Chapter 155: Cultivation Holy Land, Middle Province
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Translated by Frog in the Well
Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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***
In the storage pouch left behind by the Supreme Elder of the Black Night Palace, there were many spiritual objects related to the demonic path.
Most of them were useless to Jin So-myeong, but that was not the case for all; there was also something useful enough to evoke admiration.
Starlight Afterimage Stone.
It was an ore with a deep indigo-blue color like the sea mixed with pale yellow stripes, and this Starlight Afterimage Stone, which was about the size of two fists put together, possessed a very marvelous property.
Swish…!
As he shook the Starlight Afterimage Stone here and there, a faint afterimage appeared along the trajectory.
The afterimage, which followed the trajectory exactly at first, began to deviate from the orbit at some point.
The moment the wildly moving afterimage collided with the floor.
Thud! Along with the sound, a dent was created. It meant that it possessed actual physical force, rather than being a mere trick of the eye.
‘It is a marvelous ore.’
He slashed it with his sword Gang to measure its strength, but not a single scratch appeared. It was extremely hard, fitting for a Rank 4 spirit metal.
An ore that generated afterimages moving like a living being…
What would happen if a sword was made out of the Starlight Afterimage Stone?
Wouldn’t afterimages form and attack the enemy every time the sword was swung? Just imagining it, it seemed an extremely excellent sword would be born.
‘Perfect. I should find a skilled artifact refiner and ask them to forge it into a sword.’
He carefully stored the Starlight Afterimage Stone on one side of his subspace. He intended to request a sword from a skilled artisan later upon going to the Middle Province.
‘Next is… the Heavenly Net Falling Star Formation?’
It was a battle formation useful when a multitude surrounded and attacked a powerful expert.
Reading the explanation of the formation, Jin So-myeong let out a hollow laugh.
‘If a hundred Golden Core cultivators fight at the risk of their lives while maintaining the Heavenly Net Falling Star Formation, they can perish together with a Nascent Soul stage cultivator?’
Of course, theory was merely theory.
Who on earth could fight a powerful expert while risking their very life? Once the battle began and people started dying one by one, their morale would quickly plummet, and they would try to flee.
To realize the ideal pursued by the Heavenly Net Falling Star Formation, at the very least, an army possessing a strong mentality that would not flee even if the person next to them died was required.
‘Or… having no emotions like fear in the first place.’
The Supreme Elder of the Black Night Palace had probably deployed the Heavenly Net Falling Star Formation by utilizing ghosts rather than humans.
‘If the number of my clones increases, I might indeed be able to fight according to this formation.’
The Heavenly Net Falling Star Formation possessed a characteristic where it grew stronger the greater the number of soldiers composing the formation.
Because there were interesting aspects to it, he read it meticulously.
It would have been difficult to understand in the past, but now it was different.
【Skills】
Rank 3 Formation Art (Proficiency 10,000 / 30 million)
This was because he had mastered at least the minimal foundations of formations while preparing for his Nascent Soul breakthrough.
Besides the Heavenly Net Falling Star Formation, there were various secret techniques.
What was particularly impressive was a spell called the Soul Prison Ghost Puppet Art, which described in detail how to subjugate a soul through torture and employ it as a ghost.
While it was good in terms of being able to capture and torture an enemy’s soul, the cultivation process was too vicious, so he had no desire to learn it.
‘To think that one must torture at least a thousand souls to even cross the threshold.’
Although he could easily cross the threshold by utilizing the proficiency system, he was not particularly attracted.
Since he had heard rumors that merely learning such secret techniques polluted the soul, he just noted that such a technique existed and moved on.
After the jade slips, it was the turn for spirit treasures and dharma treasures.
He gave the items related to sharpness to Limitless, and set aside those he would use personally.
‘The Ten Thousand Souls Calming Mind Pendant? This is decent.’
It was a necklace refined from the Rank 4 spirit wood, the Ten Thousand Souls Wood, and it was a treasure that increased resistance to mental attacks such as ghostly wails.
The Ten Thousand Souls Calming Mind Pendant was not bad either, but there was something else he liked even more.
‘The Mysterious Night Flying Carriage.’
It was a Rank 4 flying carriage, a mobile spirit treasure that used high-grade spirit stones or top-grade spirit stones as fuel.
Its speed was about that of an average early Nascent Soul stage cultivator flying with all their might?
‘Perfect. It will be comfortable when traveling far.’
Although the carriage was about the size of an ordinary cottage on the outside, the interior was much wider once the door was opened.
With as many as twenty rooms, there was even a spring emitting spiritual Qi in the central clearing. Since it was equivalent to a Rank 3 high-grade spiritual vein, cultivation while moving was also possible.
Just as he was smiling in satisfaction, he inspected the next harvest and discovered a mountain-like pile of spirit stones.
There were as many as two million high-grade spirit stones and 760 top-grade spirit stones. Perhaps because he was the practical leader of a Nascent Soul-grade force, his wealth was substantial.
‘This is subtly lucrative.’
Thanks to this, his wealth, which had been depleted to refine the Nascent Condensation Pill, became affluent once again.
There were also Rank 4 cultivation pills. Not very many, just enough to consume for about half a year?
Of course, this was based on his standard, where he consumed eight times more pills than others. If it were someone else, they would have been able to consume them for several years.
After sorting out all the other miscellaneous harvests, such as nameplates of unknown usage.
As he stepped out of the cave dwelling, the voice transmission talismans piled up at the entrance poured down like rain.
-Senior, congratulations on your Nascent Soul grand success! I am Wuchi Hu, the owner of the Thousand Jade Tower. If you do not mind, at our Thousand Jade Tower…
-The family head of the Southern Jade Clan offers greetings to Senior. If you permit, we would like to invite you as a dharma protector of our clan. Whatever conditions you desire…
-Ryu Se-yeong of the Manifesting Flower Palace offers greetings. I am contacting you because I have a modest gift I wish to present to Senior. If you visit our Manifesting Flower Palace, we will consider it an honor and serve you with all our heart.
…
There were simply too many voice transmission talismans.
Was it because he had become a Nascent Soul stage expert who lived for a thousand years? Contacts came from all sorts of places whose names he had never even heard.
Even more, they were all so uniformly similar in content that it was to the point of being embarrassing to read.
Still, just in case there was an important contact, he summoned his clones to verify each one.
-Fellow Daoist Jin. Congratulations on your Nascent Soul grand success. Since you must be tired from the flood of contacts, I will get straight to the point. Why don’t we dominate the Southern Wood Heaven Region together and establish a sect that will last for ten thousand years?
The proposal to conquer an entire continent and split the spoils was at least a unique offer, but it did not particularly appeal to him.
The best spiritual vein in the Southern Wood Heaven Region was merely at the Rank 4 mid-grade.
Rather than bickering to occupy a Rank 4 mid-grade spiritual vein in such a barren place, it was better to simply cross over to a region rich in resources, such as the Middle Province.
‘If I am going to seriously challenge the Soul Formation stage, that is.’
He had heard that the Middle Province was strangely abundant in spiritual Qi. It would probably be easy to find a place to cultivate.
‘Ah, right.’
Thinking of spiritual veins brought the Secret Realm of the Mind to his thoughts.
The dharma power that had been disrupted during his breakthrough of the major realm had regained stability. It was about time to gradually strengthen the Secret Realm of the Mind.
【Resource Production】 : 5 highest-grade spirit stones / 1 day
【Resource Production】 : 6 highest-grade spirit stones / 1 day
…
【Resource Production】 : 18 highest-grade spirit stones / 1 day
【Resource Production】 : 19 highest-grade spirit stones / 1 day
He sharply increased the production volume, which he had set at the level of five before attempting the Nascent Soul stage.
When the production reached twenty, the Secret Realm of the Mind would become a Rank 4 mid-grade spiritual vein. He hesitated whether to strengthen it once more, but stopped for now.
‘I should do the next strengthening after achieving Rank 4 body tempering.’
Seeing the Secret Realm of the Mind, where the spiritual Qi had grown noticeably denser, made him feel reassured. The Secret Realm of the Mind was indeed his greatest foundation for growing faster than others.
Nodding, Jin So-myeong headed toward the Medicine King Sect. Since he had reached the Nascent Soul stage, the time had come to keep his promise to Cheong Hwa-ran.
*
Meeting her after a long time, Cheong Hwa-ran had reached the fourth layer of the Golden Core stage.
Had it been about twenty years since she formed her Golden Core? Considering that she had only cultivated safely within the sect, it was a remarkably fast cultivation speed.
“Senior. Congratulations on your Nascent Soul grand success.”
“Mmh.”
He was about to tell her, who was offering the highest courtesy with her hands politely gathered, that she could act comfortably, but decided against it. Even if he told her to treat a Nascent Soul stage cultivator comfortably, the other party would only feel more uncomfortable.
After exchanging greetings,
he nodded to her, who swallowed hard as if anticipating something. Without dragging it out, he brought up the business immediately.
“Do you still wish to leave the Medicine King Sect? If your heart is still the same, I will help you.”
“Ah! Thank you so much. My desire to leave remains the same, but as for what I should do…”
“I understand. Then let us go to the Supreme Elder together.”
“Pardon?”
“There is no need to resolve this kind of matter in a complicated way. Just go to the Supreme Elder and say you wish to leave, and that is it. As for the reason… you can make an excuse that you want to search for your own fortuitous encounters outside.”
Cheong Hwa-ran, who was bewildered at first, fell into thought for a moment, then nodded.
“I understand. I will do as Senior says.”
He visited the Supreme Elder with her, and they were able to meet him much more easily than expected.
“Fellow Daoist Jin.”
“It has been a long time. Senior.”
The Supreme Elder, who wore a benevolent smile as always, looked pale as if he had suffered internal injuries.
“What do you mean ‘Senior’, just call me ‘Fellow Daoist’. *Cough*… Actually, I intended to stand guard when you were breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage. But because I was caught in a sneak attack by that old man Ya Cheon-ryun, I had no choice but to flee. I apologize.”
Was it true? Looking at his embarrassed expression, he seemed sincere, but…
In fact, what kind of thoughts the Supreme Elder harbled was not particularly important now. To be more precise, he was just too bothered to dig into the truth and care.
Certain problems simply became trivial matters as one’s realm grew higher.
In any case, the Supreme Elder had not caused him any harm, had he? Therefore, he decided not to hold it against him.
“It is fine. Who would take a risk for someone else? I am grateful just for the fact that you intended to help.”
The Supreme Elder let out a low groan. He seemed to have well understood the underlying meaning that they were, in the end, merely strangers.
“Hmm… But what business brings you here together with Elder Cheong?”
When he looked at Cheong Hwa-ran instead of answering, she hesitated but stepped forward.
“Supreme Elder. Senior Jin is said to be leaving the Southern Province soon, and I wish to follow him.”
“Huh?”
The Supreme Elder, who only blinked blankly, opened his mouth wide.
He stared at Jin So-myeong with wide eyes, behaving like a man who had been betrayed. It was like looking at an outside man trying to seduce and take away his innocent adopted daughter.
“No, why on earth? If you stay at the Medicine King Sect, we will obtain everything you need for you, so why do you wish to go out into the dangerous outside!”
“That is exactly why. The cultivation resources the Supreme Elder has given me are too excessive. Although my aptitude is decent, I feel that if I only cultivate comfortably like this, I will never break through to the Nascent Soul stage.”
“…Heh.”
“I need experiences that will steel my state of mind.”
Just as the Supreme Elder became dumbfounded and was at a loss for words.
Yeom Chae-ryeong, the Sect Master of the Medicine King Sect who had been listening quietly in the corner of the reception room, shined her eyes.
“That is correct. How could a flower in a greenhouse become a Nascent Soul stage expert? Father, may I go together as well?”
“What! Absolutely! Absolutely not! Where on earth does the leader of a sect think she is going!”
Yeom Chae-ryeong, who had chimed in as if impressed, eventually turned sullen and hung her head at the sight of her father shouting fitfully.
In the awkward silence,
the Supreme Elder, who looked back and forth between Jin So-myeong and Cheong Hwa-ran, let out a deep sigh and spoke.
“Hwa-ran. I agree that your words about needing trials are correct to some extent. However, the outside is truly too dangerous.”
“…”
“You will have to resolve every single trivial issue by yourself. Are you confident in enduring such hardships? Please reconsider.”
At the words that seemed intended to frighten her, Cheong Hwa-ran spoke resolutely.
“Supreme Elder. I was originally a rogue cultivator. I am used to such things.”
“*Groan*.”
When a cultivator said they would move forward, under what pretext could one block them? Even for a family bound by blood, it was not an easy thing to do.
Having remained silent for a long time, the Supreme Elder ultimately had no choice but to squeeze his eyes shut.
***
One day as time passed, in the Middle Province.
In a luxurious pleasure house filled with red and gold decorations, five Golden Core merchants laughed heartily.
Courtesans beautiful enough that it would not be strange even if they had become the queens of a mortal kingdom poured wine. Enjoying instrument performances that pleased the ears together with fragrant wine, it was indeed like the play of immortals.
“Excellent!”
The Golden Core merchants were all dressed elegantly and neatly, and without a single callus on their hands, they looked like people who had never experienced hardship in their lives.
One of them, who seemed to suit the word ‘young master’, spoke with a smile.
“I heard a very marvelous story recently. Have you guys heard of the sword cultivator called the First Sword of the Golden Core?”
“First Sword of the Golden Core?”
The Golden Core merchants, frowning as if displeased, spoke in disbelief.
“Absurd. By whose authority is he called the number one of the Golden Core?”
“Truly an arrogant fellow! By what qualification does he claim to be the first in this wide world? Is he not afraid of offending the experts who are as numerous as grains of sand?”
“His thoughts are shallow, that is all.”
“Ah, I have heard of him in passing. A rogue cultivator from the Southern Province, right? I heard he is young too. He probably isn’t even a hundred years old.”
“Oh. If he formed his Golden Core before a hundred years old, it means his talent is decent.”
“Hmph! Even so, he is absolutely not the first of the Golden Core! It is not a title a young greenhorn can handle.”
“You said he is from the Southern Province. Sigh, the bragging of country bumpkins… Tsk tsk.”
“Hmm. Still, the title of the First Sword of the Golden Core wouldn’t be attached to an ordinary person. Is there a reason he is called that?”
“He is merely a frog in a well at best. If he were in the Middle Province, he wouldn’t even have been able to walk around with his head held high, you know? He would have been stepped on by someone long ago.”
“True.”
As sneering ridicule poured out, the one who first brought up the First Sword of the Golden Core chuckled.
Wore an expression like a Buddhist looking at foolish sentient beings and spoke.
“Everyone is slow with the news. That First Sword of the Golden Core, whom you ridicule as a country bumpkin, is said to have reached the Nascent Soul stage.”
“Hmm…?”
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