Chapter 4561 — Condensing the Nascent Soul
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
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.