Golden Core shattered, Nascent Soul emerged!

With immense willpower, Lu Qing detonated his Golden Core, blasting apart the great grinding wheel of black-and-white lightning.

Then, with the indestructible intent he had comprehended, he shattered and then rebuilt, drawing in all of the black-and-white thunderbolts, reshaping his Qi Sea and condensing his Nascent Soul.

“So this is the Nascent Soul?”

Lu Qing gazed curiously into his Qi Sea. There, a tiny figure sat cross-legged, eyes closed, cradling a gourd in its hands.

He could feel it clearly. This little figure was connected to his heart and spirit—it was his very own Nascent Soul.

But something was odd.

Other cultivators at the Nascent Soul Realm had their Nascent Souls dwell in the Brow Acupoint. Yet his remained rooted in the Qi Sea.

“Is it because I haven’t crossed the Soul Tribulation yet, so my Nascent Soul can’t take its seat in the brow?” Lu Qing wondered.

His gaze fell on the black-and-white, multicolored gourd in the figure’s hands. From its mouth, it continuously inhaled and exhaled his vast sea of divine power, refining it each time into something even purer.

Through their link, Lu Qing knew—this was the Five Elements Gourd, reforged anew.

But now, it was far from what it used to be.

Not only was its power far stronger, its very nature had transformed.

As understanding dawned on him, he recalled what had happened.

He had fused the Chaos Pearl into the gourd, hoping to promote it into a Spiritual Artifact. Unexpected changes followed, forcing him into detonating his Golden Core. Out of that great destruction, he birthed his Nascent Soul.

The Five Elements Gourd had been shattered in the explosion. Yet instead of being destroyed, the shattering became the final push for its metamorphosis. It absorbed a torrent of black-and-white tribulation lightning and condensed anew.

Now, with the Chaos Pearl fused within and imbued with vast Yin-Yang energy, its essence had changed.

It was no longer just the Five Elements Gourd.

The Yin-Yang Five Elements Gourd—such a name fit better.

Moreover, its grade had leapt from a low-tier Spiritual Artifact straight into the middle tier.

What was even stranger was that it had birthed no Artifact Spirit.

Instead, because it was reformed alongside his Nascent Soul, it had become his Nascent Soul’s companion artifact—bound inseparably to him.

Or rather, in a sense, his Nascent Soul was the Artifact Spirit of the gourd.

“A twist of fate indeed. Truly marvelous.”

Lu Qing couldn’t help but sigh.

But it was all to his benefit.

His life-bound artifact had now become a companion artifact of the Nascent Soul, the bond even tighter than before. Its tier had risen, its might had grown a hundredfold—it was another great weapon in his hands.

Every change only strengthened his path forward.

And surely, this Yin-Yang Five Elements Gourd had other hidden functions, ones he could only explore after surviving his tribulation.

Drawing his focus inward, Lu Qing’s consciousness entered his Nascent Soul.

Instantly, his soul perception magnified manyfold. With the aid of the grand formation, his senses swept across a thousand miles.

He even sensed the presence of Nascent Soul experts from both races, gathered hundreds of miles away.

Not surprising. With tribulation of this magnitude, at the borderlands of two realms, how could those stationed nearby not notice?

And there—lurking in the woods not far from the human experts—were Xiaoli and the others.

His brow furrowed. Two Golden Core auras crept closer to them, suspicious and hidden.

Yet before he could investigate further, the heavens trembled.

The third tribulation cloud had formed.

He sent Xiaoli a quick warning and withdrew from the Nascent Soul state, lifting his eyes to the sky.

…

Xiaoli stirred, sensing Lu Qing’s transmission.

“What is it?” the White Flood Dragon asked.

“Ah Qing says two Golden Core late-stage cultivators are hiding a hundred miles from us. He told us to stay alert,” Xiaoli replied gravely.

That distance was beyond its own senses—no wonder it hadn’t noticed them.

“The lord still has strength to watch over us while facing his tribulation?” the White Flood Dragon exclaimed.

Xiaoli nodded. “He also said, not to worry. Just nine more bolts and it’ll be over.”

“Nine bolts… more?” the Flood Dragon froze in shock.

Already, eighteen bolts from two clouds had seemed inconceivable. And now nine more?

“Indeed—a third tribulation cloud!”

The distant Nascent Soul experts were stunned. They had suspected something when the whirlpool refused to dissipate, but the truth still shook them.

And what they saw next chilled their hearts.

The third cloud shaped itself into a colossal eye.

Its black iris revealed no emotion, gazing down with cold indifference.

As if Heaven itself had opened an eye to judge the living.

Even the mighty Nascent Soul cultivators shivered under that gaze. This phenomenon was beyond anything they knew.

“The Soul Tribulation of the Grand Dao actually manifests as an eye?”

Lu Qing, too, was astonished. Under that gaze, a peculiar sensation rose within him—as though this really was the eye of some unfathomable existence.

He did not flinch. He lifted his head and stared back.

Activating his divine ability, he tried to probe its nature.

But before anything could manifest, the eye blinked. A formless bolt of lightning shot forth.

Invisible, shapeless, its power could be felt but not seen.

It bypassed his body’s defenses, even the Five Elements Pearls, striking straight into the Soul Talisman within his brow, engulfing all his consciousness.

His vision blurred.

When it cleared, he stood amidst endless flames, burning to consume him.

“An illusion?”

The searing pain was real, the heat scalding—but Lu Qing saw through it at once.

After all, with his mastery of the Phantasm Divine Ability, how could he not?

“So, the final tribulation of the soul… is to temper my spirit within illusions?”

His mind sharpened. With a thought, he commanded: “Break!”

The fiery inferno shuddered, twisted, and shattered.

Reality returned, his soul strengthened, the Soul Talisman in his brow now glowing faintly with life.

Understanding dawned. “So this is the Soul Tribulation—each bolt drags me into illusions. If I break them, the tribulation lightning nourishes my soul. If I fail, I drown in the illusion until my spirit perishes.”

And so it began.

Each formless bolt birthed a new illusion.

He was tempted with beauties and harems. With armies and kingship. With the mantle of righteous leader. With ghosts of the slain crying for vengeance. With his master and Xiao Yan weeping in death.

Even with ascension to immortality itself.

One by one, he broke them. Each time, the illusion crumbled into energy that strengthened him further.

Finally, after shattering another grand illusion, his Soul Talisman gleamed with a misty golden light, nearing a profound metamorphosis.

“Only one bolt left… what will the final illusion be?”

The last thunderbolt descended.

His consciousness reeled—then he heard it.

“Ah Qing! Ah Qing!”

That voice—achingly familiar.

Arms wrapped around him. A mother’s tears.

“Ah Qing, you finally woke up. I thought you were going to leave me and your father behind.”

His stiff body relaxed. He smiled softly. “Mom, I’m back.”

He turned to another figure, aged and stern yet trembling with tears.

“Dad, I’m back.”

His father wept openly. “You’re awake… thank Heaven, you’re awake.”

Lying in a hospital bed, a drip in his arm, his body powerless, Lu Qing realized all trace of cultivation was gone. No Qi Sea, no Nascent Soul.

Only this world.

“Interesting,” he thought. “Directly weaving memories into my mind, are you?”

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