15 THE INVERTED GOLDEN PAGODA (1/2)
”T-This is…”
Genius!
Xiao Wu gaped in astonishment. Although the golden-eyed boy had specified these methods had been thought up by the Evil Saint, she was still shocked. After all, this youth that looked not too much older than her had been able to easily phrase the concept in a manner that even a child like her could understand!
”Atta girl! Want a sip?” Cheng Hao laughed happily and jokingly offered the gourd containing wine to the green-eyed girl.
The girl's mouth twitched slightly as she edged backwards. ”Sorry… I, don't really like alcoholic beverages that much. As a matter of fact, even the smell alone is enough to make me want to vomit.”
Actually… why is a kid like you drinking something alcoholic in the first place?
”Hahaha, sure, sure… Just wait 'til you get older and the hormones start acting up. You'll understand what you missed now then. Then again, it might be the best if a child like you does not drink too much, it might develop into some serious addiction later on.” He downed another mouthful: it looked like the jug was also special and could hold in a large amount of the liquid.
Exactly! So you do understand that it's immoral! And yet, why do you keep drinking like a sponge?
Seeing that Xiao Wu was quick and smart enough to process this much information, Cheng Hao decided to kick it up a notch and enter the grand finale. He opened his mouth, and the lecture resumed, ”Now for the Core, why is it so difficult to form the Core?”
Xiao Wu quickly answered, ”Because the quality of the Qi is so high that it is difficult to compress and it takes both a lot of mental energy and enlightenment to accomplish it.”
”Yup. And why is the Qi this 'dense'?”
Xiao Wu smiled as she knew the answer ”Because it is really pure!” Hearing her own words, the girl stopped and frowned. ”Pure… wait, so does this mean that making a Core early on is actually easier than when doing it later in the Advanced stage? I remember you also mentioned a problem like that earlier in your story, something about the Core once being condensed into the Ageless Realm and then being pushed back because of the same reason!”
”Good girl! To think you'd listen to all that rambling from a drunk kid, I underestimated you!” Cheng Hao's eyes glittered as he let out a few words of praise that came from his heart. Of course, he was not drunk and it was just a joke, as his will and mental power the result of two lifetimes plus an extra soul was enough for him to remain lucid even were he to drink whole barrels' worth of wine. It was a small yet pleasant benefit of 'dying'.
Xiao Wu beamed but noticed the boy had yet to confirm her theory. She frowned, ”So?”
”So? Of course, your hypothesis is absolutely, one hundred percent… Correct! What we are about to do is exactly this: Qi sensing, followed by Spiritual Energy Absorption, creation of a Qi Sea and, finally, the condensation of our dear Pseudo-Core! Oh, I say Pseudo-Core because it wouldn't be the real Core. No, it is a fake and fake it will remain for the whole length of its existence… which will actually be surprisingly long! For, in the nearby future, it will almost have as much of a big use as the real one, if not even more! At the same time, when we finally do step into the Basic and Advanced stage, which will be not too far off in the future, we will still be able to create a real Qi Sea and also a real Core. Actually, this experience will make it even easier for us to build the real thing later on, for we will already know the process!”
Cheng Hao went to drink from the jug once again, only to find out to his dismay that the wine had already been downed up to its very last drop. He sighed and took out another gourd, In the meanwhile he did not stop talking and continued his lecture, ”Since the Pseudo-Core isn't as pure as the real deal and will be powered by Inferior Qi, it will be much more unstable. We will even need to use a lot more Spiritual Energy to charge it up when compared to what would usually be expended at the Inferior Stage. However, the power will remain roughly the same as the real deal, only lacking slightly in consistency and duration. With some help to help us take care of that…”
”Inferior Stage will battle Advanced Stage!”
”Inferior Stage will BEAT Advanced Stage!”