Longevity by Grinding Skills

Chapter 523: Chapter 523: In This Realm, the Path to the Golden Core Is a Dead End

Xu Yunfan stood at the edge of the raging torrent of Muddy Fiend. The Eight Sceneries Cloud Qi slowly receded into his body, leaving behind a devastated battlefield and the lingering stench of burning and blood in the air.

The Great Arhat hadn’t sustained much damage. He had only feared being intercepted by a Great Daoist Master from the Primordial Sect and had thus fled swiftly after his single strike.

He lowered his head and looked at Chu Chengnan, who lay nearby on the verge of death, as if drained of all Vitality. This was Daoist Master Hundred Peaks—the same man who, moments ago, had been on the verge of attaining the Golden Core with immense power. Now, his breath was as faint as a thread, his meridians were shattered, his Grotto Heaven had withered, and his Cultivation had been all but knocked back to the Foundation Establishment Realm. He was utterly crippled.

There was no joy of victory, only an indescribable, icy chill that slowly crept up Xu Yunfan’s spine, freezing all the restlessness in his blood.

’In this realm, attaining that rank is simply impossible. Not when the True Monarchs of the Three Sects are targeting you, both openly and in secret.’

’He wondered how Ancestral Master Chunyang had managed it a thousand years ago—forcing his way into the ranks of the Golden Core True Monarchs from a mere Small World Heaven. It was a testament to his astonishing talent.’

’In this realm, as things stand now, successfully ascending is completely impossible!’

He had witnessed the entire process.

He too had resisted that flash of Sword Intent.

He had seen Chu Chengnan overcome the Heaven and Earth Tribulation with a feat that seemed to defy creation itself.

And he had witnessed with his own eyes the scene that would shatter the Dao Heart of any Foundation Establishment Daoist Master.

The Great Arhat had struck so fast that even he, a mere bystander, couldn’t react. The Power of Dao Fruit carried by that Spirit Treasure Demon-Slaying Pestle—power from a higher plane of existence—was like a Spear of Judgment cast by a god. It effortlessly shattered the one sliver of a chance at ascension that a Foundation Establishment Perfection Cultivator had gained only by burning the accumulated efforts of five lifetimes.

’Golden Core Fruit Position... The One Hundred and Eight Paths of the Celestial Spirits and Earthly Fiends...’

Xu Yunfan mulled over these phrases. He had always known the path was fraught with difficulty and danger, but only now, having witnessed it firsthand, did he truly understand what that "difficulty" entailed. It was an impassable chasm hanging over the heads of every Cultivator in the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm—a barrier forged by the hands of the current Golden Core True Monarchs, one they would never allow another to cross.

The Three Sects that ruled the world: the Primordial Sect, the Wansheng Sword Sect, and the Puchen Pure Land.

They were like three insurmountable peaks, firmly guarding the only ladder to a higher Realm.

Within each sect, there might be open conflicts and hidden schemes, but whenever an "outsider" attempted to touch the Golden Core Dao Fruit—the private preserve of the True Monarchs’ circle—the wills of the Three Sects would manifest with astonishing unity.

’How could the Puchen Pure Land strike with such precision?’

’How could that Great Arhat ignore the barriers of space to instantly appear at the most critical moment?’

’And that Spirit Treasure Demon-Slaying Pestle was by no means something a mere Great Arhat could possess and wield on his own.’

’That lethal Sword Intent from the Wansheng Sword Sect, shot across the void... if not for their fear of a counterattack from the Primordial True Monarch, it likely would have arrived sooner and been even more ruthless.’

’And True Monarch Qing Yuan...’

’He had acted to intercept the power of the Puchen Bodhisattva, but ultimately, he failed to guard against a plot that transcended realms of power—a scheme to kill using a borrowed blade, orchestrated from afar by a Bodhisattva of a "peer" level.’

’And things were hardly any smoother within the Primordial Sect itself.’

’The mockery from Nine Abyss True Monarch, the other True Monarchs standing idly by...’

’All of it was a form of intangible Human Tribulation.’

’Furthermore, within the Primordial Sect, if True Monarch Qing Yuan wanted Chu Chengnan to become a Golden Core True Monarch, it was only natural that others would not want to see him succeed.’

Xu Yunfan’s gaze swept over Chu Chengnan’s broken body, then toward the direction in which the Great Arhat had vanished.

This cruel reality was like a bucket of ice water, dousing the faint embers of pride that had kindled within him due to his possession of the Divine Sky Scripture and the Eight Sceneries Cloud Qi.

Xu Yunfan exhaled, and the last traces of complacency born from his Attribute Panel vanished like smoke.

’These True Monarchs of the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm are utterly shameless,’ he thought. ’They have no regard for their own status.’

’It wasn’t just that Nascent Soul Daoist Lord, the World Honored One Tathagata, who frequently sent down his will to go smurfing. These Golden Core True Monarchs were just as bad, camping the Newbie Village with their Full Level Divine Weapons.’

One could still fight for a sliver of a chance against the Heaven and Earth Tribulation, relying on Heaven-Reaching Wisdom, Strong Techniques, and a perfect geographical advantage.

But this "Human Tribulation"—the most terrifying, the most fatal, and the most unsolvable of them all...

...the absolute suppression by the will of the Golden Core True Monarchs who stood at the world’s apex.

How could anyone possibly overcome that?

To fight back against the machinations of True Monarchs—beings who wielded the Dao Fruit and perceived the workings of heaven and earth—while only at the Foundation Establishment Realm.

It was no different from an ant trying to shake a tree.

In Xu Yunfan’s eyes, the heaven-shaking war started by the Primordial Sect, at the cost of countless disciples’ lives, had perhaps one primary goal: for True Monarch Qing Yuan to seize a sliver of an opportunity for Chu Chengnan to achieve his breakthrough amid the chaos.

Only when the Three Sects were holding each other in check was there a chance for someone to slip through the cracks.

And yet, despite such a meticulous plan—despite True Monarch Qing Yuan trading away countless resources, giving his all, and personally providing protection, all at a once-in-a-thousand-years opportune moment...

...it all shattered into nothingness under the thunderous strike of the Pu Chan Spiritual Treasure Demon-Slaying Pestle.

’They have no honor!’

The path to success was a single, narrow road, while the cliffs of failure were everywhere.

And on this path, fraught with thorns and betrayal, the greatest trap was not the tribulations themselves, but the indifferent gaze of those who had already reached the summit.

They refused to let successors share their power or carve up the already limited Origin of the Dao Fruit.

The Celestial Dao of the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm drove its Cultivators to expand into other World Heavens like industrious squirrels, seeking Fruit Positions to strengthen the Origin of the realm’s Celestial Dao. Yet the top-tier existences, the Golden Core True Monarchs, were actively dragging their feet. If they encountered a nascent Grotto Heaven, they would absorb it into their own without a second thought.

How ironic.

A profound sense of oppression washed over Xu Yunfan.

He looked at the crippled Chu Chengnan. ’He’s probably not the first aspirant to fall,’ he thought, ’and he certainly won’t be the last.’

As long as this world remained in the grip of that handful of True Monarchs, as long as the dominion of the Three Sects remained unshaken, any attempt to ascend to the Golden Core Realm would be like swimming against a raging torrent. At any moment, one could be slammed into an abyss of eternal damnation by the monstrous tidal wave known as the "Human Tribulation."

’Ancestral Master Chunyang of the Wansheng Sword Sect was powerful, yes, but the other True Monarchs would hardly be pleased to see someone who wasn’t their direct disciple—and who even bore the brand of the Primordial Sect—ascend to their ranks.’

’The Puchen Pure Land views all non-Buddhist Cultivators as demonic heretics; they are mortal enemies.’

’And the internal strife within the Primordial Sect is every bit as dangerous as any external threat, if not more so.’

It seemed the path forward was completely sealed.

Xu Yunfan took a deep breath. The dense air, thick with Muddy Fiend, stung his lungs, carrying with it a frenzy of destruction and rebirth. But in an instant, his powerful Dharma Body swiftly refined it, transforming it into threads of Magical Power.

It is in the depths of despair that great wisdom and courage are revealed.

The conflict among the Three Sects had certainly blocked off the easy road, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t carve a bloody path through the cracks.

Chu Chengnan may have been crippled, but every detail of his failure, every calculated move made against him, every form of power he had endured...

...all of it had become an invaluable lesson for Xu Yunfan’s own path forward.

The heaven-shaking blow from the Spiritual Treasure that had shattered the Dao Fruit, the cold, calculating gazes of the True Monarchs—it was all seared into his mind.

’Golden Core...’

He looked down at his palm, where the Eight Sceneries Cloud Qi swirled and arcs of Divine Sky lightning flickered in and out of existence.

’To break this deadlock, I must be stronger, faster, and more ruthless.’

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