Chapter 230: Forming the Golden Pill

When Lao He slowly infused that more condensed, richer, and thicker essence of true energy into Su Che, Su Che was naturally stunned.
“This is…”
Through mental introspection, Su Che carefully analyzed the true energy that had just entered his meridians. It contained five types of fire properties—exactly the state he desired!
The original process was to gradually refine the spiritual fire into his own true fire, then use that true fire to burn the true energy. Once the true energy possessed all five types of fire properties, more spiritual fire could be absorbed to further refine it in the dantian…
The thin true energy was condensed into a rich and thick state, which was then further refined, much like intense fire melting gold, burning away all excess impurities until it finally solidified into a golden pill as solid as a celestial crystal.
This was the unique pill-forming process of the Fire God Technique. Among them, the initial refinement of the spiritual fire was the most dangerous and time-consuming.
However, by doing this, Lao He skipped the first two steps and directly created true energy in a thick state. From there, it only needed to be refined using spiritual fire.
Since this mass of true energy already contained the properties of all five types of spiritual fire, inhaling spiritual fire and slowly refining it within it eliminated any rejection and thus any danger.
Su Che was amazed and quickly asked, “Lao He, how did you do this?”
“Master, please infuse some more thin true energy, and I’ll show you right here,” Lao He said, equally excited.
Su Che then infused another quarter of the true energy into the Immortal Prison. He witnessed firsthand as Lao He placed the true energy crystal ball into the pill furnace and spent five hours refining it using all five types of spiritual fire in turn.
“I see, I see! No wonder, no wonder!”
Su Che suddenly understood: “This method of refining allows for unrestrained and carefree processing—it’s true refinement!”
Refining a quarter of the true energy took only five hours. With a total of just over twenty hours, all the true energy in his body could be processed. This alone saved Su Che more than two months of time, with better results and no danger at all.
“Amazing, Lao He! I can’t believe you came up with such a method!” Su Che was overjoyed and praised Lao He repeatedly. This increased his confidence in forming the golden pill even further.
Lao He chuckled and said, “Master, the Immortal Prison is truly extraordinary. It’s just that we haven’t yet discovered many of its functions.”
“Yes!”
Su Che nodded firmly. The Immortal Prison held too many secrets and uses—only he still didn’t know them all.

Next, all of Su Che’s vital energy was sent to the Immortal Prison for refinement. After that, he gathered all the vital energy back into his dantian, then took out a bronze treasure gourd and released five types of spiritual flames: the Golden Crow Sky Fire, the Netherworld Earth Core Fire, the Purple Heart Mysterious Fire, the Metal-forging Unique Fire, and the Deep Sea Immortal Flame. Su Che inhaled these five spiritual flames into his body, wrapped them with his vital energy, and placed them in his dantian to be slowly refined. After they were extinguished, he would inhale more until all the liquid vital energy finally condensed into a solid gold pill… This process certainly couldn’t be left to Lao He in the Immortal Prison to handle, because the solid formed there would definitely not be Su Che’s gold pill—it would be something else… Who knew what it would be? No one had ever tried this before! After seven days and nights of slow refinement, the vital energy in his dantian had finally condensed to the size of a gold pill, yet the capacity for spiritual flames it could hold had increased by more than ten times. This meant that the small gold pill could hold ten times more vital energy than during the later stages of the Foundation Establishment phase. Feeling that the time was ripe, Su Che silently recited the pill-forming mantra and quickly formed hundreds of hand seals. When everything was ready… “Condense!” The sphere inside his dantian began to rotate slowly, circle after circle, with a faint golden light emanating from within. The gold color grew stronger and stronger… Buzz… Su Che felt a high-frequency vibration throughout his body, followed by a sudden enlightenment, allowing him to naturally master a fire-related divine skill. Immediately afterward, a stream of pure energy descended from above, as if opening up a new spiritual aperture, making his mind countless times sharper. His primordial spirit took shape, unlocking supreme wisdom! With the formation of the gold pill, the power of his primordial spirit naturally manifested. Looking back at his past in this state, he realized that many of his previous thoughts had been as naive as those of a child—this showed that his spiritual realm had also risen by a great deal. From then on, mental introspection no longer required effort; with a mere thought, he could see everything about himself. At this moment, he could see a gold pill already formed in his dantian, rotating slowly and steadily… Pill formation successful! Next, as long as he safely passed through the minor heavenly calamity, he would achieve the first milestone of a cultivator: the Golden Pill Path. Su Che slowly stepped out of his cave and stood on the open platform, ready to face his first heavenly calamity: the Wind-Fire Calamity. Those who mainly practiced fire-based techniques would form a fire-type gold pill, so the heavenly calamity they would face would be related to fire; if it was a water-type gold pill, the calamity would be related to water.

Generally speaking, cultivators at the Golden Core stage are not yet qualified to endure the trials of heavenly thunder; only those at the Divine Transformation stage possess the strength to resist it. Cultivators below the Divine Transformation stage would be reduced to ashes with just a few bolts of heavenly thunder. For this reason, the Black Domain Immortal Lotus in the Wind and Thunder Desolate Land of the Barren God Valley has never been successfully harvested until it fell into Su Che’s possession. In fact, it’s not that one must immediately undergo the tribulation after reaching the Golden Core stage—by suppressing one’s cultivation and avoiding the use of Golden Core-level powers, one can delay the tribulation as long as possible, waiting until they deem the time right to reveal their Golden Core and trigger the tribulation. Su Che believed that the time was now ripe; the sooner the tribulation passed, the sooner it would be over, so there was no need to delay. At the highest point of the Mysterious Prison Peak, with a mere thought from Su Che, his newly formed Golden Core slowly appeared above his head. Revealing the Golden Core to trigger the tribulation! Whoosh… A mass of dark clouds emerged hundreds of feet above Su Che’s head—this was the power of heaven, something even the protective formation of the Tianxuan Sect could not stop from forming. Even hiding tens of thousands of feet underground would not save one from it. Looking up, Su Che felt as though those dark clouds were like a spatial black hole, with some force gradually gathering within. A heavy sense of pressure descended upon him. Though his expression remained calm, he was displeased inwardly, wishing he could soar into the sky and shatter them with a punch. Unfortunately, no matter how strong his power was, he couldn’t do so, because the power of the tribulation was not only a test but also a reward. During the tribulation, both the physical body and the spiritual essence would gain various benefits that should not be missed. At this moment, some important figures inside the Tianxuan Sect’s main hall came outside and looked toward the Mysterious Prison Peak. “So fast?” Those who knew more about Su Che’s seclusion to reach the Golden Core stage were shocked, as normally, it took at least three months of seclusion before one could emerge to face the tribulation. Yet Su Che had only spent nine days since starting his seclusion! “Reaching the Golden Core in nine days—truly monstrous!” Beyond that, they couldn’t think of any other fitting comment. At the top of the closest Mysterious Insight Peak, Venerable Mysterious Insight stood on a giant rock, gazing at the Mysterious Prison Peak with a smile and a hint of pride. Inside the sect’s main hall, the four Yuan Ying ancestors could clearly watch Su Che’s tribulation through a water mirror. Grandmaster Guangwu was still in seclusion in deep meditation and was certainly not present. “Reaching the Golden Core at twenty—six years earlier than Tianyin from the Wuji Sect…” Elder Mu Ye whispered, “Who exactly is the reincarnation of this child?”

“A reincarnation of an immortal?”
Zixiao smiled faintly. “What do you think? Is it possible?”
This time, no one voiced doubt. It seemed not only Zixiao shared this view.
On Xuanju Peak, Su Yuntang, Su Qinglin, and the others also felt the immense pressure as the heavenly calamity gathered. Although they were hundreds of feet away from the peak’s summit, they still felt suffocated and unable to breathe properly.
The stronger one’s cultivation, the more intense the sensation. The ordinary women and children in the family, on the other hand, were unaffected at all—most likely only feeling a bit gloomy, like on an overcast rainy day.
“This is…”
Su Yuntang’s expression changed drastically as he wondered, “Could it be that Che is about to undergo the calamity?”
“No way, Dad,” Su Qinglin said. “Didn’t Che announce when he entered seclusion that it would be at least three months before he emerged to face the calamity?”
Su Yuntang shook his head and said in a low voice, “This kid keeps creating miracles. Who knows—maybe this time, his seclusion went so smoothly that he’s already succeeded in forming a core!”
“It’s only been nine days!” Su Qinglin said anxiously. “Isn’t that too hasty?”
Boom!
What answered him was a deep, resonant tremor of the earth and sky, as if another mountain had crashed onto Xuanju Peak.
At the peak’s summit, Su Che felt as if an invisible giant hammer had struck him, nearly knocking him to the ground. Though unharmed, he felt extremely agitated.
Above him, in the black hole, the wind howled—something was about to descend.
Regarding this calamity, aside from Su Yuntang and Su Qinglin, the rest, whether it was Venerable Xuanji or the four Yuan Ying ancestors, seemed utterly indifferent.
It was just a minor heavenly calamity—most those who had formed a core could overcome it. Why couldn’t Su Che?
Saying he couldn’t overcome it made no sense at all!
Whoosh…
From the black hole, a deep gray airflow rushed out like a giant deep gray dragon, snarling and coiling downward.
With its mouth wide open and sharp teeth bared, it lunged at Su Che.
This was the Wind Dragon Calamity—something every Fire-type Golden Core cultivator had to face.
The power of the wind dragon wasn’t meant to destroy the cultivator’s physical body but to target their mind, stirring up inner demons.
Hit by the wind, inner demons arose instantly.
“The karmic issues of the Su family’s members—my ancestors have already helped me resolve them. I have no regrets. Where would inner demons come from?”
Su Che spread his arms as if to welcome the Wind Dragon, shouting, “Don’t underestimate me! Show me your greatest strength!”
Whoosh…

The power of the heavenly calamity seemed to understand Su Che’s provocation. From within the black hole, another wind dragon, thicker and more powerful, rushed downward with a heart-shaking roar.
“Come on!”
Su Che shouted against the wind, “My heart is fearless—how could there be any demons?”