Heaven Refining physique-Chapter 148: Soul Sea Realm

"What do you all think? Should we go to the Core Formation Realm region to watch over?"

Shao Xuan, the current strongest Soul Sea Realm cultivator of Ethereal Cloud Sanctuary, asked Zi Rui, the strongest Soul Sea Realm cultivator of Azure Sky Sect, and similarly Jia Yi of the Golden Lotus Temple.

"There is no need for that right now. I doubt they would have already captured them. Don’t forget there are safe zones for our traitors to hide. So for the time being, let us search for some opportunities here. We will go after six months to check on their progress."

Just as Zi Rui finished speaking, they saw someone entering.

They looked and saw that a Core Formation disciple of Ethereal Cloud Sanctuary was accompanied by two of their disciples who had gone out just now.

They were surprised to see a Core Formation disciple coming here. Perhaps he was here to report that Jiang Hao was in the Core Formation Realm region.

"What happened?" Shao Xuan asked immediately.

The disciple hesitated a little before speaking.

"S-Senior, there is a problem..."

The disciple was a little hesitant in revealing the information.

Shao Xuan frowned and spoke sternly.

"Speak clearly and tell everything. What are you hesitating for?"

"Actually, Senior, w-we failed."

"Hm... You failed in what? Killing the traitors?"

"Yes."

The disciple nodded.

"Were they not leaving the safe zone? Wasn’t it said that Ming Yue is easy to rile up?"

Shao Xuan asked the last line to Zi Rui.

"Who knows? Maybe she has changed in these years. It was just speculation from the start, after all."

Zi Rui shrugged his shoulders.

"That will be a problem. We won’t be able to take any action on them if this continues. We have to come up with something," Jia Yi commented.

The Core Formation disciple sighed and spoke.

"Seniors..." When everyone’s attention was on him again, he came clean.

"We have underestimated our enemies. They are far stronger than we imagined. Only fifty of us have survived. The others are dead."

After speaking, he finally felt relieved. What happens next isn’t his problem. He wasn’t even the leader of the previous team, so it wasn’t his responsibility to take the blame either.

Not to mention, those who could take the blame are already dead.

"What?"

The expressions of Shao Xuan, Zi Rui, and Jia Yi changed immediately.

They were stunned at first, then only anger was visible on their faces.

"Are you trying to say that 700 cultivators were killed by two enemies? Are you out of your mind?"

Shao Xuan spoke, barely controlling himself from lashing out at this foolish disciple of his sect.

The disciple shook his head and said,

"Senior, it wasn’t only 700 cultivators from our sects. We had recruited almost 3000 cultivators from our region, and yes, they are all dead by now.

I am not joking, Senior. Only a few managed to escape. I am just one of them. Eventually, it will be revealed, so why would I joke about something so serious? I survived by luck. I don’t want to waste that life by joking around."

Shao Xuan’s eyes widened. The expressions of Zi Rui and Jia Yi were no different.

Eventually, they looked at each other before looking back at the Core Formation disciple.

"Tell us everything from the start. Don’t leave anything out."

The disciple nodded and began explaining everything he knew from the beginning.

After a few minutes, there was only pin-drop silence in the room. Everyone wore a grim expression. More disciples were called in for a full briefing.

The situation was quite dire. If what they had heard was truly the truth, then Jiang Hao was an unbeatable monster. The mere thought of his strength being equal to the peak stage of Soul Sea Realm while still being in the Core Formation Realm was terrifying.

There was a reason why major breakthroughs were termed as major steps in the cultivation journey.

The increase in strength is substantial from the previous realm, so it was almost impossible for anyone to casually cross realms to fight someone.

Even if they forgot about his strength, the mere thought of his inexhaustible spirit qi was enough to give them goosebumps.

If he came to the Soul Sea Realm region, would they be able to stop him? They weren’t entirely sure anymore.

If he broke through to the early stage of Soul Sea Realm, then the chances of them winning would be slim. Nonetheless, it would still be better than the chances Core Formation Realm cultivators had.

The loss of almost 200 top-level disciples was a heavy blow for each of their sects.

These disciples were the best of their generation. Becoming part of a top sect isn’t easy. Everyone wants to join them. So if one is selected, it means they are above mediocre.

So it was a heavy blow to lose so many good cultivators of one generation in one go.

"Prepare yourselves. They might come to this region too. It would be good if we are able to kill them, but no matter what, we must minimise the casualties from now on.

The death of so many of our cultivators cannot be hidden. It will definitely decrease our reputation."

Zi Rui spoke and left to deliver this information to everyone else in his sect.

...

Two months passed quietly inside the Main Safe Zone City of the Core Formation Realm.

Today, Jiang Hao had reached the point of breakthrough. Similar to the Core Formation Realm which opens up the dantian, the Soul Sea Realm opens up the soul sea of a cultivator.

It is an illusionary sea inside the mind of a cultivator, which is the place where the soul resides.

Opening the soul sea opens a new path in cultivation. It sharpens the mind, increasing the comprehension abilities of cultivators even further.

But the most important thing that cultivators gain after opening the soul sea is spirit sense and more control over their spirit qi.

Cultivators can easily control their spirit qi and move it according to their will after opening the soul sea. This, in fact, is termed as a totally new type of qi, called spiritual qi.

The advantages of this spiritual qi are that cultivators can easily move their weapons through the air instead of throwing them.

This spiritual qi also helps cultivators to refine their weapons and mark them. With this, no one else could control their weapon using their spiritual qi.

Spiritual qi is also responsible for using soul attacks. Every soul attack uses spiritual qi instead of spirit qi.

Spiritual qi is nothing but your own qi enhanced with your own spiritual essence.

As for the spirit sense, it is a new type of sense that comes with the awakening of your soul. It is just like your other senses. It is also termed as spiritual sense.

It allows you to see even without your eyes. Everything has spirit qi or some other qi. Spirit sense allows you to perceive them clearly. It might be as good as your own eyes.

At the Soul Sea Realm, spirit sense is 100 meters on average. The range of spirit sense depends upon the strength of your soul.

The strength of your soul depends upon various factors. Those with high comprehension ability have stronger souls.

In fact, the reason why cultivators have higher comprehension abilities is because their souls are stronger. It is but innate talent.

Your overall strength also influences your soul strength. That’s why it is preferable to cultivate both the body and spirit qi.

The range of spirit sense is very important for a cultivator. This range isn’t just for sensing enemies or objects, but also to use your marked weapon.

A cultivator can freely use his weapon with the help of his spiritual qi within this range.

So if their spirit sense is greater than their opponent’s at the same realm, they would have an unprecedented advantage.

Also, if some objects which are ownerless are too close to the cultivator, they can move them too using spiritual sense.

Basically, "too close" is considered one-hundredth part of their original spirit sense. This range is also where they can effectively sense objects without qi as well.

Usually, cultivators prepare extensively to break through to this realm. They take time and calm themselves, clearing their minds of distracting thoughts and focusing completely on breaking through as gently as possible.

The unawakened soul is very fragile, and breaking through to the Soul Sea Realm forcibly and violently can even scatter it, killing the cultivator.

So they must be totally prepared to break through effectively, because it is said that breaking through to the Soul Sea Realm is very painful.

Jiang Hao didn’t have to worry about this matter. Until now, everything was done by his physique, and knowing that this time wouldn’t be any different, he just started to absorb spirit qi to initiate the breakthrough.

It didn’t take long before he felt a tingling sensation inside his glabella. Eventually, he felt a tearing pain inside his glabella. The pain kept increasing. It was a totally different kind of pain.

Most of the pains he had felt until now were only physical, but this pain came from his innermost part, the soul itself. Even it felt a little impact of it. But he didn’t frown upon it. No matter what, pain is pain in the end.

After two minutes, the pain subsided, and his mind felt light, too light, in fact. His eyes glowed a little, and his senses improved further. He felt like one more restriction had been removed from him.

It was the truth though. Soul Sea Realm cultivators can fly far better than Core Formation Realm cultivators because their bodies are always covered in spiritual qi. It is innate.