novelraw Chapter 190 : He Took One Look, and It Died
Chapter 190 : He Took One Look, and It Died
Chapter 190: He Took One Look, and It Died
Jiang Zhi held the Golden Alms Bowl in his right hand, gazing at the scene within. Even his left hand, hidden inside his sleeve, couldn’t help but tremble slightly.
He hadn’t expected that a problem which had no solution in everyone’s eyes could be so easily resolved by the young man before him.
Chu Huaixu had merely walked over and taken a glance—and that glance alone had resolved everything at the root.
This even made several people present feel a tingle on their scalp.
“If only Chu Huaixu had been born a few decades earlier… If only back then he…” Such thoughts surfaced in many minds.
Xiang Yan and the others knew very well—no one would be more affected by this scene than Little Martial Uncle.
Jiang Zhi looked up at the young man standing in front of him. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn’t form words for a moment.
Suddenly, he felt a blockage in his throat, and his heart was even more congested.
After a long silence, he finally spoke in a deep voice. “Chu Huaixu, do you know what this is?”
“A wisp of soul?” Chu Huaixu ventured.
“This is a Nascent Soul,” Jiang Zhi replied. “A so-called immortal and indestructible Nascent Soul!”
He raised the Golden Alms Bowl in his hand and continued, “This bowl is a top-grade spiritual artifact.”
“But that’s not the point. It’s merely a vessel. What truly matters are the many restrictions inside, the layers of formations, and this Stainless Holy Water of Rootless Pure Land.”
“That red stream you saw earlier was a soul seed of a Nascent Soul.”
“We can use various divine sense techniques to weaken it, resist it—but we can’t completely destroy the soul seed. All we can do is seal it with this method!”
“And that is why it’s said to be immortal and indestructible.”
Chu Huaixu was momentarily stunned upon hearing this.
In his heart, he thought, “Nascent Soul? That sounds so familiar…”
Now, he finally understood why Jiang Zhi had questioned him earlier.
The crux of the issue was this so-called soul seed.
“So, none of them could destroy it?” That was somewhat surprising to him.
Yet this soul seed had seemed so fragile in front of the Heart Sword.
The moment Chu Huaixu activated it, the soul seed had been obliterated.
He suspected that the key lay in the Rank.
The rank of the soul seed might be higher than everyone else’s divine sense, which was why they couldn’t destroy it.
But the rank of the Heart Sword was at least on par with it.
Even when Chu Huaixu used his divine sense, he couldn’t affect the Nascent Soul at all.
The unusual factor wasn’t him—it was the Heart Sword!
And after slicing apart this seemingly insignificant soul seed, the System once again rewarded him.
The reward was similar to the last time—increased Information Probe permissions, along with a slight enhancement of Chu Huaixu’s divine sense power.
Strangely, the System didn’t seem to regard this “Nascent Soul” as anything serious.
This could be inferred from the modest nature of the reward.
“Maybe it’s because the System’s rank is much higher, so it doesn’t even consider rank-related issues?”
“Because if rank is what truly matters, then this Nascent Soul really was absurdly weak,” Chu Huaixu speculated inwardly.
Jiang Zhi looked at the young man again and asked, “Chu Huaixu, do you know where that strand of Nascent Soul I held earlier came from?”
“This disciple does not know. I ask Little Martial Uncle Ancestor to enlighten me,” he responded immediately.
Clearly, this was going to be some explosive revelation!
And likely an earth-shattering one!
“It came from the fifth layer of the Origin Spirit Realm,” Jiang Zhi’s eyes turned sharp, his face tinged with remembrance and sorrow.
Worried that Chu Huaixu hadn’t fully understood, Xiang Yan explained:
“The place you’re about to enter is the first layer of the Origin Spirit Realm, only accessible to cultivators of the First Realm.”
“The second layer corresponds to cultivators of the Third Realm.”
“The third layer is for the Fifth Realm, and the fourth is for the Seventh Realm.”
When Chu Huaixu heard this and saw Xiang Yan had stopped talking, he asked, “So the fifth layer can only be entered by those of the Ninth Realm?”
Unexpectedly, the Sect Master shook his head, his tone turning heavier. “No. The fifth layer has no restrictions. Anyone can enter, and there’s no limit on the number of people. However, anyone below the Seventh Realm will explode the moment they step in.”
Chu Huaixu: “……”
That’s insane! Doesn’t that mean my useless Second Master, Chu Yinyin, would die the instant she stepped inside?
Thinking this, he glanced at the Old Girl.
The Old Girl immediately guessed what Chu Huaixu was thinking, and her round eyes widened in fury, shooting a glare at him like knives: What are you looking at!
“What’s wrong with the Sixth Realm? This lady can break through at any time!” she grumbled internally.
Besides that, Chu Huaixu had more realizations.
“So the Third Realm competition next year is actually a preparation for the second layer of the Origin Spirit Realm.”
“No wonder there are competitions only for the First and Third Realms—none for the Second Realm!”
“Turns out, this Origin Spirit Realm dungeon has strict level gating?”
He also picked up on something else:
“If we follow this timeline, then the opening of the fourth layer of the Origin Spirit Realm lines up with the death of my future First Master!”
“At the very least, it’s the same year!”
So, was this legendary female Sword Cultivator of the Seventh Realm, hailed as the strongest, killed inside there?
While Chu Huaixu's mind stormed with conjectures, Jiang Zhi once again looked deeply at the Golden Alms Bowl, now containing only the pristine Stainless Holy Water of Rootless Pure Land, and sighed heavily.
He set the bowl on the table.
Since Chu Huaixu had revealed yet another unique trait, it was time to reveal some of the Dao Gate’s secrets to him.
Besides, today’s purpose was to share some truth about the Origin Spirit Realm and the Heaven-and-Earth Calamity, so he could begin preparing early.
“Chu Huaixu, do you know why, from my generation of the Gentleman Temple, it seems only I, Jiang Zhi, remain on the surface?” he asked.
“This disciple does not know,” Chu Huaixu replied, ready to eat up all the drama.
“It’s because that year, all my senior brothers and sisters entered the fifth layer of the Origin Spirit Realm. I alone did not, as I was injured at the time.”
At that, he fell silent.
Chu Huaixu looked shocked and hesitated to speak.
“From your expression, I take it you’ve guessed,” Jiang Zhi gave a bitter laugh, his face twisted with pain.
“That day, only my Fifth Senior Brother came out from the fifth layer.”
“But when he came out, he was already mad.”
“And the reason he went mad was because of the Nascent Soul you just saw!”
“The immortal and indestructible Nascent Soul!”
“My Fifth Senior Brother used his own body and Sea of Consciousness to seal it within himself!”
…
…
Chu Huaixu hadn’t expected the fifth layer of the Origin Spirit Realm to be this perilous—with such a tragic ending.
The prestigious Dao Gate, one of the Four Great Sects of the Eastern Continent, had nearly lost an entire generation within?
And from Jiang Zhi’s following account, it was clear that this generation of Gentleman Temple disciples were all unparalleled geniuses.
Their combined strength could rival the true disciples of the Dao Ancestor himself.
Many were at least Eighth Realm, with several even in the Ninth Realm!
Jiang Zhi's revered Fifth Senior Brother had been terrifyingly powerful, with the potential to rival even the Second Generation Temple Master, Yan Shen.
And even so, they’d ended like this?
So many years had passed, and the Dao Gate still hadn’t recovered from the blow.
“So, only Jiang Zhi and a madman are left from that generation of Gentleman Temple disciples?” Chu Huaixu mused.
Based on what Little Martial Uncle Ancestor had described, he pieced it together.
Originally, that Nascent Soul had likely tried to possess a senior named Zhong Ming.
But he had managed to resist using some method, and forcibly sealed the Nascent Soul inside himself.
That soul seed was actually quite weak—but because its Rank was too high, no one could kill it.
The Dao Gate had labored for years to extract it from Zhong Ming’s body, and finally sealed it within the Golden Alms Bowl.
All these years, the Dao Gate had tried every possible method to destroy it—looking for ways beyond Baleful Aura—but all efforts had failed.
Until just a few minutes ago, when Chu Huaixu… looked at it—and it died.