Everlasting Fairy was sleeping soundly. Not wanting to disturb her slumber, Lu Yang began studying the Invincible Core on his own.

Lu Yang’s spiritual power reserves were already higher than those of others at his level, thanks to his affinity for absorbing energy. After forming his Golden Core, his spiritual power reserves underwent a tremendous transformation.

“My spiritual power reserves have increased at least tenfold, and the speed at which I absorb external spiritual energy has also improved. As long as I don’t use high-damage techniques like ‘Slash Word Technique’ or ‘Break Word Technique’, I can maintain a balance between using spiritual power and absorbing energy in regular combat. This will save me the cost of buying large rejuvenation pills in the future.”

During his battle with the Mu Tian Grass, he consumed rejuvenation pills like they were free, leaving him with only a few pitiful ones. Thinking back on it, he felt a pang of heartache.

“Additionally, my physical attributes have improved—strength, speed, and reflexes—all far surpassing those at the late Foundation Building stage. Now, I can compete with physical cultivators of my level!” Lu Yang said with a smile, feeling very confident in his current self.

His physical strength had always been a weak point, lagging behind physical cultivators like Meng Jingzhou and confucian cultivators like Barbarian Bone.

Now, he had finally made up for this shortcoming.

Lu Yang was extremely proud, knowing that his Golden Core was the same an immortal possessed, second only to the Harem Golden Core, making it the second strongest among first-grade Golden Cores.

The Harem Golden Core concentrated the power of a harem into one person, which was borrowed strength and didn’t count as personal power.

Strictly speaking, the strength of the Harem Golden Core was that of a group, whereas the Invincible Core’s power was truly personal.

According to Everlasting Fairy, this was even stronger than Eldest Senior Sister’s Golden Core!

Lu Yang felt invincible, thinking he could defeat anyone.

This is colloquially known as getting carried away.

“My divine sense has also increased.”

The most immediate effect was the change in Lu Yang’s spiritual space. What used to be like a single hotel room was now a spacious four-room, two-hall, two-bath flat!

Everlasting Fairy was the first to notice the change in the spiritual space, promptly enlarging her bed threefold and then sleeping comfortably.

Lu Yang extended his divine sense, and the entire flying boat was within its range, something that wasn’t possible before.

He saw that the levitation array of the flying boat had malfunctioned. The array repair master had worked on it for a long time, only to make it worse. Afraid of being discovered and having his year-end bonus deducted, the repair master flew under the boat to carry it manually.

“…Did I just witness something unbelievable?”

“The range for controlling avatars and the number of avatars I can control should also have increased, though I don’t know by how much.”

It wouldn’t be appropriate to conjure an avatar on the flying boat just to test it out.

“I’ll test it when I get back.”

“I still don’t know what other uses my Golden Core has.” Lu Yang pondered for a long time but couldn’t figure it out.

“Oh well, I’ll ask the fairy when she wakes up.”

The journey was uneventful, and at the next stop, the array repair master sought help and managed to fix the array just before the flying boat took off.

After stopping at several major cities, the flying boat finally landed in front of the Dao Seeking Sect, and Lu Yang disembarked.

Suddenly, Lu Yang noticed that his dantian was empty—his Golden Core was nowhere to be found.

“Where’s my Golden Core?”

He was about to enter his spiritual space to ask the Everlasting Fairy what was going on when he saw the Everlasting Fairy lying on the bed, hugging the Invincible Core, sleeping soundly.

Lu Yang felt helpless and woke the Everlasting Fairy: “Fairy, can you stop hugging my Golden Core? It made me think I lost it.”

She quickly came up with an excuse using her extensive ancient knowledge: “You just don’t understand, do you? Do you know the way of the ancient martial arts?”

The Everlasting Fairy gently pushed the Invincible Core away.

Lu Yang nodded: “I remember, it’s a kind of physical cultivation from ancient times?”

“Yes, this kind of martial art doesn’t use spiritual energy; it’s purely about tempering the body. At its peak, the body can rival the Nascent Soul Stage!”

“Ancient martial arts can be divided into direct strength, hidden strength, transformation strength, and core embracing.”

“So?”

“So now that I’m hugging your Golden Core, it’s to help you reach the core embracing stage.”

Lu Yang: “…”

(TL Note: This is referring to body cultivation where a cultivator only cultivates their body to make it stronger. Kind of like Meng Jingzhou but he still uses spiritual energy.)

Everlasting Fairy had the same habit as Lu Yang, liking to hold something while sleeping. The Invincible Core was something she hadn’t seen in a long time, making her feel nostalgic, but she couldn’t say that—it would damage her dignity as an immortal.

“Fairy, do you think our intelligence is on the same level?”

“How could you be as smart as I am?”

“Fairy, you’ve been sleeping for two days,” Lu Yang hinted that the fairy was sleeping too much and should cut back a bit.

“What do you know? I sleep to recover my strength. Without recovering my strength, how can I defeat that little girl Yun Zhi?”

“In ancient times, if I died, I would resurrect immediately, and the dissipated power would be reabsorbed by me.”

“Now, having been dead for over 300,000 years, the power in my body at the time of death has long since vanished. I can only rely on sleep to slowly recover my strength.”

“So, how much have you recovered now?”

“About ten to twenty percent. Without any other ways to speed up the process, I’ll be fully recovered in another hundred years or so.” She said it nonchalantly. A hundred years was but a blink of an eye to the sixteen-year-old Everlasting Fairy.

“How does it feel to form the Invincible Core? Do you feel invincible? The Invincible Core allows you to be unstoppable in attack and invincible in battle. It’s the Golden Core that I am most proud of!” Everlasting Fairy patted Lu Yang’s shoulder as if seeing a second version of herself rising, destined to illuminate an entire era.

“What exactly do I need to do?”

Everlasting Fairy chuckled. “When I first formed the Invincible Core, I put a lot of effort into figuring out its functions. With me here, you can skip the research phase and directly understand its uses.”

“To know yourself and your enemy is the key to a hundred victories. The first function of the Invincible Core is to see your opponent’s weaknesses, allowing you to develop strategies to exploit them during battle. Doesn’t that ensure victory?”

“When I was at the Golden Core Stage, I defeated Ying Tian Immortal and Qilin Immortal using this function!”

Lu Yang’s heart pounded. The Invincible Core truly lived up to its name as an immortal’s golden core, incredibly powerful.

“Come, let me teach you how to use it.”

“Alright!”

The method to use the Invincible Core wasn’t difficult; Lu Yang had just never found the right approach. With Everlasting Fairy as his guide, he quickly mastered the usage of the Invincible Core.

“Try it out on someone.”

Following Everlasting Fairy’s advice, Lu Yang targeted a senior brother. He remembered this senior brother as one of those who had lined up to beat him after the Five Elements Sect exchange meeting.

He couldn’t win back then and had taken the blame for Everlasting Fairy. Now, with the Invincible Core, he wanted to clear his shame and prove his strength.

The Invincible Core rotated slowly, analyzing the senior brother’s weaknesses. Soon, a line of text appeared before Lu Yang’s eyes.

“You can’t win. Pick someone else.”