That night.
The moon was dark and the wind high.
Perhaps influenced by the Great Natural upheavals of the afternoon, the weather across the Four Directions Great Domains had become extremely harsh. There were either violent storms or flashes of lightning and peals of thunder. Occasionally, a sandstorm would sweep through, or a tornado would whirl up. The rainstorm, with hailstones as large as fists, came in wave after wave.
Yunxia Sect, Lingyin Garden.
Inside a quiet room.
A man in white robes sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion. His expression was cold and stern, his eyes closed, his brow slightly furrowed. Before him lay a jug of wine and a reddish-copper wine cup.
The wine was Water Cloud Wine.
The cup was the Taixu Cup.
The man was Gu Qingfeng.
Ever since returning from the Taixuan Platform, he had been inspecting his True Body.
His True Body had been tempered countless times with Nine Underworlds Ancestral Fire, hailed as the Netherfire Body. At its peak, even heaven and earth could not shake it.
Although during the Great Calamity it faced the joint judgment of many Great Daos, its foundation was destroyed, cultivation lost, and it became mortal flesh and blood, the Netherfire blood still flowed within. Given time, recovery would not be difficult. Moreover, the Netherfire Heart had not been extinguished and grew stronger day by day, so his True Body would also grow stronger day by day.
Because the Netherfire was too special and his body harbored too many earth-shattering secrets, Gu Qingfeng usually kept his True Body sealed under normal circumstances. Even his pores and Acupoints were tightly closed, and so was his mind and spirit. This way, as long as he did not consent, no matter how powerful a divine sense in heaven and earth, it could not pry into any of his circumstances.
After a while, Gu Qingfeng willed it, and the pores and Acupoints of his True Body all opened. The pores resembled Taiji, the Acupoints like Qiankun. Every pore and Acupoint was like a world unto itself, with Yin and Yang in harmony, the Four Symbols alternating, and the Eight Trigrams merging. Within each pore and Acupoint floated a profoundly mysterious and wondrous Golden Core—none other than the Taiji Golden Core.
Every pore, every Acupoint was like this.
In fact, the Daughter of Original Sin's speculation was correct. Gu Qingfeng indeed possessed countless Taiji Golden Cores. Moreover, if he wished, he could have as many as he wanted, because these cores were not his Lifebound Golden Core. In other words, these Taiji Golden Cores were no different to Gu Qingfeng than a magic treasure or a wisp of spiritual power.
As for why this was the case, Gu Qingfeng could only say it was forced by circumstances, something he had no choice but to do.
He was not unaware of what the Taiji Golden Core signified.
To be honest, although this thing could be called a heaven-and-earth supreme treasure, Gu Qingfeng had no interest in it whatsoever.
What 'inheriting true destiny,' what 'Qualification of a Human King'—even being the progenitor of humanity held no interest for Gu Qingfeng.
If possible, if there were any other method, he would not have created so many Taiji Golden Cores to bring trouble upon himself.
The truth was, trouble had arisen during the condensation of his core—a heaven-shakingly huge trouble at that. So, to conceal this huge trouble, he had no choice but to create so many Taiji Golden Cores to cover it up.
Within his Purple Mansion.
The Nine Underworlds Fire still enveloped the entire Purple Mansion.
On the left side of the Purple Mansion was the endlessly vital Great Nature Seed.
On the right was the gray, lifeless Lonely Star Tear.
All of this appeared unchanged from before.
The vast spiritual power had vanished, replaced by a bizarre object, about the size of a fist, emitting a layer of turbid mist, pulsing and moving like a beating heart.
This was the heaven-shaking trouble Gu Qingfeng spoke of—the Lifebound Golden Core he had condensed.
Calling it a Golden Core...
Actually, Gu Qingfeng wasn't too sure if this thing was even a Golden Core, or even what it was.
Even now, recalling the situation during the core condensation, he still felt a lingering fear.
The reason he had been suppressing his cultivation and unwilling to condense a Golden Core all along was not fear of his spiritual power being too powerful. With his abilities, no matter how strong or rampant the spiritual power, he dared and was confident he could condense a core. What truly worried him was that endlessly vital Great Nature Seed and that lifeless Lonely Star Tear.
What exactly that Great Nature Seed was, he still wasn't too clear.
What that Lonely Star Tear was, he knew even less.
One was forced upon him by the Great Natural Order, the other had inexplicably appeared within him when the Great Dao Nectar occurred.
One was endlessly vital, growing stronger daily; the other had no vitality and was very unstable, capable of affecting his mind and spirit once it grew chaotic.
Gu Qingfeng had always worried that if these two things caused any mishap during core condensation, it would be difficult to handle, because he had no control over them and could only suppress them with Nine Underworlds Fire.
It's strange how things in this world work.
What you fear comes to pass.
He feared a mishap, and sure enough, during core condensation, a mishap occurred.
Just as Gu Qingfeng was condensing his core, that colorful Great Nature Seed went mad, releasing endless, continuous vital power of the Great Natural Order, trying to merge into the core.
And that lifeless Lonely Star Tear also inexplicably came to life, brimming with vitality, simultaneously releasing a mysterious and eerie power, also frantically merging into the core.
The situation was extremely urgent at the time. Gu Qingfeng had no time to think, nor did he know what these two things were trying to do. He frantically drove them away, but it was useless. Left with no choice, he finally had to use the power of the Nine Underworlds Fire to expel them.
But that still didn't work. At the time, the Great Nature Seed and that Lonely Star Tear were like madmen, recklessly releasing power to merge into the core. In the end, seeing he couldn't expel them and fearing his core would be usurped by them, Gu Qingfeng gritted his teeth, stamped his foot, and also frantically merged the power of the Nine Underworlds Fire into the core.
The result was condensing this misshapen heart-like core.
What exactly this thing was, Gu Qingfeng pondered but couldn't figure out. He only knew it was evil, frighteningly evil.
Yes!
evil!
When it was first condensed, this thing emitted an extremely bizarre spiritual aura. That evil aura was simply indescribable. Even Gu Qingfeng, a former lord who had once Ascending to the Pinnacle had the Nine Nethers Emperor, couldn't help but tremble in his mind and spirit. It must be known Dao, his mind and spirit could not be shaken even by the might of the Great Dao. Moreover, this thing was something he himself had condensed. For his own mind and spirit to tremble, one could imagine how terrifying this thing must be.
Gu Qingfeng was a sinner. Cultivating for five hundred years, he had been judged by many Great Daos.
He understood better than anyone that if such an evil thing were detected by the Great Dao, he would never know peace. Endless judgments would likely descend again, not ceasing until he perished.
Therefore, he had no choice but to condense Taiji Golden Cores to conceal it.
Rather than concealment, it was more like a threat.
Because he couldn't determine if this thing he had condensed could conceal from heaven.
If it could conceal from, good. If it couldn't, he could only prepare for the worst—a fight to the death with heaven.
How to fight to the death?
Having fought with various Great Daos all his life, Gu Qingfeng naturally knew the importance of the Taiji Golden Core to them. Precisely because he knew, he condensed it. And since he had started, he might as well go all the way. Condensing one was condensing, condensing two was still condensing. He simply condensed as many as he could.
He condensed them deliberately for the various Great Daos to see, precisely to let them know: if you dare bring down judgment, I'll go all out. Then I'll seize true destiny. After seizing true destiny, I'll seize the Human King. After seizing the Human King, I'll dominate the Human Dao. After dominating the Human Dao, I'll make all your Great Daos from now on 'be extinguished'.