The Hehuan Sect cultivates alchemy; my senior sister helps me refine alchemy throughout the world.

Soon after, Su Wuwang arrived.

She wore an outer robe, her hair was casually tied in a bun, and she was wearing slippers; it was clear she had rushed over from her bedchamber. Sun Yiran followed behind her, her eyes red.

Su Wuwang walked to the bedside and placed her hand on Shen Yifei's dantian. She probed into it with her divine sense and paused for about ten breaths before her brows furrowed.

"When did the pain start?"

"Just now," Shen Yifei gritted his teeth, "I was halfway through dual cultivation with my senior sister when it suddenly started hurting."

Su Wuwang's hand lingered on his dantian for a while before he withdrew it.

"Your golden core has cracked."

"I know."

Do you know why it cracked?

Shen Yifei shook his head.

Su Wuwang sat down by the bed. "Your cultivation has increased too quickly. You jumped from the late Foundation Establishment stage to the early Golden Core stage, and then from the early Golden Core stage to the late Golden Core stage. For a normal cultivator, these two minor realms would take at least ten years to cultivate. You've covered the ground that others take more than ten years to cover in just over two months."

"The Golden Core is the foundation of a cultivator. It must be refined by spiritual energy and solidified little by little. Your Golden Core was forcibly condensed under the dual impact of the snake demon's pure essence and Yin Wuxie's pure Yin energy, and later my pure Yin energy was poured in. Three completely different forces are churning in your dantian. The Golden Core looks solid on the surface, but it is full of hidden injuries inside."

She paused.

"Just now, you and Sun Yiran were cultivating together. The fire-attribute spiritual energy entered your dantian and collided with my pure yin energy. The combination of hot and cold energy was too much for your golden core to withstand, and it cracked."

After listening, Shen Yifei remained silent for a while.

"Can it be repaired?"

"Yes, but it's not easy." Su Wuwang stood up. "Ordinary pills can't repair the cracks in your golden core. Your golden core isn't that of an ordinary cultivator; it's mixed with the essence of the snake demon, the pure Yin energy of the Blood Demon Technique, and my own Taiyin True Qi. These three forces counterbalance each other, barely maintaining a balance. Using ordinary pills to repair it would break this balance, and the golden core would shatter even faster."

"What should we do then?"

"There is a spiritual herb in the Ten Thousand Mountains called the Nine Heavens Mystic Lotus. This lotus grows in the cold pools deep within the Ten Thousand Mountains. Its petals can reshape the Golden Core, and its seeds can stabilize the foundation. If you can find the Nine Heavens Mystic Lotus, refine the petals into a pill and consume it. Not only will it repair the cracks, but it will also completely fuse the three powers, making the Golden Core even more stable than it is now."

Shen Yifei propped himself up on his elbows and sat up.

Where are the Ten Thousand Mountains?

"Three thousand miles south of the Hehuan Sect," Su Wuwang said, looking at him. "The Ten Thousand Mountains are not ordinary mountain ranges; they are the border between the demon realm and the human realm. Demons roam freely in the mountains, and the deeper you go, the higher their cultivation level becomes. The Nine Heavens Mystic Lotus grows in the deepest part of the Ten Thousand Mountains, which is the territory of the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon."

"A nine-tailed fox demon?"

"The Demon King of the Ten Thousand Mountains, with a cultivation level at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage." Su Wuwang's tone was very calm. "I have dealt with her once. Three hundred years ago, I went to the Ten Thousand Mountains to gather herbs and fought with her. Neither of us could defeat the other, and in the end, we both backed down. I promised not to set foot in the core of her territory again, and she promised not to harm the disciples of the Joyful Union Sect."

She glanced at Shen Yifei.

"But that's an agreement between me and her. If a mere Golden Core cultivator like you barges in, she won't show you any mercy."

As Shen Yifei got off the bed, a sharp pain shot through his dantian when his feet touched the ground. He gritted his teeth and steadied himself.

"Besides the Nine Heavens Mystic Lotus, are there any other methods?"

"Yes." Su Wuwang turned around and looked at him. "Your cultivation will be ruined, and you'll have to start cultivating again. A broken golden core can be rebuilt, but your golden core contains three kinds of power. If it breaks, these three kinds of power will go out of control, and you'll be crippled even if you don't die."

Shen Yifei remained silent.

Su Wuwang walked to the door and paused for a moment.

"The choice is yours. Go to the Hundred Thousand Mountains, and you'll face a nine-out-of-ten chance of death. Don't go, and wait for your golden core to slowly shatter, eventually turning you into a cripple."

She pushed open the door and left.

Sun Yiran stood in the room, looking at Shen Yifei, her lips moving slightly.

"I'll go with you."

"No way." Shen Yifei shook his head. "In a place like the Ten Thousand Mountains, someone with the cultivation level of the Golden Core stage would just be cannon fodder. If you go there, I'll have to take care of you."

"I'm worried about you going alone."

"I have something that can save my life; I'll be fine on my own!"

Shen Yifei saw Sun Yiran out of the courtyard, closed the door, and stood leaning against the door for a while.

Another sharp pain shot through his dantian, as if someone were poking the cracked golden core with a needle. He gritted his teeth, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

"Master." Liu Mengli floated out of the cauldron and landed in front of him, reaching out to poke his forehead. "In your current state, you'd have to prostrate yourself just to get to the gate of the Ten Thousand Mountains, let alone the Hundred Thousand Mountains."

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

Liu Mengli tilted her head and thought for a moment: "The Nine Heavens Mystic Lotus is a good thing, but you have to be able to get there first. It's three thousand miles from the Joyful Union Sect to the Ten Thousand Mountains, and it takes three days by flying boat. Can your dantian last for three days?"

Shen Yifei did not respond.

Liu Mengli continued, "Furthermore, Su Wuwang said that the Nine Heavens Mystic Lotus is located deep within the Hundred Thousand Mountains, which is the territory of the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon. Su Wuwang fought her to a draw three hundred years ago, even though she was a peak Nascent Soul stage demon king. How can you, a late-stage Golden Core cultivator with a cracked dantian, possibly snatch something from her?"

"I didn't say I was going to rob her." Shen Yifei walked to the bedside and sat down, taking out a painkiller pill from his ring and putting it in his mouth. "I'm going to reason with her."

Liu Mengli's lips twitched: "You think you can reason with a demon king at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage?"

"The nine-tailed fox demon is a woman, right?" Shen Yifei swallowed the pill and felt the stinging pain in his dantian lessen a little. "If she's a woman, then we can communicate with her."

Liu Mengli rolled her eyes, floated back into the Cauldron of All Things, and her voice drifted out from inside: "Fine, you're amazing. Don't blame me when you get skinned by the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon and hung at the entrance of your cave as a curtain."

Shen Yifei ignored her, sat cross-legged on the bed, and tried to circulate his spiritual energy to repair the cracks on his golden core.

The dark golden spiritual energy circulated through the meridians and flowed to the vicinity of the golden core. The spiritual energy around the crack seeped in like water, but it dissipated completely in the blink of an eye.

The crack was like a mouth that couldn't be closed, swallowing up as much spiritual energy as it leaked out.

After trying three times, Shen Yifei gave up.

Su Wuwang was right; ordinary spiritual energy couldn't repair this golden core. It contained the essence of a snake demon, Yin Wuxie's pure Yin energy, and Su Wuwang's Taiyin true energy. The three forces were mixed together like a pot of burnt porridge, impossible to stir or dissolve.

It seems we have no choice but to go to the Ten Thousand Mountains.

The next morning, Shen Yifei packed his things and checked all the pills in his storage ring.

He packed his things and opened the door.

Sun Yiran stood at the door.

She had changed into a more fitted outfit, her hair was tied in a ponytail, and a short knife hung at her waist. A bundle lay at her feet, and it looked quite heavy.

"Senior sister, I told you, you stay."

"I'm not going into the mountains with you." Sun Yiran picked up the bundle and handed it to him. "This contains dry food and a change of clothes. It's a three-thousand-mile journey; you can't travel on an empty stomach."

Shen Yifei took the bundle; it was indeed quite heavy. He opened it and glanced inside. Besides dry rations and clothes, there were two bottles of healing pills and a map of the outer perimeter of the Ten Thousand Mountains.

"The map was given to me by Elder Gu. He went into the Hundred Thousand Mountains to gather herbs when he was young, and he still remembers the terrain of the outer areas. He has never been into the deeper parts, so the map only shows up to the outer edge of the Cold Pool."

Shen Yifei folded the map and put it in his pocket.

"Please thank Elder Gu for me."

Sun Yiran hummed in agreement and stood still. The morning light shone on her face, and the dark circles under her eyes had faded a bit compared to yesterday, but her eye sockets were still red.

Shen Yifei carried his bundle and walked towards the mountain gate. After taking a few steps, he looked back and saw Sun Yiran still standing at the courtyard gate.

He thought to himself, "Women, once they fall in love, it's impossible to sever those ties."