The thundercloud vortex in the sky seemed to respond to her provocation with an even more deafening roar!
The pitch-black color at the vortex's center began to churn and compress violently.
An indescribably terrifying aura locked onto Xie Zhaolin at the bottom of the deep pit. The thundercloud vortex above suddenly erupted with an unprecedented boom!
The sound was no longer dull, but sharp, as if it could tear the heavens apart.
The ink-black center of the vortex began to collapse inward, condensing until it finally transformed into a thin, deep, dark purple needle of lightning!
This lightning needle was only about the width of an arm, completely different from the thick bolts before, but the aura of destruction emanating from it made the very space around them groan under the strain. It was the ultimate concentration, compressing the power of destruction to its extreme.
The seventh heavenly tribulation!
It was no longer a wild, widespread deluge, but a precise extermination!
This aura was no longer just about destruction; it carried a will of judgment and erasure. It was as if the Heavenly Dao was truly angered, determined to utterly erase this existence that had repeatedly defied its rules from the world.
"It's really the seventh one…" You You moaned in despair from within the jade slip. "The Nine-Layered Purple Heaven Divine Thunder… the legendary certain-kill tribulation…"
"Master… we're… we're finished…" Her voice was filled with helplessness and utter despair. Faced with this legendary divine punishment, she couldn't even muster a single thought of resistance.
Xie Zhaolin didn't respond to You You's despair.
She just lay there quietly, her charred body seeming to merge with the scorched earth beneath her. Yet, her consciousness was more focused and ethereal than ever before. It was as if it had shed the restraints of her physical body, existing in a more fundamental state.
It wasn't that she didn't want to escape, but under the heavenly thunder's lock, there was no avoiding it, no fleeing.
Not to mention her body was already drained, completely unable to resist, and her Primordial Soul had been severely injured in the previous tribulations, teetering on the brink.
A true… certain death with no chance of survival!
Give up?
No.
The Xuanyin Foundation Technique… seeks life through death…
The essence of baleful qi is rebirth through destruction…
The first six tribulations had tempered her body, honed her baleful qi, and she'd even seen the nascent form of a golden core, yet she hadn't managed to finally condense it…
Where was the problem?
"Baleful qi… returns to stillness… seeks life through death…" She chewed on these words repeatedly.
"My body is nearly still, extinct… My baleful qi source has almost dissipated in the tribulation…
But my 'will'… remains!
Could it be… that after cultivating the Xuanyin Foundation Technique, the condensation of the golden core doesn't rely on the state of the body, or even the amount of baleful qi…
Rather… it lies in the ultimate concentration and sublimation of this 'will'? In the true enlightenment regarding death and rebirth?"
This thought, like a flash of lightning in the darkness, illuminated her lost path!
And at this very moment—
CRACK—!
The seventh Purple Heaven Divine Thunder finally struck down!
This bolt was no pillar or dragon of lightning; it seemed to transform into a pure, black trace, soundless.
Where it passed, space directly annihilated, turning into the most fundamental nothingness. Its target was no longer just Xie Zhaolin's body, but the very core of her flickering, unyielding will!
"It's here!" Xie Zhaolin's consciousness sharply focused.
Instead of resisting, she completely let go of her last remaining connection to her ruined physical form!
She actively met that trace with the totality of her will!
"Since the body is already dead, the baleful qi already scattered… Then let my will bear your tribulation!
In utter stillness and extinction, the true self is revealed!"
Hum—!
The black trace instantly swallowed Xie Zhaolin's strand of consciousness!
There was no explosion, no sound.
Only an extreme coldness, a nothingness that seemed to erase existence itself.
Xie Zhaolin felt her consciousness rapidly dispersing, dissolving within this void. Memories, emotions, obsessions… everything that belonged to the existence known as "Xie Zhaolin" was being stripped away, annihilated.
She seemed about to return to the absolute nothingness before heaven and earth were opened, before all things were born…
Complete annihilation.
Yet…
Just at the final moment before her consciousness was completely assimilated and scattered into nothingness—
A point of incredibly faint, yet unyieldingly tenacious "light" stubbornly ignited in the deepest part of her consciousness!
It wasn't a light of energy or matter.
It was… a pure "concept"!
It was the very will to seek life through death, forged through two lifetimes, struggling between life and death, unyielding in desperate situations!
Within the absolute void, this concept, far from being annihilated, became purer and more solid, like refined gold!
"I… understand." A moment of enlightenment arose within her fading consciousness.
"The Xuanyin Golden Core… isn't condensed within the dantian. Rather… it's condensed within this unyielding will that endures through extinction without perishing!
The essence of baleful qi is annihilation! But the end of annihilation… is rebirth! It's generating something from nothing!
My golden core… shall be… the Annihilation Yinsha Core!"
And at the very moment this enlightenment was born—
Hum!
The core of her fading consciousness suddenly erupted with a powerful suction force!
The terrifying residual waves of thunder around her, the pure spiritual energy permeating heaven and earth, and the scattered plant essence of the Bewitching Beast Yam from earlier, all seemed summoned, madly converging towards that single point where her consciousness resided!
A phantom golden core, emanating an aura of both extinction and rebirth, began to slowly take form within that absolute nothingness!
The seventh heavenly tribulation brought not destruction. It was the final foundation needed to forge the golden core!
And at the very moment this golden core phantom took form, a gentle yet vast and powerful force surged forth without warning from the deepest part of Xie Zhaolin's body!
This power softly enveloped her struggling strand of consciousness within the void, nourishing it, stabilizing it!
Simultaneously, this power rapidly spread throughout her ruined physical body!
"This is…" Xie Zhaolin's consciousness paused slightly, then surged with an indescribable sense of familiarity.
The Rebirth Flower!
It was the foundational power of the Rebirth Flower that had lain dormant within her.
It wasn't useless, nor had it disappeared.
It had been waiting.
Only in a true state of death would the power of this flower, symbolizing rebirth and samsara, be fully activated!
Now, it had arrived!
This gentle power and the newly formed golden core phantom didn't conflict; instead, they merged together perfectly.
Annihilation and rebirth, death and samsara, achieved a perfect balance and unity in this moment!
Hum—!
Within the depths of Xie Zhaolin's dantian, the phantom golden core suddenly erupted with a brilliant light!
It was no longer a phantom, but rapidly solidified.
Finally, it transformed into a golden core that was pitch black as ink, its surface faintly flowing with dark golden, mysterious patterns!
Annihilation Yinsha Core!
Complete!
===
Originally author write it as 湮灭煞丹 (Yānmiè shā dān), I make some change on it.
"Annihilation" (for 湮灭 - Yānmìè)
Meaning: 湮灭 (Yānmiè) doesn't just mean "destroy" or "extinguish." It implies a more profound, total, and fundamental erasure from existence. It's the kind of destruction that leaves no trace, turning something into nothing.
Context in the Text: This perfectly matches the nature of the 7th tribulation lightning, described as turning space into "nothingness" and trying to "erase" her. The core is born from resisting and mastering this specific, absolute form of destruction. "Annihilation" carries that cosmic, ultimate finality much better than "Extinction" or "Destruction."
"Yinsha" (for 煞 - Shà)
This is a case of transliterating a core cultivation concept.
Established Term: "Yinsha" (阴煞) has already been defined in my glossary as a specific, potent type of baleful energy that Xie Zhaolin cultivates (e.g., Yinsha Soul Locking Chains, Yinsha Body Protection Art).
Technical Specificity: Using "Yinsha" signals that this is a specific type of core, forged from a specific type of energy she uses, not just any generic "baleful" or "evil" energy. Translating it as "Baleful Qi Core" would be too generic and lose the connection to her unique cultivation art.