Chapter 307: Breaking Through to the Nascent Soul Stage (4k, please subscribe)

"Not bad. Although I need to understand the origin and background before I can transform, relatively speaking, as long as I can transform, I can effectively apply reinforcements... I need to come up with a name."

Transforming the magic treasure back into the Azure Crimson Dharma Robe, Du En decided to spend some time coming up with a name before officially entering cultivation.

"Since the true intent lies in the azure green and the main body is the Crimson Palace, and in reality, it is still the Crimson Palace, then let's just call it the Azure Crimson Palace."

The magic treasure has a spirit... actually, it does not. It is, in reality, still a part of Du En's body, still his middle palace middle dantian, so naturally, there would be no such thing as a spiritual response or resonance.

And so, in the blink of an eye, the naming problem was solved.

Du En did not move his position and began to cultivate right where he was.

Cultivating, grinding, never stepping out of the front gate or the back gate.

Accumulating day by day, bit by bit.

Sixty-eight days later, the Wind Sand Art broke through to Mastery, and on the same day, he switched to practicing the Image Casting Art.

One hundred and thirty-one days later, the Image Casting Art broke through to Mastery, and on the same day, he switched to practicing the Hundred Control Art.

Two hundred and forty-one days later, the Hundred Control Art broke through to Mastery, and on the same day, he switched to practicing the Ten Thousand Control Art, and changed to practicing the Golden Flame Art.

Three hundred and fifty-three days later, the Golden Flame Art broke through to Mastery, and on the same day, he switched to practicing the other two Wood-element spells.

Thus, time quickly arrived at the middle of the first month, one year later.

When water is full, it overflows; Du En experienced another breakthrough in his realm.

A massive amount of spiritual energy was gathered from the outside world, the momentum far exceeding the situation when the magic treasure gathered it before, continuously filling his body.

The lower dantian Qi Sea lit up; the radiance of the Golden Core was unprecedented, and the speed at which the three-layered mana star rings orbited was exaggerated and intense, accelerating rapidly. In the blink of an eye, only a spherical outer shell could be seen, yet it could not block the blazing brilliance erupting from within.

Thus, until a certain node, the three-layered mana star rings suddenly stopped, fitting and merging with each other to form one large, wide star ring, then shrinking inward to merge into the Golden Core, turning into a corona-like faint light.

The brilliance of the Golden Core reached its peak, truly as scorching as the sun, echoing and attracting, causing the middle position of the body, the middle dantian Crimson Palace, to change its form.

Dreamy flowing fire surrounded the azure sky, and at this moment, it moved away from its original position, falling downward into the Qi Sea.

The two palaces merged!

This is the best situation when breaking through from the Golden Core stage to the Nascent Soul stage; even geniuses find it hard to encounter, and even if they do, they first face a severe test.

—How to keep the middle palace, which has shifted, from disrupting the operation of one's own cultivation technique!

One must know that those who can be called geniuses in advance must have had both palaces enlightened during the Foundation Establishment stage, and by the time they reach the Golden Core stage, the middle palace is inevitably the core or secondary core of their cultivation.

Therefore, its sudden displacement, pulling on the meridians and unfolding the merger, if one is unprepared and lacks foundation, will only cause the breakthrough to fall short, or even possibly lead to the collapse of cultivation and death on the spot!

But for Du En, there was clearly no such problem.

After all, his middle palace had been refined by himself into a life-bound magic treasure, and a life-bound magic treasure, logically speaking, is generally in the Qi Sea, orbiting the Golden Core, and being nurtured.

The current merger of the two palaces was merely a return to the original position.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

Amidst the joyful vibration of the internal organs, the Azure Crimson Palace fell into the lower dantian Qi Sea without any obstacles, silently merging into one place; this is the Golden Palace merging with the life source, a nobility beyond words.

And the brewing of the Golden Core had already reached its limit; at this moment, the merger of the two palaces became its final driving force, directly causing it to collapse into a single point once more.

After the extreme brilliance, there was an infinite empty point.

It swallowed spiritual energy even more surgingly, then suddenly stopped this action.

The instant the movement and stillness switched rapidly, it brought a violent impact, sometimes even shaking apart the newly merged two palaces, which is also a difficult point of the breakthrough.

But for Du En, there was likewise no problem.

Under the inner vision of his divine sense, the empty point stood isolated in the center, and surrounding it, bits of star dust quietly emerged, no longer under traction, slowly drifting to the bottom of the dark Qi Sea.

Within a deep expanse, there were shimmering azure waves; I do not know when it started, but they had already appeared and covered this area, making the name of this Qi Sea seem well-deserved.

There really was a sea!

Bits of star dust drifted onto it, creating ripples, sinking into it, and then, dreamlike fiery red flame flowers grew and bloomed, decorated with golden, luxurious patterns; in the blink of an eye, they covered the entire Qi Sea's azure waves.

This cluster of flame flowers was the new mana, and what the mana surrounded and supported was naturally the foundation of the Dharma.

The empty point also slowly descended, and countless flame flowers surrounded it, like a cradle, receiving and carrying it.

It changed upon contact, quietly blooming, and what appeared was a three-inch small infant; its face was naturally identical to Du En's, only very infantile, and its expression was equally calm and indifferent, completely lacking the crying sound that should occur when a normal Nascent Soul emerges.

He just silently opened his eyes, looking upward from below.

Boom!

The two doors of the Divine Palace were directly shattered and smashed by his gaze, then he rushed through the dark chaos permeating within, and in this place of innate hidden spirit and stored divinity, he struck out a bright Great Dao!

The realm of mana cultivation was already fully sufficient to enlighten and guide his own dormant soul, and so, he stood up from that chaos, shook his body, his calm gaze penetrated through, and with one more leap, he stepped out of the depths of the Divine Palace!

At this moment, Du En had a very strange feeling.

The soul was him, the consciousness was him, and the Nascent Soul was also him; one person had three perspectives, three experiences, and three forms of existence. It felt as if, with just a small mistake, they would directly diverge, appearing very fragmented in an invisible way.

Thus, he understood where the key to cultivation in the Nascent Soul stage lay.

Integration into one!

By the middle stage, consciousness merges with the soul.

By the late stage, the soul merges with the Nascent Soul.

Thus, the three merging into one is perfection.

Afterward, one needs to wait for the opportunity to be able to transform into a deity and emerge.

Of course, during this period, the cultivation of the Nascent Soul's mana itself cannot be neglected.

Unlike others, who basically try to have their soul enter the infant during the breakthrough to experience the feeling of that basic operation, Du En's soul just silently retreated.

Du En's Nascent Soul also closed its eyes, covered by the blooming flowers, protected on the azure waves.

With his consciousness in the lead, he opened the eyes of his physical body.

The first thing he noticed was the change in his life-bound magic treasure.

Relying on the fact that the Azure Crimson Palace was already a part of Du En, as soon as his realm broke through, it naturally broke through as well; it was not at all like ordinary life-bound magic treasures, which break through first and then lead to a later breakthrough, with a nurturing process in between.

It was already a fourth-tier magic treasure!

At this moment, the Azure Crimson Palace has already merged into the lower Qi Sea and did not leap out, yet the Azure Crimson Dharma Robe, which it had simulated and transformed into, did not disappear.

It is the unique nature of the Dream Stone being fully ignited!

It currently appears to exist, yet in truth, it is nothing more than a dream of Nanke; however, it is indeed truly existent, highly unique, and is a manifestation existing between reality and the dream realm.

Of course, there is also light and flame, as well as the azure sky that encompasses them, interacting with one another and silently supporting, only then able to sustain this change born from the breakthrough of the realm.

Like a dream, like an illusion.

This is the magical treasure of Du En, the divine wonder obtained after breaking through to the Fourth Rank; in the future, he can perform various transformations without needing to bring out the main body of the Azure Crimson Palace.

Of course, if the main body were to rise, the power would naturally be even greater!

"Clearly, the resolution had long since considered the possibility of merging the two palaces when it came to the refining method and the selection of materials..."

That it could be so smooth and naturally sprout changes is clearly closely related to the refining method Meng Changqing provided back then.

Looking at it now, the value of that natal magical treasure's refining method is higher than a top-grade cultivation technique.

"However, these things were not stated directly within the method; was it because, at that time, they didn't think I could achieve it, to avoid me being overly ambitious, or was it deliberately leaving a few tricks to facilitate guiding me step-by-step later on?"

Based on Meng Changqing's temperament, it is estimated to be both.

The former is easy to understand; as for the latter, from the very beginning, both had noticed the contradictions and differences between them, and the fact that they surfaced previously through the matter of Changle was merely an inevitability.

Du En faced it with the mindset that it is better for things to surface early than late; at the same time, since the natal magical treasure is always progressing in the most perfect situation, there is naturally no need for Meng Changqing to worry about anything extra.

Being a subordinate, one's primary duty is to share the burdens for the boss and not let them harbor any worries.

He feels that in this regard, he has done quite well.

As for whether the other party will have any other troublesome problems because of this, that is none of his business.

Du En pondered in this way, without any worries, then calmly shifted his attention to sense other changes.

As the divine soul detached from its hibernation and was able to step out of the divine palace, his divine sense naturally rose with the tide, expanding directly to just over 3,600 zhang, which, when converted, is about 24 li.

Furthermore, its penetrative power is excellent, its anti-interference capability is strong, its vitality has clearly increased, its concealment is excellent, its extra maneuverability is excellent... it can be said to have obtained an all-around improvement, serving as the focal point of a genius's talent and the initial realization of that divine soul's potential.

Naturally, the hallmark of the Nascent Soul stage, arriving wherever the mind turns—spatial movement—has also been obtained.

He had long known the relevant information, but at this moment, he still had to try it out in practice.

The interior of the cave dwelling is very wide, with a radius of several tens of li, just enough for his activities.

"Just as I saw in the Scripture Depository, within the 24-li range covered by my divine sense, I can move at will; the interval period is very short because the quality of my divine soul is high, and it can also support high-frequency usage."

"And beyond 24 li, it is not that I cannot move; by operating the concentration of my divine sense, I can barely reach beyond 36 li, but the burden will clearly increase, and the further out one goes, the more exaggerated the multiplier of the burden becomes."

"At the same time, hmm, using the method of reaching the existing boundary and then resetting the divine sense range is indeed difficult to achieve; there will be a pause period of about two breaths."

This is still because Du En's divine soul quality accumulation is sufficient, exceeding many geniuses who have just broken through at the same rank; a normal genius should take three to five breaths, and if they consolidate and adapt, they can shrink it to two breaths.

As for him.

"One breath should be possible; with the subsequent improvements in all aspects, it can be further shortened, and in the end, I should be able to achieve seamless connection, which can be called a spatial escape technique."

In this way, there is no need to select and practice extra escape techniques later, avoiding the need for too many daily practice patterns, which would make time even more insufficient, and in the end, only lead to biting off more than one can chew.

After verifying this new trick, Du En performed a round of all his existing methods on the spot, finally concluding the practical verification by testing his greatly enhanced ability to control regional spiritual Qi.

One could only see what seemed to be a giant hand in the void, directly grabbing objects within a 20-zhang radius and kneading them into a ball, turning it into a compact sphere.

It is quite fine for bullying those second-rate Nascent Soul stage cultivators, but it is estimated that at the level of first-rate elites, it can only cause some trouble; it is mainly used at certain specific moments, such as when there is a clear use for it when competing for the right to control spiritual Qi.

Du En casually dispersed this ball before looking at his panel.

【Age: 41/1133】

【Spiritual Root: Low-grade】

【Cultivation: Nascent Soul Early Stage (0/100)】

【Cultivation Technique: Azure Yellow Canon (Mastery 22700/30000)】

【Spells: Giant Cannon Art (Perfected to the Extreme), Wind Sand Art (Mastery 0/30000), Ice Breath Art (Perfected to the Extreme), Statue Casting Art (Mastery 0/30000), Ten Thousand Control Art (Initial Mastery 0/20000), Golden Flame Art (Mastery 0/30000), Wood Growth Art (Small Achievement 800/10000), Dharma-Devouring Wood Spike (Small Achievement 800/10000)】

【Divine Ability: Buried Death Flourishing Life (Small Achievement 0/100)】

【Hundred Arts: Appraisal (Mastery 0/300), Culinary Arts (Grandmaster 0/500), Spirit Seeking (Mastery 0/300), Artifact Refining (Small Achievement 0/100)】

His lifespan limit has directly increased by five hundred years, which is nearly two hundred years more than the nearly one thousand years of a normal second-rate Nascent Soul perfection; by the time he reaches Nascent Soul perfection in the future, it might even be nearly half as much again.

This is naturally the result of the spiritual body, cultivation techniques, and so on stacking up, a manifestation and reward of Du En's hard work and grinding.

However, he is not even half a century old yet, so he naturally only took a glance.

"From the situation at the end of the breakthrough just now, the cultivation time for the foundation of the Nascent Soul Early Stage is about eight hundred years, which is double the four hundred years at Golden Core perfection, but it is not a big problem; at most, I can have another breakthrough in two or three years."

The limitation of the low-grade spiritual root still exists; normally, it is impossible to cultivate to the Nascent Soul stage, so the time for this foundation accumulation is now so exaggerated that it could completely exhaust those second-rate individuals who luckily broke through to this point.

But because Du En has been working intensely and has never slacked off, and the accumulation of various means has not been interrupted, at this moment, there is actually a trend of catching up faster and faster, so it is naturally not in the category of urgent goals at the moment.

"The grinding of spells is still a relatively big problem; if this value continues to expand, it will only become more erroneous and distorted in the future, unless the subsequent Fourth-Rank Daoist techniques are different from the current four types of spells... I must find a way to first get a secret Daoist technique to practice and verify the actual situation."

As for the present, I will first practice the two wood-attribute spells to the mastery stage where I can exploit loopholes, and then go buy the top-grade spells I have scheduled to purchase, and carry out a complete transition to achieve matching with my realm.

"Also, regarding the divine ability side, as well as several other crafts, if conditions permit, I must also..."

Du En pondered in his heart, his heart suddenly stirred, and he turned to leave the cave dwelling.

(End of this chapter)