Chapter 426 402: Song, Have You Refined a Golden Core?

Even Beichen Sword Immortal couldn't finish saying the words "Egg of the Ancient Divine Insect Race."

Song Ciwan quickly cut him off. "Immortal Venerable, you mustn't say it!"

Beichen Sword Immortal reacted instantly, as he too had sensed the thunderclap from the void moments before.

When this sudden thunderclap appeared, the many mortals across the Nine Provinces Land who saw it felt nothing particularly significant.

The spirituality of most mortals was dull, preventing them from sensing the Spiritual Mechanism within the thunderclap. They only saw lightning strike from an empty sky. The more rough-mannered among them cursed aloud, "Dammit, what's with today? Why is it thundering all of a sudden? Scared me to death!"

The more timid, or those who worshipped the heavens, were so frightened their legs gave out. They dropped to their knees and prayed, "Oh, Celestial Lord, what is happening? Why is it thundering when there is no wind or rain? Please don't be angry, Celestial Lord, please don't be angry..."

What they were asking the Celestial Lord not to be angry about, they themselves did not know.

Perhaps, even they themselves couldn't say.

Some people lived such humble lives that the slightest disturbance would cause them to immediately blame themselves.

Even though they themselves had no idea what they had done wrong, or why they should be blamed.

The lower one's station, the greater the ignorance.

And yet, the higher one's station, it didn't mean one was truly omniscient.

Sometimes, the ignorance of the common folk was a form of bliss, while the partial understanding of the elite was all the more terrifying.

In Guangling City, just as Beichen Sword Immortal's heart pounded with sudden fear after uttering a single ancient word, causing him to fall silent, the Wu City God, also in Guangling, suddenly dispelled the massive phantasm of himself that was large enough to cover the entire city.

This Dharma Aspect projection was so tall that just moments before, Wu City God had been positioned at a point infinitely close to the zenith of the heavens.

Of course, being "infinitely close" was in reality the same as being unable to ever truly arrive.

The heavens were too high.

So high that to this day, no one had managed to fly beyond its boundaries to see what the world Beyond the Heavens was truly like.

'Perhaps... a being from the last epoch made it?'

But who could say? In the current epoch, at least, there were no such records in all of history.

The living beings of the Nine Provinces had all, at one point or another, yearned to explore the world Beyond the Heavens.

Unfortunately, even though the Human Race had its True Immortals and Martial Saints, and the Demon Race its Demon Immortals and Great Saints, not one of these so-called Immortals or Saints had ever truly made it Beyond the Heavens.

Forget going Beyond the Heavens—these Immortal Saints couldn't even outlive their own lifespans.

Legends spoke of Immortals achieving Ascension, yet among the Immortals of the Nine Provinces, even those who reached a state of Cultivation where a single step could cross mountains and seas and the flip of a palm could topple nations, none had ever felt the so-called "call to Ascension."

Although Wu City God's Dharma Aspect phantasm was incredibly tall, it could never be taller than the heavens.

It was only because he was so high up that he was suddenly struck by the feeling that this thunder came from Beyond the Heavens, that it was omnipresent, and that it held a deep malice for all living beings in the world.

For a moment, Wu City God even felt as if he had dazedly fallen into a blood-red world.

This world was twisted, frenzied, and filled with endless Devouring and being devoured.

Wu City God was trapped within it and almost failed to escape.

The moment he broke free, his true form rushed to the Governor's Mansion, snatched the Mountain and River Mirror, and blurted out, "Old Yu, quick, let me use the Mountain and River Mirror!"

The Yuzhou Governor was shoved aside without a chance to speak, forced to watch helplessly as the Wu City God snatched the Mountain and River Mirror he was using for a transmission right out of his hands.

On Cyan Feather Peak, Beichen Sword Immortal came to his senses, suddenly drenched in a cold sweat.

He clutched his chest, his heart still pounding with fear, and asked, "Song, that Gu Peng... he used the name of the Ancie... several times to perform a Cause and Effect Technique. Has he already succeeded in Refining a Golden Core?"

Song Ciwan nodded gravely. "Yes, Gu Peng has refined a Golden Core."

Beichen Sword Immortal immediately pressed, "You... you've been to the Spirit Realm. Did you also refine... a Golden Core?"

He struggled to get the last two words out.

The question was far too astute. Fortunately, long before she had intended to reveal the secret of the Ancient Divine Insect Race, Song Ciwan had already prepared an answer in her mind for this very question.

She knew she couldn't avoid this question forever, so she answered immediately, "I did not refine *their* Golden Core!"

Her answer was firm and decisive, spoken with a clear conscience.

For Song Ciwan truly had not refined their Golden Core; she had consumed a pure, flawless Foundation Establishment Pill from her Heaven and Earth Scale.

After establishing her Tao Foundation, she hadn't continued her Cultivation to form a Golden Core.

She had only used the Tao Foundation to reinforce her Dantian Sea.

So, she truly had not refined *their* Golden Core!

Beichen Sword Immortal breathed a sigh of relief and immediately got to his feet. He tossed his sword into the air, and the Immortal Sword transformed into a streak of rainbow light—

Beichen Sword Immortal leaped, his body merging with the light of the sword, and vanished in an instant.

Just as the sword-light leaped into the sky, a miniature, three-inch-long sword suddenly fell from above.

At the same time, Beichen Sword Immortal's voice reached Song Ciwan's ears from afar. "Song, I gift you this Sword Qi Talisman. Sealed within is my strongest attack. Should you ever face a danger you cannot handle, you can activate this Sword Qi Talisman immediately.

The moment it is activated, I will sense it and can arrive promptly via Sword Escape. Please, Song, I implore you to take good care of yourself..."

His voice grew more and more distant until it finally faded from her ears.

Song Ciwan caught the Sword Talisman from the air. Gazing in the direction Beichen Sword Immortal had vanished, she cupped her fist in her hand as a sign of her deepest gratitude.

There are some people in this world whose passion never cools, even after a thousand years.

In that moment, though Song Ciwan didn't quite feel the relief of a dangling sword finally falling, her heart, at least, felt genuinely lighter.

She placed the Sword Talisman into her Storage Pouch.

She didn't put it in the Vast Sea Grotto Heaven, fearing the grotto heaven would block the talisman's sensory connection.

Next, Song Ciwan checked the Heaven and Earth Scale.

A new wisp of energy had appeared within the scale—energy from Beichen Sword Immortal!

[Human Desires: The doubt, shock, and worry of a Returning Void Stage Celestial Immortal. Weight: Two pounds and six ounces. Exchangeable.]

As a Celestial Immortal, Beichen Sword Immortal had long since cultivated a Purity Body and rarely let his emotions leak out.

When Song Ciwan battled Gu Peng, Beichen Sword Immortal's emotions had not leaked. When he drove off the Ancient Willow Tree Demon, they hadn't leaked. Even later, while conversing with Song Ciwan, despite his moments of joy and sorrow, not a shred of his emotions had escaped.

Only in this moment, due to the thunder from the void and the complete utterance of "Egg of the Ancient Divine Insect Race," did Beichen Sword Immortal's tightly sealed emotions finally leak out for an instant.

And it was no small amount, a full two pounds and six ounces.

By the standards of a Celestial Immortal, two pounds and six ounces of human desires was enough for Beichen Sword Immortal to be considered a man of true passion!

Song Ciwan let out a soft breath. With a wave of her sleeve, she returned the low table and Pillow to her Vast Sea Grotto Heaven.

Then, in a single stride, she returned to her rented residence, Phoenix's Cry at Dawn.

The lease on the residence had not yet expired; she could stay for another nine days.