Lu Yang turned past Eldest Senior Sister's page quite naturally to see how his other senior brothers and senior sisters had formed their cores.
Given Lu Yang's understanding of Eldest Senior Sister, her venerable self's method of Core Formation was impossible to replicate.
Lu Yang had heard that Eldest Senior Sister pushed every single cultivation stage to its absolute limit. When she shattered her core to form a Nascent Soul, she had drawn down roaring heavenly lightning in divine retribution—a terrifying sight.
One had to know that lightning tribulations normally only occurred when breaking through from the Nascent Soul stage to the Soul Formation stage. Facing a heavenly tribulation at the Nascent Soul stage was utterly unprecedented!
There was once a senior brother who, trying to emulate Eldest Senior Sister's method, also wished to form a Nascent Soul that could draw down heavenly tribulation. He poured immense effort into it, repeatedly compressing his Golden Core stage magic power and reinforcing his foundation again and again. Finally, his wish was granted: he shattered his core to form a Nascent Soul, summoning heavenly lightning.
Then something unexpected happened: that senior brother's Nascent Soul took the initiative to attack, withstanding the might of the heavenly lightning and shattering it completely.
A Nascent Soul taking independent action—even Eldest Senior Sister's Nascent Soul couldn't do such a thing! It was equivalent to gaining a powerful avatar, skyrocketing his combat prowess.
Just when everyone thought history was being made, that senior brother's Nascent Soul turned around without a word and beat him black and blue. No matter how desperately the senior brother fought back, he was no match for it.
Even though that senior brother had already reached the Nascent Soul stage, he couldn't beat his own Nascent Soul.
In a certain sense, he truly had made history.
Daoist Buyu tried to help that senior brother control the Nascent Soul, but after multiple failed attempts, he had no choice but to step in and shatter the Nascent Soul, instructing the senior brother to shatter his core and form a Nascent Soul using other methods rather than carving out unorthodox paths and asking for trouble.
Because this incident was thoroughly humiliating, only people within the Dao Seeking Sect knew about it.
As for this senior brother's name, few people knew it.
However, according to grapevine gossip Lu Yang heard from Meng Jingzhou, that disgraceful senior brother was none other than Daoist Buyu's second disciple—Lu Yang's own Second Senior Brother.
This senior brother was currently undergoing trials in the Western Golden Buddhist Kingdom. Lu Yang hadn't had the chance to meet him yet and had only seen his black-and-white portrait in the grand hall of Tianmen Peak.
Sometimes, to pray for Second Senior Brother's smooth journey during his trials, Lu Yang would even light a stick of incense to wish him well.
Lu Yang was not one to show favoritism, so he would light a stick of incense for Third Senior Sister as well while he was at it.
"Let me look at Senior Brother Dai Bufan's Golden Core... Water Ruyi Golden Core, a first-grade Golden Core. Luminous and fragrant, ethereal yet not chilled, golden tinged with blue. It revolves on its own within the dantian, cultivating automatically, transforming spiritual power into waves that ripple through the body, ensuring one's spiritual power remains at its peak at all times.
"Method of Cultivation: Drink water daily until water intoxication sets in, then soak in a lake for ten days without surfacing. Imagine oneself as a fish swimming freely in the lake with ease of form. Finally, treat the dantian as a storage ring, utilizing spatial power to draw an entire lake's water into the belly, fusing it with one's own spiritual power, and compressing it into a Golden Core.
"Cautionary Note 1: Do not immerse too deeply in imagining oneself as a fish, lest you bite the hook upon seeing bait.
"Cautionary Note 2: Please register in advance before taking an entire lake's water into your belly, lest you suffer imprisonment as I did.
"Cautionary Note 3: Water intoxication is a normal occurrence; please prepare the appropriate medicinal pills prior to drinking."
Looking at the three cautionary notes, Lu Yang could hardly imagine what Senior Brother Dai Bufan had gone through.
"Oh, a water-attribute Golden Core," the Immortal Fairy's voice chimed in.
Lu Yang was quite surprised. "Fairy, you're not asleep yet?"
"I'll sleep after I've played enough." The Immortal Fairy waved a dismissive hand. "Speaking of water-attribute Golden Cores, I remember encountering two opponents with water-attribute Golden Cores back then. Both of their cores were first-grade, and they rarely met any matches among Golden Core cultivators. Joined together, they were even more invincible.
"One of them had the Three Rivers and Five Lakes Core, which could harness the power of three rivers and five lakes to summon river waters. The other had the Boundless Ocean Core, which could harness the power of the seas to summon boundless ocean water."
"Which of the two Golden Cores is stronger? The Boundless Ocean Core?" Lu Yang asked out of curiosity. After all, how could the might of rivers compare to the ocean?
The Immortal Fairy shook her head. "The might of rivers truly can't compare to the sea, but at the Golden Core stage, one can't mobilize all of it at once; there is an upper limit. The peak power of these two Golden Cores was practically identical, so neither could be considered superior."
This made Lu Yang even more curious. Both were water-attribute first-grade Golden Cores, sounded virtually the same in function, and didn't differ in power.
"Then what on earth is the difference between these two Golden Cores?"
"Obviously, one releases fresh water and the other releases salt water!" the Immortal Fairy replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world, giving Lu Yang a look that said, *How can you be so stupid?*
Lu Yang: "..."
*Did you ancient cultivators have nothing better to do? Differentiating between a freshwater core and a saltwater core?!*
"Though those two were fairly strong, they were no match for my Water Avoidance Art." The Immortal Fairy tried hard to sound nonchalant, exuding the calm confidence of someone whose foes turn to dust with a wave of her hand. But seeing the corners of her mouth twitching upward no matter how hard she tried to suppress them, Lu Yang knew just how smug she was.
Lu Yang sighed inwardly. A fairy truly was a fairy. Although she was normally flaky and unreliable, when one thought about it carefully, the ancient era had teemed with proud prodigies, a dazzling galaxy of stars, and forests of geniuses—the most prosperous cultivation era in history.
Moreover, competition in ancient times was brutal. In such an environment, for the Immortal Fairy to become one of the five ancient immortals, she must have triumphed all the way, defeating numerous seemingly insurmountable rivals on her path to immortality. How could such a person have low combat power?
Golden Cores were divided into nine grades, with first-grade being the strongest and ninth-grade the poorest. First-grade Golden Cores were exceedingly rare, like panning for gold in sand. Even in a sect like the Dao Seeking Sect, where every member was an extraordinary talent in the outside world, they could only ensure everyone attained an upper-three-grade Golden Core, while those with a first-grade Golden Core remained a tiny minority.
This was more than enough proof of the might of a first-grade Golden Core.
Two first-grade Golden Cores teaming up would be unimaginably invincible, yet she had crushed them in a single move. Such a feat was truly terrifying.
"By the way, Fairy, what cultivation realm were you in back then?"
"The Nascent Soul stage."
"...I knew it."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing."
Lu Yang continued reading. Following Senior Brother Dai Bufan was Senior Brother Ji Hongwen.
"Four Seasons Green Bamboo Core, a first-grade Golden Core. The pill patterns harbor a bamboo grove; through the rotation of four seasons, the green bamboo remains unchanged—evergreen and enduring, serene and refined, unyielding and steadfast, gentle as a true gentleman.
"Method of Cultivation: When bamboo first sprouts, it is but an inch of shoot, yet joints and leaves are already complete within it. Thus, to paint bamboo, one must first hold a formed bamboo in the mind. Grasp the brush and gaze intently. Thereafter, feed on bamboo and drink of bamboo, commune with nature and perceive nature until all within sight is verdant green. Only then can the core be formed.
"Cautionary Note 1: Those lacking painting skills should not attempt to form this Golden Core.
"Cautionary Note 2: Beware of attacks by iron-eating beasts while meditating in the bamboo grove; they will think you are stealing their food.
"Cautionary Note 3: This Core Formation method is strictly limited to green bamboo; please do not extrapolate it to plants such as cacti or rafflesias."
It was evident that both Senior Brother Dai Bufan and Senior Brother Ji Hongwen had gone through some rather peculiar experiences when forming their cores.
Chapter 211