The Transmigrator’s Cultivation

Arc 21: Breaking Through The Nascent Soul Stage | Chapter 393: Entering The Stage

As before, the dark door was exactly the same, and many puppet beasts emerged from it.

Yun Lie extended his hand with a flick, not even glancing at them, and collected the numerous puppets and crystal plates. He then stood still, waiting.

Before long, the scene changed, and the second round began.

Yun Lie flicked his fingers, and several sword intents surged forth, obliterating the puppet beasts into fragments.

Following quickly were the third and fourth rounds. In each round, Yun Lie barely needed to make any significant movements; just releasing a bit of sword intent was enough to annihilate all the puppet beasts!

After being questioned by an aged voice, Yun Lie advanced into the fifth round.

Before him stood two identical young men.

Their appearances were ordinary, with no fluctuations in aura, making it impossible to sense even a trace of true essence within them.

They seemed just like the most common mortals, obstructing the way ahead.

Yun Lie’s expression remained unchanged, a cold killing intent swirling around him.

These two puppet men were significantly stronger than all the puppet beasts before.

However, they still did not warrant the value of him drawing his sword.

Just then, the puppet men moved!

Their figures were quick, as fast as two illusory shadows, almost instantaneously flanking Yun Lie from the left and right.

Yun Lie’s movement was even faster. At the moment they struck with their palms as blades, aiming to stab into Yun Lie’s body, he had already vanished several steps away!

The two men’s palm blades barely pierced Yun Lie’s afterimage.

These two puppet men both possessed peak Golden Core Stage cultivation, their movements were erratic, resembling two malevolent spirits, fierce yet cunning.

Yun Lie slightly tilted his body, and the two puppet men each had a large hole torn through their chests. Yet, they seemed oblivious, moving faster and striking harder!

They had chosen the wrong target—unless their cores were destroyed, the puppet men were unafraid of pain.

Yun Lie naturally understood this principle; having fought countless battles, he wouldn’t need to engage with them like this unless he was seeking their cores.

He then shattered the puppet men’s arms, abdomen, shoulder, and even their heads, yet all were in vain.

The inner workings of the puppet men were now mostly exposed, composed of countless small mechanisms intricately woven together, allowing their movements to mimic those of real people. However, within that giant web-like structure, the location of the core remained entirely hidden.

Where exactly was it?

After probing so many times, Yun Lie no longer hesitated. He systematically destroyed the puppet men, and finally, upon breaking the right leg of one puppet man, he found a recess near the hip, embedded with a mid-grade spirit stone. The other puppet man was the same.

This fifth round was thus completed.

However, there was no reward afterward. Yun Lie continued onward, and after only traveling a few paces, several figures lunged at him from ahead!

This time, the figures were even faster!

Yun Lie’s sword intent coalesced, gripped in his hand, and he shot forward like a sharp arrow, piercing through the encirclement of figures!

Simultaneously, the right legs of those figures shattered, sending them crashing to the ground—but unexpectedly, they did not cease their movements; instead, they sprang back up on their left legs.

The core was actually no longer in their right legs!

Meanwhile, on the other side, Xu Ziqing looked at the two white-clad puppet men ahead and furrowed his brows slightly.

He couldn’t discern their cultivation level—how should he respond?

Well, he would have to wait for them to make a move before taking action.

At that moment, Xu Ziqing took the initiative, tossing out seeds that quickly sprouted into numerous plants on both sides.

These plants transformed into several fierce beasts.

For the time being, each beast had the cultivation level of the mid-Golden Core Stage.

Xu Ziqing commanded, “Go.”

The green beasts instantly surged forward, charging toward the two puppet men!

But this time, it was far from as easy as the previous four rounds. Before the green beasts could reach the puppet men, the puppet men were already moving faster, almost tearing apart the two that approached them the moment they made contact.

The other green beasts rushed to surround them, but in a single exchange, they were also shattered.

The two puppet men then flew toward Xu Ziqing at an even faster speed, almost reaching him in an instant!

When they were only about three feet away, several thick vines shot out rapidly, striking the puppet men hard at their waists and tossing them aside.

The puppet men bent their legs and sprang back again!

While Xu Ziqing directed the vines to repeatedly fling the puppet men away, he also noticed that the two puppet men were becoming increasingly agile, as if they were adapting to the vines and could somehow seize the gaps in them. He clearly understood that the puppet men couldn’t possess intelligence or engage in thought, but at that moment, he couldn’t help but admire the craftsmanship of the one who created these puppets, as they could adapt to combat to such a degree!

He realized he could not rely solely on the vines to win, so he caused dozens of trees to sprout around him, which all transformed into fierce beasts. This time, they were almost equivalent to the cultivation level of the late Golden Core Stage, and they all roared as they charged toward the puppet men!

Even though Xu Ziqing had a strong foundation and his true essence, due to his legendary cultivation method, was indeed more robust than that of an ordinary Golden Core practitioner, after transforming so many slightly weaker fierce beasts, he had exhausted nearly ninety-nine percent of his true essence, leaving almost nothing in his dantian.

He did not dare to slack off, immediately swallowing several medicinal pills to replenish his true essence. At the same time, he noticed that while the green beasts could engage the puppet men in battle, they often needed to bite the same spot multiple times to break through the puppet men’s outer shell. The puppet men were very cunning; if the green beasts took too long to retreat after biting, they would be ensnared by the puppet men’s arms, and in the next moment, they would be crushed into scattered leaves and fragments.

With a slight sigh, Xu Ziqing continued to direct the green beasts to fight flexibly, while his right hand conjured a sapling that swiftly transformed into a black long sword.

The steel wood, refined over ten thousand years, combined with a sword technique he hadn’t used in a long time.

Perhaps he could give it a try.

Through this battle, Xu Ziqing realized many shortcomings of the green beasts. Although he had absorbed much experience from human-to-human combat, he had very little experience with beast combat. Despite having gained some from his previous struggles against the puppet beasts, it was still far from enough.

These puppet men were much harder to deal with than the puppet beasts.

Without further deliberation, Xu Ziqing’s figure swayed, and he moved like willow fluff in the wind, gliding away.

He raised the steel wood sword and stabbed it into the abdomen of one of the puppet men.

With this strike, he left no room for error.

Just like Yun Lie, Xu Ziqing understood that to destroy the puppet men, he must first obliterate their core to prevent them from functioning, thereby achieving victory.

But the location of the core was something he could only guess.

It was clear that this time, he guessed wrong.

Despite the large hole in its abdomen, the puppet man remained as agile as ever.

Xu Ziqing waved his hand, scattering a mass of seeds, creating a thicket, and transformed into a streak of light, moving freely within it.

The two puppet men were obstructed by the trees; wherever they passed, they smashed the trees to pieces. Yet, at that very moment, a strange sword light would shoot out from the back of the thicket, striking them in various locations and creating numerous holes.

Just as Yun Lie had sliced through the puppet man’s body multiple times with sword intent, Xu Ziqing also unleashed several sword lights, until he finally found a groove on the puppet man’s left leg, within which lay a mid-grade spirit stone.

After dealing with the two puppet men, Xu Ziqing retrieved the seeds and moved forward.

Similarly, he encountered the sixth trial, facing five puppet men, all at the late Golden Core Stage, surrounding him.

Xu Ziqing evaded using his escape technique and struck with his sword, moving in and out of combat.

However, this time it was even more difficult than before; the shells of those puppet men were incredibly hard. Although his steel wood sword had the advantage of being a treasured artifact, each thrust consumed a considerable amount of true essence to pierce through. Moreover, Xu Ziqing noticed that the cores of these puppet men were not located in the same place; thus, he had to shatter all of them to completely resolve the issue.

After exhausting his true essence once again, Xu Ziqing barely managed to pass the sixth trial.

During the seventh trial, the puppet men were all at the peak of the late Golden Core Stage, equivalent to Xu Ziqing’s realm. Even if their cultivation wasn’t as profound, their ghostly movements and agile, varied actions made Xu Ziqing suffer greatly.

In this instance, Xu Ziqing again summoned a vast expanse of trees, but the eight puppet men destroyed the thicket at an astonishing speed, making it difficult for him to react. His rate of summoning was gradually slowing down. At this rate, he feared he wouldn’t make it.

If he merely lost, it would be one thing, but these puppet men were not real people—who knew if they could really stop attacking? Even if he cried out “I concede,” who knew if it would have any effect? Xu Ziqing did not dare take the risk and had no choice but to use his last resort.

With a thought, a massive blood-red vine surged forth before him, resembling countless blood-colored tentacles, clawing and flailing, providing protection around him.

When Xu Ziqing first entered the path of immortality, he had been somewhat apprehensive of Rongjin’s murderous aura. However, over the years, he had become inseparable from Rongjin and felt nothing but joy towards it.

Rongjin was also very affectionate towards Xu Ziqing. After being dormant for many days, it was finally released and danced with glee.

“Mother, mother! Kill, kill, kill—”

Xu Ziqing couldn’t help but smile wryly. Though Rongjin had matured, its spirit still remained as it always had, making him feel both amused and helpless.

But this was not the time for affection. He quickly transmitted his thoughts: “Rongjin, behave! Smash those puppets!”

Rongjin twisted its body, instantly becoming thicker and growing several more feet in length.

It charged forward joyfully, swaying left and right, quickly surrounding all the puppet men in the center, while a few vines still protected Xu Ziqing, preventing him from being harmed by outsiders.

Now, Rongjin’s hardness surpassed that of ordinary treasured artifacts, even rivaling high-grade artifacts. Its strength was immense; with a single whip, it cracked one puppet man open with several seams!

Such ability was much lighter compared to Xu Ziqing’s previous struggles with the steel wood sword.

Soon, dozens of vines transformed into a cascade of vine shadows, striking the puppet men in succession, ensuring they could not approach Xu Ziqing. If one strike didn’t break them, it would follow up until the puppets were smashed into pieces and could no longer move before stopping.

Some puppet men rushed quickly and managed to dodge many of the vines, coming close to Xu Ziqing, facing him directly.

However, as they approached, the nearby vines silently ensnared them and tossed them back into the vine shadows, where they were struck until they were thoroughly battered.

In no time, all eight puppet men were broken and could barely move.

Rongjin carefully inserted one of its vines into the wide-open chest cavity of a puppet man, lingering for a moment before reluctantly withdrawing. “Mother, mother… no, no eating, eating…”

Translator: Lynn

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

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