Liu Xing remembered a page from a book he had read. It stated something along these lines: "The Core Splitting realm earned its name because reaching the next stage within this realm requires splitting one's first core into two. The process of breaking through from the first stage to the second, the second to the third, and so forth, becomes increasingly complex with each iteration, yet the fundamental principle remains simple."
At that time, he remembered leaning closer to the book, as if it held secret knowledge. After all, the book he was reading focused on the Lock Opening realm, so this sudden mention of the Core Splitting realm felt abrupt, mysterious, yet enticing.
"One must split their first core into two. Whether in the first stage or the sixth, the fundamental requirement remains the same: split the first core into two. No other cores possess the ability to split themselves, and I don't even know the exact reason why. I only know that many have experimented with splitting other cores, and the results are never pretty. This significance of the first core is why some scholars believe it's the manifestation of our latent cultivation talent, locked by heaven. However, I have another theory. Some scoff at it, but I believe the first core is where our truest self, our origin, or our soul resides. Therefore, any change occurring in our consciousness and body must originate from there."
"When transitioning from the first stage of the Core Splitting realm to the second, one would witness something truly mind-boggling within their consciousness. This phenomenon remains largely misunderstood by cultivators worldwide. I believe the great sects possess a deeper understanding of this process, but even then, I suspect only immortals can fully explain its reality."
"The second core appears out of nowhere."
"It's as if someone used an illusion technique and slowly materialized it into reality. Which is absurd. Everything has an origin. Even qi. We absorb qi from the environment, yet that qi comes from something. Fire emits fire qi, water emits water qi, light emits light qi, and so on. And yet, even these sources originate from something. If we trace something back, like a rock, we can trace it to the point where reality blinked into existence. But the second core comes from nowhere. Nowhere, I tell you. The second core that appears is an exact replica of the first. There is no difference between them. Even their capacity is similarly full."
As the world around him slowed, Liu Xing peered into his consciousness and saw an illusory core suddenly form. He finally appreciated the author's sentiment. He had read that page several times, trying to memorize it, and thought he understood it. But now, he truly understood what the author had tried to convey, and the author was right—it was mind-boggling. Although his core was still in the process of splitting, he felt the illusory core emerge from nowhere. There was no trace of qi, no stirring in his consciousness, nothing. It was as if it had always been there. This fact made Liu Xing intensely curious.
Still, while he wanted to understand what was happening and where the illusory core came from, he didn't have time to observe it carefully. In the future, when he broke through from the second stage to the third stage of the Core Splitting realm, he would make sure to observe it closely. But right now, he needed to get through this and finally break through to the next stage.
As if the world agreed with Liu Xing, the slowed world sped up again. The rhythm of his breath remained synchronized with his consciousness, and his true core and the illusory core moved back and forth as if there were truly two cores, though one still behaved like a ghost while the other was real.
Out in the physical world, his six bullets hit the heart dead center. When they landed, six explosions bloomed in the middle of the giant heart, and it exploded into smithereens, with bits and pieces flying and blood bursting everywhere. Liu Xing summoned his shield and kicked it as hard as possible, launching himself away from the blood. He didn’t want to be covered in blood and reveal his position to Wei Yi.
The giant roared. Wei Yi, who peered in from below, also roared. The flesh wall around him began convulsing, and some of the organs shone with flickering light, as if they were dying bulbs. Liu Xing grinned. He believed destroying the heart wouldn't kill the giant instantly—after all, this giant was something truly extraordinary—but he bet it hurt.
“And I will not stop,” he muttered.
The giant yellow eye that peered at him began condensing several balls of qi and shot lasers in his general direction. The qi emitted from these lasers felt dense, but Liu Xing knew Wei Yi was holding back. Realizing this, he grinned. It was like realizing there was a wolf inside a house, but the homeowner couldn't throw a grenade to kill it.
Liu Xing encased his potent qi around his gun and commanded it to yank him to the side. Red lasers passed near his shoulder; his skin felt the smoldering heat. Rotating his body, he cataloged each organ he needed to target. After a full second of observation, Liu Xing began to pull his triggers continuously.
Exploding Fist bullets, made from potent qi, tore through the air. Some flew toward organs above him, while others flew below. Each bolt flew true to its intended target, whether yellow veins snaking through the walls, giant pulsing meat glowing with a purple hue, a giant hole filled with connected balls of meat, and more. He saw Wei Yi’s giant eye slide deeper into the giant’s interior, its gaze frantic, as walls of meat grew around some organs, attempting to protect them.
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Yet, when his bullets hit the walls of meat, they easily tore through, sank deep into the organs, and detonated. Each organ exploded, turning into a shower of bits and pieces. While some, like the dark slabs of meat weren't completely destroyed, there was enough destruction to tear through them. Even if the attack didn't instantly render those organs useless, it would soon be enough if Liu Xing continued.
With his gun refilled with potent qi, Liu Xing began showering the area around him with Exploding Fist bullets. There were actually many organs inside, most as large as his body. As he shot the organs, Wei Yi frantically tried to defend them while also occasionally attacking him, but this became a fatal mistake. Wei Yi was like someone trying to chase two rabbits at once..
Liu Xing was also pursuing two things simultaneously, but unlike Wei Yi, he could achieve both. He achieved one of them as he shot two peculiar organs. They were gray and resembled wide, tall blankets. These organs clung near the opening to the giant’s neck, and he could see them pulsing frantically.
As his bullets destroyed them, sending gray tissue raining down as if a cannon had torn through the wall, he heard a hum.
For a moment, he thought the giant was trying something, but when he could still hear the rapid explosions of the giant attacking his turtle shield, he realized the hum came from his consciousness.
As he peered into his consciousness, he saw that his true core was swinging so rapidly it blurred into a line, but his illusory core—while also swinging—moved in a different direction. Before, the illusory core had followed the true core’s movement, but now it moved in an entirely different direction. If his true core moved from south to north and back, his illusory core moved from west to east and back, also blurring into a line. Seeing this, Liu Xing strongly believed this was the moment he needed to take control of his qi and advance. He suspected that if he let the cores move like this for too long, he would face a backlash, one so strong that he would be in danger.
Liu Xing tried to clear his mind and steel his heart. He didn’t know the best process to advance, so he came up with a simple idea.
“Follow my order,” Liu Xing muttered, “move faster!”
Like obedient children, the cores moved faster and faster. The hum he had heard while jumping and shooting grew louder and louder. He felt an intense sensation encasing his whole body as if he were suddenly pressed by two invisible hands. Licking his lips, he wondered if this was normal, but he decided to press on and order his cores to keep moving.
“Faster.” The force pressing on him felt so unbearable he felt he would burst. Deciding to stop running amok and destroying organs, he grabbed onto the flesh wall and perched there. Doubt began to fill his heart, but since he had no other option, he kept pressing on.
His cores, swinging inside his consciousness, moved faster and faster. The hum began to bother his ears, and his brain began to insist he stop, as if it didn't want to be shaken by the insistent hum. But he knew that was just irrational fear. He suspected normal cultivators didn’t experience the same sensation, and this difference likely originated from his Flowing Meditation Method. This method essentially connected his consciousness and body directly, so changes in his consciousness would probably directly affect his body.
“Faster, faster,” Liu Xing whispered. He insisted on kicking off the wall and aiming for another organ, this time star-shaped and leaking blood even before he shot it.
The cores inside his body moved faster, faster, and faster. And then, when the hum became so terrible it felt like it would rattle his brain, a change began to occur within his consciousness, affecting both his true and illusory cores.
The illusory core suddenly felt heavier. It was as if before it had been merely an illusion of light, but now it had become a planet with its own gravity. And indeed, a gravity-like force materialized around the illusory core. The straight line traced by his two cores bent slightly, and he realized both cores had begun to pull on each other. Right now, the force only caused a slight curve in their trajectories, but he had a feeling it would worsen.
As Liu Xing landed on a fleshy protrusion and perched there, hanging by his right hand, he let out a small cough. This cough made Wei Yi’s eye snap toward him, and it instantly sent a laser attack. Liu Xing kicked off the wall, landed atop burst organs, and wiped blood from his chin.
“Faster,” he whispered once more. The cores obeyed his command to accelerate, and in the process, the illusory core began to feel increasingly heavy. The trajectory of the two cores curved more and more until, a moment later, as if the illusory core had suddenly doubled in weight, it pulled his first core. But the first core also had weight, and they began to pull each other in their respective directions, like two planets affecting each other with their own gravity.
When Liu Xing saw the two cores move toward each other, his heart felt as if it stopped, his eyes widened, and fear screamed from the depths of his heart. Liu Xing thought they would collide, but they only passed each other, albeit with a gap so narrow that if cores had shoulders, they would have bumped. For a moment, relief washed over him, but this feeling lasted only a fraction of a second because the two cores began pulling each other again.
“Shit!” Liu Xing cursed. He finally understood what was happening. As the illusory core became more real, it gained a force akin to gravity. It seemed his true core also had similar gravity, but since there had only been one core before, Liu Xing hadn’t realized it. But now, as his second core began to materialize, both fought using their own gravitational forces.
“I need to control both of them,” Liu Xing gritted his teeth. This was the moment when knowledge about the intricacies of breaking through would prove invaluable. If he had read a book about it, he would know the best way to control them. Still, whining about his lack of knowledge would get him nowhere, so he needed to do the best he could. And right now, the best course of action was to forcefully move them as far apart as possible.
Liu Xing willed both cores to move apart. As his will grasped both cores, it felt as if he were trying to stop two speeding mountains.
Liu Xing let out a violent cough, so forceful it felt as if he coughed up his entire lungs, and blood sprayed from his mouth like geysers, and his body felt as if an immortal had punched him.
“That was the wrong move,” Liu Xing grimaced.