Chapter 368: Breakthrough to Nascent Soul [7]
This wisp of converted lightning, upon meeting the residual power of the nirvana purple heaven thunder that had invaded Fang Hao’s body, triggered a strange reaction!
The two attracted, collided, and annihilated each other, yet there also seemed to be signs of some kind of Fusion!
This process once again brought unimaginable pain to Fang Hao, but it also caused the fatal erosion to momentarily stall and fall into Chaos!
"Now is the time!" Relying on his last shred of consciousness, Fang Hao bit down hard on the tip of his tongue. The sharp pain jolted his spirit, and he frantically circulated the Chaos Derivation Art, desperately guiding the chaotic and conflicting power of the Lightning Tribulation within his body, along with the Origin leaking from his Chaos Primordial Core and the final medicinal power of the nascent soul forming pill, all of it surging toward his Dantian and the dying Nascent Soul!
"Condense for me!"
He roared silently in his heart! All his power, all his will, all his life force and Death Qi were forcibly merged together at this moment, transforming into a torrent that was violently poured into the tiny Nascent Soul!
The tiny Nascent Soul shuddered violently, and its dim light instantly flared! The gray spots on its surface rapidly faded, and its small body, like parched earth meeting sweet rain, greedily absorbed this strange power mixed with destruction and Rebirth, deathly silence and Chaos!
Its form once again solidified and grew at a rate visible to the naked eye. Its facial features became as distinct as if carved, its skin as lustrous as jade, and one could even see faint currents of Chaos flowing slowly within its body, faintly echoing the Meridians of Fang Hao’s own body!
A powerful, complete, and immense aura, transcending the life level of the Golden Core Stage, suddenly erupted from the inch-tall figure like a sleeping dragon awakening! It instantly broke through the constraints of Fang Hao’s body and shot straight into the clouds!
Nascent Soul, formed!
At the very instant the Nascent Soul fully condensed, the heavy tribulation clouds in the sky, which had been brewing the final and most terrifying Lightning Tribulation, seemed to lose their target and suddenly stalled!
Then, under the astonished gaze of Fang Hao and Old Jin in the distance, that terrifying and despair-inducing tribulation cloud actually... began to slowly dissipate?
No, not dissipate! It was transforming!
In the center of the tribulation clouds, the thickest and darkest part seemed to be parted by an invisible hand, revealing a small patch of clear sky.
Then, one drop, two drops, three drops... a full nine drops of liquid, radiating a rich fragrance, crystal clear, and swirling with seven-colored light within, descended like nectar from the Nine Heavens, dripping from the gaps in the clouds, accurately falling toward Fang Hao below, who was on the verge of death but emitting the fluctuations of a newborn Nascent Soul.
"Lightning... Lightning Tribulation nectar? No, this is... thunder milk?! In legend, this is a divine object of fortune that only descends when one survives an extremely terrifying Heavenly Tribulation and receives a trace of recognition from Heaven and Earth!" Fang Hao was both shocked and delighted, almost unable to believe his eyes.
He mustered his last bit of strength and opened his mouth.
The nine drops of thunder milk, as if possessing sentience, fell without missing a beat, all landing in Fang Hao’s mouth.
As the thunder milk entered his throat, it instantly transformed into nine gentle yet immense warm currents, merging into his limbs and bones, his Meridians, and finally converging into his Dantian.
Wherever these warm currents passed, the life force that had been riddled with holes and nearly severed by the nirvana purple heaven thunder recovered and flourished with astonishing speed, like a withered tree meeting spring!
His withered Meridians became tough and wide once again, his dissolved flesh rapidly regenerated, and his aged skin regained its luster and elasticity, becoming even more lustrous and vibrant than before!
All the hidden injuries and Impurities within his body were washed away and expelled by this gentle yet powerful force!
Within his Dantian, the newborn Nascent Soul, after being nourished by the thunder milk, seemed to have taken a powerful tonic.
Its tiny body radiated a gentle and powerful light as it sat cross-legged atop the Chaos Qi Sea, looking solemn and dignified, identical to Fang Hao himself.
A profound connection was established between the Nascent Soul and Fang Hao’s physical body; from this moment on, the Nascent Soul was his second life, the foundation of his Dao!
Furthermore, Fang Hao’s Divine Soul, which had been exhausted and even damaged from resisting the Lightning Tribulation, was rapidly recovering and strengthening under the nourishment of the thunder milk!
His Divine Sense spread out in all directions like a tidal wave—ten miles, twenty miles, fifty miles... eventually stabilizing at a radius of about one hundred miles!
Moreover, his perception became incomparably clear, revealing every minute detail.
He could even "see" the subtle flow of Spiritual Qi in the air and "hear" the faint sound of insects flapping their wings in the distance!
This Divine Sense intensity had clearly reached the level of a Middle Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator!
"Hoo..." Fang Hao slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air. This breath actually carried a faint fragrance and weak sparks of electricity.
He opened his eyes, and his gaze was brilliant, deep as a starry sky, with no trace of his previous fatigue and dishevelment.
He felt the power surging within his body, more than ten times more vigorous and pure than when he was at the Golden Core Stage, felt the vibrant and telepathically linked Nascent Soul within his Dantian, and felt the powerful Divine Sense covering a hundred-mile radius...
"This power..." Fang Hao clenched his fist, causing the air to emit a sonic boom.
With a light leap, his body floated dozens of feet high like a feather before slowly descending, incomparably light.
With a thought, the inch-tall Nascent Soul appeared on his shoulder, looking around curiously, telepathically linked to him, and moving at his every command.
"Hahaha! Nascent Soul! I finally made it!" Fang Hao couldn’t help but laugh up at the sky, his laughter echoing through the valley, filled with the joy of surviving a disaster and the exhilaration of breaking through.
Although the process was so brutal it could be written into a history of blood and tears, in the end, he had succeeded!
From now on, the sea is wide for fish to leap, and the sky is high for birds to fly!
In this Cultivation World, he, Fang Hao, finally had a place of his own!
On the distant cliff, the silver light in Old Jin’s eyes flickered slightly, as if it too felt a trace of "happiness" for its master.
It slowly lowered the arm it had raised at some point, aiming at the sky. The crisis seemed to have been averted.
But its vigilance did not waver; its silver-white eyes, still like those of a hawk, scanned the surroundings.
Its master had just broken through, his aura was unstable, and this was his weakest... and most vulnerable moment that required protection.
Fang Hao laughed so heartily in the valley, as if he had picked up millions of High-Grade Spirit Stones.
He certainly had reason to laugh; after being struck by eighteen lethal bolts of Heavenly Lightning, not only was he not dead, but he had also turned misfortune into fortune, condensed his Nascent Soul, been nourished by the thunder milk, and even had his Divine Sense surge to the Middle Nascent Soul Stage.
This feeling was like drinking a bellyful of iced spirit spring water during the dog days of summer, comfortable from head to toe.
Even the bone-deep wounds on his body, under the nourishment of the thunder milk, began to tingle and itch, a sign that his flesh and blood were rapidly regenerating.
He opened his palm, and with a slight thought, the inch-tall Nascent Soul floated out from his Dantian, wobbling, and landed on his palm.
The little guy sat cross-legged, its features carved from the same mold as his, just a miniature version—exquisite and jade-like.
It kept its eyes closed, with faint Chaos Qi swirling around it, looking quite spirited.
Fang Hao gently poked it with his finger; the little guy wrinkled its small nose in dissatisfaction without opening its eyes, but that feeling of Bloodline connection and perfect control was truly wondrous.
"Hahaha, good! Good! Good!" The more Fang Hao looked, the happier he became, and he couldn’t help but grin again.
This time, he had truly upgraded his equipment and ascended to the heavens in one step.
The Nascent Soul Stage! In those small and medium-sized sects, he could easily become an Elder, and it was enough to establish his own Sect.
Even in the eyes of a local tyrant like the Gu Xiang Sect, he could be considered a figure of some standing, qualified to have a seat at the high-level Sect meetings.
He stretched his muscles and bones, his whole body popping and cracking. The newly grown skin was smooth and firm, with a faint treasure light flowing through it, even slicker than a young maiden’s skin.
The spiritual power within his body surged like a great river, more than ten times stronger than when he was at the Great Perfection of Golden Core Stage!
He released his Divine Sense, and within a hundred miles, every rustle of the wind, every chirping insect, and every crawling ant was under his control.
He could even "see" a silly rabbit a few miles away, sticking its butt in the air while nibbling on grass, the fur on its rear twitching—it was as clear as if it were right in front of his eyes.
"Awesome!" Fang Hao couldn’t help but howl again, making the valley hum.
He pondered that once his injuries healed a bit more, he would have to properly test his strength to see just how capable the Nascent Soul Stage was.
The Chaos Derivation Art should have new changes, right?
That battle heaven axe seemed to have had a trace of its spirit awakened when it blocked the Lightning Tribulation earlier; perhaps he could swing it a time or two now?
And as for Alchemy, with the Divine Sense and spiritual power control of the Nascent Soul Stage, wouldn’t concocting Fourth-Grade Medicinal Pills be a piece of cake?
The more he thought, the happier he felt. Fang Hao felt the sky was bluer (even though it was only a sliver of sky), the grass was greener, and even the burnt smell in the air carried the fragrance of success.
He calculated whether he should first find a place to wash up; covered in blood and char, he looked like a Nine-Bag Elder of the Beggar Sect, which really detracted from his image as a newly promoted Nascent Soul expert.
But this good mood didn’t last even the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before it was interrupted by an extremely faint but highly uncomfortable "rustling" sound.
The sound was very light, like wind blowing through withered leaves, or like countless tiny claws rapidly crawling over rocks.
It came from all directions, dense and layered. At first, it was far away, but within a few breaths, it was already close at hand, completely surrounding the entire valley!
The smile on Fang Hao’s face froze instantly. He retracted his Divine Sense with a "swish" and then, like mercury spilling onto the ground, carefully scanned the direction from which the sound originated.
With this scan, even though he had just broken through to the Nascent Soul Stage and his mind was stable, he couldn’t help but feel his scalp tingle, and a layer of cold sweat instantly broke out on his back.
Insects! Dense, colorful, varying in size, and bizarre in shape!
Some had carapaces that shimmered with a metallic luster; some were completely emerald green with ferocious mouthparts; some were as small as dust, gathering and dispersing like mist; and others dragged slime behind them, leaving corrosive marks on the rocks and soil...
Thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of them!
They crawled out from the crevices in the rocks around the valley, from underground, and from piles of withered leaves, surging toward the center of the valley like a tidal wave.
Their target was clear—it was Fang Hao, who had just finished his tribulation and whose aura had not yet fully stabilized!
The individual aura of these insects was not strong, mostly only at the Qi Refinement Stage or even lower, but their numbers were simply too vast!
Moreover, mixed among them were quite a few at the Foundation Establishment Stage, and even a scattering of insect kings emitting fluctuations of the False Core or even the Early Golden Core Stage!
More importantly, there was a strange coordination in their movements. Silent hisses passed through the swarm, forming a buzzing wave of sound that disturbed the mind, making one feel agitated.
Comments