Chapter 261: Chapter 260 Core Formation Attacks (Request for Monthly Tickets)_1
"Core Formation..."
Ruan Xingling could only offer a wry smile upon hearing this, "I don’t have much confidence..."
Previously, it was rumored that the Jade Island Ruins held the opportunity for Core Formation.
Alas, to date, not a single cultivator has distinctly obtained it.
For the Cultivation World of the three countries, becoming an Foundation Establishment was possible with Foundation Establishment Pills, but the chance for Core Formation was truly elusive, without any precedent.
After all, this place was merely a corner of the Southern Wilderness Cultivation Realm, which in turn, might be considered the backwater of the entire Cultivation World.
"If Xingling trusts me, perhaps she can wait for a time..."
Fang Xi said.
The Mysterious Water Essence was of no use to him, but for Ruan Xingling, it might have some effect.
Although... The hope was still very faint.
An efficacy of less than half was truly too low in comparison with the vast divide that is Core Formation...
’What a pity... the Fragment World cannot transport items, otherwise, whether it be me or Xingling forming the core, our odds would improve...’
Fang Xi sighed inwardly.
"You..."
Ruan Xingling looked up, her eyes shining like brilliant stars, then shook her head, "Why would Xingling deserve such kindness from you?"
"After all, we are always friends."
Fang Xi smiled faintly, extending his hand to catch a peach blossom falling from the sky.
Peach blossoms fluttered through the sky like rain...
...
One month later.
Evergreen Pavilion.
"Mysterious Heaven Sect finally kept its word, otherwise, once I can leave Dragon Fish Island, I would’ve surely annihilated their entire Sect..."
Fang Xi held a jade slip, which contained complex and profound gestures and incantations.
He thought for a moment, and his figure suddenly flashed, disappearing from sight.
Under the Monster Tree.
Fang Xi took out the ’Thousand Gadget Box’, pondered for a bit, then clapped his hands.
The withered-faced Song Qing puppet stepped forward, holding the Thousand Gadget Box, and walked to a distance.
"Within a third-rank array, using puppets to activate it... even if there’s a trap, what harm could it possibly do to me?"
Fang Xi murmured to himself, hands forming a magic spell.
The expressionless Song Qing, did the same movements from afar.
Hum!
A wave of magic power emerged from his body, continuously injected into the gold locks of the Thousand Gadget Box in front of him.
Click!
Click!
The gold locks of the Thousand Gadget Box flickered with light from the prohibition, and suddenly began to circulate.
The expressionless Song Qing puppet, following the records in the jade slip, kept executing one magic spell after another, until finally, with an incantation, streams of light flew into the gold locks.
Crack!
The first prohibition was undone, and the Thousand Gadget Box trembled, but showed no other anomalies.
"It seems... I was overly concerned."
Under the Monster Tree, Fang Xi leaned against the trunk, continuously forming magic spells.
Crack!
Crack! Crack!
One after another, the prohibitions shattered. At last, the gold lock clicked open and fell to the ground.
Without any expression, the Song Qing puppet opened the ’Thousand Gadget Box’, revealing a jade bottle within containing half a bottle of liquid.
In appearance, it indeed looked exactly the same as the ’Mysterious Water Essence’ Fang Xi had seen at the auction.
"What a pity, it isn’t ’Mysterious Water Crystal’. Otherwise, I would have used it myself... No, if it were the ’Mysterious Water Crystal’, Mysterious Heaven Sect would have already used it..."
Fang Xi sighed, picked up the jade bottle, and went to Ruan Xingling’s dongfu.
He had asked her to wait for a while last time, precisely to give her the ’Mysterious Water Essence’.
After all, for someone with the ’Yi Wood Magic Body’, condensing a Gold Core was not difficult, and even if there were several failures, success would eventually be assured.
A few hours later, having watched Ruan Xingling’s Escape Light depart, Fang Xi remained silent for a long while, then suddenly lost himself in a smile and returned to the Evergreen Pavilion to continue seeking pleasure and fun...
...
Late at night.
Fang Xi walked out alone from the fragrant chamber to the top of the Evergreen Pavilion.
Gurgle!
A bottle of Peach Blossom Brew was opened, prompting him to drink heavily.
"Mysterious Heaven Sect, Green Wood Sect... Yiling Valley..."
Fang Xi gazed toward the south with an extremely stern expression, even with an unprecedented sense of gravity!
Before being beheaded, You Chong was refined into a wooden puppet and, combined with the Kuyong Skills’ secret technique, yielded a large amount of this person’s memories and information.
This person’s identity was definitely from the higher echelons of Yiling Valley, with access to many secrets.
The aspect Fang Xi was most concerned about was undoubtedly the origin and development of the current war.
"Yiling Valley has always remained neutral, with uninterrupted inheritance... Why did they suddenly enter the fray personally?"
"Because Yuan Country has changed!"
Yuan Country was located to the south of the three countries, with immense territory and Nascent Soul Sects as its anchor.
The Yiling Valley was originally founded by a Nascent Soul disciple of the Mixed Origin Sect from Yuan Country, but as the Yuan Ying True Monarch passed away, the relationship gradually faded.
As of now, how much of the former ties and sentiments remained was truly hard to say.
However, a turning point arrived just over a decade ago!
A Golden Core elder from the Mixed Origin Sect, whose foundation was damaged in a battle between the Mixed Origin Sect and another major sect, found his cultivation unable to progress any further and, disillusioned and disheartened, decided to retire to his hometown.
This person’s hometown was actually within the Three Kingdoms Cultivation Realm!
After all, if Fang Xi himself had no confidence in reaching Core Formation, he would also take the opportunity while young to venture out after Foundation Establishment.
Although, the path from the Three Kingdoms Cultivation Realm to the Yuan Country Cultivation Realm was truly perilous for someone at Foundation Establishment, even a Core Formation cultivator might take several years to traverse it.
Upon hearing this news, Yiling Valley was naturally overjoyed and carefully arranged everything, ensuring that they would provide at least a country’s worth of land for the Golden Core elder to establish a sect or family.
It was just the right time as Master Bai Feng had passed away, leaving Baize Immortal City in turmoil.
Yiling Valley immediately took this opportunity to manipulate the situation between Mysterious Heaven Sect and Green Wood Sect.
As for which sect moved first, it didn’t really matter.
After all, Yiling Valley would secretly assist the weaker party, maintain a certain balance, and ideally let the two major sects bleed each other dry on the battlefield.
Once both sides had exhausted their strength, Yiling Valley would naturally enter the fray.
With the strength of the Supreme Elder of the Yu Family, coupled with that ’Master Yan’ from the Mixed Origin Sect who is said to have reached the mid-stage of Core Formation, the Core Formation cultivators of the Mysterious Heaven Sect and Green Wood Sect were no match at all.
’According to You Chong’s memory, the plan was quite sound...’
’But some deviations occurred during its execution... The most regrettable part was failing to keep Elder Zhang or Old Ancestor Qing at Baize Immortal City... Actually, with Master Yan’s sneaky sword strike, we almost managed to kill Elder Zhang on the spot, it’s just a pity...’
’After all, a Core Formation cultivator who is focused on escaping, and who are all elders with considerable resources, can prepare who knows how many life-saving trump cards in secret...’
’But under two against two, it was inevitable that the Golden Cores of the Mysterious Heaven and Green Wood would be severely injured... According to the intelligence obtained by Yiling Valley, it would take at least several decades to recover... The injuries are much more severe than the rumors suggest.’
’Unexpectedly, the situation has become so dire.’
Fang Xi originally thought that the two Golden Cores, working together, could have withstood the invasion of Yiling Valley!
Who would have thought that even now Elder Zhang is nearly at his last gasp, no wonder he was so desperate, even willing to give away "Mysterious Water Essence".
"This... doesn’t bode well!"
With no one to restrain the two Core Formation Elders of the enemy, Fang Xi felt that even though Thousand Island Lake was far behind the front lines, it was still in some danger.
Perhaps it would be difficult for the cultivator army to break through the border blockade, but for a Core Formation Elder with divine skills, sneaking into the rear of Yue Country would be quite easy—as long as they weren’t blocked by Elder Zhang.
And now, Elder Zhang seemed to be in a bad state and probably didn’t dare to leave the protective Great Array of the Mysterious Heaven Sect.
"Should I run away?"
"No... I’ve been operating Dragon Fish Island for many years, I won’t just give up because of the potential attack from a Core Formation Elder..."
"What’s more... I also want to test the might of the ’Nine Nether Profound Wood Array’."
The formation with the Monster Tree at its core is different from other third-tier formations!
It not only has a lower requirement for the Spiritual Vein but also the formation’s power will continue to grow as the Demonic Tree grows!
Till now, Fang Xi has been planting trees for nearly a century!
The full might of the ’Nine Nether Profound Wood Array’ hasn’t even been completely activated yet!
"First, rely on the Array to defend... If things become irretrievable in the end, then escaping through the cheater is also an option..."
Fang Xi was very open-minded about this.
With the ’Treasures of All Heavens’ at his disposal, his ability to preserve life was top-notch; fear was not in his vocabulary.
In fact, he felt that even the ’Vertical Ground Golden Light Boots’ on his feet were enough to ensure his survival.
These disposable spiritual instruments had not even been used since they were refined.
By now, Fang Xi was almost a third-tier Talisman Master, capable of making ’Vertical Ground Golden Light Talismans’.
"I must resolve this trouble first... otherwise, I won’t be able to focus on Core Formation."
Having finished his last sip of liquor, Fang Xi went to the closed-door cultivation room, sat down with his legs crossed, and turned his attention inward.
The 365 drops of liquid magic power from the ’Kuyong Skills’ were gradually transforming under the influence of the ’Yi Wood Magic Body,’ becoming incredibly thick.
"Hmm?"
During regular meditation and magic power recovery, Fang Xi felt that something was off.
As the liquid magic power became increasingly dense, with each breath, the Monster Tree Tattoo on his back grew more active.
Threads of black mist began to appear around him, turning the void surrounding him dreamlike and illusory.
"Is this... a domain? A barrier?"
Fang Xi’s expression was somewhat strange: "After reaching the peak of Foundation Establishment... It seems I can wield some power of the Monster Tree, forming a domain or Array space similar to the Demon Realm?"
"In Zhan Tu’s ’Core Formation Experience’ it’s mentioned that Core Formation cultivators have peculiar characteristics around them, with highly concentrated spiritual energy, vaguely forming a certain field that’s called ’Core Formation Domain’... it’s particularly effective against suppressing lower-ranking cultivators!"
"Is this... an early formation of such abilities? Is it the Monster Tree’s doing? Or the ’Yi Wood Magic Body’? Or perhaps the combination of both?"
...
A month later.
Outside Dragon Fish Island.
A flash of fire, and the figure of a young man in purple robes appeared.
This man was incredibly handsome, yet surrounded by terrifying fire spiritual power that seemed on the verge of manifesting into something.
"This is the island, then?"
He looked out at the fog-enshrouded Dragon Fish Island, purple light flashing in his eyes: "Heh... it seems a flood dragon does emerge from shallow waters; a third-tier Array indeed, no wonder You Chong met his demise here."
"Now that Elder Zhang is gravely injured and unable to leave, this is a good opportunity to eliminate the Dragon Fish Island’s Master and reduce uncertainties!"
A murderous intent flashed across You Kun’s face, and in a swift motion, he arrived at the top of Dragon Fish Island. With a wave of his hand, nine fire dragons formed from the gathering of heavenly earth spiritual Qi enveloped him, exuding the terrifying might of Core Formation!
"Dragon Fish Island’s Master, come and meet your end!"
His words rolled like thunder, crushing over Dragon Fish Island, causing many cultivators who were meditating to change their expressions drastically, spit out a mouthful of essence blood, and the common folk to become anxious.
"Attacked by Core Formation?!"
Fang Xi’s expression was extremely solemn as he transformed into a streak of light. Without greeting Yuan Feihong and the others, he went to the edge of the Array and saw the Core Formation True Monarch wrapped in nine fire dragons: "Supreme Elder of the You Family?"