Immortal Refiner

Within the mountain gate of Lingyun Sect, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth suddenly surged into turmoil.

Every disciple and elder instantly sensed the disturbance, immediately going on high alert, assuming an external enemy had invaded.

But they soon realized the truth was far different.

The spiritual energy across the entire high-grade spiritual veins region seemed to be drawn by some invisible force, coalescing into raging torrents that converged upon a verdant spirit peak within the sect.

”It’s Azure Cloud Peak! Ancestor Limitless’s cave abode!”

”What’s happening? Is the ancestor refining a supreme magic treasure?!”

”No, the ancestor already possesses a natal magic treasure. And this aura is steadily rising—it’s a breakthrough in cultivation!”

Upon learning this, every member of Lingyun Sect, from the supreme elders down to the outer sect disciples, felt their hearts clench with anxiety.

Everything had happened so abruptly, so unexpectedly.

Ancestor Limitless had silently begun his assault on the nascent soul realm!

Soon, the supreme elders who had been in secluded cultivation within their cave abodes emerged to witness the unfolding events.

True Lord Fu Xuan had anticipated this. When Li Qing came to retrieve the Millennial Dragon Blood Vine, Fu Xuan had already harbored suspicions.

Yet he never imagined that Li Qing would begin his breakthrough to the nascent soul realm in just ten days.

”He’s really started... Isn’t Senior Brother Li being too reckless?” Shen Ningbing bit her lower lip, her clear, cold eyes filled with worry.

The nascent soul realm breakthrough was no trivial matter. Failure often meant death and the dissipation of one’s cultivation.

”Li Qing is pushing himself too hard for the sect’s sake,” Wu Chong said, his voice complex with emotion.

Suddenly, everyone remembered that Li Qing’s spirit root aptitude was remarkably ordinary—a four spirit root cultivation aptitude.

Realizing this only deepened their sense of shame.

Among them were cultivators with extraordinary innate aptitude, such as those with the Gluttonous Bloodline or ice attribute variant spirit roots.

Yet now, it was Li Qing, with his mere four spirit root aptitude, who bore the sect’s future on his shoulders.

However, there was no turning back now. Once the nascent soul realm breakthrough began, it could not be interrupted.

Success or death—those were the only options.

Boom!

Under the watchful eyes of the entire Lingyun Sect, the gathering of spiritual energy from heaven and earth intensified dramatically. Even the spiritual energy from the mountain gate was drawn in, converging into a torrential flow toward Azure Cloud Peak, specifically Li Qing’s cave abode.

At that moment, the spiritual energy within Li Qing’s cave abode was so dense it was almost condensing into spirit liquid!

Li Qing showed no restraint, channeling the Crimson Blaze Heaven-Burning Art with all his might, pushing the cultivation manual to its absolute limit.

Within his body, the two heavenly spirit fires transformed into fiery rings, thoroughly refining the impure heaven and earth spiritual energy he was devouring before it sank into his dantian qi sea.

Breaking through from Core Formation to Nascent Soul was a qualitative transformation!

The gap between the two realms was like an unbridgeable chasm, with the quantity and quality of true essence within the body differing by leaps and bounds.

Thus, Li Qing needed to absorb an immense amount of heaven and earth spiritual energy, a necessary accumulation for his breakthrough.

From that moment onward, the Golden Core within Li Qing’s dantian inevitably began to expand.

It was precisely at this moment that the medicinal power of the Dragon Transformation Pill began to take effect.

”Roar! Roar!”

Clear dragon roars echoed within Li Qing’s body, as if a hidden dragon slumbering in the depths was about to soar into the heavens.

The Dragon Transformation Pill, naturally, was meant to aid in his transformation into a dragon.

In a sense, breaking through to the nascent soul realm wasn’t much different from a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate.

Crack!

Suddenly, a faint cracking sound, audible only to Li Qing himself, echoed from his dantian.

A tiny fissure had appeared on his perfectly round Golden Core.

Startled by this discovery, Li Qing’s expression turned grim.

”My innate aptitude is still lacking after all,” he thought bitterly. ”This calamity has struck even before I’ve formed my nascent soul.”

His heart grew icy cold. A cracked Golden Core meant his Dao Fruit was flawed, making his attempt to reach the nascent soul realm almost certain to fail.

I can’t even pass the first hurdle?

A wave of bitter resentment surged through him. He knew this was due to the limitations of his four spirit root aptitude. Trying to reach the nascent soul realm with such a foundation was simply too ambitious.

Clenching his jaw, Li Qing forced himself to calm down.

He slowed his absorption of heaven and earth spiritual energy while desperately searching for a solution.

Just then, a Stone Embryo flew out of Li Qing’s storage pouch on its own.

The Stone Embryo appeared plain and unadorned, cradling an immortal exquisite in its arms, with two tear streaks etched beneath its eyes.

The moment Li Qing saw the Stone Embryo, a strange sensation surged within him.

”It’s you.”

He remembered now. This Stone Embryo had appeared when he killed Exquisite True Lord, blocking her Exquisite Immortal Sound and devouring her entire primordial origin.

Later, after scouring obscure ancient texts, he finally learned something of the Stone Embryo’s origins.

”This Stone Embryo devoured the primordial origin of an Exquisite Treasure Physique. It should be able to compensate for my deficiencies in Innate Aptitude.”

With this thought, Li Qing opened his dantian qi sea, directly drawing the Stone Embryo into himself.

In the next instant, a melodious immortal melody suddenly rang out. Li Qing recognized the exquisite tune instantly.

Isn’t this the Exquisite Immortal Sound?

Immediately, Li Qing felt a strange, indescribable power surge within him.

This mysterious force sank into his dantian.

On the surface of his perfectly round Golden Core, a hairline crack began to rapidly heal. Within moments, it was restored to flawless perfection, returning to its original state as a Flawless Golden Core.

Li Qing quickly realized that the power he had felt earlier was the primordial origin of the Exquisite Treasure Physique, now being transferred into his body through the Stone Embryo to compensate for his deficient Innate Aptitude.

Without hesitation, Li Qing resumed absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth with voracious intensity, like a whale swallowing the sea. Every moment, a torrent of heaven and earth spiritual energy poured into his body.

Aided by the Dragon Transformation Pill and the Stone Embryo’s primordial origin, the flawless Golden Core within Li Qing’s body finally began to undergo a new transformation.

The Flawless Golden Core now sprouted rudimentary limbs and a head—the nascent soul formation had begun!

Sensing this progress, Li Qing immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He knew he had successfully weathered the first hurdle and was now advancing in the right direction.

As the Golden Core transformed into a nascent soul, Li Qing’s aura grew increasingly formidable.

He could no longer consciously suppress this aura, but fortunately, he was within the Lingyun Sect, far from any external enemies.

Boom!

A vast, ocean-like aura, as profound as an abyss, radiated from the spirit peak where Li Qing resided.

The aura’s power far surpassed that of a core formation realm cultivator!

Everyone in the Lingyun Sect, including the supreme elders, felt the oppressive aura of a superior being.

They had sensed a similar presence recently from Patriarch Xiaoyao of the Free and Unfettered Sect.

”Nascent soul realm! Is Senior Brother Li about to succeed?”

”Such terrifying pressure! Even from this distance, I feel an overwhelming urge to prostrate myself. Has Ancestor Limitless truly broken through to the nascent soul realm?”

”...”

Everyone harbored their own speculations, but they could only watch from afar, afraid to approach and disturb Ancestor Limitless’s breakthrough.

With several supreme elders guarding the process, no disciple dared to approach the cave abode.

Meanwhile, inside the cave abode, Li Qing had no mind for the sect’s reactions.

He focused his entire consciousness on the nascent soul embryo forming within his dantian. As the nascent soul neared completion, his divine soul descended from the Sea of Consciousness.

Li Qing didn’t resist, understanding that the divine soul and nascent soul were merging into a single entity.

This was an inevitable step in advancing to the nascent soul realm: the divine soul merging with the nascent soul, forming the very foundation of his future Dao Fruit.

Only through this union could one truly be considered a nascent soul cultivator.

Even if his fleshly body were destroyed in battle, as long as his nascent soul remained intact, he could possess another body and be reborn, rapidly restoring his mana cultivation to its previous level.

Of course, this was essentially a form of body seizing, but with the crucial difference that his own nascent soul would be preserved. This meant he would face no bottlenecks in future cultivation; with sufficient spiritual energy, he could effortlessly regain his former cultivation level.

Li Qing’s exceptionally powerful divine soul merged with his newly formed nascent soul with remarkable ease, encountering virtually no resistance.

The benefits of his potent divine soul were now strikingly evident.

For ordinary cultivators, this critical juncture would be fraught with peril, introducing unpredictable factors that could jeopardize their breakthrough and even lead to failure.

Soon, with his divine soul fully integrated into the nascent soul, Li Qing could rightfully claim to be a genuine nascent soul realm cultivator!

Of course, this wasn’t the end!

Just as every newborn breaks through the amniotic sac, Li Qing’s divine soul and nascent soul merged into one. With the nascent soul’s formation, his consciousness inevitably plunged into a dreamlike illusion.

The heart demon tribulation had arrived!

In that moment, Li Qing’s senses were stripped away, and all his past memories were sealed from his mind.

This trial was a crucible every nascent soul realm cultivator had to endure. Only by overcoming it could one truly attain the status of a Nascent Soul True Monarch!

Crouching Ox Ridge.

In a humble farmhouse in Crouching Ox Village, the two yellow oxen in the shed chewed contentedly on the finest hay and grain, a rare treat reserved for the busy harvest season after a long day’s labor.

Inside the house, a woman’s sobs echoed incessantly. A weathered farmer sat on a wooden stool, his face etched with worry.

”Mother, I don’t want to go to the borderlands,” a barefoot boy in coarse hemp clothing stood in the room, his expression a mix of fear and anxiety.

The old farmer sighed, his voice low. ”Er Niu, your elder brother’s wife is pregnant, and the imperial conscription notice has fallen on our family. There’s no escaping this.”

Tears streamed down the face of the young man named Li Erniu, as if a dam had burst. At just twelve years old, he was about to leave home.

His mother couldn’t hold back either, clutching her youngest son tightly and sobbing, ”Er Niu, we’ve failed you.”

Normally, it might have been possible to evade the imperial conscription order. But the family’s savings had been nearly exhausted by the eldest son’s recent wedding, and with his wife about to give birth, they had no money left to bribe the insatiable officials.

The conscription order shouldn’t have reached Old Man Li’s family in Crouching Ox Village so quickly, but rumors spread that this draft was to reinforce the border garrisons. Many families, desperate to avoid conscription, had obediently paid bribes, draining their resources.

Thus, Li Erniu had the misfortune of being drafted to the border.

Maple Country’s border, on the outskirts of Wangyuan City, at a military camp.

”From today onward, you’ll learn blacksmithing from me!”

Having arrived at the Wu Li Army, Li Erniu found himself apprenticed to an army blacksmith, becoming a blacksmith’s apprentice almost by accident.

He studied for two years.

As the years passed, Master Gu’s health steadily declined until he was finally bedridden.

With his honest and diligent nature, Li Erniu had mastered nearly all of Master Gu’s blacksmithing techniques, earning him a respectable position within the Wu Li Army.

”Er Niu,” Master Gu said from his sickbed, ”do you wish to learn martial arts? If you master my martial art, you will become my successor. When you eventually leave the army, promise me you will take good care of my descendants.”

Master Gu produced a cultivation manual titled Ancient Mystic Hammer Art. As Li Erniu gazed at the manual, a puzzled expression crept across his simple, honest face.

He felt a strange sense of déjà vu, as if he had witnessed this scene before, yet he couldn’t recall where or when.

Li Erniu blinked and instinctively reached out to accept the manual from Master Gu.

But at that very moment, Master Gu’s expression twisted into a ferocious grimace. He seized Li Erniu’s shoulder, his eyes blazing with fury.

”Why didn’t you protect my descendants? Why did you abandon them in Shengtian City?!”

”Do you know how brutally they died after the Grassland Marauders seized Shengtian City?!”

”I’ll make you understand what it feels like to die at the hands of Marauders!”

Master Gu’s grip was like iron, his fingers digging painfully into Li Erniu’s shoulder.

Li Erniu stared at Master Gu in shock and fear, unable to comprehend his transformation. Master Gu’s piercing screams echoed relentlessly in his mind, shaking his very soul.

”Master Gu, what’s wrong? Master Gu!”

The next moment, thunderous hoofbeats erupted outside the camp, followed by a rain of flaming arrows that pierced the tents.

In an instant, the Wu Li Army’s encampment outside the city was engulfed in a sea of flames.

The Marauders charged forward, their iron hooves trampling through thick smoke and dust. Trapped in the chaos, Li Erniu tried to escape, but Master Gu’s iron grip held him fast, rendering him utterly immobile.

Just as he was about to perish in the inferno, a clear, melodious sound suddenly rang out from nowhere.

The music was exquisitely pure, quickly calming his mind.

Li Erniu’s eyes initially glazed over with confusion, but as the melody grew clearer, his gaze sharpened once more.

”Who am I?”

”I am Li Erniu, I am Li Qing, I am Ancestor Limitless of the Lingyun Sect!”

Boom!

A terrifying aura erupted from his body, shattering the surrounding reality into fragments.

Outside the Liu Clan Territory in Longevity Valley:

”You dare kill a direct descendant of the Liu Clan, you little whelp!”

Figures surged from the Liu Clan Territory, their hearts burning with murderous intent as they pursued the fleeing Li Qing.

”Liu Tianbao coveted my demon beast and tried to assassinate me! I only retaliated in self-defense!” Li Qing shouted. ”Does your Liu Clan even understand reason?!”

But the cultivators, their auras condensed and resolute, ignored his pleas, their determination to eliminate the rogue cultivator unwavering.

”Your worthless life isn’t even fit to be compared to Bao’er’s! Without the Liu Clan, you’re nothing but trash!”

”Bao’er took a liking to your demon beast—that was the greatest fortune you could ever hope for! Now that you’ve dared to threaten his life, the Liu Clan will demand your life in payment today!”

Meanwhile, Heavenly River Market suddenly went into lockdown. All Heavenly River Sect disciples and elders stationed there mobilized at once.

”Daring to assassinate an Enforcement Disciple of the Heavenly River Sect within the market? Your audacity knows no bounds!” a foundation establishment elder of the Heavenly River Sect roared, his gaze piercing Li Qing, who was desperately trying to escape the market.

”Ye Feng poisoned me first, trying to steal my foundation establishment pill! I only retaliated in self-defense!”

Foundation establishment pill!

The moment those words left Li Qing’s lips, the rogue cultivators in the market turned their greedy, predatory gazes toward the isolated, vulnerable figure.

In that moment, despair flooded Li Qing’s heart.

”Is this all you’ve got? You dare come after me with such paltry skills?”

In a snow-covered wasteland, a foundation establishment cultivator emerged, an azure eagle perched on his arm. A sinister smile played on his lips as he strode through the blizzard.

On the icy ground, Li Qing lay battered and bruised, his arms outstretched weakly.

”Junior Sister Shen...”

In the direction of his outstretched hand, a cold, beautiful figure lay motionless, devoid of any sign of life.

A series of heart demon tribulations, a succession of illusory realms.

Even though Li Qing believed he had no regrets in life, he remained trapped by the demons within his heart.

The heart demon tribulation manifests one’s deepest fears.

These scenes were all manifestations of Li Qing’s inner demons.

Some demons he had overcome through sheer willpower, rediscovering his true self. Others he had escaped with the aid of the Exquisite Immortal Sound.

When the final demon shattered, Li Qing opened his eyes once more. It was over.

A profound sense of detachment washed over Li Qing, as if he had lived an entire lifetime in the mere blink of an eye.

It’s over. Everything is finally over!

Feeling the surging, boundless mana within him and gazing at the nascent soul in his dantian—a perfect miniature replica of himself—Li Qing exhaled deeply.

He had finally reached the nascent soul realm!

Boom!

Suddenly, an overwhelming spiritual pressure erupted from his body.

Throughout the Lingyun Sect’s mountain gate, disciples felt a stifling pressure in their chests and a primal fear rising in their hearts.

Li Qing stepped out of his cave abode, his gaze drawn upward.

A dense thundercloud was gathering in the sky. He recognized it instantly: a heavenly tribulation.

He hadn’t expected to face such a trial after overcoming the heart demon tribulation.

But Li Qing quickly realized this must be the consequence of using the Exquisite Treasure Physique’s primordial origin to compensate for his innate deficiencies. This act had defied the natural order, triggering the celestial phenomena’s mutation.

Legend had it that certain prodigies, envied by the heavens for their extraordinary talent, would face a heavenly tribulation upon successfully forming their nascent soul. Today, Li Qing was experiencing this rare treatment reserved for geniuses.

Yet Li Qing showed no fear. Instead, he laughed freely and declared:

”Thunder tribulation descends upon Azure Cloud Peak! Today, I truly know myself!”

With these words, Limitless True Monarch soared into the sky, actively charging toward the heavenly tribulation.

He channeled his boundless mana, condensing it into a colossal palm of dao fire that slammed into the thick thunderclouds above.

Boom!

A torrent of lightning erupted downward, but the fiery palm rose to meet it, pushing back against the Heavenly Might.

Li Qing, wielding his supreme mana, clashed head-on with the thunder tribulation, a manifestation of Heavenly Might itself!

This scene, witnessed by every Lingyun Sect disciple, became an indelible memory etched into their minds for eternity.

In that moment, they understood: Ancestor Limitless had officially entered the nascent soul realm, becoming a true Nascent Soul True Monarch!

TL/N: Please show your support, also you can read ahead on the website [www] dot [cindertl] dot [com].

(End of the Chapter)

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