Chapter 190: Organizing the Harvest from the Defeated Sage Dojo

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read more at Nineheavens.org
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Lightning dwelled in Jin So-myeong’s eyes.

He had unfolded the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye, the divine ability that sees through all creation’s possibilities.

‘It seems to be a Soul Formation spiritual object indeed.’

The first thing he checked among the harvest obtained from the Defeated Sage Dojo was the lotus seized from the oasis.

While closely examining the lotus enveloped in red dust, his head somehow became dazed.

Should he call it a feeling of his soul being enchanted?

The light yellow petals were covered in red dust and looked dirty at first glance, but the five-colored radiance glowing at the center of the lotus was not dimmed even slightly.

It was purer and more brilliant than anything.

Leaving behind the saliva passing down his throat, he thought.

‘Should I refine it into a pill and consume it?’

It would be good if he could copy it with the Myriad Flows Restoration divine ability. How much Supreme Great Ability would be needed…

If this lotus was indeed a Soul Formation spiritual object, all kinds of miscellaneous bastards would covet it. Copying several of them and using one as bait was also not bad.

As he was thinking this and that, his mouth suddenly dried up.

Jin So-myeong, who was staring intently at the lotus unconsciously, paused.

His mind was unsettled, and somehow even an anxious feeling arose.

‘What is this?’

His brows furrowed automatically.

Because all sorts of worries rushed in as his heart suddenly became anxious.

Intuiting that something was strange, he forced his gaze away from the lotus.

Closing his eyes to block his vision, he contemplated his mind.

He quietly looked at the worries complicating his head, and each and every one of them was trivial.

‘Could it be that I have fallen into heart devils now?’

He held his breath. No, he inhaled deeply. Breathing as slowly as possible, he focused only on his basic senses.

Had about ten minutes passed?

His mind, which had boiled with idle thoughts, settled down like a quiet lake.

‘…Was it not heart devils?’

He had been careful because if caught properly by heart devils, his cultivation realm could lower or he could suffer a major internal injury.

Futile to his tension, it was calmed down all too easily.

Just as he regained his peace while tapping his scabbard out of habit, something came to mind, so he stared at the lotus again.

Indeed.

As he stared at the lotus, all kinds of worries and anxieties bloomed in his heart.

‘Mysterious. Is it a lotus that forcibly arouses vexations?’

Suddenly, the center of the lotus emitting pure light even within the hazy red dust caught his eye.

It was a sudden thought, but if he utilized this lotus well, it seemed it would also be helpful to cultivation.

‘If I can maintain a clear consciousness even amidst boiling idle thoughts…’

would he not be able to take a step further?

Jin So-myeong, who nodded briefly, stored the lotus well. He intended to examine it from time to time whenever he had leisure.

The next thing to check was the spiritual object obtained from the Body Tempering Pass.

He turned the milk-white fruit, the Body-Cleansing Soul-Brightening Fruit where deep blood Qi condensed, this way and that, and examined it meticulously.

‘He said constitution would be improved.’

There were three Body-Cleansing Soul-Brightening Fruits in total, of which two were about the size of an apple and one was exceptionally large. It was like a plump, well-ripened pear.

Judging by the felt energy, the large one was a Rank 4 highest-grade spiritual object, and the other two were Rank 4 high-grade.

‘Should I eat it?’

Should he call it a cultivator’s instinct, or an impulse?

A thirst arose.

It felt as if his body, worn out with fatigue from fighting a fierce battle, demanded the fruit. Honestly, he wanted to pick it up and eat it right away, but he suppressed the impulse.

He consumed Supreme Great Ability to amplify his senses. Only after verifying once more with the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye did he take a careful bite.

A crunchy texture.

As he swallowed the flesh that tasted similar to a well-ripened radish, his entire body’s blood boiled.

‘Mmm…’

The hot energy starting from his stomach heated his tendons and muscles.

Wouldn’t a lump of stone being refined inside a furnace feel like this?

It felt as if his muscles, which had reached their limit through successive battles, untangled strand by strand and were then reconstructed.

‘My body tempering realm is increasing.’

The joy was greater than the pain. An unidentified strength surged in the heat that burned his muscles.

The moment he realized he was becoming stronger in real-time as his muscles were reconstructed, he swallowed the rest of the fruit he had left after taking a bite.

Chiiii…!

His entire body’s skin turned bright red as steam rose.

Just as he was savoring the distant strength surging as if exploding,

a crazy hunger surged.

The hunger he had experienced in his mortal days when he had just reincarnated into this world. His reason was on the verge of fading due to the dreadfully severe hunger.

It was the first hunger experienced since obtaining the Bigu ability where he did not have to eat grain after becoming a Nascent Soul cultivator.

If it were simply painful, it would be bearable, but this was a foreign pain.

‘No. In the first place, I must not endure it.’

This hunger was demanding the energy absolutely necessary for his physical body to advance to a better realm.

He hurriedly searched his sub-space.

Looking for something edible, he took out the anglerfish meat he had caught at the Defeated Sage Dojo’s oasis.

Whoosh!

Awakening the Rank 4 flame, Divine Light of Extreme Fire, which slept inside his mind, he grilled the meat.

Actually, in his heart, he wanted to chew and eat it raw, but his last remaining strand of reason stopped it.

Sizzle!

Watching the flesh grilled to a golden brown, impatience rose.

Because it was hard to wait, he even raised the Five Elements Divine Thunder. Cooking it with lightning Qi for a long time as if sprinkling seasoning.

‘Done!’

The moment he took a large bite of it dripping with meat juice,

‘Ah!’

It was ecstasy. He hurriedly chewed and swallowed the meat filling his mouth.

The feeling of it turning into blood and flesh as soon as he ate it!

Until the hunger that felt like a hole was pierced in his stomach disappeared, he coveted the meat frantically.

By the time he cleared five house-sized chunks of meat,

simultaneously with the hunger disappearing completely, he realized that he had crossed the wall before he knew it.

His body tempering realm reached Rank 4 high-grade.

He became able to oppose the late Nascent Soul stage purely with his physical body alone.

Laughter automatically escaped.

‘The effect is awesome.’

Looking at the remaining two fruits, saliva naturally drooled, but he endured.

Since only one large and one small were left, it was correct to copy them with the Myriad Flows Restoration divine ability if he wanted to eat more.

And as he learned during the consumption process, the Body-Cleansing Soul-Brightening Fruit had a better effect if eaten after abusing the body to the verge of death.

Just as he was enjoying the satiety felt after a long time,

‘…Hmm?’

Between the bone pieces left behind after tearing and eating the anglerfish meat, a certain scale caught his eye.

It was a palm-sized scale with a silvery sheen, and it kept bothering him.

What on earth was strange? Peering at it, he realized there was a discrepancy between his vision and Divine Sense.

Assuredly, it was visible to the eyes, but not detected by Divine Sense.

‘Come to think of it, that anglerfish’s concealment ability was quite something.’

Could it be thanks to this scale, by any chance?

Picking up the scale stained with black ash, shaking it off, and infusing spiritual power, a wondrous thing happened.

As if unfolding a concealment art, it assimilated with the surroundings and its presence became faint.

‘Nice.’

To think it had this degree of effect even though he had not entrusted it to an artifact refiner to process into a Dharma Treasure.

It was literally a natural Dharma Treasure.

Taking out cloth to wrap the scale and threading it, he made a necklace.

Putting it inside his clothes like a talisman and infusing spiritual power, it worked well. Although it was a somewhat primitive form, this level was better than most Rank 4 spirit treasures.

‘Decent.’

By the way, was it because his body tempering realm rose?

Resting in a sated state, such a thought naturally occurred to him.

‘Could I win if I fought a normal Soul Formation stage cultivator?’

Assuming that the Insect-Armor Race member who took over Mok Sa-heon’s body was at the Soul Formation stage, he conducted a mock battle based on his experience at the time.

Thinking it over while maintaining the most objective perspective possible, honestly, the judgment was made that it would be difficult.

Coldly speaking, the possibility of winning was slim. No, it was to the extent that it could be flatly declared impossible.

Would he win once or twice if he fought a thousand times? Even that could be a vain delusion.

‘My realm is lacking.’

In the Defeated Sage Dojo, the Soul Formation-grade Insect-Armor Race member regaining its sanity was merely a split second in the late stage of the battle.

Evaluating it, it was a short time of less than a minute, but as the guy began using spells in earnest, he was driven to the verge of death in an instant.

‘It felt as if the entire world became the enemy.’

More than anything, the difference in spiritual power was overwhelming. Exaggerating slightly, the difference was as large as the sun and a light bulb.

Somehow aiming for a gap, he even hit it with the Light-Accumulating Destructive Vibration, but it was insufficient.

‘To think it endures even after being hit by the Light-Accumulating Destructive Vibration…’

If Mok Sa-heon’s lifespan had not run out, he did not know what the result would have been.

Recalling the scene of that time slowly again, he could not understand it.

Did it neutralize the destructive power of the Light-Accumulating Destructive Vibration with absurd spiritual power, by any chance?

If so, it meant the power of the Light-Accumulating Destructive Vibration was lacking, so he had to find a way to strengthen the Light-Accumulating Destructive Vibration.

‘What should I do.’

Actually, a Nascent Soul cultivator trying to face and defeat a Soul Formation cultivator was an absurd thought in itself, but Jin So-myeong was serious.

It would be one thing if it were completely impossible, but wasn’t there a slim possibility? Raising a low win rate little by little was a rather enjoyable thing.

Recalling this and that method, he shelved this agony for now.

‘Let’s finish organizing the harvest first.’

The Nine Heavens Spiritual Heart Grass whose roots were about seventy percent restored.

After checking if there were any problems with the Rank 5 spiritual herb that had the effect of nourishing the divine soul, he stored it preciously.

‘Later when I have margin in my Supreme Great Ability, I should copy and consume it.’

Next, he scanned the jade slips obtained from the Formation Pass, and it was interesting as the theory on Rank 4 formations was written.

‘Formations are useful in many ways. Let’s master this as well from time to time whenever I have leisure.’

Following that, he examined the things obtained by cleaning out the spiritual herb field.

‘Green Crystal Grass, Azure Horn Myriad Leaf Grass, Fiery Lotus Snow, Pure Ice Grass…’

Counting only Rank 4 spiritual herbs, it was almost a thousand.

Excluding duplicates and evaluating by types alone, there were dozens of species. It was so diverse that he could only identify half of them.

‘Most of them are pill materials for cultivation.’

There were so many spiritual herbs that would help cultivation even if eaten raw that they were piled high.

Also, although he did not know the exact effects, there were also two Rank 5 spiritual herbs.

A root plant resembling a jellyfish, and a flower looking like a dandelion.

It seemed he could find out their effects after returning to the Middle Province and consume them.

And one more.

The Jade Water Coral obtained by digging up the entire floor of the hot spring. Thanks to this guy that produced spiritual Qi on its own, the spiritual Qi of the Secret Realm of the Mind became even thicker.

The time remaining until the 6th layer of the Nascent Soul stage was about seven years, but it was reduced to about five years?

In a way, the harvest most helpful to cultivation immediately was the Jade Water Coral.

After scanning the harvest obtained from the Defeated Sage Dojo, he headed to the Secret Realm of the Mind for the first time in a while.

“Peep?”

The yellow chick—no, Geum-cheong, who had become a sparrow-like creature before he knew it, flew over and sat on his shoulder, chirping.

“You have finally come! You only sent clones every day!”

Geum-cheong, who had grown into a Rank 2 demonic beast before he knew it, fluttered her wings as if boasting, and blue lightning dyed the air each time.

“Oh, our Dol-soe has grown a lot. Already at Foundation Establishment.”

“I told you it’s Geum-cheong, not Dol-soe!”

Even though he had seen her relatively often through his clones, he was glad to see her in person.

As he scratched the beak of the creature that was running wild while fluttering its wings, she quickly forgot she had been angry and chirped happily.

‘Is it because she is a bird? Her memory is secretly bad.’

Sprinkling plenty of the Five Elements Divine Thunder, she liked it so much that she even twitched her tail feathers.

“Peep! The lightning Qi has become tastier!”

“Is that so?”

Thanks to the experience underwent in the Defeated Sage Dojo, his lightning Qi had also achieved much development.

Looking quietly at the lightning inside his mind, a faint purple brilliance was felt, and it was much clearer compared to the past.

At any rate, after playing with Geum-cheong whom he met after a long time, he decided to finish his business first.

【Resource Production】: 63 Extreme-Grade Spirit Stones / 1 Day

【Resource Production】: 64 Extreme-Grade Spirit Stones / 1 Day

…

【Resource Production】: 80 Extreme-Grade Spirit Stones / 1 Day

Rumble!

The Secret Realm of the Mind expanded rapidly, echoing a violent vibration.

Just when the startled Geum-cheong flew to his feet and lay prostrate,

【The spirit stone mine has reached the limit of Rank 4 high-grade.】

【To grow it to Rank 4 extreme-grade or higher, Immortal Stones are required.】

Since the constraints on the Secret Realm of the Mind felt like they were being released as his realm became higher, he wondered if he could strengthen it straight to Rank 5, but it was not so.

“Immortal Stones.”

It was an item he had never heard of.

Judging by the name, it seemed to be an item similar to spirit stones, and was assumed to be the currency used in the upper realm.

‘Where on earth should I obtain items of the upper realm.’

After agonizing for a moment, he first comforted the frightened Geum-cheong and came out of the Secret Realm of the Mind.

Since he had finished his urgent business, the only thing remaining now was to cultivate calmly.

He intended to stay in this snowy mountain for the time being and calmly digest what he had obtained.

‘I should gradually raise the proficiency of the Five Viscera Hundred Tempering Art too.’

As he reached the 5th layer of the Nascent Soul stage, the maximum value of the Supreme Great Ability increased to 60 million.

It meant that in one year, approximately 700 million points of the Supreme Great Ability would be recovered, and at this level, it was worth raising the Five Viscera Hundred Tempering Art, which possessed 4 billion proficiency points, to the next realm.

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