Chapter 492: Narcissus Peak
Chapter 492: Water Immortal Peak
[Nine Gold-Splitting Slashes: Level 1]
Effect 1: Condenses a one-chi golden blade from gold-attributed mana, capable of severing spirit iron.
Effect 2: Upon contact, the golden blade releases a specific resonance, temporarily eroding a Spirit Weapon’s defense by 10%.
Consume 35 years of Lifespan to elevate the Nine Gold-Splitting Slashes to maximum mastery?
“Yes.”
Within the span of a few breaths, the profound assimilation was complete.
[Nine Gold-Splitting Slashes: Maximum Mastery]
Effect 1: Condenses a Geng Gold Blade from gold-attributed mana, automatically forming serrated patterns along its edge.
Effect 2: Condenses two half-foot-wide golden blades, imbued with high-frequency oscillation.Effect 3: Compresses gold-attributed mana into needle-thin golden rays, carrying piercing and explosive force.
Effect 4: Condenses three zhang-long golden blades, drawing in nearby metal fragments to form an outer shell around the blade body.
Effect 5: Retains serrated tearing, oscillating armor-break, and needle-point penetration, splitting into five tracking golden blades.
Effect 6: Channels the tectonic weight of subterranean mineral veins to manifest one colossal blade, possessing mountain-cleaving destruction.
Effect 7: Fuses all previous attributes, striking multiple targets within a designated radius.
Effect 8: Upon impact, the primary blade fractures into twelve bone-latching golden threads, physically binding the target.
Effect 9: Gathers all eight previous attributes and forms a Geng Gold Domain within fifty zhang of the caster.
Special Effect 1: Damage to Spirit Weapons +40%, Magical Artifacts +30%, energy shields +40%, organic flesh +50%. Ignores 15% base defense. All effects double within the Geng Gold Domain.
After reading through the description, Jiang Chen gave a slight nod and praised, “As expected of an Earth-Rank metal spell. Its power is truly frightening.”
“And it actually carries several different traits.”
The spell was excellent. Unfortunately, he had no immediate place to use it.
After thinking it over, Jiang Chen’s figure flickered and he entered his portable space.
His reason for coming here was simple: he wanted to test its power.
Thus, he began with the first effect.
The Heavenly-Grade Golden Core within his Qi Sea turned slightly, and his mana was swiftly consumed.
A Geng Gold Blade crystallized out of thin air, hovering silently before his eyes.
It was exactly as the System’s information described. Serrated patterns truly lined the edge of the blade.
Jiang Chen consumed another wisp of mana. Not far away, earth qi rapidly gathered and finally transformed into an earthen wall one zhang high and one zhang thick.
By ordinary reasoning, a wall of such thickness should have offered no small defense.
Yet, against the grinding teeth of the Geng Gold Blade, it was utterly meaningless.
The blade slid through the compressed earth as smoothly as a hot iron through rendered fat, bifurcating the wall instantly without a hint of friction.
In the end, different grades of Golden Core produced different degrees of power.
Even the same spell or move would differ greatly when cast through different Golden Cores.
The true terror of a Heavenly-Grade Golden Core lay in its absolute, crushing superiority over Earth-grade and Human-Grade foundations.
For instance, Jiang Chen’s Heavenly-Grade Golden Core perceived the laws of heaven and earth with greater depth and precision. When aided by the Chaos Dao Seed, it could unleash even more terrifying might.
Any spell, upon manifestation, dragged fragments of the world’s underlying laws into reality.
Metal spells, by their very nature, invoked the absolute severing edge of Geng Gold.
On top of the original foundation, its power, penetration, and other effects would all become stronger.
Next, Jiang Chen tested the high-frequency vibration, the needle-like golden rays, and the later effects one by one. By the time he reached the Geng Gold Domain, he realized he had still underestimated its power.
Once the domain unfolded, spending mana would continuously produce golden blades and golden rays. These carried almost all of the prior traits, including serrated tearing, vibration, and penetration. They were not separate effects; they stacked upon one another.
It was clearly one attack, yet the damage it inflicted came in many different forms.
However, this domain consumed an enormous amount of mana. Even with the Chaos Dao Seed, he could sustain it for at most about half a shichen.
Once he exceeded that limit, he would fall into an overdrawn state, and the spell would stop on its own.
At that point, there would basically be no mana left for him to spend.
Still, against such terrifying damage, few things could possibly endure for half a shichen. Most would probably be crushed to death within minutes.
Concluding his live-fire exercise, Jiang Chen turned his gaze toward the Water Spirit Palace. He caught sight of a tiny crack in the grand doors, where a single pair of large, dark eyes was furtively tracking his movements.
Unsurprisingly, the seismic shockwaves of his testing had roused her from sleep.
Realizing her espionage had been compromised, Xiao Linglong violently flinched, slamming the door and burying herself beneath a mountain of heavy silk blankets.
Jiang Chen crossed the distance in a blur, appearing at the threshold of her chambers as if through Teleportation. Peering inside, he found only a trembling, blanket-wrapped sphere. A warm, teasing smile touched his lips. “Why is my little bug still awake?”
A muffled, defensive squeak echoed from the depths of the bedding. “Because Linglong is terrified that monsters will come and eat her. So Linglong doesn’t dare close her eyes.”
Jiang Chen feigned a gasp of realization. “Ah, you caught me. I was just outside fighting off a horde of terrible beasts.”
A tiny head cautiously poked out from the silken folds, her eyes wide with sudden concern. “Then… did Daddy get hurt?”
Jiang Chen immediately clutched his chest, wincing as if enduring a mortal wound. “Ah, a grievous injury! My internal energies are in chaos. I fear I can only be healed if a certain good girl massages my shoulders.”
Upon hearing this dire prognosis, Xiao Linglong scrambled out from her cocoon of blankets. Her bare feet slapped rapidly against the cold jade floor as she charged forward. “Daddy, hold on! I’m coming to save you!”
Jiang Chen flashed a brilliant, triumphant grin. “My Linglong is truly the most filial daughter in the heavens.”
One month later.
Mo Yu, having recently returned from settling his mortal affairs in his hometown, was finally preparing to face his Golden Core Tribulation.
An extravagant arsenal of Spirit Weapons, defensive talismans, and high-grade Spirit Pills had been meticulously stockpiled.
Facing the defining crucible of a cultivator’s life, the notoriously frugal—even outright stingy—man had finally liquidated his wealth to ensure his survival.
Had he merely been aiming to condense a standard Human-Grade Golden Core, such excessive paranoia might have been unnecessary.
But Mo Yu was reaching for the heavens. He was attempting to forge an Earth-grade Golden Core, a monumental leap that demanded absolute reverence and preparation.
While a cultivator possessing a pure single Spirit Root would normally face only a single bolt of turbid Tribulation lightning, his reckless integration of five distinct demonic elemental cores had fundamentally altered his resonance, an act inherently defiant of the heavenly order.
In terms of power, it was already close to facing two bolts of Turbid Thunder at once.
Failing to endure the blast wouldn’t simply mean a ruined foundation; his physical shell and very soul would be vaporized, completely perishing from the Azure Realm.
Consequently, the geographical coordinates chosen to anchor his Tribulation array were of paramount importance.
As a cultivator heavily leaning on a Water Spirit Root, an environment saturated with elemental water was a non-negotiable requirement.
First, the sheer density of ambient Water Spirit Qi would drastically accelerate his physical and spiritual regeneration during the bombardment.
Second, the fundamental laws of water would be infinitely more legible to his expanded consciousness.
Unaffiliated vagrants and Loose Cultivators were typically forced to scour the wilderness for raging rivers or massive inland lakes to fulfill this condition.
Elite disciples of an immortal sect, however, commanded significantly superior real estate. The Rain Pavilion, for instance, boasted the chilling depths of the Black Water, and housed the ancient Mystic Tortoise—a guardian entity capable of shunting excess heavenly pressure at a critical juncture.
Furthermore, Mo Yu was no longer a mere inner court outer-fringe disciple. Having been formally apprenticed to a high-ranking Master, his political weight rivaled that of a core disciple, even if his actual paper rank was slightly lacking.
This discrepancy largely stemmed from his Master’s eccentric refusal to occupy a pristine immortal peak, preferring instead to squat amid the untamed wilderness of Beast Mountain.
For once in his exceedingly long life, however, the aggressively unreliable Master had chosen to act with appropriate gravitas.
Escorting Mo Yu, who wished to break through to an Earth-grade Golden Core, and bringing Jiang Chen and Jin Fugui along to observe, Xu Linyuan prepared to head for one of the Seven Great Immortal Peaks: Water Immortal Peak.
Up to this point, Jiang Chen had visited Vajra Peak, Green Wood Peak, Iron Blood Peak, and Thick Earth Peak. He had always been curious about the other three immortal peaks, but had never approached them.
The main reasons were simple: they were out of the way, and he lacked the standing to enter.
Riding the coattails of Xu Linyuan—Mo Yu and Jin Fugui’s formidable Master—provided the perfect administrative loophole to scout the restricted territory.
However, after an extended period of high-altitude flight, the vast, empty sky remained stubbornly devoid of any towering immortal peak.
“Master, where exactly is this grand immortal peak?”
“Are we still miles out?”
“Did your compass array malfunction again?”
Because Xu Linyuan spent the vast majority of his immortal lifespan aggressively fishing the streams of Beast Mountain, neither Mo Yu nor Jin Fugui had ever formally set foot upon an official peak.
Consequently, they were just as profoundly ignorant of the internal navigation routes as Jiang Chen was.
They had, of course, parsed through the sect’s public archives and digested the basic mythological summaries.
But what the place was actually like remained completely unknown to him.
Xu Linyuan abruptly arrested his flight momentum, floating in the empty blue void. He pointed a single, calloused finger directly ahead. “We’ve already crossed the threshold.”
The three younger cultivators scanned the featureless clouds, utterly bewildered. “Where?”
A thoroughly smug, deeply satisfied grin split Xu Linyuan’s weathered face. He raised his hand and channeled a microscopic fraction of his intent.
A flash of spiritual light passed through the sky. In the next instant, the space, air, and entire area before Jiang Chen and the others rippled like water.
A flash of spiritual light passed through the sky. In the next instant, the space, air, and entire area before Jiang Chen and the others rippled like water.
Confronted with such a staggering spatial anomaly, even a cold pragmatist like Jiang Chen felt his analytical mind stutter for a fraction of a second.
However, as a Golden Core cultivator, he sensed that the water was not normal, or rather, that something about it was wrong.
Xu Linyuan swept his gaze across his awestruck audience, relishing the moment. “Tell me. What exactly do your eyes perceive?”
Jin Fugui was the first to vocalize his confusion. “Water. A massive wall of lake water.”
Mo Yu gave a slow, rigid nod. “Agreed.”
Jiang Chen remained entirely silent, offering only a slight, noncommittal nod.
Xu Linyuan shook his head. “That is only what Water Immortal Peak wishes you to see. What I see is actually the surface of a mirror.”
Jin Fugui and Mo Yu exchanged looks of profound shock.
Jiang Chen merely narrowed his eyes, his mind rapidly adjusting its paradigm.
Without warning, the chaotic, rippling lake surface flash-froze into absolute stillness.
The illusion shattered, revealing a colossal, impossibly vast mirror of ancient bronze and polished glass, a monolithic structure that seemed to bisect the very firmament.
Xu Linyuan explained, “Water Immortal Peak is a fragment of the ancient water-element divine artifact, the Canglan Mirror. It shattered into seven pieces in total, and ours is the largest.”
“After the founding Sect Leader found it, he refined it into Water Immortal Peak, a place reserved for cultivators with Water Spirit Roots.”
Jiang Chen was puzzled. “Immortal Elder Xu, why are the immortal peaks of our sect either the life-bound artifacts of great powers or fragments of divine artifacts?”
Xu Linyuan explained, “During the ancient immortal-demon war, countless great powers fell. The devastation was so severe that even the rules and laws of the Azure Realm were forced to change.”
The explanation was painfully brief, but the implied horrific scale was deafening.
The Azure Realm of antiquity must have been a civilization of incomprehensible, terrifying majesty.
An era where true immortals and heaven-defying experts darkened the skies like locusts.
Yet now, the strongest powers in the world were only the three great immortal sects.
Jiang Chen and his two peers exchanged a long, heavy look, the existential weight of their world’s fractured history settling over them like a shroud.
Xu Linyuan glanced at Mo Yu and said with confidence, “The Rain Pavilion has the Mystic Tortoise and the Flying Serpent, but Water Immortal Peak is no worse. The Water Spirit Qi here is dense, the laws of water are clearer, and an illusion array can aid you. It will certainly help you break through to an Earth-grade Golden Core.”
Mo Yu bowed deeply, gratitude warring with terror. “Thank you for securing this chance, Master!”
Xu Linyuan waved his hand. “Come. Let us go in.”
As the four drew closer, faint ripples once more spread across the mirror surface.
An instant later, a violent spatial displacement occurred. Gravity tore itself apart, and the horizon violently inverted.
Jiang Chen reacted the fastest. He immediately steadied himself, then looked around and widened his eyes in shock.
He had stepped straight through the canvas of a mythological watercolor painting.
Every structure here seemed to have been shaped from condensed water and flowing light, shimmering with an otherworldly beauty.
Orbiting the extreme periphery of the peak were nine massive, torrential water veins, coiled through the sky like nine serpentine water dragons.
At times, their currents were serene, gliding with majestic silence.
At others, they violently churned, emitting the deafening roar of a flash flood.
The soaring mountain ranges and the sprawling valleys below were entirely composed of solidified water, yet their structural integrity was indistinguishable from bedrock, fully capable of supporting extensive spiritual agriculture.
Sweeping his gaze across the breathtaking domain, Jiang Chen saw nothing but an endless, exorbitant fortune of crystalline aquifers, pressurized Liquid Water Essence, and highly concentrated, sentient living water!