Yan Luoluo abruptly opened her eyes, greeted by a glaring crimson.
Lowering her head, she realized she was dressed in a magnificent bright red bridal gown, her head covered with a veil embroidered with golden phoenixes. Her hands were bound with a silk ribbon, and she was sitting inside a swaying bridal sedan chair.
"What is going on?!"
She yanked off the veil and pulled aside the sedan curtain. The streets on both sides were crammed with onlookers, and ahead of them—strikingly—stood the vermilion gates of the imperial palace!
"I've transmigrated back into the original plot?!"
Before she could sort through her thoughts, the sedan chair came to a halt, and the matchmaker helped her step through the palace gates. Through the gap in her veil, she saw her parents standing to the side, their eyes red and brimming with reluctance.
Madam Yan gripped her hand with a tremble: "Luoluo... it's your parents' fault, we're useless..."
Yan Luoluo's heart gave a jolt.
This was the very day from the original story when "Yan Luoluo" was forced into marriage with the imperial palace!
In the original novel, the sixteen-year-old "Yan Luoluo" was timid and obedient. After becoming the crown princess, she suffered endless cold treatment, and was eventually humiliated over her "ruined spiritual roots," dragging her entire family into an execution that wiped out all nine clans...
"Hmph," Yan Luoluo sneered, anger kindling in the depths of her eyes.
She was no original character to be carved up at will!
Inside the bedchamber, red candles burned brightly, yet it was completely empty.
Yan Luoluo ripped off her veil and surveyed her surroundings—a bed carved with dragons and phoenixes, a table laden with bridal wine, spring scrolls hanging on the walls...
"Tsk, is this their taste?"
With a flick of her fingertip, a wisp of spiritual power reduced the spring scrolls to ashes.
A commotion rose outside the door. The crown prince pushed his way in, reeking of alcohol, surrounded by a throng of eunuchs and maids.
"My, my beloved consort... Your Prince has arrived..." The crown prince's face was greasy, his steps unsteady, his leering eyes sizing her up.
Yan Luoluo gave a faint smile and suddenly raised her hand—
"Boom!"
Her bridal gown was instantly shattered by a surge of spiritual power, revealing the **snow-white disciple uniform of the Lingxiao Sect** beneath. Her long hair was tied up high, the jade pendant at her waist shimmering with brilliant light. The entire person stood like a sword drawn from its sheath, sharp and unmasked!
"Who the hell wants to marry a good-for-nothing like you?" She kicked the bridal wine over with a crash and sneered, "You can't govern the country with your pen, nor can you secure the nation with your sword; all you know day in and day out is eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling—do you even deserve to marry me?!"
Silence fell over the room.
The crown prince's face turned livid as he pointed a trembling finger at her: "Y-You actually dare..."
"Dare what?" Yan Luoluo arched a brow. "Is speaking the truth considered treason now?"
The emperor flew into a furious rage and immediately ordered the capture of the Yan and Liu families, sentencing all nine clans to death for the crime of "lese-majesty"!
At the execution grounds, Yan Luoluo's parents were locked in heavy iron chains, kneeling before the guillotine.
"Luoluo... run..." Old Master Yan cried out with a hoarse voice.
Yan Luoluo trembled all over, not from fear, but from rage—
Her dantian suddenly grew as scalding as boiling water!
She let out a long howl toward the heavens. The spiritual power around her churned madly, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth like a giant whale swallowing the sea. Though her meridians burned with agony and blood seeped from her skin, she paid it no heed.
"Qi Refining Level 4... Level 6... Level 9... Great Perfection!"
Her cultivation climbed step by step, finally halting at the Qi Refining stage Great Perfection!
"Nobody lays a hand on my family while I, Yan Luoluo, am here!"
She formed her fingers into a sword, and a dazzling golden beam slashed toward the guillotine—
"Bang!"
Yan Luoluo bolted upright from her bed, drenched in cold sweat.
She looked down at her hands; her cultivation was still at Qi Refining Level 3, but a lingering scorching heat remained in her dantian.
Outside the window, morning light was breaking.
Ye Wuchen's voice came calmly from outside the door: "Luoluo, it's time to cultivate."
Yan Luoluo clenched her fists and suddenly smiled.
"Master, today I want to learn 'breaking ten thousand techniques with a single sword'."
(High up in the clouds, the Heavenly Dao nodded in satisfaction: "The girl has finally figured it out!")
Yan Luoluo stood in front of the cave abode, her fingertip unconsciously rubbing the jade pendant at her waist.
Ye Wuchen's cave abode was situated upon the core spiritual veins of the Lingxiao Sect, surrounded by rolling clouds and mists, with spiritual energy so dense it nearly condensed into droplets of water. This was the most spiritually potent place in the entire sect, and where Ye Wuchen usually retreated into closed-door cultivation. Now, he had actually handed it over to her.
"Ten years," she repeated the time limit under her breath, her fingers tightening slightly.
Ten years was merely a snap of the fingers to a cultivator, but for her, it was a life-or-death period of transformation.
She could no longer afford to fish for three days and dry her nets for two like before.
That dream had been far too real—her parents pressed down upon the execution platform, the blade of the executioner flashing with cold light, while she could only watch helplessly, powerless to act.
She would never allow such despair to happen in reality!
Taking a deep breath, Yan Luoluo pushed open the stone door of the cave abode.
Inside, spiritual energy rushed toward her like a tidal wave.
Yan Luoluo sat cross-legged, formed hand seals, and circulated the *Hùndùn Heart Scripture*. This was a cultivation method Ye Wuchen had specifically modified for her, one that could maximize the traits of her Hùndùn spiritual roots.
At first, everything went smoothly. Spiritual energy poured into her body in an endless stream, traveling along her meridians and eventually converging into her dantian.
Yet very soon, she discovered a problem—
Her dantian was like a bottomless pit!
No matter how much spiritual energy she absorbed, it was like pouring water into a desert, swallowed up completely in the blink of an eye.
"Isn't this a bit too absurd?" Yan Luoluo opened her eyes, fine beads of sweat dotting her brow.
She tried increasing her absorption rate, only for her meridians to burst into a tearing pain that nearly caused her to faint.
"No, brute-forcing it like this will damage my foundations."
After pondering for a moment, she changed her strategy—instead of rushing to elevate her cultivation, she focused on **widening her meridians**.
Day after day, she guided the spiritual energy to circulate within her body, scouring every single meridian bit by bit.
The process was painful and lengthy, akin to polishing flesh and blood with sandpaper. Yet a year later, when Yan Luoluo looked inward once more, she joyfully discovered—
Her meridians were three times wider than before!
Both the speed and capacity of her spiritual power circulation had drastically increased, which meant that when she cast spells in the future, their might would be greater while their consumption would be lower.
"At least the suffering wasn't for nothing." She wiped away her sweat and broke into a satisfied smile.
The bottleneck of the Qi Refining Great Perfection was far harder to break through than Yan Luoluo had imagined.
No matter how hard she tried, her dantian remained like an unfillable abyss, forever unable to cross that threshold.
"Where exactly is the shortfall?"
Fretful, she stood up and began pacing inside the cave abode. The stone walls were covered with the formations and sword techniques she had practiced over the years, densely packed like a massive star chart.
Suddenly, her gaze landed on the unfinished Taiji formation in the corner—
The dual fish of yin and yang, head and tail biting each other.
"Wait..."
A flash of insight crossed Yan Luoluo's mind.
Did the Hùndùn spiritual roots, encompassing all things, not represent the ultimate manifestation of yin and yang complementing one another?
She immediately sat down cross-legged, gathered spiritual power at her fingertips, and carved a complete Taiji formation upon the floor.
As the formation formed, she began to practice Taiji fist—
Her movements were slow and fluid, smooth as flowing clouds and moving water. Every single posture subtly aligned with the trajectory of the formation, forming a perfect circulation of spiritual power both inside and outside her body.
"Stillness within motion, motion within stillness..."
"Only when yin and yang beget each other is it the Great Dao!"
"Boom—"
It was as though something within her had shattered, and the bottleneck that had fettered her for years finally loosened!
Yan Luoluo's aura climbed step by step, the spiritual power around her churning like waves before finally condensing into a sea of spiritual liquid within her dantian—
Foundation Establishment, achieved!
Following her Foundation Establishment, Yan Luoluo began experimenting with alchemy.
Ye Wuchen had left behind a bronze alchemy cauldron in the cave abode, along with a few basic pill formulas.
On her very first attempt at firing the cauldron, full of confidence, she followed the steps in *Primary Alchemy*—
With a "bang," the cauldron blew up.
With a head of charred hair, Yan Luoluo stared blankly at the ruined mess all over the floor.
"...Was the heat too high?"
On her second attempt, she carefully controlled the flames, but due to unstable spiritual power output, she brewed a batch of pitch-black residue.
On the third attempt, the medicinal properties conflicted, and the cauldron simply froze over.
"This is way too hard!"
She stamped her foot in frustration, but quickly calmed down. Pondering the reasons for each failure, she realized—
The problem lay in her Hùndùn spiritual roots!
Ordinary cultivators possessed a single attribute of spiritual power, making heat control relatively easy. Her spiritual power, however, encompassed everything, and the slightest carelessness would trigger a conflict of medicinal properties.
"Looks like I'll have to carve out a different path..."
After long deliberation, Yan Luoluo was suddenly struck by an inspiration—
Since the trait of her spiritual power was "inclusivity," why not do the exact opposite?
Instead of forcibly suppressing the attributes of her spiritual power, she would guide them to fuse naturally!
This time, she closed her eyes and manipulated the flames entirely by feel.
As her spiritual power flowed, the five attributes of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth harmonized with one another, actually forming a miniature five-element circulation inside the cauldron.
A faint medicinal fragrance gradually permeated the air...
"It's done!"
Looking at the plump Qi-Gathering Pill in the palm of her hand, Yan Luoluo beamed from ear to ear.
Though it was merely a most basic tier-four medicinal pill, its significance was extraordinary—
It meant she had found her very own path of alchemy!
In the late stage of closed-door cultivation, Yan Luoluo's cultivation had already reached the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection.
On this day, as she practiced her sword techniques, a sudden inspiration stirred within her—
The longsword in her hand no longer felt like an external object, but rather an extension of her own limbs. Every slash carried mysterious trajectories, as if she were sketching the fundamental principles of heaven and earth.
"This is..."
Struck by a flash of spiritual enlightenment, she fused the gentle force of Taiji with the sharpness of swordsmanship, self-creating an entirely new set of sword techniques—
Hùndùn Sword Intent!
With a single sword strike, yin and yang followed, rigidity and flexibility blending as one.
There were no fixed stances, yet it harbored infinite variations.
"Boom!"
The sword-testing stone was cleaved apart by a single stroke, its cross-section smooth as a mirror.
Yan Luoluo withdrew her sword and stood upright, a brilliant light flashing in her eyes.
"Finally... I've touched the threshold of the Golden Core."
One month prior to the Immortal Sect Grand Tournament, Yan Luoluo began her assault on the Golden Core.
She actively drew down the tribulation lightning, nine bolts of heavenly lightning crashing down in succession.
Each bolt contained both destruction and vitality, tearing her skin and flesh apart, only for them to be transformed into the purest energy under the devouring power of her Hùndùn spiritual roots.
"Come again!"
She let out a long cry to the heavens, bathed in blood yet blazing with fighting spirit.
When the final bolt of tribulation lightning fell, deep within Yan Luoluo's dantian, a dazzling Golden Core finally took form!
"I succeeded..."
Collapsing onto the floor in exhaustion, she gazed at the heavenly light filtering down through the top of the cave abode, a relieved smile curving the corners of her lips.
Ten years of closed-door cultivation, and she had finally achieved the Golden Core!
(In the neighboring cave abode, sensing the tribulation lightning dissipate, Ye Wuchen slowly opened his eyes, a trace of gratification flashing through his gaze.)