Strictly heeding Eldest Senior Sister's guidance, Lu Yang made his way obediently to the Scripture Pavilion.
In front of the pavilion gates, he ran into Senior Sister Zhou Lulu, whom he had not seen since she took him to the dining hall to buy weapons.
"Senior Sister Zhou Lulu, long time no see."
Zhou Lulu was immersed in the world of books. Hearing Lu Yang's voice, she looked up and smiled. "Ah, Junior Brother Lu! It's you who haven't seen me in a long time. When you were acting as Sect Master a few days ago, who didn't see you?"
Lu Yang offered an awkward smile, at a loss for words.
He could hardly say that he had not actually been the Sect Master, but that a sixteen-year-old fairy inside him had wanted the role.
"You haven't come to the Scripture Pavilion for two or three months. Are you looking for a particular book?"
"I want to look for books on how to form a core."
Understanding dawned on Zhou Lulu. "Oh, right! You're in late Foundation Establishment now. It really is time to consider Core Formation."
"How did you form your core back then, Senior Sister Zhou?"
Zhou Lulu thought back to the circumstances. "It was a rainy day. I was reading under the eaves, and as I read on, I don't know what happened, but the characters in the book seemed to leap up and imprint themselves in my mind. The characters flowed downward from my mind, passed through my internal organs, and arrived in my dantian. My spiritual energy transformed from mist into liquid, turning into a murmuring stream, and then fused with the characters to condense into a single Golden Core."
"What marvelous talent, Senior Sister Zhou!" Lu Yang praised. He had heard that for individuals of extraordinary natural talent, Core Formation was a completely natural progression that cost little mental effort. Some favored geniuses even succeeded after taking a single nap.
For instance, the ancient genius Huang Doudou had formed her core in her sleep.
Zhou Lulu waved her hands repeatedly, feeling a bit self-conscious. "You shouldn't praise me like that, Junior Brother Lu. There are many senior brothers and sisters in the sect with talent far greater than mine who went through immense trouble when forming their cores. You cannot judge the level of someone's talent simply by how easy Core Formation was for them.
"I heard that Senior Brother Dai Bufan and Senior Brother Ji Hongwen both made extensive preparations and required the sect's assistance before they successfully formed their cores.
"The books you need are on the easternmost bookshelves on the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion."
Lu Yang thanked Senior Sister Zhou and walked inside. However, he felt a bit puzzled. The Scripture Pavilion was vast, with countless bookshelves lining the walls. In the past, whenever he looked for a book, Senior Sister Zhou Lulu would tell him the exact row and column. Why had she been so vague today?
Soon, Lu Yang discovered the answer.
An entire wall along the eastern side of the Scripture Pavilion was lined with books documenting experiences with Core Formation. A small portion came from the outside world, but the vast majority was the accumulated legacy of the Dao Seeking Sect over one hundred and twenty thousand years.
Books from one hundred and twenty thousand years ago were not kept here; what stood on these shelves were all duplicates.
"Fairy, do you have any advice regarding Core Formation?" Lu Yang decided to first consult the Immortal Fairy, self-proclaimed head of the Five Ancient Celestials.
"In the ancient era, I once saw a type of Golden Core that could truly be called the strongest first-grade Golden Core. Even the Golden Core I formed fell short by comparison."
"There was actually such a Golden Core?" Lu Yang was astonished. The Immortal Fairy's mouth was always tougher than her pride, and she never admitted to being the most embarrassing of the Five Ancient Celestials. He had not expected her to voluntarily concede that she was inferior to someone else.
Besides, Golden Cores had different focal points. How could one definitively rank them as number one?
"Before anyone became an immortal in the ancient era, all sorts of favored geniuses vied to transcend, pitting methods, backgrounds, and talents against each other... Back then, I was number one in the realm. Immortal Ying Tian, Immortal Jiuchong, and the others were all inferior to me, beaten until they fled in disgrace.
"At that time, there was a prodigy blessed with immense romantic luck. When he formed his core, he had seven female confidantes, all of whom were renowned talents, demonesses, and saintesses of their generation. That prodigy formed his core together with his seven confidantes, and all of them achieved first-grade Golden Cores. The prodigy's Golden Core served as the master, while the cores of the seven confidantes served as auxiliaries, forming a formation like seven stars encircling the sovereign. In battle, that prodigy could channel his confidantes' Golden Cores for his own use, multiplying his combat strength at least sevenfold.
"That is the strongest Golden Core I know of."
"Thanks, absolutely useless as a reference." Lu Yang rolled his eyes, treating it merely as listening to the Immortal Fairy tell a story. Where on earth was he supposed to find seven female confidantes?
Did she think he was hunting for the Calabash Brothers?
"I also know of another type of Golden Core that was exceptionally powerful. Mind you, I only heard about it and cannot confirm how true it is; it happened before my era.
"In ancient times, there was a couple of cultivators. Initially, there was nothing unusual when the wife formed her core; it was an ordinary first-grade Golden Core. But as the days passed, the Golden Core grew larger and larger, making the wife look as though she were pregnant.
"After three years of pregnancy, the Golden Core naturally separated from her body, shattering the core to form a Nascent Soul and becoming her external Nascent Soul."
"What happened after that?"
"Afterward, the wife discovered that it wasn't a Nascent Soul at all—it was her son."
"...Fairy, if you have nothing better to do, you should just go back to sleep."
"These are all ancient secrets! I wouldn't tell an ordinary person even if they asked!" The Immortal Fairy was thoroughly displeased by Lu Yang's dismissive attitude.
She, the dignified head of the ancient immortals and wielder of the Immortal Dao fruit—did he not realize that every word of her information was worth a thousand gold pieces? He ought to cherish it!
The Immortal Fairy's stories matched Lu Yang's consistent impression of her: completely unreliable.
Knowing she was of no help, he stopped looking for shortcuts and obediently began browsing the Core Formation insights left behind by senior brothers, martial uncles, and ancestral masters.
Following the Immortal Fairy's guidance, whether one ended up taking a shortcut or going entirely astray was anyone's guess.
"'Bachelor Golden Core, a first-grade Golden Core. The Golden Core is like a blazing sun, upright and unyielding, seated at the center of the dantian and holding dominion over the eight directions. Monsters, demons, ghosts, and other foul things cannot approach. But if one indulges in female charms, the core shatters and the person dies.'"
Lu Yang's luck was quite good. He had pulled a random book and flipped only a few pages before stumbling upon a Golden Core related to Meng Jingzhou.
Lu Yang closed the book and saw the cover read: *Core Formation Insights by Daoist Shendu*.
Daoist Shendu was the very senior cultivator who had named the Bachelor Spiritual Root. This venerable figure had been a cultivator during the early Great Yu Dynasty; it was unknown whether he had perished when his lifespan ran out, or if he had buried himself away to awaken when the Golden Age arrived.
Lu Yang kept reading, only to find that rather than Core Formation insights, this book was more like Daoist Shendu venting his grievances.
"To hell with the Bachelor Spiritual Root! Why in the world do I have such an unprecedented spiritual root?"
"Did I commit wicked deeds in my past life and reap divine retribution, or did I have too many wives in my previous life and this life is the cosmic counterweight?"
"Isn't cultivating immortality meant for holding a woman in each arm and surrounding oneself with a flock of wives and concubines?! Why am I the only one who has to be different! What's the point of cultivating immortality!"
Lu Yang silently closed the book, returned it to its place, and acted as if nothing had happened before continuing to the next volume.
"Oh? Are these Eldest Senior Sister's Core Formation insights?" Lu Yang felt as if he had struck gold. It was a thick book recording the methods and insights of various senior brothers and sisters.
Ranked at the very top, naturally, was Eldest Senior Sister.
Suppressing his excitement, he read on, only to see Eldest Senior Sister's entry:
"My core formation has zero reference value. Do not imitate. Those who copy me die; those who resemble me die. To avoid future generations attempting to imitate my core formation, my method is not suitable for public disclosure."
Chapter 210