Dao Equaling the Heavens
Chapter 164 - 130: Breaking Through Two Levels, Second Transition Golden Core

Chapter 164: Chapter 130: Breaking Through Two Levels, Second Transition Golden Core

Upon hearing this, Gu Wen eagerly nodded repeatedly and bowed respectfully, "I appreciate it, Fellow Daoist Chi Yu Zi."

This guy really knows which side his bread is buttered on.

Chi Yu Zi noticed the change in attitude and was somewhat speechless as she said, "I’m going to teach you now, but you must promise me one thing."

"What is it?"

Gu Wen looked puzzled. This wasn’t the same as what they had initially agreed on; why the sudden increase in price? But this girl didn’t seem so mercenary, did she?

Chi Yu Zi seriously and earnestly spoke, "If you don’t manage to learn it, don’t blame me, and if it wastes your time, you can’t blame me either."

So, it’s a disclaimer...

Gu Wen nodded in agreement, and then Chi Yu Zi, not wanting to be remiss, confirmed several times over.

It wasn’t that she wanted to go back on her word, but rather, too many people had gone mad over the Immortal Skills. Now, Gu Wen possessed two Immortal Skills and needed to focus on cultivating just one rather than multiple Immortal Skills at once.

It’s never been about having more techniques; the essence of Daoist Skill is in its quality, not its quantity. Most of the great powers in the Cultivation World were known for their prowess in a single technique.

They had already reached an agreement, and now Chi Yu Zi couldn’t reject Gu Wen, even with good intentions, without breaking her word.

Chi Yu Zi’s voice transmitted directly into his ear, a faint mystical sound.

"One of the Thirty-Six Immortal Skills, the Golden Core Skill, signifies the pinnacle of the Golden Core and the peak of Mana."

"The Golden Core returns to its origin, solidifying into the holy fetal Immortal body, known as the root of Taiji, the handle of Innate, the tether of the Void, the source of creation, the root of chaos, the valley of the Void. This is the Sixth Transition."

Gu Wen took a deep breath into his dantian, introspecting into his Qi Sea, and understanding the Magic Skill Chi Yu Zi had transmitted.

The first six transitions of the Golden Core Skill were similar to the six transitions of the Yuqing Daoji’s Golden Core, but there were some differences too. Gu Wen’s realm was too complicated to articulate clearly, but he could vaguely sense the variations within.

The six transitions of the Yuqing Daoji’s Golden Core were stable and moderate, with nothing particularly outstanding, nor lacking.

Just as Yu Hua had described, any single level of Yuqing Daoji wouldn’t be the best, but it ranked within the top three. While others excelled at one level, Yuqing Daoji was top-tier in all, winning in overall strength when put together.

In contrast, the Ninth Transition Golden Core Method was the pinnacle of Golden Core practice, overpowering the former in almost every aspect.

The consumption of Heavenly Marrow was also significantly different.

[For the Fifth Level of Yuqing Daoji, the Sixth Transition Golden Core, the First Transition requires fifty years of Heavenly Marrow, the Sixth Transition requires three hundred years of Heavenly Marrow.]

[For the Ninth Transition Golden Core Method, the First Transition requires fifty years of Heavenly Marrow, the Second Transition sixty years, the Third Transition seventy years, and so on, accumulating to four hundred and fifty years of Heavenly Marrow by the Sixth Transition.]

The difference between the two was one hundred and fifty years of Heavenly Marrow, and that was just for the first six transitions. Beyond that were three more transitions.

Such accumulation would probably require six hundred or even eight hundred years of Heavenly Marrow, which is beyond what ordinary Spiritual Medicine can replenish. All the Spiritual Medicine Gu Wen had painstakingly collected over the last half a year might not even add up to eight hundred Heavenly Marrow.

And yet the Ninth Transition Golden Core required so much.

However, upon further thought, it made sense, because the Ninth Transition Golden Core is equivalent to mastering an Immortal Skill all at once, not just practicing one level after another of the Sword Dao or Dao Foundation.

Moreover, it comes with the Golden Light Spell, the only spell capable of being cultivated with Heavenly Marrow.

Gu Wen had already experienced the power of Divine Skills; even a single strand of Angri True Fire could cost them half their lives.

To practice or not to practice? To practice all of it, or only the first six transitions?

Gu Wen couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.

If he could, he certainly would want all of it, but his current situation hardly seemed affluent, and in a world where everyone was an enemy, slowly accumulating resources was unlikely.

’Leave aside the Ninth Transition and the Golden Light Spell for now.’

Gu Wen made his judgment.

Without the means, one cannot cook without rice; he could only practice the first six transitions of the Ninth Revolution Golden Core. His environment didn’t allow Gu Wen to collect Heavenly Marrow in an orderly fashion; he needed to grow quickly.

Seeing that she had transmitted all of the Magic Skill, Chi Yu Zi said:

"The Sixth Transition signifies both Golden Core Perfection and prepares you for the subsequent three transitions beyond transcendence. The Ninth Transition cannot be conveyed by words alone; in a few days, I will demonstrate the practice to you physically."

"The first step you should take is to crush your original Golden Core, leveraging Immortal Land’s Spiritual Medicine and special Heaven and Earth Laws to reform it. I suggest you take this step after I have recovered."

"Why?" asked Gu Wen.

"Because the shattering of the Golden Core will leave you in a temporary period of weakness, similar to the current state of Chi Yu Zi."

Then, Jun Yan’s voice echoing from the darkness, with a faint scratching noise, like claws scraping against bark.

"... Both the Heavenly Girl and Chi Yu Zi have encountered issues; if something happens to you too, I alone cannot bear the burden."

Chi Yu Zi nodded and said, "This step is also the most challenging, takes the longest, and the consumption is comparable to practicing a Third Transition Golden Core, which is why most people settle for just a First Transition Restoration."

Upon hearing this, Gu Wen suddenly perked up, asking, "What if there is no Golden Core?"

For a moment, the surroundings fell silent, even Jun Yan stopped his clawing.

How could there be no Golden Core?

Everyone who enters the Immortal Land is a genius, and the stages of Qi Cultivation, Foundation Establishment, Sensing, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, etc., are cumulative. It’s not impossible to force breakthroughs with sufficient pills.

The prodigies of Major Sects ascend one realm each year, only beginning to slow down upon reaching the Divine Separation Stage, with some even stating, "A year’s Qi Cultivation without reaching Golden Core signifies no destiny with the Mahayana Realm."

Becoming a True Disciple in top-tier sects like the Sanqing Taoist Sect and Sword Control Sect could mean achieving Golden Core within one year.

Chi Yu Zi, somewhat confused, asked, "You don’t have a Golden Core?"

"No," Gu Wen shook his head as if it were obvious, "Don’t you know?"

"Know what?"

"I am actually a local here."

Gu Wen briefly recounted his own story, and the gazes from the two of them suddenly became somewhat commiserative.

As the nourishment for a power-inscrutable Lord Emperor’s offspring, with his kin slaughtered and his chance at Immortality snatched away, even the Sanqing Taoist Sect had given up on him initially.

And yet, he had made it this far.

Although Gu Wen spoke lightly, without a touch of personal emotion, Chi Yu Zi still felt enormous sympathy after listening, and with reddened eyes, she comforted him:

"You’re not having an easy time either."

".....Ah?"

Gu Wen’s lips twitched as he tilted his head slightly, looking at Chi Yu Zi and then pointing to himself, he said, "You pity me? Why do you pity me when you can hardly save yourself now?"

This was simply a reversal of fortunes; Chi Yu Zi’s situation was somewhat similar to his own, but at least he was not disabled now, nor did he have a ’cancer’ that could kill him at any time.

Whether it was Chi Yu Zi or Jun Yan, they only appeared glamorous but were actually more disabled than the other.

And now they were taking pity on him, which was quite out of line.

Chi Yu Zi said, "At least we can struggle. Could you have turned the tide back then?"

"Being able to cultivate is better than anything."

Jun Yan emerged from the darkness, his eyes still clouded with some dull energy, breathing heavily.

But knowing that Gu Wen, a mere family servant, had come this far, he seemed to have found an anchor point, stabilizing his spirit considerably.

"The Lord Emperor is at most a Demi Immortal, still above the Dao Realm, yet to begin transcending the Immortal tribulation. But to someone without any cultivation, he’s more terrifying than an Immortal. At least ants are running, while mayflies can only drift."

Their concepts were different; Gu Wen compared the sizes, while they only looked at whether they could resist.

Gu Wen did not take pride in suffering. Spreading his hands, he said indifferently, "At least right now, I am better off than you are."

"Not necessarily," Jun Yan grinned and said, "But in the past, indeed, you were better than us, at least you could run away. But it seems now that you can’t escape. In this world, only the word ’affection’ is the most inscrutable."

This affection wasn’t about romantic love; even if the Taoist Heavenly Girl changed genders, given Gu Wen’s character so far, Jun Yan didn’t believe he would heartlessly flee.

Otherwise, Jun Yan would not have taken a huge risk to follow him, certain that Gu Wen would help him.

The value of a reputation always plays a huge role when least expected.

Gu Wen didn’t want to compete in misery; he wanted to compare better aspects. He said lightly, "I went from knowing nothing to achieving Dao Foundation Perfection in half a year. Who do you think is doing better?"

Jun Yan’s expression stiffened, and for a moment, he did not know how to respond.

But Chi Yu Zi spoke up, "I can control thousands of spiritual swords with a single soul and spirit, and have also cultivated the Nine Revolutions Golden Pill, hmph! You are still far behind this lady."

"How old are you?"

Gu Wen retorted, leaving Chi Yu Zi speechless.

Then, as if to change the subject, Chi Yu Zi began to impart the Golden Core Skill which did not require shattering the Golden Core. Essentially, this was to have Gu Wen omit a certain part and start practicing directly from the middle.

The campsite regained its quiet, Jun Yan murmured softly, Chi Yu Zi breathed quietly, and Gu Wen entered meditation for cultivation.

-----------------

Looking inward at the Qi Sea.

[Heavenly Marrow for a hundred years]

[Nine Revolutions Golden Core Method, First Transition Golden Core for fifty years.]

With a thought, fifty years of Heavenly Marrow descended, a sense of inexplicable enlightenment surged in his heart, and in an instant, all past understanding of Qi Cultivation seemed to split into thousands of pieces, following the Golden Core Skill’s higher-level construction.

Qi Cultivation, the Qi Sea, Mana all converged, transforming into the method of condensing the Golden Core.

The method of the Nine Revolutions Golden Core revealed an illusion, with a round of the Great Sun appearing in the sky.

In the Qi Sea, the aimlessly wandering strands of Mana began to gather into clouds under the pull of the Great Sun Illusion, and they started to spin slowly, gradually forming a vortex, drawing in more mana.

At the center of the vortex, a point of light appeared, faint and elusive. As the amount of Mana dwindled, the light point grew larger.

Time passed, and abruptly, the spiral stopped. Gu Wen felt a dry sensation throughout his body, followed by depletion in his meridians.

He was out of Mana!

And he was still in the midst of the epiphany of the Heavenly Marrow. If he could not replenish mana in time, he might face his first failure of the Heavenly Marrow.

The insight would probably stay with him, so it wouldn’t be considered a big loss. The Fate Diagram had mentioned before that the Golden Core would require additional medicinal power.

But the consumed Mana and time could not be brought back.

Suddenly, Gu Wen felt a pill being stuffed into him. The warm medicinal power filled his Qi Sea again, and the spiral started to whirl once more.

Subsequently, each time his Mana depleted, someone would feed him a pill. He did not know who it was, but this is what teamwork meant.

If Gu Wen had been acting alone, no one would care about his state at this moment, nor would they feed him a pill because they saw his Golden Core gathering mana was depleted.

An abrupt change occurred; the vortex suddenly collapsed, a streak of golden light penetrated the Mana clouds, shining like the rising sun within the Qi Sea.

He had finally formed the Golden Core, the Second Transition Golden Core!

[Fifth Level Dao Foundation, Second Transition Golden Core, comprises Taiji, condenses the Innate]

Second Transition?

Gu Wen was somewhat surprised; he thought he had merely skipped the step of shattering the Golden Core, but he had actually jumped straight past the First Transition as well.

With a bit more thought, having the foundation of the Golden Core Technique, he quickly understood why.

Others’ Golden Cores no matter how broken, still existed; otherwise, it wouldn’t be called restoring the Golden Core, but forming the Golden Core. Gu Wen belonged to the latter; he had never had a Golden Core before, so the Golden Core he cultivated was free of impurities.

Then, Gu Wen didn’t exit his meditative state but continued to stabilize his cultivation, running the Grand Circulation a hundred times, which probably took a full day and night.

Reminiscing about the time when he first began cultivation, one Grand Circulation required a whole night to complete. Now, a hundred took only one day.

He looked inward at his Qi Sea again, where the Golden Core, like the shining Great Sun, quietly hovered, sparkling brilliantly.

Mana was depleted, but the capacity had increased by more than double. Compared to before, using the True Sword Dao as a benchmark, Gu Wen in his prime could now unleash six swords at full power in one go.

A cultivator could overpower individuals from three ranks above, assuming they always have a backup plan, so Gu Wen normally expects one strike to cripple and another to kill.

Moreover, the Golden Core had another effect, which was the Shattering Core. At the cost of shattering the Golden Core, one could unleash a power several times beyond their limit.

Before exiting his meditation, Gu Wen drove a hundred years’ worth of Imperial Syrup into the family heirloom.

[Imperial Syrup for thirty years]

[Longevity Stone, containing the essence of Innate Divine Beasts, about to be born]