Chapter 76: Nascent Soul? No — a Nascent Star!
The sight of the Fang Clan Cultivators being called out by name, one by one, and blasted into ash by heavenly lightning was simply too staggering to behold.
Heishan and Chifeng froze in mid-air, their furry faces written over with pure bewilderment.
The scene that had just been filled with battle cries and Array Formation pillars of light was now utterly, completely silent.
"Old… old cat…"
Heishan held his giant bear form, his bear eyes going perfectly round. "Did I just see things? What in the world just happened?"
Chifeng said nothing. His own mind was struggling to catch up.
But the two demons snapped back to their senses quickly — now was not the time to stand around in a daze! Si Chen was still floating there, motionless!
The tribulation clouds above had dispersed, but who could say whether a few more bolts might not suddenly come crashing down? Si Chen's current state could not withstand any disturbance whatsoever.
"To hell with it!"
Heishan let out a low growl, his massive bear body stepping without hesitation in front of Si Chen, thick fur trembling in the wind. "If lightning's coming, it strikes me first!"
Chifeng's silhouette flashed, and he took up position to Si Chen's left while Heishan stood to the right, the two of them flanking Si Chen between them. Demon energy surged skyward as they scanned the heavens with sharp vigilance.
They were fully prepared to take the tribulation lightning head-on.
But after waiting for a long while, the sky above was a clear, washed blue — not a single bolt of lightning, not even a wisp of cloud.
It was perfectly sunny, peacefully serene.
As if the Heavenly Dao that had just wiped out the entire Fang Clan was a split personality that had since retreated back into hiding.
* * *
Li Tiezhu, crouched behind a boulder, was trembling so hard from the tribulation lightning that his legs had gone weak — but that didn't stop the furious internal monologue raging in his head.
He had figured it out now.
This tribulation lightning, Damn it, had its own opinions!
This tribulation lightning, Damn it, had its own allegiances!
"Damn System!"
He screamed inwardly: "What — what is going on?!"
[Analyzing: Unable to analyze.]
[Assessing: Unable to assess.]
[Speculating: …The behavior of the World Will, acting on survival instinct.]
"Speak plainly!"
[It doesn't want to die.]
Li Tiezhu: "……"
* * *
At this moment, Si Chen was immersed in a wondrous state.
The strange core within him — forged from the fusion of his star's origin and the power of Yang Thunder — was undergoing a breathtaking transformation.
When an ordinary Cultivator condenses the Nascent Soul, the Golden Core transforms into a tiny infant-shaped figure.
But his Golden Core showed no sign of becoming an infant. Instead, it was evolving toward a familiar form…
The embryonic shape of a star on the verge of ignition!
Blazing white flames burned at its core, and violet-gold lightning serpents danced across its surface — beautiful, yet terrifyingly dangerous.
It was far too unstable. Wild, violent energy slammed around inside it like a balloon being inflated past its limit.
If this thing exploded, Si Chen's physical body would be reduced to ash in an instant.
For him personally, it would be nothing more than an unpleasant experience of losing a vessel.
But for this world, for Heishan, Chifeng, and Red Bean outside, for his parents and family in the distance, for the young man back in Danding City tending his iron cauldron… it would be nothing short of total annihilation.
He could not allow that to happen.
After a short while of contemplation, his consciousness sank into a deeper layer… that consciousness space belonging to his very origin.
There, time held no meaning, and space had no boundaries. A blazing sun slowly emerged, radiating boundless light.
That was the starting point of his existence — a condensed reflection of billions of years of stellar life.
But this time, Si Chen gazed upon his past self and slowly closed his eyes.
From the moment the singularity was born, the origin had transcended the constraints of any single form, breaking through the dimension of time.
It existed in the burning past, and it lay hidden in the devouring future.
He was both a star and a black hole.
When he opened his eyes again, what floated before him was no longer that blazing sun — it was a deep, silent black hole from which not even light could escape!
When he had formed his Golden Core, he had drawn upon a thread of power belonging to his "past" — the power of a star.
And now…
Si Chen did not hesitate for even a moment. His consciousness reached into the deepest part of that black hole, touching the singularity at its heart, and carefully, delicately, drew out a single thread of origin power belonging to his "future" — the state of a black hole.
That thread of power was pitch-black and ice-cold.
Holding that tiny sliver of origin power, he withdrew from the depths of his consciousness, then gently infused it into the restless, churning "embryonic star."
A wondrous change occurred.
The rampaging energy that had been crashing about in every direction — the moment it touched that ice-cold black hole origin — immediately settled down.
On one side, blazing flames straining desperately outward; on the other, gravity pulling relentlessly inward.
Rather than clashing, these two forces interlocked like gears, fitting together with seamless precision.
You push out a little, I pull back a little. You blaze blindingly bright, I sink into profound darkness.
One releasing, one drawing in. One giving birth, one extinguishing. A perfect equilibrium achieved.
Past and future, beginning and end — in this moment, they formed a perfect closed loop.
The restless "embryonic star" stabilized completely. Its radiance turned inward, its form fixed, the risk of explosion gone entirely.
He could feel it clearly — his physical body had successfully advanced, and his level of life had made a tremendous leap.
What now floated within his Elixir Field was no longer a Golden Core — but neither was it a Nascent Soul in any traditional sense.
Nascent Soul? No… perhaps it should be called… a "Nascent Star"?
What hovered there was unmistakably a small, supremely stable, slowly rotating miniature sun, radiating warmth and boundless power.
But Si Chen furrowed his brow slightly.
He had successfully drawn in the black hole origin to achieve balance — by all rights, he should be able to sense that force of returning to stillness. So why did he perceive only the pure aura of "life" before him?
The instant that thought surfaced…
The radiance at the core of the stable miniature sun rapidly contracted. The warm aura vanished without a trace, replaced by a dark, devouring coldness that swallowed everything.
In the span of a single thought, it had transformed into a miniaturized black hole — one that seemed capable of pulling in even Divine Sense!
Si Chen was genuinely surprised. Two forms, freely switchable at will?
This was… exactly like his own origin.
He willed it again, and the black hole transformed back into a warm miniature sun. He cycled through the switch several more times — effortless, fluid, perfectly harmonious.
Feeling the unprecedented balance and power within him, Si Chen was suddenly struck by a deep sense of something, and he looked up toward a certain point in the void, cupping his hands in a gentle bow:
"Thank you for your help this time."
From somewhere unseen, a gentle impression seemed to drift back — carrying a hint of relief, and a touch of "please, no need to stand on ceremony, elder" — before quietly fading away.
Si Chen couldn't help but smile. "Elder"?
What an interesting existence.
* * *
Above the Demon-Subduing Sea.
Si Chen's eyelashes fluttered, and he slowly opened his eyes.
"Brother!"
"Si Chen!"
Almost the instant his eyes opened, Heishan and Chifeng sensed it and immediately crowded forward, four eyes sweeping anxiously over him from head to toe.
"Are you alright?"
"What happened just now? Nearly scared me to death!"
"I'm fine." Si Chen looked at their worried expressions and smiled. "The process of condensing the Nascent Soul… was just a little unusual."
"It worked?"
Heishan's eyes lit up, then he scratched his head and circled Si Chen twice, muttering in his gruff voice, "Strange — feels like you're definitely in the Nascent Soul Stage, but somehow… it's different from other Nascent Souls."
Chifeng nodded as well, a matching puzzlement in his tiger eyes. The realm was right, but something felt off — he just couldn't put his finger on exactly what.
Si Chen thought for a moment, trying to find an appropriate way to put it. "Well… the path I took might have been a little… unconventional."
Heishan scratched his head. "Unconventional? How unconventional? Don't tell me your Nascent Soul came out shaped like a ball?"
Si Chen: "……"
He was silent for a moment, then decided to skip past the topic entirely.
* * *
In the distance, Li Tiezhu watched Si Chen wake up safe and sound, laughing and chatting with the two demon kings, and the heart that had been lodged in his throat finally sank back down where it belonged.
"Phew… nearly scared this young master to death." He patted his chest and plopped down onto the ground, only now noticing that his back was soaked through with cold sweat.
He wiped the nervous sweat from his brow, then launched into another internal tirade: "Damn System, completely useless when it actually matters! Besides lending money and talking trash, what else can you even do?"
[……]
For once, the System had no retort, as if it had gone offline.
"Hey? Playing dead again?"
Li Tiezhu called out a couple more times, but the System remained utterly unresponsive.
He rolled his eyes, just about to continue his complaints, when a voice suddenly sounded beside his ear, carrying a note of curiosity:
"Oh?"
Li Tiezhu's entire body went rigid. He snapped his head up.
Si Chen was standing right beside him — no one knew when he had appeared — and was looking him up and down with interest.
"You're that… Immortal Emperor?"