Chapter 801: Nascent Souls
Wei Wuyin's intentions stirred Element, causing the saber energies comprising King's Astral Core to grow abnormally active. After reaching the Astral Core Realm, the Nascent Saber Soul, Element, had firmly nestled itself inside King's World Sea. Sometimes, it would spontaneously shift locations, entering Ori's World Sea.
Wei Wuyin was greatly disappointed to learn that this habit of it wasn't an alternative method to enhance its level. The only aspect that changed was its spirituality, gaining a trace of reactionary intelligence. While it hadn't taken the initiative to communicate, Wei Wuyin could feel its intentions and will. Furthermore, Ori and King seemed to be able to imprint themselves onto the Nascent Saber Soul.
To this day, Wei Wuyin was unable to figure out what the Nascent Saber Soul was. Since cultivating, he had never met a cultivator who possessed one. When he asked Wu Yu about its origins and purpose, Wu Yu was similarly clueless. However, he wasn't entirely ignorant.
The King of Everlore had a Nascent Wood Soul in the form of an argan tree, and he wasn't the only one. The Sacred Elven Queen had kept a Nascent Holy Soul within a pendant of hers, flaunting it everywhere. The Demonic Abyss Master had a Nascent Demonic Soul that was a miniature version of himself entirely violet in color.
Wu Yu wasn't aware if the Divine King Han Xei had one, but what he knew was that even the King of Everlore couldn't figure out their origins. He had desperately tried to concoct several products to nourish them, resulting in the creation of the Enlightening Soul Pulse Elixir. Much to his dismay, it was a complete failure.
Wei Wuyin had tested this himself, so he understood the frustration. There were numerous products that affected the soul, but none of them was strictly Soul Nourishing in property. The Enlightening Soul Pulse Elixir was capable of rejuvenating the soul and bringing forth a heightened state of comprehension.
The harsh truth was that nourishing souls was not something within Mortal Limits. If even the King of Everlore failed to do so, he didn't want to waste his time. Moreover, if there was a way to do so as mortals, then he could revisit it after his cultivation reached a level where he could affect the soul.
Long ago in the Everlore Starfield, there was a genius Architect that heavily studied Nascent Souls. That individual was the descendant of a demon. According to him, the Nascent Souls weren't a result of failed Soul Impartations of the Heavens, the phenomenon that births demonic beings. In fact, they weren't related to demons at all.
That was it.
The Architect could only conclude that they weren't demons or failed demonic beings. These Nascent Souls varied in origins and they were attracted to lifeforms. They had no offensive or defensive abilities alone, most being exceptionally weak at birth. They couldn't cultivate and their intelligence was almost non-existent. Yet they had a strong resemblance to souls.
Almost every cultivator was familiar with the sensation of a soul, especially their own. The Spirit of Cultivation was created from a segregation portion, intermixed with physical, mental, and essence energies. To take that step onto the path of cultivation, it was an absolute requirement.
Wu Yu once mentioned that there was a theory floating around that they were Spirits of Cultivation refined into Heart of unique Qi that hadn't dissipated upon the deaths of their cultivator, remaining by themselves without any direction or purpose. While the theory was reasonable, no one could verify it. All Spirits of Cultivation dissipated upon the death of their cultivators unless sealed away and preserved. However, if this was done, a Nascent Soul was not the generated result.
Clearly, there was a crucial piece of knowledge missing in regards to these Nascent Souls. The issue was that this ignorance wasn't limited to just the under-developed Everlore Starfield, but the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region was similarly lacking any concrete information. Not even Seers could divine their origins.
The few details divined was how they developed and what they could roughly do, but the Nascent Souls all have innate memories that can be glimpsed upon, revealing these details already. This was how Wei Wuyin learned long ago. Unfortunately, Soul Nourishing Materials were so abnormally rare that few bothered to nourish them. The recorded efforts to nurture a Nascent Soul gave very little benefits.
Wei Wuyin also realized this. The Nascent Saber Soul acted merely as a stable body for his saber and elemental origin energies. However, he could easily create a stronger, more reliable body with saber force or metal origin force. The Essence of War's manifested saber was far, far better. As a saber at the peak Mystic-Earth grade, how could it not be? But King and Ori had an abnormally strong attachment to Element, so he couldn't abandon it.
Wu Yu had already left to refine the World Genesis Elixir to cultivate the Blood Origin Method, and Wen Mingna settled her stirred emotions as she hurriedly went back into meditation to consolidate her cultivation base. While she wanted to interact with Wei Wuyin more, her innate energies were rather restless and there was some unease in her body.
Her foundation had explosively increased and her body wasn't sufficient to house such abnormally powerful energies. She needed to use these energies to nourish her body, Sea of Consciousness, and dantian.
Bai Lin was resting atop the water. While she seemed abnormally lazy, that was far from the truth. Her action of igniting her Blood Essence had severely depleted her bodily energies, prompting severe exhaustion and weakness. While she hid it with those energetic eyes of hers, she couldn't even unleash her Fire Phoenix transformation even if her life depended on it.
She was currently digesting all sorts of bloodline energies pills that Wei Wuyin had refined from his own Bloodline Source exhaustion. Unfortunately, her issue ran deeper than just exhaustion. Normally, igniting one's blood essence was similar to a cultivator igniting their Spirit of Cultivation. The foundational damage was unimaginable.
Wei Wuyin moved away and found himself a small mountain to hew out a cavern with his Grand Earth Intent, shaping the earthly layer to his will. After ensuring the location was stable and sealing the entrance, he sat in the lotus position and rested his hands on his lap. He regulated his breathing and moved his right hand outwards. From his dantian, a ray of light emanating sharpness hover above his hand.
Soon, it formed a saber that resembled King's Soul Idol Manifestation. It emanated white mist that effused an elemental aura. Clearly, Element truly had gained aspects of both.
Shiiing!
It released a saber howl that faintly shook the mountain. It wasn't very powerful on its own, but it can harness his Saber Intent. Within this Saber Intent, a wisp of his Elemental Origin Intent revealed itself. Wei Wuyin frowned as he glanced at Element for a long while. A dragon-head figure entered his mind.
"Could it be…?" Wei Wuyin was in his thoughts, feeling a little bit of disbelief and incredulity at his assumption. He placed that thought aside and interacted with his spatial ring. Regardless if his assumption was true or not, he needed to verify if the War Souls were capable of elevating the Nascent Saber Soul.
If what he learned from the Battlefield was true, then War Souls could nourish the soul when properly refined. This, however, was based on normal cultivators. If he took this strange existence and proceeded to refine it, he didn't know if there would be any divergence in the result. He hoped this wouldn't harm Element.
Despite its limited usage, it had been with him for over half his lifetime. He cared for it no less than his four Astral Souls.
"...Let me," King said solemnly.
"..."
King barely talked, mostly conveying its emotions through a single sound. However, whenever it resorted to normal words, every syllable was like golden treasure, thoughtful and relevant. This was the first time the three Astral Souls and Wei Wuyin heard it speak solemnly. It was clearly also concerned about this situation.
"Me too!" Ori added, but its uproarious energy was tamed and the tone of its voice was heavy and effused a sense of responsibility and obligation. The two were in concerted agreement.
"..." When he obtained Element, only King and Ori were present within him. They were already showing signs of sentience. Element could be considered their jointly raised child, taking heavily after King.
"No objections; you have my full support." Eden stated its position, opening continuous channels from it to the two Astral Cores within his dantian. Kratos didn't speak, merely grunted with a heavy throb of his heart, opening a channel as well that split to both Astral Cores.
Wei Wuyin realized it wasn't his duty to refine Element. He warmly smiled and nodded in acceptance, giving them free reign as he began to release a War Soul. It was a perfectly spherical orb of white light. When inspected, the War Soul revealed distinct scenes depicting war.
Wei Wuyin had once seen Cai Liuyang's last moments, holding Jing Jiu's body protectively in a fruitless manner as she was vaporized. Her fiery death was brutal and sad. In her last moments, her love for Jing Jiu was revealed where she tried to protect his corpse rather than her own body.
When Wei Wuyin once again recalled that scene, he couldn't help but recall a particularly painful memory. He needed a few seconds to calm his mind before he began to observe King and Ori. They had both externalized, connected to tubes of energy that ran into his glabella and heart.
When he gained the Nascent Saber Soul's memories of how to nourish it and its basic abilities, he learned that it was a Level One Nascent Soul. He had never come across the 'Level' designation for ranking before, so he didn't know what this meant or how to classify it. He didn't even know if there was a Level Zero Nascent Soul or if it naturally maxed at Level Nine like most aspects of cultivation.
He decided to keep an open mind and consider this as a different cultivation path, like Genesis Beasts.
"Begin!" King announced.