Chapter 96 Journey Onward 1: Nascent Soul Formation
"If you don't want to cultivate with him, that's fine, but it will be a bit troublesome. You'll need to stay with him often in the future so that the influence of the Erosion Abyss Qi on him will be reduced. But once he leaves you, he won't have an easy time."
"From small possessions that are easily lost to life-threatening situations, nothing is certain..."
"Crack—"
With a sudden burst of force, Xu Xing accidentally broke a piece of ore. Staring at the cracked rock powder, she felt frustrated and decided to lean against the rock to rest.
But as soon as she stopped mining, her thoughts became increasingly chaotic, constantly and uncontrollably drifting back to the "dual cultivation" that Senior Golden Dragon had mentioned that day...
"Ahhh! Stop thinking about it!" Xu Xing, his cheeks burning, pulled at his hair and rubbed his face vigorously, trying to banish the words of Senior Jinlong from his mind.
"Look at you! My dragon clan has always been unrestrained and indulgent, why are you being so hesitant? I think that sword cultivator's appearance is passable, let's just take him in!"
Unfortunately, the golden dragon phantom was fond of playing around in its previous life. Although it could not hear Xu Xing's thoughts, it could guess her thoughts from her behavior and disapproved of her recent outburst.
"I'm not a dragon!" Xu Xing retorted with a straight face. "Besides, my senior brother and I are already in love, we just haven't held our Daoist ceremony yet!"
"The Daoist Couple Ceremony? That thing where you swear an oath to the Heavenly Dao to be with one person for life?"
Jinlong was exasperated. "You're not only planning to take him in, are you? Foolish! There are so many handsome men in the world, you..."
Seeing that Jinlong's words were becoming increasingly outrageous, Xu Xing immediately rolled up his sleeve and placed a spirit-sealing seal on his left arm, manually silencing Jinlong.
Having received a modern education, she simply couldn't accept this kind of idea; if she liked someone, she would only like him.
More than half a year has passed since Shen Du underwent his tribulation. After the thunderclouds dispersed, the Demon Sealing Battlefield once again witnessed a chaotic battle between cultivators and demonic beasts, but no one dared to approach the central area enveloped by the golden sword net.
At the center of the Sword Net, Chen Du sat in meditation with his eyes closed. After his body was tempered by the Heavenly Thunder, all the wounds he had sustained in the Abyss of Eclipse had healed. Now, the sword intent within his body was profound and sharp, and his understanding of the sword path had reached a completely new level.
But he never woke up.
Unbeknownst to anyone, having successfully weathered the tribulation of lightning, the most perilous and crucial period of advancement—the tribulation of inner demons—has now arrived.
"You think you've left the illusion? Open your eyes and see! You've never escaped the Abyss!"
"My good disciple, it's been so many years, and you've already become a disciple of someone else. I'm so disappointed..."
"With a fate like yours, you dare to have someone you love? Aren't you afraid of killing her?"
...
"Chen Du, a disciple of Yao Guang Academy has gone missing. Have you seen him?"
The one who asked the question was Feng Zhun of Qing Lingfeng. Shen Du had always been respectful and polite to this senior who planned to take him as a disciple after leaving the secret realm.
"Senior Feng, I didn't notice him."
"There's no time to spare, let's split up and look for them. You go check over there."
It was just an ordinary trial in a secret realm. Having gained nothing, Shen Du helped search for someone and soon sensed an unusual aura. He cautiously approached with his sword and then saw torn clothes and bloody flesh.
"roar--"
"We're about to leave, why are two people missing?"
Feng Ling frowned. "I told you long ago not to deviate from the pre-planned route. Where did that brat Chen Du go?"
“Young people are bound to be a bit restless. Ah Ling, you take the other disciples and go ahead. I'll go find him.”
Feng Zhun was always good-tempered, but Feng Ling said helplessly, "Brother, I know you value his talent, but you can't spoil him too much. He needs to temper his temper. He's not very lucky to begin with. What if he gets into trouble while running around?"
"Okay, don't worry, I'll go take a look."
After not seeing Feng Zhun return with his two lost disciples for a long time, Feng Ling felt inexplicably nervous. She rushed over, only to see the gaping maw of a demonic beast and her brother being swallowed whole, standing in front of Shen Du...
"Why did you leave the team without permission! You killed him!"
"Senior Brother Chen Du is good in every way, except that he's cursed by fate. Even the senior who wanted to take him as a disciple..."
"Stay away from him, he's a bad guy, be careful not to get dirty."
"..."
After that, Shen Du's reputation plummeted upon returning to the Jade Cloud Sect. Originally, it was just bad luck, but killing his master was a different story. It seemed that anything shrouded in the shadow of death would become something people would avoid at all costs.
A swordsmanship genius with only one spiritual root has thus become the subject of gossip, with people discussing it endlessly...
"Geniuses are nothing special. I got more resources from a trip to the secret realm than he did!"
"Because of the death of Senior Feng Zhun, Elder Feng has already declared that anyone who dares to take Shen Du as a disciple is going against Qingling Peak."
Faced with the accusations of the crowd and Feng Ling's rage, Shen Du remained silent and did not offer a single word in his defense.
Feng Zhun had sent him to find someone that day. He did not leave the team on purpose, but Feng Zhun died saving him. Shen Du was unwilling to use the legacy of this senior who almost became his master to clear his name.
Anyway, he's an unlucky person, so it doesn't matter if people say a few things about him.
Shen Du continued to practice swordsmanship and cultivation as usual, never slacking off. When he had no master, he went to the Scripture Pavilion to learn mental cultivation techniques and swordsmanship. When he had no resources, he went to the Myriad Manifestations Ranking to take on missions...
His swordsmanship became increasingly refined, and he always won first place in competitions. Even if his fellow disciples tried to avoid him, they would still respectfully address him as "Senior Brother Shen."
Among his disciples, only Xiang Yuquan and Zuo Qiuxu could be considered his friends, but they happened to be Feng Ling's disciples, and they had to keep their interactions with him secret.
Shen Du simply avoided everyone and lived alone for many years, always thinking that he didn't care about these things, until she appeared.
She said, "Since I met my senior, everything has been lucky!"
No, that's not how it works.
Meeting you is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
Because he has someone he wants to protect, he absolutely cannot fail.
...
Within the spiritual network, countless streams of spiritual energy surged frantically into Chen Du's body. The surrounding spiritual energy could not support such a massive demand, so he spontaneously began to absorb the power from the spiritual veins. Soon, those spiritual veins were also exhausted, followed by the spirit stones stored in his storage ring, until all the spirit stones turned to dust, finally…
A burst of golden light shone brightly, and sword shadows flew everywhere. Shen Du suddenly opened his eyes. A golden longsword hovered beside him and stood in front of him. He raised his hand, grasped the hilt, and swept the sword horizontally. An invisible sword aura burst forth, instantly cutting the demonic beasts within a range of dozens of miles in half!
The Nascent Soul has been formed!
The golden spirit sword transformed into a beam of light and entered Shen Du's body. Just as he was about to leave, he noticed a familiar jade token identifying him as a cultivator from the Jade Cloud Sect at his feet. Upon picking it up, he saw an extremely familiar name engraved on the token: "Feng Zhun".
At this moment, Xu Xing was mining in a mine not far from the Demon Sealing Battlefield. After this period of hard work, her [Gold Mining] level had reached level 32. At first, it would take her a lot of spiritual power to mine one piece of ore, but after upgrading her skill, she could mine three pieces. She quickly accumulated a lot of materials again.
However, most of the mines that produce high-quality ores are included in the scope of the major sects in the North, making it difficult to obtain them without spending spirit stones.
Xu Xing took stock of her assets again. This time, when her senior brother was undergoing tribulation, she ignored his refusal and gave him most of the spirit stones and all the spirit veins.
Although Xu Xing herself was only at the Foundation Establishment stage, she could guess that the resources required for a Nascent Soul True Monarch were naturally several times more than those required for a Golden Core True Monarch. In order to "nurture" her senior brother, it seemed that she could no longer be so leisurely and had to earn more spirit stones after returning!
There's also the Daoist Couple Ceremony, which she wants to hold in a grand and glorious way, so that everyone knows that her senior brother is hers!
Xu Xing glanced at his skills:
Gold mining 32
37 herbs
Forging 41
Medical Skills 52
Cooking 57
Sewing 23
During her time in the Abyss, aside from forging, her other skills remained largely unchanged. The higher her level, the less spiritual energy Xu Xing consumed when using skills, and the faster she could move. To earn spirit stones, she made leveling up a top priority for her to-do list upon returning to the sect.
When the skill reaches level 30, the recipe is unlocked. Will there be any other changes if I continue to upgrade?
She was really looking forward to it.
Xu Xing's gaze fell on [Treasure Hunt]. This skill was too useless. It could indeed find good things, but the problem was that it had no priority. Whether it was a spiritual herb or a spiritual vein, it would give instructions on everything.
After several fruitless searches that yielded only a few common spiritual herbs, Xu Xing gave up on his get-rich-quick scheme through treasure hunting. He mostly ignored the red dot notification, but it seemed a waste not to use it...
etc!
Looking at the surrounding ore, Xu Xing had an idea. She opened the treasure hunting guide, and after the pointer swayed for a while, it stopped in a certain direction. Following the direction, she found a large piece of unmined ore crystal!
"So that's how you use it!"
Xu Xing was overjoyed, because the surrounding area was full of ore, so under these circumstances, it could only point to the refined crystal that could be considered a "treasure"!
Summoning his contracted beast to protect himself, Xu Xing plunged into mining. When his spiritual energy was exhausted, he would take spiritual replenishing pills. He stayed in the mine for several days.
Xu Xingcai, who was overjoyed with his great harvest, stopped in his tracks when he realized that he was getting further and further away from the Demon Sealing Battlefield. He looked at his backpack full of mineral crystals with satisfaction. It was too slow to go alone. He would definitely call his senior brother to come and mine after his tribulation was over!
When Xu Xing returned to the Demon Sealing Battlefield, he discovered that the sword net had disappeared and his senior brother was no longer there.
Has Senior Brother finished his tribulation? Or did something else happen?
Xu Xing's expression changed, regretting that she had gone so far. Worried that something might have happened, she leaped onto Qing's back and was about to rush to the battlefield.
"Junior sister."
A familiar voice sounded behind him. Xu Xing looked down and saw that the person standing next to Qing was none other than his senior brother.
"Senior brother!"
Xu Xing jumped off Qing's back and rushed into Chen Du's arms, exclaiming, "You've successfully formed your Nascent Soul!"
Congratulations, senior brother!
She looked up, her golden eyes filled with pure joy.
Shen Du couldn't help but gently stroke the top of her head and whispered, "Hmm, is your 'investment' half successful?"
After forming his Nascent Soul, the spiritual power within his body was incomparable to that of the Golden Core stage, and a hint of a smile appeared in Shen Du's eyes.
He can finally protect his junior sister after they return to the sect...
Xu Xing smiled gently, stood on tiptoe, and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. "It's been a success for a long time!"
My junior sister actually...
Shen Du froze instantly, completely at a loss. Just then, Xu Xing, who was addicted to mining, grabbed him and ran towards the mine, laughing and shouting as they ran, "Quick! Senior brother, come help me mine!"
From now on, she and her senior brother will be one, so why not make use of this readily available labor force!
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Author's Note: Thank you to 57786656, Too Many Bugs, Yan Yan, 25656288, Sleeping Until Naturally Awake Every Day, Evening Crow, Blue Feather Tears, Happy Meow, and Sleep a Little Longer for the nutrient solution! Kiss my little cuties~
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