Chapter 917: Different Means To The Same End
“I'm definitely going to reach the Nascent Soul stage, Xiaochun. Oh, by the way, let me tell you about this dream I had….” Looking very serious, he went on to explain everything about his dream.
As Bai Xiaochun listened, his eyes widened with shock. A strange expression overtook his face, and by the time Big Fatty Zhang finished, he couldn’t hold back from reaching out to clasp his shoulder.
“You can do it, Eldest Brother!” Inside, however, he was a bit worried that Big Fatty Zhang was too obsessed with trying to make this particular dream come true. However, worried that he would discourage his Eldest Brother, he offered some more random encouragement. “Wow, Eldest Brother, if you really end up in that strange world you saw, then remember to tell me all about it. I’d like to go see it also.”
Big Fatty Zhang laughed heartily. Then, he sat down cross-legged to meditate according to Bai Xiaochun’s instructions.
Bai Xiaochun had come well-prepared to help Big Fatty Zhang with his breakthrough. Before leaving the sect, he had traded one of his deva souls for a set of five elements deva beast souls. After all, he didn’t have enough deva souls to make the full set needed for a Heaven-Dao Nascent Soul.
Of course, even Earth-Dao Nascent Souls were incredible, and were considered the peak level of power among devas. As of this moment, Big Fatty Zhang was getting access to resources that only top chosen of the sect would normally see.
Big Fatty Zhang was very well aware of that, and was deeply grateful.
Three months passed relatively quickly. With Bai Xiaochun standing as Dharma protector, and also providing plenty of medicinal pills, Big Fatty Zhang’s breakthrough was going along smoothly.
The truth was that Bai Xiaochun had only heard about Will Cores when Feng Youde brought them up all those years ago.
As for Feng Youde, he had only come to know about them by randomly coming across some information about them when perusing the sect’s ancient records. Later on, Big Fatty Zhang came to find that, despite the boost in battle prowess it gave him, the sect in general didn’t care too much about his unique type of core. That went to show how unusual it was for people to form Will Cores.
However, because Bai Xiaochun had been anticipating helping Big Fatty Zhang with this breakthrough, he did some of his own research in the ancient records. In fact, he had found the very passages that Feng Youde had come across.
The information wasn’t very comprehensive, but he was able to confirm that, in the past, Will Cores had been commonly cultivated by spirit enhancers. In terms of battle prowess, they were roughly equivalent to Earth-Dao Violet Cores. Unfortunately, after being converted into nascent souls, they were merely average.
Furthermore, it was much more difficult for cultivators with Will Cores to achieve breakthroughs.
Because of that, many people viewed them as being of little value or interest. After much research, they were eventually abandoned as a subject of pursuit.
However, because he was so concerned about Big Fatty Zhang, Bai Xiaochun had done some intensive investigation, and had found something of note.
He discovered that within the spiritual power that existed in Big Fatty Zhang’s body, there was a unique strand of energy. Most people who saw that strand of energy would find it unusual, but wouldn’t think much about it. However, when Bai Xiaochun saw it, he gasped in shock.
The reason for his surprise was that he had seen the exact same strand of energy when he formed his Gold Core!
Thanks to his study of the Frigid School Will-Evolving Incantation, he realized that the strand of energy was actually Willpower!
Back when he had ascended to the Heaven-Dao Nascent Soul stage, that seemingly indestructible strand of Willpower had mysteriously vanished. It was something he had never understood, not even after becoming a deva.
Upon returning to the River-Defying Sect, he had asked Patriarch Spirit Stream about it, but hadn’t received any new information. Eventually, he had stopped thinking about it. But now that he was working with Big Fatty Zhang, and saw the same type of energy inside of him, his eyes began to glitter.
“Could it be that the Willpower inside of me didn't actually vanish? What if it became an intrinsic part of the spiritual power in my cultivation base?” He did some more checks, but didn't find any evidence to support his theory.
“Just what exactly is this Willpower?” As of this point, he realized that his understanding of Willpower was very lacking. Therefore, he would have to carefully use a trial-and-error method to help Big Fatty Zhang.
Another month passed. Occasionally, the Heavenspan Sea would get choppy. Sometimes, strange and bizarre sea creatures would appear, leading to a buzz of excitement among the Nascent Soul cultivators onboard. However, after enough time passed, most of them went into meditation to further their cultivation.
Eventually, it came time for Big Fatty Zhang to go into seclusion himself. Based on what Bai Xiaochun could tell, his breakthrough would happen in the coming two months.
There was no need for Bai Xiaochun to constantly stand as Dharma protector. As far as the subject of Willpower went, he still didn’t have any good ideas, and finally stopped worrying about it.
Because everyone was focused on cultivation, the ship was very quiet. After a bit of thought, Bai Xiaochun decided that he should also do the same. Whether it was his Sun-Moon Vast-Sky Incantation or his Undying Blood, he had packed plenty of supplies before leaving the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect. After sending out a sliver of divine sense to keep an eye on Big Fatty Zhang, he went to work.
His Undying Blood was progressing much more slowly than his Sun-Moon Vast-Sky Incantation. After all, it required lots of life force, which made significant progress impossible.
He had acquired plenty of types of plants and vegetation that had life force. The best thing would have been to concoct them into medicinal pills. However, Bai Xiaochun had grown very leery of concocting anything he hadn’t concocted before. Besides, doing so on a ship wasn’t very appropriate. Therefore, he tended to just directly consume the medicinal plants he had stockpiled.
The profound levels of life force in those particular medicinal plants would make them impossible for any ordinary person to consume safely. But Bai Xiaochun didn’t need to worry about such things. He was like a huge black hole that seemed impossible to satiate. As soon as he added any life force, it would immediately be sucked away.
After consuming enough life force, the black hole would glow bright red, and his blood would become more scintillating.
Finally, after an entire month of work, he added a second drop of Undying Blood!
Because of the presence of that second drop, the rest of the blood in his body became more vibrant.
At that point, he opened his eyes, his expression one of slight disappointment.
“The Undying Blood wastes way too much life force! I already ate about half of the medicinal plant I brought along, and all I got was a single drop.” Rubbing the bridge of his nose in disappointment, he contemplated the fact that he had something like 20-30,000 drops of blood inside of him, and realized that mastering the Undying Blood was a very distant possibility. [1]
Even as he was trying to come up with a way to speed things up, he suddenly looked in Big Fatty Zhang’s direction, then vanished. When he reappeared, he was inside of Big Fatty Zhang’s cabin.
Big Fatty Zhang was trembling, had sweat pouring down his body, and thrummed with powerful energy. Bai Xiaochun looked at him closely, and immediately realized that his core was in the process of crumbling.
To step from Core Formation into the Nascent Soul stage, one needed to break down the core and transform it into a nascent soul!
Deva beast souls were used to assist the process, and refine the ultimate form of the nascent soul.
Without the slightest hesitation, Bai Xiaochun performed an incantation gesture with his right hand, sending a stream of white light out that formed a protective shield around Big Fatty Zhang. Big Fatty Zhang ceased to tremble as violently, and his energy surged even stronger. Finally, loud cracking sounds rang out!
His core was crumbling!
All of a sudden, dark clouds began to gather in the sky above the battleship. Lightning bolts began to crackle, causing many of the cultivators onboard to rush out to see what was happening.
“Tribulation clouds?”
“Someone is achieving a cultivation base breakthrough and making a nascent soul?”
Even as the shocked discussions began to play out, a piercing sound filled the air as… a huge face appeared right above the roiling tribulation clouds!
The face depicted Bai Xiaochun!
Rumbling sounds could be heard as he opened his mouth and directly swallowed the tribulation clouds!!
The tribulation clouds were clearly no match for him!
Everyone who saw this event play out was completely stunned.
1. I was curious about how many drops of blood exist in the bodies of us non-cultivator humans. Of course, a lot of depends on how big the ‘drops’ are. Anyway, check out the answer I found here