Chapter 244: What a Pity Golden Cores Can’t Be Gifted

Over the past year, Ye Chen confirmed three key things.

First.

Once a gift was given, taking it back to regift it to someone else wouldn’t work. The system wouldn’t provide a second reward. Instead, it would issue a stern warning: “Please don’t exploit bugs!”

It happened when Ye Chen gifted a Phoenix Stone to a direct disciple in the late Foundation Establishment stage at Quiet Wonder Peak. After giving it away, no reward came. The stone, worth tens of thousands of top-grade spirit stones, was essentially given for nothing. It was the first time since Ye Chen transmigrated that he’d been taken advantage of.

Watching the female cultivator squat on the ground, crying with joy, he couldn’t bring himself to ask for it back. Fine, let it go. With the system at his disposal, he wasn’t short on resources. He’d just consider it an act of charity.

From that moment on, Ye Chen became something of a celebrity at Quiet Wonder Peak.

The second realization.

Ye Chen confirmed that Li Feihuang had truly gotten too full of herself. Over the year, Heavenly Evolution Pavilion held another auction. One of the items was a top-tier fire-element robe, crafted by an elder of Heavenly Evolution Holy Land. Made entirely from the finest fire-element materials, it was a game-changer for cultivators who specialized in fire techniques, boosting their combat power by thirty to forty percent.

Naturally, such a remarkable robe sparked a frenzy among Golden Core cultivators. Ye Chen spent a whopping seventy thousand top-grade spirit stones to secure it. After winning it, he personally delivered it to Li Feihuang.

When Li Feihuang examined the robe, her eyes lit up with obvious delight. Ye Chen waited eagerly for the system’s five-hundred-fold critical reward. But… nothing happened. No critical hit. Instead, he received five hundred top-grade spiritual artifact robes and a casual promise from Li Feihuang: “I’ll repay you in the future.”

In that moment, Ye Chen understood completely. Li Feihuang was too arrogant. She believed the throne was already hers, that once she ruled Great Chu, she could repay him effortlessly. She’d lost her sense of gratitude. Even when given a gift she loved, it no longer triggered a critical reward.

After that incident, Ye Chen stopped paying much attention to Li Feihuang. He occasionally sent her basic materials for the five-hundred-fold reward, but his focus shifted to An Miaoli. After all, if the empress wouldn’t trigger critical rewards, she wasn’t worth his effort.

The third discovery was related to his Five-Color Golden Core.

In his spare time over the past year, Ye Chen often visited the library of the Divine Will Sect to pore over various texts. The Divine Will Sect, as expected of a Nascent Soul sect, had a collection far richer than that of the Green Cloud Sect. Among the texts, Ye Chen found a few ancient books mentioning the Five-Color Golden Core.

One book described how, when the Chaotic Ancient True Immortal broke through to the Golden Core stage, his core radiated a seven-colored light, exuding boundless grandeur and profound mystery.

The author, claiming to be the True Immortal’s junior brother, had the rare privilege of meeting him after he ascended to immortality. He respectfully asked about the wonders of the Seven-Color Golden Core, wondering if it was merely stronger than an ordinary core.

The Chaotic Ancient True Immortal replied, “Before ascending, it’s just a matter of denser and higher-quality spiritual power—dozens of times stronger than a ninth-grade Golden Core, with greater combat strength and a higher-grade Nascent Soul after forming it. But after ascending, its true profound potential becomes clear. What a pity it’s only seven colors. If I had achieved the ultimate Divine Light Golden Core, my path as an immortal would have stretched even further.”

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The description was brief, just a few lines, but it left Ye Chen lost in thought for a long time.

From the True Immortal’s words, it was clear that the more colors a Golden Core’s divine light had, the better. Not only did it make one stronger in the present, but its significance after ascension seemed even greater. Even a figure like the Chaotic Ancient True Immortal, who could dominate an era, regretted having only a seven-colored core instead of nine.

This realization stirred mixed feelings in Ye Chen. His own core had only five colors—two fewer than the True Immortal’s. It made sense, though. Compared to a peerless genius like the Chaotic Ancient True Immortal, who could suppress an entire era, Ye Chen’s aptitude was somewhat lacking.