Second Senior Brother Defeated His Own Nascent Soul

“...It seems Elder Tao really is quite free.” Lu Yang quietly put the manual back and continued examining other cultivation techniques. Techniques for the Nascent Soul stage came in a bewildering variety. Rather than being mere manuals, they were more like clashes of differing philosophies. For instance, some predecessors advocated surviving by throwing oneself into deadly peril, insisting that one could only improve oneself and sublimate the Nascent Soul in the face of desperate straits. Other predecessors believed cultivation had to be a gradual, step-by-step process that should never be rushed. Lu Yang leaned toward the latter—having the Immortal Fairy in his spiritual space was already a perilous plight. If he faced a truly desperate situation on top of that, it would be a death sentence with no chance of survival; no amount of sublimation would help. “This technique isn’t bad—*Nascent Soul Sword-Nurturing Art*. It feels quite suited to me, and I can use it for reference. Cultivating this technique uses the Nascent Soul as a scabbard to nurture a heart sword. Once the heart sword is formed, the Nascent Soul can wield a blade in battle, increasing its combat strength by at least thirty percent, conservatively speaking!” A Nascent Soul was formed from a Golden Core, an entity manipulated by the divine soul rather than physical flesh. Consequently, it had no handy weapon. If it had a weapon at its disposal, its combat prowess would naturally increase. “This technique is useless to you,” the Immortal Fairy pointed out. “Why?” “Because the Invincible Nascent Soul can already wield a sword. The goal of cultivating this technique has already been achieved.” “The Invincible Nascent Soul can use sword techniques? How come I’ve never seen it do that?” Lu Yang recalled his painful experience fighting the Invincible Nascent Soul and didn’t remember it ever using swordsmanship. “That’s because you didn’t use any sword techniques when you fought it. Didn’t I tell you? Whatever you know, the Invincible Nascent Soul knows, and it executes it even better than you.” “If you don’t believe me, you’ll see with a quick test.” Lu Yang’s curiosity was piqued. Entering his spiritual space, he manifested a sword for himself, severed his connection to the Invincible Nascent Soul, and engaged it in battle. A miracle occurred. This time, Lu Yang fought with increasing valor. All manner of sword techniques came to him effortlessly, as if entirely second nature. He had clearly made another breakthrough on the path of the Sword Dao, reaching a level far beyond the hopes of ordinary sword cultivators—even senior cultivators would have applauded in awe. And then, the Invincible Nascent Soul thrashed him. “*Cough, cough*... Why is this Invincible Nascent Soul so hard to beat? Fairy, how did you defeat yours back then?” Lu Yang had been pinned to the ground and pummeled; he truly couldn't beat it. The Immortal Fairy’s gaze darted around evasively. “Just... just try a few more times and you’ll defeat it.” Lu Yang looked at her suspiciously. “Then how many times did you try?” “This immortal isn’t good at math, so I didn’t keep count!” “...” Lu Yang withdrew from his spiritual space, repeatedly comforting himself: *A strong Invincible Nascent Soul is a good thing, a strong Invincible Nascent Soul is a good thing...* Browsing as he walked, Lu Yang finally arrived at the long-awaited “Yun Zhi Section.” The very first book he saw filled him with excitement. “Are these Eldest Senior Sister’s cultivation notes from the Nascent Soul stage?” “Let’s see how Eldest Senior Sister cultivated her Nascent Soul. Step one of Nascent Soul cultivation: shatter the core and form the nascent soul. Step two of Nascent Soul cultivation: overcome the heavenly tribulation... Huh?” Why was the second step already completely different from everyone else’s? “Come to think of it, I seem to have heard people mention that Eldest Senior Sister encountered a heavenly tribulation when breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, whereas other cultivators only encounter it when breaking through to the Soul Formation stage.” “Second Senior Brother Ye Zijin imitated Eldest Senior Sister’s method and encountered a heavenly tribulation at the Nascent Soul stage as well. Then his Nascent Soul developed sentience and beat him half to death.” Lu Yang felt a strange bond of fate with Second Senior Brother. Though the two had never met, they were already fellow disciples bound by the same unfortunate lot. “Elder Tao, how did Eldest Senior Sister manage to trigger a heavenly tribulation back when she was only at the Nascent Soul stage?” Lu Yang took the initiative to ask Elder Tao, who ought to know the details. “Oh, you mean that matter. Back then, when Xiao Yun was at the peak of the Golden Core stage, she strayed into an ancient trial ground. She took part in the trials there, fought against the phantom of the previous record holder, defeated it, and took first place on the leaderboard.” “Who was the previous record holder?” Jiang Lianyi asked out of curiosity. If it was a figure from ancient times, she ought to have heard of them. “Immortal Ying Tian.” Lu Yang: “...” *So you just got sore about losing and blasted Eldest Senior Sister with lightning, Immortal Ying Tian?!* The Immortal Fairy nodded. “That does sound like something Ying Tian would do. When he played gomoku back then, he often took back his moves.” “And when he took back his moves, you all just let him?” “Of course we let him. Why wouldn’t we? Playing board games is all about fairness. If he wanted to take back a move, he could take it back. Whenever he took back a move, we beat him up. And once we finished beating him up, we felt regret too, saying we shouldn’t have beaten him, so we’d pretend we hadn’t beaten him at all.” “...” “I have an impression of that ancient trial ground Girl Yun visited,” the Immortal Fairy continued. “It existed even before the Ancient Era. Immortal Ying Tian went there during his Golden Core stage, broke the record, and became number one at the time, causing quite a stir.” “I was far away back then and didn’t make it in time. By the time I could go, I was already at the Nascent Soul stage.” “Presumably, after he became an immortal, he left a spell behind at the trial ground stipulating that anyone who broke his record had to be struck by lightning or something.” “It’s not entirely revenge—at least not pure revenge. After all, getting struck really does make one’s Nascent Soul stronger.” Lu Yang pressed on, “Then what about Second Senior Brother? Did Second Senior Brother also enter the ancient trial ground and break the record?” It seemed Second Senior Brother was even more formidable than he had imagined. “You mean Xiao Ye? He had the intention to go, but circumstances didn’t allow it. After Xiao Yun left the ancient trial ground, it shut down and could never be reopened. To this day, no one has figured out the reason.” Jiang Lianyi could roughly guess why. Immortal Ying Tian was a man of principle. “He was probably afraid someone else would surpass his record. Immortal Ying Tian’s principle is that one must never lose face twice.” “...What an upright set of principles,” Lu Yang muttered, powerless to retort. “Then where did Second Senior Brother’s lightning tribulation come from?” “He cursed Immortal Ying Tian for an entire day straight.” Lu Yang sucked in a breath of cold air. As expected of Second Senior Brother—what guts! Even with the Immortal Fairy protecting him, he wouldn't dare treat Immortal Ying Tian like that. “You know what happened after that,” Elder Tao said. “When the boy shattered his core to form his nascent soul, he summoned a grand heavenly tribulation. Right off the bat, two bolts of lightning came crashing down.” “Those two bolts blasted Xiao Ye’s Nascent Soul wide awake. That Nascent Soul was truly an eye-opener: flying into the sky, it could shatter the lightning tribulation; flying back into the body, it could brutally thrash its master.” Elder Tao clicked his tongue in wonder at the memory. In all his five thousand years of life, he had never seen such a preposterous spectacle. Lu Yang listened with deep envy. When his own Nascent Soul faced lightning tribulations, it only knew how to run away. “I also heard Second Senior Brother destroyed his own Nascent Soul and cultivated a new one?” “That was just a cover story for outsiders. The actual situation was rather peculiar, so it wasn't convenient to tell the public. But since none of you are outsiders, there's no harm in telling you. In reality, Xiao Ye defeated his own Nascent Soul.” Lu Yang was visibly moved. This was the exact breakthrough he wanted most! He hurried to ask, “How did Second Senior Brother defeat his Nascent Soul?” “He said that no matter how strong the Nascent Soul was, it was still a part of him. Since it was part of him, the whole must surely be greater than the part—so he was definitely capable of defeating his Nascent Soul!” “He also said that a spiritual victory is also a victory.”