Nie Tian was at the early Soul realm, which meant he was still a long way from the Void domain.
Before this, he hadn’t even witnessed others attempt to break through into the Void domain, much less the Saint domain.
He didn’t have any idea as to what dangers and wonders these breakthroughs held.
He simply observed.
The first step of Hou Chulan’s breakthrough seemed to be gathering wood power. The Realm of Wood Spirit was wreathed in rich wood power to start with. The five wood element sect elders further improved the speed at which she channeled wood power from her surroundings.
Because of this, she didn’t even have to absorb wood power from wood-attributed spiritual materials.
Nie Tian sensed with rapt attention, and discovered that, with the five elders’ help, the speed at which Hou Chulan’s domain absorbed wood power was several times faster than his Wood Thriving Formation.
“Thanks to the unique features of the Realm of Wood Spirit and the help she has, she doesn’t have to worry about wood power.” Nie Tian muttered softly.
With an envious look on her face, Lou Hongyan muttered, “If I hadn’t died that one time, I would have been attempting to break through into the Saint domain too. Perhaps I would have even made the attempt earlier than senior martial sister…”
She had been reincarnated once. Nie Tian had learned from Huang Jinnan that this Daughter of Flames had been a gorgeous woman in her previous life. Even among the four great sects, her beauty had been hardly matched.
However, the body she had been reborn into didn’t look so outstanding, which was the reason why she looked unimpressive in front of Hou Chulan.
She and Hou Chulan had joined the Five Elements Sect and become the Divine Daughters of the wood element sect and fire element sect at around the same time.
Back in the day, her cultivation talent and advancing speed had even outshone Hou Chulan’s.
It was her reincarnation that had held her back. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have only been at the early Void domain. She might even have entered the Saint domain already.
Huang Jinnan sighed. “Making fast advances in cultivation isn’t necessarily a good thing, senior martial sister. Didn’t that metal element sect senior martial brother of mine fail to break through into the Saint domain? His spiritual cores exploded and killed him. Even his soul scattered, killing his chance at reincarnation. If he was still alive, my master wouldn’t have chosen me as his new heir.”
Nie Tian’s expression flickered with astonishment.
As far as he knew, Huang Jinnan was the weakest of all of the Divine Children of the Five Elements Sect. His middle Soul realm cultivation base was only slightly higher than Nie Tian’s.
Lou Hongyan was currently at the early Void domain, despite her reincarnation. Hou Chulan’s cultivation base was even higher.
Before, Nie Tian had wondered why, as a Divine Son, Huang Jinnan’s cultivation base was so low.
Now, he finally realized that the reason was because the former Divine Son of the metal element sect had failed and perished during his breakthrough into the Saint domain, allowing Huang Jinnan to become the Divine Son of the metal element sect.
“Is the breakthrough into the Saint domain really so full of dangers?” Nie Tian muttered to himself with a grim face. “Even a Divine Son died beyond salvation because of some mishap during the process?”
As they spoke, He Lianxiong looked in Nie Tian’s direction every once in awhile.
His eyes flickered slightly after he heard Nie Tian’s words, as if he had suddenly become worried about his future breakthroughs.
A bitter expression filled Huang Jinnan’s face as he said, “The higher your cultivation base becomes, the more dangerous your breakthroughs will become. It’s not crazy difficult to break through into the Void domain, but the breakthroughs into the Saint and God domain are truly full of dangers.
“To break through into the Void domain, you only have to release your spiritual sea from your dantian region, and transform it into an illusory domain by mixing it with the wonders of your soul. Since this whole process is illusory, the breakthrough isn’t so scary.
“The breakthrough into the Saint domain, however, involves core break.”
Nie Tian’s expression flickered with astonishment. “Core break?”
Huang Jinnan gave him a sideways glance and asked, “Don’t tell me that you don’t even know the difference between the breakthrough into the Void domain and the breakthrough into the Saint domain. Who’s your master? Didn’t he teach you these things?”
“My master is Wu Ji,” Nie Tian answered. “He’s from the Domain of the Falling Stars.”
Huang Jinnan went blank briefly before asking, “What cultivation base is he currently at?”
Looking somewhat embarrassed, Nie Tian couldn’t give a definite answer. “Umm… I don’t know. He was at the Soul realm the last time I saw him.”
Hearing these words, both Huang Jinnan and Lou Hongyan had strange expressions on their faces.
Nie Tian then explained, “To answer your question, my master didn’t tell me anything about what I would encounter during breakthroughs. All he said was that I’d be able to see the wonders and subtle changes myself when I actually make the breakthroughs. No external guidance is needed.”
Huang Jinnan shook his head. “I’ve never heard of such an irresponsible master…”
Then, after a short pause, he continued, “As its name implies, core break refers to the process of breaking the spiritual cores in a cultivator’s spiritual sea. After that, the broken spiritual cores will fuse into the cultivator’s domain, turning the originally illusory domain tangible and solid.
“After cultivators enter the Saint domain, their domains will become their source of power.
“There are three major steps to breaking through into the Saint domain. Each and every one is full of dangers. The first step is core break.
“The second step is to fuse the broken spiritual cores into your domain to solidify it, or core fusion.
“The last and the most difficult step is core withdrawal. After core fusion, the broken pieces that have fused into the domain will have to come back together to reform cores that will return into the body along with the domain, which has transformed from the spiritual sea.
“Only after finishing these three steps will a cultivator be considered to have broken through into the Saint domain.
“What my senior martial sister is doing now is over-infusing her wood power core with wood power. When the core stretches to its limit, it will crack, initiating the first step: core break.”
Lou Hongyan sighed emotionally. “The speed at which humans advance in cultivation is much faster than the speed at which outsiders upgrade their bloodlines. However, what comes with more rapid advances in cultivation is greater risks.
“Normally speaking, outsiders’ bloodline upgrades are usually safe and smooth.
“However, it takes them much longer to advance to the eighth, ninth, and tenth grade.
“The heavens are fair. It’s easy for us to make progress in cultivation and rise to the peak of power. However, those who attempt to advance to the Void, Saint, and God domain face extremely high mortality rates. Of the countless people in this starry river, only a handful can actually make the breakthroughs from the Soul realm to the Void domain, from the Void domain to the Saint domain, and from the Saint domain to the God domain.
“And most of the God domain experts are members of the four great sects. It’s almost impossible for those from minor human forces to enter the God domain.”
Nie Tian fell silent after hearing Lou Hongyan and Huang Jinnan’s words.
Before, he hadn’t been aware that the breakthroughs after the Void domain were actually so deadly. One mishap, and the cultivator might die beyond salvation.
He couldn’t help but wonder, “Considering that my bloodline upgrade is not only fast but also safe, should I put more emphasis on my bloodline?”
He practiced wood power, flame power, and star power at the same time. Even Hou Chulan, who only practiced wood power, treated her breakthrough into the Saint domain so cautiously. What kind of difficulties would he face when he attempted to break through into the Saint domain?
Hou Chulan continued to take in wood power. After Nie Tian fell silent, Lou Hongyan and Huang Jinnan remained silent as well.
Off to the side, He Lianxiong looked nervously at Hou Chulan’s domain, which was now filled with misty wood power.
After an unknown period of time, all of the misty wood power within Hou Chulan’s domain suddenly gathered towards the central island.
Huang Jinnan took a deep breath and said with an anticipating expression, “Core break is at hand.
“Even though this is only the first step, it’s full of uncertainties. She can’t allow her spiritual cores to shatter too quickly. Otherwise, all of her efforts would be in vain.
“She has to make sure that her spiritual cores crack bit by bit. And the speed at which the broken pieces fuse into her domain also needs to be moderate.
“If the fusion happens too fast, her domain won’t fully solidify. If the fusion happened too slowly, her spiritual cores might explode.”
As he spoke in a low voice, Hou Chulan’s figure appeared once again in her domain, looming behind all the misty wood power.
The bamboo on the central island continued to grow and stand out, as if it was channeling and consuming a great amount of wood power.
The wood power that should have infused into Hou Chulan’s spiritual cores seemed to be largely hogged by them instead, giving rise to a problem during only the first step: wood power shortage.
Lou Hongyan’s expression flickered with astonishment. “That mysterious bamboo seems to be going through an upgrade! That’s why it’s taking a great amount of wood power! Come on… Why would it grow at such a critical moment, when senior martial sister needs wood power the most?”
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
At this very moment, wisps of faint green wood power that were even more concentrated than before converged on Hou Chulan from every part of the Realm of Wood Spirit.
Each and every wisp was like a river that contained dozens of times more wood power than what the five wood element sect elders had channeled from their surroundings.
It was also at this moment that Nie Tian was struck by a feeling that something had stirred the Godspirit Tree sapling inside of him, and that the entire Realm of Wood Spirit seemed to be suddenly filled with energy and life force.
Nie Tian suddenly realized what was happening. “Lu Yuxin, the head of the wood element sect, must be working her magics!”
