Chapter 4561 — Condensing the Nascent Soul

This was truly something that could not be sought, only encountered—not something that closed-door ascetic cultivation or popping a few pills could ever bring one to. If one wished to reach the Realm of Emptiness and Clarity, there was only one thing to pin one's hopes on: fortune. For Wei Zhao, this was sheer, unlooked-for delight.

Wei Zhao could not help secretly speculating that it might have something to do with bathing in Star-Ink Milk. After all, the world knew only the broad strokes of Star-Ink Milk's wondrous uses—could not even articulate them clearly. The fact that no one had previously linked it to the Realm of Emptiness and Clarity did not mean the two were truly unconnected.

Yet Wei Zhao had little time now for rejoicing. The effects of the Star-Ink Milk would not last long, and if he failed to condense his Nascent Soul before they faded, the consequences did not bear imagining.

The moment had come. Without the slightest hesitation, Wei Zhao swallowed a Golden Core Fruit of Nascent Condensation. The pill dissolved the instant it touched his tongue, like a sweet, refreshing spring flowing from crown to sole; there was scarcely any interval at all before its medicinal power surged forth. Wei Zhao could distinctly feel the true qi and essence within every nook and cranny of his body slowly congealing, streaming along the major meridians into his dantian.

Shattering the golden core was the first step, gathering the essence was the second, and the third—the one of paramount importance—was condensing the Nascent Soul.

Condensing a Nascent Soul and congealing a golden core seemed much the same on the surface; the only difference being that the former was a charge toward the Nascent Soul stage and the latter merely a charge toward the Golden Core stage. But when he truly reached this step, Wei Zhao realized the two were fundamentally not alike at all.

In the end, congealing a golden core was simply a matter of following the process; there was not much technical artistry to it. It amounted to nothing more than condensing a golden core into shape—even a perfect golden core was not all that complicated. The Nascent Soul was different. Setting aside everything else entirely, to use essence to condense a complete Nascent Soul was a task of extreme difficulty.

A golden core was merely a simple round bead of clean lines. A Nascent Soul, however, was a complete human form; the process of condensing it was nothing less than sculpting a brand-new self within the dantian. Every part from head to toe was indispensable—the slightest flaw in any single part would profoundly affect one's strength in the days to come.

Put simply, the more complete and exquisite the Nascent Soul condensed at the moment of charging the Nascent Soul stage, the stronger that Nascent Soul cultivator would be. Conversely, if the Nascent Soul were incomplete, it meant that cultivator was destined for the lowest tier—not only would further breakthroughs be nearly impossible, but even among peers of the same level he would inevitably rank as the dregs at the bottom.

To achieve this, two conditions had to be met simultaneously.

The first was an exceptional environment for condensing the Nascent Soul; otherwise, with a task so exquisite, the slightest deficiency would cause the whole endeavor to collapse at the final step. Star-Ink Milk had given Wei Zhao precisely this heaven-sent environment, and at the same time afforded him a relatively generous span of time. This was also the origin of the saying that Star-Ink Milk could forge the mightiest Nascent Soul.

Yet this was merely an objective, external condition. There had never been anything absolutely certain in this world—even swallowing sacred elixirs and spirit medicines was no guarantee. Star-Ink Milk, naturally, could not guarantee delivery of the mightiest Nascent Soul cultivator. To achieve the mightiest Nascent Soul, Star-Ink Milk at best bought one a ticket of admission; the more crucial matter lay in the second condition. That was a profound understanding of oneself!

As someone from the mortal world, Wei Zhao held a natural advantage in this regard over cultivators native to Cloud Terrace Island. Even so, he still had little confidence, for even the modern science of the mortal world had never truly seen through the human body; a cultivator's casual introspection could reveal more than that. Wei Zhao's advantage lay at most in a more scientific way of thinking.

What Wei Zhao had not expected, however, was that he would muddle-headedly slip into the Realm of Emptiness and Clarity all of a sudden, and everything previously unclear became instantly crystal clear. If before his confidence in attaining the mightiest Nascent Soul had been but one or two parts in ten, then now, having entered the Realm of Emptiness and Clarity, that confidence had risen to at least six or seven parts.

It was not one hundred percent, but to have six or seven parts of confidence in achieving the mightiest Nascent Soul was in itself absurdly, outrageously remarkable. Were word of it to spread, no one would believe it—not even those top-tier magnates who had been through it all themselves, for such a thing was simply inconceivable. In their understanding, the mightiest Nascent Soul had always come from fortune favoring the cultivator; everything else, Star-Ink Milk included, could only ever be auxiliary.

In this moment Wei Zhao entered a state of complete self-oblivion, his entire mind immersed in his dantian, using the essence that ceaselessly gathered to piece together the Nascent Soul bit by bit. At first there was only a rough outline, but as time passed, that outline imperceptibly grew clearer and clearer—from head to torso to limbs, taking shape little by little.

Yet just as the Nascent Soul was about to truly take form, the sculpting process ground to an abrupt halt. Wei Zhao's brows knitted slightly: he had run out of essence...

The greatest function of the Golden Core Fruit of Nascent Condensation was to draw out the essence hidden within the human body, and to supply essence as well. Under normal circumstances, condensing a Nascent Soul required only one such pill to be entirely sufficient—either success or failure, with no third possibility. For someone like Wei Zhao, who discovered halfway through sculpting his Nascent Soul that he had run short of essence, it was truly unprecedented.

There was no other reason: even for a superior Nascent Soul, others at most sculpted a few basic organs. Wei Zhao's, however, required not only every organ great and small, but not one blood vessel or meridian could be omitted—and every bit of it was condensed from essence. That he ran short was only natural.

Without hesitation Wei Zhao hurriedly swallowed a second Golden Core Fruit of Nascent Condensation, and essence once more poured ceaselessly into his dantian. Wei Zhao accordingly re-entered his state of self-oblivion. The great work of condensing the Nascent Soul had only just begun; sketching the outline earlier could be considered relatively easy—what came after was the truly mind-draining, high-difficulty labor.

Time trickled away, and Wei Zhao, immersed in the self-oblivious state of the Realm of Emptiness and Clarity, had no awareness of how long had passed—he was not even conscious of the changes occurring within his body. From first to last, all his mind was concentrated solely on the Nascent Soul, for that was the fundamental root of it all.

While Wei Zhao concentrated on condensing his Nascent Soul, the spirit bird beside him had not been idle either, continuously showering its whole body with Star-Ink Milk, sparing not a single feather. Whether it found this comfortable or there was some other effect, it never tired of it.