Chapter 441 - 435: An Unprecedented Nascent Soul Phenomenon

Chapter 441: Chapter 435: An Unprecedented Nascent Soul Phenomenon

"Wasn’t Ancestor Ge’s second Nascent Soul Phenomenon the Rainbow Bridge? Why has it changed for Ancestor Bai?"

After they became Core Formation True Men, records that were once top-secret for ordinary disciples were made available to them. This was inside information that Long Long herself had only learned recently.

"Aside from a few types that are clearly a cut above the rest, there’s no inherent hierarchy among the other Nascent Soul Phenomena... The Rainbow Bridge simply requires abundant True Essence. There’s no specific standard; one just needs to be in the top three for True Essence reserves among the batch of newly-advanced Nascent Soul True Monarchs."

Wei Dao began to answer his junior martial sister’s question, his explanation flowing smoothly.

"Strictly speaking, the number of people who trigger the Ten Thousand Swords Subdue phenomenon is certainly far lower than those who trigger the Rainbow Bridge. However, if you really want to talk about which is superior, there are only a few Nascent Soul Phenomena that can truly indicate a Cultivator’s potential..."

Before Wei Dao could finish his sentence, a dark shadow crashed down before them.

BOOM!

An ancient, great gate appeared, its surface engraved with strange characters.

These were characters from the Upper Realm, each one embodying the principles of the Great Dao and imbuing the simple, ancient gate with power.

Behind the gate was a swirling mass of Chaos, light above and heavy below, like a nascent world constantly on the verge of collapsing and reforming.

"The Grotto Heaven Gate! The Grotto Heaven Gate that represents a Divinity Transformation Seed! Junior Martial Uncle Bai has it too, of course!"

Lu Song shouted in excitement. It wasn’t that the appearance of the Grotto Heaven Gate guaranteed a chance at Divinity Transformation.

It just meant that such True Monarchs had experienced the secrets of a Grotto Heaven’s evolution ahead of time. Their prospects were far greater than other True Monarchs, with the most obvious benefit being a significantly increased chance of cultivating to the Late-Stage Nascent Soul Realm.

"The Grotto Heaven Gate appeared as only the third phenomenon. Could it be that an even more profound phenomenon is yet to come?"

Compared to the others, Wei Dao thought more deeply and had keenly sensed this possibility.

The appearance of Nascent Soul Phenomena followed certain rules.

They either progressed in ascending order of profundity or descended step by step.

Any Nascent Soul Phenomenon appearing after the Grotto Heaven Gate would have to be, at the very least, of a comparable level.

Just as Wei Dao was still pondering, the next phenomenon followed close behind, appearing the instant the ancient gate vanished.

It was an endless expanse of starlight, brilliant and dazzling, that covered the entire sky.

"A Sea of Starlight, representing unparalleled power in one’s era. Junior Martial Uncle Bai is truly worthy of it."

Seeing this phenomenon, Wei Dao breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that this was only natural.

This starlight was completely different from the starlight-infused Celestial Thunder he had endured before; this was exceptionally pure starlight.

It carried none of the Future Star Constellation Power and was no different from the starlight that illuminated the night sky.

The condition for this Nascent Soul Phenomenon to appear was also simple: one had to be unparalleled in their time, dominating all other Cultivators of the same generation.

Not a single Core Formation True Man could question their status; everyone was wholeheartedly convinced, revering them as the number one in combat power within the Core Formation Realm.

Not only did one’s actual strength have to meet the requirement, but they also had to be acknowledged by all and possess a sufficiently distinguished combat record.

This ruled out those Cultivators who focused solely on secluded cultivation and rarely acted. It could only be achieved by Core Formation True Men who excelled at Combat and swept through the world unrivaled.

On the surface, the requirements didn’t seem high, but in reality, its frequency of appearance was even lower than that of the Grotto Heaven Gate.

However, the Sea of Starlight Nascent Soul Phenomenon only proved a person’s Heaven-Defying Battle Power during the Core Formation Realm; it proved nothing about their future potential.

Therefore, its reputation in the Cultivation Realm was not as renowned as the Grotto Heaven Gate’s.

"Slaying a True Monarch while being a True Man, a killer of True Men... in terms of combat record, Junior Martial Uncle Bai absolutely qualifies as unparalleled in his era... Among all the Core Formation True Men in the world, even looking across the Five Domains, it would be difficult to find anyone comparable."

This starlight was like the most dazzling fireworks, dyeing the sky for hundreds of miles around with a brilliant, stellar iridescence.

Wei Dao let out a long breath, focusing his mind and essence, preparing to welcome the arrival of the Sound of the Great Dao.

That was a gift from the Heaven and Earth Dao to a new Nascent Soul True Monarch. Besides the individual themselves reaping the greatest benefits, all living beings within a hundred-mile radius could also gain various rewards after hearing the Sound of the Great Dao.

This included, but was not limited to, breaking through bottlenecks, achieving sudden enlightenment on difficult problems, and raising one’s realm in the Hundred Skills of Cultivation.

The lower one’s Cultivation, the more pronounced the effects of hearing the Sound of the Great Dao.

Every new Nascent Soul True Monarch could spur a large group of Cultivators in their Sect to make great progress, with the effects being most obvious in the first few years.

Last time, for the sake of secrecy, only Bai Zichen and Zhou Suqing from the entire Sect were present to witness Ge Cang’s complete Nascent Soul formation process.

This time, it was still not appropriate to make a grand affair of it, but the situation was much better than last time.

At the very least, the three Core Formation True Men, Bai Zichen’s three disciples, and the hundred-plus disciples on Flame Mountain could all enjoy this benefit.

It was hard to say for the Core Formation Cultivators, but it would be perfectly normal for seven or eight more Foundation Establishment Cultivators to emerge from the group of disciples on Flame Mountain.

He was just about to open his mouth to remind the others to pay attention and not miss the Sound of the Great Dao when he discovered that after the stellar iridescence in the sky faded, yet another phenomenon was coalescing.

A phantom river spanning Flame Mountain appeared, with countless human figures running and walking upon it.

Some were infants upstream but became stooped elders by the time they drifted downstream, struggling to climb out of the river before scattering into motes of light and disappearing.

"What kind of phenomenon is this?"

Wei Dao stood frozen on the spot. He could guarantee that this was a type of Nascent Soul Phenomenon that had never been seen in any records.

When his yearning for the Nascent Soul Realm couldn’t be satisfied in the short term, it transformed into an exploration of all things derived from it.

For example, the Nascent Soul Phenomena of every True Monarch was a topic he paid the utmost attention to.

He could recite almost all known Nascent Soul Phenomena from memory. Even for extremely rare phenomena like "Merit Extends Life" and "Bodhi Flower Blooms," he could speak of them as if listing his family treasures, able to casually answer any question about their origins and meanings.

He was certain that no recorded phenomenon was similar to this phantom river.

But for it to be ranked after the Grotto Heaven Gate and the Sea of Starlight could only mean that this phenomenon represented an even more formidable power.

...

’The River of Time?’

Bai Zichen was slightly taken aback, thinking for a moment that his Nascent Soul Phenomenon had directly summoned the River of Time.

But upon closer inspection, while this river was special, it completely lacked the divine mystery of the true River of Time.

The two times he had activated the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword, the River of Time had appeared, leaving a deep impression on him.

The river before him was also a convergence of the powerful Power of Time, but it didn’t have that feeling of piercing through the past and future like the true River of Time.

Many of the figures on the river fell off midway, scattering into motes of light while still in their youth or middle age.

Very few were able to walk the entire length of the river.

After circling once, the river shrank into a ring of light that wrapped around his body, existing there constantly.

’Time Ring Body... I can step into and out of it at will, and pluck the strings of time to a limited extent...’

Bai Zichen immediately learned the details of this Nascent Soul Phenomenon. It was clearly related to the Time Path.

The Future Star Constellation Tribulation and the Time Ring Body were Nascent Soul Phenomena that had become legends since ancient times, and their appearances were both caused by the Time Path.

After a full incense stick’s worth of time, the long river shrank into a line of water the length of a finger and slowly seeped into his body.

The five great Nascent Soul Phenomena had displayed themselves in sequence, finally coming to an end.

Ge Cang’s four Nascent Soul Phenomena had already made him one of the best among all new Nascent Soul True Monarchs.

After all, when it came to Nascent Soul Phenomena, quality was just as important as quantity.

As long as the Grotto Heaven Gate was present, regardless of what other phenomena it was paired with, it was considered a top-tier performance.

As for Bai Zichen’s five Nascent Soul Phenomena, at least three of them were on the same level as the Grotto Heaven Gate.

Looking back tens of thousands of years, such an achievement was still astonishing, enough to be called world-shaking and unprecedented.

A melodious chime finally arrived. Because there were so many Nascent Soul Phenomena and they had lasted for so long, the arrival of the Sound of the Great Dao was slightly delayed.

No one could tell where this Sound of the Great Dao originated from.

’I’ll invest this new understanding into the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword!’

The true River of Time... no one knew where it came from, nor where it flowed.

The Sound of the Great Dao echoed in his mind, lingering long after, and his comprehension of the Time True Intent underwent a new transformation.

This laid a solid foundation for him to step onto the true Time Path.

The immediate reflection of this was that with the Qing Emperor Longevity Sword in his hands, it would now only take him fifty years to successfully perform the Hidden Sword technique.

Its other lethal powers would only continue to strengthen as his comprehension of the Time True Intent deepened.