Chapter 46:Birth of the Nascent Soul

Over the past few years, Lu Fan's cultivation had advanced steadily through constant experimentation, body-tempering breakthroughs, and the creation of countless unique techniques. With each successful refinement of his arts, his foundation deepened and solidified. Now, after refining clone bodies, mastering hybrid patterns, and innovating cultivation methods, he had finally reached the peak of the Golden Core realm.

At this stage, Lu Fan's Golden Core had evolved far beyond the ordinary—it shimmered with engraved patterns, runes, and faint traces of soul energy. Deep within the core, a small shadow of his soul rested quietly, like a seed awaiting the right moment to bloom.

That moment came one quiet evening as he was meditating beside one of his island's ancient stone pillars. He was analyzing the harmony of formations within his core when it suddenly began to tremble. Cracks spread along its surface like fine veins of light. Lu Fan's heart skipped a beat. He knew—the time had come.

The spiritual energy around him began to roar. The wind howled. The sky above darkened, and clouds surged. The island itself began to shake. His body floated upward as worldly Qi from every direction surged toward him, drawn by his breakthrough. His core shattered like crystal, releasing a bright light from within.

From the broken fragments, a radiant figure emerged—a tiny version of himself formed entirely of soul light. It was his Nascent Soul, born from the fusion of body, core, and spirit.

But no breakthrough of this level came without tribulation.

The sky cracked open, and heavenly thunder roared down—a trial by lightning meant to test the strength and destiny of those who dared step into the Nascent Soul realm. Thunder Calamity was merciless and filled with divine judgment.

Yet Lu Fan did not waver.

The first bolt struck, but his body was like a fortress. Years of thunder body-tempering and refined bloodline cultivation had prepared him for this very moment. He stood unmoved. His Thunder Patterns lit up, forming a protective net. The second bolt came—stronger, angrier. Still, he endured.

With every strike, his soul refined further, his body evolved, and his aura surged higher. After seven thunderbolts, the sky cleared. The clouds dissipated. Silence fell.

When Lu Fan descended back to the ground, his aura was no longer that of a mortal cultivator. He was now a Nascent Soul expert, his very presence resonating with the Dao. His Nascent Soul sat peacefully within his dantian, controlling his inner world like a sovereign ruler. He had transcended the mortal realm.

The moment Lu Fan crossed into the Nascent Soul realm, the balance of the cultivation world shifted.

Across the land, the ancestral halls of major sects stirred. The old Nascent Soul cultivators, long hidden from the world, suddenly opened their eyes in meditation. Each of them sensed the birth of a new peer—an unfamiliar aura breaking through the heavenly chains. It was impossible to ignore. The spiritual world itself had trembled.

However, they could only sense the general region where the breakthrough occurred—somewhere within the Eastern Sea. But the exact location and identity of the new Nascent Soul expert remained hidden. The heavens, it seemed, were shielding him.

This mysterious emergence threw the entire cultivation world into turmoil.

Who had broken through? Which sect did he belong to? What kind of cultivation path had he walked?

Rumors spread like wildfire. Some claimed a rogue cultivator had risen. Others whispered of a secretive ancient bloodline resurfacing. Every major sect, righteous and demonic alike, dispatched scouts to the Eastern Sea, trying to uncover the truth. Yet none could locate Lu Fan or trace the aura to its source.

They treaded carefully—none dared move recklessly.

A Nascent Soul cultivator was no longer a mere expert—they were a pillar of power, capable of wiping out sects or shifting the course of regional politics with a wave of their hand. To offend one unknowingly was to court annihilation. Thus, an unspoken truce emerged.

For the first time in decades, the constant skirmishes between righteous and demonic sects came to a halt. Everyone watched and waited, uncertain whether the newcomer would stand with order or chaos.

While the world plunged into uncertainty, Lu Fan remained hidden, focused solely on forging his path forward.

Deep within what remained of his secluded island, he turned inward—activating the three doors within his body: the Thunder Door, the Mini-Sun Door, and the Blood Essence Door. These three powers represented destruction, rebirth, and balance. The Thunder and Sun constantly tore his body apart with overwhelming might, while the Blood Essence restored and tempered it anew. Through countless cycles of destruction and healing, his physical strength soared to the peak of what a Nascent Soul cultivator could endure.

Then, the heavens stirred once again.

A second, far greater Thunder Calamity descended.

This time, its scale was monstrous—stretching far beyond his island. The entire mortal region felt its weight. Thunderclouds churned like an apocalyptic sea, lightning cracked across the heavens like divine spears, and it rained down with the fury of a cloudburst of divine punishment.

To those watching from afar, it looked as if a colossal white tree of lightning had descended from the sky, its roots plunging into the massive lake that once surrounded Lu Fan's island. The lake, vast as an inland sea, boiled under the bombardment. All life within—fish, aquatic beasts, even spirit plants—was annihilated in an instant.

But Lu Fan had prepared well. Anticipating this scale of calamity, he had sent away his treasured Gu beasts—the ruby silkworm and the crimson chicken—along with his clone. Only he remained to face the wrath of the heavens.

The first bolts of divine lightning struck him. He stood unmoved.

But as the tribulation deepened, his body began to burn. Not just physically—his very foundation trembled.

The balance between his three internal doors began to fracture.

The Thunder Door roared violently. The Mini-Sun blazed furiously. The Blood Essence surged with primal force. Instead of harmonizing, they collided, and Lu Fan's body became a battlefield.

What had once been a finely tuned balance now spiraled into chaos. His Thunder Bloodline, the cornerstone of his body-tempering path, began to mutate under pressure. He was pushed into a profound state of enlightenment.

At this critical moment, his long-refined Clone Gu technique activated. The countless insights, failures, and breakthroughs he had accumulated across his experiments now surged into action. His body, once torn by elemental conflict, began to reforge itself in an entirely new way.

Flame Patterns, Spatial Marks, and Blood Symbols appeared across his body, each glowing with primal energy. These didn't remain separate. They began to merge, forming a new bloodline structure.

Where once his body held multiple thunder patterns with unique functions, it now formed simplified yet vastly more powerful affinity-based patterns:

A single Thunder Affinity Pattern,

A Fire Affinity Pattern,

And a Space Affinity Pattern.

These weren't complicated—but they were universal and versatile, forming the foundation of a new, advanced cultivation path.

Meanwhile, his three inner doors evolved as well:

The Thunder Door now bore countless intricate thunder runes.

The Sunfire Door absorbed flame-based patterns.

The Blood Door was etched with sacred, ancient blood sigils.

Lu Fan's body was utterly transformed.

He had officially reached the Level 4 Body Tempering Realm, equivalent to the peak of Nascent Soul cultivation. His body had become a living artifact, a perfect blend of destruction, adaptation, and rebirth.

Even as this internal transformation occurred, the tribulation above continued to rage.

Thunder fell without end, shattering the skies, splitting the seas. When it finally cleared, Lu Fan stood amidst ruins.

The once lush island was reduced to rubble. The ocean-sized lake had receded, its level drastically lowered. The island's spiritual vein, however, had survived—thanks to the Sunfire buried beneath. But it too had changed.

Having absorbed enormous amounts of thunder energy, the spiritual vein evolved. In its heart, a Thunderflare Spiritual Tree took root and blossomed—its trunk glowing with golden lightning veins, its leaves shimmering with solar fire.

This miraculous tree didn't just survive the tribulation—it elevated the spiritual vein to Level 4, making it one of the rarest and most potent cultivation lands in the mortal realm.