core Formation Celestial Phenomenon here.
These demon beasts didn’t know what was happening, but an inexplicable sensing made them feel there’s something inside the valley basin attracting them.
This is actually a celestial test from the Heavenly Dao, a trial for advancing cultivators, where these demon beasts are guided by the will of the Heavenly Dao to disrupt the cultivator’s progression.
Fortunately, Jiang Fengxian is forming her core deep within the Wilderness Jungle, with no human cultivators in the vicinity.
Otherwise, seeing this Core Formation Celestial Phenomenon, more human cultivators might have their inner evils magnified by the Heavenly Dao’s will, unable to resist their greed and jealousy, potentially disrupting Jiang Fengxian’s core formation.
A cultivator forming their core has no combat capability, and even a Foundation Establishment Cultivator or a Qi Cultivation Stage Cultivator could easily interrupt the core formation and cause their spiritual energy and magical power to go berserk, leading to a violent death.
Therefore, a cultivator generally invites absolutely trustworthy friends and family to act as guardians, protecting them from disturbances during core formation.
If there’s truly no trusted person to guard them, some cultivators use spirit pets, puppets, and arrays to protect themselves.
For instance, during Jiang Fengxian’s core formation, not only is there a Tier Five Array guarding the outermost layer, Zhouyang is guarding from within, and her "Seven-Colored Cloud-Swallowing Python" and Five-Colored Peacock are holding the last line of defense within the main hall.
With such layers of protection, even a Golden Core Stage Cultivator or Tier Five Demon Beast would struggle to easily disrupt her core formation.
At this moment, numerous demon beasts and barbaric beasts gathered outside her cave quickly became unable to restrain themselves and started launching an assault on the valley basin.
The demon beasts and barbaric beasts that broke into the array were naturally quickly killed by the array’s power, but Zhouyang didn’t show any joy watching this scene.
He knew that these low-to-middle-tier demon beasts and barbaric beasts were not worth worrying about, as their numbers could not last even a quarter of an hour within the array.
However, the continuous assaults by these low-to-middle-tier demon beasts would deplete the spiritual power stored in the array, while Jiang Fengxian absorbed most of the spiritual energy from the spirit vein within the cave for core formation, leaving no way to supply the array’s continuous operation.
"I can only use some Spirit Stones for now and hope that there won’t be many formidable entities following, otherwise, my remaining reserves might be depleted halfway!"
With a stern expression, Zhouyang glanced at the outside demon beasts breaking through the array, and with a wave of his sleeve, he immediately placed hundreds of pieces of middle-grade Spirit Stones into the array, providing reserve spiritual power for its operation.
As it turned out, this was a wise decision, as after many low-to-middle-tier demon beasts rushed forth to their deaths, activating the array, several Tier Four Demon Beasts began attacking the array fiercely from the outside, rapidly consuming the array’s power.
Zhouyang did not show leniency to these demon beasts attacking the array from the outside, immediately manipulating the array to launch a counterattack.
Today was different from before; initially, they managed to breach the array with internal and external coordination because the array had no one to oversee and initiate attacks against enemies proactively.
But now, Zhouyang possesses control over the entire array.
With a spell launched into the array, a dozen or so ice spears, each several feet long, shot out from the array, instantly piercing and freezing two Tier Four Demon Beasts and a dozen Tier Three Top-Grade Demon Beasts to the ground.
Then, with a thought, ten crimson sword rainbows flew out of the array, swiftly beheading the two heavily wounded Tier Four Demon Beasts.
Without the two Tier Four Demon Beasts causing chaos, the remaining low-to-middle-tier demon beasts were like waiting cabbages under the "Great Derivation Divine Light Sword", easily being felled and harvested one after another.
However, as soon as Zhouyang finished off a batch of demon beasts, more quickly arrived from all directions.
Eventually, the fluctuations induced by the spiritual energy vortex combined with the intense odor of blood attracted a Tier Four Top-Grade Barbaric Beast, the "Blood-Eyed Mad Lion".
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