Chapter 327: Late Stage of Golden Core

Another five months passed. Inside the Palace of the Rich, Su Che now had all the conditions necessary to advance to the late stage of the Golden Core.

This time, the method was relatively simple—still using the soup-making approach, pouring his vital energy into the Immortal Prison and combining it with Lao Hei’s peculiar energy to create a higher-grade mutated vital energy.

However, there was no need to use an ordinary pill furnace this time. Su Che’s fire-type vital energy and Lao Hei’s special energy could be directly sent to the third layer of the Immortal Prison. In fact, the third layer of the Immortal Prison was like an extremely unique large-scale furnace.

As the dark red vital energy and deep gray energy entered the third layer, five types of spiritual flames immediately surged over, entwining around them like colorful ribbons. The gentle flames slowly baked them, and in just half an hour, the mutated vital energy was perfectly formed.

Before withdrawing his vital energy, Su Che thought to himself, “One year and five months. If this kind of mutated vital energy can meet the requirements for advancement, then after succeeding in the upgrade, stabilizing my realm for another year and a half before emerging should be just right. My estimate is quite accurate…”

“Of course,” Lao Hei replied. “As your cultivation level rises, your judgment and prediction of things will also become more accurate. That’s why I always attach great importance to the master’s intuition.”

“Whether it succeeds or not depends on…”

With a swift motion, Su Che drew back all the vital energy from the Immortal Prison into his body, shouting inwardly, “This time!”

Vroom…

As the vital energy returned to his body and flowed into his dantian, his Golden Core, as if parched for thousands of years, frantically devoured this mutated vital energy. Its rotation speed was terrifying, emitting a strange humming sound.

At that moment, Su Che felt excruciating pain in his dantian, as if it were being torn apart. Panicked, he thought, “Could it be that the method is wrong? Is something going wrong? Am I going to fail?”

“Did you use too much force?” Lao Hei was also worried. “Master, you should withdraw it gradually. That last move was too forceful—a bit reckless!”

Su Che didn’t respond. Enduring the severe pain, he held onto a sliver of hope and waited to see what would happen next.

Vroom…

The Golden Core spun faster and faster, generating an immense pulling force that seemed about to tear his entire dantian apart.

“Slow down, slow down! Make it slow…”

Su Che concentrated his mind, trying his best to control the rotation speed of his Golden Core. He thought, “It’s clearly my own Golden Core—why can’t I control it?”

But reality proved that often, even something that grows within you may not obey you.

The rotation speed of the golden core not only didn’t slow down but became faster and faster… Old Hei’s mood shifted from worry to panic as he shouted loudly, “Master, quickly pull back your vital energy to the Immortal Prison! If it keeps spinning like this, your stomach will tear apart!” Su Che remained silent, even releasing control over the golden core. With a thud, he changed from a sitting position to lying flat on the ground, motionless like a corpse. Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh… The humming sound of the golden core gradually turned into a howling noise like a tornado. Lying on the ground, Su Che suffered extreme pain in his abdomen, causing his whole body to convulse. In his mind, he joked with Old Hei, “Old Hei, it feels like I’m about to have diarrhea…” “Diarrhea?” Old Hei was at a loss, responding anxiously, “If diarrhea could cause such pain, one’s brain matter would be pulled out from below. Master, stop enduring it. Listen to me—pull back some of your vital energy. Let’s take it slow.” But Su Che stubbornly insisted that there must be a reason for such a reaction in his golden core. It just hurt a little—he could endure it! As long as his dantian remained intact, nothing would go wrong. Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh… The golden core spun wildly, quickly absorbing all the mutated vital energy. Then, its speed began to slow down gradually. “Sigh! This feeling is truly unbearable…” Su Che had endured so long without saying a word. Now that the pain had greatly reduced, he finally took a deep breath. The earlier sensation was almost unbearable—it felt like he wanted to empty everything from his stomach; it was driving one mad… But before he could finish reflecting, an inexplicable force emanated from within the golden core, reaching straight into his brain. In an instant, his mind became clear, and Su Che realized: he had succeeded in advancing, having independently grasped another divine skill. To reach the later stage of the golden core, one must inevitably master divine skills—this was true for every cultivator without exception. “The Way of Plunder!” Following what he had understood in his mind, Su Che murmured, “In its initial stage, the Way of Plunder allows one to forcibly seize others’ magical artifacts or possessions. At the intermediate stage, it enables one to plunder others’ souls, forcibly extracting their knowledge, spells, divine skills, and turning them into skills one can master proficiently… At the highest level, one can even forcibly seize others’ fate and lifespan to enhance one’s own.” At this point, Su Che exclaimed in amazement, “It’s so powerful! Clearly, the Way of Plunder is not an ordinary divine skill from the mortal world—it’s another great path technique from the immortal realm.”

Lao He was utterly amazed, muttering softly, “No wonder the advancement process just now was so brutal—like having diarrhea that just wouldn’t stop. It turns out to be some kind of forced plundering method.”
“Lao He, look…” Su Che said excitedly, “Ever since my true essence merged with your unique energy, the divine powers I’ve gained with each advancement have been extraordinary. This shows that your energy must be extremely advanced!”
“Of course,” Lao He, who never hid his pride, patted his belly and chuckled, “My belly is filled with top-notch stuff!”
“After emerging from seclusion, I need to go see Master Qing Xuan to confirm whether this plundering method is indeed one of the three thousand paths in the Immortal Realm.”
Su Che tried to calm his excitement and stabilize his mind, as his cultivation level was still unstable from the recent advancement, making it unsuitable to leave right away.
After nearly another month of continuous cultivation, one day, the two enormous palace doors over ten zhang tall at the front of the Giant Wealth Palace opened silently, and Su Che stepped out.
“Mom,” Su Che called softly.
“Che-er!”
Su Che’s mother rushed forward eagerly. Having not seen her son in a year and a half, her longing was beyond words.
In fact, Su Che had left seclusion two days early because he saw his mother arriving at the door again. Unable to bear to make her wait any longer, he decided to come out sooner.
Just two days—there was no significant impact, as his cultivation level was already very solid.
Over the past few years, having spent considerable time with his family on Xuan Yu Peak, Su Che had emotionally accepted the affection they showed him.
Although his bloodline had mutated beyond recognition, the saying “blood is thicker than water” no longer applied. But after all, he was an emotional being—even as an adopted child, he should regard his adoptive parents as the closest people in the world…
So, suppressing his impatience and curiosity, Su Che first went to the central part of Xuan Yu Peak, stayed with his family for a couple of days, and then flew to the Supreme Patriarch’s Peak.
“A 24-year-old at the later stage of the Golden Core!”
The Supreme Patriarch laughed heartily—a rare occurrence—and immediately sent a communication jade talisman to summon several elders to the main hall to ‘observe’ Su Che.
In less than fifteen minutes, the seven Yuan Ying gathered together to celebrate another cultivation miracle created by the sect’s most outstanding disciple.
After a short while, Su Che asked, “Master Qing Xuan, is there a path of plundering among the three thousand paths in the Immortal Realm?”
“Haha!”

Elder Qingxuan stroked his gray beard and laughed loudly, “I was waiting for you to ask this! Though I don’t have the ability to foresee the future, I guessed that the divine art you would master this time might well be another great path from the Immortal Realm. So…”
Then, Elder Qingxuan took out a thick ancient book from his storage ring and held it in his hand, laughing heartily, “To avoid being caught off guard by your questions, I prepared in advance. Here, it’s all inside.”
Whoosh!
The ancient book was sent flying to Su Che’s face.
“Thank you, Ancestor Qingxuan,” Su Che said, feeling deep admiration in his heart. Ancestor Qingxuan had vast experience, and his ability to deduce things was almost on par with that of a prophet.
After thanking him, Su Che didn’t start reading the book. Instead, like the other ancestors, he listened carefully to Ancestor Qingxuan’s oral explanation.
“There are various rumors about the Three Thousand Great Paths. It is said that they were spoken by a true immortal who descended to the mortal world during a certain era in the history of cultivation, and luckily, those words have been passed down. I estimate that even if what’s recorded in this book isn’t 100% accurate, at least 70-80% of it is true.”
Elder Qingxuan explained in detail, “Among the Three Thousand Great Paths, the higher the rank, the more powerful the art. The great paths ranked within the top 100 are already extremely remarkable even in the Immortal Realm—like the finest cultivation techniques in our world, they are exceedingly rare.”
“The Great Thunderstorm Art that Tian Yu mastered last time was ranked 32nd, which was already astonishing. But the Art of Plunder he just mentioned is actually a top-tier great path ranked seventh. When I heard him say the words ‘Art of Plunder,’ I almost jumped in shock. I had to cover up my reaction by laughing loudly…”
Hearing this, the other ancestors all showed expressions of shock: The Art of Plunder ranked seventh among the Three Thousand Great Paths! Seventh? How is that possible?
That’s unbelievable!
It’s simply terrifying!
Mortals would fight fiercely for any top-tier cultivation technique that could take them to the Transcendent Spirit stage, causing bloodshed everywhere. Yet this kid, still at the Golden Core stage, has already mastered two such great paths, and they are among the highest-ranked ones at that…
At this moment, the ancestors’ gazes toward Su Che carried an indescribable strange feeling. If not for knowing that he himself was also confused and clueless, they would have wanted to take him as their master, pestering him to teach them day and night…
“However…”

Elder Qingxuan changed his tone and waved his hand, saying, “I believe the great Dao techniques mastered by Tianyu are merely superficial—only possessing their form but not their essence. His mastery of the Dao is far from sufficient; it can only be considered a somewhat special ability. He still hasn’t transcended his mortal state and reached the realm of an immortal.”
“Yes, I agree as well,” Su Che nodded emphatically, quickly expressing his consent, thereby reminding the other elders not to overreact—after all, he himself was more confused than anyone else!
The elders were amused by him and thought to themselves, “Anyway, don’t forget—he’s still just a boy in his twenties.”