CHAPTER

42

First Breakthrough

I

As Hao Zhen pondered the matter of the color of his soul, a few possibilities occurred to him. The first theory he considered was that Tian Jin was right, and that the color of his soul was indeed related to his transmigration—to the fact that his soul had come from another world. Why that’d make his soul darker, he didn’t know, but it didn’t surprise him that his soul was different from everyone else’s.

That wasn’t the sole possibility, however. There was a chance that the color of his soul had nothing to do with his transmigration. Maybe it meant that he had a high affinity for darkness, or something along those lines.

From what he had seen so far, cultivators and cultivation as a whole weren’t divided into evil and good, righteous and wicked, or even orthodox and unorthodox—or, at least, he hadn’t seen those labels being used. On the other hand, cultivation methods and spiritual skills were derived from heavenly laws, and there were definitely heavenly laws of a darker nature, so having a darker soul could mean he had an affinity for such laws. Considering his spiritual skill had to do with puppetry, something usually associated with villains, and the cultivation method he had had the greatest affinity with so far was the Drifting Moonlight Method, which was associated with the night, he felt that there was some weight to that theory.

Of course, another explanation could be that individuals with poor aptitude for cultivation had dimmer—and, as such, darker—souls. To start with, he didn’t even know if it was his soul that was darker than normal, or if Tian Jin’s and Lan Yue’s souls were lighter than everyone else’s. Based on what Tian Jin said, his soul was the odd one, but he wasn’t certain how much attention the other boy had paid to other people’s souls before, so Hao Zhen would really only be able to confirm this once they came across someone else.

Chances were, however, that the darker color of his soul was indeed related to his transmigration. After all, if possessing a darker soul did have to do with affinity with certain heavenly laws or low aptitude for cultivation, Tian Jin—who grew up in a magical clan—would have probably known about it.

Beyond that, there was also the question of whether his soul had always been this color, or if it had darkened after he regained his memories. He couldn’t recall noticing anything odd about his soul before, but he believed that even if he had, he was still a Woven at the time, so if the Weave didn’t want him noticing anything odd about his soul, he wouldn’t have.

He did try recalling instances in which he had looked at his soul and spiritual aura before. He remembered doing so quite often in his first few days in the sect, as back then, cultivation had still been a novelty to him. However, even though, as a cultivator, he could recall memories much more clearly than a graysoul, he couldn’t recreate his memories in his mind’s eye with enough vividness to determine whether the color of his soul had been different back then. Depending on whether his soul had always been this dark or had only become this way recently, he would be able to draw some conclusions about the color of his soul and his status as an Unweavable. Unfortunately, he had no way of ascertaining this at the moment.

Hao Zhen sighed. All he could do for now was keep an eye out in the future for others with a darker—or lighter—soul. He would also try to get his hands on a cultivation method associated with darkness laws to ascertain if his darkness-affinity theory was correct.

It didn’t sit well with him to simply set a matter like this aside. His soul was quite literally the core of his existence, so it being anomalous in any way was most certainly a cause for grave concern. However, pondering this matter any further would be a waste of time—time he could spend doing more productive things.

In any case, it was a good thing Tian Jin had had the forethought to tell him about it secretly. If having a dark soul was indeed associated with something evil or dark, and Tian Jin didn’t know about it, but somehow Lan Yue knew, that was something Hao Zhen would rather be kept a secret. Considering Tian Jin’s surprising show of discretion just now, it seemed like the other boy had recognized that he had accidentally given away what was likely Lan Yue’s greatest secret and had developed some tact because of that.

Pushing all thoughts about his soul to the back of his head, Hao Zhen glanced at Tian Jin and Lan Yue. The two of them were sitting cross-legged on their cultivation cushions with their eyes closed, most likely cultivating. Deciding to follow their example, he channeled his spiritual power into his spatial ring and took out a pill flask filled with third-order red-grade cultivation pills. Lan Yue had recommended starting with the lower-order pills first to get used to absorbing their spiritual energy before moving on to higher-order ones.

Hao Zhen already had some experience with second-order cultivation pills, as the cultivation pills in Ke Li’s spatial ring had been of that rank, so he figured he’d start with the third-order ones. He removed one of the pills from the flask and put it in his mouth before swallowing.

Then, returning the pill flask to his spatial ring, Hao Zhen closed his eyes and tapped into his spiritual sense, all the while keeping the chant of the Drifting Moonlight Method going in his mind. In his mind’s eye, his body appeared: a human-shaped cluster of spiritual aura, with his soul—a head-sized spherical structure made out of spiritual matter—in the same position his heart physically occupied.

Below his soul, Hao Zhen found what he was looking for: a concentrated sphere of spiritual energy floating amidst his spiritual aura—the pill. Hao Zhen then willed his spiritual power out of his soul, drawing it from his crux, and guided it down to the pill before covering the pill with it.

As an emanation of spiritual energy, spiritual power always extended from the portion of spiritual energy that generated it. Because of that, since Hao Zhen had enveloped the pill with his spiritual power, there was now a spiritual-power channel of sorts connecting the pill to his crux, from which his spiritual power emanated.

Hao Zhen began to compress the spiritual power coating the pill, putting pressure on it. The originally tranquil spiritual energy inside the pill started showing signs of disturbance. Moments later, the pill began to slowly fall apart, the spiritual energy it contained becoming loose.

Concentrating, Hao Zhen started pulling on this loose spiritual energy with his spiritual power, guiding it into his crux. As the spiritual energy from the pill started flowing down the spiritual-power channel, some of it escaped from the pill, dispersing. Out of the original flow of spiritual energy, only a trickle of it passed through his soul and finally reached his crux.

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Hao Zhen couldn’t really pay that any mind, however, because now came perhaps the hardest part of the cultivation: assimilation. While chanting the Drifting Moonlight Method in his mind to maintain his control over his spiritual power, Hao Zhen kept pulling spiritual energy through the spiritual-power channel. As for the little spiritual energy that reached his crux, Hao Zhen used his spiritual power to exert pressure on it, pressing it into his crux. As he did so, most of it dispersed, but some of it penetrated into the crux, undergoing assimilation. His crux didn’t become any larger; instead, it became denser, the distance between the spiritual energy particles comprising it becoming smaller to accommodate the new particles.

Chanting, guiding, and assimilating: three different actions that had to be done simultaneously. If a cultivator’s comprehension of their cultivation method was high enough–which, in turn, required a high affinity with it—they’d be able to chant subconsciously, and guiding and assimilating would also be considerably easier. In Hao Zhen’s case, however, he had to dedicate his full concentration to only barely pull this off. Even then, the vast majority of the spiritual energy was wasted, though much less compared to when he used to rely on the Blazing Light Method to cultivate.

Hao Zhen kept assimilating the spiritual energy of the pill. He ignored the hints of exhaustion and persevered, determined to only stop once the pill had been fully absorbed so as not to waste anything. As a third-order cultivation pill, it contained much more spiritual energy than a second-order one, but it also released spiritual energy faster, so it only took him slightly more time to finish absorbing the pill than usual.

Only once the pill had been fully absorbed that Hao Zhen stopped chanting the incantations of the Drifting Moonlight Method. With that, he immediately lost his connection to his spiritual power, and extension, his spiritual sense, his mind’s eye returning to a state of darkness. After giving himself a few moments to rest, Hao Zhen resumed the chanting of the Drifting Moonlight Method just long enough to take out of his spiritual ring a flask with third-order spiritual recovery pills.

Hao Zhen took one of the pills before briefly resuming the mental chant to return the flasks to his spatial ring. Then, closing his eyes, he sat in meditation as he waited for the pill to start working on him. Unlike cultivation pills, recovery pills needed no guidance or assimilating—all he needed to do was swallow them, and the pills would handle the rest unassisted.

Soon he felt a refreshing sensation coming from his soul. Hao Zhen basked in the feeling, letting the pill do its job until he felt he had recovered enough of his spiritual stamina. It was rather extravagant to use a spiritual recovery pill after a cultivation session just so he could go quickly start cultivating again. However, there had been even more recovery pills in the spatial rings of the inner elder, the inner disciple, and Du Jian than there had been cultivation pills, so Hao Zhen wasn’t about to run out of them any time soon.

It was only a pity that he didn’t have any dedicated mental recovery pills, as cultivation was also taxing on the mind. He could use physical recovery pills to partially recover his mental stamina, but that wasn’t their primary function. If he were to use them that way, far too many of them would be required to have a meaningful effect on his mind, so while he did have quite a lot of physical recovery pills now, he felt it would be too wasteful to use them like this.

Hao Zhen tapped into his spiritual sense, using it to inspect his crux. In his mind’s eye, he first saw his soul, before focusing on the similarly spherical, fist-sized spiritual energy structure inside it. Although it didn’t look much different, Hao Zhen had the impression it was denser, more compact. If that wasn’t indication enough, he could also feel that it was emanating more spiritual power than before.

Although Hao Zhen didn’t know for certain, he believed that he was already approaching the second level. Most likely, he’d only need another two or three third-order red-grade cultivation pills to pull it off. A single fourth-order cultivation pill would also do the trick—in fact, from what he understood, he’d be able to assimilate more spiritual energy from it than even four or five third-order pills—but he wanted to get used to the third-order ones first.

It was fortunate that he was already so close to breaking through to the second level; otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to benefit at all from the increase in spiritual power. A cultivator couldn’t use all of their spiritual power—instead, they were limited by their spiritual output, which determined how much of their spiritual power a cultivator could utilize. A cultivator’s spiritual capacity—how much spiritual power a cultivator’s crux emanated—increased gradually, as it was determined by the density of the cultivator’s crux. Spiritual output, on the other hand, only increased when the cultivator broke through to the next level.

Even though Hao Zhen was close to breaking through to the second level, and as such was closer in terms of spiritual power to a second-level redsoul than a first-level, he still only had the spiritual output of a first-level—the same spiritual output he had back when he became a cultivator. Only upon reaching the second level would his spiritual output increase, allowing him to fully take advantage of his spiritual capacity.

Without hesitation, Hao Zhen took another third-order cultivation pill.

He found absorbing the second pill distinctly harder than absorbing the first one. There was no change in difficulty when it came to chanting and guiding, but since his crux was now slightly denser, assimilating the spiritual energy was harder. However, this confirmed that he was close to breaking through, so Hao Zhen persevered, galvanized by the possibility of advancement.

After taking another spiritual recovery pill, Hao Zhen popped a third third-order cultivation pill. By this point, his mind was almost completely worn-out, but he went through with it anyway. He could still handle another cultivation session.

Just like before, he began guiding the spiritual energy released by the pill and assimilating it into his crux. He cultivated as usual, and before long, only a small fraction of the pill remained. As he was assimilating the pill’s remaining spiritual energy into his crux, he suddenly felt his crux shift. A shiver ran through him, and he heard, in his mind, a clear, ringing sound.

Hao Zhen may have never advanced to a new level before, but he was fairly certain he had just experienced a breakthrough.

Hao Zhen willed his spiritual power into action, and he felt all of it—instead of merely a portion, as he had grown used to—answer his call, his spiritual output now matching his spiritual capacity.

Opening his eyes, Hao Zhen looked around him. Although it was subtle, he could tell that his vision was sharper, clearer. The sound of the waterfall felt louder, but at the same time, so did the beating of his heart, and he could separate the two sounds—as well as any other sounds—better. He was also much more aware of his clothes, feeling the fabric of his robes resting against his skin. The musty, earthy scent hanging in the air felt sharper, and he was confident that his sense of taste had also been improved.

Not to mention… Hao Zhen glanced down at his arms, closing and clenching his fists. He could feel the power—the strength—that lay in his body. His strength, speed, and durability had all been substantially increased, and the same went for many of his other physical attributes. His exhaustion was also gone, his mental stamina back at its peak. The same went for his spiritual stamina.

Hao Zhen smiled to himself. He had known that all of these things would happen—that he’d go through all of these changes—upon breaking through. Knowing something and directly experiencing it were completely different things, however. The only other time in his life he had felt something similar was when he became a cultivator, and although what he was feeling right now wasn’t quite at the same level as what he had felt back then, it came close.

The only thing that was missing was the expulsion of impurities that usually happened when cultivators broke through in cultivation novels. Then again, considering cultivation in this world only had to do with the soul—the body only being empowered because of the soul’s spiritual aura—the lack of impurity expulsion wasn’t that surprising.

Tomorrow, Hao Zhen decided, he’d see about exploring the new limits of his body. Right now, however… Hao Zhen took out a flask with third-order cultivation pills from his spatial ring. As both his mental and spiritual stamina had fully recovered with the breakthrough, he figured he’d cultivate some more.