As Bai Xiaochun’s Dao protectors went into secluded meditation to attempt to break through from the Foundation Establishment stage, Bai Xiaochun was flying around in the Ravine of Endless Mountains, looking for a mountain that was connected to him by destiny.

“Just which of these mountains is destined for me?!” he thought, frustrated. There were countless mountains within this world of clouds, and although most of them looked impressive, none of them seemed to be connected to him by destiny.

Bai Xiaochun was not sure what to do, and just kept flying around aimlessly. He wasn’t even sure how much time had passed. Just when he was about to randomly select a mountain to try out, he caught sight of a very unique mountain off in the sea of clouds, and a tremor passed through him.

This mountain actually looked less like a mountain and more like a statue! It depicted a giant, kneeling down on one knee, right hand outstretched as if to grasp at the sky. The facial features were worn down and not possible to identify, but there was something in the statue’s eyes that left Bai Xiaochun completely shaken.

He was almost sure he could hear a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering roar echoing in his ears, and could almost see that enormous giant trying to rip open the heavens.

“Looks kind of like the Blood Ancestor!” he thought. As he flew nearer to the mountain, he realized that a shocking pressure was weighing down on him, a pressure that left him trembling and shaking.

Instantly, his eyes began to shine brightly.

“Could it be that this mountain is the one connected to me by destiny? If it wasn’t, then why did I start to feel pressure after looking at it? That proves that it’s connected to me by destiny, right?!” Excited, he continued to fly closer to the statue.

It was in that moment that the little turtle suddenly stuck his head out of Bai Xiaochun’s bag of holding and disdainfully murmured, “Destiny? Yeah right. This statue is in the middle of this dimension; anybody who reached this point would feel pressure, as long as they were alive. Don’t let your imagination run wild, Little Bai.”

“You shut up!” Bai Xiaochun barked angrily. Ignoring the little turtle, he flew closer to the statue until he was able to alight onto its open hand. At this point, he felt more than ever that the statue was similar to the Blood Ancestor, so he quickly sat down cross-legged to meditate.

“This statue and I are definitely connected by destiny. Definitely!” With that, he proceeded to cultivate the Living Mountain Incantation with complete and utter determination.

The following day, he opened his eyes and was depressed to find that despite having spent the entire time trying to meld with the mountain, there had been no reaction whatsoever.

“All mountains have spirits....” he thought, shaking his head. With that, he closed his eyes and spent another three days trying to solve the mystery. However, the only result was that he got more depressed.

“Does it really have a spirit?” he thought. “I don’t feel anything....” He thought a bit more to try to come up with some more ideas, and then closed his eyes to try again. Time passed. At a certain point, he lost track of how many attempts he had made, and yet despite all that, he hadn’t provoked a single reaction from the statue. However, thanks to his unswerving determination, he eventually began to notice some trends, and soon, something like varying layers of fluctuations appeared in his mind.

However, that didn’t solve the problem completely, so Bai Xiaochun gritted his teeth even harder and continued to work.

Two months later, Song Que emerged from his secluded meditation facilities on Sky Quarter Rainbow, accompanied by thunderous rumbling. At the same time, a Core Formation aura roiled out in all directions, causing the clouds to swirl about, and attracting much attention from people in the area.

A screaming whistle rang out as Song Que flew up into the air, eyes sparkling like the stars, body shining like a treasure. The cultivation base power rippling out from him, the Core Formation pressure, was enough to rip apart heaven and earth!

Eight crystallized spiritual seas now existed inside of him, which had formed together into an Earth Core!

An Earth Core formed from eight spiritual seas gave him power and might that made him one of the most powerful among Core Formation experts.

“This is the day that I’ve been waiting for! At long last. Core Formation!” Song Que threw his head back and laughed uproariously.

“Bai Xiaochun,” he declared excitedly, “I’ll be passing you up in no time!” Eyes shining with anticipation, he flew back into his immortal’s cave to stabilize his cultivation base.

Not long after Song Que reached Core Formation, Chen Manyao and Master God-Diviner also succeeded. If this event had occurred back in the River-Defying Sect, it would have attracted quite a bit of attention, but in the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect, Core Formation cultivators were relatively common. Of course, that made sense considering how large the sect was, and how it controlled all of the eastern cultivation world.

It was a sect where all sorts of powerful experts gathered, and as such, trifling Core Formation cultivators weren’t anything that people would pay much attention to. Only after reaching the Nascent Soul stage could one be considered strong enough to dominate any other location in the eastern cultivation world.

Despite the fact that reaching Core Formation wasn’t a very big deal in this sect, Master God-Diviner and Chen Manyao were both very excited.

Meanwhile, back in the Ravine of Endless Mountains, Bai Xiaochun was dejectedly continuing his work atop the enormous statue.

“How come it isn’t working!?!?” Another half a month went by, and Bai Xiaochun was on the verge of mental collapse. Up to this point, all efforts to meld with the mountain had ended in failure, and the only headway he’d made was in being able to sense the mountain spirit inside of it.

“At this rate, it’s going to take over a hundred years to get this right!” Bai Xiaochun was on the verge of going mad. After arriving in the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect, he had done a bit of investigating, and knew that the Living Mountain Incantation was one of the sect’s 300 secret magics. Not only that, it was actually listed within the top 10. From ancient times until now, only a few people had ever succeeded in cultivating it, from which its difficulty could be seen. Although some people succeeded at it almost right away, there were others who never succeeded even in an entire lifetime.

“Ah forget it. This is too hard.” Depressed, he rose to his feet, looked down at the statue-like mountain beneath his feet, and then gave a slight harrumph.

“Well, even if I can’t use this Living Mountain Incantation, it doesn’t matter. I still have my Waterswamp Kingdom and the powers of gravity and repulsion!” When it came to the magic of gravity and repulsion, his extensive research had led his cultivation to the point where he could form small spheres that contained the powers of gravity and repulsion. Based on what he could tell, it wouldn’t be very long before he had complete control over that magic.

As far as his Waterswamp Kingdom went, that was one of his trump cards, something he wouldn’t use unless absolutely necessary.

Still feeling a bit disgruntled, Bai Xiaochun stepped off of the mountain into the air. With a final look at the statue, he sighed and began to make his way off into the distance.

Before long, he was out of the Ravine of Endless Mountains. As soon as that enormous hand placed him outside of the mirror-like entrance, he looked over at Stonemountain, who sat there looking like a statue of a monkey, in exactly the same posture as he had when Bai Xiaochun entered the ravine months before.

But then, Stonemountain opened an eye and looked over at Bai Xiaochun. “Nobody has ever succeeded at melding with the mountain on their first attempt. Even people with exceptional latent talent usually need ten tries.

“To meld with the mountain, first forget yourself, then forget the mountain. When you wake up, you will be the mountain, and the mountain will be you....”

Bai Xiaochun stopped in place for a moment, thought about what Stonemountain had just said, then nodded. Clasping hands, he bowed and then made his way off. Back in his immortal’s cave, he sat down cross-legged and meditated for a bit longer on what he’d just been told.

Before long, he opened his eyes, and they sparkled brightly.

“Core Formation!?”

Before long, a beam of light pierced through the sky toward him, transforming into a young woman with spectacularly beautiful features, and a yellow robe that completely complemented her figure in every way.

“Hello, Elder Brother Bai.” She was none other than Chen Manyao. Smiling charmingly, she landed outside of Bai Xiaochun’s immortal’s cave and was just about to say some more words when the door opened and Bai Xiaochun stepped out. Clicking his tongue, he circled around her and looked her up and down.

Face flushing, she pouted playfully and said, “What are you doing, Elder Brother Bai?!”

Sounding slightly flirtatious, he looked away and said, “It’s been a few months since we last saw each other,

wife

. Congratulations on reaching Core Formation!”

Back in Sky City, Chen Manyao had taken to calling herself Bai Xiaochun’s “wife” during the time that she coveted his merit points. However, to hear him use this term now caused the flush on her face to grow deeper. Eyes sparkling with a seductive gleam, she stepped closer to him.

“Elder Brother Bai,” she said softly, her breath caressing his cheeks, “as long as you promise me one thing, then you can do anything you want to me.”

“What one thing?” Bai Xiaochun coughed dryly, eyeing some of Chen Manyao’s more prominent curves.

“Simple. Just join us in the--”

“Save your breath!” he interrupted, shaking his head. This was not Chen Manyao’s first time bringing up this subject. Back in Sky City, she had hinted on numerous occasions that he should join the Wildlanders, but he had always refused.

“The sects of the Heavenspan River are the orthodox ones,” he said proudly, “and you Wildlanders are the renegades. I, Bai Xiaochun, am from a famous orthodox sect, and am backed by entities so powerful even I don’t know who they are. How could I possibly join a bunch of traitors?” Of course, he had only learned the details of such matters from Chen Manyao herself. However, after much thought, he had thought the matter through clearly, and decided that joining forces with the renegades would be risking his poor little life.

“Maybe one day you’ll change your mind.” Chen Manyao said with a slight smile, as if she didn’t mind at all that he’d refused her. With that, she changed the topic.

“Oh right. Elder Brother Bai, the reason I came here today is that I have some clues regarding Du Lingfei....”