txolops Chapter 356 Golden Core Mutation
Chapter 356 Golden Core Mutation
Over a calm sea area far from shipping routes and rarely visited by people.
A "Wind Goose," of ordinary size, with a wingspan of about three or four zhang, a grayish-brown body, and only at the level of a level two demon beast, was leisurely circling in the low sky, spreading its wings.
In this tranquil, almost languid atmosphere—
"Sizzle—!!"
Without warning, about ten feet above the sea, space seemed to be forcibly torn open by an invisible blade, and a crack about ten feet long and only a few feet wide, with an interior as black as ink and exuding an aura of chaos and destruction, suddenly appeared!
Immediately afterwards, a faint light flashed from the depths of the crevice, and a figure was thrown out as if spat out garbage, tracing an arc before falling helplessly towards the sea below like a kite with a broken string.
"Thump!"
A figure fell into the water, creating a small splash, and then slowly floated up, face up, bobbing up and down with the gently undulating waves.
This was a man dressed in a tattered black robe, his body covered with horrific, crisscrossing wounds that revealed the bone, and blood still seeping out. He was none other than Luo Ming, who had just narrowly escaped from a terrifying spatial rift!
The level 2 goose lowered its altitude and carefully flew around the floating "corpse".
As it drew closer, an indescribable fragrance, a mixture of pure spiritual energy and a strange aroma that stirred its bloodline, emanated from the "corpse," especially from the dark golden blood seeping from its gruesome wounds, and entered its mouth and nose.
The aroma was an irresistible temptation for this low-intelligence level two demon beast!
"Gulp..." Feng Yan swallowed a mouthful of non-existent saliva and suddenly swooped down!
However, just as it was less than ten feet away from its target's head, and its eyes were already gleaming with excitement at the prospect of success.
The "blood man," whose eyes had been tightly closed as if he were completely dead and lifeless, suddenly twitched his eyelids!
The next instant, a pair of cold, sharp eyes suddenly opened!
"call out--!"
A beam of pale golden light, about the thickness of a thumb but as fast as lightning, suddenly shot out from Luo Ming's open right pupil.
"Pfft!"
A faint, almost inaudible piercing sound rang out.
The swooping goose suddenly froze! Right in the center of its small head was a large, thumb-sized hole that was now completely transparent from front to back!
"Clatter".
The lifeless, grayish-brown body fell limply onto the sea not far from Luo Ming, splashing a small amount of water before slowly sinking.
On the sea, only Luo Ming remained, still floating quietly. Only his open eyes proved that the thrilling scene just now was not an illusion.
"Cough cough..." Luo Ming glanced at the sinking corpse of Feng Yan beside him, his facial muscles twitching, revealing a bitter smile that was even uglier than crying.
"Truly... even a tiger fallen into the plains is bullied by dogs..."
"If I don't wake up anytime soon, I, Luo Ming... might become food for a level-two demonic beast..."
He tried with difficulty to move his fingers, and immediately felt a piercing pain that made him gasp.
Not only were there horrific external wounds on his body, deep enough to expose bone and with flesh torn open, but his internal condition was even worse. His meridians were broken and blocked in many places, his internal organs were displaced and injured, and his magical power was almost completely exhausted.
Recalling the terror he experienced in that spatial rift not long ago, Luo Ming still felt lingering fear and a chill ran down his spine.
He was able to survive by sheer luck, entirely thanks to the fact that at the last moment, the Xuan Turtle risked damage to its own essence to protect his physical body with its innate divine power; countless fearless gold-devouring insects formed an insect wall, one after another, to resist and wear down most of the spatial power for him.
With the full activation of the Blood Armor and the Profound Gang Shield, he barely survived, at the cost of half of the Gold-Eating Insects turning to ashes on the spot, and the Xuan Turtle being severely injured and falling into a deep sleep.
It was fortunate that he didn't encounter spatial turbulence. Furthermore, it was only the spatial power of a secret realm. If he had encountered a spatial rift formed in a large world like the Fallen Demon Valley, even if Luo Ming was a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, he might have perished on the spot.
What troubles him most now, and even makes him feel desperate, is the current state of his dantian.
Despite the excruciating pain, Luo Ming managed to spare a sliver of his mind and immerse himself in his tattered dantian.
Inside the dantian, the golden elixir, which should have been slowly rotating and emitting golden light,
At this moment, it was firmly occupied, enveloped, and even... merged with something? It was a drop of golden blood that emitted a dazzling golden light and seemed to have miniature tortoise and snake phantoms slowly swimming inside!
Whether it was a coincidence or because this drop of golden blood possessed some kind of strange spirituality, sensing the danger within the spatial rift, remains unknown.
This drop of golden blood, which had been severely damaged by the burning of most of the primordial spirit by the Heavenly Mirror Hermit, actually clung to Luo Ming's body like a maggot, directly merging into his flesh and then along his meridians, becoming entangled and fused with his golden core!
Luo Ming could clearly feel that his connection with the Golden Core had become extremely weak and obscure! He tried to mobilize the magic power stored in the Golden Core, but the response was extremely sluggish, as if the Golden Core was wrapped in an invisible and tough membrane!
In other words, he had almost lost control of his golden core, which he had cultivated diligently for many years! He could only use less than half of his full magical power!
Moreover, this half-finished product still relies on the remaining magical power in the meridians that has not yet returned to the dantian.
"What is this? A cuckoo taking over someone else's nest?" Luo Ming felt an indescribable sense of absurdity.
"Senior Tianjing burned his divine soul essence to launch a final attack in order to save me. Now his divine soul is severely injured and he has fallen into complete dormancy. I don't know when he will wake up... Now, I really can only rely on myself."
Luo Ming's eyes dimmed for a moment as he recalled Tianjing Sanren's calm and resolute final words, and a wave of bittersweet gratitude welled up in his heart.
With a slight thought, he communicated with the spirit beast bracelet.
"Splash!"
The sea surface parted, and a blue shadow leaped out. A blue dragon, tens of feet long, covered with bluish-black scales and with lively eyes, appeared beneath Luo Ming, carefully supporting his heavily injured body to prevent him from sinking into the sea.
"cracking--!"
At the same time, a clear bird song rang out, and a crimson-gold fire shadow flew out from Luo Ming's wrist, hovering in the low sky. Its sharp crimson eyes vigilantly scanned the surrounding sea and sky, taking on the duty of guarding.
"First... find a place to stay." Luo Ming lay on the cool, broad back of the Azure Dragon and calmly gave the order.
The azure dragon let out a low roar in response, then chose a direction, swung its slender body, broke through the waves, and swam away into the distance.
Two days later.
On a lonely, small, sparsely vegetated black desert island.
Relying on his powerful physical recovery ability and the characteristics of his wood-attribute spiritual body, Luo Ming, who had recovered considerably, sat cross-legged and once again focused his inner vision on his dantian.
The drop of golden blood still lingered in the center, its light seemingly more restrained and solidified than two days ago, and it seemed to have merged more closely with his golden core, firmly controlling the core of his dantian.
He tried to contact, communicate, and even impact the golden blood with his divine sense, but it was all like throwing a stone into the sea. The drop of golden blood did not react at all, yet it firmly severed his connection with the golden core.
"This drop of blood, suspected to be the primordial essence of a demon beast at the Nascent Soul stage or higher, suffered severe damage from Senior Tianjing's attack and the spatial rift. Its consciousness may even have fallen into a deep sleep..."
Luo Ming frowned, deep in thought.
"But judging from its current behavior, it's not an inanimate object; it still retains some kind of instinctive 'consciousness.' It probably... has already made my dantian its host for restoring its original energy and healing its injuries!"
A terrible thought came to mind.
If the other party slowly recovers and reassembles their consciousness... at that time, his physical body and primordial spirit will probably be instantly taken over and completely possessed and controlled!
After pondering for a long time, he finally realized that only the Spirit Gathering Cauldron offered a sliver of hope for a solution.
"It seems... the only way is to expel this 'root of trouble,' along with my golden core, from my body." Luo Ming muttered to himself, his eyes flashing with a resolute light.
This is a desperate measure to survive, a last resort.
Once the Golden Core is removed from his body and sealed, he will temporarily and completely lose his magical power and cultivation, becoming a body cultivator with only a powerful physical body, and unable to use many magical treasures.
To do so in this perilous and chaotic Star Sea would be tantamount to crippling oneself, and the risks are enormous.
But compared to keeping this "time bomb" inside his body that could explode at any time and possess him, Luo Ming would rather temporarily lose some of his power.
At least, the autonomy of the physical body and the soul is still in one's own hands.
Moreover, by taking out and sealing the golden core along with that drop of golden blood, perhaps... we can use the magical properties of the Spirit Gathering Cauldron to try to refine, separate, or even... control this drop of primordial blood containing supreme power!
Fortune favors the bold.
Last time, when faced with a Golden Core corrupted by the true demonic energy, he chose to dissipate his cultivation and start over.
This time, faced with this more mysterious and dangerous drop of golden blood essence, he no longer wanted to passively abandon it, but rather wanted to actively...conquer it!
"The Spirit Gathering Cauldron possesses the ability to turn decay into magic and purify and strengthen the essence of all things. Since it can purify materials and strengthen pills, perhaps... it can also try to refine and separate the remaining consciousness in this drop of essence blood, leaving only the purest primordial energy?" Luo Ming pondered in his heart, which was also his greatest reliance for daring to take this risky move.
Let's begin!
Luo Ming took a deep breath, mobilized the remaining magical power in his meridians and his powerful divine sense, and, in conjunction with a specific incantation, slowly pointed towards the dantian in his lower abdomen.
At the same time, he lightly patted the storage bag at his waist with his left hand.
"Buzz—"
He carefully took out the ancient and mysterious Spirit Gathering Cauldron and placed it on the smooth rock in front of him.
Luo Ming held his breath and concentrated, enduring the waves of emptiness coming from his dantian. With his powerful and tenacious divine sense, he transformed into countless delicate yet stable "threads" and carefully probed into the depths of his dantian, gently and slowly enveloping the golden core that was occupied by golden blood.
The golden core seemed to have become a part of his body, yet it also felt somewhat unfamiliar and heavy due to the presence of that drop of golden blood.
The entire process must be carried out with extreme care, avoiding damage to the Golden Core itself and preventing stimulation of the dormant golden blood within it, which contains terrifying power and unknown consciousness.
Guided by divine sense, the golden elixir began to slowly rise and detach from the core of the dantian.
That drop of golden blood lay dormant, without the slightest movement, as if it had truly fallen into a deep slumber, completely unaware that the golden core was being "removed" from its host body.
A moment later, the golden core, which had lost the nourishment of Luo Ming's magic power and whose light had dimmed considerably, was seen floating quietly inside the cauldron.
The drop of golden blood, having lost its direct connection with Luo Ming's physical body and being completely trapped by the unique space of the Spirit Gathering Cauldron, seemed to have become a rootless duckweed.
It swirled and clashed wildly on the surface of the Golden Core, trying to re-enter the depths of the Golden Core or break through the seal of the Spirit Gathering Cauldron.
Fine golden ripples continuously impacted the cauldron's walls, emitting a low "humming" sound, but the Spirit Gathering Cauldron remained unmoved, its surface aura easily dissolving and absorbing the impacts.
"Once you're inside this cauldron, you think you can get out?"
Luo Ming's eyes were sharp as knives as he stared at the slightly trembling Spirit Gathering Cauldron. He said in a low voice, "You better stay put! Once my physical injuries have fully healed, I'll come back and 'treat' you properly! You think you can take over my Golden Core so easily?"
Even so, Luo Ming knew in his heart that this move was like snatching chestnuts from the fire, a risky gamble.
Sealing the Golden Core along with this drop of strange essence blood in the Spirit Gathering Cauldron temporarily eliminated the biggest hidden danger in his body, but it was also equivalent to packing his Dao foundation and the root of disaster together.
If this drop of golden blood were to go berserk within the cauldron, recklessly impacting and damaging the golden core, or triggering some unknown event that would cause the golden core to be completely destroyed... then Luo Ming would probably really have to face the prospect of losing his cultivation and starting over for the second time.
But right now, he has no other choice. Between two evils, he must choose the lesser.
As the golden core left his body, Luo Ming could clearly feel an indescribable emptiness and weakness coming from his dantian.
The remaining magical power that had been slowly flowing through the body's meridians, maintaining the basic vitality of the physical body, was now rapidly dissipating and drying up like a receding tide.
He can only use one-tenth of his magical power, and the recovery speed will become extremely slow because he has lost the Golden Core, the "source of power" and "core of transformation".
Roughly estimated, with the little mana he has left in his meridians, if he were to unleash it with all his might without regard for the consequences, he could barely cast a powerful spell comparable to the early stage of Core Formation.
However, it is barely enough to open storage bags, control some low-level magical artifacts that do not require much magic power to activate, or maintain daily activities.
With a flash of inspiration, Luo Ming opened a storage bag at his waist and took out an exquisite jade box carved entirely from warm jade, emanating a faint chill.
He carefully opened the box.
Inside the box, there was a longan-sized, whole... Golden pills, exuding a rich medicinal aroma, lay quietly on soft velvet.
The fragrance of the pill was so refreshing that just one whiff made Luo Ming feel his blood and energy subtly activating, and the stinging pain from his injuries seemed to lessen.
It was the extremely rare "Royal Essence Pill" that the barbarian had given him in the Void Heaven Palace back then!
This pill is made primarily from the golden core and essence blood of a level seven tortoise-type demon beast, supplemented with various rare spiritual herbs. It is an excellent treasure for healing, body tempering, and replenishing vital energy, and is of great use to Nascent Soul cultivators. In the Core Formation stage, it can be considered a life-saving artifact.