Chapter 178: Breakthrough of the Soul Refining Heart Sutra

These are merely speculations; that author has no actual evidence to prove his viewpoint, and Wang Ping only glanced at it before continuing his study.

Although he was interested in the origin of spiritual roots, this is not something he can solve now.

The content on the back of the jade slip is the reason Wang Ping exchanged for it.

After studying for a full two hours, Wang Ping's brows would sometimes furrow, sometimes relax; at times he smiled, at times he shook his head, before he finally took the jade slip from his forehead.

He picked up another jade slip and studied it carefully; this time his study lasted longer!

The old man sat bored at the base of the Undying Tree, watching his inheritor hold a jade slip and study with rich expression, shaking his head. He didn't know what this kid was up to, but he knew Wang Ping was walking the Path of Five Elements Unification; with the Undying Tree's inheritance, as long as he kept contemplating, he would surely gain his own understanding!

He really didn't know what this kid was doing; the old man muttered.

He then stopped paying attention, turned his gaze to the mirror in the air; the Land of Rebirth is usually filled with deathly stillness, but now that there's amusement, he immediately became interested.

As for those black-clad cultivators, he also had doubts; they weren't the great clans he remembered, perhaps they were scapegoats, the old man thought.

The old man was watching the spectacle, while Wang Ping was doing deep research; after a full day passed, he finally opened his eyes and murmured, "Rune Array!"

After a day of research, he finally gained inspiration from two jade slips; to comprehend the Five Elements Dao intent during Foundation Establishment, relying solely on himself is absolutely impossible.

He needed an array formed from runes; such a rune array could help him resist the pressure generated by the runes, or rather amplify it.

Taking text as an example, boring study of characters would surely feel dull and hard to understand; if you added pinyin? Combined with other characters to form vivid words, and those two words then formed an interesting sentence, it would be easier to leave a deep impression.

The rune array serves a similar purpose, but there's a problem: with so many runes, the trial-and-error requires enormous soul endurance and spiritual sense; especially for the first researcher, who has no reference to draw on, the required spiritual sense is even greater.

Foundation Establishment cultivators simply cannot reach that level of spiritual sense; once they break through to Golden Core, the difficulty will also increase.

Therefore, Foundation Establishment is the ideal realm.

Wang Ping closed his eyes; he has already comprehended a hundred runes, and even if the Spirit Ascending Fruit boosts his soul potential, he may still not find the rune array he wants!

After thinking for a long time, Wang Ping set two steps for himself: first, shatter the fire-wood runes he had comprehended, putting his soul in the most relaxed state; second, break through the third stage of the first layer of the Soul Refining Heart Sutra, which would again increase his soul potential.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Sounds like objects shattering continually echoed in Wang Ping's dantian; a sound unheard in heaven and earth, only he could hear it, but the old man, who was watching the spectacle, suddenly turned his head, green light bursting from his pupils, and deep within his eyes, scenes of runes shattering kept unfolding.

This situation startled him so much he almost wanted to rush to help, but seeing Wang Ping's calm face, he suppressed the urge to act, muttering continually:

"What is this kid doing? He actually shattered the runes he had painstakingly grasped!"

In the following time, half of his attention was on Wang Ping, and he discovered that the kid had actually shattered all his runes.

"Could he be trying to re-sense the Dao arts?"

The old man thought so, but quickly discarded that idea, because after the kid's soul, weakened by the rune shattering, strangely recovered, he actually began cultivating.

"Huh? What cultivation method is this? Training the soul? That's rare."

Seeing Wang Ping begin to cultivate this method, the old man felt much more at ease; he also guessed Wang Ping's intention: obviously he wanted his soul to break through its limits again during Foundation Establishment, likely to comprehend more Dao arts.

Time passed bit by bit, and the old man who constantly watched Wang Ping finally noticed something amiss.

"This technique is incredibly overbearing; what cultivation method is this kid practicing? If he continues like this, his soul will surely shatter and die!"

A hint of anxiety appeared on the old man's face; he wanted to let Wang Ping stop, but he also saw that Wang Ping was at the most critical moment of transformation.

This kid obviously had some fortuitous encounter; his soul kept repeating cycles of repair and shattering, and Wang Ping's face had twisted into a knot.

Even with the aid of an unknown green liquid, he felt the difficulty of cultivating the Soul Refining Heart Sutra beyond his level.

During the Foundation Establishment stage, to successfully cultivate the third stage, the soul must undergo thirty-six secret-method temperings; a slight mistake will cause the soul to shatter, and the cultivation process requires not only treasures to nourish the soul but also an extraordinarily tenacious will.

Nine days passed, and his soul had undergone thirty-five temperings; this was the last one—if he could endure it, his soul could transform, at which point Wang Ping estimated he could comprehend two hundred runes!

This time he not only had to use that unknown green liquid, but also take nine drops of the Undying Liquid diluted a hundredfold together; his intuition told him a great horror was about to befall him!

Seeing Wang Ping take out the Undying Liquid, the old man nodded repeatedly and muttered, "This kid is still somewhat sober; he knows to use the Undying Liquid!"

Only he knew the terrifying efficacy of the Undying Liquid; even diluted a hundredfold, its undying nature would still preserve a Foundation Establishment cultivator's life, let alone taking nine drops at once—its effect would be fearsomely strong.

Pain!

Intense pain,

Boundless intense pain surged; Wang Ping nearly sank straight away, even with preparation he almost lost his will, his soul would shatter and die.

The thirty-sixth tempering was far more intense than the previous pains, at least three times stronger.

Wang Ping unhesitatingly consumed the unknown green liquid and the Undying Liquid together.

The two liquids' effects slightly eased his pain, but did not solve the root problem; the pain kept worsening, and now it was a test of will.

In his sea of consciousness, will-stars flickered wildly—sometimes blazing bright, sometimes dim and dark; it was unknown how long this pain would last.

In a daze, Wang Ping even wanted to give up, for the feeling was too painful; in his haze he felt as if his soul were splitting open!

In fact, his soul was indeed splitting; this was the transformation, and under the nourishment of the unknown green liquid and the Undying Liquid, Wang Ping's soul transformed quickly, but if he couldn't persevere in this process, all his prior effort would be wasted.

Most crucially, he was now almost unconscious, about to lose his self-control!

There was no way; the pain was too unbearable, in a short moment he would nearly faint from agony, at this point any distraction method was useless—only hard resistance!

Endure it, and be reborn like a phoenix from fire!

Fail to endure, and death and the disappearance of the Dao!

Worry filled the old man's face: "Kid! You must definitely pull through! You are the inheritor of the Undying Tree!"

Wang Ping could no longer hear these words; although his soul was about to complete transformation, he seemed unable to hold on!