449: The Nascent Soul Race Begins

Actually, Immortal Master Scarlet General's thinking was indeed correct.

Although the Qingling Sect's ancestors had only acquired the means to preserve people across the river of time by chance, and could not use this method as rationally as some truly terrifying large forces,

the choice to preserve an old man whose Lifespan was about to run out, rather than a powerhouse in their prime, already spoke volumes.

This was not a deliberate attempt to leave behind a foundation to solve potential future dilemmas for the Sect.

Rather, it was a desperate gamble by a dying old Cultivator in his final moments.

Such an old Cultivator would naturally be somewhat indifferent to the Sect and his disciple-grandsons.

They cared more about whether they could find a way to extend their Lifespan and return to their Peak after breaking the seal.

In short, Immortal Master Scarlet General had bet correctly, and the players had succeeded.

With the support of the Qingling Sect Old Ancestor, the entire Qingling Sect's Legacy was completely opened up.

Moreover, with an Old Ancestor who was at least a Third-Rank, the Legacy was incredibly complete—even better than what Li Changfeng and the others had anticipated as "needing to be pieced together."

It was almost like hands-on teaching.

Within a few months after the fall of the Qingling Sect campaign, almost all player Golden Cores had come to the Qingling Sect.

They didn't necessarily all have to follow the Qingling Sect's Nascent Soul Method to achieve their Breakthrough, but knowing a complete Nascent Soul Method certainly helped them try other ways to form a Nascent Soul.

What surprised everyone even more was that the Qingling Sect Old Ancestor actually possessed more than one Nascent Soul Method!

According to the Old Ancestor, the Qingling Sect's ancestors were not called the Qingling Sect, and their Dao Lineage was not the Qingling Dao Lineage.

Instead, it was known as the "Shanlan Dao Lineage."

Rumor has it that an ancient powerhouse attained enlightenment while meditating on a mountain Peak, resulting in two Nascent Soul Methods.

The first was the "Wind-Walking Peak-Severing Art," which involved cultivating three Wood (Wind) attribute Divine Abilities and then two Earth attribute Divine Abilities.

The second was the "Peak-Severing Ethereal Art," which involved cultivating three Earth attribute Divine Abilities and then two Wood (Wind) attribute Divine Abilities.

According to the old man, the Immortal Foundation Golden Core Dao Lineage was only in its infancy back then, and the name of the Five Elements Dao Lineage did not yet exist. The Nascent Soul Methods born from it were also quite unrefined.

The mutual generation relationship of the five Divine Abilities when forming a Nascent Soul in the Shanlan Dao Lineage was slightly different from what is mainstream today.

Whether it was using Earth to generate Wood (Wind) in the Wind-Walking Peak-Severing Art, or using Wood (Wind) to generate Earth in the Peak-Severing Ethereal Art, the cultivation difficulty was extremely high.

According to Disciple-Grandson Xiao Jingbo, in the thousands of years recorded by the Qingling Sect, only Feng Chuan had succeeded.

And the reason Feng Chuan succeeded was by using the Qingling Sect's most prized treasures—Spirit Medicines left by the ancestors specifically for forming a Nascent Soul.

And these treasures were now in the old man's possession; the players didn't dare to challenge him.

"How can this be?"

After learning about the cultivation difficulty, Li Changfeng couldn't help but sigh repeatedly.

Not just him, but most players were somewhat disappointed after learning the difficulty.

But considering the large player base, many were still deeply interested in these two existing Nascent Soul Methods, planning to study them thoroughly before restarting and recultivating.

This group of players even posted on the forum to tell others their thoughts:

[The difficulty of ancient cultivation is indeed high, but think about it: in a Xuanhuan World, it seems the older it is, the stronger it is. Won't you be invincible if you master this ancient method?]

[Even someone as pathetic as Feng Chuan could suppress the Cloud-Swallowing Whale and leave the state-stabilizing seal helpless. This is enough to prove that ancient methods are very strong, right?]

[I've studied it; the hardest part of these two ancient methods is the incorrect mutual generation relationship. It looks like a 'three primary, two secondary' path, but in reality, all five Divine Abilities maintain a strange balance. That's why the difficulty is high, but it's definitely not something discarded by this world. After all, even Feng Chuan succeeded.]

[Right, although it looks like a 'three primary, two secondary' path, the difficulty should be above that, slightly less than the difficulty for a Great Immortal Master... In short, there's difficulty, but it's not among the hardest batch of Nascent Soul Methods. I think it's worth a shot.]

[Besides, after we restart, we can use transaction points to choose some Golden Fingers that allow us to build a foundation starting from Qi Refining. That way, the difficulty of forming a Nascent Soul won't be too high when the time comes.]

Inside the Red Rain Pavilion.

Wen Xinghai and the others watched the posts on the forum, their expressions constantly changing.

"Immortal Master Scarlet General, what do you think?"

Wen Xinghai looked at Immortal Master Scarlet General, wanting to know his vice-pavilion master's opinion.

"These people are afraid that after they restart, they'll be completely overtaken by other players, so they want to pull more people into restarting with them."

Immortal Master Scarlet General saw through the players' intentions at a glance and gave a sneer.

Wen Xinghai nodded; he thought so too.

"Actually, at this stage of the game, most of us players should restart.

"After all, the Dao Lineages we practiced before were incomplete. Reaching the Golden Core was already the limit, and making further progress is extremely difficult, almost impossible.

"This time, we players have completely annexed the Qingling Sect and even received direct guidance from a Senior. Our understanding of forming a Nascent Soul can be said to have taken a leap forward."

Wen Xinghai analyzed carefully and continued:

"Whether it's directly following the two Nascent Soul Methods of the Shanlan Dao Lineage or using their logic to complete other fragmented Dao Lineages we've acquired, both are feasible.

"From today onwards, forming a Nascent Soul is no longer empty talk, but the pursuit of all players."

The other players in the Red Rain Pavilion looked at each other, feeling the pressure.

First, the gap between a Nascent Soul and a Golden Core is massive. A Nascent Soul can easily annihilate hundreds or thousands of Golden Cores without losing almost any spiritual power.

Secondly, the current balance among players actually relies on the deterrence of the state-stabilizing seal, and the strength of the state-stabilizing seal is also at the Nascent Soul level.

Once a player is the first to Breakthrough and achieve a Nascent Soul, the balance between players and the balance within the Immortal Dynasty will all be shattered.

As for the Qingling Sect Old Ancestor, who has the ability to maintain the balance—regardless of how much longer he can live—judging by his attitude of teaching without discrimination and completely releasing the Legacy, he simply doesn't want to get involved in the internal struggles of the players.

He is just waiting for the immortal path to reopen.

In other words, whoever can be the first to Breakthrough and achieve a Nascent Soul will become the leader of the player community in the next stage!

"No, actually there's another key point."

Wen Xinghai thought for a moment and added:

"Yanwang Prefecture! Or rather, the Eastern Region and even the Central Region.

"As long as we go further west, the number of Nascent Soul experts will continue to increase. There might even be Soul Transformation or Void Returning experts. Of course, they might not all follow the Immortal Foundation Golden Core Dao Lineage, but there won't be a shortage of Fourth-Rank Experts.

"So I think many players will head west, seeking protection from the major Sects in Yanwang Prefecture to prevent being harassed by the first player to Breakthrough to Nascent Soul... many smart people must have already done so."

Immortal Master Scarlet General nodded and added:

"But in any case, once one successfully breaks through to Nascent Soul, they will be a king-like existence, at least within the territory of the Immortal Dynasty, and even in the Northern Mountains and the Eastern Sea.

"We must hurry."

The players of the Red Rain Pavilion nodded.

Without a doubt, this was a more intense race for speed than the previous Breakthrough to Golden Core.

After all, when they broke through to Golden Core back then, there were still the Three Great Sects and an Imperial Dynasty above them. Even now, Duan Kong Cave and Heshui Prefecture can remain aloof.

But once someone breaks through to Nascent Soul... everything will be different. Players will completely become the absolute protagonists of the East of the Eastern Region.