Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Nascent Soul Realm (2)
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Seoran first created a body for the Golden Core survivor.
The material was clay dug up from the riverbank.
In an instant, a palm-sized clay doll was completed.
Finally, she carefully attached the sound device removed from inside Doll Oh-ho's head to the clay doll's head.
The Golden Core survivor promptly discarded its lower body.
The lower half ignited on its own and was absorbed into the Golden Core.
Seoran placed the Golden Core into the clay doll's torso.
The Golden Core survivor immediately began explaining the situation.
Wanted criminal in the cultivation world: Wi Jimok.
Crime: Killing numerous cultivators and seizing their wealth.
Objective confirmed as the Nascent Soul ritual.
Seoran asked in surprise.
"Is that vile criminal trying to become a Nascent Soul cultivator?"
"Yes. It's a credible conclusion drawn from compiling data related to the incidents. He is highly likely preparing the Nascent Soul ritual in Yu Nation."
"Why Yu Nation of all places? Isn't it too dangerous for someone like Wi Jimok? With so many cultivation sects nearby?"
The Golden Core survivor resolved Seoran's doubts.
"Wi Jimok was once a cultivator of the Three Rings Sect. He's also suspected to be connected to its destruction over a decade ago. He was the only high-ranking cultivator to survive."
"And?"
"During the sect's annihilation, Wi Jimok, the sole survivor, apparently took all the sect's resources and fled. But it was too much for one person to carry, so he couldn't go far and had no choice but to settle nearby."
Seoran nodded in understanding, and the Golden Core survivor hurriedly continued.
"Anyway, we desperately need help right now!"
"You want me to fight Wi Jimok?"
The Golden Core survivor waved its hands frantically.
"No, no, no! He's no monster you can face alone, even as a Core Formation cultivator. Our joint pursuit team misjudged his strength and was wiped out. We're outmatched, so we must bring a Nascent Soul senior."
"Is there a way?"
"Just escort us to the battlefield!"
Seoran readily agreed to help.
By the time they finished talking, the drifted-off dolls had returned.
Seoran, the Doll Four Sisters, and the Golden Core survivor all boarded the Stone Lotus Flower and headed upstream.
They soon arrived at the battlefield.
There were no bloodstains or corpses, but everything was a mess.
As the Golden Core survivor surveyed the explosion-ravaged site, it pointed to some bushes.
"Near those bushes!"
Seoran rummaged through the bushes.
Then she found something.
It was an extremely small flute.
An item used to summon birds or insects.
This, too, was the Golden Core survivor's achievement.
It had swiftly thrown and hidden the flute before dying.
The Golden Core survivor said.
"Blow it as hard as you can, just as I tell you."
Seoran blew the flute.
No sound came out.
But it seemed birds and insects could hear it.
A cute human-faced bird flew in.
A sparrow's body with a young girl's head—an unforgettable, unique appearance.
It had kept its distance from the joint pursuit team as a precaution and approached upon hearing the flute.
The human-faced bird circled Seoran and asked.
"Password, password!"
The Golden Core survivor whispered discreetly.
"Say 'roast sparrow.'"
It was a strange password, but she followed instructions.
"Roast sparrow!"
The human-faced bird landed on Seoran's left shoulder.
Seoran wrote the code on a small slip of paper.
The Golden Core survivor dictated it from the side.
She rolled up the paper tightly and placed it in a small cylinder.
The human-faced bird, with the cylinder around its neck, vanished to the east.
Watching the sparrow's receding rear, Seoran asked.
"When will the Nascent Soul senior arrive?"
The Golden Core survivor, perched on her right shoulder, replied.
"Considering the human-faced bird's speed... about a day until the Nascent Soul senior reaches here."
"We've saved the Western Continent."
"Exactly."
Seoran and the Golden Core survivor sighed in relief.
Then a heavy resonance struck the two.
It was like beating a drum the size of a mountain.
In truth, it wasn't sound but a wave of spiritual power.
Seoran knew what it was.
"The Nascent Soul ritual!"
Someone was preparing the Nascent Soul ritual.
The situation was clear enough for even a fool to understand.
Wi Jimok's Nascent Soul ritual would begin soon.
The Golden Core survivor asked urgently.
"How long does a Nascent Soul ritual usually take? Obviously much longer than Core Formation, right? Am I correct?"
Seoran answered.
"Even so, it'll end in half a day at most."
It would take roughly a day for the Nascent Soul cultivator to arrive.
But the Nascent Soul ritual would finish in just half a day.
Even including preparations, time was too short.
Seoran's mind grew complicated.
Even if half of the charges the Golden Core survivor mentioned were true, Wi Jimok was undoubtedly a horrific villain.
And his talent was exceptional, to boot.
How strong would Wi Jimok be as a Nascent Soul cultivator?
He would surely aim for the next realm.
Blood would flow like rivers then, without doubt.
In truth, the Western Continent's crisis wasn't Seoran's crisis.
Seoran could return to Black Bamboo Sect and be protected.
No matter how genius Wi Jimok was, he couldn't defeat the four Nascent Soul cultivators guarding Black Bamboo Sect.
The continent could drown in bloodshed for all she cared.
The disaster named Wi Jimok would never reach her.
Time was on Seoran's side anyway.
She could just enter closed-door cultivation until Incarnation Realm.
In a few decades, she'd be strong enough to crush a Nascent Soul like Wi Jimok like an insect.
He might not even be alive by then.
Starting tomorrow, he'd be hunted by Nascent Soul cultivators.
Without heaven-defying luck, he'd be executed, and even if he survived, he'd live in eternal hiding.
Thus, the Golden Core survivor's warnings about the continent's peril were nothing but empty talk.
Of course, the Western Continent would grow somewhat chaotic.
Many cultivators would likely die.
Demons would rampage amid the turmoil, and ordinary folk's lives would harden too.
Having finished her thoughts, Seoran mounted the Stone Lotus Flower.
And flew toward the sky at high speed.
Her destination: the altar where the Nascent Soul ritual was being prepared.
The Golden Core survivor asked in panic.
"You're charging in alone right now?!"
Due to the wind, Seoran had to shout her reply.
"I'll just disrupt the Nascent Soul ritual and flee!"
"No, what—!"
"Keep yapping, and I'll leave you behind!"
After a moment of silence, the Golden Core survivor suddenly yelled.
"I know you! I just remembered! Ryu Susa of Black Bamboo Sect, who succeeded in Core Formation at twenty! You're the genius certain to reach Incarnation Realm!"
Seoran didn't respond.
The Golden Core survivor pressed on.
"Don't do something foolish! Even you can't beat Wi Jimok! You'll definitely die! You planning to throw heaven's gift into the muck?!"
"I started cultivating to become a noble person! I can't just flee alone in a situation like this!"
The Golden Core survivor bellowed at the top of its lungs.
"Your talent is already noble enough!"
"More than noble talent, I want to become a noble person!"
The Golden Core survivor was speechless.
Because it grasped the meaning in Seoran's words.
Though he barely remembered, he too had volunteered for the joint pursuit team with similar thoughts.
The Golden Core survivor stared at Seoran intently.
Then it said.
"Very well, let's cooperate! Listen while we fly! I'll tell you about tactics and treasures Wi Jimok might use!"
The two steadily advanced toward Wi Jimok.
Thanks to the spiritual power waves pulsing like a heartbeat.
They just had to follow the pulse's origin.
The ritual site was atop a mountain peak.
From midway up, it was enclosed by a massive barrier.
Whether a treasure or formation, it possessed extraordinarily high concealment.
Without the pulsing heaven-earth spiritual energy from the ritual preparations, it would have taken ages to find.
Seoran shouted.
"Hold on tight!"
The eight eyes of the Doll Four Sisters lit up simultaneously.
A concentrated beam weakened the barrier.
The Stone Lotus Flower carrying Seoran, the Golden Core survivor, and the Doll Four Sisters accelerated to its limit.
And Seoran's group collided with the barrier.
Barrier fragments shattered and scattered like glass.
The Doll Four Sisters and Golden Core survivor were flung back by the impact.
Wi Jimok stood atop the grand ritual altar.
And atop the altar sat the Five-Colored Jewel.
Seoran was ignorant of altar structures.
The sect would handle that anyway.
So she only knew how to start the Nascent Soul ritual, counter heavenly tribulations mid-ritual, and condense the nascent soul.
Naturally, she didn't know how to destroy a ritual altar.
But breaking something is always far easier than building or repairing it.
Moreover, she knew exactly the role of that one Five-Colored Jewel.
Seoran charged full speed toward the Five-Colored Jewel.
Beyond her looting target, she glimpsed the face of an unfamiliar man.
Seoran's face reflected in the man's panicked eyes.
She was smiling brilliantly.
The panicked man, Wi Jimok, was indeed extraordinary.
His sharp mind swiftly assessed the situation.
He didn't know what it was, but he'd been ambushed.
The attacker before him might have companions.
Wi Jimok was currently hunted by the entire continent.
Fighting unknown numbers in an ambushed state was clearly the worst option.
Time was never on Wi Jimok's side.
He had to start the Nascent Soul ritual immediately.
Once heavenly tribulations began descending, no one short of a Nascent Soul cultivator could interfere.
Wi Jimok reached for the Five-Colored Jewel.
Seoran's mind was racing fiercely too.
Her goal: disrupt Wi Jimok's Nascent Soul ritual.
To do that, she absolutely needed the Five-Colored Jewel.
The ritual couldn't begin without it.
Seoran gauged speed and distance.
Her speed on the treasure was vastly superior, but Wi Jimok was much closer to the jewel.
Snatching it and fleeing was impossible.
Only one method remained.
Ryu Seoran and Wi Jimok.
Two geniuses born in Yu Nation at three-hundred-year intervals.
The fingertips of the two Core Formation cultivators touched the jewel.
And simultaneously resonated their souls and Golden Cores.
Their spiritual powers transmitted through their hands into the jewel.
The Five-Colored Jewel exploded spectacularly, and two beams of light burst skyward from within.
Seoran and Wi Jimok were flung back by the explosion's aftermath.
Storm winds gathered dark clouds atop the mountain.
Heaven-earth spiritual energy condensed in the sky flashed on its own.
Soon, lightning poured like a downpour.
Heaven's ordeal, heavenly tribulation.
Its targets: Seoran and Wi Jimok, both.
An unprecedented simultaneous Nascent Soul ritual began.