Cultivating Immortality :I Obtained The Villain's Ascension Code Chapter 21: Birth of the Demonic Core

After the three Core Formation cultivators departed, Xiao Ning allowed himself a brief mont of satisfaction. The mission had gone better than expected. Not only had he secured the soul fragnts needed to stabilize his Spirit Palace, but he had also strengthened loyalty within the Shadowclaw Sect by distributing rare cultivation techniques to key mbers.

Returning to his secluded ditation spot in Blood ridian Valley, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"Let’s see if this works," he muttered, reaching out with his mind to manipulate the surrounding Asura Qi, shaping it into the palace’s foundation.

With the collected soul fragnts in hand, Xiao Ning began weaving them into the structure. It was a painstaking process, demanding total focus and precise control over both the Asura Qi and the compressed souls. Each pillar needed perfect alignnt; a single misstep could collapse the entire formation.

His mind beca a battleground—wrestling with the volatile asura qi while preserving the soul fragnts’ stability.

Then ca the final step: sacrifice.

Ten Foundation Establishnt souls were offered to anchor the structure. Their integration was smooth, almost eerily so. The palace drank in their essence, stabilizing as the last pillar snapped into place. A low resonance thrumd through his dantian, and the obsidian walls of the Spirit Palace glowed faintly with crimson runes.

Xiao Ning exhaled slowly. "It’s done."

Now ca the next phase: ascending his cultivation.

He gradually released the seal on the Paradox ridians, allowing his spiritual energy to circulate freely once more. The process went smoother than he expected. The integration of the Asura Scripture’s thods with his existing foundation created a perfect synergy.

According to the scripture, the next step was core formation—but not the traditional Golden Core. No, his would be different.

A Demonic Core, born of Asura Qi.

"Shouldn’t be too hard," he said confidently. "I’ve already mastered manipulating Asura Qi."

He focused inward, gathering the chaotic energy into his dantian. Slowly, layer by layer, he compressed it into a swirling black-and-crimson orb. Unlike the serene Golden Cores of orthodox cultivators, this one crackled with raw, malevolent energy. It radiated power, dark and oppressive.

"There we go." He grinned. "Not bad for soone who started over just a few days ago."

The leap from the Spirit Awakening Realm to the Core Formation Realm was more than a step—it was a transformation. In the Spirit Awakening Realm, a cultivator’s strength relied primarily on spiritual energy flow and the breadth of their consciousness. Cultivators at that stage could sense and manipulate energy, even cast powerful techniques—but their bodies and dantian remained fragile, limited by mortal boundaries.

In contrast, the Core Formation Realm marked the true beginning of transcendent cultivation. By forming a core—traditionally a Golden Core—a cultivator stabilized their spiritual foundation and drastically enhanced their internal reserves. Their lifespan would increase, their bodies would beco far tougher, and their energy attacks would no longer dissipate on impact— A single Core Formation cultivator could easily overwhelm dozens at the Spirit Awakening level.

And Xiao Ning was attempting to do even more—forming a Demonic Core, laced with asura qi, sothing far more volatile and unorthodox than what most dared to try.

Without hasitation, he pushed further, loosening the Paradox ridians’ suppression even more. His cultivation surged, climbing toward the Core Formation Realm.

But then—sothing went wrong.

His original Golden Core, long sealed and dormant, suddenly re-erged. For a brief mont, it floated beside the newly ford Demonic Core in peaceful coexistence.

Then chaos erupted.

The two cores began to destabilize, clashing violently. Their opposing energies tore through his body, searing pain exploding in his ridians. Xiao Ning gasped, clutching his chest.

"What the hell?!"

> [CODEX ALERT]

[HOST’S CULTIVATION IS ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE]

"Damn it!" he cursed. "Why does everything go to hell the mont things start working?!"

Desperately, he tried to suppress the energy—attempting to reactivate the Paradox ridians to bring his cultivation down. But it was too late. Nothing worked.

> [ERGENCY PROTOCOL AVAILABLE]

Ascension Pact

Beco the Codex’s Vessel

Cost: 51% control over cultivation path

Reward: Eternal Paradox Body (flawless ridians, adaptable roots, frozen lifespan)

Accept?

Y/N

"You’ve got to be kidding!" Xiao Ning growled, shaking his head. "There has to be another way!"

But the pressure inside him only grew. The cores refused to stabilize, and his body was reaching its limit.

> [ALTERNATE OPTION UNLOCKED]

Quantum Collapse – 1 Use Available

"Quantum Collapse?" Xiao Ning narrowed his eyes. "Sounds like another gamble... but it beats becoming a puppet."

He inhaled sharply.

"Activate Quantum Collapse."

> [SYSTEM: Quantum Collapse Activated]

The codex power surged through his body like a glacial tide. Within his dantian, the two cores blurred and began to unravel. Gold and crimson spiraled into one another, forming a swirling storm of unstable energy.

His body convulsed violently. Quantum threads laced through his ridians, stitching the Demonic and Golden Cores into a single, oscillating entity. They rged and separated in an endless dance—existing in superposition, each mont on the brink of collapse.

"Stabilize, damn you!" he roared inwardly.

> [Energy Coherence: 42%... 57%...]

[Warning: Physical Integrity Critical]

Reality warped around him, and the Spirit Palace itself shuddered, its runes flaring desperately to anchor his shaking soul.

> [Coherence Threshold Reached: 89%]

[Initiating Final Collapse]

A soundless detonation erupted in his core. For one blinding instant, the world vanished.

Then—silence.

The chaos imploded into a singular orb, crystalline and alien. It shimred like fractured starlight, etched with gold and black patterns. It pulsed in harmony—neither wholly demonic nor divine, but sothing in between.

A new existence.

Xiao Ning’s eyes flew open.

His entire body ached as if trampled by a thousand beasts. Every breath burned. His ridians felt like shattered glass, yet his dantian pulsed with a quiet, eerie calm.

Floating there was his new core.

It radiated both asura qi and spiritual energy in perfect balance, coiled together like twin serpents. He sent a wisp of energy through it—first asura, then spiritual. Both responded without resistance.

> [Quantum Core Stabilized]

Xiao Ning chuckled weakly, wiping the blood from his mouth.

"Quantum Core, huh?" he thought. "What kind of nonsense have I stepped into now?"