VHSTS CH9

The sheer scale of these Nascent Soul ruins completely exceeded Luo Jianqing’s expectations.

According to Seeking Immortality, Beidou Zhenjun’s ruins were laid out in accordance with the Big Dipper Seven-Star Array. The first trial at the entrance was the star Yaoguang, and the mighty river they had just crossed was the star Kaiyang. Continuing onward, the next stage should naturally be Yuheng, the third star of the Big Dipper—yet after walking for nearly half a shichen, the group still hadn’t reached the end of the path.

As the sole Golden Core cultivator in the entire party, Luo Jianqing unhesitatingly walked at the very front.

The further forward they went, the lower the temperature dropped. Fortunately, even the lowest-ranked cultivators present had reached the first tier of Qi Refining and could easily ward off the cold, so no one suffered any ill effects. However, the moment they finally stepped out of that narrow passage and beheld the boundless expanse of white before them, countless disciples gasped in awe and amazement.

“Could this… be the third trial?”

Beyond a layer of white light barrier stretched an endless world of ice and snow. Heavy snow whipped furiously through the air as howling gales roared; even without stepping inside, everyone could feel waves of bone-chilling cold shooting straight from the soles of their feet up into their skulls.

This time, the stone stele stood directly in front of the snowfield.

“‘Vast expanses of white snow—is there ever an end?'” Nineteenth Shidi studied it for a long moment before turning to Luo Jianqing and saying, “Shixiong, this should be Yuheng, the third trial of the Big Dipper Seven-Star Array.”

Luo Jianqing nodded lightly and asked, “Do you dare enter?”

Nineteenth Shidi laughed heartily and stepped right forward: “Eldest Shixiong, allow me to scout the path for everyone!”

Barely had his voice fallen when, the instant Nineteenth Shidi’s figure passed completely through the light barrier, he vanished entirely from everyone’s sight! Amidst the endless blizzard, not a trace of Nineteenth Shidi could be seen; snowflakes continued to swirl wildly as the furious wind roared past, as if having swallowed him whole.

An uproar immediately broke out among the crowd, many stepping back in fright. Luo Jianqing, however, turned around and explained, “Nineteenth Shidi has entered a separate pocket space. From this point onward, each person will likely undergo the trial individually, with no one left to assist you. If any of you truly cannot endure it, remember to turn back promptly and do not force yourselves. Simply crush the jade fragment you received back at the Profound Iron gate, and it should teleport you out of these ruins, ending your trial.”

Everyone cupped their hands in unison: “Yes, Eldest Shixiong!”

The Yitian Sect disciples nodded in agreement as well. Seemingly to dispel any lingering doubts among the crowd, Luo Jianqing swept a calm glance over them before suddenly stepping through the light barrier and vanishing from the space.

When Luo Jianqing opened his eyes again, he had already entered the third trial. There was no one else around—only an endless expanse of heavy snow stretching beyond sight. Luo Jianqing tried to circulate his spiritual power, only to discover that his cultivation had been suppressed down to the Foundation Establishment realm here, leaving him unable to fly through the air.

Surveying his surroundings with cool composure, Luo Jianqing narrowed his eyes. “The first trial restricted age and cultivation, the second tested innate aptitude, and the third suppresses cultivation to test sheer perseverance?”

After a brief pause, Luo Jianqing lifted his foot and began walking forward.

The snow wasn’t excessively deep yet; with each step Luo Jianqing took, the snowdrifts came only up to his ankles. Had an ordinary mortal arrived here, even if they didn’t freeze to death, staring at such blindingly pure white snow would have inflicted them with snow blindness in no time.

Luo Jianqing knew that all the Qi Refining disciples who had entered alongside him had now had their cultivation suppressed, reducing them to ordinary mortals. According to the book, the better a disciple’s spiritual roots, the harsher the trial they faced. For instance, the prominent clan scion who had placed first in Taihua Mountain’s Inter-Peak Grand Competition had originally been at the fourth tier of Qi Refining; reduced to a mortal on top of possessing first-grade spiritual roots, he had endured the most grueling ordeal in the original novel.

Now, however, that title of “most grueling” was bound to fall onto Luo Jianqing himself.

Luo Jianqing drew upon the spiritual power within his body to protect his heart meridians, focusing the rest of his concentration beneath his feet as he walked steadily onward. He had no idea how long he had been walking—perhaps a shichen, perhaps an entire day. The surrounding scenery never changed at all, making it feel as though he were marching in place, yet the dense trail of footprints stretching behind him proved just how far he had already come.

The blizzard grew increasingly violent. Gale-force winds swept up the snow covering the ground, slicing against Luo Jianqing’s cheeks like razor-sharp blades.

Luo Jianqing kept his eyes lowered toward the ground, seemingly oblivious to the raging snowstorm as he continued striding forward. He counted silently in his mind: he had already walked a full hundred li, and then a thousand li.

By the time he reached nine thousand li, the snow finally rose up to his chest. Without a flicker of reaction, Luo Jianqing calmly dispersed the snowflakes around him using his spiritual power. Yet his action seemed to provoke the wrath of this heaven and earth—torrential blizzards came crashing down like an overturned ocean, pouring relentlessly over the area where Luo Jianqing stood.

This snow was different from before; Luo Jianqing could no longer push it back with his spiritual power.

When Luo Jianqing had walked a full ten thousand li, the snow was on the verge of burying him completely. With his current Foundation Establishment cultivation, he was already capable of bigu¹Bigu (辟穀): Literally “avoiding grains.” A Daoist practice and cultivation milestone (typically achieved upon reaching Foundation Establishment) where a cultivator sustains themselves purely on ambient spiritual qi, eliminating the need for mortal food and water. and could go without breathing for short periods, yet that certainly didn’t mean he could allow himself to be buried alive in snow!

Just as he stepped onto the exact ten-thousandth li, a long, drawn-out sigh echoed between heaven and earth: “Heavenly Dao Transcendent-grade, defying the heavens themselves—this is the limit for first-grade, yet for Transcendent-grade spiritual roots, it is merely the beginning. Even now, you may still turn back.”

Luo Jianqing stomped his right foot against the ground, blasting the surrounding snow apart with fierce sword qi. Looking up at the sky, he declared, “A mere Nascent Soul ruin—what can it possibly do to me?” As he spoke, brilliant blue-green light flared between his brows; the blue-green sword mark seemed ready to burst forth from his sea of consciousness and roar toward the heavens, while that tiny cinnabar dot glowed as vivid as fire, causing even the raging wind and snow to freeze for an instant.

As his voice fell, Luo Jianqing actually quickened his pace and marched onward.

By the time he had walked a full million li, even Luo Jianqing was panting heavily, the spiritual power inside his body nearing total exhaustion. Fortunately, the moment he took that final step, the freezing world of ice and snow dissolved like an illusion, signifying that he had finally cleared this stage.

His cultivation surged instantaneously back to the mid-stage of Golden Core. Luo Jianqing caught a talisman flying toward him from the horizon, inspected his reward for passing the trial, and after sitting cross-legged to rest for a brief moment, stepped into the fourth trial.

“‘Raging winds roll like blades—it is not yet too late!'”

The very instant he stepped into the fourth trial, beast-like gales came roaring toward him with deafening force. Caught momentarily off guard, even Luo Jianqing was forced back a step. This stage didn’t require walking nearly as far—only ten li to clear the trial. However, the ferocious winds battering Luo Jianqing right now were savage, each gust carrying the destructive force of an early Golden Core cultivator’s full strike.

This time, Luo Jianqing could no longer treat the trial casually. He immediately retrieved a defensive magic treasure²Magic Treasure Grades: In this novel’s world, treasures and pills are broadly tiered from lowest to highest as Mortal/Yellow (Huang), Mysterious (Xuan), Earth (Di), and Heaven (Tian). and proceeded cautiously forward. Yet he had walked barely a single li when that Mysterious-grade magic treasure shattered with a loud boom. Luo Jianqing’s eyes turned sharp; flipping his hand, he took out one of the pill bottles little shimei had given him and swallowed a medicinal pill.

The fourth stage of the Big Dipper Seven-Star Array was named Tianquan. Heaven knew where Beidou Zhenjun had acquired so many treasures, going so far as to place the neidan³Neidan (內丹): Literally “inner core” or “inner elixir.” A crystalline core condensed inside powerful demonic beasts (and cultivators) that stores the essence of their elemental affinity and spiritual cultivation. of a seventh-grade demonic beast at the very end of the fourth trial. That demonic beast core radiated endless gusts of sinister gale; the closer one drew to it, the deadlier its attacks became.

“That demonic beast must have been wind-attributed, with a cultivation at the Soul Formation realm. At closest range, these demonic gales likely rival a full strike from a Soul Formation cultivator.” Luo Jianqing furrowed his brows tightly, halting at the three-li mark without advancing further. “A seventh-grade wind-attributed demonic beast… Soul Formation realm…”

A spark of insight flashed in his eyes. Luo Jianqing flipped his hand and took out an oil-paper umbrella.

The oil-paper umbrella looked utterly ordinary—its canopy bore only a faint golden sheen without any decorative patterns, and its ribs were crafted from seemingly plain green bamboo. Simple, understated, and unassuming, it looked no different from an everyday oil-paper umbrella used by mortals.

Yet the exact instant this umbrella appeared, the raging gales between heaven and earth paused for a fraction of a second. Gazing at the umbrella with a complicated look in his eyes, Luo Jianqing slowly opened it and held it above his head. The moment the canopy unfurled, all the savage, rampaging winds parted around him, no longer daring to encroach.

Faint golden light flowed gently across the umbrella’s surface. Holding the umbrella aloft, Luo Jianqing walked forward step by step until he reached the end of the path and took down that seventh-grade demonic beast neidan. The instant he claimed the core, the howling gales vanished completely. Luo Jianqing let out a soft sigh and gently closed the umbrella, failing to notice that the cinnabar mark between his brows flickered faintly before falling silent once more.

This Green Bamboo Umbrella had been a gift from that person when Luo Jianqing formed his Golden Core.

Everyone under heaven knew that aside from his peerless combat strength, Xuanlingzi Zunzhe also excelled in alchemy, beast taming, and artifact forging. There seemed to be nothing he couldn’t do—even the celebratory gift he gave his disciple for forming a Golden Core was a peak Earth-grade magic treasure capable of withstanding a full-force strike from a Body Integration cultivator.

However, Luo Jianqing remembered what his Shifu had said back then: “This umbrella is a consumable magic treasure. It can block a single strike from a Body Integration cultivator for you before turning to nothingness. Unless it is an absolute emergency, never take it out.”

After receiving this umbrella, Luo Jianqing had never once used it, only occasionally stroking its handle lost in thought.

In his past life, when he was expelled from Taihua Mountain, he had handed this umbrella to little shimei, asking her to return it to his Shifu. Even when facing certain death in his previous life, he had stubbornly refused to bring out this umbrella to use—yet now, he had finally let go of that obsession.

“A magic treasure left unused is nothing more than an ornament.”

Just now, while closing the umbrella, Luo Jianqing noticed that one of its bamboo ribs had already snapped. Presumably, after a few more uses, this umbrella would truly disintegrate into nothingness and become a pile of scrap. Luo Jianqing felt little sentimentality over it; after resting in place for a brief moment, he walked up to the stone stele of the fifth trial, the star Tianji.

“‘Ten-thousand-li wasteland, boundless ferocious beasts!'”

As if hearing those words, the Shuangfu Sword inside his sea of consciousness stirred twice with eager excitement. Luo Jianqing curved his lips into a faint smile as a streak of blue-green sword light shot forth from between his brows, materializing into a Profound Iron treasured sword that landed squarely in his palm.

“We need to hurry up, Shuangfu.”

The Shuangfu Sword trembled lightly, as if replying, “Alright.”

Between vast heaven and earth, the handsome, clear-eyed cultivator narrowed his eyes slightly, gazing out at the boundless wasteland behind the white light barrier before him. Gripping his sword in his right hand, his blue-green robes fluttered without wind, the cinnabar dot between his brows blazing like fire as though ready to set the entire world ablaze.

He had to move fast. Because these ruins scaled each trial’s difficulty according to spiritual roots, out of all seventy-one participants, only Li Xiuchen had zero spiritual roots—meaning the trials he faced were at the absolute lowest difficulty. Li Xiuchen was bound to reach the end swiftly, so Luo Jianqing had to beat him there and sever every single fortuitous opportunity meant for him!

In the next instant, Luo Jianqing transformed into a streak of blue-green light, darting into the ten-thousand-li wasteland to begin his slaughter!
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Footnotes:

• 1
  Bigu (辟穀): Literally “avoiding grains.” A Daoist practice and cultivation milestone (typically achieved upon reaching Foundation Establishment) where a cultivator sustains themselves purely on ambient spiritual qi, eliminating the need for mortal food and water. ↩︎
• 2
  Magic Treasure Grades: In this novel’s world, treasures and pills are broadly tiered from lowest to highest as Mortal/Yellow (Huang), Mysterious (Xuan), Earth (Di), and Heaven (Tian). ↩︎
• 3
  Neidan (內丹): Literally “inner core” or “inner elixir.” A crystalline core condensed inside powerful demonic beasts (and cultivators) that stores the essence of their elemental affinity and spiritual cultivation. ↩︎