The process of practicing the Three Lights True Qi Technique is very structured. First, you refine the qi, then the Sacred Fetus Body, followed by the Seven Northern Dipper Refinement, and finally the Nine Revolutions of the Golden Core.
The stages it corresponds to are refining qi, body refining, foundation building, and the Golden Core, these four stages.
However, the traditional stages are refining qi, foundation building, divine healing, Divine Fetus, and the Golden Core, making five stages.
Clearly, there's a problem here!
Chen Shi looked serious.
A big problem!
The Three Lights True Qi Technique adds body refining but lacks the Divine Altar and Divine Fetus stages, so it definitely doesn't have the same powerful energy as the traditional stages.
"Moreover, once you achieve the Golden Core, you can use it to refine the body. The body refining stage is included in the traditional stages, just not separately highlighted. So, at the Golden Core stage, the traditional path is definitely much stronger than the Three Lights True Qi Technique's Golden Core."
He thought to himself, "The True King's Tomb has these techniques carved on it, clearly with bad intentions. It's meant to lure those who come to the tomb to practice these techniques and end up ruining their foundation."
But he sighed, as he wasn't a tomb raider, yet without a Divine Fetus, he had no choice but to practice the Three Lights True Qi Technique, even though it was clearly a trap.
The best place to cultivate the Golden Core is the Mountain Lord Temple.
Chen Shi packed some food and told Heiguo, who was eating a rat, "Heiguo, I'm going to the Mountain Lord Temple to cultivate for a day. If anything happens, use the Armored Horse Talisman to notify me at the temple. I've left you two pounds of exotic beast meat hanging on the wall. If you're hungry, eat it yourself. If you want it cooked, start a fire yourself."
Heiguo shook its head, thinking its young master didn't treat it like a dog, asking it to cook its own meals.
Can I even cook a few dishes?
Besides, it was eating a rat and wouldn't be hungry for a day or two.
Chen Shi arrived at the Mountain Lord Temple and put down his books.
He hadn't been to the Mountain Lord Temple in a while, and the temple was no longer bathed in sunlight.
Chen Shi activated the Three Lights True Qi Technique, stepping on the Big Dipper stars. Each step caused a star talisman to explode underfoot, refining his body while his blood and qi surged towards his dantian.
The so-called Golden Core is a great medicine within the human body, not something that can be sought externally. It is made from one's own essence, qi, and spirit.
To refine the Golden Core, you must undergo the Nine Palaces, also known as the Nine Cauldrons of refinement.
The first palace is called the Elixir Essence Palace, or Elixir Essence Cauldron, where the Golden Core forms. When the refining is perfected, the core is green.
The second palace is called the Vermilion Tomb Palace, or Vermilion Tomb Cauldron, where the Golden Core is refined to red.
The third palace is called the Orchid Terrace Palace, or Orchid Terrace Cauldron, where the Golden Core becomes white.
The fourth palace is called the Heavenly Spirits Palace, or Heavenly Spirits Cauldron, where the Golden Core is black.
The fifth palace is called the Yellow Court Palace, or Yellow Court Cauldron, where the Golden Core is yellow.
The sixth palace is called the Spiritual Talismans Palace, or Spiritual Talismans Cauldron, where the Golden Core is purple.
The seventh palace is called the Secretaries Palace, or Secretaries Cauldron, where the Golden Core is green.
The eighth palace is called the Jade Chamber Palace, where the Golden Core is turquoise.
The ninth palace is called the Scarlet Palace, or Scarlet Cauldron, where the Golden Core is ochre.
(Compiled from the Daoist text on the Nine Revolutions Golden Core, the Golden Core described in the book is the Daoist Golden Core, not the traditional xianxia novel Golden Core, which may contradict common knowledge)
Chen Shi inadvertently stepped into this path, gathering his qi and blood, using his spirit as the medicine, and the Elixir Essence as the furnace, beginning to condense the Golden Core.
Without a Divine Fetus, cultivating the Golden Core was a desperate measure, but Chen Shi found the process surprisingly smooth. The Elixir Essence Cauldron quickly formed, as if an endless sea of fire in his dantian, where his essence, qi, and spirit gathered and condensed into a core.
This core was boundless and naturally formed.
The essence, qi, and spirit gathered in the core, transforming into something unknown and unnamed.
As he was immersed in cultivation, forgetting himself and the world, a light tapping sound came from the book, with a faint green light emanating from it.
The green light came from a jade seal, and the stone box responded, also emitting light from within.
The sound came from inside the stone box, clear as if a latch inside had been opened.
After a moment, another crisp sound was heard, followed by a series of rapid clicks, as if countless locks inside were being unlocked by a mysterious force.
Suddenly, the stone box vanished, replaced by a small square stone lying quietly in the book.
A beam of green light shot up from the book, exploding silently, merging with the extraordinary power in the Mountain Lord Temple, and eventually disappearing without a trace.
Sunlight poured into the temple, revealing the vast blue sky of the Divine Central Land above the temple roof.
"The seed left behind has been released, my power can finally connect."
A soft sigh echoed in the temple, the voice filled with joy.
"I can finally form my image and face the changes in the heavens."
Chen Shi was unaware of this, continuing to focus on his cultivation.
The sun and moonlight from the Divine Central Land grew stronger, transforming into a surge of qi and blood within him, refined through the Seven Northern Dipper Refinement, nourishing his essence, qi, and spirit.
His essence, qi, and spirit were heavy as lead and mercury, refined in the Elixir Essence Cauldron into the Golden Core.
He wasn't in meditation but stepping on the Seven Stars, moving continuously, his eyes half-open, half-closed, his steps becoming peculiar, sometimes walking on walls, pillars, or even the temple roof, his body steady, not falling.
Unknowingly, he had been cultivating for twelve hours without stopping.
The internal fire gradually turned pure green, and the Golden Core also changed color, becoming as pure green as the fire.
When the green Golden Core could no longer absorb essence, qi, and spirit, Chen Shi's qi and blood surged, his spirit full, and he slowly opened his eyes.
The temple was bright with sunlight, the doors and windows barely containing the sunlight from the Ancestral Land.
Seeing this, Chen Shi felt a chill in his heart and quickly went outside to look up at the sky.
There were no meteors falling from the sky, allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief.
"If the Heavenly True God sensed the sunlight here, it might send a meteor crashing down, destroying the Mountain Lord Temple and the entire mountain."
Returning to the temple, Chen Shi ate some dry food, tidied up, and noticed the stone box was missing. He was stunned, searched frantically, but only found a small stone, square and similar to the stone box, but only the size of a thumbnail, a hundred times smaller.
"How did the stone box shrink?"
Chen Shi was puzzled, picking up the stone, which looked like an ordinary stone, with only faint patterns indicating its uniqueness.
But how did the stone box shrink?
Why did it shrink?
Holding the stone, he examined the Mountain Lord Temple, feeling it was different from when he arrived, but he couldn't pinpoint the changes.
Chen Shi shook his head, carefully closed the doors and windows, and left the Mountain Lord Temple.
Normally, the Golden Core is placed in the Divine Altar for nurturing, held in the mouth of the Divine Fetus.
Why is my Golden Core in the cauldron?
Chen Shi shook his head. His Golden Core hadn't completed the Nine Revolutions, only the first, so it couldn't be called a Golden Core, just an inner core.
It was only called a Golden Core because it was convenient.
Chen Shi activated the True Qi Technique, and a Divine Altar appeared behind his head, directing the Golden Core.
The Golden Core slowly rose from his dantian but stopped at his throat.
He felt the Golden Core at his neck, making it instantly swell much larger than his waist.
If the qi and blood followed the Golden Core to his head, his head might explode.
"Golden Core cultivation isn't achieved overnight; it requires the Seven Returns, Eight Changes, and Nine Completions."
As Chen Shi walked, he recalled what he had seen on the stone tablet.
The stone tablet said the Seven Returns involved the Golden Core returning to the veins, qi, blood, essence, bones, form, and spirit.
The Golden Core is extremely powerful, and if the cultivator isn't strong enough, they can't withstand its power.
So the Seven Returns allow the Golden Core to nourish the body, strengthening the veins, qi, blood, essence, bones, form, and spirit.
The Eight Changes are the transformations brought by the Seven Returns: veins stop, qi condenses, blood turns to white milk, essence forms into jade, bones become red jade, marrow turns to black frost, form becomes clear and exquisite, and spirit becomes boundless.
These are the Eight Changes.
The Nine Completions involve returning to the kidneys, heart, liver, lungs, spleen, elixir chamber, qi gate, essence hall, and spirit chamber.
When the essence nourishes the brain and the spirit chamber shines brightly, the Golden Core can reach the head, opening the heavenly spirit and allowing the Golden Core to exit the body.
"Strange, the Zhao family young master I killed, his Golden Core wasn't much stronger than mine now, at most refined to the fifth turn. How could he let his Golden Core exit his body?"
Chen Shi was puzzled.
He referred to Zhao Ziyu, the eldest son of the Zhao Family Dark Jade Manor. Zhao Ziyu's Golden Core was held in the mouth of his Divine Fetus, which could spit it out to easily kill enemies.
But Zhao Ziyu was killed in one encounter, and his physical strength couldn't handle the Golden Core exiting his body.
If Zhao Ziyu forced the Golden Core to exit, the terrifying qi and blood would have exploded his brain.
Yet Zhao Ziyu managed to let the Golden Core exit.
Perhaps because they practiced the complete method, while I practiced a broken one!
Chen Shi walked through the mountains, activating his Golden Core, practicing the Seven Returns, Eight Changes, Nine Completions. After a long time, the Divine Altar showed no sign of dispersing.
Not only did the Divine Altar remain, but his True Qi also didn't dissipate.
Chen Shi stopped, lost in thought.
Without a Divine Fetus, how could the Divine Altar not disperse?
Without a Divine Fetus, how could True Qi remain?
This clearly defied common sense.
He stood there, his mind like a thunderstorm, with bolts of lightning striking, making him dizzy and parched.
"Wrong, everything is wrong. Without a Divine Fetus, True Qi can't remain, and the Divine Altar must collapse."
"Something must be wrong!"
"Either the world is wrong, or the True King is wrong. Or..."
His eyes widened, looking up at the sky.
Or the True God is wrong...
Compared to the world and the True God, he was more willing to believe the True King was wrong.
How could the world, practicing this path for thousands of years, be wrong?
If it were wrong, how could no one notice?
How could a path taught by the True God be wrong?
If it were wrong, wouldn't the True God know?
So, the one who must be wrong is the True King, or Chen Shi himself.
At this moment, a cold wind blew, and a voice called out in the wind, "Little Shi, Little Shi!"
Chen Shi turned his head blankly, and an invisible hand grabbed his neck, trying to snap it.
Chen Shi, in a daze, felt the Golden Core reach his neck, making it swell larger than his waist. The evil spirit in the wind felt the golden light piercing its body, its hands rotting away, and it quickly fled with the wind.
The wind carried its cursing voice, fading into the distance.
"Hahaha, hahaha..."
Chen Shi laughed loudly, his laughter bright but awkward, "I'm just a country boy. What right do I have to question the world, or the True God? I'm just someone forced to practice the True King's techniques by Black Mountain Granny to survive."
His laughter lost its awkwardness, replaced by a hearty laugh.
Taking the path of the Golden Core was a desperate choice for him, with no other options.
But once he stepped onto this path, he wouldn't question right or wrong and would keep moving forward.
In Deer Tail Town, after the Moon Festival, even though it wasn't market day, the town was bustling with people.
Now, after the disaster, everything was being rebuilt, and it was said that the officials had changed. It was supposed to be tax collection day, but no officials came.
So people enjoyed their leisure.
At this moment, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look in the same direction.
A few boys and girls with pinwheels were running around a peddler's stall when they noticed the street suddenly quiet.
The children stopped and turned to see dark clouds gathering at the end of the street, blocking the sun.
Under the clouds, rows of gray-clad rats, taller than people, marched in two lines toward them.
The children widened their eyes, and their pinwheels spun wildly in the cold wind.
At the back of the procession, eight gray-clad rats carried a large palanquin. The wind blew the curtains, revealing a black statue inside.
"From today, Black Mountain Granny is the godmother of Deer Tail Town," a gray-clad rat shouted from a rooftop, "Every month, for the first three days, there will be a grand festival. Every year in the first month, boys and girls will be sacrificed for Granny's enjoyment. Granny will ensure good weather and no disasters."
End of Chapter.