Chapter 131: Lightning Power Forming the Core

Under the gaze of countless eyes across the continent, the conflict between the two major factions spanned eight distinct battlefields. Both sides suffered significant losses; while the death toll was not yet catastrophic, the number of wounded and maimed was staggering. After all, when cultivators of similar cultivation levels clash, it is easy to inflict injury, but to achieve a swift and total kill requires a combat prowess far exceeding one’s opponent.

Of course, geniuses are the exception.

"No more playing around. Bring out the weapons!"

Seeing the battle stagnate, Tai Shi Zheng, Sect Master of the Puppet Sect, let out a thunderous roar that echoed across all eight battlefields.

As everyone watched, the countless combatants of the Puppet Sect—whether unscathed or crippled and unable to continue fighting—obeyed their master’s command in unison. They each reached for their storage bags, and without exception, pulled out a puppet body with a cultivation base only slightly lower than their own.

Nearly thirty thousand puppets appeared on the battlefields in an instant, and the Shura Manor combatants, bearing the brunt of this shift, retreated in terror. The close-quarters skirmishes abruptly halted as the Shura Manor forces fell back, clearing a vast space between the two sides.

"You scum of Shura Manor, let’s go another round! Hahahaha, take this!"

Following the roar of an elderly Puppet Sect master at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, his own puppet—also at the late Nascent Soul stage—leaped into action. The old man and his construct charged headlong toward their previous opponents.

As one move triggers the whole, the rest of the Puppet Sect followed suit. Leading their puppets, they surged forward with overwhelming momentum to strike at their old rivals.

"Ah! You shameless wretches!"
"Argh... my leg!"
"Want to run? Not a chance!"
"You—yes, you! Come here and kowtow twice to your master, and I might spare you! Hahahaha!"

The tide of battle turned in an instant.

What had been a stalemate, or perhaps even a slight advantage for Shura Manor, collapsed into a one-sided slaughter. Under the world's gaze, the Puppet Sect dominated every battlefield, forcing the Shura Manor combatants to either struggle, evade, or flee. The Puppet Sect forces pressed forward by thousands of meters, while the Shura Manor warriors were forced into a desperate retreat.

Severed limbs flew, blood sprayed, enchanted treasures shattered into dust, the very ground was torn asunder, and crags and boulders crumbled indiscriminately. The air was filled with miserable screams and the arrogant laughter of the victors.

"Tai Gou Shi, you are cheating!"

"Cheating? Hah! Are you an idiot? We are the Puppet Sect; our puppets are our weapons! What, are you not convinced? Xiu Bing Gan, I would be more than happy to welcome you and your subordinates to defect and join my sect. Hahahaha!"

"You...!"

Seeing his forces suffering heavy casualties and retreating continuously on every front, the Shura Manor Master, Xiu Bing Gan, roared in fury. His protest achieved nothing but further mockery from Tai Shi Zheng. Burning with a desire to tear his enemy apart, Xiu Bing Gan took to the air and shouted to his troops.

"Since that bunch of treacherous bastards from the Puppet Sect have completely abandoned all sense of shame, Shura Manor, hear my order: consume the pills! Fight back with everything you have!"

"Yes!"

Nearly thirty thousand voices responded in unison, a soundwave that shook the heavens and echoed in all directions. Before the eyes of the countless spectators and the thirty thousand Puppet Sect members, the Shura Manor combatants each shoved a blood-red pill into their mouths.

"Roar!"

Across all eight battlefields, every member of Shura Manor let out a beast-like howl. Their eyes turned a crimson red, their auras surged and swelled uncontrollably, and like berserkers, they threw themselves into a desperate, fearless counterattack against their opponents and their puppets.

"Shura Pills?! Thirty thousand of them?! You... you are ruthless, Shura Manor!"

"Hmph! I am a magnanimous man, Tai Gou Shi. It is not too late for you and your subordinates to defect to my Shura Manor. Otherwise... hehehehe."

Having vented his frustration, the Shura Manor Master felt immense relief in his thorough preparations. Seeing his side instantly turn the tables and begin suppressing the Puppet Sect, he laughed with triumphant malice, throwing Tai Shi Zheng’s own words back in his face.

Everyone noticed that after consuming the blood-red Shura Pills, the cultivation of every Shura Manor combatant was forcibly elevated by half a stage, or even a full stage. Those at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage now stood with one foot inside the Spirit Severing realm, while those in the late Nascent Soul stage were pushed to the peak.

Every member of Shura Manor now truly resembled a Shura that knew only endless slaughter. Wherever they passed, the earth was turned into a blood-soaked hell. This was how the Shura Manor earned its name.

The Shura Pill was a foundational treasure of the Shura Manor, as vital as their ancestors in the Completion stage. It was effective not only for low-to-mid-level cultivators but also held significant power for those who had already entered the Spirit Severing realm. Thus, the Shura Pill was a pillar of the Shura Manor’s invincibility and a vital lifeline for its members. The recipe was a closely guarded secret, as only Shura Manor possessed the specialized alchemy chambers required to produce them. Countless factions had attempted to research the pill in secret, only to fail, including the Pill King Sect, which had passed down the traditions of the Pill King Valley from ten millennia ago; even they were unable to decipher its composition.

In this great battle, the Puppet Sect had unleashed their signature puppets to overwhelm with numbers, and Shura Manor had responded with their fundamental Shura Pills. Overall, Shura Manor held a slight edge, though the advantage was not overwhelming. Even so, the display left countless spectators and factions in absolute shock.

...

Meanwhile, deep at the bottom of the Lightning Pool, Gu the Chubby was meditating. Strands of lightning fluid formed ribbons that coiled around his body. As he digested more and more lightning spirits, the entire pool began to revolve around him, forming a small, hourglass-shaped vortex.

If the countless purple-gold lightning bolts were creatures of instinct without thought, then the lightning spirits were their consciousness. As Gu the Chubby refined them, the lightning furnace rotating within his body became increasingly solid and refined, a world apart from the one he had first forged. The faster the furnace spun, the stronger its capacity to absorb and digest became.

As the lightning spirits nourished the furnace, his soul sea seemed to expand under their guidance, the hundred-meter-wide soul pool stretching further outward. The spiritual vortex above his soul sea resonated with the lightning fluid vortex in the outside world, their frequencies perfectly aligned. As the vortex turned, his spiritual strength was forcibly magnified.

The lightning spirit Gu the Chubby had been holding suddenly hovered before his dantian, rippling with waves of lightning fluid. His freed hands began to dance, forming complex seals with increasing speed. The Myriad Dragon Art activated, and countless lightning-spirit-turned-dragons surged through his meridians, widening and strengthening them.

Though Gu the Chubby had not yet reached the Golden Core stage, his strength had already increased significantly.

"Almost there. Only the final step remains."

Having reached this point, Gu the Chubby knew he had pushed his limits as far as he could; he had to ascend to the Golden Core stage. Everything was prepared, and the timing was perfect.

The lightning spirit before him, now reduced to a third of its original size, began to tremble violently, releasing brilliant light that surged into his dantian. The lightning pearl beside his dim Five Elements pearls also began to vibrate, absorbing the energy and growing rapidly.

As time passed, his aura shifted. A pressure several times more profound and ancient than his fake core stage erupted from the bottom of the pool. The lightning spirit was completely digested, and the lightning pearl vanished, replaced by a solid, purple-gold Golden Core.

"Phew! Done!"

As Gu the Chubby exhaled, the power of the Golden Core surged. The vortex in the pool roared, stirring every drop of lightning fluid. His spiritual strength had doubled, and his soul sea had expanded to nearly two hundred meters—a qualitative leap. Upon entering the Golden Core stage, the spherical realm of his consciousness, including his spiritual vortex and soul sea, underwent a transformation, expanding more than twofold from its previously barren state.

His soul floated within his consciousness, feeling as if the sky had grown higher and the earth more vast. It was a marvelous sensation.

"Kid, congratulations."

"Hahahaha, it’s a small matter. It’s just forming a core!" The previously solemn Gu the Chubby immediately returned to his boastful self.

"Your task is far from complete. Since you have formed your lightning core, next you must release the other elemental energies, reactivate their respective pearls, and complete your full cultivation."

"Alright, but Master, it feels a bit strange. If I cultivate all elements, I’ll have eight Golden Cores in my body. Won’t that cause problems?"

"What kind of problems could it cause? You’re not willing to become stronger?!"

"That’s not it! Fine, I’ll start now."

Without hesitation, Gu the Chubby opened his lightning furnace, releasing the multi-colored energy crystals. Elemental energy flooded his body, and the dim elemental pearls in his dantian flickered back to life. With a wave of his hand, seven spirit essences of different attributes—Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, and Space—flashed out from his storage ring, encircling him in a ring of power.

A new round of cultivation began.

The spiritual vortex, already twice its original size, and the two-hundred-meter soul sea began to shift and expand once more. Within his consciousness, the heavy "turbid" energy sank while the "clear" energy rose; the sky grew higher, and the earth became more expansive. As the multi-colored energy crystals absorbed the spirit essences, they grew visibly more powerful.