At this moment, Ryan Ling was already on a nameless reef a thousand miles south of Sansha Island. The whole reef was only a few dozen square kilometers, totally insignificant in the maze-like South Sea—there are tons of reefs like this, some popping up overnight from volcanic eruptions, others vanishing just as quickly from shifting currents. Anything’s possible out here.
But the spot Ryan picked wasn’t just any random reef—it was the infamous death reef, surrounded by underwater whirlpools one after another, absolutely dangerous. That’s why South Sea fishermen call it the Man-Eater Reef. Even on calm days, nobody dares sail within half a mile of it; most folks would rather take the long way around, even if it means an extra hundred nautical miles, just to avoid this place.
To regular people, this reef is basically a 'man-eating' death trap. But for cultivators? It’s a paradise. Underneath, there’s endless water-element qi—the pure essence of the sea—especially great for breaking through on the Immortal path!
Right now, Ryan had heaven’s luck, earth’s blessing, and human support—all the stars aligned. He had the Huaxia Divine Dragon’s help, its Dragon Breath, plus the massive Saint-Realm body of Yamata-no-Orochi. Using both to forge and fill his Golden Core was the absolute best-case scenario. Add in the death reef’s natural water qi, and with all three combined, he could build the strongest Golden Core ever—enough to smash Philip Qin and flatten Jinling City without breaking a sweat.
"Ryan, don’t forget—you’ve got three more resources to use tonight, and you’d better use them, no matter what. They’ll seriously boost your Golden Core breakthrough!" Ghost Elder piped up, sounding super hyped from inside Ryan’s body.
"What resources?" Ryan blinked, not quite catching on for a second.
"Duh! The three beauties you’ve got locked up in your Demon-Snaring Bowl: Chiharu Mitsui—the Japanese Evil God’s bride, Fiona Shangguan—master of the Pure Maiden Art, and Vivian Huo—eldest daughter of the Huo family. Each one can majorly boost your power. Tonight, you need to drain every last drop of their essence. That’ll stabilize your Golden Core like crazy! You know Golden Cores come in twelve grades, right? Normally you’d have to fuss over all the details, but if you break through with these upgrades, you’ll be number one in all Jiangnan!" Ghost Elder chattered away.
"So that’s how it is? Sweet, tonight I’ll drain all three girls dry! Hahaha!" Ryan didn’t hesitate at all. He used to be hung up on etiquette, but now he was totally over it. The Immortal path follows the great Dao of heaven and earth—why get stuck on human morals? To a real cultivator—especially in the Huaxia Divine Dragon’s eyes—a few mortals, or even a whole world, barely count for anything. Sucking a bit of essence from three women? That’s just a drop in the bucket.
As soon as Ryan said this, the three women in the Demon-Snaring Bowl reacted—some scared, some excited, some totally hopeless. Their minds were all over the place, but at this point, there was nothing they could do except submit.
Ryan didn’t dwell on it. After a full day of frantic absorption, he’d almost sucked up all the water qi from the death reef. Inside him, wood, fire, water, and other elemental powers were raging—maybe not totally balanced yet, but they’d mostly come together, and each one was insanely fierce.
The more elemental power he had, and the finer it was, the bigger the edge his Golden Core would have!
"Condense!" Ryan shouted. He could feel a hard, swelling pressure in his dantian, like something slowly building up. No doubt about it—that was the sign of his Golden Core forming.
But right now, it wasn’t a true Golden Core yet—just the aura of one. He needed actual physical material to really condense it!
And the best material for that? None other than Yamata-no-Orochi!
"Yamata-no-Orochi, it’s your time to shine—get out here!" Ryan bellowed, totally unafraid. Instantly, the giant serpent flew out of the Demon-Snaring Bowl. Even though it was dead, Ryan’s call made it bare its fangs and dance its claws like it was alive again. That was its vital essence at work—the root of all its years of cultivation, the most precious part of the whole serpent. The leftover blood and flesh? Ryan planned to save those for Jason Lin, Warren Yuan, and the others.
Right now, his brothers’ souls were gathered off to one side inside the Demon-Snaring Bowl. Ryan fed them constantly, and now he was about to use Yamata-no-Orochi’s flesh to nourish them further. Even though they didn’t have bodies yet, he wanted to keep their souls strong—and with this Saint-Realm serpent meat, he figured they’d hit Earth-Tier Void Realm in no time, maybe even reach its peak before getting bodies again. After all, this serpent was a monster; for souls to level up with it, that was easy as pie.
After a wild roar, Ryan just started straight-up devouring Yamata-no-Orochi’s vital essence—no fancy Immortal techniques, just eating it raw. That’s the best way to preserve the essence and save time. Normally, refining a Saint-Realm serpent would take at least a whole day, but this way, maybe half an hour tops. Of course, a regular person would never dare—swallowing a Saint-Realm serpent’s essence would blow up their organs instantly!
"Ryan, you’re nuts, man! I’m impressed!" Even Ghost Elder was sweating inside Ryan’s body, kinda speechless at this point.
Ever since Ryan hooked up with the Divine Dragon, his relationship with Ghost Elder had started to shift. They used to be teacher and student, but now it was more like equals—sometimes, Ghost Elder even felt a little intimidated by Ryan’s crazy stunts. It was obvious: the student was starting to outshine the master.
Of course, Ryan had no clue about all this. After chewing for tens of minutes, he’d swallowed a huge chunk of Yamata-no-Orochi’s essence. The rest of the serpent’s flesh and bones he tossed back into the Demon-Snaring Bowl—stuff like the gallbladder, bones, blood, and meat all saved for his brothers. That was easily two or three tenths of the serpent’s power, more than enough for those guys.
"Condense!" Ryan shouted again, even more forcefully than before.
In an instant, all of Yamata-no-Orochi’s vital essence solidified in Ryan’s dantian—super fast, and super effective. A bean-sized Golden Core started to appear, no doubt the core embryo.
"So fast!" Ghost Elder gulped hard. No doubt, Ryan was the fastest Golden Core condenser he’d ever seen. But you could tell Ryan had been enduring massive pain ever since he started swallowing Yamata-no-Orochi’s essence—it felt less like vital energy and more like swallowing knives. Every gulp was a knife, and with each one, it was like a thousand blades slashing and stabbing inside him. The pain was off the charts.
At this point, not just his clothes but even the ground beneath his feet was soaked with sweat.
Even so, Ryan didn’t make a sound—not a word, not a groan. He just powered through, thinking of the Divine Dragon and knowing the road to Immortal cultivation was long. Sure, he’d made some progress, but he was still just a frog at the bottom of a well. He had to get stronger, faster. If he couldn’t handle this pain, how could he laugh across the nine heavens, inherit Yama’s throne, or stride between yin and yang for ten thousand miles?
With each determined thought, Yamata-no-Orochi’s vital essence exploded inside him. The pea-sized Golden Core embryo slowly condensed and grew, soon swelling to twice its original size.
"Awesome! That size is already above average—Ryan, you’re just one step away from success!" Ghost Elder was beside himself with excitement.
Ghost Elder was thrilled, but Ryan felt nothing—he was as calm as a meditating monk, fully immersed in his cultivation. He knew he hadn’t reached true mastery yet; he was still a ways off from real success.
At this point, Yamata-no-Orochi’s job was done. Ryan took a deep breath and immediately unleashed the Dragon Breath.
This was the second—and most crucial—step in his cultivation. Only by absorbing Dragon Breath could his Golden Core upgrade and change color. It was like swallowing the serpent’s essence to go from snake to snake-spirit, able to roam the world, but still not true orthodoxy. Only with Dragon Breath, turning snake into dragon, could he reach the real Golden Core stage and earn the “golden” name.
“Dragon Breath, light up my Golden Core!” Ryan shouted. The Dragon Breath swept out, turning into a golden mist that surged through his organs and finally into his dantian, merging with the Golden Core. Instantly, the core flashed with dazzling light—even his abdomen started to glow, and the color turned pure gold.
“Yes! I did it! I finally made it—Golden Core stage!” Ghost Elder was beside himself. Foundation-Building is just the groundwork, but Golden Core is real progress—now Ryan could call himself “True Man.”
Once you’re called “True Man,” you’re no longer just a mortal.
Ryan was really satisfied with this achievement. It wasn’t just about raw power—his whole aura and vibe had changed, fresh and extraordinary from the inside out.
“Ryan, if you had to face Philip Qin now, what would you do?” Ghost Elder asked, super excited.
“Crush him on the spot!” Ryan replied with a cold grin.
At that moment, not only could he crush Philip Qin, he wouldn’t even fear Yamata-no-Orochi in a fight!
“Alright, let’s head back!” Ryan said, clenching his fists.
“Hey, you forgot something big—the three girls’ essence is still waiting for you to absorb. That’ll make your power even stronger!” Ghost Elder reminded him.