Golden Core is a Star, and You Call This Cultivation?

"It seems I need to take on a mission and head out for a bit," Qi Yuan mused.

According to the information revealed by the intelligent micro-detection bugs, there were three locations where Black Abyss Ancestor Blood could be found. Two were within the Black Abyss’s territory, and one was outside.

"It looks like I'll need Purple Fate Xiaolu's help." After some thought, Qi Yuan contacted Purple Fate Xiaolu using a communication jade slip.

After about the time it took to burn three sticks of incense, Purple Fate Xiaolu appeared outside the cave. She was dressed in a dark blue ma mian qun, a traditional Chinese skirt, which made her look both cute and slightly alluring.

"Senior Brother Blood Robe, what can I do for you?" Purple Fate Xiaolu asked, her expression full of joy.

"Here’s the thing—today, I had a dream where I saw treasure. I want to take you along to find it. But the place in the dream—I’m not sure where it is. Since you're familiar with Black Abyss, I wanted to ask for your help."

Qi Yuan came up with an excuse on the spot.

Purple Fate Xiaolu looked excited when she heard this. After all, the fact that Senior Brother Blood Robe was willing to tell her about treasure hunting meant he really trusted her.

"Senior Brother, where is it?"

"Here!" Qi Yuan wasn’t great at drawing, but he was skilled at copying and pasting. Without much thought, he projected a fragment of the scene he'd seen from the broken images onto the air for Purple Fate Xiaolu to view.

A projection of the landscape appeared in the air: black land and black seas everywhere, with a single towering peak wrapped in chains standing prominently.

Purple Fate Xiaolu blinked in disbelief and stared at Qi Yuan. "Senior Brother Blood Robe, are you sure this is the place?"

"Yeah, I’m sure. The dream scene was crystal clear. This place must be extraordinary—there’s got to be a lot of treasure," Qi Yuan said earnestly.

Purple Fate Xiaolu took a deep breath. "There are indeed many treasures here, but… this is the Black Abyss Treasury."

"...Wait, what?"

Qi Yuan was speechless.

Seriously? They built the treasury here?

"Could we sneak in and take something? What I want to… steal—no, retrieve—isn’t inside the treasury itself but maybe underneath it in the ruins," Qi Yuan still clung to a sliver of hope.

Purple Fate Xiaolu grew anxious at this suggestion. "Senior Brother Blood Robe, you must not entertain such ideas! This isn’t just the treasury; it’s also the ancestral ground of Black Abyss!

The very origin of our Black Abyss lies in the ruins beneath this place.

If we recklessly barge in, even as mozi (chosen ones of demonic blood), we won’t escape death!"

It was rare to see Purple Fate Xiaolu so serious, her small face tensed with anxiety.

Qi Yuan felt disappointed upon hearing this.

It seemed this stash of Black Abyss Ancestor Blood… was indeed the Black Abyss Ancestor Blood of the treasury.

The first location was a no-go. What about the second?

Qi Yuan didn’t hold much hope.

After all, with the power of Yang God Sovereigns—especially those at the Grand Supreme Truth level—there were likely few secrets in Black Abyss.

"What about this place?"

Qi Yuan displayed the second location’s imagery for Purple Fate Xiaolu.

Purple Fate Xiaolu tilted her head, thinking for a moment. "I know this place."

"Great! Let’s head there. Thanks!"

"Let’s go!"

The two left Purple Fate Heaven, using the teleportation formations to travel to another area within the Black Abyss.

About a day passed, during which they switched through six or seven teleportation arrays.

Finally, they arrived at a basin.

"This is the place, Senior Brother Blood Robe. But we’d better hurry—this is in Brahma Realm Heaven, and they aren't exactly friendly with Purple Fate Heaven," Purple Fate Xiaolu said, standing beside Qi Yuan, her petite figure slightly dwarfed by his.

Qi Yuan surveyed the basin, a look of disappointment flashing in his eyes.

"The treasure’s already gone."

Both his senses and his eyes told him that the Black Abyss Ancestor Blood here had long been taken.

No need to guess—it had probably been moved back to the treasury.

"Ah?" Purple Fate Xiaolu looked disappointed as well.

At that moment, Qi Yuan turned into a streak of light, diving into the space cracks beneath the basin.

About a hundred breaths later, he reappeared beside Purple Fate Xiaolu. "Well, it’s not a total bust. I did find this!"

Qi Yuan extended his hand, revealing a large puddle of blood-red liquid.

The blood resembled the blood river inside the Ancestor Blood Pavilion, containing numerous intelligent micro-detection bugs.

These bugs held data. If Qi Yuan could retrieve it, there might be useful information.

"This is... Ancestor Blood Spirit Water?" Purple Fate Xiaolu exclaimed, surprised. She hadn’t expected the treasure Qi Yuan was after to be this.

Qi Yuan glanced at her and asked, "Do you know where I can find more of this?"

"Yes, Senior Brother. If you need this, I can help you collect it!" Purple Fate Xiaolu said seriously.

Ancestor Blood Spirit Water was mainly found in the Ancestor Blood Pavilion and was used to test one’s progress in the Ancestor Blood Art and obtain merit points.

This water was pretty much useless otherwise.

After all, anyone who had been cultivating the Ancestor Blood Art should know how far along they were without needing to test it.

"How much does it cost? I’ll pay you!" Qi Yuan’s eyes lit up.

If he could gather enough Ancestor Blood Spirit Water and collect more intelligent micro-detection bugs, he might find more leads on Black Abyss Ancestor Blood or even locate the terrifying body of that massive insect.

That would be a treasure trove—enough to feed people on Blue Star for a million years without running out.

Though it might crush Blue Star if dropped.

"It’s really cheap, practically worthless. I’ll handle it," Purple Fate Xiaolu said happily.

"No, no. Free things are the most expensive. Now that I’m wealthy, I can’t afford to be stingy."

After defeating the Molo Tribe, Qi Yuan had obtained an enormous amount of treasures.

As he spoke, he generously—though with a bit of reluctance—took out a single immortal jade from his storage bag. "Is one immortal jade enough?"

Purple Fate Xiaolu covered her mouth, giggling. "It’s enough!"

As expected, this was classic Senior Brother Blood Robe.

If it had been anyone else, wouldn’t they have thrown down at least ten thousand immortal jades after such grand words?

But Senior Brother, despite his lavish talk, only handed over a single piece.

For ordinary Yin Gods, one immortal jade was quite valuable.

But for mozi like them, immortal jade was akin to golden core disciples looking at spirit stones.

Qi Yuan felt a bit embarrassed.

Clearly, one piece of immortal jade wasn’t enough.

He quickly tried to salvage the situation to avoid further embarrassment. "This one piece is just the down payment!"

"Alright," Purple Fate Xiaolu replied, her smile brightening as she accepted the jade.

After making arrangements with Purple Fate Xiaolu, she returned to Purple Fate Heaven to gather Ancestor Blood Spirit Water.

Qi Yuan, meanwhile, took on a mission and prepared to head out.

The final location wasn’t in the Black Abyss at all.

According to Purple Fate Xiaolu’s judgment, it was located in the Sky Cliff.

The Sky Cliff was one of the strange lands in the Sixth Heaven.

Strange lands were the most peculiar locations in the Sixth Heaven.

There were many rumors and speculations about them.

But the most widely accepted explanation was that strange lands were regions where the Sixth Heaven bordered other worlds or realms.

First, the stars reflecting the heavens couldn’t be seen in these places.

Second, in these lands, even the Grand Supreme Truth realm experts who retained full power in other worlds would find their strength diminished.

Additionally, strange lands contained all manner of inexplicable dangers, some even harboring terrifying beings from the Holy Light Clan.

As a result, it was rare for Yang Gods to venture into these strange lands.

Or rather, very few cultivators were willing to explore them.

"My Myriad Dao Martial God form—will it also lose power if I head to the Sky Cliff?"

Qi Yuan pondered for a moment but didn’t hesitate. He activated a teleportation array and headed toward the Sky Cliff.

The closest major city to the Sky Cliff was called Sky Cliff City.

The city derived its name from the Sky Cliff itself.

It was a massive transportation hub.

The Black Abyss, Shenluo Heaven, and Ghost Dominion Heaven, three giant holy lands, were all nearby.

Additionally, many lower-realm cultivators came to this city to trade and conduct business.

Qi Yuan, dressed in a black robe, arrived in Sky Cliff City via a teleportation array.

Without any hesitation, he transformed into a streak of light and headed straight for the Sky Cliff.

After about a hundred breaths, a tall woman clad in golden robes appeared in Sky Cliff City.

Her aura was as deep as the ocean, indicating she was at the peak of the Mythic Realm, only one step away from becoming a Yang God.

Crushing the communication jade in her hand, she sneered, "He’s quick. Didn’t even stop to rest."

Just moments earlier, she had received word that Black Abyss’s Purple Fate Heaven’s newest mozi had accepted a mission and was heading to Sky Cliff City.

Within Black Abyss, the factions were complex, and information regarding the movements of mozi was easily leaked.

The upper echelons of the Black Abyss were aware of this but simply turned a blind eye.

After all, from a temporal perspective, if a strong-bloodline cultivator died, another strong-bloodline successor would likely emerge in the future.

Untrained strong bloodlines should be sent back to the furnace to be reforged. Better to let them die early so new bloodlines could inherit and grow even stronger.

"He’s clearly afraid of you, Senior Sister!" said a handsome young man standing beside her.

"Hmph, in the younger generation of Black Abyss, only Black Sword is somewhat formidable. The rest, aside from Ice Sword, are nothing more than paper tigers."

The woman in golden robes spoke coldly, her voice filled with killing intent.

"Perfect timing. My Ghost Dominion Heaven’s Yang God path requires a soul envoy for my Ten Thousand Souls Banner, and he barely qualifies."

The woman’s eyes gleamed with malice.

In Ghost Dominion Heaven, their most prized treasure was the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

All cultivators of Ghost Dominion Heaven cultivated the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

The banner contained endless souls, constantly emitting dark smoke.

However, because the banner consumed so many souls, the chaotic thoughts within could affect the owner’s personality.

Thus, cultivators of Ghost Dominion Heaven were often called demonic cultivators, most of whom were bloodthirsty lunatics.

"Once I refine him and break through to the Yang God realm, I will challenge Black Sword.

This time, I will not lose!"

The woman’s face twisted into a cruel expression.

A thousand years ago, she had challenged Black Sword and was defeated by him in three strikes.

It was her greatest humiliation.

Black Sword had entered the Yang God realm early on, while she remained in the Mythic Realm.

But for the past millennium, she had been diligently cultivating, slaughtering countless unclaimed minor worlds to gather souls.

Once her Twelve Soul Envoys were in place, she was confident she could break through to the Yang God realm and finally defeat Black Sword, washing away the shame.

Black Sword was her ultimate goal, while Blood Robe was merely a stepping stone.

Meanwhile, Qi Yuan arrived at the Sky Cliff.

In contrast to the bustling Sky Cliff City, the cliff itself was eerily quiet and deserted, with almost no other cultivators in sight.

"Apart from some cultivators hiding from their enemies, hardly anyone comes here."

After a brief moment of thought, Qi Yuan dove into the strange land.

In an instant, he experienced a sensation similar to when he had entered the Liufeng Realm.

He was too large to fit through.

This was the will of the strange land—or the world rules—blocking his entry.

He had to suppress his Yang God-level celestial power down to the Mythic Realm to enter.

Of course, if this were another world, Qi Yuan could simply refuse to enter and devour the world instead.

But once he suppressed his cultivation and entered the realm, he would be reduced to the Mythic Realm, just like any other Yang God.

It was as if an omnipotent universal rule had decreed this restriction.

Typically, though, Grand Supreme Truth beings were not affected by such rules.

Suppressing his power, Qi Yuan entered the Sky Cliff.

"As expected, my Myriad Dao Martial God form isn’t affected by the restriction."

Qi Yuan felt a surge of confidence.

Thanks to the Ancestor Blood Art, his Myriad Dao Martial God cultivation wasn’t far behind his celestial cultivation.

Now, it had reached the peak of the Great Heavenly Position.

This gave Qi Yuan a considerable sense of security.

"Fire."

After some thought, Qi Yuan spoke, casting a simple fire-type celestial technique.

A tiny flame appeared before him.

"The operation of Daoist arts feels a bit sluggish… It seems the theory about strange lands being places where other realms or universes border the Sixth Heaven is probably true."

Qi Yuan glanced around the Sky Cliff.

This strange land was twice the size of Gongxing.

The landscape below looked chaotic, like a massive junkyard filled with all kinds of perforated metals.

Qi Yuan’s powerful soul swept the area, sensing that there were about a thousand cultivators living there.

He didn’t care about these cultivators in the slightest.

His goal was the Black Abyss Ancestor Blood recorded by the intelligent micro-detection bugs!

Following the images from the data, Qi Yuan descended into the deepest part of the Sky Cliff.

There, he found a landscape of chaos and metals forged from the very essence of chaos.

About half an hour later, Qi Yuan’s face broke into a wide grin, his expression gleeful.

"This trip was worth it!"

Deep within the chasm, he had discovered a fist-sized blood crystal.

Had he not seen it himself, he might not have found this crystal even if he devoured the entire strange land.

This blood crystal was pure condensed Black Abyss Ancestor Blood.

"This should be enough to sustain my cultivation for a while."

Qi Yuan’s heart raced with excitement.

This blood crystal likely contained the equivalent of a hundred drops of Black Abyss Ancestor Blood.

If he could fully absorb it, it might allow him to advance his Ancestor Blood Art to the tenth layer within a month.

With that, his Myriad Dao Martial God form would be comparable to the Supreme Truth realm.

"Let’s go home."

Storing the blood crystal, Qi Yuan prepared to return to Black Abyss to continue cultivating the Ancestor Blood Art.

This trip had gone remarkably smoothly.

There were no conspiracies, no backstabbing, no bloody battles for treasure.

"As expected, a man who smiles has all the luck."

"My exploration of this strange land felt like a walk in the park—no danger at all!"

"It wasn’t thrilling, but it was safe and reassuring, just the kind of adventure I like."

Qi Yuan wasn’t one for bloodshed and violence.

He didn’t enjoy having his prized treasure eyed by others and having to fight tooth and nail for it.

Sure, treasures that were hard to come by felt more precious, but Qi Yuan preferred treasures that fell right into his lap.

"I’ll aim to master the Ancestor Blood Art in the next ten years!"

With that thought, Qi Yuan left the Sky Cliff.

However, the moment he stepped out, his expression became grim.

He turned toward Sky Cliff City, his senses sharp and alert.

"I’m sensing intense killing intent. Is it directed at me?"

At Qi Yuan’s level, he could sense when someone bore murderous intent toward him or spoke his name.

Now, he could feel someone targeting him with malice.

"Damn, I just snuck out to find some treasure, and already someone’s plotting against me!"

"As expected, the peaceful world of cultivation is just my fantasy!"

"This is the real, bloody world of cultivation!"

"Just look at my face—no wonder people want to kill me!"

"No, I’m still too weak!"

Without hesitation, Qi Yuan dove back into the strange land.

He decided to train until he reached the tenth layer of the Ancestor Blood Art before emerging again.

Given the powerful enemy targeting him, he had to tread carefully.

He needed to strengthen himself as quickly as possible and prepare for the confrontation ahead!

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