Soul core

Soul beasts nurture a soul core in their bodies. It is about the size of an egg, holds a large number of soul path dao marks, and is a top tier refinement material. After a time the rest of the corpse disappears and has no other use. Ying Wu Xie, Tai Bai Yun Sheng, and Hei Lou Lan search an ancient soul beast’s corpse for that core. ^{ch. 1042}

A soul core holds all of a soul beast’s essence. After death the corpse turns to smoke and scatters, leaving only the core, which condenses a large amount of soul path dao marks and is a top tier Gu material. ^{ch. 1617} An ordinary soul beast’s core is rice-grain sized; at rank six it reaches chicken-egg size; rank seven cores are slightly larger; a rank eight immemorial soul beast’s core is as large as a horse carriage. Fang clan secretly sends Fang Yuan many almost entirely rank six cores, with few rank seven and no rank eight. He keeps two rank eight soul cores in storage rather than spend them on guts Gu production, because rank eight immortal materials are normally used to refine rank eight Immortal Gu or to construct a large formation. ^{ch. 1617}

When a soul beast dies, its corpse turns into dark grey smoke and dissipates until only a glass-like soul core remains. One such core is heavy, dark blue to the point of appearing black, and feels like holding a completely filled wine vat. That specimen is a rank six immortal material and the essence of the soul beast. Fang Yuan notes the same leftover pattern for a mud monster, which leaves only its mud core after death; that path-beast remainder is covered on mud core. Fang Yuan already holds a small basin of soul cores: most rank six, some rank seven, and none of the rank eight cores that come from immemorial soul beasts. ^{ch. 1503}

Soul cores can substitute for souls fed to Dang Hun Mountain to produce guts Gu, but their quality at best matches the souls of other beasts and plants, not Gu Immortal souls. ^{ch. 1503}

Soul beast cores are soul path immortal materials filled with abundant soul path dao marks; water monsters leave water cores the same way after most of the body dissipates. Because transformation path projects all paths, a transformation path Gu Immortal who can transform into soul beasts can also treat a soul core as a transformation path resource. ^{ch. 1652}

Fang Yuan enters green ghost desert to search for soul cores, with no precise route beyond following spontaneous auspicious cloud and taking small soul beast groups along the way. At ninety million man soul, the cores from that trip are enough to push him to hundred million man soul, yet Spectral Soul true inheritance places that level only midway toward the peak, so he needs an unceasing later supply. His preferred plan is to control the desert and station Ying Wu Xie with the soul beast army to keep feeding him cores. ^{ch. 1505}

Soul beast soul explosions can destroy the cores as well as the beasts, so that method wastes the material even when the blast is strong. ^{ch. 1506}

Once he knows Old Ghost Bai Jun and Fang clan are in play, he stops hunting for an immemorial soul beast and lets the soul beast army do the fighting. Dead beasts yield soul cores; surviving captives replenish the army, so mental energy and immortal essence are the main costs of the hunt. Dozens of days of that cycle raise his soul foundation to two hundred million man soul. ^{ch. 1509}

He treats green ghost desert as a soul core farming ground and seeks Fang clan acquaintance so he can manage the place under disguise. ^{ch. 1512} Soul Beast Token is extremely useful for that harvesting plan. While hunting cores he also gathers impermanence rocks along ordinary desert travel. ^{ch. 1513} He still needs a vast number of soul cores from green ghost desert for cultivation. ^{ch. 1520}

To free control capacity for more immemorial soul beasts, he kills two subdued immemorial soul beasts inside his aperture and takes two huge soul cores: rank eight immortal materials, immemorial soul cores, and rare enough that he would not kill those beasts without need. ^{ch. 1524}

After leaving Divine Bean Palace he meets uncountable soul beasts and refuses to kill them for cores, because refining Soul Beast Token comes first and he wants a working desert relationship with Fang clan. ^{ch. 1529} When too many Western Desert Gu Immortals gather and Qing Chou remains at large, he aborts the plan to let Ying Wu Xie farm soul cores there and leaves the desert. ^{ch. 1530}

Raising soul foundation for emperor yama requires guts Gu, which requires soul cores and green ghost desert goods, so Suan Bu Jin’s identity must stay hidden as part of that chain. ^{ch. 1568} Fairy Zi Wei reads his plan as controlling green ghost desert to collect soul cores for Dang Hun Mountain and Luo Po Valley cultivation. ^{ch. 1579}

Fang clan agrees to develop green ghost desert and hand Fang Yuan a portion of soul cores from time to time; while busy they are likely to pass accumulated stock first. Fang clan captures many soul beasts each year, extracts soul cores for inventory and sale, even without strong methods of its own for using the beasts. ^{ch. 1779} After the burning firefly desert murder case, Fang clan sends Fang Yuan a large number of soul cores including one rank eight immemorial soul core, compensating him when it cannot return heavenly dew. In a previous life that extortion yielded only rank six and seven cores, with no immemorial soul cores. Fang clan continues supplying inventory cores under the agreement while Ying Wu Xie develops the desert with Soul Beast Token. ^{ch. 1781}

With Dang Hun Mountain nearly restored, Fang Yuan throws soul cores onto it and produces large amounts of guts Gu. Soul cores suit that expenditure better than Southern Border Gu Immortal souls, whose value would be wasted. Treasure yellow heaven prices for soul cores have already risen, especially recently, which Fang Yuan attributes to Heavenly Court. He demands soul cores from Fang clan; the clan debates refusal, then agrees to send rank six and rank seven cores secretly while pretending to break with him. ^{ch. 1616}

Soul expending myriad guts formation holds large numbers of soul beasts and soul cores; under pink fog they vanish and produce guts Gu by the thousands, at least ten thousand per run when supply is enough. Green ghost desert can meet that appetite with ease, while buying cores in treasure yellow heaven or extorting Yang clan would leak important information. ^{ch. 1792}

To push a hundred million man soul into desolate soul, Fang Yuan’s soul grasps a processed desolate beast soul core at the center of a Shadow Sect soul path formation and crushes it. The core, already weakened by the formation, shatters into fog that shrouds the soul for several hours until the fog vanishes and the soul reaches desolate soul level. ^{ch. 1804}