Chapter 105: Chapter 105 - The Divided Origins and the Golden Core Problem
Nearby, Lu Canghai was still drinking tea. Then he noticed Su Bai’s expression.
The old man’s smile slowly faded.
"Disciple?"
Su Bai lifted his head. His expression was complicated.
"Master."
Lu Canghai put down the teacup.
"What is it?"
Su Bai was silent for a moment.
Then he said carefully, "I may have found the first problem before Golden Core."
Lu Canghai’s expression became serious.
"What problem?"
Su Bai looked inward again at his completely Yin spiritual sea.
Then he looked at his master.
"My Dantian has no Yang."
Lu Canghai froze.
The wind over Clear Cloud Peak also seemed to stop.
A moment later, Lu Canghai’s eyes widened.
"No Yang?"
Su Bai nodded slowly.
"None."
Lu Canghai stared at him.
After a long silence, the old man’s expression became strange.
He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again.
Finally, he stood.
"Come here. Let me examine your body."
Su Bai did not hesitate. He stood and walked over.
Lu Canghai extended two fingers.
Su Bai offered his wrist.
A thread of diagnostic Qi entered Su Bai’s meridians.
The moment it did, Su Bai felt the Yin-Crystal Asteroid Dao Pedestal inside his Dantian stir faintly.
Su Bai immediately suppressed its defensive reaction.
The diagnostic Qi moved carefully through Su Bai’s meridians.
Lu Canghai’s expression changed.
First, he frowned.
Then his brows rose.
Then his eyes narrowed.
Then his mouth twitched.
Then his expression became so complicated that Su Bai could not tell whether his master wanted to laugh, curse, sigh, or hit someone.
After a long while, Lu Canghai withdrew his Qi. His face was indescribable.
Su Bai waited quietly.
Lu Canghai stared at him.
Then he muttered, "Just as I suspected..."
Su Bai’s heart sank slightly.
Before he could ask, Lu Canghai suddenly raised his head and roared toward the sky.
"Su Qingshan, you bastard!"
The shout echoed across Clear Cloud Peak. A few birds in the distance immediately fled.
Su Bai froze.
This was the first time he had heard his master shout like this. This was anger mixed with helplessness.
And the name he shouted was not random.
Su Bai hesitated, then curiosity won.
"Master... what happened? How is my biological father connected to this?"
Lu Canghai took a very long breath.
He looked at Su Bai with an expression rarely seen on his face.
"My disciple," Lu Canghai said slowly, "do not be shocked by what I am about to say."
Su Bai tilted his head slightly.
Not be shocked in this cultivation world?
He had transmigrated. He had gained a system. He cultivated by eating things that should kill people.
At this point, Su Bai felt his resistance to shock was rather high.
Still, he nodded.
"I understand, Master."
Lu Canghai looked at him.
Then he finally said, "I fear... you are not entirely human."
Su Bai froze. He was indeed shocked.
Su Bai looked down at his hands, then at his body, then inward at his Dantian.
After a moment, he looked back at Lu Canghai.
"What does that mean, Master? What am I, then?"
Lu Canghai’s expression became even more complicated.
"I do not know."
Su Bai blinked.
Lu Canghai rubbed his forehead.
"I do not know what your father encountered to give birth to you."
Su Bai almost choked.
Lu Canghai waved his hand.
"Do not look at me like that. Your father disappeared into the Great Fissure for decades. When he returned, he brought you back. He did not explain your mother. He did not explain your constitution. He did not explain why your body looked human but refused to behave like one."
The old man’s eyes narrowed.
"He simply handed you over and left behind a pile of trouble wrapped in silence."
Su Bai fell silent. That did sound irresponsible.
However, after the first shock passed, Su Bai discovered something strange.
He was not as shaken as he expected.
Not entirely human?
So what?
His body felt human enough to him.
Whether he had some other bloodline or strange origin hidden inside him did not change the fact that he still had to solve the Golden Core problem.
So Su Bai asked the most important question.
"Master, does that mean I cannot gather Yang?"
Lu Canghai paused.
Then his face became more serious.
"No. That is not the problem."
Su Bai looked at him.
Lu Canghai pointed at him.
"You have Yang."
Su Bai frowned slightly.
"But my Dantian—"
"Your Dantian has none," Lu Canghai said. "That part is true."
He then pointed at Su Bai’s body.
"But you only looked inward. You did not look outward."
Su Bai lowered his gaze.
Lu Canghai continued, "Your spiritual sea is pure Yin. Completely Yin. I do not know what kind of bloodline or origin can create such a thing, but that part of you is not ordinary."
Then he tapped Su Bai’s shoulder lightly.
"But this physical body of yours is the opposite."
Su Bai’s eyes changed.
Lu Canghai said slowly, "Your flesh, bones, organs, and body foundation are filled with Yang. Not ordinary Yang traces, but pure Yang vitality. It is as if every bit of Yang that should have entered your Dantian was redirected into your body."
Su Bai’s breath slowed.
Lu Canghai looked at him deeply.
"This is only my guess. But from what I can see, your human side is carrying the Yang, while your other origin is carrying the Yin. In other words, you are not simply lacking Yang. Your Yin and Yang are divided by origin."
Su Bai became silent.
He had heard of cultivators with Yin-heavy bodies.
He had heard of cultivators with Yang-heavy bodies.
He had heard of people needing to balance eighty percent Yin and twenty percent Yang, or the reverse.
But this?
One side one hundred percent Yin. The other side one hundred percent Yang.
Was that balance? Or was that a disaster politely waiting for the right moment?
Seeing Su Bai’s confusion, Lu Canghai suddenly laughed.
"Gahaha. Do not make that face. From a certain perspective, you are balanced."
Su Bai looked at him.
Lu Canghai spread his hands.
"Your Dantian is pure Yin. Your body is pure Yang. Add them together, and you are not lacking either side."
Su Bai was quiet.
That did not sound comforting.
Lu Canghai’s smile faded slightly.
"But your balance is not like ordinary cultivators."
He lifted his teacup, then paused.
After thinking for a moment, he put it back down.
"This part requires attention."
Su Bai nodded.
Lu Canghai said, "A normal cultivator gathers Yin Qi and Yang Qi inside the Dantian. They refine both in the spiritual sea. When they reach peak Foundation Establishment, Dao Fire is born. That Dao Fire melts the Dao Pedestal, and the mixed Yin-Yang essence condenses into the Golden Core."
He drew a small circle in the air with his finger.
A faint cloud of Qi formed. Half black. Half white.
The two colors slowly swirled together.
"For ordinary cultivators, the Golden Core is formed inside the Dantian. Their Yin and Yang meet there. They blend there. They become one there."
The cloud circle condensed into a small sphere.
"Like this."
Su Bai watched carefully.
Lu Canghai then waved his sleeve.
The sphere dissolved.
"But you cannot do it that way."
Su Bai’s expression became serious.
"Because my Dantian has no Yang."
"Correct," Lu Canghai said. "If you try to form a Golden Core using only your Dantian, it will be pure Yin. It may condense, but it will not be stable in the proper sense. It may become too cold, too brittle, or attract a tribulation you cannot predict."
He pointed at Su Bai’s chest and body.
"But if you force the Yang from your body into your Dantian recklessly, that may be even worse."
Su Bai understood.
His body and Dantian were not lightly imbalanced.
They were completely separated extremes.
If they met suddenly, the result might not be harmony.
It might be explosion.
Lu Canghai’s tone became solemn.
"Currently, your Yin and Yang do not truly meet. That is why you are still alive and stable."
Su Bai’s eyelids twitched.
That sentence did not sound pleasant.
Lu Canghai continued, "They exist in the same person, but they are like two sealed chambers. Each is extreme, but neither has fully invaded the other."
He paused.
"When you form your Golden Core, that separation cannot remain unchanged. The core must connect your foundation, body, soul, and Dao path. Sooner or later, your Yin and Yang must acknowledge each other."
Su Bai asked quietly, "And if they do not?"
Lu Canghai looked at him.
"Then your Golden Core will not be complete."
Su Bai nodded slowly.
He lowered his head and began thinking.
’Standard users took Yin and Yang code, put them in the same folder, and compressed everything into a single perfect Golden Core file. The physical body was just the hard drive storing the file.’
But his situation was different.
His Yin code was in the Dantian folder. His Yang code had somehow been installed directly into the body hardware.
If he tried to compress only the Dantian folder, the Golden Core file would be missing half its data. If he tried to drag the Yang code in all at once, the entire system might crash.
Su Bai felt tired.
His breakthrough to Golden Core had just become extremely complicated.
