Chapter 359: Golden Core Appraisal Event

Translator: yikaii Editor: yikaii

(TL Note: Extra chapter thanks to r5 for buying the EPUB on my kofi)

In a luxurious courtyard, blinding flashes of golden light occasionally flickered.

As the golden light dissipated, a Golden Core emitting a faint, misty aura slowly rotated, drawing in light, ethereal energy from all directions.

“I’ve long heard of Fellow Daoist Yuan Zhi forming a Moon-Grasping Golden Core. It truly lives up to its reputation as a high quality third-grade Golden Core!” An old man stroked his white beard, smiling so broadly that wrinkles creased his face.

“Oh, you flatter me. It took me thirty years of hard cultivation to form this third-grade Moon-Grasping Golden Core. It’s hardly anything impressive, and with someone as knowledgeable as Elder Kang, this core is not worth much.”

Elder Kang, a learned scholar passionate about his studies, was a highly respected figure in Qingzhou and recognized as a grand scholar by the Imperial City Academy. He was revered by many.

Another person quickly interjected, “Fellow Daoist Yuan Zhi, you underestimate yourself. It’s challenging for us even to form fourth or fifth-grade Golden Cores, and a third-grade Golden Core is exceptional. Our greatest hope is to shatter our cores and form Nascent Souls, while you, Fellow Daoist Yuan Zhi, have the potential to break through to Spirit Transformation, or even further, to Void Refinement Stage, where even Unity Stage Cultivators would respect you.”

A middle quality third-grade Golden Core had the potential to cultivate to the Spirit Transformation Stage, though the chances were slim. They dared not hope for too much, considering themselves fortunate if they reached Nascent Soul.

In contrast, Yuan Zhi’s high quality third-grade Golden Core guaranteed a smooth path to Nascent Soul, with Spirit Transformation, Void Refinement, and Unity all within reach. His future was limitless, his potential far exceeding theirs.

Though Yuan Zhi spoke humbly, inwardly, he couldn’t help but feel elated. A high quality third-grade Golden Core surpassed over ninety percent of Golden Core cultivators. Despite being in the early stage of Golden Core, even mid to late-stage cultivators wouldn’t dare underestimate him; instead, they would treat him with respect.

The small courtyard was hosting the Golden Core Appraisal Event, where various Golden Cores vied for attention, eliciting frequent exclamations of awe from the crowd.

Yuan Zhi’s Moon-Grasping Golden Core stood out among the rest, being one of the most remarkable third-grade Golden Cores.

Just as Yuan Zhi was basking in his pride, a Daoist figure stumbled into the courtyard.

“You all need to head to the arena! It’s extremely lively over there!”

Yuan Zhi frowned, recognizing the intruder as a lower-third-grade Golden Core cultivator who didn’t even qualify to participate in the Golden Core Appraisal Event. “What’s so interesting at the arena? Just a few early-stage Foundation Building cultivators fighting for first place.”

“No, it’s the disciples of the Five Great Immortal Sects battling each other! All are Golden Core Stage, and apart from the Hanging Temple, the other four Great Immortal Sects all have participants!”

“What?!”

“Immortal sect disciples fighting?!” The crowd was stunned, their faces lighting up with excitement. It was exceedingly rare to witness a battle between disciples of the immortal sects.

Elder Kang was the most excited of all and quickly asked, “Are there any from the Dao Seeking Sect?”

“There’s not just one; there are two of them!”

Without another word, Elder Kang, more agile than the young men, leapt up and rushed toward the arena.

Seeing this, the others quickly followed, leaving Yuan Zhi standing there, stunned.

“I have to see how these immortal sect disciples are stronger than me!”

Immortal sect disciples or not, weren’t they also high quality third-grade Golden Cores like him?

When Yuan Zhi finally arrived at the scene, the arena was packed tight, making it difficult even to find a gap to squeeze through.

It was rare to witness a battle between the most outstanding immortal sect disciples, something that might not happen in decades. Just this fight alone made everyone feel that attending the Qingzhou Grand Meeting was worth it.

Even if they couldn’t see the battle clearly on the stage.

Feeling helpless, Yuan Zhi cast a spell and discreetly made his way to the front, joining his fellow participants from the Golden Core Appraisal Event.

The fellow cultivators from the Golden Core Appraisal Event didn’t notice Yuan Zhi’s arrival, as their full attention was fixed on the five people battling on the arena, watching intently, afraid to miss a single detail.

Aside from Elder Kang, the rest were newly-formed Golden Core stage cultivators, all in the early stage of Golden Core.

Watching the five combatants on stage, they felt an absurd sense of inadequacy, as if they themselves had never formed their cores and were still stuck at the Foundation Building Stage.

“Is this really the power and speed of an early-stage Golden Core cultivator?!”

Setting aside their combat skills, just the sheer strength and speed displayed by Lu Yang and the others were enough to completely overwhelm them.

Yuan Zhi’s initial sense of competitiveness was quickly extinguished.

He suspected that if he faced any one of the five, he wouldn’t last more than ten moves.

Was there really such a vast gap between cultivators of the same high quality third-grade Golden Core?

“Elder Kang, can you tell what kinds of Golden Cores these five immortal sect disciples have?” The arena wasn’t an appraisal event where cores were openly displayed for the audience, so they could only make educated guesses based on subtle cues in the battle.

Unfortunately, their limited experience made it difficult to draw any solid conclusions.

Elder Kang frowned deeply, as he could discern only so much. “What is certain is that all five of them have formed first-grade Golden Cores, and they rank very highly among such cores.”

The crowd nodded in agreement. Nothing else could explain why the combat power of these five disciples was so extraordinary.

“That one named Meng Jingzhou, his yang energy surges like the blazing sun, driving away all evil. It resembles the Solar Golden Core or even the Pure Yang Golden Core, but neither of those seem capable of reaching this level of intensity. Strange, is there a core with yang energy even stronger than the Solar and Pure Yang Golden Cores?”

“The female disciple moves as light as a fairy, exhaling white breath with a boundless aura and remarkable stamina. Her eyes are bright, reminiscent of dawn, closely resembling the legendary Primordial Chaos Golden Core. However, historical records on the Primordial Chaos Golden Core are scarce, so even I wouldn’t dare make a definitive statement. The younger generation is truly impressive.”

Elder Kang mused that even if the esteemed scholars of the Imperial City Academy were summoned to assess these cores, they might still struggle to make sense of it all.

…

On the arena, under the fierce assault from Lan Ting and Bai Ming, Lu Yang was steadily pushed back, finding himself in a tough battle.

“Lu Yang, stop pretending. I know you have a clone technique,” Bai Ming said, noticing Lu Yang showing signs of fatigue but not letting his guard down. He knew Lu Yang’s true strength was far beyond what was currently on display.

The one who defeated Bai Ming previously wasn’t Lu Yang’s main body but one of his clones!

“Didn’t fool him, huh,” Lu Yang muttered with some frustration. He had hoped to lure Bai Ming closer and then split into two with his Tree Planting Technique, catching Bai Ming off guard.

“Clone technique?” Lan Ting’s eyes sparkled with curiosity as she looked at Lu Yang. Senior Brother Lu Yang had mastered even such a technique—no wonder he had the greatest talent for magic among anyone she had ever seen.

Lu Yang pulled out a Twin Stem Lotus seed and used the “Tree Planting Technique.” The lotus bloomed, and Lu Yang and his lotus clone stood atop the lotus leaves.

“So what if you have a clone? Can your divine sense control two bodies at once?” Bai Ming knew the weakness of clone techniques. During their last battle, Lu Yang’s main body had sat on the judge’s seat, focusing solely on controlling his wooden clone. This time was different; he would need to control two bodies, which demanded an immense amount of divine sense.

“Let’s find out,” Lu Yang said with a grin. In the past, it wasn’t possible, but after forming his core, his divine sense had grown exponentially. No one at the same stage could match him.

Lu Yang looked at the Qingfeng Sword in his hand, thought for a moment, and tossed it to his lotus clone, letting it fight Lan Ting.

“I really should forge another sword…oh well, I’ll deal with that later.” Lu Yang decided to face Bai Ming barehanded.

“Warm-up’s over; time to use the Invincible Core… What’s the strategy to defeat these two?”

The Invincible Core quickly responded.

“Use Arhat Fist on Bai Ming.”

A smile spread across Lu Yang’s face.

(End of the chapter)