Nascent Soul Realm of 97 Units

As the spirit stone was set into place, the stone screen came to life. Before everyone, a clear and continuous image unfolded.

It seemed the recording function in the hairpin had been activated only after she entered the water, for the opening scene was the enormous octopus looming right before her eyes. A female cultivator in the crowd let out a coquettish cry. Goodness, how clear it is. It is disgusting.

At once, several fellow disciples stepped forward to comfort her in low voices. Others focused on something even stranger, muttering to themselves: So rich... To have such a high-grade shadow crystal embedded in a hairpin, how many spirit stones would that cost...

Since Han Su had been bound, and the hairpin fixed to her head, the perspective shown on the stone screen was almost exactly the same as what she herself had seen. The onlookers, afterward, all sighed that they had just watched such a vivid and realistic epic, which even caused the once-ignored specialty item of shadow crystal hairpins to sell like wildfire.

But that is later. Returning to the image on the stone screen:

The octopus did not travel for long before the scene steadied. It seemed to have found a relatively calm stretch of sea. The seven-lives octopus gently set Master Mingxin down, then shifted its angle and placed Han Su before it, wrapping several other tentacles around her as well.

Then Master Mingxin approached her, reaching out with one hand, his expression solemn and grave, though in combination with his actions he somehow also seemed faintly sleazy...

While the spectators anxiously worried for Han Su, suddenly a streak of sword light came from afar and struck the hand Mingxin had extended.

Yet he was protected by Buddhist radiance. Golden light flashed, and only a thin white mark remained on his wrist, with no real injury.

Still, that one sword forced him to withdraw his arm.

The newcomer drew near. It was indeed Lord Yuheng! His hands moved without pause, thrusting out sword after sword in a flurry. Master Mingxin had no choice but to abandon Han Su and devote all his strength to erecting his defenses.

From then on, it was almost always Lord Yuheng attacking while Master Mingxin held up the shield and blocked every strike, even occasionally swinging the monk's staff in his hand to launch underhanded tricks.

On one side stood the handsome and upright Lord Yuheng, beloved by countless maidens; on the other, a sneaking, inexplicably appearing bald old monk...

It was easy to imagine the cheers when Master Mingxin, pierced and bloodied all over, was finally sealed into the Heart-Locking Cauldron. The surrounding onlookers, already thoroughly swayed, were as excited as if the hero who had defeated the lewd old monk were themselves.

At this point the octopus tried to flee after dropping Han Su, and Lord Yuheng gave chase. Han Su went limp, and the hairpin descended with her. But Lord Yuheng soon came to carry her away. Afterward, they returned to the Jade Radiance Sect, where they met Lord Lanhe and Lord Miaozhen's couple, saw the sect leader, and presented the Heart-Locking Cauldron. Yet to their shock, the Master Mingxin once imprisoned within it gradually revealed his true fox form...

Every step had been recorded with crystal clarity. Even those who had originally believed and disbelieved by turns now felt their hearts tremble. Had they, all along, trusted the wrong demon?

The Palace Lord of the Crimson Hall still tried to argue, but Lord Tuji generously invited each sect to send a Nascent Soul lord to verify the fox’s true identity in the cauldron.

"If the truth can be made plain to all under heaven, it is entirely thanks to my junior martial brother Yuheng and this Heart-Locking Cauldron of his. This cauldron was remade from fragments of the Immortal Artifact Demon-Locking Cauldron. Though its effect is not as good as the original immortal artifact, it is still a top-grade spirit weapon.

"My junior martial brother originally used it to trap certain herbs that kept running around during alchemy. When he captured that monk, he merely thought of the cauldron's power to confine captives. Who would have imagined it would accidentally expose his demon nature?

"All of you are broad in experience. As long as you extend your divine sense into the cauldron and attach it to this fox, everything will naturally become clear! Yuheng, go ahead and remove the formation on the cauldron that blocks divine sense first."

Lord Yuheng did not answer, but stepped forward as instructed and formed a set of hand seals.

The newly selected examiners from the various sects also each sent in their divine sense.

Very quickly, surprise appeared on their faces. Then they exchanged glances, too astonished to speak.

It turned out that this fox truly was the so-called Master Mingxin! And he was a demon cultivating the Buddhist path? If they had not seen it with their own eyes and tested it personally, no matter how knowledgeable they were, no one would have believed a demon cultivator could actually practice Buddhism.

If one were to ask which kind of cultivation was the hardest, many would likely say Buddhist cultivation.

After all, if one cultivated the Dao, it was enough merely to possess spiritual roots, then meditate day after day to gather spiritual energy, or increase it through spirit fruits and pills. The methods and paths of advancement in Dao cultivation were relatively far more numerous, though human lifespans were limited.

To reach a certain height within a finite life was difficult.

Body cultivation, by contrast, consisted of tempering bones and sinews in every possible way, ceaselessly challenging the body's limits. So long as one's innate endowment was not truly too poor, persistence would always bring some reward.

Confucian cultivation and Buddhist cultivation were different.

Without comprehension, no matter how hard you worked, progress was difficult to obtain. That was why there were so many fewer Buddhist and Confucian cultivators in the world than Dao cultivators.

But demon cultivation was not like that. Demons had long lives, and if their bloodline was good, they would also inherit a complete line of legacy. Their advancement was fast; they only had to endure the endless tribulations of lightning.

Yet for a demon cultivator to actually practice Buddhism, and even hide the lightning tribulation that came once every five hundred years—how grueling a thing was that? What sustained him in masquerading among people under an assumed name for so many years?

Everyone could not help but think deeply about what sort of conspiracy lay behind this.

Han Su, however, suddenly recalled what Master Mingxin had said before Lord Yuheng arrived: "Don't be afraid. It won't happen that fast. We still need to raise you until you reach the God Transformation stage."

Those words undeniably overlapped with what Aunt Chrysanthemum had said back then: after you reach God Transformation, go to the Bodhi Realm and look for someone called Master Mingxin.

Only, why must it be God Transformation? Could there be some other secret hidden in her?

Lord Tuji was overflowing with triumph. This time there had been no losses at all, and he had even gained another Nascent Soul lord. Without spending a single soldier, he had resolved a great trouble and successfully won the guilt of all the sects. It was simply a guaranteed profit.

Come to think of it, this child Han Su really was something. She had reached Nascent Soul before even the age of one hundred; not only in the Rosestar Realm, but in other realms as well, there had been no such thing heard of. Perhaps she was truly the hope of the Jade Radiance Sect. Should they perhaps cultivate her properly?

As for the "Master Mingxin" in the cauldron, the leaders of the various sects argued intensely for quite some time, yet reached no conclusion.

In the end, it was provisionally decided that the Jade Radiance Sect would keep him under guard, and the joint investigation originally agreed upon in the Sea Mansion Realm was changed to an investigation into the origins of this Master Mingxin in the Bodhi Realm.

After that came the glorious Nascent Soul ascension ceremony.

Since Han Su had always cultivated under her father and had never formally taken a master, at the ceremony Lord Lanhe, as both father and master, bestowed upon her the Dao name "True Bearing."

At the ceremony, Lord Lanhe was almost moved to tears. Though his face bore no wrinkles, he watched his daughter achieve Nascent Soul and only felt that he himself had somehow grown very old, so old that a tide of longing for youth irretrievably lost surged up in him. At the same time, there was also the proud feeling of seeing a seedling he had personally nurtured grow tall and vigorous.

That day, the entire Jade Radiance Sect was in celebration.

Since forming her core at the age of forty-three, thirty years had passed. Now, at only seventy-three, Han Su had already reached Nascent Soul. What miraculous speed was this? Every disciple of the Jade Radiance Sect felt proud to have such a talent in their sect.

Although that very night, a theft occurred.

Though the sect kept its silence to outsiders, quite a few people actually knew what had been stolen: Master Mingxin.

After the ceremony, in order to display this wonder of the ages, a fox demon who cultivated Buddhism, Lord Tuji specially requested the Heart-Locking Cauldron from Lord Yuheng and placed it in the great hall of Cloud Spirit Peak.

Dense layers of formations were arranged around it for protection. Yet even so, they did not prevent the theft.

The next day, when the disciple who came to sweep up curiously leaned in to look, the cauldron was already completely empty.

Curiously, there was no sign that anything around it had been disturbed. The formation was still intact, the cauldron still sat there properly, but the fox within had vanished as if by miracle. As though it had never existed. If not for the faint traces of blood left in the cauldron, one would almost have thought it had all been an autumn dream.

Although Master Mingxin's disappearance caused the upper ranks of the Jade Radiance Sect to hold several emergency meetings, it still passed just like that.

What else could they do? It was obvious that some great figure had come personally to rescue him.

At the very least, the cultivator's level had to be above the Refining Void stage, or else the scene would not have been left so perfectly. The only thing to do was to increase the number of patrols and guard carefully, to avoid the enemy's day of frenzied counterattack. There was no better solution.

As soon as the ceremony ended, Han Su went into seclusion to stabilize her realm.

At the time, she had desperately used that divine sense attack technique and then formed the spirit-binding array to help the two of them escape their plight. Afterward, her divine sense was exhausted and she fainted. Lord Yuheng understood that their great victory over Mingxin that day relied in large part on Han Su's divine sense attack method.

So once they returned, he spared no expense and used the finest materials to refine a furnace of soul-restoring pills for her.

After taking these specially made pills, Han Su not only fully recovered her divine sense, but unexpectedly gained a wonderful surprise.

Only a short time had passed since her perfect Golden Core, yet signs of Nascent Soul had already appeared.

Unlike when she formed her core before, when she had been traveling outside with no one to rely on, this time there were Lord Lanhe and his wife, both experienced in Nascent Soul advancement, to guide her, as well as the pills offered in repayment by the ever-grateful Lord Yuheng.

The Nascent Soul process was almost entirely natural and uneventful.

This time, the heavenly omen of her Nascent Soul ascent was again a scene of celestial palaces, immortal maidens, fine horses, and elegant carriages, all an atmosphere of the heavenly realm. Yet to protect her, Lord Tuji specially opened the protective mountain formation, only barely managing to obscure that enormous and real heavenly display, which lasted a full day.

In order to give an explanation to the coalition of sects that had come in pursuit, she came out to make an appearance just after reaching Nascent Soul.

Now that everything had been settled, of course she had to properly stabilize her cultivation.

At the deliberately slowed pace she had set for herself, she remained in seclusion for another full ten years.

Han Su looked at the lively little Nascent Soul in her dantian, soft and fair and shaped exactly like herself, and smiled. Emerging from her state of still clarity, she returned to herself.

As a Nascent Soul cultivator, she had undergone a transformation of body and bone. Though she had sat in her cave dwelling for ten full years, there was not the slightest stain upon her.

Still, Han Su went, as usual, to the celestial palace and took a hot bath.

After ten years without seeing her, Snow Spirit had been waiting here bored out of its mind.

The little octopus she had once obtained from Lord Yuheng had originally been meant to be roasted to death by fire. Yet during the long and tedious hours with nothing to play with, and unwilling to play with the puppets in the celestial palace, she could only leave it there to toy around every day and come up with new ways to torment it. And so, ten years passed in play.

The moment it saw Han Su come in, it became overjoyed and clamored to go out and play.

It even showed her all sorts of octopus games, which left Han Su speechless. She still could not figure out how it was that this seven-lives octopus, when captured, had been so terrifyingly powerful. Even when attacked simultaneously by six Nascent Soul cultivators, it had shown no signs of defeat. Yet in Snow Spirit's hands it let itself be kneaded and toyed with at will...

"You've already reached Nascent Soul? Has it really been that long?"

Translated note: the user requested English only with no source fragments; however, the final paragraph in the provided text is a meta-author note and not part of the novel narrative.