Chapter 151: Nascent Soul Tribulation
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Translated by Frog in the Well
Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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***
Meanwhile, the Black Night Palace was in a state of chaos.
“What did you say just now? Jin So-myeong is attempting to break through to the Nascent Soul stage?”
The Palace Master of the Black Night Palace stared blankly, shocked by the sudden news that felt like a heavy blow to the back of his head.
How was it already?
Jin So-myeong should still be busy healing his internal injuries? No, in the first place, wasn’t that fellow only at the eighth layer of the Golden Core stage? What kind of method did he use to be able to attempt the Nascent Soul stage?
All sorts of questions shook his head, but he forced himself to forget them.
Right now, there was something more important than grasping the exact circumstances of how this came to be.
“How long has it been since the abnormal weather was observed in Natian City?”
“…It has been since two days ago.”
“What? Two days?”
Glaring with wide eyes, the Palace Master stared at his disciple as if he wanted to kill him, unable to suppress the rising rage.
The time it took for a Golden Core cultivator to attempt the Nascent Soul stage was usually between a week and a fortnight.
Of course, that was just the average, and the more outstanding the talent, the shorter the time for the breakthrough tended to be.
What if it was someone with a genius talent like Jin So-myeong?
Far from a week, he might finish the breakthrough in just four to five days, and they should have interfered somehow within that time to prevent him from reaching the Nascent Soul stage!
Because of the subordinate’s mistake, they had wasted precious time!
“It has already been two days! Why are you reporting this only now! Such important news!”
Slap!
The disciple’s cheek swelled up from the ruthless blow.
“I-I apologize! The ones monitoring Natian City were ambushed… so the news was delayed in reaching you.”
“Damn it!”
A sense of frustration washed over the Palace Master’s face, as it seemed Jin So-myeong had noticed and disposed of the watchers they sent.
The Palace Master, who had been raging in excitement, took a deep breath, and upon calming down and thinking calmly, it was not the worst-case scenario.
“Is it certain that Jin So-myeong is in Natian City?”
“Yes. He is said to be breaking through at a Rank 3 high-grade spiritual vein.”
“Tsk. That is at least fortunate. He will fail even if we leave him alone.”
Of course, that did not mean he actually intended to leave him alone.
Not even one in ten thousand, no, not even one in a million, could they allow Jin So-myeong to reach the Nascent Soul stage.
It was only natural to interfere and make the breakthrough fail, no matter what underhanded methods they had to use.
‘Arrogant bastard. With what kind of confidence did he attempt a breakthrough in Natian City?’
What would happen next was obvious, as that fellow would fail the breakthrough and become a cripple, then be dragged to the Black Night Palace and turned into a living Jiangshi.
A fishy smile formed on his lips.
Just imagining teaching the one who dared to touch the Black Night Palace without knowing his place that there was a hell worse than death made him feel thrilled.
The Palace Master, who was lost in ecstasy, sprang up from his seat and headed straight to the canyon where the Supreme Elder was in secluded cultivation.
The moment he arrived at the deepest part, pushing through a fog so thick that one could not see even an inch ahead.
Ihihihihi…!
Cackle, cackle!
A fog so dense that it dampened his clothes instantly surrounded the area, and the creepy laughter of ghosts vibrated through the canyon.
“Urgh!”
Having suffered a blow to his soul, the Palace Master coughed up blood, unable to endure it even for a moment despite having a strong resistance to ghosts from practicing related techniques.
“Supreme Elder! There is urgent news, so I had no choice but to disturb your cultivation! Please show mercy!”
The ghosts that had been cackling all around came to a sudden halt, showing bizarre movements such as their joints bending in reverse, and cleared a path.
The ghosts that retreated in droves bowed down as if worshiping a king, and through the wide-open path, the Supreme Elder, with skin as pale as a corpse, appeared.
However, the Supreme Elder, who was clearly an old man, had somehow grown younger like a middle-aged man, which made it obvious that he had achieved a breakthrough in his cultivation.
“Congratulations on achieving the mid-Nascent Soul stage!”
The Supreme Elder, who looked down at the Palace Master with a cold expression, clicked his tongue.
“I have just ascended to the mid-Nascent Soul stage and am currently regulating my energy. If it is not urgent, get lost.”
“Jin So-myeong is attempting to break through to the Nascent Soul stage!”
“What?”
“They say abnormal weather has been observed in the sky above Natian City since two days ago. That arrogant sword cultivator, who does not know his place, is definitely attempting to break through to the Nascent Soul stage at a Rank 3 high-grade spiritual vein!”
The Supreme Elder, whose face stiffened for a moment, fell into thought briefly before snorting.
“He is bound to fail. Where is Demonic Jade and what is he doing?”
“As soon as he heard the news about Jin So-myeong, he departed for Natian City.”
The Supreme Elder, narrowing his eyes, wore a sneer.
“Good. I shall go as well. He will fail anyway, but I cannot just leave him be. I must make him regret touching our Black Night Palace.”
“Ah!”
“Did you say that arrogant bastard Jin So-myeong went and killed the Young Master of the Thousand Corpses Sect on the day of the Golden Core Grand Assembly? I will repay him in the exact same way, interfering at the most critical moment to make him weep tears of blood.”
The sneer on the lips of the Supreme Elder, who held his hands behind his back, grew even deeper.
Since he had broken through the minor realm and ascended to the mid-Nascent Soul stage, it would be useless even if other Nascent Soul old monsters had set up tricks, and even if the worst situation occurred, escaping was simple.
***
At the same time in Natian City.
Jin So-myeong was exerting all his concentration to absorb the endlessly rushing spiritual Qi of heaven and earth.
The Golden Core inside his already saturated dantian screamed, but he did not stop for a single moment, injecting the incoming energy into his dantian while forgetting even the passage of time.
Woooong!
As he compressed and compressed, piling up his dharma power as if packing it tightly, the Golden Core began to vibrate as if it would explode at any second.
‘Not much left.’
The Golden Core, having reached its limit, was trying to bring about some change, and the condensed energy was right before crossing the critical point; the moment Jin So-myeong, realizing this, added the final handful of energy.
Crack!
A crack appeared in the Golden Core, the source of his power and no different from his life…
Boooom!
Along with an impact that felt like his soul was being split apart, the Golden Core exploded before he could even react!
It was hot.
It felt as if lava was boiling deep within his body, and the intense explosion starting from the dantian, along with its extremely rough flow, swept away and melted the shattered Golden Core.
‘Ah.’
The Golden Core he had carefully nurtured over decades throughout his entire cultivation turned into a handful of energy.
It was difficult to maintain his sanity due to the shock of the broken Golden Core, but to make matters worse, the energy that had surged to an uncontrollable level in an instant raced through his body like a violent torrent.
He bit the tip of his tongue.
Although his thoughts were fragmented and it was not easy to even wiggle a single finger, he forced himself to move.
The moment he consumed the high-grade Nascent Condensation Pill he had prepared.
The moment it was put into his mouth, the melting pill emitted a mysterious wave, raising his half-collapsed mind and calming the energy that was running wild like a madman.
In the brief respite that arose, he realized.
‘Now is the turning point.’
Once this moment passed, there would be no chance to revive the shattered Golden Core.
Therefore, at this very moment, a Golden Core cultivator wishing to attempt the Nascent Soul stage had to make a choice.
Whether to recognize one’s own deficiencies and use the energy derived from the Nascent Condensation Pill to reconstruct the collapsed Golden Core, or to risk one’s life and charge forward to attempt the Nascent Soul stage.
Jin So-myeong’s choice, quite naturally, was to take a step forward.
He abandoned the very thought of controlling the running-wild energy.
Far from calming the wild energy, he continuously absorbed the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth instead.
Woooong!
Although he felt that a spiral vortex resembling a galaxy had formed around his dantian before he knew it, he did not stop.
No, in the first place, he could not even stop, as he had long crossed the point of control, and the moment he stopped, he would die.
Therefore, he forgot everything and focused solely on his breathing.
Using his entire body as a vessel, he accumulated energy as it came, expanding the scale of the swirling current inside his body.
How much time had passed?
Following the Golden Core, even his physical body cried out its limits, feeling as if his whole body would shatter if he pushed any further.
Although his instinct to cling to life ordered him to stop immediately, he ignored it, as giving up now was the true path to death.
While he was gritting his teeth and enduring.
The energy, endlessly compressed and finally reaching the Rank 4 level, began to distort even space.
Crack!
The moment a cracking sound was heard, a fracture occurred near the dantian, the center of the spiral vortex.
A pitch-black dot appeared within the distorted space, and the moment he perceived it, an intense current capable of melting even his soul swept through.
An instant.
The suction force was so powerful that he could not even resist, and everything he had built up so far…not only his soul, but also his energy and the essence of his physical body…was swept and sucked into the pitch-black dot.
‘…Where is this?’
Gripping his hazy mind and looking around, there was nothing but darkness.
It was far more terrible than simply lacking light, as the only thing he could perceive was an infinitely spreading darkness.
It was cold.
Until just now, it had been unbearable because it felt like lava was boiling in his body, but now, a chill surged to the point where his hands and feet trembled.
‘Wait…’
Did I even have hands and feet? He reflexively tried to bow his head to look down, but he could not do so.
This was because he did not even have a body, let alone hands and feet, feeling as if only his mental body remained, floating in the darkness like rootless duckweed.
His head was growing blank…
The flow of time became blurred; one day, two days, a week, a fortnight… he gave up counting beyond that, as it had no meaning.
‘How much time has passed?’
In fact, a cultivator could accurately perceive the flow of time without looking at the sun.
However, strangely enough, he could not distinguish at all whether a fortnight or a month had passed, perhaps because his body had vanished, and feeling increasingly drowsy was like wandering in a dream.
‘Ah! I need to break through as quickly as possible.’
Anxiousness welled up; if he delayed any further, all kinds of enemies would come to interfere with him, but trying various methods to escape the darkness was useless.
Eventually, even his mind, which had been sharply honed by the flow of time, grew dull.
From some point, he could not even remember what his name was; just how much time had passed for him to end up like this…
While he floated in the darkness holding onto a mere handful of consciousness with sheer stubbornness.
An intense presence weighed heavily on his shoulders, and a man whose face was hidden by a large bamboo hat appeared.
“I finally found you! You foolish and arrogant bastard! It is only natural that you failed since you attempted the Nascent Soul stage in a place like this!”
‘I failed? At what?’
“It is already too late to regret! Since you dared to touch our Black Night Palace, I will turn you into a Jiangshi and use you!”
Black Night Palace?
Something faintly came to mind; yes, he had formed a grudge with the power known as the Black Night Palace; did their Supreme Elder come to take revenge?
‘No.’
Although he did not remember the exact reason, he had a vague belief that the Supreme Elder of the Black Night Palace could not have found him already.
“Arrogant sword cultivator bastard. I will show you what hell is.”
The moment he struggled to escape from the mocking man in the bamboo hat who was approaching.
-How dare a mere Nascent Soul stage try to snatch away my hope.
A cold, emotionless voice resounded.
The man in the bamboo hat was terrified and tried to flee, but he could not take even a single step, being crushed by a single giant finger and bursting like a bug.
-Sigh, I was just trying to watch, but I cannot stand this frustration; just how long do you plan to waste time in a place like this?
The blood of the man in the bamboo hat floated into the air and condensed into a lump of flesh, then bones and muscles were instantly added, forming a human shape.
From the featureless, plain mannequin-like shape, the mouth area split open wide, and a bizarre voice flowed out.
“It has been a long time.”
A hazy memory came back.
The terrifying entity imprisoned on the fourth floor of the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda; the immortal monster whose realm could not even be guessed, the Dead One.
Suddenly, a chilling thought struck him.
‘Could it be…’
Did the Dead One parasitize his body to escape outside the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda? Had he been hiding quietly all this time?
“Do not be needlessly wary. I only wish to help you. I will let you out of here, so follow me.”
Thinking about it, the Dead One’s purpose had been consistent all along.
‘He told me to raise my realm and kill him.’
Since their purposes aligned, could he trust him? Before he knew it, he was about to follow the Dead One, but hesitated.
It was too coincidental; it was like a guide appearing when he was lost and wandering.
‘…’
Was it because his body, which held his center, had disappeared? Even his strong will had withered, to the point where he wanted to rely on an entity of unknown identity.
“Sigh. What on earth are you hesitating for? You did this in the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda as well, and you still act so frustratingly. Do you wish to continue drifting in such a dangerous place where it is hard to even maintain your sense of self?”
‘How can I trust you?’
“I told you before. I hold goodwill toward you. Just the fact that I have behaved quietly so far is enough for you to trust me. Do you think it would be difficult for someone of my realm to suppress a single Golden Core cultivator?”
Leaving the Dead One’s voice behind, he traced his past focusing on the memories that rose like fragments.
‘Where was I before entering the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda?’
Sky Island. The sea in the middle of a war with demonic beasts. The bizarre place where spiritual veins disappeared and reappeared.
Before that…
He had risked his life to achieve Foundation Establishment in Red Yang Market. As he recovered his forgotten memories, his mind grew clearer.
I, my name is Jin So-myeong.
Living as a serf for whom being whipped was a daily routine, one day he awakened the memories of his past life on Earth, and went blindly to Red Yang Market where immortals were said to live without knowing anything.
Gathering spirit stone fragments over three years, he entered the Qi Condensation stage at the age of fifteen.
From the shacks of Red Yang Market to the present day, he had fought at the risk of his life through countless trials.
At the same time as recovering all his memories.
He opened his eyes in the darkness for the first time, and although the only thing visible was still dense blackness, that did not matter.
Believing there would be an outside beyond the infinitely spreading darkness, he gripped his sword.
“It is not that way. To escape from here, you must first recover your body scattered in this darkness.”
He ignored the Dead One whispering beside him.
This was because he had suddenly realized that the Dead One was merely a heart demon that had bloomed from the seeds of fear and anxiety within his mind, not the real one.
“Sigh, you judge rashly without even knowing properly. Do I look like a mere heart demon to you?”
He did not listen.
Since the sword was already in his hand, what was there to hesitate about?
Stepping forward with all his strength, he swung his sword and sliced through the darkness.
*
The moment he regained his senses.
He realized that a soul body resembling a young child, the Nascent Soul, had taken its place where the Golden Core in his dantian used to be.
In the darkness where he could not even maintain his sense of self, he had overcome the Heart Demon Tribulation, one of the calamities sent by heaven, and condensed his Nascent Soul.
The joy was brief.
He realized that the calamity sent by heaven was not yet over.
He saw several Nascent Soul stage cultivators facing off outside, but he had no leisure to pay attention to them.
Rumble…!
From the dark clouds gathered in the sky above Natian City, the Lightning Tribulation began to rage.
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