Chapter Sixty-Nine: Crisp and Fragrant

Wang Li’s process of forming his core went smoothly, but the result was utterly disastrous. His golden core shattered into a pile of fragments—there was no better word than “utterly shattered” to describe it.

“Master Sheng, am I all right? My golden core broke into pieces like this—doesn’t that mean I’m finished?” Wang Li asked anxiously.

Master Sheng replied, “So it’s shattered. No big deal, you weren’t going to use it anyway.”

Wang Li’s face darkened. “Come on, Master, are you even speaking sense?”

“What do you think the Innate Primal Body is? It’s a cheat code, that’s what. A cheat is something that doesn’t follow the established rules. Cultivation for someone with the Innate Primal Body should follow a different path. The cultivation system that works for everyone else in the Profound Heaven World isn’t suitable for you at all. How could your Golden Core stage be the same as anyone else’s?”

“Are you saying you can just create a whole new system for me?” Wang Li retorted indignantly.

“I could, but don’t get your hopes up. No matter the path, all roads lead to the same destination. I can’t be bothered with the effort. The cultivation system in the Profound Heaven World is good enough—just make do with it,” Master Sheng replied lazily, his irresponsibility irritating Wang Li.

“My golden core is shattered to dust—how am I supposed to cultivate now?” Wang Li fumed. “When it’s time to advance to Nascent Soul, do I have to refine every single fragment?”

“Hey, not a bad idea!” Master Sheng’s interest was piqued. “I once met a female cultivator who was only at the peak of the Golden Core stage, but she could thrash Nascent Soul stage cultivators. Even Earth Immortals were wary of her when she went all out—she was unbelievably strong. Do you know why?”

Wang Li said, “The way you’re building this up, what else could it be? …Master Sheng, are you going to finish the story or not?”

“Heh, you really don’t know how to appreciate a good tale.”

“Master Sheng, you can joke about food but not about this! If you keep this up, I’m going to end it all right here!”

“You’re really not fun to tease,” Master Sheng muttered, but then seemed to realize he’d gone off track, and awkwardly steered the conversation back to the point.

—

“That female cultivator was so powerful because she had three thousand perfected golden cores within her. But her method had flaws. No matter how many golden cores she had, she was still at the Golden Core stage. A Golden Core cultivator’s lifespan is only a thousand years—not enough to refine all those cores into Nascent Souls. So she could only refine one Nascent Soul to extend her life. But once she reached the Nascent Soul stage, she couldn’t continue perfecting her foundation. The extra golden cores became nothing more than energy reserves, losing their former power multiplication. As a result, after reaching the Nascent Soul stage, she actually became weaker—not that she couldn’t defeat Nascent Soul cultivators, but she could no longer challenge Earth Immortals.”

“If you want to follow her path, you can—but you’ll have to make a choice. Do you want power or longevity? It’s a tough decision.”

“Do I have any choice in my situation? I trust your judgment, Master. Whatever you say, I’ll do!” Wang Li wasn’t stupid. Master Sheng’s words were logical and not all that convoluted. The main point was: kid, just play it safe.

He believed Master Sheng had foreseen all this, and he believed Master Sheng would guide him to grow smoothly. Still, he couldn’t help but feel a bit resentful at being manipulated.

He didn’t say it aloud, but Master Sheng could surely sense it.

And as Wang Li suspected, Master Sheng admitted frankly, “It’s not that I’m cunning—I just don’t want you to get too reckless.”

“Fine, fine. Just tell me what I should do next,” Wang Li said.

“A young man should have patience. Don’t be so rash.”

“Are you going to explain or not? If not, I’ll get back to cultivating!”

“All right, all right. So your golden core’s shattered—just pick the biggest piece to nurture, and swallow the rest. It’ll be good for your body.”

Wang Li hesitated. “Why does this sound like a demonic path technique?”

“Bingo! You got it. It’s the same method demon cultivators use when they swallow other people’s golden cores.”

“But don’t reject it just yet: you’re just swallowing your own core, not someone else’s. There’s no moral issue,” Master Sheng explained.

“I know that,” Wang Li replied awkwardly. “It just feels odd to swallow my own core.”

“Odd or not, don’t say it out loud. Otherwise, you might get censored,” Master Sheng quipped, then began instructing Wang Li in how to devour his own golden core fragments.

A golden core is essentially compressed energy, crystallized into a highly dense form. Refining it usually requires specialized techniques, but Wang Li had never learned any, and Master Sheng couldn’t be bothered to create a new technique for him. Besides, Wang Li had a bit of a moral hang-up; even if he had a new technique, he probably wouldn’t use it. After all, refining golden cores was the realm of demon cultivators. So Master Sheng told him to use the simplest but most effective method—chew them up raw.

Wang Li picked out the largest fragment and kept it in his dantian. The rest he drew out of his body with his power.

—

He looked at the golden core fragments in his palm, some as small as rice grains, others as large as soybeans, and asked skeptically, “Master, are you sure these can be chewed raw?”

Master Sheng replied, “Why not? If I still had a body, I’d want to try a few myself. I hear chewing on golden cores is a lot like chewing on dragon pearls.”

“What does chewing on dragon pearls taste like?”

“Crispy, a bit fragrant—kind of like crunchy broad beans.”

“Crunchy broad beans… crunchy broad beans…” Wang Li kept repeating the words in his mind, trying to psych himself up.

Chewing on golden core fragments—just the thought made his skin crawl.

“Stop dilly-dallying!” Master Sheng snapped when Wang Li hesitated.

“All right, here goes!” Wang Li gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and shoved the fragments into his mouth.

Crunch… crunch…

He’d expected the fragments to be rock hard, but they broke apart easily in his mouth, turning almost instantly to powder, which he then swallowed in one gulp.

“How does it taste?” Master Sheng asked.

Wang Li, mouth full, replied, “Mmm… crispy, a little fragrant!”

Master Sheng chuckled. “Well, that’s the last bit of pleasure you’ll get from this.”

“What do you mean?” Wang Li barely had time to ask before he suddenly felt a raging fire ignite inside him, electricity crackling over his skin, and then a powerful spiritual shock surged through his mind, blasting a gaping hole in his consciousness.

“Start circulating your power and refine it—don’t worry, your Innate Primal Body can handle it!” Master Sheng reassured him.

But even with these comforting words, the sudden pain nearly made Wang Li lose consciousness.