Chapter 241: The Extreme Sword, The Extreme Dao

Wang Sheng finally understood why people often said that there were many ways to form a Golden Core, and that the opportunity for core formation varied from person to person.

Among the three members in his sect, his master had taken the most stable path. He made thorough preparations and waited until his comprehension was deep enough and his accumulation sufficient. Only then did he form his Golden Core naturally and smoothly, experiencing no difficulty or setbacks.

His senior sister had followed a more mysterious path. She waited for the right feeling, which in truth meant waiting for her accumulation to become complete. She then sought the subtle balance between yin and yang, then formed her Golden Core beside a lake in a moment of deep insight. Her Golden Core took a disc-like shape, containing within it the Yin-Yang Tai Chi Diagram.

Meanwhile, Qing Yanzi's second disciple and Mu Wanxuan's junior brother... did not even really mean to form a Golden Core. He had only thought that he was preparing for it. Upon finding a way to merge the Dao of the Sword with the Dao of Pure Yang, he believed that breaking through it would give him the proper foundation to attempt core formation.

Wang Sheng had judged the situation correctly. He had chosen a sound path to traverse. When the sword phantasm that the Heavenly Ziwei Sword Intent had formed emerged from his spiritual platform and hovered above his qi sea, he had already completed that breakthrough and laid the groundwork for core formation.

If Wang Sheng had stopped at that moment, he would have immediately realized that he had taken an extremely difficult and dangerous path. However, everything had already settled before he learned how perilous that brief instant had been.

His thoughts turned to what might have happened had he not thrust that sword downward. He probably would have been startled, wondering why his perfected sword intent had left the spiritual platform and gone to hover over the qi sea.

There was no point in wondering about what could have been, though. At the time, he didn't even think about the consequences of thrusting the sword into his core. After all, he was in a state of inspiration. He had been going through his sword techniques in a state of pure clarity, and he had already created the strongest technique of the Heavenly Ziwei Sword Art.

Externally, he had released Flying Haze effortlessly. Internally, he had thrust his sword intent downward out of sheer instinct, piercing through his Illusory Core.

Cultivators at the Illusory Core Realm would only break their own Illusory Core to take their enemy with them. They would only do it as a last resort in desperate situations since forcing the Illusory Core to shatter would release power far beyond what one's physical body could endure. It usually meant dying in the process while hoping to injure or kill the opponent.

Nevertheless, Wang Sheng casually shattered his own Illusory Core. He didn't put any complex thought into it; he just felt as if it was the right thing to do. Hence, he followed his purest and most instinctive intent.

With no time for hesitation, the sword thrust had been clean and decisive, making everything seem as if it were the most natural course of action. Looking back now, Wang Sheng felt cold sweat all over him. In a mere instant, he had recklessly tested the boundary between life and death.

What he did not know was that he was not the creator of the path that he had taken. Others had walked it before, and it was known as the Dao of the Extreme Sword.

By piercing their Illusory Core with a perfected sword intent and then using the same sword intent to harness the power that the core released, cultivators could form a Golden Core. It was a dangerous path that sword cultivators in ancient times had once taken. However, though the risk was enormous, so were the rewards.

Even Qinglin used to be just an ordinary disciple. However, when he succeeded in this gamble during his core formation, he was immediately chosen as the next sect master of the Shu Mountains.

Forming a Golden Core was already a tremendous challenge, often called the first great chasm in the path of cultivation. The Dao of the Extreme Sword only made that chasm even wider. In ancient times, only sword cultivators who pursued the sword to its ultimate heights and had absolute confidence in their Dao of the Sword would ever choose a method that bordered on self-destruction.

To follow the Dao of the Extreme Sword, one first had to master a perfected sword intent before core formation, and that was merely the starting requirement. Afterward, just like Wang Sheng had done, one had to comprehend a method to fuse sword intent with their cultivation technique, find a suitable way to draw the sword intent from the spiritual platform, and suspend it above the qi sea.

Endless refinement and waiting would come afterward. Once the cultivator was confident enough to strike, they would thrust their sword through their Illusory Core.

If the true essence within the Illusory Core was impure or unstable, even a slight tremor would lead to immediate self-destruction. Moreover, the cultivator would explode if the sword intent hesitated even slightly and failed to absorb the power bursting from the core. If the qi sea was disturbed too much during the process, it could interfere with the transfer of power from the core, leading again to bodily destruction.

The cultivator wouldn't die if their sword intent was too strong and their core was too weak. They would simply cripple their own cultivation, essentially rendering the attempt useless. Too many things could go south, making the chances of failure far too high. For any sword cultivator, it was an enormous gamble.

Wang Sheng's sword thrust could be described as fearless ignorance, a sudden inspiration, or perhaps the result of fate.

The Pure Yang Immortal Mantra caught and contained the extraordinary power of the Heavenly Ziwei Sword Intent. Meanwhile, the perfected Heavenly Ziwei Sword Intent could easily control the dominance of the Pure Yang Illusory Core.

When Wang Sheng used the Heavenly Ziwei Sword Art in midair, he invested his spirit, energy, soul, and consciousness into it. He then followed an impulse. Upon finding the perfect balance at the perfect moment, he flawlessly thrust the sword intent into his Illusory Core with no psychological burden.

With one sword phantasm, he had entered a moment of complete transcendence! His Pure Yang Immortal Mantra and Heavenly Ziwei Sword Intent broke through at the same time!

As his sword intent cut through his Illusory Core, he rose above the mundane and underwent multiple changes in an instant. Some he could understand, while others required a higher realm to truly comprehend.

When the Illusory Core was pierced, the energy stored within it surged into the blade that the Heavenly Ziwei Sword Intent had projected, fully charging it immediately. The Illusory Core vanished, and in its place above the qi sea appeared a treasured sword emitting starlight.

This was Wang Sheng's Dao.

The radiance within the treasured sword rapidly gathered, and a Golden Core formed inside the blade. His qi sea also expanded nearly tenfold. Now, it had an endless and vast conception.

A dark-golden Golden Core floated above the now still qi sea. Dark-golden aura surged like tides, endlessly washing over the Golden Core. Above the qi sea, starlight sparkled, and a large central star gleamed brilliantly.

Looking closely at the marble-sized Golden Core, one could see a faint longsword outline surrounding it. However, the sword was still semi-transparent. The Golden Core was embedded at the junction of the hilt and blade.

My senior sister required vast amounts of primal qi to complete her breakthrough. How did I manage to form a Golden Core just by piercing my Illusory Core? I get that everyone's breakthrough is slightly different, but mine still seems a little off.

At that moment, his Golden Core and the sword phantasm enveloping it began to tremble. The aura within the qi sea was being absorbed into the blade at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Afterward, the sword phantasm began to shimmer with traces of starlight, still seemingly unsatisfied despite having already drained his qi sea. The small Golden Core began to rotate in a subtle rhythm, sometimes fast, sometimes slow.

At the same time, he remembered a few verses from the Golden Core chapter of the Pure Yang Immortal Mantra. Points throughout his limbs and hundreds of meridians seemed to open one after another. His meridians also began to tremble, and streams of pure primal qi surged in from all around him. After a simple circulation, they rushed straight toward the Golden Core and the sword phantasm.

My primal qi is still far from enough!

Just as Wang Sheng was about to spread his spiritual consciousness to absorb more qi, he suddenly felt a strong gust around him. Waves of rich primal qi then poured into him.

His Golden Core began spinning faster. Instead of going through a full-body circulation, the qi went directly into the core. Each full rotation was equivalent to a complete cycle of true essence through his meridians from before.

The process of forming a Golden Core was incredibly dangerous, and the Dao of the Extreme Sword made it twice as dangerous. Nevertheless, Wang Sheng had stumbled through it by sheer chance.

The danger had now passed. Wang Sheng only had to proceed steadily.

First, he would satisfy the needs of his Golden Core and stabilize it completely. He would then rely on it for his next stage of transformation. Within ten miles, primal qi surged toward Wang Sheng, yet in his heart, a desire grew stronger.

He yearned for even more primal qi.

The amount he was absorbing now still couldn't fully stabilize his Golden Core or fill the sword phantasm. It certainly was not enough to turn quantity into quality.

Having recovered from his earlier panic, Wang Sheng's Dao Heart was now clear and firm. Looking at his spiritual platform, he saw that the Ziwei Heavenly Sword Intent and the Dual Polarity Sword Intent remained only as two suspended sword phantasms. They had become mere decorations. His Dao of the Sword had now formed outside the Golden Core.

He turned his focus back to the Golden Core, finding it glowing brightly thanks to the continuous influx of primal qi. On his command, it filled the sword phantasm with dark-golden brilliance. Starlight shimmered around the blade, making it appear like a real sword.

It looked somewhat similar to Flying Haze in shape, but it was the true condensation of Wang Sheng's Dao of the Sword. It was his true Sword Core, an extraordinary foundation on the Dao of the Extreme Sword.

The Sword Core vibrated gently. A sharp sword intent emerged within Wang Sheng, as if it would pierce through the heavens above.

As sword cries reverberated, all the primal qi of heaven and earth within thirty miles was drawn toward him. His meridians expanded continuously, reaching a certain limit before they began to melt into the dark-golden light.

As the sword cries continued, cracks began to appear on the ground around him due to the sword energy leaking unconsciously from him.

Above him, Xi Lian turned her palm downward. An invisible wall of qi surrounded Wang Sheng. Though the barrier trembled, it managed to contain his sword energy, protecting those nearby.

Inside him, a huge transformation was taking place. The first thread of enchanted power began to appear.

Gradually, the sword cries died down. For nearly half an hour, the primal qi of heaven and earth had gathered toward Wang Sheng. Now, he slowly ceased his frenzied absorption.

Through it all, he stood with eyes closed. His left hand was behind his back, and his right hand held Flying Haze.

His arm shook slightly. Flying Haze blazed with immortal light. At the same time, a sword cry thundered from within Wang Sheng. It sounded like a dragon's roar, like a phoenix's call. The Dao Hearts of the nearby Golden Core and Illusory Core Realm Daoist elders all trembled faintly.

Within a ten-

li

radius, the swords on the backs of the Special Warfare Unit soldiers and the longswords that Daoist cultivators held all simultaneously drew half an inch from their sheaths. Throughout the camp, sword cries echoed endlessly.

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Seemingly sensing something, every swordsman turned toward Wang Sheng's direction.