Chapter 149 – The Formation of the Golden Core, My Fate Is Mine Alone

Crimson-gold flames continued to temper the sphere of the same hue within Xu Yang's dantian. At its center was a golden-black vortex, and cracks of crimson-gold light appeared across the space inside his dantian, pulling in the surrounding power of heaven and earth.

The formerly intangible and invisible heaven and earth energy of the outside world had now manifested into white streams, rushing into Xu Yang's body.

"This isn't a Golden Core. At most, it's a variant of a soul core. A true Golden Core condenses all essence, energy, and spirit into a single point—like the primordial chaos at the beginning of the universe, evolving all things from one. Only then is it complete. It's not just a solid mass. So it must be further compressed."

Currently, his essence, energy, and spirit had gathered in the lower dantian and merged—but they had yet to be compressed into a singularity, into true unity. So the crimson-gold orb within his body wasn't a Golden Core yet—only a soul core.

Xu Yang hardened his resolve. Spatial ripples inside the dantian intensified as the golden soul core compressed again—from the size of a fist to a walnut, then to a broad bean, and finally to the size of a sesame seed.

At that point, the vortex inside the core grew unstable and began to collapse—until it condensed into a single crimson-gold point of light.

The moment the light appeared, the sesame-sized soul core was instantly devoured, along with the external spiritual flame that had been tempering it all along. Even more dramatically, the surrounding heaven and earth energy surged into Xu Yang's body, forming a violent energy storm.

Outside, at Xu Yang's secluded cultivation site, a white energy vortex had formed, devouring everything around it—grinding it into pure energy that was then absorbed by Xu Yang.

Ning Fengzhi, Chen Xin, Madam Ning, and the others stood at the perimeter, their expressions filled with concern as they watched the growing energy vortex.

"Uncle Sword, what's going on with Yang'er?! Can you help him at all?!" Ning Fengzhi had tried several times to probe with his spiritual sense, but every time it was shredded by the vortex. He had no idea what was happening inside.

He was anxious about Xu Yang's condition, and also secretly frustrated with the boy for pushing so recklessly again.

"This energy is incredibly powerful—rarely seen in the world. I can't sense anything inside either," Chen Xin replied. But then he smiled and continued, "Still, Fengzhi, Qing'er, you both don't need to worry. This energy may be wild, but it's incredibly stable. It's all converging toward the center. It seems Yang'er is absorbing it."

Hearing this, Ning Fengzhi and Madam Ning immediately refocused their gaze. Just as Chen Xin said, the white vortex had stopped expanding—not because it wasn't drawing in energy, but because absorption and influx had reached equilibrium, holding the vortex's size in check.

Suddenly, the vortex began to spin faster while shrinking in size. Within, the faint silhouette of Xu Yang became visible.

"He's about to break through," Chen Xin said.

Inside, Xu Yang had reached the most critical moment. The golden light within his dantian continued to absorb energy. After who knew how much, it finally began to expand—forming a sesame-sized golden pellet.

It was flawless. Xu Yang had never seen such a perfect sphere. There was no energy vortex within it, just a complete Golden Core.

After absorbing all the soul power in Xu Yang's body, the Golden Core began to exude crimson-gold soul power, rapidly filling the dantian, then circulating along the meridians in a full heavenly cycle.

This new soul power wasn't the solidified soul power unique to Title Douluo. It was something even higher in grade. By comparison, the conversion ratio was 100:1—meaning that it took a hundred portions of thick, mercury-like soul power, just one step short of becoming solid, to produce one portion of this new soul power.

This soul power surpassed solidified soul power in every respect. In cultivation, especially, it was superior. It didn't require transformation into the tri-state coexistence of solid, liquid, and gas like ordinary Title Douluo. This made it far easier and smoother to circulate through the meridians.

Each full circulation of the Golden Core absorbed vast amounts of heaven and earth energy, converting it into this new soul power. The body and soul drank it in greedily, initiating a transformation in Xu Yang's very being. For the first time, he felt himself evolve on a fundamental, existential level.

If Xu Yang had once been a mortal, he was now shedding that mortal shell and stepping onto a higher path of existence. Even without relying on micro-level control, he could sense that his natural lifespan had extended to at least a thousand years—and it was still growing.

"This… this is the true Golden Core. This is what it means for my fate to be mine—not heaven's!"

Feeling this evolution of life itself, Xu Yang intensified his operation of the Great Sun Manual, letting the Golden Core circulate through his meridians and ceaselessly produce new soul power, which his body and soul continued to devour.

Only now did he truly understand why the Xuantian Technique had shown no change in circulation patterns beyond the seventh level. It was because the grand circulation itself represented perfection. Internal energy cycles had reached their ideal form. The next stage wasn't about changing the path—it was about transforming the quality of power itself and evolving one's lifeform. That was the true path of cultivation.

Outside, the energy vortex had already vanished the moment the Golden Core formed. But Ning Fengzhi, Chen Xin, and the others could still feel a continuous flow of heaven and earth energy—and solar power—pouring into Xu Yang's body.

They knew his cultivation wasn't over yet, but they no longer felt worried. All of them breathed a collective sigh of relief and went back to their respective tasks. Chen Xin, only a step away from breaking through himself, also returned to cultivate in seclusion.

Even during the explosive transformation phase after the breakthrough, Xu Yang remained seated in meditation for two whole months. He didn't take a single drop of water or morsel of food during that time—but his complexion remained rosy and full of life.

In those two months, he also made several new discoveries.

First was about spirit bones. Although he had already absorbed them, they were actually affixed to his skeleton in a special way—not completely fused, more like external artifacts.

He could materialize them at will or even remove them from his body without harm—though of course, he had no plans to do so. After his breakthrough, even his skull bone—previously thought to be unchangeable—was being refined by the new soul power, gradually improving in quality.

His external spirit bone, which could grow alongside cultivation, now far exceeded the quality of Ning Fengzhi's 100,000-year torso bone.

His Flame Control Right Arm Bone had also reached the level of a true 100,000-year spirit bone.

PS: Read Advance Chapters at https://www.patreon.com/c/ReadJin