The Transmigrator’s Cultivation

Arc 21: Breaking Through The Nascent Soul Stage | Chapter 392: Path

After collecting the divine water, the two exited the pool.

Once they stood firm, Yun Lie released his grip, and Xu Ziqing stood beside him.

Now that they had what they needed, it was time to return.

However, the ruin was still closed, so how could they exit?

Xu Ziqing swept his consciousness around and found no signs of any exit. He frowned slightly and said, “Shixiong, we can’t get out now.”

Yun Lie pondered for a moment and replied, “It must be due to the branching paths.”

Xu Ziqing thought for a moment and agreed.

Each of those branching paths had someone enter; they likely had some encounters, and if those weren’t completed, they probably couldn’t leave. But he wondered whether those individuals would return to the main hall after exiting the branching paths or if they would be sent directly out of the ruin… If it was the former, that would be fine; if it was the latter, waiting here would be pointless.

After considering this, Xu Ziqing said, “I fear we also have to enter through a branching path.”

Yun Lie nodded slightly, “Let’s take separate paths.”

Xu Ziqing sighed, “It can’t be helped.”

There were still two branching paths remaining that had yet to disappear. It seemed this ruin forcibly required all who came here to enter at least once.

With no other choice, the two brothers had to follow the rules.

Xu Ziqing shook his head and smiled, “Well, who knows? This might bring some unexpected good fortune.”

After exchanging a few words, without any further pretense, they both swayed and appeared at the entrances of different branching paths.

Xu Ziqing turned to glance at his shixiong one last time before focusing his mind and stepping into the path.

Inside the branching path, it was very bright, almost indistinguishable from daylight.

It wasn’t narrow; rather, it resembled a regular room, and no visible road could be seen.

But Xu Ziqing remained vigilant because, just ahead, two ferocious beasts lay motionless on the ground, their eyes flickering with light as if they were brewing something.

On the nearby stone wall, a few lines of sharp characters leaped out, deeply engraved into the wall, exuding a powerful, oppressive aura.

This could not be ignored.

While Xu Ziqing guarded against the beasts, he quickly swept his consciousness over the writing.

After reading it, he felt an immense shock.

It turned out this ruin had been left behind by a loose immortal, who was the 238th generation sect master of the Qianqu Wanpai Sect.

As the name suggests, the Qianqu Wanpai Sect was a faction known for its skills in crafting and controlling puppets. The core disciples inherited a technique called the “Hundred Refinements Puppet Scripture,” and the puppets they created were extremely powerful, yet rarely shared with outsiders. Occasionally, lower-level puppets would circulate, causing quite a stir and drawing many cultivators, sometimes even fetching high prices at auctions.

For a long time, the Qianqu Wanpai Sect had been at the peak of their power. Although they were merely a third-tier immortal sect, no one dared to provoke them.

However, many years ago, a significant event occurred in the world where the Qianqu Wanpai Sect was based.

—Indeed, this Qianqu Wanpai Sect did not belong to the Qianyuan World but was supposed to exist in another realm within the Jiucheng World.

It was said that after a cataclysmic change in that world, many factions sacrificed numerous esteemed loose immortals and powerful beings to preserve their legacies. They collaboratively crafted a secret treasure of ruins, sealing it away, tearing open spatial rifts, and traversing spatial storms to cast it into other major worlds. The aim was to select carefully, leaving behind a legacy so that their sect’s essence would not be lost and to plant seeds for the sect’s revival. However, the details of that major event were not elaborated upon.

It was only mentioned that there were nine checkpoints here; after passing all of them, one could enter the Hall of Legacy and obtain the ruin treasures of the Qianqu Wanpai Sect. Moreover, rewards would be granted for each checkpoint cleared, ensuring that challengers wouldn’t return empty-handed. However, should one fail, they would be expelled from the ruin and could no longer stay.

After reading this, Xu Ziqing looked back at the two ferocious beasts.

At this moment, he realized that although they appeared lifelike, they were not truly ferocious beasts but rather a type of mechanical puppet.

He recalled that during his time at the Wuling Immortal Sect, he had once ridden a black eagle puppet. From a distance, that puppet looked quite realistic, but once he sat on it, he immediately sensed something was off. These two, however, were different; upon closer inspection, even their fur was incredibly detailed, making it hard to distinguish them.

The fact that he could perceive this now was merely because he had already known they were false and had detected that there was no life force within them, allowing him to be sure.

The lights in the eyes of the puppet beasts grew brighter and brighter, and Xu Ziqing understood that they were about to attack him.

Taking a deep breath, he moved his fingers, causing several seeds to drop to the ground.

Immediately, the plants began to grow rapidly and transformed into two ferocious beasts amidst a green light, their four legs pounding the ground as they pounced toward the puppet beasts!

At the same time, the puppet beasts let out a fierce roar and also lunged forward.

In an instant, the four beasts began to attack and tear at each other.

Xu Ziqing simultaneously operated the “Ten Thousand Trees Spirit Transformation Technique” while carefully observing the two puppet beasts.

He noticed their movements were extremely agile, showing no signs of hindrance. They radiated a surging spiritual power, robust like a cultivator in the early stage of Golden Core.

This led him to infer that these puppet beasts must have spirit stones embedded within them, thus differing from the demon essence in actual beasts.

After watching for a moment without delay, he decided to channel an additional ten percent of his true essence into the plant beasts. This enhanced the strength of the two green beasts significantly. Seizing an opportunity, they quickly leaped onto the back of a puppet beast and violently bit through its neck!

Just like a living creature, the puppet beast struggled violently but gradually quieted down, its entire body shattering into fragments.

Among the fragments was a low-grade spirit stone, emanating wisps of spiritual energy.

Xu Ziqing retracted the green beasts and couldn’t help but draw in a sharp breath.

It was no wonder he was so astonished; earlier, he had only felt that the puppet beast’s appearance was realistic, but now he discovered that this puppet beast, which equated to a Zhenren in the early stage of Golden Core, required only a single low-grade spirit stone to move so nimbly in battle and evade for such a long time… A quick probe of his consciousness revealed that the low-grade spirit stone still contained over half of its spiritual energy!

This clearly indicated that a single low-grade spirit stone could sustain the actions of such a puppet beast for nearly half an hour.

No wonder the Qianqu Wanpai Sect was held in such high regard!

Having passed this first checkpoint, Xu Ziqing truly startled himself.

Immediately after, a “ka ka” sound echoed.

He turned to look and saw that a hidden door had opened in the wall, slowly revealing itself.

Then came a series of footsteps. From the dark door emerged twenty more puppet beasts, all at the early stage of Golden Core, each no less formidable than the first two.

However, these twenty puppet beasts were not enemies. They stood in front of Xu Ziqing in unison, and the leading one held a sign in its mouth. With a “poof,” it spat it into Xu Ziqing’s hands.

Xu Ziqing probed with his consciousness and immediately understood a hand seal that could control these puppet beasts.

From now on, if he wanted to control these puppet beasts, he only needed to let a drop of blood from his fingertip fall onto the top of the beast’s head and then inject a thread of his consciousness. With a hand seal, he could make it recognize him as its master. It was truly quite convenient.

With Xu Ziqing’s current cultivation level, these puppet beasts were not very useful to him, so he simply stored them away for future use.

After the twenty puppet beasts disappeared, the entire room instantly transformed and grew significantly larger.

At this moment, the ferocious beasts in front had increased to four.

Each one still possessed the strength of the early stage of Golden Core.

Having learned from the previous battle, Xu Ziqing remained calm and unhurried this time.

He raised his hand, and four green beasts appeared before him, their size and true essence slightly superior to the puppet beasts.

Then, the chaotic battle resumed, with fierce clashes all around.

Thanks to Xu Ziqing’s prior calculations, the puppet beasts were soon overwhelmed and killed by the green beasts.

This time, when the hidden door opened again, forty more puppet beasts emerged, each carrying a crystal token and a specific hand seal.

These puppet beasts were not much different from the previous twenty; perhaps the refining methods were slightly different, but their strength was equal. They also required only one low-grade spirit stone to operate, though the materials used in their construction were likely more durable and less prone to damage.

Xu Ziqing collected them once more to face the third challenge.

Now, the puppet beasts had advanced to four with the strength of the mid-stage Golden Core.

This made them significantly more formidable than before, but Xu Ziqing, having reached the pinnacle of the late-stage Golden Core, found his true essence sufficient. He could summon powerful green beasts once more to take down those puppet beasts.

He successfully harvested thirty-six puppet beasts with mid-stage Golden Core strength.

For the fourth challenge, he faced four puppet beasts with late-stage Golden Core strength.

Xu Ziqing expended a large portion of his true essence, creating more than ten green beasts of equal cultivation to eliminate those puppet beasts.

If it weren’t for his remarkable legendary technique, which allowed fifty percent of the true essence used to return after his green beasts were defeated, he likely would have run out of true essence entirely, necessitating the use of other methods.

Fortunately, the rewards were substantial, yielding sixteen puppet beasts at the peak of late-stage Golden Core strength.

By this time, the fifth challenge had yet to appear.

A solemn voice echoed in the room: “Will the challenger continue to accept the trial?”

Xu Ziqing knew that if he declined, he would be teleported out.

However…

After the previous rounds, where the green beasts had fought against the puppet beasts, he felt as though he had gained considerable experience in beast combat, which would greatly enhance his ability to use the “Ten Thousand Trees Spirit Transformation Technique” technique. If he continued, not only could he possibly obtain treasures from the Qianqu Wanpai Sect, but the insights and experience gained would also be worthwhile.

He had no reason to hesitate, and as a proud man, he would never back down!

Thus, without much consideration, Xu Ziqing replied directly: “Yes, I will continue to accept the trial.”

The voice responded, “You have two hours to adjust, then proceed to the fifth challenge.”

Xu Ziqing nodded and responded, “Thank you, I understand.” Afterward, he sat cross-legged, cultivating to recover the true essence he had just expended.

Two hours later, Xu Ziqing opened his eyes. In an instant, darkness engulfed his vision.

The once bright room had vanished, replaced by a one-zhang-wide path before him.

At the end of the path stood two figures clad in white.

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On the other side, on a different path.

Two puppet beasts with the same early-stage Golden Core strength, upon seeing the brightness in their eyes, immediately charged forward!

The man in plain clothes remained expressionless, then transformed into a fleeting shadow, silently passing through the two beast figures.

Behind him, the two puppet beasts exploded with a thunderous sound.

Translator: Lynn

Translations are not 100% correct. Please let me know if there are typos/mistakes in the chapter.

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