256: Chapter 256 Shi Pan Begins Core Formation!

After the flames of war in the Evil Water Marsh ceased, this fierce land, which had been shrouded in poisonous miasma for thousands of years, welcomed a rare peace.

Time flowed, and five years of winter and summer passed in a flash.

Fengshui City was being built larger and larger, and the wasteland on the outskirts was being reclaimed inch by inch, planted with low-grade Spiritual Plant that were resistant to poison; the spiritual gold Ore mined from underground filled one flying boat after another, continuously transported to Ming Prefecture.

White Cloud Temple could finally be considered well-fed; the annual profit of hundreds of thousands of Spirit Stone was enough to support the increasingly massive Sect.

The massive amount of resources fed back into the Sect, one aspect of which was improving the Sect itself.

The most intuitive manifestation was that the concentration of Spiritual Qi within the mountain gates was a full thirty percent higher than five years ago. In the medicine gardens of each peak and lineage, the Spiritual Medicine grew gratifyingly, and even those Outer Sect Disciple who usually only did odd jobs received two more Low-Grade Spirit Stone in their monthly allowance.

On the other hand, it was because of the increasing number of Core Formation Cultivator and great Yao Beast in White Cloud Temple.

The salaries required naturally grew geometrically. Do not look at the output profit of hundreds of thousands of Spirit Stone a year.

But every year, the salary distributed to each Golden Core Old Ancestor started at ten thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stone, which was one thousand Medium-Grade Spirit Stone.

At present, being able to maintain this strength expansion was already quite difficult.

Old Daoist Daoist Yun Du sat in the Main Peak's great hall, flipping through this month's account book, becoming more joyful the more he looked, beaming with smiles.

The Evil Water Marsh was truly a cornucopia. Shi Jian was opening up new territories at the front, and he was managing the Foundation at the rear; it was a perfect match.

However, comfort was comfort.

Daoist Yun Du also knew in his heart that peace in the cultivation world was always fought for.

Without strength, no matter how many resources one had, it was just a dish on someone else's plate. Fortunately, the Foundation of White Cloud Temple was also quietly undergoing a qualitative change.

Yunjian Mountain Range, Northern Mountain Range: Panshi Peak.

This mountain peak originally didn't rank high among the various peaks of White Cloud Temple.

The mountain was short and fat, with sparse vegetation, covered everywhere with rough gray rock, and without even a decent spiritual spring; the Spiritual Qi was mediocre.

Later, it became the clan land of the Panshi Lineage of the Bear Clan. Not only did it improve the Spiritual Qi concentration of the entire spiritual mountain, but it also used this mountain as a Foundation to open up the prototype of an Earth Dao blessed land.

It was also now Shi Pan's place of seclusion.

In terms of Aptitude, Shi Pan could not compare to the heaven-gifted Shi Yin; in terms of ferocity, he was not as valiant and battle-hardened as Shi Mo.

Although they were all Shi Jian, one of the three bears enlightened together back then.

Shi Pan was the most mediocre of the three brothers in terms of Aptitude. In his early years, he practiced under the Old Ancestor, and in his youth, he followed Sun Yao, struggling together in humble beginnings...

Relying on himself, step by step, he stubbornly endured until he reached the Perfection of Foundation Establishment, the peak of a Level 4 Yao Beast, and walked to the present.

It was even a stroke of heaven-sent luck to obtain a wisp of Earth Dao Heaven and Earth Qi.

But it also came at the cost of the deaths of his two old friends, Thunder Badger and Lei Nu.

Now that more than thirty years had passed, under the accumulation of massive resources, Shi Pan's Foundation had long been polished to Perfection without any leaks.

Shi Yin had succeeded, Sun Chengzhu had also succeeded, and it was time, it was his turn!

One day, at dawn.

The celestial phenomena above Panshi Peak changed.

The originally clear sky gathered a layer of earth-yellow clouds without any warning.

The cloud layer was extremely thick and pressed very low, causing the gravity within a dozen miles to increase exponentially. Countless living beings felt a sense of heaviness at this moment...

That majestic intent constantly oppressed the birds and beasts in the mountains and forests; some were even forced by this heavy pressure to lie on the ground, lowering their heads in submission.

Core Formation, had begun!

Inside the Immortal Cave deep within Panshi Peak, Shi Pan revealed his true form.

A brownish-yellow giant bear nearly three zhang long coiled in the center of the stone room, his whole body covered in heavy, earth-yellow Spiritual Qi fluctuations.

He opened his huge mouth and continuously absorbed the heaven and earth qi between heaven and earth!

The Spiritual Qi of White Cloud Temple was already abundant, and at this moment, it was pulled, turning into a huge funnel, pouring down towards Panshi Peak from all directions.

The Qi Sea churned.

Under the pressure of the massive Spiritual Qi, the True Essence within Shi Pan's body began to shrink crazily inward; the spiritual liquid was like nectar, struggling to circulate within his body.

If it were an ordinary Yao Beast, under this intensity of compression, its Meridians would have burst long ago, but Shi Pan was different.

The beatings he had taken and the hardships he had endured in his life were more than all the Spirit Beast in White Cloud Temple combined. When he was in Qi Refining, he was almost killed by a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

When he was in Foundation Establishment, he dared to face the methods of a Golden Core Cultivator.

The Earth element might lack killing power, and might lack tricky methods, but the only thing it did not lack was the word "hard"!

His Meridians had long been tempered to be tougher than fine steel through repeated severe injuries and recoveries, and his Physical Body was like a rock.

Half an hour later.

The Dantian in the Dantian was finally compressed to the extreme, continuously merging into his body and gathering on the Yao Core.

The first hurdle, the Spiritual Qi hurdle, was passed.

It was so stable that not a single flaw could be picked out; this was the accumulation of a deep Foundation.

Shi Pan slowly opened his eyes, and there was no joy in his dark yellow vertical pupils. What followed was the real test!

Absorbing heaven and earth qi, was a life-and-death struggle.

Shi Pan operated it silently. The Earth Dao Heaven and Earth Qi in his body, this wisp of Earth Qi, might not be top-tier in quality, but it was hard-won.

He had to consider whether this was the only opportunity in his life!

The moment this wisp of turbid, heavy Qi began to blend with himself and merge into his flesh and blood...

The entire Panshi Peak suddenly sank downward.

This was not an illusion, but the earth actually sank.

The ground around the mountain kept cracking, forming several bottomless gullies, and the muffled sound of rock layers breaking connected into one piece underground.

When the heaven and earth qi entered his body and began to blend.

"Roar —"

A low roar suppressed to the extreme came from the Immortal Cave.

His flesh and blood felt as if they were being torn apart, and his vitality began to fade continuously!

The moment the heaven and earth qi entered his body, Shi Pan felt as if he had swallowed an entire mountain range. His internal organs were crushed by this extreme heaviness, and his bones made teeth-aching friction sounds.

The celestial phenomena outside also ushered in the most violent changes.

The earth around Panshi Peak seemed to come alive.

Earth and stone rolled, and mud waves towered.

With Panshi Peak as the center, the trend of the earth veins within a radius of thirty miles was forcibly twisted. Under the guidance of the Earth Dao Heaven and Earth Qi, the originally short and fat Panshi Peak began to rise!

One zhang, ten zhang, one hundred zhang!

The rock layers were pulled from the ground by an invisible giant force, piled up layer upon layer. The sparse vegetation on the mountain surface was uprooted and dissipated into powder.

The rough gray rock, under the huge compression, transformed into hard black crystal stone.

It was not just Panshi Peak that rose.

Even the dozens of surrounding subsidiary peaks were affected by the earth veins and rose together, the mountains rose from the ground, and the earth shook!

White Cloud Temple's Sect-protecting Formation was triggered by this earth vein riot and started to operate on its own. Rays of Formation light screens lit up, protecting the Foundations of other Main Peaks.

Old Daoist Daoist Yun Du stood at the edge of the Main Peak, watching the changing of the world in the distance, twisting off several whiskers on his chin.

"This movement... is even bigger than when this old man formed his Core back then."

"It really does have some resemblance to when Shi Jian broke through back then. This scene is as vast and boundless as ever..."

The spectacular scene of the mountains rising continued for several days.

When everything calmed down, Panshi Peak had already become the highest solitary peak in White Cloud Temple, even a bit higher than Zixiao Peak.

The mountain was like a giant black stone sword inserted upside down into the clouds, stabbing straight into the firmament, emitting a heart-palpitating heavy pressure.

But deep in the Immortal Cave, Shi Pan's situation had reached the edge of the greatest danger.