Chapter 82: Truly Experiencing the Nascent Soul Realm

Chapter 82: Chapter 82: Truly Experiencing the Nascent Soul Realm

Not long after the Xiezhi’s Spiritual Body disappeared, Chu Fan’s consciousness also withdrew from the Jun Tianjian World.

However, he couldn’t bring out the Ming Jue Jade and Juntian Sword that his conscious form had been holding.

He didn’t have to think hard to understand. Outside the Juntian Mirror, his consciousness was still within his Dantian, so it was naturally impossible to bring those two items in there with him.

The moment he exited, he looked up to see that the Juntian Mirror, already like a blazing sun, was now shining even more brilliantly. The outermost ring was spinning, and now the second ring was rotating in the opposite direction, endlessly.

At this moment, he saw the ninety-six once-blurry characters on the second ring slowly coalesce into a single, large, golden word: "Fight."

Just as with the first layer, a voice like a great bell resounded in his Sea of Consciousness, reciting a passage of scripture.

Then, the figure of an old man with a white beard and hair like an Immortal appeared. He formed a hand seal with one hand and chanted an incantation.

"...To conquer all hardships. To be brave and fearless. To be unstoppable and sweep away all opposition—this is the Assembly of Truth."

"Fight!"

It was still the shadow of a lion, but unlike the External-Attached Lion Seal, this one was pitch-black and its mouth was not open in a roar. Instead, its eyes flickered with a crimson light, a light that seemed capable of seizing one’s soul, sending a chill through their entire body.

It also didn’t disappear after a roar like the External-Attached Lion Seal; instead, it lingered for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. The lion’s shadow remained even after the old man’s figure had vanished.

After memorizing this Divine Technique, Chu Fan turned his gaze to the lotus flower in his Dantian.

The True Qi Liquid in his Dantian had been replenished, but the lotus petals had taken on a faint pink hue, which surprised Chu Fan.

’I’ve looked at this lotus countless times before. Its petals were always perfectly clear and transparent, without a single impurity. Why have they turned a faint pink now?’

He didn’t dwell on it, however, and instead turned his attention to the thirteen plump Lotus Seeds on the pod.

The Lotus Seeds were still a faint red, the same color as the Inner Core of the python he’d once slain. The only difference was that the centermost seed was now covered in countless cracks.

It looked like an egg that was about to hatch.

The Nascent Soul Realm. The Golden Core shatters and gives rise to the Primordial Spirit—that is the Nascent Soul Realm.

’It must be because my consciousness is still inside my body. Even though I’ve broken through, my Primordial Spirit hasn’t hatched from its shell yet.’

Withdrawing his consciousness, his physical body stirred and awoke.

He opened his eyes to find himself lying in a small, cramped hut made of rough-hewn wood. He then saw Yun Xi at the doorway, sitting cross-legged with her back to him.

He had just sat up when he felt a powerful aura surging from Yun Xi, growing stronger by the moment.

’Is she about to break through?’ At this thought, Chu Fan sat quietly behind her, not daring to make the slightest sound as he waited.

Every breakthrough to a new Great Realm carries inherent risks for a Cultivator. An unstable mind could lead to a complete waste of one’s efforts, or even a severe backlash.

’My own breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Realm can wait. Yun Xi is more important.’

He silently watched over her.

A little over two hours later, Yun Xi broke through to the Golden Core Realm, and her aura began to stabilize.

He wasn’t sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but for a moment, he thought he saw a wisp of black energy swirl above Yun Xi’s head before vanishing in a flash.

’Maybe I was just seeing things.’

Chu Fan didn’t dwell on it. After all, he had only seen it for an instant.

The moment Yun Xi opened her eyes, she sensed the gaze behind her. Overjoyed, she quickly stood up.

"Chu Fan, you’re finally awake," Yun Xi said, crying tears of joy.

"How long was I unconscious?"

"Twenty-eight full days," Yun Xi said, pointing to the tally marks she had carved into a nearby wooden pillar.

"Did you build this hut?"

Yun Xi said, a little embarrassed, "I built it in a hurry, so it’s not very nice. Don’t you dare laugh at me."

Chu Fan walked over and pulled her into his arms, ruffling the hair on the back of her head. It was a gesture he’d been fond of making since they were children.

"Silly girl, I can’t thank you enough. Why would I ever laugh at you?"

"Chu Fan, promise me we’ll never say ’thank you’ to each other again, okay?"

"Okay," he agreed. "Now, tell me, how did you suddenly break through? You were only in the Late Stage of the Heartbeat Realm, still quite a ways from Perfection!"

"I’m not really sure myself. For the past month, I’ve spent all my time either searching for Spirit Medicines, brewing them, and transferring some of my True Qi to you, or just focusing on my Cultivation. It felt like I had an epiphany or something. My progress became much faster than before. Then, this morning, I had a sudden moment of clarity and just knew I was about to break through."

"It’s probably because the Spiritual Qi on Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain is more abundant than on Yunmeng Mountain," Chu Fan mused, nodding. Then it hit him. "Wait, you said I was unconscious for twenty-eight days? Doesn’t that mean we only have two days left to meet the one-month deadline?"

"Yes," Yun Xi nodded.

Neither of them realized that the reason Chu Fan had been able to grasp the secrets of life and death while in that chaotic state, and the reason Yun Xi’s own cultivation had advanced so dramatically, was all due to her selfless act of pouring her True Qi into him.

"I’m about to break through, too. Can you keep an eye on things for me?"

"You... you’ve fully recovered?"

"I have."

"That’s wonderful! Chu Fan, what Realm are you at right now?"

"I’m at the Perfection stage of the Golden Core Realm. Once I break through, I’ll be in the Nascent Soul Realm."

Hearing this, however, Yun Xi frowned.

Chu Fan knew why she was frowning. "I’ll explain everything after I break through," he said comfortingly.

After saying that, he sat down cross-legged.

In truth, he didn’t even need to actively circulate his Cultivation Technique; it operated automatically within his body at all times.

Breaking through to a new Realm, however, required him to use his will to guide the flow of his True Qi. This was because each new Realm opened up new pathways for True Qi, which branched off from the main meridians.

Each advancement in one’s Realm was, in essence, a process of opening up more meridians. By the time one achieved complete Transcendence and became an Immortal, every single cell in their body would function as a meridian, capable of storing True Qi.

In other words, advancing to a new Great Realm was a comprehensive evolution of one’s Spiritual Power, physical body, understanding of the Martial Dao, and the quality of their True Qi.

The most obvious external sign of breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm is the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top and Five Qi Chaoyuan.

However, Chu Fan would only realize after his own breakthrough that the Nascent Soul Realm was merely the *beginning* of Transcendence. The path to true Transcendence was still a very, very long one.

In other words, the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top and Five Qi Chaoyuan of the Nascent Soul Realm was merely a Mirror Flower Water Moon, serving only as a goal for Cultivators.

This was also why the vision of the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top and Five Qi Chaoyuan appeared only once—at the moment of breakthrough into the Nascent Soul Realm.

The "Three Flowers Gathering at the Top" refers to the Human Flower, the Earth Flower, and the Heaven Flower converging at the Hundred Gatherings acupoint.

The Human Flower represents "Refining Essence and Transforming Qi." This is what Cultivators practice from the Foundation Establishment realm onward: guiding the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth for their own use, cleansing their bodies with it, performing Circulations, and nourishing their qi with their kidney essence to create True Qi.

The Earth Flower represents "Qi Refining and Divinity Transformation." This process uses the True Qi cultivated within the body to nourish one’s "divinity"—which is to say, one’s consciousness, or Spiritual Power. It was only now that Chu Fan realized Spiritual Power could also be strengthened through Cultivation.

In other words, it is only after reaching the Nascent Soul Realm that one truly begins "Body and Spirit Cultivation." From this Realm onward, the demand on one’s Spiritual Power for further advancement steadily increases.

The Heaven Flower represents "Refining Spirit and Returning Void." This explains why the Void Realm exists before the Mahayana Realm. The "Void" in the Void Realm refers to the fundamental process of "shedding one’s shell to return to the void"—entering a state of emptiness.

As for the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top, what Chu Fan could currently achieve was likely limited to the growth of the Human and Earth Flowers.