Translator: AnubisTL
Within the Soul Nurturing Secret Realm, brilliant stars filled the night sky.
Beneath this magnificent celestial canopy, the pale blue Heavenly Star Grass on the mountains glowed with an ethereal luminescence, casting a dreamlike radiance across the landscape.
In the past, the restrictions placed on these mountains had posed a considerable challenge to Li Qing, requiring immense effort to breach even a single one.
But for the Li Qing of today, these barriers were trivial. He effortlessly shattered the restrictions on each mountain peak, gaining smooth entry to the medicinal gardens where he began harvesting the Heavenly Star Grass.
The Heavenly Star Grass growing here were almost all precious spiritual herbs over a thousand years old. Even a single stalk would cause a significant stir if brought to market.
Yet Li Qing's heart remained unmoved by this wealth. His expression was serene, his emotions undisturbed.
For him, there was no need to sell these Heavenly Star Grass for spirit stones. The sect's reserves were already abundant.
His immediate priority was to fully heal the hidden injuries to his divine soul.
With this thought, Li Qing immediately began harvesting the Heavenly Star Grass.
He uprooted a single plant, its roots reaching deep into the earth, its age estimated at over two thousand years.
After brushing off the soil clinging to its crystalline blue roots, Li Qing casually stuffed the entire spiritual herb into his mouth. He chewed it twice, as carelessly as a cow chewing on a peony, and swallowed it whole.
If any pill refiner had witnessed this scene, they would have been heartbroken. Such a precious millennial spirit herb, if refined into a pill, could have unleashed its full medicinal potential. Consuming it raw, while still effective, paled in comparison to the benefits of a specially crafted pill.
For example, the legendary Star Soul Pill, with Heavenly Star Grass as its primary ingredient, could produce several pills per furnace when combined with auxiliary herbs. Each Star Soul Pill possessed medicinal potency equivalent to a Millennial Heavenly Star Grass!
"Ah, what a waste," Li Qing sighed. "If only I knew the Pill Refinement Technique, I wouldn't have to resort to such wasteful methods."
In truth, Li Qing felt little regret about this.
Firstly, finding a skilled pill refiner was no easy task.
Secondly, pill formulas that used Heavenly Star Grass as the primary ingredient to nourish the divine soul and repair hidden injuries were even rarer.
Rather than waste time searching for such a formula, it was far simpler to consume the Heavenly Star Grass directly.
After all, the Soul Nurturing Secret Realm contained an abundance of Heavenly Star Grass—enough to cause a sensation in the outside world!
Thus, Li Qing began consuming the Heavenly Star Grass one stalk at a time, each stalk at least a thousand years old. He wouldn't even glance at those younger than a millennium.
As the potent medicinal power spread through his body, Li Qing immediately focused his mind and began refining the Heavenly Star Grass's medicinal power within him.
Buzz!
Soon, he felt a profound sense of clarity and rejuvenation, as if his entire being had undergone a deep, cleansing baptism.
This was the effect of the Heavenly Star Grass!
Then, the hidden injury within his divine soul finally began to heal slowly, bit by bit, the progress agonizingly slow.
"Ah, this hidden injury to my divine soul is proving far more stubborn than I imagined. Even after consuming so many Millennial Heavenly Star Grass, the effects are nowhere near as significant as I'd hoped."
Li Qing sighed softly, casually plucking another millennial spirit herb and popping it into his mouth.
He repeated this process tirelessly, the minutes ticking by.
Within the Soul Nurturing Secret Realm, time seemed to lose all meaning. Li Qing moved through the motions mechanically, harvesting Heavenly Star Grass as soon as its medicinal power was fully refined, then stuffing another herb into his mouth.
Before long, he had nearly stripped the entire mountain peak of its millennial-aged Heavenly Star Grass.
During this time, he even consumed two spiritual herbs aged four to five thousand years. Their overwhelming medicinal power gave Li Qing the sensation of ascending to immortality.
Gradually, the Heavenly Star Grass around a thousand years old began to lose its effectiveness.
"Is this drug resistance?"
Li Qing frowned deeply. The nearly millennial-aged Heavenly Star Grass he had just consumed had barely any impact on his divine soul's hidden injury.
This was bad news. Resistance had developed far too quickly, and his divine soul's hidden injury hadn't fully healed yet.
His once perfectly seamless divine soul still bore a faint, almost imperceptible flaw.
Though this minor injury no longer significantly affected him, Li Qing preferred perfection in all things. Having come here to heal, he naturally aimed for the most flawless state possible.
"Looks like I'll have to target Heavenly Star Grass over two thousand years old!"
With that, Li Qing rose and continued climbing to other peaks, seeking out spiritual herbs of greater age.
Peak after peak, he harvested every spiritual herb over two thousand years old that he could find.
Finally, after consuming a five-thousand-year-old spiritual herb, the hidden injury in his divine soul was finally smoothed away!
At that moment, his divine soul was completely without flaw!
Immediately afterward, he attempted to mobilize his divine sense.
He quickly discovered that his divine sense had suddenly grown to an astonishingly powerful level.
Boom!
As deep as an abyss, as vast as the sea!
Li Qing, seated cross-legged atop the mountain peak, slowly opened his eyes. A mighty wave of divine sense surged forth, sweeping across the landscape.
Not a single blade of grass or tree escaped his perception. He could even detect the slightest fluctuations in the air with remarkable sensitivity.
"After consuming so much high-grade Heavenly Star Grass, my divine sense now far surpasses even late-stage core formation cultivators!"
How powerful had his divine soul become?
Li Qing couldn't say for certain, as he had never sensed the divine sense of a nascent soul realm cultivator.
But he felt his current divine sense strength was likely not far behind that of a nascent soul realm cultivator—perhaps even comparable!
"If I master another divine ability related to divine sense, I might truly have few rivals left in the core formation realm!"
Satisfied with this progress, Li Qing stood up.
But almost immediately, a faint throbbing pain arose between his eyebrows.
"Hiss! The sudden surge in divine sense strength has placed a strain on my Sea of Consciousness!"
After adjusting to the throbbing pain, Li Qing let out a sigh of relief.
This wasn't a critical issue. With further adaptation, he could quickly adjust to the increased strain.
With his divine sense strength comparable to a nascent soul realm cultivator, Li Qing swiftly scanned the entire Soul Nurturing Secret Realm as he flew through it.
Now that the lingering threats had been eliminated, he was eager to explore whether this secret realm held any other hidden mysteries.
When he first entered, he was merely at the qi refining realm, his limited experience preventing him from uncovering deeper secrets.
But now, as a core formation realm cultivator with a greatly enhanced divine soul and vastly improved perception, he was confident he could uncover more.
Deep within the Soul Nurturing Secret Realm lay the former mountain gate of the Soul Nurturing Temple.
The area remained desolate and withered, showing no signs of anything remarkable.
A stone tower stood within the mountain gate, each level adorned with spirit gold chains. The tower's interior was exactly as Li Qing remembered it.
In each level, several skeletal remains were bound by spirit gold chains around their necks, as if participating in some mysterious sacrifice.
"I obtained the Soul Nurturing Bell from this very tower," Li Qing mused. "I wonder what these skeletons were trying to accomplish."
"Could they have been performing a sacrifice to the Soul Nurturing Bell?"
Having achieved profound mastery in artifact refinement, Li Qing felt a surge of curiosity.
He lightly tapped his storage pouch and retrieved the Soul Nurturing Bell, which he hadn't used in quite some time.
Before Li Qing achieved core formation, the Soul Nurturing Bell had been a significant aid. Daily refinement sessions strengthened his divine sense.
However, after reaching core formation, the bell lost its effectiveness. Its chimes no longer enhanced his divine sense.
After pondering for a moment, Li Qing returned to the highest level of the stone tower and rehung the Soul Nurturing Bell at its apex.
On this top floor, a spirit gold chain lay unoccupied, not binding any withered bones.
Li Qing narrowed his eyes and extended his divine sense, attempting to discern any unique properties of the chain.
But in the next instant, a sudden mutation occurred!
The spirit gold chain seemed to come alive, beginning to tremble slightly on its own.
This transformation only happened after Li Qing's divine sense made contact!
Realizing this, Li Qing tried to withdraw his divine sense, but found it was being drawn in, his divine sense power continuously flowing into the spirit gold chain.
Immediately afterward, the entire stone tower reverberated with the crisp clanging of chains.
Li Qing's expression shifted dramatically, startled by this bizarre phenomenon. It was as if the withered bones bound by the spirit gold chains had suddenly come back to life.
"These spirit gold chains are actually absorbing divine soul power! Where are they channeling it?"
Fortunately, the amount of divine soul power being drained wasn't excessive, allowing Li Qing to barely withstand it.
With a divine soul comparable to that of a nascent soul realm cultivator, he was naturally immune to having his soul power completely drained by these chains.
After a considerable time, the entire stone tower began to tremble once more.
Clang! Clang!
The Soul Nurturing Bell started to vibrate, emitting a series of crisp, melodious chimes.
Finally, the spirit gold chains ceased drawing Li Qing's divine soul power, as if they had been fully satisfied.
After a quick calculation, Li Qing realized he had lost approximately the total divine soul power of a foundation establishment cultivator.
Had he still been at the foundation establishment realm, his divine soul power would have been utterly insufficient to sustain such a drain. He would have been drained dry instantly and suffered severe damage.
Boom!
As Li Qing pondered this, a sudden surge of energy erupted outside the stone tower.
Without hesitation, he burst out of the tower.
At the tower's peak, a beam of spiritual light shot upward, piercing the sky filled with shimmering stars.
Then, a miraculous sight unfolded: the stars themselves began to shift visibly with the naked eye.
Bright and dazzling stars, like luminous insects, moved erratically across the night sky, creating a truly wondrous spectacle.
Scattered across the starry expanse, these celestial bodies eventually coalesced into a peculiar pattern.
Li Qing couldn't immediately decipher the meaning of this pattern, finding it utterly perplexing. Yet he committed the starlight formation firmly to memory.
"Why does it feel somewhat like a map?"
"The Soul Nurturing Temple was merely a foundation establishment realm cultivation sect. How could they have orchestrated such a grand scheme?"
"Wait, how could foundation establishment cultivators even create a secret realm?"
"Perhaps the stone tower is the temple's work, while the stellar pattern in the sky dates back to a far more ancient era."
As if suddenly understanding everything, Li Qing murmured to himself:
"That's it. The strongest cultivators in the Soul Nurturing Temple were only at the foundation establishment realm. How could they possibly have refined such a unique magic artifact as the Soul Nurturing Bell?"
"It seems the Abbot of the Soul Nurturing Temple inherited some kind of legacy, along with the Soul Nurturing Bell and this Secret Realm."
"This person founded the Soul Nurturing Temple, attracting cultivators to join. But in the end, they refined this stone tower to drain the divine soul power of these people, completely emptying them in an attempt to unlock the secrets hidden within the night sky."
Li Qing concluded that the Abbot had likely failed, as one of the spirit gold chains on the tower's top floor was missing a skeleton.
Someone must have sensed something was wrong and escaped at the last moment!
"No, perhaps they actually succeeded. The Abbot might have successfully sacrificed everyone's divine souls, survived, and witnessed this star map in the night sky."
"Enough dwelling on this. Since my business here is concluded, I should return to the sect."
The star map still lingered in the sky, imprinted upon the night.
Li Qing had no way to dispel it. He retrieved the Jade Pendant, preparing to open the portal to exit the Soul Nurturing Secret Realm and return to the sect.
But soon, as if guided by some unseen force, the celestial map in the sky began to converge its brilliant starlight, channeling it directly into the Jade Pendant in Li Qing's hand.
Boom!
The blinding intensity of the starlight forced Li Qing to close his eyes.
After what felt like an eternity, the radiant glow finally dimmed.
Li Qing reopened his eyes and discovered that the Jade Pendant had grown slightly warm to the touch.
Moreover, faint starlight patterns now shimmered within the jade itself.
To examine it more closely, Li Qing extended his divine sense.
Through this heightened perception, he quickly realized that the celestial map from the sky had been imprinted onto the Jade Pendant.
Even more astonishingly, a white dot had lit up within the miniaturized star chart inside the pendant.
The dot pulsed brightly, impossible to miss.
"Could this dot represent my current location?" Li Qing wondered.
"And where exactly is this celestial map ultimately guiding me?"
(End of the Chapter)
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