Chaos.
Utter chaos.
Dark clouds scudded across the sky, occasionally unleashing torrential downpours.
Gales howled, whipping up dust and sand. The entire Qingyang region—no!
To be precise, the surrounding seven or eight regions were all shrouded in rolling dust storms.
The weather had been atrocious for over five days now.
For these five days, fighting and plundering had erupted everywhere across the neighboring regions. The Great Natural Order's Spirit Change had not only birthed some rare spirit treasures and resources but also caused ancient cave dwellings, lost to the ages, to emerge one after another.
All cave dwellings exist by relying on the mysteries of the Great Natural Order. If the Great Natural Order undergoes a Spirit Change, the cave dwellings hidden within it will also manifest. It was said that in just five short days, five or six ancient cave dwellings had already appeared in the surrounding regions, with many people still exploring within them.
At noon on this day.
A carriage drawn by four horses traversed the Qingyang region and entered the Liujin region.
The horses were jujube-red Akhal-Tekes, their coats entirely crimson, galloping like streaks of flame. Four magnificent steeds pulled a carriage about four meters long and two meters high. The carriage was a deep red, appearing rather imposing at a glance, its surface imprinted with mysterious patterns that seemed to be arrays used to stabilize the vehicle.
The driver was a short, rotund man, wearing a custom-tailored robe, his hair slicked back with oil. With one hand holding the reins and the other brandishing a whip, he would occasionally shout, "Giddyup!"
"Hyah!"
—Anyone from the Yunxia Sect knew that this four-horse carriage was something Elder Huode had snatched from a local gang years ago. He rarely used it, only bringing it out for long journeys.
The driver was Fei Kui, a deacon of the Yunxia Sect.
However, the passenger was not Huode, but Gu Qingfeng.
At this moment, he was sitting inside the carriage, leaning against the window, leisurely sipping his wine. Glancing at the foul weather outside, he couldn't help but shake his head. He knew the reason the Great Natural Order had undergone this Spirit Change was definitely because it had forcibly bestowed that multicolored mystery upon him during his Foundation Establishment.
Although a Spirit Change in the Great Natural Order wouldn't cause the laws to descend into chaos, the mutation of its natural mysteries could sometimes be no less devastating than a calamity or catastrophe. Fortunately, this Spirit Change wasn't particularly severe, and its scope wasn't excessively wide.
"Giddyup—hyah!" Fei Kui's driving cries drifted in. Gu Qingfeng chuckled softly, thinking to himself that this kid Fei Kui could be quite amusing at times.
"Fei Kui, what's your current cultivation level?"
"Young Master, this humble one's current cultivation is at the ninth level of the Purple Mansion."
"Ninth level of the Purple Mansion?"
Gu Qingfeng took a sip of wine while pulling some Redleaf Monster Fruitlets from his storage bag to snack on, casually asking, "How many years have you been cultivating?"
"Young Master, this humble one has been cultivating for over forty years."
"Over forty years, ninth level Purple Mansion... At most, in less than three years, you can condense a Golden Core. Not bad, quite impressive."
"Young Master, you jest. This humble one's innate talent and spiritual roots are lacking. I only managed to open my Purple Mansion by relying on all sorts of elixirs along the way. The spiritual energy in my dantian is incredibly turbid. Whether I can successfully condense a Golden Core is still unknown. Even if I do, it'll likely be a pseudo-Golden Core... But this humble one is already quite satisfied..."
"This satisfies you?"
Gu Qingfeng sighed. In ancient times, while there were also pseudo-Golden Cores, they were absolutely not as prevalent as in the current era. In this modern century, it seemed like any cultivator, with the aid of arrays and elixirs, could condense a Golden Core—though most were so-called pseudo-Golden Cores.
These things had the name of a Golden Core but lacked its substance, and they came with endless future troubles. Their only benefit was a significant increase in lifespan, allowing one to live for several hundred years without issue. Those with better luck, like the Three Elders of Yunxia, could survive their longevity tribulations and live a few more years. Those with worse luck would perish during those tribulations.
The Golden Core stage was an extremely important hurdle on the path of cultivation.
One could say that more than half of all cultivators stalled at this hurdle.
Because after condensing a Golden Core, one needed to refine it day after day, year after year, until the Golden Core was tempered to an exceptional purity.
And this process was exceedingly long. The more turbid the initial Golden Core, the more difficult the refinement.
Many people, after condensing their Golden Core, simply gave up on refining it, content to just extend their lifespan and idle away their days until death. They knew their Golden Cores were too turbid; no matter how they refined them, they could never become true Golden Cores.
But was that all?
No.
Even after refining a Golden Core to great purity, that was merely the first step onto the Golden Core path. Then, one needed to undergo nine sublimations of the Golden Core—the Nine Revolutions of the Golden Core—before being able to break through. And this path was even more arduous than the initial refinement. It wasn't uncommon for people to spend one thousand, two thousand, or even three thousand years on it.
Once, while excavating a cave dwelling, Gu Qingfeng had encountered an old fellow who had survived four longevity tribulations and was still refining his Golden Core. Four longevity tribulations meant he had cultivated for over three thousand six hundred years. When Gu Qingfeng met the old man inside the cave dwelling, the old man couldn't even speak properly and had lost normal logical thinking.
Because he had been in seclusion for too long. His mind held only one thought: refine the Golden Core.
Although his physical body still lived, his consciousness and intellect had degenerated, his intelligence inferior even to a three-year-old child.
Gu Qingfeng had seen many such people, all whose consciousness had deteriorated due to prolonged seclusion for Golden Core refinement.
The path of cultivation was inherently one of defying the heavens. This path was not easy to walk. One misstep led to another, and the further one went, the more difficult it became, until progress was measured in inches.
This was also why he had been hesitant about whether to help Huode. With his abilities, helping Huode refine his Golden Core wasn't difficult. Not just refinement—even helping Huode achieve the Nine Revolutions of his Golden Core wouldn't be hard. But what about afterward?
One must remember, the path of cultivation was long. After the Nine Revolutions of the Golden Core, there was an optional sublimation realm—the Nine Transformations of the Nascent Soul—that one could either cultivate or skip over directly. Only after cultivating out a Primordial Spirit beyond the Nine Transformations could one become a Daozun. And the path of a Daozun was even more difficult than the path of a True Being...
Gu Qingfeng pondered. After thoroughly settling the matters of the Yunxia Sect, he must have a good talk with Huode about this and see what he thought.
Sitting in the four-horse carriage, Gu Qingfeng took occasional sips of wine, his eyes closed in restful meditation. Suddenly, a deafening roar erupted, as if the earth were shaking and mountains quaking. Fei Kui, driving outside, hastily pulled on the reins, gradually bringing the carriage to a halt.
"Young Master, look quickly!"
Hmm?
Gu Qingfeng lifted the curtain and looked out. Good heavens! In the distance, on a mountain peak, a pillar of Rainbow Light had erupted, soaring into the sky, burning violently like flames. Squinting for a closer look, this was clearly the radiance from the explosion of a natural array, yet it was different. An exploding natural array shouldn't cause such a massive commotion.
Fei Kui, sitting outside, gazed at the soaring pillar of Rainbow Light and murmured, "This is the seventh pillar of Rainbow Light."
"What seventh pillar?"
"Young Master, in recent days, almost every day one such pillar of Rainbow Light has erupted. And each pillar of Rainbow Light heralded the emergence of a cave dwelling. I imagine this seventh pillar is no exception."
"Seven pillars of Rainbow Light?"
Gu Qingfeng seemed to recall something. "Were they all this spectacular?"
"Yes! And exactly the same."
"How bizarre..." Gu Qingfeng rubbed his chin, thinking for a moment. "Whip the horses, let's go take a look."