Night of Despair-Chapter 558 - 556 Fusion 2

Yu Hong’s heart was slightly lifted, with a sense of anticipation, and he slowly floated to the front of the light ball.

He reached out and gently touched it.

Hiss.

A strand of information was transmitted from within.

’Fusion successful, acquired trait: Holy Tiger Type.’

’Holy Tiger Type (A special ability formed by the fusion of the Ancient Moon God Divinity and an unknown force. Your physique has been enhanced ninefold, your melee destructive power is automatically amplified elevenfold, your body and spirit are flawlessly merged, and you possess an unlimited growth foundation.)’

’Note: The density of your physique has started to cause a notable shift in the surrounding space gravity. Temporal attribute magic’s effect on you is weakened by 10%.’

’Note: Every action you take may bring irreversible powerful destruction. The overall change will affect all other cultivation powers.’

The series of prompts from the Black Mark was rarely this overwhelming, indicating that this enhancement likely reached a qualitative change. Its impact was profound.

Yu Hong drew out of his mind, carefully sensing the changes in his body.

Indeed, upon close examination, he discovered that the previously overflowing Golden Core True Essence within him seemed to have been shrunk and reduced, now only filling a small corner within his body.

The rest of his veins and acupoints were completely empty.

Evidently, with the enhancement of his physique, the total storage of True Essence had greatly increased.

Furthermore, the Golden Core seemed to have undergone subtle changes.

Yu Hong felt a stirring within his heart, suddenly opened his mouth, and a Golden Core slowly emerged from it.

He took it out for a look and immediately found out what the issue was.

’Why is it so large!?’

Quan He, who was beside him, noticed his actions and also saw the Golden Core in his hand.

"Yes..." Yu Hong nodded.

He had also noticed that the Golden Core had become much larger than before; if it was walnut-sized previously, it was now like a goose egg. At least two to three times bigger.

"Our Golden Cores aren’t that large." Bai Sheng and Hei Ying, who noticed him, approached with surprise.

"Mine is only egg-sized." Hei Ying said.

"Mine is slightly bigger than yours, more like a large egg." Bai Sheng nodded.

"Maybe because my physique is somewhat different, so the Golden Core is also slightly different," Yu Hong explained.

He couldn’t reveal the reason behind his traits since it involved the Black Mark.

From a long time ago, he had decided never to disclose the existence of the Black Mark.

"Perhaps that’s it. Alright, hurry and put it back, the Golden Core leaving the body impacts yourself greatly, don’t keep spitting it out." Bai Sheng advised.

"Understood."

Yu Hong hurriedly stuffed the Golden Core back into his mouth. Surprisingly, it tasted sweet and quite nice.

Now, his trait was finally fully fused. The appearance of the Holy Tiger Type significantly elevated his melee destructive power, reaching a new qualitative change. He hadn’t tested the precise effects yet.

But the further enhancement of his physique evidently brought new changes to Yu Hong.

That is, his Golden Core True Essence was much more abundant than before.

The infiltration of the Mining Star lasted for about three days before it was completely and thoroughly cleaned out.

Yu Hong followed his senior brother and sister flying around, clearing the Black Disaster, and swiftly brushed up his proficiency in using the Black Phoenix.

Now he could simultaneously control the Black Phoenix and freely release abilities and spells at the same time.

After the enhancement of the Golden Core, he was capable of using the Black Phoenix to solve the Hundred-armed Giant Demon within half an hour.

After the final cleanup ended, he returned to the Safety House and officially began to reinforce and repair the heavy defense belt given by the Corrupt Traveler.

Outside the Black Black Spirit Safety House.

The Corrupt Traveler and Yu Hong stood on the open ground, with a pile of dark green raging bonfire burning on the black mud ground between them.

"Weren’t you missing the final Golden Core Dan Qi refinement? I specially brought this most suitable refining material, Kamen Beast Fire," the Corrupt Traveler explained.

"In your sect, Qinghe Mountain Golden Core Stage uses this material for one section of the Dan Qi refinement; it’s quite commonly used. The advantage is stability and safety, no side effects. The drawback is mediocrity; it won’t bring significant improvement, just standard results."

’Therefore, whether to use it or not, is your choice.’

"I understand." Yu Hong nodded, "Of course I’ll use it. The safer the breakthrough, the better. As for being mediocre, I don’t care. As long as the realm breakthrough is high enough, no matter how mediocre, I can ensure my basic safety."

Having personally experienced how difficult cross-realm battles are in Immortal Dao, Yu Hong naturally wouldn’t disdain so-called mediocrity.

"That’s good." The Corrupt Traveler smiled, "Finish your last refinement then, after that I’ll take away the Beast Fire. After refining, reaching Golden Core Perfection, you’ll need to consider how to break the pill to form a Nascent Soul. You can seek advice from your master for details."

"Alright! Thank you, senior." Yu Hong nodded.

He stepped towards the green flames, one step at a time, walking into them and letting the flames burn his entire body.

The green fire appeared to have extremely high temperatures, even causing the surrounding ground to blacken slightly, but upon touching Yu Hong’s skin, it merely caused a slight reddening of his complexion. Besides this, there were no other changes.

Yu Hong sat cross-legged in the midst of the fire, the Golden Core in his Dantian glowing with golden light, slowly combating the surrounding green fire, the Dan Qi steadily getting refined through this struggle.

The Corrupt Traveler nodded slightly at the sight, stepped back, and quietly vanished into the darkness.

Time passed day by day.

Yu Hong meditated within the Kamen Beast Fire, unmoved like a sculpture.

And his Golden Core also gradually became tinged with a hint of green amid the confrontation with the flames.

Until the seventeenth day of the refining.

Hei Ying, Bai Sheng, and Yu Xuezi were monitoring this place remotely with their divine senses.

Finally.

A new change appeared in Yu Hong’s body.

Crack.

His skin unexpectedly revealed countless dense black cracks.

As the cracks increased, he slowly started to move and stood up from the flames.

Crash, large pieces of semi-transparent skin fell off from his body.

Whoosh!

Yu Xuezi, Bai Sheng, and Hei Ying appeared nearby through instantaneous movement, concentrating intensely on Yu Hong.

"This is the Elixir Shedding; it seems the final refining is almost complete. Late-stage Foundation Establishment... Zheng Rou truly is..." Yu Xuezi’s injuries hadn’t yet fully healed, her face was still pale, but it flushed with a hint of red due to the disciple’s breakthrough.

This was a change brought by happiness.

"Generally after elixir shedding, it lasts around a week, completing the Golden Core transformation, and then it’s truly Golden Core Perfection. After perfection, one needs to find an opportunity to nurture a spot of Innate Spiritual Light within the Golden Core, and thereby complete the step of nurturing the Primordial Embryo," Bai Sheng murmured softly, "The growth and expansion of the Primordial Embryo eventually become the Nascent Soul, breaking the pill. This process generally takes about three to four years. Of course, our junior brother possesses heavenly talent, it’s likely the process will be greatly shortened."

Ever since he had been shocked by Yu Hong multiple times, he felt no matter what Yu Hong might do, he wouldn’t be too surprised.

A genius, especially an Immortal Seed level genius, anything odd happening could be understood.

"Indeed, it took me fourteen years to break the pill into the Nascent Soul, and that was considered smooth. For our junior brother, I guess at most a year." Hei Ying nodded in agreement.

At this moment, Quan He transformed into a white streak of light, gently landing and revealing herself, swiftly glancing at Yu Hong after hearing these words.

"So that’s Golden Core Perfection?" She unconsciously bit her lower lip. Just a few days ago, she had just broken through to Late-stage Foundation Establishment and received congratulations from her senior brothers, sisters, and master.

Within a few short months, she had broken through two realms rapidly, yet...

"Look quickly! It’s starting! The Golden Core is leaving the body, and the Heavenly Tribulation is about to arrive!" Bai Sheng’s voice suddenly interrupted her complex thoughts.

Quan He swiftly looked up, seeing the clouds in the sky dispersing, revealing a large black hole.

Outside the hole, in the boundless dark starry sky, a cluster of purple electric light formed a vortex, spinning and aiming at this area.

Thunderous booms constantly echoed.

An enormous amount of lightning energy far beyond her imagination surged rapidly, compressed, and gathered at the center of the purple electric light vortex.

Crack.

The next second.

A purple electric light as thick as a barrel crashed down, instantly hitting Yu Hong’s head within the green flames.

The electric light split the green flames open, completely extinguishing them, then enveloped Yu Hong entirely.

The massive electric current frantically invaded his flesh, trying to turn him into charcoal.

But...

Yu Hong suddenly opened his eyes and inhaled sharply.

Hiss...

His daoist robe immediately expanded and tore. His body visibly grew taller and larger.

Previously he had reached three meters, now he directly shot up to four meters.

Then five meters, six meters, seven meters....

Until seven meters, it finally stopped and stabilized completely.

At this moment, the purple electric light of the heavenly tribulation seemed nearly consumed, starting to slowly dim and extinguish.

Yu Hong looked up at the heavenly tribulation vortex, which gradually faded and disappeared without continuing to strike.

Confirming there was no more threat, he breathed a sigh of relief, quickly operated the Bone Shrinking Technique combined with similar body compressing spells, shrinking his body.

In no time, his body returned to the standard height of about two meters.

"Master, senior brothers, senior sisters, junior sister Quan He, I was fortunate to successfully break through." Yu Hong condensed True Yuan, covering his lower half, and bowed slightly to the group.

"Congratulations, Zheng Rou, next you should prepare for the Nascent Soul breakthrough.... Late-stage Golden Core is already very close to the mana of the Nascent Soul. Essentially, mana is an ascending force produced by burning Golden Core True Essence. Utilizing this powerful ascending force, we can accomplish many seemingly miraculous feats. Just as humans can use electric currents to create many powerful tools, it’s the same principle. Once you reach Nascent Soul, what you need to do is to refine, engineer, specialize and professionally utilize your mana comprehensively."

"Master’s words are certainly true," Bai Sheng supplemented, "In the ancient times, the crude cultivation techniques of the Immortal Dao have long been outdated. The refined usage of mana allows you to leverage a hundredfold greater power with a single unit of mana. Understanding how to leverage this requires mastering various fields, research results, formulas, and theorems. It’s a vast, highly specialized area."

"...I understand." Yu Hong listened with bewilderment and awe.

"In the era of professional, refined research cultivation, Qinghe Mountain may not be the most supreme force, but we’ve already increased the probability of breakthrough to the Immortal Realm by thousands of times from its original. Therefore, research cultivation is a crucial skill you need to grasp next," Yu Xuezi reminded, nodding.

"Disciple understands," Yu Hong acknowledged, dispersing the green flames around him and nodding respectfully.

"As long as you understand. Now, what you need to do is prepare thoroughly for breaking the pill to form the Nascent Soul. The quality of your Nascent Soul will affect how far and how smoothly you can proceed in your future path," said Yu Xuezi.

"Disciple understands," Yu Hong nodded seriously.

However, when he quickly checked internally, seeing the current condition of his Golden Core, he was somewhat uncertain how to describe it.

At this moment, on his Golden Core, were densely packed reflections of his five facial expressions appearing on the surface.

Joy, anger, sorrow, fear, and sympathy, these five emotions protruded from the Golden Core’s surface, covering the whole, making it seem both eerie and harmonious.