Pseudo-Core

The Night Arena had a dedicated infirmary for injured contestants to heal.

The three of them, having been scorched and frozen by the Tier 4 Earth Fire and Golden Core stage ice spiritual energy, were finally drained of all strength, barely distinguishable as human figures.

After the competition ended, helpers deftly moved them back to the infirmary.

Su Qing vaguely heard someone shouting in her ear, “Wealth is coming, wealth is coming, ahem, I mean patients are coming!”

Someone walked over, their footsteps so light they made no sound. Only when their divine sense drew near did she investigate. T

heir tone was quite disdainful. “What wealth? Let me see. Ugh, it’s Body Cultivators, and three of them. A nest of poverty. I say, why not just leave them to their own devices? Body Cultivators have thick skin and flesh anyway; they won’t die immediately.”

“I say, dear madam, they are Body Cultivators, not Corpse Cultivators. How could they not die? Treat them first. If there’s no money, then we’ll talk about no money. At worst, we’ll just detain them to work off their debt.”

“That’s too much trouble. I don’t want them.”

‘Work? What kind of work?’

Su Qing felt a bit triggered at the mention of that word. She wanted to open her mouth and tell them to leave her there.

Although half of her body was burnt dry by the fire, the other half was still there; she wouldn’t die.

But she forgot that her vocal cords were burned away, so she couldn’t speak.

She wanted to raise her hand, indicating that they shouldn’t treat her, she couldn’t afford it, she was giving up on treatment.

Who knew that her actions would be interpreted as a plea for help, causing the voice to become even more excited. “Look how badly she’s hurt, her fingers are still twitching. How strong her will to live is!”

“Indeed, she’s twitching quite vigorously.” That person’s tone was somewhat surprised. “I’m not a bad person either. Since that’s the case, I, your older sister, will reluctantly treat her. Treating one is treating, treating three is the same. Bring them all in.”

To be honest, Su Qing was beaten to the ground, stabbed by swords, frozen by ice, and scorched by fire in the arena.

Although she felt pain, none of it stung as much as hearing that she might owe a debt and have to stay here to work it off.

Only those who had worked before knew that working was truly painful.

When Su Qing opened her eyes again, she found herself in a bath filled with a thick, silvery-white medicinal liquid.

The liquid enveloped her body, seeping inwards little by little through the cracks in her skin, a needle-like, subtle pain slightly alleviating the itch of new flesh growing.
Tang Yueling and Tian Ning each leaned against a side of the tub, both with tightly closed eyes and slightly furrowed brows, presumably enduring the pain.

After soaking in this medicinal bath for an unknown duration, her previously charred skin had already formed scabs.

Tian Ning recovered more quickly, her new skin already grown, gleaming with a translucent, jade-like luster.

She was truly exhausted and sleepy, all her spiritual energy overdrawn.

Coupled with having not rested since her breakthrough, constantly pushing herself, she hadn’t woken up. Her eyelashes drooped in deep slumber, unwilling to open.

Perhaps she was the one who gained the most from this fire body tempering.

Su Qing also felt she gained a lot.

It was evident from her dantian, now refilled with spiritual energy.

Her realm had loosened; she estimated she could break through another layer after some time.

She suppressed the urge to scratch her scabs, but couldn’t resist dipping a little medicinal liquid into her mouth to taste it.

The flavors of Golden Sun Grass, Jade Birth Flower, and White Moon Silver Steel were obvious, but she couldn’t distinguish the remaining medicinal ingredients.

And just these three things were very expensive.

A small, pinky-finger-long hundred-year-old Golden Sun Grass cost two thousand spirit stones.

Jade Birth Flower was outrageously expensive, its price calculated by the petal.

As for White Moon Silver Steel, that was the raw material for the arena.

They really used whatever was at hand. ‘Wait, speaking of which, will she have to pay for the destroyed arena too?’

She hadn’t forgotten the Night Arena’s pricing rules; things here were three times the price outside.

‘No way?’

It was all a false alarm; such a thing wouldn’t happen.

Su Qing silently submerged her head into the medicinal liquid as well.

Even at this point, she hadn’t forgotten that body tempering without mind tempering was like cultivating the body without cultivating the heart.

Since things had come to this, she might as well enjoy it first.

She thought for a moment and also summoned her Man Qing Sword.

The silver-white greatsword soaked in the medicinal liquid, beginning to feed with some excitement.

After all, White Moon Silver Steel was a Tier 3 top-grade rare spiritual ore.

If Man Qing Sword could also enjoy some benefits…

Midway through, someone came in to add more medicine.

This person was likely the one who took them in for treatment and intended to keep them working to repay their debt.

This person was carelessly dressed in a long robe, with dark hair except for two pure white locks at the temples.

Their face was completely devoid of wrinkles, a very smooth and youthful visage.

In the cultivation world, judging age by appearance was the most foolish thing to do.

Su Qing couldn’t discern her age or cultivation, presumably because the other party’s realm was far above her own.

Judging by her demeanor, this person was not young and didn’t seem like a Sword School student.

At this moment, as if she hadn’t noticed Su Qing had woken up, she continued to add medicinal ingredients to the bath as if no one else was there, throwing handfuls in haphazardly like scattering feed to fish.

Su Qing clearly saw that the items were pills that Pill School students had failed to refine.

She had no doubt about this healer’s skill.

Instead, she felt enlightened.

Su Qing had long been hiding under Pill School alchemy furnaces, leeching off earth fire, and had overheard some knowledge about pills.

She knew that pills failed to refine mostly because the heat was not sufficient or the medicinal properties hadn’t fully fused, thus failing to form the desired pill.

Failed pills were not useless; if used in a medicinal bath, allowing their medicinal properties to slowly release, they could have unexpected effects.

The main point was that this method was inexpensive and saved spirit stones.

The person saw her staring intently and spoke first, “Little sister, what are you looking at? Although these are failed pills, they weren’t obtained for free. They’re all being accounted for, you know.”

Su Qing felt a sense of relief, as if a nightmare had come true.

She didn’t ask how many spirit stones it cost. Instead, she first asked about the person’s identity. “Is Your Excellency a teacher of the Sword School?”

“A teacher? No, not really.” The person raised an eyebrow, finding it amusing. “Although I used to have a very decent job, besides being a dog for someone else, I am currently unemployed. If Wang Quan is interested in inviting me, it’s not impossible. Anyway, teaching one person is teaching, teaching a group of people is teaching. At least I can still be a human.”

This person spoke with no intention of Su Qing responding. After adding the medicine, she left on her own accord.

This made Su Qing ponder her identity.

The lowest-ranking teacher in the Sword School had to be at least at the Spirit Transformation stage. This person’s tone was very confident, implying she had strong backing in terms of strength.

Half a day later, Tian Ning woke up first.

She silently opened her eyes, neither speaking nor moving. She quickly surveyed the current situation, then chose to close her eyes again, feigning sleep.

Su Qing knew she was feigning sleep, because her acting was terrible.

Her eyelids trembled ever so slightly, and her eyes gently quivered with them, making it obvious to anyone.

Especially when she realized Su Qing’s gaze was on her, her eyelashes almost fluttered like butterfly wings, and her pursed lips twitched slightly.

Open your eyes.

Su Qing had never seen such a rich expression on Tian Ning’s face.

She even feared her facial muscles would cramp from overexertion.

But she stubbornly held back, not opening her eyes.

This shows that no matter who it is, even the fearless Tian Ning, she will still pretend to be busy when she is embarrassed.

Su Qing withdrew her gaze, not making things difficult for her.

Tian Ning subtly breathed a sigh of relief.

Another half day passed, and Tang Yueling woke up. She woke up quickly, with a great deal of commotion. Her eyes snapped open, and the first words out of her mouth were, “What on earth is the reason!”

Her frustration was evident; even in her dreams, she was pondering the reason for Tian Ning’s abnormality.

With Tang Yueling’s intelligence, she naturally saw through Tian Ning’s feigned sleep at a glance.

But she wasn’t Su Qing; she couldn’t learn to turn a blind eye.

She slammed her hand into the medicinal liquid, splashing large waves.

Tang Yueling preemptively said, “I know you’re awake. It’s come to this, if you still hide anything, we’re done!”

They had fought, and they had proven themselves.

If, after all this, Tian Ning still wouldn’t speak, still believed they weren’t companions who could share worries and overcome difficulties together, and still insisted on shouldering everything alone, then Tang Yueling would truly be disheartened.

From then on, she would wash her hands of it and never bother again.

One must know that Tang Yueling was so frustrated that she didn’t even care about her own appearance.

If she were to discover a massive scar on her forehead, even if it could fade, she would be too horrified to speak. How could she wake up and disregard everything else, only to immediately ask for the reason?

Tian Ning suddenly opened her eyes.

Her expression was blank for a moment, then she softly uttered a “Hmm.”

Afterward, the air remained silent for a long time.

Before Tang Yueling could flare up, she finally organized her words and said, somewhat with difficulty yet calmly, “The Golden Core I formed is not a true Golden Core, but a pseudo-core.”

Tian Ning originally couldn’t utter these words, for they were too heavy, so heavy that all her claims to genius were crushed to dust.

A natural sword bone, a heavenly-grade ice spiritual root, a double lightning tribulation, and the Golden Core that ultimately formed… was a pseudo-core.

Pseudo-core, as the name suggests, is not a true Golden Core.

Although she successfully formed a core, and it superficially appeared almost identical to a true Golden Core, in reality, it was hollow internally, its power greatly diminished, its foundation unstable, and its path forward completely severed.

Although the Sword School didn’t have this tradition, some sects in the cultivation world divided the Golden Cores formed by cultivators into first-grade, second-grade, and third-grade Golden Cores based on their aptitude.

And her Golden Core, Tian Ning’s, wasn’t even the lowest third-grade Golden Core; it was a pseudo-core.

She couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Her life was simple, her loves and hates clear.

She cared about few things, and was indifferent to most.

But she had her pride, the dignity unique to a genius. She would not allow herself to halt her progress, much less fall into the mire.

If not for Tang Yueling and Su Qing’s insistence on understanding, their insistence on using fire and the warmth of their hands to melt away her inner turmoil, forcing her to expose a part of her true self, she would not have spoken.

Though the flames were fierce and burned her all over, true hearts fear no tempering by fire.

She understood this clearly, which is why she spoke.

“Pseudo-core?” Su Qing’s brow jumped violently, instantly understanding Tian Ning’s struggle.

Even though logically she knew Tian Ning didn’t want to see this, concern involuntarily showed in her gaze.

She instinctively wanted to hug her, to gently pat her back.

But before she could hug her, Tang Yueling grabbed and pulled her away. “Stop your hugging and embracing here. Do you think I’m not here?”

The way university students express emotions is more straightforward.

In Tang Yueling’s eyes, most of it had only one feeling: “Mawkish, mawkish, utterly mawkish.”

To this, Su Qing replied: ‘I won’t argue with you ancient people.’

Actually, after saying it out loud, her heart felt somewhat lighter.

Moreover, neither Su Qing nor Tang Yueling had gotten angry, which reduced Tian Ning’s initial guilt.

She had even been unable to distinguish which was more terrifying: the pseudo-core itself or the concealment of it causing her friends to get angry.

Tang Yueling’s attention was forcibly diverted. Her delicate brows furrowed, and she said gravely, “This is troublesome. Not to mention why it’s a pseudo-core, the only way to convert a pseudo-core to a Golden Core is to shatter the core and reform it. That means starting all over again.”