Shen Yuan smiled in return. “My pleasure. Focus on your flame control, and remember to pace your Qi flow. Don’t burn yourself out trying to rush the process.”
With that, he walked out of the alchemy room, letting the door close gently behind him.
The corridor outside was quiet, lit by the same soft ambient glow that pervaded all the rooms in the Dual Cultivation Chambers.
He walked at a leisurely pace through the short hallway until he arrived in the main cultivation suite—the very chamber where he had spent so much time honing his arts and mastering higher intents.
A reflective calm settled over him as he recalled the progress he’d made recently: from raising multiple dantians to the Extreme Origin Core Realm to upgrading his weapon and refining his alchemy skills.
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Now it was time to push his cultivation another step further.
His goal was to advance from the First Level of the Extreme Origin Core Realm to the Second, by forming a third core in his main dantian…for now.
Shen Yuan took a breath and settled onto one of the large, plush meditation cushions in the center of the room.
The spiritual arrays around him hummed faintly, resonating with his presence and making the Qi in the air feel dense and lively.
Previously, Shen Yuan had formed a second core in his main dantian—a hallmark of stepping into the Extreme Origin Core Realm.
Now, to ascend from the First Level to the Second, he aimed to condense another core, layering it into the same primary dantian without destabilizing the others.
Shen Yuan closed his eyes, inhaling slowly. The energies of his five additional dantians—each cultivated to a pseudo–Extreme level—began to flow back toward his main dantian in careful surges.
Before he went further, he silently invoked each of his powerful physiques. Their subtler effects—like balancing chaos, maximizing harmony, filtering impurities—wrapped him in a stable cocoon of power.
The faint swirl of Shen Yuxin’s, Bing Rong’s, and Huo Rong’s Primordial Yin—reserves still towering within his dantian—rose to the surface, fueling his body with massive amounts of energy.
Combined with the potent Qi from the Dual Cultivation Chamber’s environment, he assembled a swirling vortex in his main dantian.
A quiet hum filled his ears as the vortex of Qi compacted, pressing inward in his dantian to form the third core.
“Steady,” he reminded himself, feeling the pressure build.
Any slip here could backfire—two cores in one dantian was already a daunting feat; forging a third demanded even more caution for any cultivator. But due to the quality of his cores, the difficulty increased hundreds of times.
The swirling Qi formed a bright orb near the existing second core. It looked like a seed swirling with raw energy.
Shen Yuan’s brows furrowed in concentration as he carefully siphoned off just enough power from each of his other dantians, avoiding any imbalance.
Next came the crystallizing step—turning the swirling sphere of Qi into something solid and self-sustaining.
Sparks of tribulation-like lightning occasionally crackled, reflecting his Ancestral Thunder God Codex influence, while faint flickers of devouring aura (from Crimson Devourer’s bond) shimmered at the edges.
The new “seed” hovered close to the second core, resonating in tune. Shen Yuan felt wave after wave of pressure in his meridians as if the dantian itself tested his body.
He maintained his calm, letting each physique do its work. The Primal Harmony kept all these swirling elements from clashing violently.
A muffled thump echoed through his spiritual sea when the new core finally locked into place.
It glowed with a shifting pattern of multi-elemental Qi—fire, thunder, radiance, wind, and spatial flickers dancing within. For a heartbeat, his entire body trembled as the condensed energy snapped into full coherence.
Shen Yuan’s posture straightened, and a deep rumble of Qi surged outward in a small shockwave, though the room’s protective formations muted it.
His eyes remained firmly closed, a thin sheen of sweat on his brow. Slowly, he released a held breath, and a radiant aura flickered around him.
The new third core nestled alongside the second in his main dantian. Subtle arcs of Qi arced between them, reinforcing the entire realm of his cultivation.
When he finally opened his eyes, they shone with surging power—a clear sign that he had passed from the First Level of the Extreme Origin Core Realm to the Second.
He slowly rolled his shoulders, testing the new wellspring of strength coursing through him.
‘No immediate adverse effects—good,’ he noted with inward relief. Without mishap, he’d woven yet another layer of refinement into his monstrous foundation.
“Since there are no problems with a third core in my dantian, and my body seems to be holding just fine…” His face formed an excited smile.
[Hold up. Wait. Are you thinking of continuously breaking through again?]
“Haha, you know me too well.” He chuckled and began stabilizing his breathing.
[That’s crazy. You shouldn’t just do this in the higher levels, the strain on one’s body by breaking through is immense. Your body won’t be able to handle it if you continue pushing it.]
“But for now it looks like it is handling it just fine.” He chuckled before closing his eyes and focusing again.
[Madman…]
Shen Yuan chuckled softly, “It’s not a risk, at worst I can just eat a few King Grade pills to heal.”
[You won’t have that chance if your body exploded.]
He exhaled a long breath, “I will deal with it when that happens.”
He invoked his four supreme physiques again. A fresh tide of essence from his side dantians drifted inward, converging on the humming reservoir of his main dantian.
Blue arcs of tribulation lightning, glimmers of devouring aura, radiant flickers, scorching flames—each element appeared in swirling strokes, feeding into the building storm.
Bit by bit, a new orb of Qi—a fourth seed—took shape next to the second and third cores.
This time, the pressure was far more potent. Shen Yuan’s teeth clenched, beads of sweat rolling down his temples as the energies hammered at his meridians. It felt like trying to fit a raging storm into a teacup.
His monstrous physiques soared to their limits, stabilizing the process before it tore him apart.
Minutes crawled like hours. Each heartbeat pounded in his ears as he smoothed the churning Qi.
Any slip would backfire catastrophically—yet the Primal Harmony Physique continually soothed the chaos, weaving destructive energies into a tenuous equilibrium.
Finally—a dull boom resonated through his spiritual sea, and Shen Yuan felt an electric jolt snap along his spine. The fourth orb solidified, resting against the other three cores.
A dizzying rush of Qi swept through every fiber of his being. The new synergy hummed in his chest, carrying the essence of an Extreme Origin Core Realm cultivator who had broken into the Third Level.
Still trembling faintly from exertion, Shen Yuan drew in a ragged breath, then slowly exhaled. His eyes fluttered open—vibrant, almost luminescent with Qi.
He remained still for a few more moments, double-checking for internal damage or meridian tears. Finding nothing amiss, a grin formed at the corner of his lips.
“Done,” he muttered, voice still hoarse with fatigue. “Third Level of Extreme Origin Core Realm…”