Chapter 42: First Breakthrough

Chapter 42: First Breakthrough

42

First Breakthrough

I

As Hao Zhen pondered the matter of the color of his soul, a few possibilities occurred to him. The first theory he considered was that Tian Jin was right, and that the color of his soul was indeed related to his transmigrationto the fact that his soul had come from another world. Why thatd make his soul darker, he didnt know, but it didnt surprise him that his soul was different from everyone elses.

That wasnt the sole possibility, however. There was a chance that the color of his soul had nothing to do with his transmigration. Maybe it meant that he had a high affinity for darkness, or something along those lines.

From what he had seen so far, cultivators and cultivation as a whole werent divided into evil and good, righteous and wicked, or even orthodox and unorthodoxor, at least, he hadnt seen those labels being used. On the other hand, cultivation methods and spiritual skills were derived from heavenly laws, and there were definitely heavenly laws of a darker nature, so having a darker soul could mean he had an affinity for such laws. Considering his spiritual skill had to do with puppetry, something usually associated with villains, and the cultivation method he had had the greatest affinity with so far was the Drifting Moonlight Method, which was associated with the night, he felt that there was some weight to that theory.

Of course, another explanation could be that individuals with poor aptitude for cultivation had dimmerand, as such, darkersouls. To start with, he didnt even know if it was his soul that was darker than normal, or if Tian Jins and Lan Yues souls were lighter than everyone elses. Based on what Tian Jin said, his soul was the odd one, but he wasnt certain how much attention the other boy had paid to other peoples souls before, so Hao Zhen would really only be able to confirm this once they came across someone else.

Chances were, however, that the darker color of his soul was indeed related to his transmigration. After all, if having a darker soul was indeed related to having an affinity with certain heavenly laws or having poor aptitude for cultivation, Tian Jinwho grew up in a magical clanwould have probably known about it.

Beyond that, there was also the question of whether his soul had always been this color, or if it had darkened after he regained his memories. He couldnt recall noticing anything odd about his soul before, but he believed that even if he had, he was still a Woven at the time, so if the Weave didnt want him noticing anything odd about his soul, he wouldnt have.The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

He did try recalling instances in which he had looked at his soul and spiritual aura before. He remembered doing so quite often in his first few days in the sect, as back then, cultivation had still been a novelty to him. However, even though, as a cultivator, he could recall memories much more clearly than a graysoul, he couldnt recreate his memories in his minds eye with enough vividness to determine whether the color of his soul had been different back then. Depending on whether his soul had always been this dark or had only become this way recently, he would be able to draw some conclusions about the color of his soul and his status as an Unweavable. Unfortunately, he had no way of ascertaining this at the moment.

Hao Zhen sighed. All he could do for now was keep an eye out in the future for others with a darkeror lightersoul. He would also try to get his hands on a cultivation method associated with darkness laws to ascertain if his darkness-affinity theory was correct.

It didnt sit well with him to simply set a matter like this aside. His soul was quite literally the core of his existence, so it being anomalous in any way was most certainly a cause for grave concern. However, pondering this matter any further would be a waste of timetime he could spend doing more productive things.

In any case, it was a good thing Tian Jin had had the forethought to tell him about it secretly. If having a dark soul was indeed associated with something evil or dark, and Tian Jin didnt know about it, but somehow Lan Yue knew, that was something Hao Zhen would rather be kept a secret. Considering Tian Jins surprising show of discretion just now, it seemed like the other boy had recognized that he had accidentally given away what was likely Lan Yues greatest secret and had developed some tact because of that.

Pushing all thoughts about his soul to the back of his head, Hao Zhen glanced at Tian Jin and Lan Yue. The two of them were sitting cross-legged on their cultivation cushions with their eyes closed, most likely cultivating. Deciding to follow their example, he channeled his spiritual power into his spatial ring and took out a pill flask filled with third-order red-grade cultivation pills. Lan Yue had recommended starting with the lower-order pills first to get used to absorbing their spiritual power before moving on to higher-order ones.

Although Hao Zhen didnt know for certain, he believed that he was already approaching the second level. Most likely, hed only need another two or three third-order red-grade cultivation pills to pull it off. A single fourth-order cultivation pill would also do the trickin fact, from what he understood, hed be able to assimilate more spiritual energy from it than even four or five third-order pillsbut he wanted to get used to the third-order ones first.

It was fortunate that he was already so close to breaking through to the second level; otherwise, he wouldnt be able to benefit at all from the increase in spiritual power. A cultivator couldnt use all of their spiritual powerinstead, they were limited by their spiritual output, which determined how much of their spiritual power a cultivator could utilize. A cultivators spiritual capacityhow much spiritual power a cultivators crux emanatedincreased gradually, as it was determined by the density of the cultivators crux. Spiritual output, on the other hand, only increased when the cultivator broke through to the next level.

Even though Hao Zhen was close to breaking through to the second level, and as such was closer in terms of spiritual power to a second-level redsoul than a first-level, he still only had the spiritual output of a first-levelthe same spiritual output he had back when he became a cultivator. Only by reaching the second level would his spiritual output double, allowing him to fully take advantage of his increased spiritual power.

Without hesitation, Hao Zhen took another third-order cultivation pill.

He found absorbing the second pill distinctly harder than absorbing the first one. There was no change in difficulty when it came to chanting and guiding, but since his crux was now slightly denser, assimilating the spiritual energy was harder. However, this confirmed that he was close to breaking through, so Hao Zhen persevered, galvanized by the possibility of advancement.

After taking another spiritual recovery pill, Hao Zhen popped a third third-order cultivation pill. By this point, his mind was almost completely worn-out, but he went through with it anyway. He could still handle another cultivation session.

Just like before, he began guiding the spiritual energy released by the pill and assimilating it into his crux. Unlike when he had absorbed the previous two pills, however, after he was done assimilating a portion of spiritual energy, he suddenly felt his crux shift. A shiver ran through him, and he heard, in his mind, a clear, ringing sound.

Hao Zhen may have never advanced to a new level before, but he was fairly certain he had just experienced a breakthrough.

Hao Zhen willed his spiritual power into action, and he felt all of itinstead of merely a portion, as he had grown used toanswer his call, his spiritual output now matching his spiritual capacity.

Opening his eyes, Hao Zhen looked around him. Although it was subtle, he could tell that his vision was sharper, clearer. The sound of the waterfall felt louder, but at the same time, so did the beating of his heart, and he could separate the two soundsas well as any other soundsbetter. He was also much more aware of his clothes, feeling the fabric of his robes resting against his skin. The musty, earthy scent hanging in the air felt sharper, and he was confident that his sense of taste had also been improved.

Not to mention Hao Zhen glanced down at his arms, closing and clenching his fists. He could feel the powerthe strengththat lay in his body. Strength, speed, and durability had all been doubled, and the same went for many of his other physical attributes. His exhaustion was also gone, his mental stamina back at its peak. The same went for his spiritual stamina.

Hao Zhen smiled to himself. He had known that all of these things would happenthat hed suffer all of these changesupon breaking through. Knowing something and directly experiencing it were completely different things, however. The only other time in his life he had felt something similar was when he became a cultivator, and although what he was feeling right now wasnt quite at the same level as what he had felt back then, it came close.

The only thing that was missing was the expulsion of impurities that usually happened when cultivators broke through in cultivation novels. Then again, considering cultivation in this world only had to do with the soulthe body only being empowered because of the souls spiritual aurathe lack of impurity expulsion wasnt that surprising.

Tomorrow, Hao Zhen decided, hed see about exploring the new limits of his body. Right now, however Hao Zhen took out a flask with third-order cultivation pills from his spatial ring. As both his mental and spiritual stamina had fully recovered with the breakthrough, he figured hed cultivate some more.