The fourth bolt of heavenly lightning had barely faded when the tribulation clouds surged downward, nearly grinding against the peak of Qiongxiao. Within the churning violet mists, thousands of electric serpents writhed in a frantic dance, filling the air with a bone-chilling crackle.

Lin Yinyin fumbled with her storage pouch, pulling out a handful of pills. Without bothering to count them, she shoved the entire lot into her mouth.

The medicinal essence dissolved instantly, sending a warm current through her limbs, but her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. She could barely keep her grip on the jade bottle.

At the Golden Core stage, heavenly lightning possessed a terrifying suppressive property against defensive treasures and talismans. To survive, a cultivator had to rely on the raw strength of their own foundation.

The onlookers held their breath, their eyes locked on the sky. This tribulation was far more violent than anything they had faced in their own youth.

A realization dawned on the crowd: Lin Yinyin’s talent wasn’t just a Supreme Spirit Root. It was something far more monstrous.

Boom!

A muffled roar from the clouds rattled her internal organs until they bled. Suddenly, the sky split open like a jagged wound.

The fifth bolt descended—a pillar of eerie, violet-black lightning thicker than the previous four combined.

Pfft!

Lin Yinyin sprayed a mouthful of blood, her face turning deathly pale in an instant.

“Yinyin!” Zhang Xian and Li Fuxi cried out in unison.

Before she could even gasp for air, the sixth bolt coiled in the heavens, ready to strike. At the brink of death, a blinding radiance erupted from Lin Yinyin’s body.

The Nine Turns Jade Condensation Sutra roared to life, operating at its absolute maximum capacity.

A jade-like chime echoed through the heavens. A brilliant, glazed radiance wrapped around her, barely buffering the impact of the lightning. In her dantian, a profound aura condensed into a million points of light.

“This is…” Wang Ya’s pupils contracted sharply.

Within Lin Yinyin’s dantian, a Golden Core as clear as glazed jade was taking shape. Five-colored light swirled within its core, while its surface was etched with ancient, mysterious patterns.

“A Fifth-Grade Golden Core!” Shouheng Zhenren shouted, unable to contain his shock.

The clouds began to thin, but the phenomenon didn’t stop. To the east, a trail of violet qi stretched majestically for three thousand miles.

Li Fuxi watched with tears in her eyes. It was truly a Fifth-Grade Golden Core. She felt more joy now than she had during her own breakthrough.

Zhang Xian let out a long breath, though he was secretly green with envy.

Seeing the sheer power of that lightning had left his back soaked in cold sweat. He was terrified; if he had been the one under those clouds, he would have been reduced to ash.

Elder Zhiyin seemed to read his thoughts. “Don’t worry,” she offered, trying to be helpful. “With your False Core, the tribulation will only be three strikes at most.”

Zhang Xian: “…”

“You sure know how to comfort someone,” he muttered.

Lin Yinyin opened her eyes, a weak smile playing on her lips. “Brother… I did it…”

The world spun, and she pitched forward. Su Ling blurred across the ground, catching her before she hit the dirt.

“So this is the Heavenly Tribulation of the humans,” Su Ling whispered. “Facing death to find new life.”

Zhang Xian flew over and scooped Yinyin into his arms. She was covered in cuts and burns, but her breathing was steady. She had simply pushed herself to the point of collapse.

He gently wiped the blood from her cheek. “Silly girl,” he whispered. “You’re really amazing.”

When Lin Yinyin finally woke up, she was back in the familiar bedroom of the flying vessel.

“You’re awake?”

Li Fuxi sat by the bed, smiling gently.

“Master…” Lin Yinyin tried to sit up, but her muscles felt like lead.

“Don’t rush. Your Golden Core just formed. You need time to stabilize your realm.”

Lin Yinyin’s eyes widened with sudden panic. “Where’s my brother?”

“After your tribulation ended, he felt his own breakthrough coming. He left yesterday to prepare for his own crossing.”

“What?!” Lin Yinyin bolted upright, ignoring the weakness. “He went alone? Is there anyone guarding him? What if something goes wrong?”

Li Fuxi patted her hand. “Relax. His tribulation won’t be like yours. I doubt the lightning could even make a scratch on his defensive treasures.”

Lin Yinyin looked down at her own palm. She could feel the vast, crystalline power of the Fifth-Grade Golden Core rotating in her inner palace.

In a few short years, she had gone from a common Qi Refining girl to a world-class genius. She should have been celebrating, but thinking of her brother made her heart sink.

“Master… Brother’s False Core… at best, it’s only as strong as a First-Grade Golden Core, right?”

Li Fuxi went quiet for a moment before nodding. “The False Core technique ultimately has its limits.”

She quickly changed the subject. “Yinyin, do you realize your Fifth-Grade Golden Core is the talk of the Southern Region? Right now, you’re more famous than the Demon Sweeping Assembly itself.”

Lin Yinyin touched her dantian, feeling the gentle glow of the jade core.

“Master…” she hesitated. “About the Nine Turns Jade Condensation Sutra…”

Li Fuxi’s expression turned stern. “Yinyin, have you thought this through? With your talent, reaching the Nascent Soul stage is a certainty if you continue this path.”

Her voice dropped to a whisper. “In all of the Southern Region, there are fewer than ten Nascent Soul cultivators.”

Lin Yinyin looked out the window at the sea of clouds, her gaze hardening.

“Master, have you ever truly liked someone?”

Li Fuxi froze, caught off guard by the question.

“If I cannot be with my brother,” Lin Yinyin continued softly but firmly, “then I don’t care about the Nascent Soul stage. Everything I have, he gave to me. I only cultivated this sutra for him. I can’t wait decades for ‘great success’ while he moves on without me.”

She was tired of being the protected little sister. She wanted to stand by his side like Liu Qingxuan—or like her Master.

Li Fuxi sighed, knowing she couldn’t change the girl’s mind. The room fell into a long silence.

Finally, Li Fuxi’s face flushed a strange shade of pink.

“Then… then you still can’t be with Zhang Xian that quickly,” she murmured, her voice getting smaller. “At the very least, you must reach the second layer of the Golden Core stage. If the sutra is broken before then, your cultivation will plummet a whole major realm.”

Lin Yinyin’s face turned crimson all the way to her ears. She buried her head in her chest. “I… I understand.”

A month later, Zhang Xian returned, looking weary and covered in the dust of the road.

Li Fuxi and Lin Yinyin were practicing in the vessel’s sword chamber when they heard his footsteps.

He stood in the doorway, his silhouette tall and straight. The spiritual energy radiating from him was significantly stronger than before, but…

Even Lin Yinyin could feel the difference. The energy was abundant, but it lacked the perfect, seamless flow of a true core.

A False Core was still just a False Core—the equivalent of a bottom-tier First-Grade. Her heart ached, and her eyes grew hot involuntarily.

Zhang Xian saw their long faces and shrugged with a grin. “What’s with those looks? A False Core is still a Golden Core.”

He struck a theatrical pose. “Just like you geniuses, I’ve got at least a thousand years of life to burn now. What’s the rush?”

Li Fuxi thought of his history—how he had been trapped at the Innate Realm for nearly a century.

A sense of peace washed over her. He was right; they had time.

Zhang Xian was a man who specialized in miracles. Just because no one in the Southern Region had ever pushed past a False Core didn’t mean he wouldn’t be the first.