Chapter 546 Dao Cores and Superhuman Power
"FIRST COMES DESTRUCTION"
"Boom!" With a sound comparable to a gunshot, the formation under Alex’s feet burst into pieces, which released an ungodly amount of Qi all around him.
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Once this has happened, the disk in Alex’s hand shook as it began absorbing these Qi towards its body. The more Qi that entered the disk, the much more vigorous its shaking became, until it came to the point that the disk was close to exploding into pieces.
Once all the Qi that came from the formation was absorbed by the disk, the disk let out a resplendent glow, one that is comparable to a glowing lightbulb.
"SECOND COMES DEMOLITION"
"Schung!"
The disk’s size suddenly changed, as its meter-wide body became as small as a coin, which made it small enough to fit on Alex’s palm.
Like a man who just found a small treasure, Alex began to fiddle and inspect the coin. This inspection however only lasted for a few seconds, as Alex suddenly sent the coin soaring towards his dantian.
"Slik!"
The coin penetrated all of Alex’s defenses in an instant, allowing it to easily reach his dantian. Here, the coin hovered along with the remaining Qi inside Alex, while the man himself began to take a deep breath.
But before Alex could calm himself down, the coin began to make its next move. It shot out of its spot, colliding directly with Alex’s Dao Foundation.
"Boom!"
Alex’s Dao Foundation, which was a multi-colored pillar placed inside his dantian, seemed to be unable to resist the power contained inside the coin. Every time the coin hits the Dao Foundation, it was the Dao Foundation that gets the damage, and not the coin.
"Boom boom boom!"
Cracks began to appear on the surface of Alex’s Dao Foundation, which quickly increased as the coin continued to batter it.
"Ah!" Grunts of pain escaped Alex’s lips during this time, with his face turning as pale as sheet. Large beads of sweat began to form on his forehead while his veins bulged, which showed how uncomfortable he is right now. Alex was also clenching his fists at this point, which is a sign that he was near his breaking point.
But this breaking point never arrived, as Alex was able to keep hold of himself. Even when his Dao Foundation was being destroyed efficiently, Alex did not allow himself to faint or collapse.
He went through the pain like a crazed masochist, and the only indication of his suffering were his numerous grunts.
"Boom!"
At last, after 5 minutes of pure torture, Alex’s Dao Foundation was finally demolished.
What was left of this mighty pillar before were only its crumbled ruins, which all littered the entirety of Alex’s Dantian. The Daos that were laced in this Dao Foundation could still be found intact within ruins, as if they were never destroyed at all.
As for the coin, it just floated nonchalantly inside Alex’s Dantian. No signs of damage can be seen on the coin, something that seemed to have made Alex feel relieved.
"Snap!" Once he had confirmed that his Dao Foundation was destroyed, Alex quickly snapped his fingers. This action seemed to be some kind of signal, as the coin suddenly broke down after this snap. The previously indestructible body of the coin went back to being a Qi Cloud, which was now condensed greatly since it was inside Alex’s dantian.
The Qi Cloud tried to escape by pushing itself through the holes on Alex’s dantian, but Alex had already sealed them all, which trapped the Qi Cloud before it could even leave.
"Shuong~"
With no way to get out, the Qi Cloud was left with no choice but to change its target.
With the pressure applied by Alex from outside, and the sheer attractive force suddenly exuded by the destroyed Dao Foundatin, the Qi Cloud was forced to assimilate with the Dao Foundation.
"THIRD COMES COMBINATION"
At the instant that the Qi Cloud made contact with the bits and pieces of the Dao Foundation, another change happened.
"Shiing..."
The scattered components of the Dao Foundation, which were all solid in their states, inexplicably melted after making contact with the Qi Cloud.
All these components turned into liquid, including the hardest parts of the Dao Foundation. Nothing from these components were able to escape this fate, with all the parts of the Dao Foundation turned into liquid 20 seconds later.
This ’meltdown event’ resulted in a weird mixture of Qi Cloud and Dao Liquid, something which made Alex smile.
He seemed to be happy with what he was seeing, with the fervent relief on his eyes an obvious indicator of that.
"FOURTH COMES.... CREATION!"
"Hong~"
Without giving himself any time to rest, Alex used the remaining power inside his body to force another change inside his dantian.
He meticulously divided the liquid inside his dantian into 5 parts, with each part containing the same amounts of Dao Liquid and Qi Cloud in it. While doing this, Alex also made sure that each part will be laced with a Duality Dao that he had comprehended before.
"..."
In the end, these actions resulted on the creation of 5 puddles, which are all staying obediently inside Alex’s dantian.
The sizes of these puddles were all similar with each other, and the only difference between them were the respective Duality Daos that each puddle represent. There was a puddle that represented the Ice-Fire Dao, while there was another that represented the Life-Death Dao, etc.
"Gulp."
After making these puddles, Alex did not slack as he suddenly opened his mouth. He then swallowed a golden-colored pill, one that went through this throat like a candy.
This nameless pill, which has an aura of elegance and nobility, did not go into Alex’s stomach like normal. Instead, this nameless pill headed straight towards Alex’s dantian, where it began to make its magic.
Here, the pill broke down to form a golden dust cloud, which then fused with the 5 puddles. Once this has happened, the final change inside Alex’s dantian occurred.
"Skri..."
Like a blob of water left inside a freezer, all the 5 puddles began to crystallize after their fusion with the golden pill, resulting on the formation of 5 separated crystals.
But instead of forming irregular crystals, which was the norm on crystallization reactions, what was formed from the puddles were 5 perfectly round crystal orbs. All which were also similar in sizes, and represent a Duality Dao of their own.
The first of these crystals appeared to have a body that was both flaming and freezing, while the second one looked like it was releasing and absorbing light at the same time. The third crystal on the other hand has a body that was flickering in and out of existence, as if it was not sure if it should be real or not.
As for the fourth crystal, its body looked like it was exuding an aura that can either kill or heal a living being, while the fifth crystal has a body that seemed to suppress both space and time around it.
"Hehehe, hehehehe..." At the instant that these 5 crystals had made their appearance, the previously tense Alex suddenly relaxed, with this creepy laughter sudden coming out of his mouth.
He seemed to be both happy and relieved after seeing the 5 crystals, as if he had already achieved what he had been aiming for.
"Volume 3 says that the indicator for success on reaching the Dao Core Stage was the formation of crystals, or in this case, Dao Cores inside my Dantian." Alex muttered to himself as he began to wipe his sweaty face. "Since I can see 5 crystal orbs inside my body, then that means that I have already reached the Dao Core Stage!"
With this good news, Alex looked like he wanted to celebrate at this point. But due to the apparent weakness of his body, he seemed to have lack the strength to stand up.
The best that he can only do now was to smile as he kept on wiping his sweat.
"Sigh, it’s a good thing that the Core Formation Pill that I swallowed has a 100% efficacy. Because of that, the creation of my Cores went by smoothly...." Once Alex was done drying his face, he then focused on fixing his robes, which were messed up because of his breakthrough. "So... I really have 5 Dao Cores inside my body now? And each one represents a Duality Dao by their own? Hehehe, this is good..."
"But of course this will not be enough." Alex suddenly frowned at this point, as if he had remembered something unpleasant. This frown only lasted for a second, as it was quickly replaced by an exhausted expression.
"Even if I already broke through to the Dao Core Stage, this is still not enough to make me stronger. If I really want to make myself more powerful, then I cannot just upgrade my Immortal Cultivation..." Alex then raked his hand through his hair while his eyes drooped, with the exhaustion on his face becoming more prominent.
"I... I also have to upgrade my Superhuman Power right now. If I don’t, then my plan to reach Transcendence in the future will fail..." Alex declared, although the weak voice in his mouth made his declaration sound more like a whisper. "Out of all my current powers right now, the only one that I can still upgrade is my Superhuman Power. Hence, I really have no choice but to focus on it now. But the question is, can I even upgrade it?"