Chapter 184: Forming the Nascent Soul
“Someone is forming a Core!”
The sudden phenomenon in the skies above Tianxuan City shocked countless cultivators, all of whom raised their heads to stare at the heavens.
However, after all these years, the cultivators of Tianxuan City had already witnessed this scene a few times, so their astonishment was far less than at the beginning.
“Looks like it’s a cultivator of Han Fortress. Truly enviable.”
“You don’t know. Back when True Lord Su formed his Core, the phenomenon was even more…”
Lin Chang’an, Old Hu, and Yun Yao, upon seeing this, also revealed expressions of envy.
“Old Lin, I believe that one day, the three of us will also have such a moment.”
Amid Old Hu’s hearty laughter, the skies above Tianxuan City shifted dramatically.
Heaven and Earth spiritual energy began to gather in great amounts.
Many spies from various major sects only sighed with envy at the sight before them, then used Thousand-mile Voice-transmission Talismans to report the matter back to their sects.
……
Lihuo Palace.
“This Lu Turtle hasn’t died yet? He dares to attempt Core Formation again!”
“Grand Elder, quell your anger. Let us endure for now. Soon, all of Yue Kingdom will belong to our two sects.”
As the Grand Elder of Lihuo Palace, his expression was extremely unsightly. This time, in order to seize more spiritual vein resources, Tianxuan City had taken the chance to bite him hard. If he hadn’t agreed to that price, the other side would have sold to the Divine Sword Sect instead.
“Fine! I’ll watch this old turtle breathe his last with my own eyes.”
In the end, the Grand Elder of Lihuo Palace secretly cursed, venting his frustration.
……
Divine Sword Sect.
“Tianxuan City has another cultivator forming a Core? Likely someone from Han Fortress. It’s of no concern, at most a False Core.”
“In this recent transaction, we suffered heavy losses, while Lihuo Palace reaped great benefits. For now, we must endure and stabilize. But in the future, we will take back what we lost.”
“Grand Elder speaks true.”
The three Core Formation Elders of the Divine Sword Sect nodded secretly. They paid little heed to Tianxuan City’s Core Formation.
After all, with Tianxuan City and the Xuanyin Pavilion retreating, Yue Kingdom would eventually be theirs.
……
Xuanyin Pavilion.
“Master, Tianxuan City once again shows signs of Core Formation.”
“Heh, this Master Lu is truly cunning. With one move, he took so many benefits for free, and even had his daughter complete her Core Formation, establishing a great family foundation.”
The Elder of Xuanyin Pavilion showed a look of envy.
This was the advantage of being a rogue cultivator.
As for the Pavilion Master, Fairy of Rainbow Skirt, she felt endless emotion.
The number one rogue cultivator, Master Lu, indeed lived up to his name.
He truly shook an era. Even when nearing the end of his lifespan, he could still influence the cultivation world of an entire kingdom.
……
Yet, while all the major powers received the news and dismissed it, suddenly the grand mountain-protecting formation of Tianxuan City fully activated.
“Han Fortress forming a Core—why go to such lengths under these circumstances?”
Just as the three returned to their cave abode and were reviewing the latest news from the Sea Abyss of Beasts, they saw the grand formation activating. Old Hu couldn’t help but look doubtful.
At that moment, Lin Chang’an felt an ominous premonition.
“Something’s not right, Old Hu. At such a critical time, the two major sects wouldn’t cause chaos. Why would this be…”
“Wait—wrong!”
Suddenly, Lin Chang’an’s expression changed drastically. With his powerful perception, he sensed an inexplicable dread.
“Old Lin, what’s wrong!?”
“Brother Lin!”
Due to his cultivation method and his Life-bound Spirit Plant, Lin Chang’an’s perception was far keener than others. He was the first to sense it.
Before Old Hu and Yun Yao could react, a terrifying aura surged forth, causing their faces to pale.
In fact, every cultivator within Tianxuan City felt this overwhelming pressure.
Foundation Establishment cultivators could still hold on, though they felt uneasy and fearful.
But Qi Refining cultivators were completely overwhelmed. All of them struggled to breathe under the immense spiritual pressure.
“Something’s wrong! This formation blocks all divine sense. Even Thousand-mile Voice-transmission Talismans have stopped working.”
“This pressure… is this still Core Formation?”
Up in the skies above Tianxuan City, the spiritual energy vortex suddenly expanded violently. A terrifying aura swept over the entire city.
At the same time, countless specks of light appeared in the air, visible to the naked eye. These lights were of many colors, flickering brightly and dimly, each containing incomparably pure spiritual energy. They were dazzlingly beautiful.
On Tianxuan Peak.
Wu Yan and Song Tingfeng swallowed nervously, their faces filled with shock.
“This… didn’t Master say he was preparing to pass away?”
Upon seeing this, Su Miaoyin’s face flushed red and pale with fury, her wide eyes glaring.
Not long ago, he had said he was preparing to sit in death. He had even deceived her, saying he wanted to hear her call him father one last time, making her eyes well up with tears.
But now, this aura—Core Formation?
Master Lu had already been at mid-Core Formation. How could he still be forming a Core?
“What mid-Core Formation? He was clearly at late-Core Formation all along! From the very beginning, who knows when, that old man had been scheming for this day!”
Su Miaoyin gnashed her teeth as she spoke, her tone venomous.
Wu Yan and Song Tingfeng dared not echo her words.
But after their shock, their hearts surged with joy.
“Master is forming the Nascent Soul!”
A Nascent Soul cultivator! Even in the Sea Abyss of Beasts, they stood among the absolute peak.
It wasn’t only the three of them. Countless cultivators in Tianxuan City who had witnessed Core Formation phenomena also quickly realized what was happening.
“Is this still a Core Formation phenomenon?”
“Bullshit! Damn it, from the very beginning, Master Lu wasn’t arranging Core Formation for his daughter. He was planning for himself!”
“Heavens! For himself… doesn’t that mean Master Lu is…”
“There’s no mistake! First he spread the news of Core Formation to lull the three great sects into carelessness, then he activated the grand formation to cut off communication…”
By this point, even a dog could tell what Master Lu was doing.
Outside the cave abode, Lin Chang’an and the others were also overwhelmed by shock.
“Forming the Nascent Soul!”
Lin Chang’an’s mind buzzed. Everyone thought Master Lu was on the verge of death.
Who could have imagined that the very one everyone overlooked was the true source of change.
“It can’t be wrong! It can’t!”
Old Hu, trembling with excitement, pointed at the multicolored lights in the sky.
“Old Hu!”
“Hahaha! So the Ancestor wasn’t lying after all. When forming the Nascent Soul, such lights truly appear, visible to the naked eye!”
Old Hu laughed wildly, tears streaming down his face.
No one knew the pressure he had carried. Since childhood, his parents had told him their ancestor had nearly formed the Nascent Soul, a mighty figure in his time.
When he was young, he worshipped that story. But as he grew older and advanced in cultivation, he began to think perhaps it was all exaggeration.
Even his parents had fallen silent, believing their ancestor had merely boasted.
Otherwise, how could the Hu Family have fallen to such a state?
Yet now, it was proven true.
Their path had never been wrong.
“Us Hu Family—we are not inferior!”
At this moment, Old Hu laughed loudly, not for himself, but for his deceased parents.
Now he could tell them, their ancestor’s legend was true—it was never empty boasting.
“Forming the Nascent Soul!”
Lin Chang’an and Yun Yao stared fixedly at the phenomenon in the sky, not daring to miss the slightest detail.
While they themselves had no idea where their own Core Formation paths lay, they were now witnessing the formation of a Nascent Soul with their own eyes.
In Yue Kingdom, one of the Seven Kingdoms, this was the very first time in hundreds of years that someone was forming a Nascent Soul.
At the same time, recalling the turmoil and upheavals Yue Kingdom had endured over the decades, Lin Chang’an suddenly understood.
In that instant, he remembered the words of the Blood Fiend True Lord.
“The most untrustworthy man under the heavens, Lu…”
“How long has this scheme been in motion…”
Lin Chang’an’s scalp tingled. In the Sea Abyss of Beasts, Lu had offended people, then rumors spread that he had been injured while hunting demon beasts.
Later, when he returned to Yue Kingdom, it was supposed to be just a buffer move, yet somehow he ended up taking Tianxuan City.
Looking at it now, how could that have been a coincidence? It had clearly been part of his plan all along.
Again and again, he had seemed to arrange Core Formation for his daughter. Everyone believed this True Lord’s lifespan was at its end. No one imagined that Master Lu would pull this move.
“To lay out a plan for a hundred years to form a Nascent Soul is not terrifying. What’s terrifying is—when did this Master Lu break through?”
His so-called mid-Core Formation cultivation had been a façade for centuries!
“No wonder the Blood Fiend True Lord held such deep resentment in his final moments.”
Even Lin Chang’an could not help but sympathize with the Blood Fiend True Lord.
Losing to such a man—there was no disgrace.
But it was stifling.
Now the entire Tianxuan City had been sealed by the grand formation, which meant no information could leak out.
And that initial phenomenon had merely been to let spies spread false news that someone was forming a Core.
Only then was the mountain-protecting formation activated.
Even the three great sects would not suspect anything. At most, they would scorn Master Lu as being overly cautious for activating the formation at such a time.
Above Tianxuan City, the rushing Heaven and Earth spiritual energy formed a tidal vortex.
Because of the formation’s isolation, outsiders were completely unaware.
One day! Two days! Half a month!
Only after such a long time did people outside feel something was amiss—the grand formation of Tianxuan City had been sustained for so long.
“Look, Old Lin, there’s more changes!”
Finally, after three months, the spiritual energy vortex above Tianxuan City suddenly expanded, as though compressed to the extreme before exploding outward.
From dozens of miles, to hundreds, then over a thousand miles.
At that moment, the grand mountain-protecting formation of Tianxuan City could no longer conceal this world-shaking phenomenon.
……
Lihuo Palace.
The Grand Elder, who had been waiting for Master Lu’s death, suddenly sensed something. His face turned deathly pale, and in shock and fury he shot into the sky.
“The phenomenon above Tianxuan City!”
The three Core Formation cultivators of Lihuo Palace were also dumbfounded, staring at the changes in the heavens thousands of miles away.
Even within the sect, countless cultivators broke into chaos.
“Lu! Lu Tu… he!”
The Grand Elder’s face was filled with terror, his lips trembling.
The words “Lu Turtle” stuck in his throat.
After a long while, he finally roared in fury: “Damn it! Forming the Nascent Soul! We’ve all been deceived!”
They had already missed the best opportunity to disrupt him.
……
Divine Sword Sect.
“Haha, so that’s it, so that’s it. We fought life and death battles, and in the end, we were just a bunch of nobodies…”
A late Core Formation cultivator of the Divine Sword Sect laughed aloud. But in his laughter was a trace of awe and helplessness.
In the cultivation world, strength was supreme. Schemes and trickery were always petty means.
“We lost, but Lihuo Palace lost even more.”
Another Elder spoke venomously. Lihuo Palace had purchased many of Tianxuan City’s spiritual veins. Could they drive them away now?
……
Xuanyin Pavilion.
This earth-shaking phenomenon had already alarmed all cultivators in Yue Kingdom.
Fairy of Rainbow Skirt, still only at early Core Formation, gazed dazedly at the sight.
“Master, this is Master Lu forming the Nascent Soul!”
The pale-faced Elder’s expression shifted endlessly.
There was anger, for Master Lu’s schemes had cost Xuanyin Pavilion dearly.
There was admiration, for a rogue cultivator had actually walked this path.
But more than anything, there was gloating.
“Haha, Lihuo Palace, Divine Sword Sect—you thought you had won. In the end, you all lost! All losers! Victory on the board is superficial; true victory lies beyond the board.”
“Master!”
Looking at her laughing master, Fairy of Rainbow Skirt showed worry.
But her master gripped her wrist tightly and spoke solemnly, each word heavy:
“Shang’er! Remember this scene. No matter how many schemes or calculations, they can never stand on their own.
Strength! Only strength can change everything. You are the most talented disciple of Xuanyin Pavilion in centuries. You must cultivate well. And this Master Lu—you must not resent him! Absolutely must not!”
The terrifying phenomenon of Nascent Soul formation made even the three great sects too fearful to hold grudges.
Though cultivators outside Yue Kingdom could not witness the vision directly, they still sensed the violent turbulence of spiritual energy.
Especially Core Formation cultivators—even thousands of miles away, they turned their shocked gazes toward Yue Kingdom.
……
At this moment, the skies above Tianxuan City were filled with endless five-colored radiance.
Within the glow, the sounds of storm and thunder rumbled.
The rolling clouds of color were accompanied by terrifying heavenly tribulation, making countless cultivators in Tianxuan City shiver.
Even the demon beasts within the Yunwu Mountain Range trembled uncontrollably.
Inside Tianxuan Peak.
There sat Master Lu, looking like a frail old scholar, face gaunt, hair and beard white, yet his withered features glowed faintly.
“More than six hundred years… countless geniuses and mighty figures, all turned to dust. Only by living longer can one walk farther…”
His voice seemed to come from the depths of antiquity. Though his eyes were closed, his face ruddy as if in peaceful sleep, the voice came from above his head.
From his crown, a miniature infant, about an inch tall, had appeared—its features identical to Master Lu.
At the instant the Nascent Soul emerged—
The celestial visions outside faded. The colored clouds and tribulation lightning receded like the tide.
In an instant, Tianxuan City was under clear skies.
“Old Hu, do you think this means he succeeded?”
Outside the cave abode, Lin Chang’an looked bewildered as the terrifying phenomena suddenly vanished. It was his first time seeing a Nascent Soul formation.
Old Hu, dazed, muttered blankly: “Old Lin, if I knew, I would already be an Ancestor myself.”
His ancestor had recorded such phenomena—but his ancestor had failed!
Otherwise, how could his family have fallen so low?
Just then, a pulse of energy surged from Tianxuan Peak.
A pure spiritual pressure was born.