Chapter 327 Nascent Soul Realm

After the conference ended, returning to his laboratory within the Golden Garden, Jie Ming quickly cast aside the external clamor surrounding the elite combat units.

The Star Ring Federation’s strategic shift sounded grand, but for Jie Ming’s personal daily life, the changes were negligible.

It merely meant no longer needing occasional academy check-ins, now enjoying mentor-level extended leave benefits without duties.

The terminal for accepting war missions switched from the junction’s universal model to a Federation-issued magic network terminal with higher privileges and integrated functions.

According to Dean Avery Knight, elite members like them would no longer need to travel to junctions for registration and screening in future plane wars.

They could simply apply directly via the magic network terminal and await system-assigned tasks.

Upon receiving summons and teleportation coordinates, they’d depart via dedicated academy or Federation arrays—saving time and effort.

Beyond that, for Jie Ming personally, this shift brought no other changes.

Freed from these trivial administrative processes, Jie Ming dove headfirst back into unburdened research.

Ignoring external upheavals, he poured his primary energy into analyzing the five newly acquired core knowledges on the divine power faith network.

Time flew by, and the self-cycling timer in the laboratory silently marked fifty years.

At this moment, Jie Ming stood before a specially reinforced observation tank, brows furrowed, eyes tinged with irritation.

Within the tank, a seemingly ordinary white mist slowly swirled, reminiscent of any foggy morning from memory.

This was the mysterious mist he had painstakingly collected from the void domain plane years ago.

Over these fifty years, he had applied nearly every non-destructive analysis method imaginable: elemental spectrum scanning, energy field resonance detection, high-dimensional structure mapping, even several treasure appraisal secret arts from the Great Dao Book Pavilion… all to no avail.

Data showed it was merely condensed water vapor, its physical properties and energy reactions conforming to basic natural laws.

“Still… incomprehensible…” Jie Ming couldn’t help raking his fingers through his hair, tousling what had been neat strands.

This “incomprehensibility” stemmed not just from knowledge gaps but dimensional disparities.

Like a two-dimensional being unable to grasp height, his current knowledge system faced an insurmountable chasm with the secrets potentially hidden in this white mist.

He knew the “what” but not the “why”—and couldn’t even touch the edges of the “what.”

Exhaling deeply, he forcibly suppressed the frustration from stalled research.

Turning away from this demoralizing analysis room, he entered the adjacent biological cultivation zone.

In the massive ecological simulation chamber, several grotesque mutated snake-spiders—jointed limbs flickering with unstable spatial ripples—crawled restlessly.

Their existence confirmed Jie Ming’s initial hypothesis: mutated snake-spiders arose from ordinary snake-spider clan leaders undergoing mutation under unknown factors.

Not all leaders succeeded, but through prolonged accumulation and Jie Ming’s deliberate collection and “catalysis,” he had amassed a fair number of samples.

Yet problems persisted.

Spatial abilities involved higher-order elemental essences—one of the most profound domains on the wizard path.

Below third-level wizardry, without qualitative leaps in spiritual force and world rule perception, directly and deeply researching such power was a pipe dream.

Current Jie Ming couldn’t even approach these mutated snake-spiders without heavy protections and spatial stabilizers—their naturally emanating spatial ripples could tear apart his inadequately shielded body.

“Sigh…” Another helpless exhale.

Both research directions doubly bottlenecked—a unpleasant feeling.

Somewhat dispirited, he returned to the lounge and flung himself into the soft recliner.

Jie Ming casually activated the large wall-embedded screen.

To ordinary eyes, it displayed rapidly flickering black-and-white gibberish, dizzying to behold.

But with Jie Ming’s peak second-level wizard and Golden Core cultivator neural reflexes and processing power, the “slowly” scrolling data was the massive knowledge trove he had collected across battlefields while handling the triangular plane cluster.

Reading and learning this knowledge was his unique relaxation method.

It qualified as “leisure” because, as his knowledge reserves grew profound, Jie Ming’s learning speed accelerated.

Through analogies, many technical and applied knowledges required only a glance at core principles and diagrams for instant comprehension of mechanisms—even mentally deriving several optimization or improvement schemes in moments.

This effortless fluency, like solving simple puzzles, brought intellectual pleasure and relaxation.

But today, even this pleasure seemed shadowed.

Jie Ming sighed again, his gaze complex.

He clearly sensed he had nearly touched the “knowledge barrier” of his current level.

Not that no knowledge remained to learn, but the remaining advanced knowledges would escalate exponentially in difficulty.

Yet lower-level knowledges grew increasingly simplistic, unable to further elevate him.

At his current stage, each small advance demanded immense effort, with diminishing returns on investment.

Forcing deeper excavation within existing frameworks would yield half the results for twice the effort.

“It’s about… time to prepare for promotion…” Jie Ming murmured involuntarily.

Unlike cultivators focusing energy on cultivation stages, wizards expended massive effort and resources primarily during promotion.

Exaggerating not, every wizard’s promotion method differed, but each exhausted all current resources before advancing.

Ordinary wizards bankrupt themselves or incur massive debts for plane origins, but for wizards like Jie Ming, purchasing was effortless.

Yet at Jie Ming’s level, how could he settle for casual promotion schemes?

For even Senior Viola exhausted her wealth promoting. For capable wizards, promotion without some flair would keep them awake in discomfort!

Glancing at the still “slowly” scrolling knowledge stream on the screen—once fascinating technical details now evoking a subtle immaturity.

Frowning, he split his focus, using one part of his divine sense to “skim” the screen as background while retrieving from internal space a thick metal-bound tome rivaling a city wall brick: Seventh-Level Large Elemental Pool: Principles, Framework, Maintenance, and High-Tier Applications Guide.

Mentally “brushing” screen knowledge as ambient noise, he truly immersed in the scalp-tinglingly complex manual.

Whatever future plans, he needed his greatest energy source—the exorbitantly purchased seventh-level large elemental pool—to perfectly support all creations and research demands.

…

…

Time flowed like water, silently passing.

Another decade slipped by in focused research and accumulation.

This day, Jie Ming had just completed his daily practice of cleansing the dao heart with mortal dust qi, slowly calming the miscellaneous thoughts swirling around him, exhaling a breath of turbid air.

In the instant his mind returned to clarity, his figure paused slightly, expression stunned.

A profound, mysterious sensation surged from his soul’s depths—not specific knowledge or power, but a natural, ripe “enlightenment.”

No need to consult Great Dao Book Pavilion texts or external guidance—a clear realization naturally emerged:

The time had come; he could advance to the Nascent Soul realm.

No ecstasy, no agitation—only the calm certainty of long cultivation finally showing harvest signs.

Rising, he walked steadily toward the depths of the Infernal Sulfur plane.

There awaited a long-prepared secret chamber inscribed with multiple protective and energy-gathering rune arrays.

Entering, the heavy automatic metal door closed silently, isolating all external interference.

With a thought, intricate arrays on walls, floor, and ceiling lit sequentially, emitting low hums.

Instantly, the plane’s rampant fire elements and sulfur aura were madly drawn and converged.

Yet this energy didn’t surge directly into Jie Ming but underwent essential transformation via precise arrays.

Wizard-world elemental hues faded, replaced by softer, more vibrant, life-teeming milky-white energy—aura!

This power, which shouldn’t exist under wizard world rules, belonged exclusively to the cultivation system!

The conversion array was Jie Ming’s reverse-engineered “Elemental · Spiritual Force Conversion Technology,” derived from deeply studying his Qi Refinement method’s mechanisms while refining the Mysterious Astral Mortal Dust Barrier.

Though crude compared to his internal technique’s subtlety, it sufficed to create a breakthrough-friendly spiritual environment in this confined space.

Feeling chamber aura density climb, breaths filled with refreshing spiritual essence.

Jie Ming clearly sensed his long-dormant Golden Core tremble slightly, the technique accelerating autonomously, conveying drought-meets-rain joy.

No further delay—he sat cross-legged on the central mat, five hearts heavenward.

Mind inward, adjusting essence, qi, and spirit to unprecedented perfect peak.

Then, one thought arose—promotion began.

The process was unexpectedly smooth, even bland.

No heaven-shaking phenomena, no perilous heart demon tribulations—only endlessly flowing, increasingly pure and vast spiritual force within.

And the flawless, radiant Golden Core at his dantian’s center undergoing essential metamorphosis.

His accumulation was simply too profound.

Golden Core polishing had reached extremity; technique comprehension and massive resource investment had long flattened the promotion threshold.

This breakthrough was merely water overflowing naturally.

Jie Ming felt his spirit blur momentarily—perhaps an instant, perhaps eternity.

Regaining awareness, under spiritual force’s gaze, at his dantian sea’s vortex core, a point of pure soul origin and highly condensed spiritual light began shining.

This light absorbed vast spiritual force, growing and shaping, until a miniature figure—countless times smaller, features clear, identical to Jie Ming—slowly coalesced!

Nascent Soul, formed!

The instant the Nascent Soul condensed, the suspended Golden Core suddenly spun rapidly.

Surface runes, once restrained, blazed far brighter than usual.

Next moment, it streaked as light, plunging directly into the newborn Nascent Soul’s embrace.

Buzz—!

A soul-perceptible hum resounded.

Upon contact, Nascent Soul and Golden Core didn’t repel but fused like milk and water.

As light faded and changes ceased, Jie Ming “saw” the Golden Core shrunk several-fold, hue deeper and more restrained, as if condensing all essence.

Now, the Golden Core no longer floated in his dantian but stably hovered at the Nascent Soul’s dantian position, like stars orbiting a core.

A more profound connection formed between Jie Ming, Nascent Soul, and Golden Core.

“So that’s how it is…” Jie Ming gained insight.

Testing briefly, he found he could still accumulate spiritual force via the Golden Core as in Golden Core stage—this path wasn’t abandoned.

But shifting to Nascent Soul-led cultivation multiplied efficiency!

Moreover, during Nascent Soul cultivation, the miniature Golden Core in its “dantian” would synchronously temper and elevate—mutually reinforcing.

In this moment, he bone-deeply understood the Great Dao Book Pavilion’s obscure descriptions: “No wonder each major realm isn’t simple advancement but pioneering a new path fusing predecessors’ wisdom with personal traits.”

Nascent Soul realm didn’t discard Golden Core but, atop the Golden Core path, forged a more efficient, source-closer route retaining Golden Core advantages!

Before savoring this dual cultivation system’s wonders, massive suction surged from his lower dantian!

Jie Ming anticipated this, expression unchanged.

Each major realm breakthrough expanded the internal space opened by the Internal Circulation method.

This time, no need for potions to replenish—he mentally adjusted, via nearby control panel, instantly ramping external array output several notches!

Boom!!

Vaster elemental torrents forcibly drawn, flooded the conversion array, transforming into near-liquid pure aura, madly surging into Jie Ming.

The newborn Nascent Soul, like a bottomless pit, greedily absorbed, refining into pure spiritual force—then mercilessly siphoned by the suction into the violently expanding internal space.

Spiritual force endlessly absorbed, external aura replenishing in waves—forming a perfect energy cycle.

Unknown time later, the terrifying suction gradually ceased.

Jie Ming immediately sank divine sense into internal space.

Next moment, even with his current mindset, surprise struck.

Originally village-sized, the space had expanded extraordinarily vast.

Rough estimate: comparable to a modern international metropolis from his past life memories.

Mountains, rivers, plains’ outlines faintly visible in dense spiritual mist, layout ever clearer.

More astonishing: this theoretically sealed space, lacking natural light, was no longer utter darkness.

Soft, uniform light—like dawn’s first glow—permeated, dim but sufficient for distant visibility.

Searching thoroughly, he found no sun-like sources.

Deeper probe left Jie Ming moved again—the light’s fluctuation matched normal material plane light sources in the wizard world!

Elemental plane projections in higher dimensions, penetrating space barriers—“natural light”!

This meant his internal space’s rules and existence were preliminarily recognized by wizard world underlying laws as a nascent “plane” embryo!

Excitement surged like tides but was soon suppressed by his strong mindset.

Jie Ming quickly realized this faint light’s impact on such vast space was negligible, far from complete ecological cycles.

Currently, it remained an immensely huge, potential-rich storage space and special laboratory—still distant from true “cave heaven blessed land.”

Yet such scale provided myriad future possibilities.

Whether expanding black giant legion bases and training grounds, building larger automated rune witch artifact production lines, or planning complex experimental zones—all more than sufficient.

Regardless, sensing spiritual force over tenfold vaster than Golden Core stage, the dual Nascent Soul-Golden Core cultivation wonders, the closer soul-world bond…

Jie Ming knew he had formally entered the Nascent Soul realm!