The Perfect Divine Elixir, So Hard to Attain

Gu Qingfeng counted his money while laughing maniacally.

Soon, he discovered a token among the treasures—crafted entirely from white jade, with an ancient sword engraved on its surface.

Assuming it was a sect token belonging to his enemies, he immediately summoned flames and reduced it to ashes, fearing it might contain some tracking mechanism.

Next, he found numerous personal belongings of young women—dresses, shoes, socks, and even a red embroidered undergarment.

After a moment’s thought, Gu Qingfeng stored these garments in his palm-sized pocket dimension, intending to gift them to Little Corpse Charm.

After all, she had followed him for so long, and he had yet to give her a present.

Besides, these clothes were luxurious and beautiful.

As for whether they would fit?

No need to worry—Little Corpse Charm could simply shapeshift into the form of the girl they belonged to.

Judging by the spoils, Gu Qingfeng guessed that his foes likely hailed from a sword-wielding sect, given the abundance of sword manuals and two divine-grade blades.

Acquiring two more divine swords delighted him. He had been planning to complete the Gengjin Sword Box’s sword formation, and now he had two more blades, saving him a considerable amount of spirit stones.

To save time, Gu Qingfeng conjured a clone and tasked it with refining the Gengjin Sword Box and practicing the Nine Heavens Dragon Step technique.

Meanwhile, his true self focused on cultivating the Myriad Refinements Heavenly Art, preparing to condense a Divine Core!

He opened the Myriad Refinements Heavenly Art and began studying it.

The technique was advanced—borderline excessive for someone at the Soul Manifestation realm. But with his Innately Sacred Body and Seven-Apertured Exquisite Physique, Gu Qingfeng found the difficulty laughably trivial.

Given his monstrous comprehension, even an Emperor’s Scripture—a cultivation method created by a Heavenly Emperor—wouldn’t faze him. At most, it would just take longer to master.

Half an hour later, Gu Qingfeng closed the manual. He had fully grasped its contents, including the long-desired method for core formation.

Yet, he hesitated to begin cultivating, a conflicted expression flashing across his face.

Why the hesitation?

Because the Myriad Refinements Heavenly Art revealed that not all Divine Cores were equal—they varied in quality.

A Divine Core wasn’t simply formed by compressing essence, energy, and spirit like kneading dough.

Instead, one had to condense the Three Blossoms—Essence Blossom, Energy Blossom, and Spirit Blossom—achieving the state of Three Blossoms Converging Above. Then, by comprehending the Great Dao, one would nurture the Divine Core, inscribing Dao Patterns upon it. Only then would the core be complete.

In other words, Divine Cores bore Dao Patterns.

Their quality was determined by the number of patterns—the more, the higher the grade.

Divine Cores ranged from one to nine patterns. A one-pattern core was the weakest, offering no potential for advancement beyond the Earthly Origin realm.

Nine was the limit, making nine-pattern cores the highest grade—referred to as Flawless Divine Cores or the Foundation of Heavenly Emperors.

Of course, "Foundation of Heavenly Emperors" didn’t mean possessing a Flawless Core guaranteed becoming an Emperor. Rather, it was the bare minimum requirement.

Only with a Flawless Divine Core did one gain a sliver of potential to ascend to Emperorhood.

Without a solid foundation, dreaming of becoming an Emperor was pure delusion.

Those capable of condensing a nine-pattern Flawless Divine Core were invariably heaven-defying geniuses with unparalleled foundations, far surpassing their peers.

They also needed extraordinary comprehension to grasp the Great Dao, along with a top-tier core-condensation method.

Only by meeting all these conditions could one even hope to achieve a Flawless Divine Core.

Gu Qingfeng met nearly all the criteria. His foundation? Unrivaled—he could trounce Earthly Origin cultivators while still at the Soul Manifestation realm. His comprehension? Unmatched—no one could surpass the combined might of his Innately Sacred Body and Seven-Apertured Exquisite Physique.

The only slight weakness was his technique. The Myriad Refinements Heavenly Art was merely first-rate, falling just short of the pinnacle.

But this was no obstacle for Gu Qingfeng. Even with a garbage technique, his monstrous talent and foundation would still allow him to condense a nine-pattern Flawless Divine Core.

His hesitation stemmed from the fact that he didn’t want a nine-pattern core.

The Myriad Refinements Heavenly Art mentioned another type of Divine Core—one that existed only in legend: the ten-pattern Perfect Divine Core!

Nine was the limit, but surpassing that limit embodied perfection.

As the saying went: "The Great Dao numbers fifty, but the heavens derive only forty-nine, leaving one to escape."

Even the Great Dao was incomplete—imagine how difficult it was to forge a Perfect Divine Core.

Such a core defied the heavens, inviting divine retribution.

Gu Qingfeng wanted to condense a ten-pattern Perfect Divine Core, but his current conditions fell slightly short.

This was the root of his dilemma—should he settle for a nine-pattern Flawless Core now, or wait until he could meet the requirements for perfection?

After a brief internal struggle, he made his decision. Since he was cultivating, he would aim for the absolute best. He had the capability—it would just take a bit more effort.

To condense a Perfect Divine Core, one needed everything required for a nine-pattern core, plus one additional Dao Pattern.

This tenth pattern was called the Heavenly Dao Pattern!

It demanded profound comprehension of the Heavenly Dao—something nearly impossible for a Soul Manifestation cultivator. Only Heavenly Realm experts could hope to achieve it.

Even if a powerful elder captured a minor Heavenly Dao for him, a Soul Manifestation cultivator couldn’t control it, let alone comprehend it.

It was like asking a three-year-old to master advanced mathematics—utterly impossible.

Only at the Heavenly Realm could one attempt it, but by then, the Divine Core would already be formed, rendering the effort pointless.

Thus, it was a vicious cycle.

But none of this mattered to Gu Qingfeng. Thanks to his system, he had become a Heavenly Dao Controller despite being at the Soul Manifestation realm. Forming the Heavenly Dao Pattern wasn’t the issue.

The real challenge lay ahead.

To forge a Perfect Divine Core, one also had to refine essence, energy, and spirit into nothingness—only nothingness could bear ten patterns.

The problem? Who the hell knew how to refine essence, energy, and spirit into nothingness?!

But that wasn’t all—there were two more hurdles!

First, one needed an Emperor’s Scripture. Only a supreme technique created by a Heavenly Emperor could touch the realm of perfection.

Second, there was the Heavenly Tribulation.

The heavens would not tolerate a Perfect Divine Core, so when it formed, divine lightning would strike. Fail to endure it, and death was certain.

In summary, forging a Perfect Divine Core was incredibly difficult—far harder than scaling the heavens themselves!