41: Chapter 41 Cloud Crossing to Core Formation! The Morning Breeze of the Clouds!

This trip back was very quick.

Just as the sky was turning gray, Sun Kezheng, covered in cold dew, silently slipped into the back mountain of Hongtian City with hurried steps.

"Old Ancestor, I have fortunately fulfilled the mission!"

Sun Kezheng knelt on one knee and presented a green Jade Slip with both hands.

Shi Jian lay on the bluestone, lifting his eyelids to take a glance.

"What did Song He say?"

"This Junior did not see Elder Song He."

Sun Kezheng lowered his head and said respectfully, "It was the First Seat of the Baiyun Temple Law Enforcement Hall who met me. He examined the Flying Sword and the confession, remained silent for a long time, and finally gave me this Jade Slip to bring back."

Shi Jian extended a wisp of Demonic Qi to touch the Jade Slip.

The Jade Slip shattered, and an old, weary voice, yet one laced with a bone-chilling killing intent, echoed through the Immortal Cave:

"This favor, White Cloud Temple has noted down."

"Guard Hongtian City well; do not worry about other matters."

As the words fell, the Jade Slip completely turned to ash and vanished into the world.

Sun Kezheng looked up with a worried expression: "Old Ancestor, just this one sentence?"

"Could they be..."

"Enough, do not lose your composure."

Shi Jian interrupted him, his heavy front paw patting the ground. "These eight words are our reassurance..."

"Song He didn't see you to avoid suspicion."

"The appearance of the Law Enforcement Hall's First Seat means White Cloud Temple believes us and is showing its importance."

"Next, we don't need to worry about anything. Just close our doors and focus on farming and management. Some matters are not for us to intervene in right now."

Sun Kezheng acknowledged and withdrew.

Shi Jian looked at the daylight outside the Immortal Cave and grinned widely.

Yan Qiu of the Fenghe Sect wanted to fish in troubled waters, but now he had been exposed ahead of time. As long as White Cloud Temple wasn't stupid, they would know how to prepare...

...

Time flew by, and the seasons changed.

In the blink of an eye, another three years had passed.

During these three years, the situation in Baiyun Prefecture held an eerie calm.

After Han Qing's death, the restless Loose Cultivators to the south seemed to vanish overnight, and the Fenghe Sect made no major moves...

It seemed Yan Qiu and those two Golden Cores were tied down by something, or perhaps White Cloud Temple had secretly shown its trump cards, forcing the opponent to retreat.

Meanwhile, White Cloud Temple had sealed its mountains and closed its gates.

The Sect's protective array was fully active, and Disciples were only allowed to leave, not enter, as if they had raised their defenses to the maximum.

The spirit tax from the Nine Counties was changed so that each county would escort it to the mountain gate themselves; this was an extremely defensive posture...

To outsiders, it looked like weakness, but Shi Jian understood they were preparing a major move.

Daoist Yun Du had reached the most critical moment!

The third year, late autumn.

Outside Hongtian City, the maple leaves were as red as fire.

Shi Jian was lying in the back mountain valley, watching the three cubs—Shi Pan, Shi Mo, and Shi Yin—biting and sparring with each other.

These three little guys had already reached adulthood, and their Demonic Qi was becoming increasingly refined!

Right at that moment.

Shi Jian suddenly snapped his head up, his vertical pupils staring fixedly to the north!

The wind was rising.

It wasn't ordinary wind, but a violent Spiritual Qi Astral Wind!

At the same time, Sun Boan immediately noticed something was wrong and rushed up the back mountain to report: "Old Ancestor! The north... in the north!"

Sun Boan pointed toward White Cloud Temple, his face filled with terror and his voice trembling, as if he sensed some great horror.

"Boan, do not panic."

Shi Jian took heavy steps to the edge of the cliff and gazed into the distance.

The sky had changed.

In the direction of White Cloud Temple, the sky had been cloudless, but now a massive Spiritual Qi vortex had swirled up out of thin air.

The vortex was funnel-shaped, covering nearly a hundred miles of the inner sky!

The Spiritual Qi of the Nine Counties was being madly extracted by an irresistible force, converging toward that vortex.

"This is... the celestial phenomenon of Core Formation."

"Is Senior Daoist Yun Du about to succeed?!"

Sun Kezheng swallowed hard, his eyes full of shock. This was the first time in his life he had seen such a terrifying display.

Shi Jian narrowed his eyes, circulating his Demonic Qi to his eyes to pierce through the layers of mist.

In his mind, many ancient texts and records he had read surfaced.

The leap from Foundation Establishment to Core Formation was a true transformation of life's level. It also required passing through three difficult hurdles; almost every Breakthrough in Realm was accompanied by three hurdles...

The first hurdle: the Spiritual Power Hurdle.

A Cultivator must compress the liquid Foundation Establishment True Essence in their body to the limit while enduring the frantic backflow of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi...

If they could hold out, their True Essence would transform; if not, their body would explode and they would die!

At this moment, that massive Spiritual Qi funnel was pouring down toward the Main Peak of White Cloud Temple with unstoppable momentum, causing waves of Spiritual Power Tides!

Rumble!

Faint sounds of thunder came from afar; that was the noise produced by the friction of Spiritual Qi.

"What a domineering absorption efficiency."

Shi Jian marveled inwardly. Even from thousands of miles away, he could feel the Spiritual Vein beneath Hongtian City trembling slightly, the speed of Spiritual Qi loss more than ten times faster than usual...

However, this first hurdle lasted for three full days and nights!

Three days later, the funnel dissipated.

But the sky did not return to calm; instead, it grew even darker...

An even more profound and terrifying aura was brewing above White Cloud Temple.

The second hurdle: absorbing a wisp of heaven and earth qi!

The Golden Core Dao was no small matter; it was the threshold for a Cultivator to truly step onto the path of cultivation. Once this hurdle was passed, the world would be theirs to roam.

One must obtain a wisp of heaven and earth qi and fuse it into themselves to form a Golden Core!

And the so-called heaven and earth qi could be the Five Elements, Yin and Yang, or a wisp of the Origin of life, death, time, or space...

Below those were many lesser Dao qi such as wind, thunder, darkness, ice, strength, or the Physical Body, all of which could serve as heaven and earth qi!

This hurdle had stumped countless brilliant Peak Foundation Establishment practitioners.

Very few Cultivators could rely entirely on themselves to extract this wisp of heaven and earth qi from the world. Without the foundation of a Sect or a Heaven-Defying Opportunity...

...this wisp of heaven and earth qi was an insurmountable threshold!

"Old Ancestor, the sky has split open!"

Sun Boan cried out. He saw the thick clouds in the distant sky suddenly split, revealing a crack, and a wisp of heaven and earth qi appeared in the firmament.

Clearly, Zhao Qing had left a Legacy for the Sect after all...

Cloud Dao Qi: Cloud Firmament Morning Clear Qi!

"He really did leave a backup plan, heaven and earth qi..."

Shi Jian licked his fangs. White Cloud Temple was indeed a great Sect with seven or eight hundred years of history; they truly had hidden foundations...

The reason Zhao Qing dared to fight to the death back then was perhaps because he had this hope that the Legacy would not be extinguished.

Once this wisp of qi entered the body, it was a moment of life or death.

Rejection meant the Divine Soul would be annihilated; Fusion meant stepping into the third hurdle.

Time passed minute by minute.

There was no movement from the direction of White Cloud Temple; it was so silent it was suffocating.

All the Cultivators in Baiyun Prefecture were currently focusing on that direction.

Success or failure, it all depended on this.

Just when everyone thought Daoist Yun Du had failed, a mass of clouds gathered between heaven and earth, then swept toward the eight directions...

Ang—!

A clear and resonant crane cry tore through the sky.

Immediately after, a brilliant beam of pure celestial light shot up from the Main Peak of White Cloud Temple, directly piercing the firmament!

Within the white light, one could vaguely see a pure white bead the size of a longan, round and flawless, emitting a terrifying pressure that suppressed everything.

The third hurdle: forming the Golden Core!

Daoist Yun Du already had the talent of a dual Spiritual Root and excellent Aptitude, plus the foundation provided by the Sect's unstinting efforts and that wisp of heaven and earth qi.

He had succeeded!

Boom!

The pressure of a Major Achievement Golden Core, like a physical wave of air, swept out in all directions with White Cloud Temple as the center.

The pressure swept over Hongtian City.

The three hundred thousand Mortals in the city simultaneously felt their knees go weak and knelt on the ground one after another.

The Qi Refining Cultivators of the Sun Clan also couldn't withstand this crushing weight from a higher life level; their faces turned pale as they bowed their heads.

Only Shi Jian remained standing steadily at the edge of the cliff.

His Demonic Qi surged incessantly, his bones creaked, and he forced himself to endure this Golden Core pressure—the aura of a perfect, flawless Golden Core!

"Golden Core..."

"And it's a Cloud Dao Golden Core. Although it's not one of the eleven Great Daos like the Five Elements, Yin and Yang, or Life, Death, Universe, and Origin, it is still incredibly powerful."

Shi Jian stared fixedly at the soaring white light. There was no fear in his vertical pupils, only intense ambition and desire.

One day, he would also reach this Realm.

In fact, he would surpass it!

The ethereal profound light gradually withdrew, and the celestial phenomena dissipated...

The sky of Baiyun Prefecture brightened once again.

But everyone knew that this sky now belonged to its master once more!

Sun Boan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and let out a long sigh of relief: "Old Ancestor, Daoist Yun Du succeeded. White Cloud Temple is saved."

"Yes, it's saved."

Shi Jian turned around, walked back to the bluestone, and lay down, his voice calm: "The twenty-year deadline has been broken; Daoist Yun Du only took eight short years to break through."

"The Shangqing Sect will no longer punish them, and Yan Qiu of the Fenghe Sect can only pull back his outstretched claws..."

"Then we..."

"Continue living our lives."

Shi Jian gave a lazy yawn and said, "He can form his core, and I will cultivate my demon path. As long as we pay our taxes on time and don't cause trouble..."

"Coupled with the loyalty we've shown, not only will Daoist Yun Du not look for trouble with us, but he might even do his best to support us in the future."

"Within the next hundred years, the Sun Clan will be safe and may even enter a golden age; the Family will surely flourish..."