Chapter 125: Forming The Soul

Long Feng sat cross-legged, his hands forming a cultivation seal.

The moment he activated his cultivation technique, the formation beneath the stone platform responded.

Buzz!

A faint vibration spread through the room. The countless formation lines carved into the floor and walls began glowing faintly.

At the center of the room, a huge formation slowly circulated.

The Soul Tempering Tower continuously drew soul energy from the surroundings, refined it through its enormous formation network, and then distributed it throughout the cultivation room.

What reached the disciples was no longer the extremely faint soul energy outside, but condensed into thin strands.

Just like spiritual energy in nature, soul energy and other forms of energy exist as well, but their quantity is much lower in comparison to spiritual energy.

Without a specific method, refining them is highly difficult and time-consuming.

Faint strands of soul energy slowly entered their bodies.

The moment the energy entered their spiritual seas, the disciples immediately felt a strange sensation.

Their spiritual seas began trembling. The originally somewhat turbulent spiritual power gradually became calmer and denser.

Layer after layer of refined soul energy merged into their spiritual seas.

The process was slow but it never stopped, continuous.

Long Feng could clearly sense the changes taking place inside him. His spiritual sea was enormous. Faint white spiritual energy continuously flowed through it, forming waves that spread across the vast space.

Every strand of refined soul energy entering his body was absorbed into the spiritual sea.

But instead of increasing his soul power’s quantity, he used this energy to make it for quantity. This way, his spiritual sea gradually became denser.

’So this is the effect of the Soul Tempering Tower.’

Long Feng silently observed the process.

He could feel that the soul energy wasn’t directly increasing his cultivation. Instead, it was constantly nourishing his spiritual sea.

Every wave became heavier. Every strand of spiritual power became more condensed. Even the boundaries of his spiritual sea gradually became more stable.

This was the foundation needed for forming a soul.

Long Feng remembered Elder Dong’s words.

The transformation from Golden Core to Nascent Soul wasn’t simply about increasing spiritual energy.

The spiritual sea itself had to undergo a fundamental transformation. It had to become dense enough to condense a true soul.

Days passed quietly, the entire cultivation room remained peaceful. More than a dozen disciples were immersed in cultivation.

No one spoke after that day, only the faint hum of the formations could occasionally be heard.

The formation lines continued circulating. Soul energy flowed through the room like an invisible tide.

For those who had remained at Peak Golden Core for many years, this process was especially effective. Their spiritual seas were already extremely close to the point of transformation. The tower was simply providing the final push.

Long Feng, however, was different.

He had only recently reached the Peak Golden Core Realm. His foundation was powerful, but he hadn’t spent years accumulating spiritual energy at this level. His spiritual sea was still undergoing stabilization.

Therefore, even though his soul power was extraordinarily strong, his progress wasn’t as fast as the others.

But Long Feng also understood this fact and didn’t become impatient.

Although he was a bit troubled by the fifteen-day ultimatum given by the elder, there was nothing he could do about it. After all, he couldn’t just ruin his own foundation for that, could he?

He continued absorbing the refined soul energy slowly. At the same time, his mind repeatedly recalled the methods carved into the walls.

The methods recorded here contained the understanding and experiences of the disciples who had successfully stepped into the Nascent Soul Realm in the past.

One of the oldest methods depicted a cultivator sitting cross-legged with a sword floating behind him.

According to the markings, the cultivator did not actually transform his soul into the shape of a sword.

Instead, during the process of condensing his soul, he constantly contemplated the sword—its sharpness, its unyielding nature, its ability to cut through everything in its path, and most importantly, the sword intent he had comprehended throughout his cultivation.

As his soul gradually took shape, he would use that understanding of the sword as the foundation for shaping its characteristics.

Because the cultivator’s understanding of the sword had been deeply integrated into his soul during its formation, the completed soul would naturally resonate with swords and sword intent.

A sword cultivator who formed his soul in such a manner would find it much easier to communicate with swords, comprehend stronger sword intent, and display greater power when using sword techniques.

Long Feng’s gaze moved to another method. This one depicted a massive ancient beast standing behind a cultivator.

The principle was similar!

The cultivator would choose a powerful beast whose characteristics matched his own path and continuously contemplate it while forming his soul.

It wasn’t about transforming the soul into the shape of that beast.

Instead, the cultivator would comprehend the beast’s characteristics—its physical strength, instincts, ferocity, vitality, perception, or even its unique understanding of the laws it had mastered.

Those characteristics would gradually influence the soul as it took shape.

Some chose rivers, comprehending their endless flow, flexibility, and ability to adapt to everything they encountered.

Others contemplated mountains, using their immovable nature and immense stability as the foundation for their soul.

None of these methods actually changed the cultivator into something else.

They simply used an external concept as a reference while forming the soul, allowing the cultivator’s understanding of that concept to become deeply integrated into the newly formed soul.

Long Feng’s eyes gradually became serious.

’So that’s how they did it.’

He finally understood what these ancient methods were trying to teach.

The soul wasn’t something that could simply be condensed by gathering enough soul power.

The cultivator also needed to give it a foundation. And that foundation could come from their own comprehension.

However, Long Feng soon noticed another problem.

’They’re all choosing a direction.’

His brows slowly furrowed. The moment a cultivator chose a particular concept to contemplate, that concept would inevitably influence the nature of the soul they formed.

A cultivator who deeply contemplated the sword would gain stronger resonance with swords and sword intent.

A cultivator who contemplated flames could develop a much stronger affinity toward fire and flame-related techniques.

These advantages were undoubtedly powerful.

The stronger the influence of the chosen concept became, the more deeply the soul would become connected to that path.

A cultivator who formed their soul through sword comprehension would naturally become more compatible with the sword, but their future development would increasingly revolve around that understanding.

The same was true for beasts, flames, mountains, rivers, and every other concept.

It wasn’t necessarily a weakness.

In fact, for many cultivators, it might be exactly what they wanted.

Choose one path.

Walk it to the extreme.

Become powerful enough that nothing could stop them, but Long Feng didn’t feel comfortable with that approach.

’If I use someone else’s concept to shape my soul, then no matter how powerful that concept is, it will eventually become a limitation.’

His thoughts continued moving. He didn’t want his future path to be restricted to flames, mountains, rivers, or any other single concept.

He wanted his soul to remain capable of growing with him.

If his understanding changed in the future, his soul should be able to change with it. If his cultivation path expanded, his soul should be able to accommodate that expansion.

Long Feng slowly lowered his gaze toward his own hands.

’Then what should I use as the foundation?’

For the first time, he stopped looking at the methods carved into the wall.

Instead, he looked inward, at himself, and a completely different thought gradually appeared in his mind.

This way, he continued cultivating and the fifth day arrived.

Suddenly, a powerful aura erupted from one of the stone platforms.

Boom!

Zhu Yuan’s body trembled. The spiritual energy around him began rushing violently toward his body.

Inside his spiritual sea, the enormous amount of condensed spiritual power suddenly began collapsing toward the center.

His spiritual sea seemed to turn into a whirlpool. The condensed soul power began taking shape. The vague figure gradually became clearer.

Boom!

A powerful Nascent Soul aura erupted. Zhu Yuan had successfully broken through.

He slowly opened his eyes. A trace of excitement flashed through them.

"I succeeded."

The other disciples congratulated him briefly before returning to cultivation. No one wanted to waste time.

Two days later, another aura erupted. This time, it was Li Qiang.

"Break through!"

Li Qiang’s roar echoed through the room. His spiritual sea surged violently. The dense spiritual power rapidly condensed toward its center.

A miniature figure slowly appeared.

Moments later, another Nascent Soul aura spread throughout the room.

Boom!

"Hahaha! Finally, I had taken that step!" Li Qiang opened his eyes with excitement.

After they started, one after another, the disciples began breaking through. Every breakthrough caused a powerful aura to spread through the cultivation room.

By the tenth day, the remaining disciples had also successfully broken through.

The room was now filled with the aura of Nascent Soul cultivators, but they couldn’t leave.

Everyone looked toward the final stone platform.

Long Feng was still there. His eyes remained closed. His body was completely motionless.

"Brother Long is really taking his time." Li Qiang couldn’t help sighing.

"Everybody had a different way." Zhu Yuan smiled faintly.

It’s not just him, everybody else in the room began to impatient.

But no one tried to wake him forcefully, and they all waited silently. However, their wait turned out to be far too long.

In this way, the final day arrived. Tomorrow, they were all supposed to meet the elder, and Long Feng still hadn’t broken through.

Long Feng’s spiritual sea continued becoming denser. Inside his consciousness, the pale-white spiritual sea had become almost solid.

He could feel that he was approaching the limit, but he still hadn’t formed his soul.

’Condensing soul power alone isn’t enough.’