"I'll go too."

Before Qin Yue could ask any more questions, Lei Wuxin, braving the crackling lightning, walked to a spot not too far from Zhenru.

Qin Yue guessed that the two had made extraordinary progress, so he didn't say anything. He pointed them in a sparsely populated direction and stopped trying to persuade them.

The two of them flew away from their camp and did not go too far. They each found a place to stay in a mountain range outside the city, in two very different directions.

The most important aspects of advancing beyond the Golden Core stage are overcoming inner demons and tribulations.

The inner demon tribulation was practically nothing to Zhenru. The lightning tribulation was indeed powerful, but it was not enough for Zhenru, who had undergone a complete transformation and achieved immortality ahead of time.

She hid to advance her cultivation not only because she didn't want her tribulation lightning to affect others' advancement, but also because she didn't want the people of the Qingxuan Dao Sect to see too many clues about her.

After leaving the Ascension Tower, Zhenru could see the difference between her entry into the Ascension Tower and that of others.

It is said that ascending the tower is equivalent to ascending to immortality, but the Tower of Immortality is ultimately just an object; no matter how powerful it is, it can only enhance one's abilities, not create anything.

The Ascension Tower's ability to elevate cultivators depends on their individual strength, rather than raising everyone to the same level.

Therefore, although the Ascension Tower allows all those who enter the tower to absorb and use immortal energy after they come out, it can also use immortal energy to forge the cultivator's physical body.

Once it comes to forging a cultivator's physical body, the progress of each person begins to diverge.

People like Qin Yue, Lei Wuxin, and Mingxin Zhenren have definitely achieved immortality, but whether they have achieved it well, and the differences in other aspects besides immortality, are unknown.

The remaining bottom-ranked group are obviously only able to absorb immortal energy, or at most, not be eroded or harmed by immortal energy, and have made a major breakthrough in their physical cultivation.

Of course, this is already very good.

It's just that compared to the top talents like Zhenru, they're not quite up to par.

At this moment, Zhenru, who was able to see clearly, took the lead in releasing the suppression of his cultivation, allowing the immortal energy within his body to surge and flow.

At this critical juncture, a question suddenly came to mind.

She has the Golden Crow Space, which allows her to convert immortal energy, so advancing in cultivation shouldn't be a problem. But what about the others?

You can't just enter the Ascension Tower, fill your body with immortal power, and then continue to absorb spiritual energy to advance your cultivation level, can you?

Putting aside whether it's worth it or not, the very question of whether spiritual energy can even help someone successfully advance in their cultivation level is a big one.

However, Zhenru was just thinking about it. The fact that cultivators from other realms were so eager to get their hands on the Ascension Tower must mean there were only benefits and no drawbacks.

Once the mind sets aside this question, Zhenru can completely unleash his absorption and enter his advanced state.

She hadn't noticed it before, but after Zhenru started absorbing spiritual energy, she discovered that her body was different from before—the speed at which she could convert immortal energy was many times faster.

Previously, after expending all the immortal energy in his body, it would have taken Zhenru at least a whole day to fully replenish his power and return to his peak condition. At the current speed, although it is not as fast as replenishing spiritual energy, it is almost the same.

Zhenru was worried that the immortal energy would not be enough when she advanced, but now that she was absorbing it with all her might, she did not see that the immortal energy was insufficient. She knew that this trip to the Ascension Tower had probably benefited not only herself, but also the space itself.

With the worry of insufficient immortal energy gone, Zhenru finally relaxed completely. While circulating the immortal power within her body, she took out the fourth drop of Golden Crow essence blood and dripped it into the Golden Crow Ring on her right hand.

Zhenru's immortal power reserves were already sufficient, but he could not advance because he lacked the fourth drop of Golden Crow essence blood. Now, as the essence blood fell, the world suddenly changed color.

The celestial power that had been brewing for so long was now twisted into a single rope within Zhenru's body, launching a relentless attack on the golden core within his dantian.

The golden core was resilient, but it couldn't withstand the impact of the concentrated immortal power. After only three or five repetitions, a crack appeared on the surface of the naturally formed golden-red golden core that shone with a lustrous glow.

At the same time, Zhenru, who was mobilizing his power to attack the Golden Core, felt an excruciating pain.

Such pain might make many people lose their composure while forming hand seals, but for Zhenru, such pain was nothing. She merely frowned and mobilized even more intense immortal power to launch another attack on the golden core in the crack.

"Snap—"

The already cracked golden core could not withstand more than a few rounds of torment before it completely collapsed.

The completely shattered golden core turned into energy and attempted to dissipate. In the next instant, the immortal power that had previously attacked the golden core spread out in a large net, gathering those powers together, merging, penetrating, and squeezing them, and then transforming them into the will of the body's owner.

...

Knowing that he would not suffer from inner demons, Zhenru did not stop his hand movements after the core shattered. He changed his hand seals and began to prepare for the formation of the nascent soul.

However, the very moment Zhenru changed his hand gestures, the scene before him also changed.

"Xiao Jiu! Xiao Jiu! Quick, get out of here with me!"

As the sound reached her ears, Zhenru's wrist was grabbed, and she was dragged forward.

Zhenru frowned before even opening her eyes; she clearly knew why she was advancing in her cultivation level.

Weren't you supposed to be free of inner demons? What are you doing now?

As Zhenru opened her eyes and looked around, all she saw were broken walls and ruins, but she could still see familiar traces.

This place is truly the world in the dream of Zhenru at the Qingmeng Reincarnation Pool.

In that dream, everyone called her Xiao Jiu.

Moreover, the voice that called her sounded familiar to Zhenru—it was the one that Xiao Jiu called Ba Ge.

Looking up ahead, the figure pulling me along looked familiar, yet also somewhat unfamiliar.

It wasn't the same age I saw in my dream last time; it must be a myna bird that has grown up.

"Boom—Boom—Boom—"

While Zhenru was still in a daze, she felt the ground beneath her feet shake, and a series of booming sounds came from below.

She didn't know what had happened, nor could she ask questions of her own volition; she could only wait inside this body.

Xiao Jiu was clearly confused at first, but now, staggering, she finally realized what was happening and began to struggle violently.

"Myna, I'm not leaving!"

"They killed my older brother and sister, and now they're framing my father and mother! We're staying to take revenge!"

The myna bird didn't turn its head, ignoring the trembling ground, and its steps quickened instead.

"Revenge must be taken, but the prerequisite is to survive first."

As they were talking, another tremor came, this time accompanied by voices urging surrender:

"Wu Can, the crimes of your Golden Crow clan have already been judged. There is no point in your stubborn resistance."

"And what about your only sister, Wu Ling, the little princess of your Golden Crow clan? Can you bear to let her flee with your divine realm?"

"..."

The eight-legged beast Wu Can ignored what those people were saying; in fact, the more they talked, the stronger the hatred in his eyes became.

Zhenru, who shares a body with Wuling, can feel the bone-chilling anger, sorrow, and boundless hatred emanating from Wuling's body.

Zhenru still remembers that Wuling in the dream of the Qingmeng Reincarnation Pool was a carefree girl who was loved by her family and knew no sorrow every day.

Wu Ling is now facing the calamity of his family's destruction and his clan's extinction.

But what exactly was the calamity in between?