Elven cultivators

The tremors deep within the dantian became increasingly clear, flowing like a stream, climbing upwards along the meridians, seeping into the limbs and bones, and finally converging into the spine, reaching the Niwan point.

Anton calmed his mind and breath, no longer deliberately suppressing the power surging from the depths of his golden core, letting it flow slowly within his body.

As time passed, that power grew stronger and stronger, like a river flowing and a hundred streams converging into the sea, piling up layer by layer, gradually filling the limbs and bones and the meridians of the whole body, making every inch of flesh swell slightly, and even the bone marrow felt a tingling and burning pulse.

The moment this power reached its peak, Anton felt a sudden jolt in his body, and an overwhelming, unstoppable force burst forth from the core of his dantian, as if some invisible constraint had been completely crushed from the inside out.

A deafening roar, seemingly originating from the deepest part of one's soul, suddenly exploded, piercing straight to the top of one's head.

The golden elixir in the dantian suddenly shattered, and a clear, pure energy rose up, rushing straight up the spine to the top of the head and bursting out of the Purple Mansion.

Its momentum was so fierce and powerful, like a long river bursting its banks, unstoppable.

Above the city of Taichu, pure energy surged into the sky like a pillar of light traversing the heavens. It paused abruptly at a height of several hundred meters, then suddenly trembled outwards, transforming into a sky full of radiant light that burst forth.

From that endless light, a golden nascent soul, its body as clear as glass and its face exactly like that of Anton, slowly emerged.

The nascent soul stood on the void, and a layer of five-colored clouds, as thin as a cicada's wing, rose from beneath its feet, steadily supporting the hundred-foot-long golden light.

A five-colored halo encircled it, with red, blue, yellow, white, and black halos alternating and rotating, overflowing with auspicious light, making half of the sky shimmer with color.

Hundreds of thin, wispy rays of light surrounded the nascent soul, moving freely like fireflies and shooting stars, weaving a complex yet orderly tapestry of light in the void.

As soon as the Nascent Soul appeared, all the array patterns on the top floor of the Nine Heavens Tower lit up at the same moment. Pale golden light surged down the tower layer by layer, like the roots of a giant tree reaching to the sky extending outward along the cracks in the stone bricks, transforming the entire tower into a base supporting that pure and spiritual body.

Golden light scattered everywhere, making half of the Primordial City look as if it were covered with a layer of flowing gold, and even the rooftops and eaves on both sides of the street were plated with bright edges.

Thousands of miles away, countless people looked toward the direction of Taichu City. They saw a five-colored radiance rising at the horizon, as if the morning glow and rainbows were intertwined and overlapping in the same sky, lingering for a long time.

In an instant, all the major and minor forces in the surrounding area were alarmed and sent people to investigate the outer perimeter of the Primordial Spirit Realm.

Inside the city of the Primordial Beginning, everyone's attention was drawn to the strange phenomenon in the sky.

From the observation deck at the top of the Nine Heavens Tower, to the eaves and towers on both sides of the outer city streets, and then to the crenellations of the city walls and the fences of the animal arena, countless eyes converge on the figure sitting cross-legged in the five-colored halo in the sky.

The clan leaders all wore expressions of joy, knowing full well that Anton had successfully broken through.

Eleanor, in particular, radiated uncontrollable joy.

As the most powerful cultivator in the clan after Andong, she understood better than anyone else what the birth of a Nascent Soul cultivator meant.

Above the sky, the smoke and clouds were gradually dissipating, and the last ray of light merged into the nascent soul.

The figure sitting cross-legged on the cloud lowered its eyes slightly, then slowly merged into the void, like a drop of ink falling into clear water, disappearing without a trace in an instant.

All that remains is the lingering golden glow of the city and the still unsettled emotions in one's heart.

In the quiet room, Anton opened his eyes again.

His divine sense pierced through the thin clouds, across the continuous rooftops and streets of the Primordial City, and over the forests and barren slopes at the edge of the entire spiritual realm, clearly landing on the distant mountain ridge.

The patterns of the wind brushing through the treetops, the arc of water droplets about to fall from the edges of leaves, the rhythm of roots extending deeper into the soil... everything is clearer than before.

It was as if the thin veil covering the world had finally been lifted, revealing a more authentic face beneath.

Anton could sense the flow of the laws of heaven and earth. Those invisible veins were like crisscrossing rays of light, intertwining and pulling each other in the void, forming a giant net that covered all things.

After achieving the Nascent Soul stage, his perception of the laws of heaven and earth greatly improved.

This means that when using supernatural powers, the power of heaven and earth that can be drawn upon will be far greater than before, with power at least several times that of the Golden Core stage.

In addition, his magical power underwent a qualitative change, becoming more profound and solid than before. As it flowed, it was like molten gold, pressing heavily into his meridians, yet moving freely without any stagnation.

With a slight thought, a very faint halo appeared on his body, flowing naturally along the edges of his skin and robes.

This is a protective aura that spontaneously condenses after a Nascent Soul cultivator's physical body resonates with heaven and earth.

It doesn't require deliberate operation; it can be naturally condensed with just a thought, consuming very little energy.

Although the protective aura is not a supernatural power, but only the most basic protective method for Nascent Soul cultivators, its protective power is no weaker than the Yuan Yi True Qi that is fully activated during the Golden Core stage, and it is also more durable.

After a moment of contemplation, Anton withdrew his protective aura. With a slight thought, a clear, glass-like phantom slowly rose from the top of his head, sitting cross-legged in mid-air. Its face was identical to his, with lowered eyelids, slightly pursed lips, and a serene and solemn expression.

Whether it's the folds of the robe, the curve of the fingers, or the direction of the hair, every detail is exactly like Anton himself, yet it is smoother and clearer than the flesh, as if all impurities have been filtered out, leaving only the purest essence.

Above the nascent soul's crown, a cloud-like mass, about three feet in size, hung, its edges fringed and swaying outwards in wisps.

Five-colored halos alternated and flowed within it, sometimes red like molten gold, sometimes blue like distant mountains, and sometimes black and white overlapping like the ebb and flow of the tide.

This is the azure cloud above.

When a Nascent Soul cultivator achieves Nascent Soul status, a cloud of energy will naturally appear.

This cloud is both an outward manifestation of a cultivator's cultivation level and closely related to the cultivator's own origin.

It can not only be used to refine magical artifacts and nurture their spirits with the warmth of the Qi Clouds, but also to draw upon the power of heaven and earth during battles, transforming it into various offensive and defensive techniques, with endless uses.

In the cultivation system, the Nascent Soul stage is divided into three realms.

The first level of the Nascent Soul stage, also known as the Nascent Soul Transformation Realm, is marked by achieving the Nascent Soul stage and condensing the aura above the head.

A Nascent Soul cultivator like Anton, who has just broken through to the next level, naturally belongs to this realm.

"The Nascent Soul Realm, when converted to the levels of the Dawn Continent, should be equivalent to a Saint of the Resonance Realm."

Anton pondered to himself.

The Nascent Soul is itself the "crystallization" and "seed" of the laws of heaven and earth. After a cultivator enters the Nascent Soul Realm, every time he uses a supernatural power, it will naturally resonate with the laws of heaven and earth, causing the power of the supernatural power to increase several times.

This is quite similar to the characteristic of a Saint in the Resonance Realm who amplifies the power of the Law through resonance.

Of course, the true combat power of a Nascent Soul cultivator in the Nascent Soul stage is definitely stronger than that of a Saint in the Resonance stage.

Saints ultimately only master a single law, and their methods are relatively limited, while cultivators can wield multiple supernatural powers.

Not to mention that sword cultivators are already recognized as the best in terms of combat power among cultivators of the same realm.

In addition, Anton also possessed three magical artifacts.

The same magical artifact, when wielded by a Nascent Soul cultivator, can be far more powerful than that wielded by a Golden Core cultivator.

Anton roughly estimated that with his current strength, he should be able to easily defeat a Saint of the Resonance Realm.

This was before he had mastered higher-level supernatural powers.

Once his cultivation level stabilizes and he masters multiple high-level divine abilities, he won't be without the confidence to defeat even a Saint at the pinnacle of cultivation.

When a Nascent Soul cultivator condenses three aura clouds above their head, they can advance to the second level of the Nascent Soul realm, also known as the Aura Cloud realm.

If one can gather the three aura clouds and transform them into a Dharma body, one can enter the third level of the Nascent Soul stage, which is also known as the Dharma Body realm.

Anton slowly gathered his breath, and the cloud above his head also shrank back and disappeared into the heavens, leaving only a last ray of five-colored afterglow dissipating along the tips of his hair.

The quiet room returned to its previous tranquility, the wind outside the window began to flow again, and the faint chirping of birds could be heard in the distance.

Anton pulled himself out of his thoughts and focused his mind back into the sword pellet.

The next instant, the Xuanjin sword light leaped out from his chest, hovering in front of him, and then suddenly split apart.

One becomes two, two becomes four, four becomes eight... The sword light spreads out layer by layer, and in the blink of an eye, it transforms into five hundred and twelve streams of dark gold sword light, like an inverted galaxy slowly flowing in the quiet room.

Anton focused his mind and sensed for a moment, and found that the flow of magical power was still smooth and abundant, and his divine sense showed no signs of strain. So he guided the sword light to continue to divide.

The edge of the sword light trembled slightly, and fine golden threads of light spread outward along the curve of the sword spine, gradually taking shape, as if a new sword light was sprouting branches and leaves from the main body.

But in the next instant, those light threads that were forming suddenly retracted and disappeared back into the original sword light, like mist blown away by the wind, vanishing without a trace in an instant.

Seeing this, Anton was not disappointed; instead, he smiled faintly.

It took him an extremely long time to move from 256 to 512, a step that was incredibly difficult and he was stuck on for decades.

Now that his nascent soul has been formed, the qualitative change in his divine sense and magical power has greatly enhanced his control over the sword light, bringing him close to the edge of a breakthrough.

Once he has completely stabilized his realm and cultivated for a period of time, he will be able to cross that threshold and double the number of sword lights to 1,024.

At that time, his combat strength will undoubtedly reach a new level.

After a moment of joy, Anton withdrew his sword, sat quietly for a while, feeling the unprecedented fullness and composure within his body, before beginning to consider his next steps.

With the Nascent Soul stage complete, the direction of future cultivation becomes clear.

The first step is to continue condensing the Qi Clouds.

The essence of condensing the clouds is, in the final analysis, the process of continuously absorbing and accumulating energy.

However, the energy required to condense a cloud of energy is extremely large. Without external assistance, it is common for it to take hundreds of years to condense a single cloud of energy.

Of course, there are ways to speed up the condensation of the Qi Cloud.

For example, consuming high-quality natural medicinal herbs.

However, these rare treasures that can meet the needs of Nascent Soul cultivators are all extremely rare items. Even if one or two can be found, the quantity is far from enough to support the needs for a long time.

Another method is to find a suitable spiritual place for cultivation.

A spiritual land that can meet the cultivation standards of a Nascent Soul cultivator must at least be a large ley line node.

The Primordial Spirit Realm itself is already a first-class cultivation holy land, with energy concentration and spiritual vein quality among the best in the entire eastern part of the continent.

Looking across the entire Dawn Continent, the only spiritual lands with superior energy concentration and quality are probably the Holy Dragon Mountains and the Elemental Origin Plane.

The Holy Dragon Mountain Range is currently being contested by four major forces, and we are unable to intervene for the time being.

As for the Elemental Origin Plane... even though Anton has already achieved the Nascent Soul stage, it is still not a place he can easily set foot in.

After a moment's thought, Anton came up with a compromise.

Since we cannot enter the elemental origin plane, we will do as before: open a rift in the elemental origin plane in the material plane and use the energy spilling out from the rift for cultivation.

But new problems also arose.

Because of the cultivation technique he uses, the aura he condenses must naturally contain all five elements.

Although successfully condensing it greatly enhances one's own power, it is also relatively more difficult.

If only a single-attribute elemental dimensional rift is opened, the absorbed energy attribute will be biased, the five elements will be unbalanced, and it will actually affect cultivation.

The best approach is to simultaneously open up the rifts in the fundamental planes of the four elements—earth, water, wind, and fire—and then find a way to fill the gap in the energy of the metal element, so that the five elements can achieve balance.

In that case, the speed of cultivation will definitely increase greatly.

To achieve this, we must first find a place where the dimensional rifts of the four elemental origins can be opened simultaneously.

In addition, a separate formation must be set up to gather a sufficiently rich metal element energy.

Just thinking about it made Anton feel extremely troubled.

After pondering for a moment without success, he shook his head and temporarily shelved the idea, planning to consult more classic texts and intelligence another day before making a decision.

Besides condensing the Qi Cloud, supernatural powers are also one of the key focuses going forward.

After achieving the Nascent Soul stage, Anton can begin cultivating higher-level divine abilities.

He had long had a goal for this.

First is the Great Master of the Five Elements of the Supreme Mysterious Qi.

This supernatural power is based on the Xuanhuang Dragon-Capturing Hand and is evolved by integrating the power of the five elements.

It can be described as an advanced version of the Xuanhuang Dragon-Capturing Hand.

Its power is naturally far greater than the latter.

When used, the palm moves with the five elements in a harmonious flow, combining strength and gentleness. It can crush everything like a mountain, or seal off the four directions like mercury flowing across the ground.

Once mastered, it becomes an excellent technique for Nascent Soul cultivators in direct combat.

Secondly, there is the Tai Xuan Yuan Han Zhen Gang.

This is a supernatural power evolved from the Yuan Yi Zhen Gang, and can be considered an advanced version of the Yuan Yi Zhen Gang.

Unlike the single-layer defense of Yuan Yi Zhen Gang, this supernatural power can condense multiple layers of qi on the body's surface, nested layer by layer, with each layer having different attributes flowing through it. It can simultaneously resist multiple attacks and cope with more complex situations.

Even when surrounded, they can handle the situation with ease.

The third supernatural power that Anton chose was the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder.

This is a high-level thunder magic technique, most effective at subduing demons and monsters and sweeping away evil influences.

The fourth divine ability is the Hao Yi Three Yang Qi, a high-level divine ability with fire attributes.

The yang energy it emits can burn anything; even if a magical artifact is touched by it, it can burn through it until it is completely destroyed and turned into ashes before extinguishing.

The difficulty of cultivating advanced supernatural abilities far exceeds that of Golden Core stage supernatural abilities, and Anton does not intend to comprehend too many at the same time.

He shouldn't try to do too much at once; these four supernatural abilities are enough for him to cultivate for a long time.

It's not too late to consider other supernatural abilities after you've mastered these four ones.

However, swordsmanship is an exception.

The reason he had only cultivated the "One Sword Transforms into Myriad Laws" sword technique before was because his cultivation level and spiritual sense at the Golden Core stage were not yet sufficient to support more sword techniques.

Now that the Nascent Soul stage has been achieved, it's time to turn our attention to new sword techniques.

As for which specific path to choose, Anton has not yet made a complete decision and plans to wait until his cultivation level is more stable before making a decision.