Perfected Being Cang Lang gave a smirk and replied darkly, “I got my hands on this Spirit Lock Flower from the Great Qian ruins! I’ve only managed to resurrect it after nourishing it for dozens of years!”

At the mention of Great Qian ruins, the expressions of the other four Golden Cores changed and they took deep breaths in silence with wary looks in their eyes.

A long time later.

Gao Hu said, “Fellow Daoist Cang Lang, why don’t you ask us along the next time you go look for treasures in the Great Qian ruins. That way, we can look after one another as well.”

“Heh! That’s a place that we’ll most likely die in and I’ll never return again,”

Perfected Being Cang Lang remarked with a sense of trepidation, “The previous time round, I merely took a spin around the outer perimeter of it and I nearly died there!”

Tan Hao replied with a bright smile, “It seems like you take this Su Zimo guy rather seriously don’t you, Fellow Daoist Cang Lang? To think that you would be willing to make use of an extinct ancient fiend flower, the Spirit Lock Flower.”

“Isn’t it excessive to use the Spirit Lock Flower against a Foundation Establishment Cultivator?” Gao Hu asked moodily.

The Spirit Lock Flower restricted one’s spirit energy absolutely.

Putting away the Spirit Lock Flower, Perfected Being Cang Lang said coldly, “I’ve already said that even a lion uses its full might to chase down a rabbit! I won’t allow any mishaps to happen for this attack!”

Tan Hao nodded. “With the Spirit Lock Flower, the kid’s greatest trump card, his secret skill which allows him to conjure a divine dragon, is now useless.”

“Furthermore, even if he enters Golden Core realm, it’s useless! With his spirit energy locked, he won’t be able to use any techniques as a Golden Core and with the formation set up outside, he won’t be able to escape even if he has wings!”

True Fire Sect’s Sima Zhi’s eyes lit up and he got increasingly excited as he spoke.

“Wings?”

Perfected Being Cang Lang sneered, “Don’t forget, he won’t even be able to use Ethereal Peak’s secret skill, Ethereal Wings, with his spirit energy locked! He can only stand on the ground and look up to us!”

Gao Hu grinned. “In that case, all we have to do is stand in midair and that kid won’t be able to hurt us no matter how many tricks he has up his sleeves or how strong his body is. On the other hand, all of us can just attack him as we want to!”

“That’s right.”

“That’s great!”

The five of them exchanged glances and laughed with relaxed expressions.

“Let’s discuss how we want to distribute his treasures after killing him first, lest we get into needless arguments later on,” Liang Heng remarked indifferently.

“Don’t worry, we’ll go with our initial agreement,”

Perfected Being Cang Lang said with a deep voice, “We’ll give that kid’s dragon conjuring secret skill and connate spirit weapon to Fellow Daoist Liang Heng. His body tempering technique will be for Fellow Daoist Gao Hu. His sword formation techniques will be for Fellow Daoist Tan Hao. As for his weapon refinement techniques, they will be for Brother Sima.”

“Lastly, we’ll divide the remaining spirit stones, elixirs and spirit weapons he has equally among the five of us!”

“That’s good,”

Liang Heng and the other four nodded delightfully.

Gao Hu was a body tempered warrior to begin with and the thing that attracted him the most was Su Zimo’s body tempering technique.

Everyone got what they wanted.

Just as everyone was about to leave, Sima Zhi frowned and asked, “I heard that this female disciple of yours disobeyed your orders previously and did not partake in the battle against Ethereal Peak. Are you sure she’s going to help us this time round to go against her ex-lover?”

“Since they’re childhood sweethearts, he will definitely be familiar with her handwriting. If you forge something out, there will definitely be flaws,” Tan Hao was calm.

“Humph!”

Perfected Being Cang Lang harrumphed coldly with a glum expression, “She won’t get to decide this time round!”

Sima Zhi and the others felt their hearts skip a beat.

From the murderous look on Perfected Being Cang Lang’s face, it seems like he was going to sacrifice his disciple in order to kill Su Zimo!

“That traitor will cause trouble for me sooner or later if I continue to keep her by my side,”

Perfected Being Cang Lang narrowed his thin eyes and declared frostily, “Coincidentally, she’s about to form her core, fufu. It isn’t that easy for anyone to enter Golden Core realm and of course, it couldn’t be anymore natural if an accident happened during the process of it.”

…

A month later.

Ethereal Peak.

Su Zimo was in a lotus position in his cave abode. His palms rested on both his knees and faced up while his eyes were in a seemingly closed state as he breathed steadily. From head to toe, he exuded an extremely serene intent, akin to an immortal.

A long time later, Su Zimo opened his eyes and took a long breath, waking up from his meditation.

“I still can’t do it,”

Su Zimo shook his head.

For the past month, he had been cultivating with Qi Condensation while comprehending the Tidal Manual and Asura Saber at the same time as a conclusion to the many secret skills he had obtained after stepping onto the immortality cultivation path.

Although he had to form cores for both his demonic and immortality cultivation, they were starkly different.

The demonic Dao required him to subdue his monkey mind and prancing horse intent while condensing demonic qi repeatedly. At that point, things would come together naturally and he could form his Inner Core.

However, the immortal Dao required more of comprehension and understanding.

If he tried forming a core forcefully, it would not only lead to problems easily, the Golden Core phenomenon that he created might not be up to his expectations as well.

Therefore, Su Zimo did not dare to be careless.

Half a month ago, he had already reached the limits for his spirit energy and his spirit sea could not expand further.

In other words, he was already at the peak of Extreme Foundation Establishment realm!

Given those circumstances, he attempted to form his Golden Core.

His cultivation path up till this point had been overly complex and apart from immortal techniques, he had cultivated many fiend techniques as well.

However, the differences between the Dao of immortals and fiends were way too vast.

Immortality placed emphasis on nature and being one with the heavens.

However, fiends were obsessed about the extremities of things.

By nature, the spirit energy that Su Zimo cultivated was of a fire attribute. However, many of the cultivation techniques he cultivated such as the Sea Calming Manual, Tidal Manual and Blood Refinement Fiend Sutra were related to water.

Immortals and fiends were irreconcilable as was fire and water.

After half a year, Su Zimo still did not manage to cross that gap.

If he tried forming a core forcibly, there would definitely be a large problem!

“The timing isn’t right,”

He went deep in thought.

On the path of cultivation, if one wanted to break through a major realm, they would often have to require the synergy of multiple factors, such as the environment, comprehension of the heaven and earth, fate and their mental states.

Some people gain enlightenment at the lakeside.

Some people gain epiphany after traveling through mountains and valleys.

Some people form their cores in the spur of the moment while they are listening to the wind and looking at rain fall.

Some people sever their karmas overnight and attain enlightenment mentally, forming their Golden Cores…

But of course, there were even more people who die old with regrets without even getting to form a core!

Rising, Su Zimo got off his bed gently and murmured to himself with a clear and deep gaze, “Seems like it’s time for me to head out and take a walk.”

Right then, a soft knock came from his door.

Su Zimo waved his sleeves and the door opened correspondingly.

Nian Qi stood at the entrance, gazing in left and right.

“What’s wrong?”

Arriving beside her, Su Zimo looked at the paper crane in her hands and asked softly.

The paper crane was one of the most commonly seen messaging tool in the cultivation world and it was a type of talisman, created by the Thousand Crane Sect.

Nian Qi handed him the paper crane. “This is for you, young master. It states that it’s from an old friend from Ping Yang Town.”

Su Zimo furrowed his brows slightly.

There was probably only a single person who was an old friend from Ping Yang Town and knew how to make use of paper cranes to send messages.

Receiving the paper crane, Su Zimo opened it slowly.

A few lines of sentences were written with a dainty handwriting.

“Zimo, I’ve failed in my core formation and my spirit meridians have been severed. The injuries are extremely severe and I’m now back in Ping Yang Town to recuperate in silence.”

“Our relationship has ended a long time ago and I shouldn’t have bothered you to begin with. But recently, I feel that my limits have been reached and I don’t have much time left. I hope that you can return for us to meet one last time.”

Regards, Shen Mengqi.