The Tribulation of the Golden Core
Three months passed in the blink of an eye. Baek Cheong spent every day refining her spell proficiency and filling her dantian with spiritual energy through absorption, never missing a single session to solidify her foundation. She also made sure to take the pill-script medicine every month without fail to suppress the Integrative Sleeping Root. In her remaining time, she clung to the Formation Atlas.
"...What is this character-pattern again?"
There were days she wanted to throw the Five Elements Banner and the Formation Atlas away several times over, but every time she did, the price—eleven premium spirit stones—flashed in her mind. She had no choice but to begrudgingly pick them back up. Yet, every time she managed to grasp a particularly abstruse character-pattern, a strange thrill washed over her. As each symbol, containing the providence of heaven and earth, revealed its meaning, the language of formations began to take shape in her mind piece by piece.
'Now that I'm doing it, it's actually not that bad.'
At some point, she found her hands reaching for the Formation Atlas before she even consciously decided to study. She had always thought she hated studying, but it felt as if she had been completely deceiving herself. In her spare time, she would even post questions about formation character-patterns on the Nameless Board to clear up her confusion.
Daoist Friend 33.3 would obsessively leave replies like that every time, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of a response. It wasn't out of spite for his attempt to swindle her, of course.
"Ah."
Suddenly, she felt a sensation as if water had filled her dantian right up to her chin. Through daily cultivation, she had unknowingly filled her dantian—which was as vast as the sea—to the brim with spiritual energy.
'I suppose it's time.'
Baek Cheong thought lightly of the breakthrough. Since she had used the combination of Meteor Strike sword intent and semi-union to pierce the barrier of the fifth star, the pressure of breaking through felt much lighter. She sat cross-legged on her bed and focused her consciousness on her dantian.
'Just like before.'
She began to compress the five-element energy within her dantian. Wood, fire, earth, metal, water. The five elemental energies intertwined in a spiral, clumping together. At the same time, she imbued the Meteor Strike sword intent into the coalescing energy. It was an act of will, minimizing the waste of energy and focusing its destructive power into a single, extreme point. The compressed five-element energy was tempered until it was hard, imbued with sharp sword intent.
'Now.'
She slammed the semi-union sword intent directly against the barrier. The sturdy wall tried to hold out in resistance, though it was a resistance destined to be broken.
"Hoo..."
Baek Cheong let out a murky sigh as she broke through the realm in an instant. The massive barrier collapsed as if opening on its own, and the spiritual energy settled into place as if finding a new home.
'...Isn't this too easy?'
She felt dazed for a moment. Thinking back to how much she had struggled to break through in the past, it felt almost hollow. But she had reached the sixth star of the Qi Refining stage, so it was too early to let her guard down. Next, she had to cross the wall of the seventh star, known as the minor realm boundary.
'Just in case, I should make some first-grade pill-script breakthrough pills...'
Baek Cheong paused her train of thought. Immediately after, a sensation of her divine sense expanding followed.
'Twenty-three zhang.'
Her dantian had doubled in size once again, and her divine sense stretched out for a staggering twenty-three zhang. It was so far beyond the level of the Qi Refining stage that even she found it absurd.
"It's a bit stifling, though."
If she set her mind to it, she could raise her realm by consuming pill-script spirit-gathering pills. However, her grandfather and father had dissuaded her, advising her to raise her realm according to the natural order. She figured it was better to follow a stable method, as being impatient could lead to deviation.
'Well, it doesn't matter.'
She was only eleven, after all; there was no need to obsess over raising her realm. Compared to her peers, she was fast—excluding those with heavenly spiritual roots—and the rate at which her Integrative Sleeping Root siphoned off her nutrients was slow enough to be imperceptible unless she focused on it.
"Now then..."
Baek Cheong shook off her thoughts and naturally extended her divine sense outward. Scanning the area around her residence with her expanded divine sense had become a habit.
'...?'
However, the moment her divine sense touched the outside air, she felt a strange sense of dissonance. It felt as if the entire sky had turned into a massive boulder, pressing down on the earth.
'No way.'
She had experienced this sensation somewhere before. She jumped up from her seat and threw the window open. The sky outside was dyed pitch black. It was too thick and powerful to be called mere dark clouds, and a massive vortex was slowly taking shape high above.
"It's a heavenly tribulation!"
"A heavenly tribulation!"
The family's servants were already in an uproar. The sound of hurried footsteps and anxious voices echoed from beyond the window. 'A heavenly tribulation...?' Baek Cheong blinked blankly at the mention of the heavenly tribulation cloud. She placed a hand over her small chest, questioning herself, trying to recall if she had done anything to defy the will of the Heavenly Dao.
'I haven't done anything.'
She cultivated, studied the Formation Atlas, manufactured pill-script medicine, and stirred up trouble on the Nameless Board. She hadn't done anything particularly heaven-defying to offend the Heavenly Dao.
'Then...'
Suddenly, she realized something was wrong. The direction in which the pitch-black heavenly tribulation cloud was gathering was different. It wasn't swirling toward the area where her residence was, but deep inside the family estate. It was toward the mountain foothills where the Clan Head Hall was located.
"Ah..."
Baek Cheong froze. Then, she scrambled out of her room, kicking the door open. A crowd of people was rushing toward the Clan Head Hall. Servants, maids, and even the warriors guarding the family—everyone was looking in the same direction with terrified faces, murmuring in confusion. The heavenly tribulation cloud above grew thicker and more massive by the second. Baek Cheong pushed through the bustling crowd until she spotted a familiar back.
"Uncle."
Baek Muyeong turned around at his niece's call. Despite the early hour, he was dressed neatly, but his face was etched with deep tension.
"Cheong, you were awake."
Baek Cheong looked up at the sky once, then back at her uncle. "Is Father...?"
Baek Muyeong looked up at the swirling sky with calm, heavy eyes for a moment. He answered briefly and firmly.
"Yes. Your father is knocking on the door of the Golden Core."
The heavenly tribulation cloud swelled massively, completely covering the sky above the Clan Head Hall. Through the hole in the center of the cloud, it looked as if the Heavenly Dao were peering down at the earth.
'Father...'
Baek Cheong held her breath and looked up at the sky in silence. Something overwhelming was pounding against the inside of her small chest. It was a complex emotion, difficult to name—neither joy nor worry.
Rumble!
The heavenly tribulation cloud in the sky churned and growled. A bolt of lightning condensed through the hole in the clouds, and the tribulation lightning struck the earth mercilessly.
BOOM!
It was a strike aimed somewhere in the back mountain attached to the Clan Head Hall. In the direction of the eastern chamber, where various formations had been layered, tangled rocks and piles of dirt exploded into the air. Through the thick dust and smoke, the eastern chamber was visible, its outer wall completely blown away, leaving the interior exposed.
As the dust and debris slowly settled, her vision cleared. Baek Cheong stopped breathing. In the center of the devastated eastern chamber, she saw her father sitting cross-legged. The area around him was completely destroyed by the power and impact of the tribulation lightning, making it unrecognizable. Yet, Baek Mujin, positioned at the center of the strike, remained as steady as a giant tree amidst the swept-away rocks and swirling dust. It was as if he had been rooted there from the start and hadn't moved an inch.
'Thank goodness.'
Baek Cheong unconsciously unclenched her fists and let out a sigh of relief. Even though he had taken the terrifying tribulation lightning head-on, her father looked better than she had expected.
'If he continues like this to the Golden Core...'
However, Baek Cheong's brow furrowed again. The heavenly tribulation cloud above hadn't dispersed or vanished. Even after the first tribulation lightning struck, the momentum of the clouds hadn't subsided; they still hovered over the Clan Head Hall, imbued with thick lightning. The judgment of the Heavenly Dao hadn't ended yet. As this realization dawned, a silent tension settled over the area.
A moment later.
Rumble!
The sky roared as if it were being torn apart once more. And the second tribulation lightning reared its head. This time, it didn't end with just destroying the outer wall of the mountain. The tribulation lightning that struck from the sky slammed directly into the depths of the eastern chamber. Her father, who had been sitting quietly, could not withstand the impact of the tribulation lightning this time and swayed. A moment later, dark red blood trickled down from the corner of his mouth.
"Brother!"
Baek Muyeong lost his composure and shouted at the top of his lungs. The murmurs of the servants watching in silence grew uncontrollably loud. But Baek Mujin did not fall. Slowly, he lifted his head. Ignoring the blood trickling down his chin, he straightened his posture, which had been half-disrupted by the impact of the tribulation lightning, and sat cross-legged once more.
'Please...'
Baek Cheong felt her small chest tighten as she watched her father spitting blood. She told herself repeatedly, over and over, that her father would be fine. But the real problem was still looming overhead. Even after pouring down two bolts of tribulation lightning, the heavenly tribulation cloud showed no signs of retreating; it maintained its form.
"Usually, the Golden Core heavenly tribulation experienced by those at the peak of the Core Formation stage ends with one, or at most two, bolts of tribulation lightning, even for those with exceptional talent..."
Baek Muyeong muttered in a low voice, his face pale. The worry in his voice spread to those around him. Baek Cheong also bit her lower lip, unable to say a word, staring fixedly at the sky. The pitch-black heavenly tribulation cloud showed no signs of backing down. Instead, from the center of the hole, a power far more formidable than the previous tribulation lightning was slowly gathering. It felt as if it were scraping together the final tribulation lightning, a sensation that transmitted itself to her very skin.
