Chapter 475 - 448: A Mind of Icy Calm, Unshaken as the Heavens Fall

The moment the Golden Core was in her grasp, Song Ciwan felt as if she was holding a red-hot branding iron!

No, to describe the Golden Core’s current temperature as a branding iron would be an understatement.

If it were a real branding iron, given Song Ciwan’s Flesh and Blood Slaughter Body Refining Realm, she wouldn’t have reacted at all.

Never mind a branding iron—even molten steel from a furnace or an underground sea of fire, she could withstand with the formidable physique granted by her Flesh and Blood Slaughter realm.

But this freshly extracted Golden Core in her hand gave Song Ciwan an utterly scorching sensation in that instant!

For a moment, a terrifying urge surfaced—to shove this Golden Core into her mouth and swallow it.

In her Sea of Consciousness, the Samadhi True Fire blazed. Beneath it, the Heart Demon Seed struggled and writhed. The tiny sprout at its tip suddenly snapped, as if cleaving a ray of light through infinite distortion and chaos!

Song Ciwan jolted, instantly snapping back to her senses.

In that moment of clarity, the divinity in her Sea of Consciousness pulsed. Her eyes seemed to glow with a divine radiance, borrowing a sliver of Spiritual Light from the world of Heart Demons and gods.

And so, she saw!

She saw what the naked eye, the Dharma Eye, and even Spiritual Eyes could not perceive: myriad threads.

Thin, blood-red threads, like blood vessels and veins, or perhaps tendons and tentacles, extended from the Golden Core, connecting to Ye Sheng below.

These threads formed an incredibly complex network, linking Ye Sheng’s entire being—limbs, torso, brain, and heart—together.

The threads were rooted deep within Ye Sheng’s internal organs, especially his Dantian.

At this moment, his Dantian could no longer be called a Dantian.

It was, quite clearly, an utterly terrifying Abyss!

An Abyss tangled with threads and burgeoning with countless fleshy tumors.

Within this abyssal Dantian, the fleshy tumors throbbed, exuding a horrific aura. It was as if the pulsating masses were not tumors at all, but—

a world filled with endless storms, endless chaos, endless malice, endless greed... a world that seemed both distant and right at hand!

In that instant, Song Ciwan felt as if she were in a trance, peering through this world of tumors to see... the Heaven Beyond Heaven, the World Beyond the World, swirling nebulas, waving insectoid limbs...

HUMMM—

Song Ciwan subconsciously wanted to rip apart the dense, tangled red threads in Ye Sheng’s Dantian, as if that would shield her from the abyssal aura behind them.

Or perhaps she should use a technique, like the Sun and Moon Transformation Skill or another Light and Shadow Illusion Technique, to reveal the horrific scene within Ye Sheng’s Dantian to the onlookers below.

But the moment the thought formed, the Golden Core in her hand suddenly moved!

Yes, the Golden Core moved.

Like a living thing, the Golden Core suddenly swelled.

’This is bad. The Golden Core is about to explode!’

In a billionth of an instant—faster than a thought, faster than the flicker of time, as fast as a galaxy shifts or the cosmos reboots—the Golden Core was about to detonate.

In that infinitesimal moment, Song Ciwan had only one choice: she thrust the Golden Core into the Heaven and Earth Scale!

BOOM!

The instant the Golden Core was forced into the Heaven and Earth Scale, the countless threads on Ye Sheng’s body suddenly snapped.

The broken threads retracted, each end giving off a wisp of scorched smoke.

The threads ignited, and grayish-green flames erupted over Ye Sheng’s body.

"AHH!" Ye Sheng collapsed, screaming in agony.

The earth quaked and the heavens trembled.

The skies above Thunder Strike Ridge were perpetually filled with thunder. Ordinarily, Cultivators could avoid the lightning strikes with items like Thunder Protection Talismans. Alternatively, those like Song Ciwan and Ye Sheng, whose Cultivation had reached a certain level, had no reason to fear such storms.

But now, as heaven and earth shook, the situation was completely different.

Countless bolts of lightning danced and intertwined in the sky, like the heavens in a rage.

A terrifying pressure, as if the sky itself were collapsing, bore down from the void. The countless bolts of lightning merged into a single, colossal thunderbolt, so purple it was almost black. It didn’t gather or build; without giving anyone time to react, it descended from the heavens, striking directly at Song Ciwan on the summit!

Most of the spectating Cultivators below were already on their knees, but a few with higher Cultivation had remained standing.

But now, as this thunderbolt descended, everyone, regardless of their Cultivation level, was forced to their knees.

This included Lian Jia, who had been sitting on the shaft of her Puppet Carriage. The instant the lightning fell, she flipped over and scrambled frantically to shove herself underneath the carriage.

Among the cultivators on the ground, someone cried out in terror, "Divine retribution! This is divine retribution! Ahh—"

Before the cry faded, the man let out a wretched scream. Blood began to seep from every pore of his body. He opened his mouth, and fragments of his internal organs spilled out.

But on the summit, Song Ciwan had no time to spare for the reactions of the Cultivators below. She simply threw her head back, dismissed the protection of the Xuanwu Mountain Observation Seal, and frantically activated the Thunder Fire Body Devouring Technique.

’It’s a gamble, but I’ll go for it: break through to the Fourth Layer of the Thunder Fire Body Devouring Technique—Opening the Universe!’

If Flesh and Blood Slaughter enabled Limb Regeneration, then Opening the Universe allowed a Body Refiner to form a domain of Qi Veins. With a physique that rivaled the Ancient Gods, it granted them combat strength equal to that of a Divine Refining Stage Earth Immortal.

No, in some respects, the fourth layer of the Thunder Fire Body Devouring Technique was even stronger than most Refining Spirit Earth Immortals.

The path of Body Techniques had always been one that grew incredibly powerful in the later stages.

When one’s physique was strengthened to its absolute limit, a single force could shatter ten thousand techniques.

However, Body Techniques were difficult to master and incredibly resource-intensive. For a technique on the level of the Thunder Fire Body Devouring Technique, the resources needed to reach the fourth layer were enough to cultivate more than a dozen Earth Immortals.

For Song Ciwan, today’s lightning storm was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

From the distant horizon, a deep, resonant voice seemed to cry out in horror, "Ye Sheng!"

A streak of light shot over from the horizon, but Song Ciwan paid it no mind.

She simply opened her mouth, and one elixir after another materialized from thin air, falling into her mouth in a cascade like beans popping in a hot pan.

The pills falling into her mouth were Golden Cocoon Pills, Spiritual Essence Pills, and Blood God Pills.

All of them were Five-star Elixirs, capable of providing her with immense energy for her transformation.

BOOM!

The colossal, dragon-like thunderbolt of purple-black lightning struck Song Ciwan directly.

Layer after layer of golden cocoon shells instantly formed around Song Ciwan, only to shatter, reform, and shatter again...

Golden Cocoon Pill: after consumption, it generates a golden cocoon. While inside, a person can absorb the energy from attacks to aid their Cultivation.

Spiritual Essence Pill: a common Elixir for the Divine Refining Stage, it provides a massive amount of Vitality to assist Cultivation.

Blood God Pill: another common Elixir for the Divine Refining Stage, it forges bone and creates blood, providing direct support for Body Refining.

The furious sky seemed to rip open as the purple-black lightning hammered down relentlessly. Even the thunder from hundreds of miles around was drawn in, merging into the colossal bolt.

Beneath the thunder, inside the golden cocoon, Song Ciwan was utterly calm.

She had never been so calm.

Her heart was as clear as ice, unperturbed even if the heavens were to fall.