My Golden Core is a Star, do you call this cultivating?

Chapter 214: The Thunder Strikes

"Sigh, we've been rooted here for over a hundred years, yet the information we've been able to gather and send out has been very limited," Madam Liu said, disappointment clear in her voice.

They had established themselves in the fallen zone to gather and relay intelligence to the ancient gods. Unfortunately, after so many years, the amount of valuable information they had managed to transmit was minimal. Worse, many of their sisters had died in the process. At times, Madam Liu questioned whether their efforts were worth the sacrifices.

"Madam Liu, no matter the outcome, as long as we do our part, that's all that matters. Our job is to pass on information; it's up to those powerful beings to slay the evil gods!" Xiao Xing said with determination.

Madam Liu gave a resigned smile. "It’s just that after being in the fallen zone for centuries, not only has the situation not improved, but it has also worsened. I can’t help but feel disheartened."

The two exchanged words for a while longer. After Madam Liu gave her final instructions, Xiao Xing took her suona and headed to the private room where Qi Yuan was waiting.

Xiao Xing approached with a curious expression. After all, it was nearly unheard of for someone to request suona music in a place like this.

"Are you sure you want to hear the suona?" Xiao Xing asked cautiously.

"Yes," Qi Yuan replied, glancing at Xiao Xing before directing his gaze toward the main hall, where an evil god was hiding his aura, seemingly plotting something. This evil god was in possession of a treasure infused with the divine power of the Foodless Mother.

The mournful and bleak sound of the suona began to fill the room.

Zhu Zhuangshi glanced at the evil god hidden in the hall and sent a transmission to Qi Yuan, "My lord, should we take action?"

Qi Yuan withdrew his gaze and looked at Xiao Xing's delicate face. "Why involve these innocent NPCs?" Qi Yuan said.

When he had entered the pavilion, his Stellar Gold Core had been subtly influencing everyone. Aside from Madam Liu and Xiao Xing, no one else even realized Qi Yuan was there.

Zhu Zhuangshi looked ashamed. "I was too hasty."

"It’s fine. We have plenty of opportunities. Let's enjoy the suona performance first, then we can get to work," Qi Yuan replied.

Inside the pavilion, Qi Yuan leisurely drank tea while listening to the suona. Xiao Xing seemed to get into the rhythm, not only playing the suona but also dancing gracefully as she played, her movements enchanting and full of life. The melancholy notes of the suona seemed to blend seamlessly with her graceful dance, echoing the sorrowful backdrop of the Fanxin Realm.

Meanwhile, on a mountain outside Hua Ye City, a man wearing a golden silk mask showed a look of surprise.

"That group actually made a move against the evil gods of Feng and Lin Countries, killing dozens of new gods?"

The man was genuinely shocked upon hearing this. He had previously clashed with that group, and although he had held back to conserve his strength and avoid any unexpected incidents, he hadn’t expected that group to be so audacious as to slaughter the new gods of Feng and Lin Countries. This was clearly provoking their camp to take action.

"Commander, Feng and Lin Countries are in crisis. Should we send troops to assist?" his subordinate asked cautiously.

"Send troops? Would they even make it in time?" the masked man shook his head.

The subordinate nodded but then hesitantly added, "The Twilight Venerable just sent word, asking us to be the first to attack those rogue ancient gods since we’re the closest."

The masked man shook his head again. "No need. I won’t act until our coalition is fully assembled. Otherwise, it’ll just be my men dying, and everyone else sharing the credit. There's no point in that. Besides, those ancient gods are like fish in a barrel; they won’t escape. There’s no rush."

The masked man was confident in his position. In his view, the Fanxin Realm was inevitably destined to fall under the dominion of the new gods. No matter how much the enemy struggled, it was merely a last gasp before the end. The outcome was already determined, and his priority was to preserve his forces and maximize his gains.

"Let them live one more day," the masked man said with a relaxed tone.

"Understood."

"By the way, how is the investigation into the Foodless Sect going?" the masked man asked.

The fallen zone was known to harbor many followers of the Foodless Mother in hiding.

"So far, the Red Leaf Pavilion is the most suspicious. We’ve already sent a true god to investigate," the subordinate responded.

"Why bother investigating? Just destroy them outright. This is the Fanxin Realm; the lives of these people are nothing but expendable," the masked man said coldly.

"Understood!" The subordinate quickly complied.

Meanwhile, Qi Yuan was still enjoying the suona performance, savoring the tea and watching the girl's dance, feeling rather pleased.

"No wonder so many people love going to such places. It’s truly... refined!" Qi Yuan mused.

However, just as he was lost in thought, the door to the room burst open. Madam Liu rushed in, her face full of urgency and an apologetic expression.

"Esteemed guests, an emergency has arisen at Red Leaf Pavilion, and I must take Xiao Xing away!" Madam Liu said hastily.

She had just received news that an evil god was planning to attack Red Leaf Pavilion. She needed to get the followers of the Foodless Sect out of there immediately, or they would be killed, and it would be a gruesome death.

Upon hearing this, Qi Yuan waved his hand, and Madam Liu’s body froze in place.

"Good times always end too quickly."

"Xiao Xing, don't worry. Finish the suona piece, and the spell on her will be lifted."

Without the suona music, Qi Yuan felt it would detract from the significance of the task he was about to undertake.

Xiao Xing, though terrified, continued playing the suona as instructed.

"Let’s go, time to get to work," Qi Yuan said, standing up. He and Zhu Zhuangshi then vanished in a flash of light.

In the air, faint whispers could be heard.

"My lord, I think we forgot to pay."

"Hmm... do you have any money?"

"...No."

"Don’t worry. We were just here to have a chat with the young ladies, not to indulge in anything. No payment needed, and no need to worry about getting into trouble. If the authorities ask, just say we were here to collect old phones."

"???"

As the suona music continued, Xiao Xing looked at Madam Liu with growing concern.

"Madam Liu, what’s wrong?" She tried many ways to free her, but none worked.

"It must have been a true god who cast this spell!" Madam Liu said in a panic. The power restraining her was definitely from a true god. As a mere cultivator at the Purple Mansion level, she had no way of breaking free. She hadn’t realized the two guests were actually true gods. But what had brought them to Red Leaf Pavilion? Were they here for good or ill? Madam Liu had no way of knowing.

"Sigh, Xiao Xing, perhaps you should just leave me. If we don’t leave now, we won’t make it out in time." Madam Liu urged.

The suona piece would take at least a hundred breaths to finish, and anything could happen in that time.

"No, Madam Liu, you’ve been like a mother to me. I can’t leave you behind. That guest said the spell would lift once the song was done. It won’t be long now," Xiao Xing said as she continued playing the suona, staying calm.

But suddenly, a terrifying sound of thunder erupted.

Boom!

The earth trembled.

Endless purple light flashed continuously.

The entire Red Leaf City and the surrounding land for thousands of miles seemed to be bathed in a purple glow.

The world was awash in purple.

Xiao Xing’s light yellow gown was also tinged with purple, and her face showed a mixture of shock and confusion.

The ground shook violently, and the wine bottles and teacups on the table shattered into pieces.

The sudden clap of thunder lit up the world in brilliant colors.

"What happened?"

"What’s going on?"

"Is it a battle between true gods?"

The cultivators in Red Leaf Pavilion rushed outside.

The cultivators of Hua Ye City also looked toward the source of the sound.

Xiao Xing continued to play the suona, but she opened the window and looked into the distance.

Her eyes widened in shock.

"What’s going on? What happened?" Madam Liu asked anxiously from behind.

"It’s... Wuqiong Mountain, Wuqiong Mountain... it’s gone!" Xiao Xing’s eyes were wide, filled with disbelief.

"What? Wuqiong Mountain is gone? That’s impossible!" Madam Liu was equally shocked.

Wuqiong Mountain housed an evil god camp, with a great venerable overseeing it, along with hundreds of evil gods.

And now, that entire camp had been wiped out by a single thunderbolt!

Could it have been the work of a supreme power?

Madam Liu was in a panic, desperate for the spell binding her to break so she could see Wuqiong Mountain for herself.

"It must have been a Venerable of at least the fifth or sixth step, one who specializes in thunder magic! Only someone like that could have wiped out Wuqiong Mountain in a single blow!" Madam Liu was filled with emotion, her eyes moist with tears.

After so many years, she had finally witnessed a righteous master taking action against the evil gods!

How could she not be moved?

"Who could it be?" Madam Liu wondered aloud.

Xiao Xing was equally moved.

She played the suona, tears streaming down her face, laughing and crying at the same time.

But just then, a lazy voice echoed through Hua Ye City.

"Where do you think you’re going, little evil god?"

In the sky, a handsome young man in a green robe with long hair cascading like a waterfall and a blood-red sword on his back appeared.

The purple light had not yet dissipated, casting a violet hue over his robes, making him look even more dignified, like a young celestial emperor.

An evil god’s body was frozen in midair, trapped within Zhu Zhuangshi’s embryonic divine domain.

The evil god’s divine apertures were blocked, making it impossible to channel his divine power.

He looked at Qi Yuan with terror in his eyes.

"Monster! Monster!"

"What did you do to the camp? How did you destroy it?"

The evil god screamed in fear, trembling, utterly unable to comprehend.

That was Wuqiong Mountain, home to an army of true gods.

A Venerable, over sixty third-step gods, and more than three hundred true gods.

All of them were obliterated in an instant by that terrifying thunderbolt.

Not a single true god had escaped, not even the Venerable.

He had survived only because he was investigating the Foodless Sect and was not at the camp during the attack.

He couldn’t understand any of this.

Qi Yuan looked at the evil god, a smile forming on his handsome face, making him appear even more eerie under the purple light.

"I’m just here to fish."

Knowing that slaughtering the evil gods of Feng and Lin Countries would provoke a response from the evil god camps, Qi Yuan had a simple solution: wipe out the camps before they could retaliate.

So, Qi Yuan had brought Zhu Zhuangshi to Hua Ye City and used a Taiyin Thunder Pearl to destroy the evil god camp.

In the ancestral land, Qi Yuan had obtained a bottle of Taiyin Thunder Pearls.

These were used for fishing.

There were eight pearls, each capable of killing a Venerable-level fish.

This time, Qi Yuan had used one on Wuqiong Mountain, limiting its range to ensure the camp was completely obliterated.

Not a single evil god had escaped.

"And you, a stray fish, must die too," Qi Yuan said softly as his sword flashed out, instantly cutting down the evil god trapped in the embryonic divine domain.

All the cultivators in Hua Ye City who witnessed this were stunned, their hearts filled with shock, fear, or excitement.

Xiao Xing was frozen in place, staring at the magnificent figure in the sky, her eyes reddening. "It was him... the guest... he destroyed Wuqiong Mountain!"

She remembered what Madam Liu had said, that the guest wanted to kill someone and needed to hear the suona first.

The people he killed were the hundreds of evil gods from Wuqiong Mountain.

And the suona they listened to was the one she played.

Her heart was filled with a mix of excitement and complex emotions. If she had known, she would have played even harder, putting her all into it.

Only then would she have been worthy of the guest’s righteous slaughter of the evil gods.

"People of Hua Ye City, hello. I was just here to fish. Keep eating your meals and flirting with your girls. Don’t mind me. Next time I come by, I’ll treat you all to a feast."

Qi Yuan’s voice echoed throughout Hua Ye City.

After speaking, he and Zhu Zhuangshi vanished in a flash of light.

There were other evil god camps nearby, and Qi Yuan needed to hurry before they learned of what had happened here and scattered. Otherwise, he would lose a lot of profit.

The figures in the sky disappeared, but the purple light still bathed the city.

Everyone who heard the voice was left in awe, their hearts filled with a sense of wonder that would linger for a lifetime.

…

Qing Shui Village.

Night had fallen.

Shenlei Venerable looked at the few ancient gods before him, seething with anger.

"You’ve got some nerve, wiping out the evil gods of Feng and Lin Countries!"

The ancient gods who had carried out the one-day plan to slaughter a hundred gods had just returned.

The Thunder God Venerable was furious, scolding them as soon as they met.

It was as if he were blaming them for not stopping Qi Yuan.

The younger twin sister, known for her fiery temper, wasn’t one to back down. "Why don’t you go talk to the Lord when he gets back?"

Convincing Qi Yuan? They knew they couldn’t do it.

Shenlei Venerable was furious. "Where’s Qi Yuan? Why isn’t he back yet?"

He was really worried.

At dusk, the Dusk Venerable had arrived with a group of true gods to offer support, but they hadn’t even seen Qi Yuan.

Shenlei Venerable and the others had spent half an hour discussing their plan.

They had decided to hold off the evil god camps at all costs, allowing Qi Yuan and the eight gods who had mastered myth-level divine visualization techniques to escape to the North Sea Divine Eye.

They were ready to sacrifice themselves, just waiting for Qi Yuan to return.

But while the other ancient gods had come back, Qi Yuan was still missing.

Shenlei Venerable couldn’t help but feel anxious.

"Don’t worry, the Lord is wise. He won’t put himself in danger," the Ancient God of Wangsong reassured him.

He had unwavering faith in Qi Yuan.

"If he doesn’t come back soon, the next to arrive in Flying Dance City will be the evil god camp!" Shenlei Venerable said, exasperated.

Qi Yuan was too unreliable, making him worry constantly.

He had thought he was reckless, but compared to Qi Yuan, he was nothing!

Qi Yuan was the epitome of recklessness!

Just after returning from the ancestral land, he had gone to hunt down Zhang Feng. After killing Zhang Feng, he had a meal and then set off on a thousand-mile journey to slaughter over a hundred true gods in Feng and Lin Countries.

Now, if someone told Shenlei Venerable that Qi Yuan was off attacking an evil god camp, he would believe it.