Stealthily cultivating in the chaotic world of demons and martial artists
Chapter 364 - 362: Golden Core Self-Detonation (Seeking Subscription)_1

Chapter 364: Chapter 362: Golden Core Self-Detonation (Seeking Subscription)_1

Yiling Valley.

At this moment, the vast and crisscrossing valley was shrouded in a layer of golden light and clouds, ethereal and intermittently visible, creating a magnificent sight.

This was a top-tier third-grade array—the "Golden Light Cloud Sea Array"!

It was personally arranged by an array master invited from the Mixed Origin Sect, at great cost to the Yiling Valley ancestors, and after years of inspection, repair, and reinforcement, it was considered the number one array in the Cultivation World of the three countries!

Moreover, with Old Yan, the highest-cultivating figure in the three countries, stationed in Yiling Valley, the whole valley was very stable, exuding an air of casualness throughout.

However, nobody noticed a silhouette arriving at the edge of the great array, eyes flickering with purple light.

Soon enough, this person found a weak spot in the array and formed a magic spell with their hands.

Suddenly, their entire being merged into the array and disappeared without a trace, without triggering any retaliation from the array...

...

"Yiling Valley... This is my first visit to this place."

Fang Xi, with hands clasped behind his back, strolled through the valley.

Yiling Valley was known in the Cultivation World of the three countries for its orderly heritage, with its architectural layout, Spiritual Fields, medicine gardens, and so on... all far superior to those of Green Wood Sect and Mysterious Heaven Sect.

Everywhere were flying eaves, painted walls, carved railings, and jade constructions—truly a place of splendor and magnificence.

"Not bad, not bad... In the medicine gardens of this valley, there are bound to be quite a few millennium-old Spirit Medicines, perfect for my pill concoction."

Clad in a green robe, Fang Xi wandered carefree, inspecting the sights as if he were the master of Yiling Valley.

With his Divine Consciousness, as long as he didn’t wish to be detected, naturally, no one in Yiling Valley could see him.

At the moment, he was leaning against a tree, watching a minor conflict with interest.

"You Dong, weren’t you quite lively before? What about Yiling Valley being the You Family’s Yiling Valley?"

Several Qi Refining disciples were beating up a disciple of the Yu Family. The leader, a youth in a brocade robe, appeared quite arrogant, "Yiling Valley is a Sect, not the possession of any single family or surname. And even more so... if we were to speak of ownership, it should belong to my Yan Family."

With Old Yan in charge of Yiling Valley, the You Family was subjected to increased oppression. The overall strategy was naturally to ally with cultivator factions within Yiling Valley and force the You Family to concede interests.

After all, powerful as Old Yan was, he could only do so much by himself. Even with great efforts to diversify and extend his lineage... the Yan Family’s own numbers were still too few.

Luckily, the You Family, when they established Yiling Valley, had adopted a Sect system—providing ample opportunities and leeway for loopholes to be exploited.

Over the decades, the Yan Family started by widely recruiting disciples, allied with the master-disciple factions, pushed the You Family to retreat step by step, and slowly eroded their influence through means such as alliances and marital ties.

By now, the You Family’s influence in Yiling Valley had declined significantly.

One wonders what the You Family’s Supreme Elder would feel upon seeing this scene.

This You Dong was a standout among the You Family’s younger generation of the year, but in Yiling Valley, he practically led a miserable existence.

Fang Xi watched silently, with no intention of intervening.

On the contrary, his Divine Consciousness stretched out and even detected two Foundation Establishment cultivators hidden nearby.

"Brother Yan... isn’t this a bit too much?"

An older cultivator in the late stage of Foundation Establishment expressed displeasure.

"Li might not be aware... this is my instruction," Brother Yan replied with a chuckle. "The Yu Family has been entangled for a thousand years, with deep and complex relationships... who knows how much hidden strength they possess. Now by putting them under pressure, it’s to force them to reveal some of their cards... this suppression is to ensure future security. Yiling Valley cannot be without the Yu Family in the future, but the Yu Family must also comply with the Sect’s overall interests. This is my painstaking effort."

"I see..."

Li nodded slowly, thinking to himself that you’ve been monopolizing the Foundation Establishment Pills and haven’t given the Yu Family a spot for the last twenty years; what a way of ensuring security.

But their interests were almost aligned by now, so he simply made some non-committal remarks.

After Li left, Brother Yan looked at You Dong with a flash of coldness in his eyes, "The younger generation is not a concern... The old ancestor’s time limit is approaching, and we have done everything possible to collect life-extending Spiritual Objects. We must ensure the ancestor survives this beast tide, after which we can live in peace within Martial Kingdom... But there are still several Foundation Establishment old immortals in the Yu Family. They must be dealt with... Perhaps this beast tide provides an opportunity?"

...

Upon seeing the You Family in such a state, Fang Xi, who had initially wanted to take revenge, felt somewhat less enthusiastic about it.

"However... Old Yan must not be let off the hook."

A cold light flickered in Fang Xi’s eyes.

Back during the first Sky Mountain Big Auction, he had discovered that this person had issued a warrant for his capture by exploiting his connections with the Mixed Origin Sect.

If it weren’t for his careful handling, having waited until Core Formation middle stage before venturing to Yuan Country, he might’ve indeed faced some trouble.

This incident was already noted in Fang Xi’s little book, a debt he was intent on settling.

Sky-touching Cave.

This place was where Master Yan cultivated, the Spiritual Power here being the best along the entire Spiritual Vein.

Although the Yan Family had controlled Yiling Valley for decades, they had not cultivated another Core Formation cultivator.

Old Yan’s time limit was approaching, and he had become an extremely aged old man.

"Cough cough..."

He coughed violently a few times, looking at a white jade box in his hand with joy in his eyes, "This beast tide... is also an opportunity for me."

In fact, after sealing Yiling Valley, he had once secretly gone out, utilizing his mid-Core Formation cultivation in combination with the Mixed Origin Sect’s secret abilities to successfully ambush and slay a third-grade monster beast, obtaining its Inner Core!

If not for the beast tide, it would have been extremely difficult to venture deep into the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range in search of a third-grade monster beast to kill, something even Master Bai Feng had failed to accomplish.

"With this Inner Core... and combined with the Core Formation Spiritual Objects collected recently... My Yan Family should be able to produce a Jia Dan at least. Our foundation will be secure... Just need to take care of that person..."

When mentioning that person, Old Yan’s eyes couldn’t help but fill with regret and fear.

Back then, when he heard that the Supreme Elder of the Yu Family had fallen, he didn’t take it seriously, even feeling a twinge of schadenfreude.

After all, how was it different from seeking death for an External Pill Foundation Establishment Cultivator to venture into the array of a third-tier Array Master?

Therefore, he didn’t hesitate to snatch away the foundation of Yiling Valley.

What he hadn’t expected was that, by a stroke of luck, the third-tier Array Master had actually condensed a Golden Core!

Luckily, the person was very determined in his pursuit of the Dao and didn’t take long after forming his Core to head for Yuan Country.

Old Yan naturally wouldn’t let this opportunity slip away; using the connections within the Mixed Origin Sect, he had the sect issue a warrant for the person.

According to his plan, being targeted by the Mixed Origin Sect, a newly Core-Formed junior Cultivator wouldn’t end up dead or vanish but would find it difficult to move even an inch.

This could also be considered as avenging the Supreme Elder of the Yu Family.

Yet, unexpectedly, once that person left, there was no news for decades, until one day, it suddenly spread that he had attended the Sky Mountain Big Auction and had even killed two mid-Core Formation Cultivators.

At that time, the person had already reached the mid-Core Formation stage, at par with his own Cultivation!

Old Yan regretted it then. Who could have imagined that a Core Formation Cultivator from such a small place could make a name for himself in Yuan Country?

If that person were to return for revenge...

"Cough cough..."

Old Yan coughed twice and stowed away the jade box: "This old man hasn’t got many years left, I hope he returns soon... I must eliminate him to spare my descendants any worry!"

"Oh? Old Yan, it seems you are rather afraid of me."

Just then, an interested voice suddenly rang out beside him, startling Old Yan.

His Divine Consciousness swept the area and discovered that, where there was previously nothing, there now stood a young man in a green robe, his features handsome, brimming with vitality, his presence a peculiar yet special contradiction—identical to the image in the jade slip!

"It’s you... Fang Xi!"

Old Yan cried out in alarm, smacking his forehead as his life-bound magical artifact ’Sword without Shadow’ instantly flew out. Invisible and shadowless, the air around him was filled with Sword Qi.

He bit fiercely into the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of Essence Blood, a crimson light emanating from his entire body, a dangerous aura emerging from within his Dantian, as if everything had been prepared!

It seemed as though this mid-Core Formation Cultivator had rehearsed this moment countless times!

Snap!

What met him was the crisp sound of a chess game.

Hum!

A Go piece appeared, striking the Sword without Shadow and immediately causing the magical artifact to cry out mournfully, as it was bound by countless pure white chains and dropped to the ground.

Another Go piece struck Old Yan himself, causing his expression to freeze, feeling the magic power that was about to erupt in his body turn into dead water.

An explosive burst of Spiritual Power made Old Yan’s eyes bulge as if he saw some unbelievable monster: "Nascent Soul... you... impossible!"

"In this world... there’s no such thing as impossible..."

Fang Xi grabbed Old Yan by the neck, lifting his entire body, staring at the nearly complete blood-red patterns in his Dantian: "Exploding Golden Core... Old ghost, you’re indeed ruthless!"

A mid-Core Formation Cultivator self-detonating his Golden Core would surely take a mid-Core Formation Cultivator along with him to death.

Even for a late-Core Formation Cultivator, it was uncertain whether they could escape.

Of course, exploding one’s Golden Core was by no means a simple affair.

It required learning certain secret skills and making preparations on one’s body day in and day out for decades.

Old Yan did this, obviously knowing that he would inevitably come seeking revenge, then finding the chance to take him down together...

"However... even if you self-detonated now, it would be difficult to harm me in the slightest."

Fang Xi looked at Old Yan with a slight smile on his face: "But since you’re so sincere, I will fulfil your wish!"

He held onto Old Yan and vanished in a flash, arriving at a certain location in Yiling Valley.

Seeing this place, Old Yan’s eyes immediately revealed a look of terror and pleading.

Below was the very Dongfu of the Yan Family’s Patriarch, who was just convening some high-level Cultivators for a meeting.

But Fang Xi had no regard for that and directly tossed Old Yan downwards, simultaneously withdrawing the prohibition...

...

The next moment.

Boom!

A dazzling golden light suddenly erupted from the position of the Yan Family’s Patriarch’s Dongfu... Anyone caught in its path, whether Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment Cultivators, were all turned into dust and ash!

Moreover, the fearsome Golden Core Spiritual Power leaked out like a mini-sun, even causing the Golden Light Cloud Sea Array to ripple and fluctuate...

Under this self-detonation of the Old Ancestor, the direct cultivators of the Yan Family suffered heavy losses.

It even alarmed the entire Yiling Valley!

As Yiling Valley was in an uproar, with a flicker of light, Fang Xi’s figure reappeared: "Not bad, not bad... This technique of escaping between worlds is quite useful, eh."