Free Web NovelChapter 569: Chapter 288: Impermeable Golden Core, Flood Dragon Demon Court
For safety, all major merchant fleets have followed the decrees of Azure waves Island, directly submitting about ten to twenty percent of their goods as tax.
With safety ensured, merchant fleets can easily and swiftly navigate through this sea region.
As for those merchant fleets harboring luck, they were made examples of, with all goods confiscated and the rest turned into slaves on the island.
Those in higher ranks, unless their forces come to negotiate and pay a hefty price to buy them out, will have their Cultivation sealed, forced to work off their debts for life.
The funds obtained are converted into various Cultivation Resources, replenishing the treasury of Azure waves Island.
After the situation at Azure waves Island stabilized, the enigmatic Island Lord Zheng Yi appeared rarely, instead continuing his focused Cultivation.
On one hand, blood and Qi proliferated, ceaselessly evolving the continuation of Divine-Demon Body Refining Technique.
On the other hand, based on the True Form of the Seven Treasures Marvelous Tree, he rapidly perfected various Divine Techniques, refining his Path of Ninth Grade Golden Core.
As for the Ninth Grade Golden Core Realm, it stands in stark contrast to average Core Formation Cultivators.
Zheng Yi himself now hardly knows the extent of his formidable combat power.
For there is no specific standard for measurement.
If forced to compare, one might take the old Virtual Core Cultivator like Double-headed Flood Dragon Zhong Sheng as reference.
Before Zheng Yi faced the Golden Core Tribulation, he wasn’t his match, but now, Zheng Yi has achieved the Ninth Grade Golden Core.
Figures like Double-headed Flood Dragon Zhong Sheng or Gongye Ning, being of lower three grades of Core Formation, appear extremely weak in his eyes.
It’s not a matter of suppressing them with a flip, but they are no different from three-year-old children.
These thoughts are merely Zheng Yi’s inner reflection.
If spread widely, it would surely cause a great commotion.
Making more people gain a revolutionary understanding of Zheng Yi’s combat strength as the Island Lord of Azure waves.
Of course, many would undoubtedly think the Island Lord has gone mad.
Throughout the documented history of the East Origin Sea Region, no Ninth Grade Golden Core has ever appeared.
At least not publicly, no records exist in the classics.
Therefore, during Zheng Yi’s Cultivation, he can only advance step by step, steadily improving.
He is now considered to be in the Early Stage of Golden Core.
However, because of the Perfection and Impermeability of the Ninth Grade Golden Core, it’s impossible for outsiders to perceive, making them feel Zheng Yi’s aura is unfathomably deep, unable to perceive his specific Cultivation level.
His Magical Power feels like a black hole, drawing myriad Spiritual Mechanisms into his use.
Divine Soul Power nearing Zheng Yi’s body gets instantly devoured, with all Spiritual Mechanisms unable to disperse; the deeper one’s Cultivation, the more elusive he appears, concealing divine mechanisms and specters.
And Zheng Yi himself deeply perceives how, grounded on the Ninth Grade Golden Core, his constitution of the Small Five Elements Yin Yang Daoist Embryo becomes more wondrous.
Five Elements Spiritual Mechanism cheers and leaps excitedly around him; without circulating his Magical Power or drawing it, the Power of the Five Elements spontaneously rushes into his body, just like moths drawn to the flame.
As Yin Yang Qi circulates, his Dao Practice grows ceaselessly.
It seems in the Golden Core Stage, he encounters no barriers at all.
Others endure centuries of arduous practice, stepping from Early to Middle Stage of Core Formation, then rising toward the Late Stage, advancing due to Dao Practice barriers, but for the Ninth Grade Golden Core, none of this exists.
The Great Dao is a broad avenue.
The Path of Ninth Grade Golden Core has actually already reached Perfection.
Because it’s Impermeable, one needs to continuously refine Magical Power to naturally break through realms.
Thus, Zheng Yi may essentially be in the Early, Middle, or Late Stage of Golden Core.
His only deficiency is a richer Magical Power.
Others’ arduous Dao Practice may be mere water grinding technique compared to him.
Moreover, owing to the presence of the Small Five Elements Yin Yang Daoist Embryo, given enough time, solely relying on his physical body to forcibly swallow countless external mechanisms and absorb infinite Spiritual Mechanisms will bolster his foundation.
Quickly completing processes others undergo entirely.
According to Zheng Yi’s own estimation, in about seventy to a hundred years, his Magical Power will reach Perfection, entering the Late Stage of Golden Core; then he will face the barrier to breakthrough into the Nascent Soul Stage.
If abundant Spiritual Object Resources were available, his advancement could be even faster.
...
"Sea Realm Spirit Tide?! What is that?!"
With a casual wave, letting the maidservants in the Azure waves Island palace retreat, Zheng Yi picked up the message scroll that Gongye Ning from the Sunset Commerce Association sent, feeling somewhat dazed.
He was unclear on what this so-called Sea Realm Spirit Tide truly was.
However, from Gongye Ning’s tone, Zheng Yi indeed sensed that this instance of Sea Realm Spirit Tide seemed extraordinary, with quite severe consequences.
Thus, Zheng Yi summoned several high-ranking individuals from Azure waves Island for inquiry.
These people were once notorious pirates across the Sea Realm, experienced, with two even halfway to Core Formation but delayed due to lack of confidence in passing the Celestial Tribulation.
Influenced by the Celestial Demon Seed, these cultivators followed Zheng Yi’s words implicitly, yearning to reveal everything to him, naturally speaking honestly and exhaustively as they began explaining directly.
"The Sea Realm Spirit Tide is a unique phenomenon of the Sea Realm, appearing roughly once every few hundred years, last occurring over four hundred years ago; this current pirate gang had not yet emerged."
"The Sea Realm Spirit Tide primarily targets marine life as a kind of tribulation, drawing copious Spiritual Qi from the seabed, forming chaotic Spiritual Qi storms lasting decades, causing massive biological death, particularly among ferocious deep-sea marine creatures, leading to exceedingly violent, bloody battles between them; only victors surviving by plundering adversaries’ bodies, using their Spiritual Power to nourish themselves."
