Divine soul cultivators are unique among all cultivators. They are the only group that has to face tribulations once in a while; in a sense, the divine soul is a transition from low-level to high-level cultivation.
Once one reaches the divine soul stage, the heavens occasionally send down tribulations, making the divine soul's fatality rate one of the highest.
The reason for tribulations is simple: in the previous setting, before the world's upgrade to rank 11, the divine soul was the maximum realm, having an infinite lifespan limited only by occasional tribulations. The divine soul's tribulations persisted after the world was upgraded and new realms were added; Jack didn't bother to change it.
"Consume as much as needed and upgrade my cultivation base to the 1st stage of the divine soul realm; use the heaven's way technique," Jack ordered the system.
Immediately, Jack felt a massive energy swelling within him; the system displayed "-41." It took 41 years just to reach the absolute peak of the nascent soul to the divine soul.
Tribulation clouds appeared out of nowhere, angry and roaring; seeing this, Jack cast the 'Delay Disaster' spell. The tribulation that appeared was as strong as the 2nd stage of the divine soul, but in the face of 'Delay Disaster', it couldn't resist; it was dismissed and scattered.
Jack nodded his head, thinking: "Delay Disaster spell of the divine soul stage is quite strong; the tribulation just now was delayed for 38 years. Even against substance soul-level tribulations, it can delay it for at least a few months; even for multiple soul realm tribulations, it may be able to delay it for a few minutes. As for soul transformation level tribulations, It may be able to delay it for a few milliseconds."
After he reaches the substance soul realm, it may be able to delay soul transformation level tribulations for a few seconds or even a minute.
"With the 'Delay Disaster' spell, my future path is much easier," he smiled. The danger of tribulations is that most of them appear suddenly without warning; with Delay Disaster, he can prepare and even use outside help. It is said that passing tribulations have some benefits, but for Jack, who uses the system to advance, that little benefit is not important; his time is more valuable than that.
"Name: Jack"
"Cultivation level: Divine soul realm – first stage."
"Side mission: Calculate the substance soul chapter of Heaven's Way cultivation technique – reward: 2,000 years of cultivation practice."
"Temporary task: Accept a disciple"
"Grandpa's current level: Soul substance realm - 8th stage - usable for 1 hour/day."
"Grandpa's max level: Soul transformation - 10th stage"
"Reserves: 8,139 years of cultivation practice"
He smiled when he saw the 'divine soul' phrase in the system; for Jack, the divine soul is nothing, but that is for his main body. For Jack here in this world, the divine soul is quite a big step forward.
Jack didn't waste time celebrating. He immediately went to the sect secretary's office to report his breakthrough, then wanted to return to the lab to work on the substance soul chapter of the technique.
But before that, he has to call a few people.
His sect, Heaven's Way, was doing absolutely fine; Daoist Master Stormy supported them. By now, they even had a cultivator in the 5th stage of the nascent soul—none other than Amber. Reaching the 5th stage quickly was impressive, but she was talented and had good resources, so it was not surprising.
As the key person responsible for researching Heaven's Way, Stormy provided everything Jack needed. There were no sect missions, marriage contracts, beast tides, continental wars, nothing; everything was calm. In some novels, authors who are desperate for stories add nonsensical settings that don't make sense. This is not fiction, however; the Brown Dynasty controlled the continent tightly. No force could disrupt Jack and force him to take time off his research and go on an adventure.
With everything on track, he simply used the sect's communication device to call Mike, Lucy, and Faith, asking about the progress in their tasks. He called Amber often, so he didn't plan to call her this time.
Mike's task was to explore the world outside the continent. Jack is now considered a valuable chess piece of the Brown Dynasty, so back then, when he asked Daoist Stormy for a traveler's pass for Mike, she immediately accepted. She gave Mike an ancestor-level 'traveler's pass' and a few talismans capable of defending even against multiple soul realm cultivators, along with a few magic weapons specialized for escaping.
Clearly, it was all to satisfy Jack.
The 'traveler's pass' is granted only to those with missions outside the continent. Only four great sects and the Brown Dynasty have the authority to issue them. If someone leaves the continent without it, they may be able to leave but cannot return.
Mike is now at the 4th level of the nascent soul; entering the formation is not easy for him anymore. Entering the formation at core formation is still easy, but only nascent soul cultivators with specialized techniques can enter.
While Mike may be able to achieve it, it is still much more convenient to have a traveler's pass.
"Master?" Mike asked in surprise.
"Mike! How are things going? So that you know, I am calling you using Brown Dynasty's equipment!" he said. The only thing he had capable of contacting Mike from this far was his Heavenly Communication spell. But using that spell may attract divine soul-level+ tribulations. It is simply not worth it when he can easily call Mike using the Brown Dynasty's communication channels, which have reached even far outside the continent.
"Got it! Master, I'm the mission; there is no issue!" he said, not mentioning the content of the mission.
"Good; your life is the first priority. If anything goes wrong, use the magic treasure Master Stormy gave you to run back," said Jack.
"Yes, Master!" Mike responded.
Jack disconnected and, this time, called Lucy using his own personal communication spell. Now, he is in the divine soul realm, which is enough to call most places on the continent, at least for short periods of time.
"Hero-sama?" Lucy answered.
"How are things going with John?" asked Jack.
"He gives me gifts every day; because of his generous gifts, I reached the divine soul a decade ago!" said Lucy.
Jack sighed; he wrote John's personality, so he wasn't surprised at how much money he was throwing at Lucy.
This John is not as simple as he looks; he was born with a special talent called 'the soul devourer'. He doesn't know it now, but his power will be terrifying once he reaches the void soul realm. He can use his void soul to devour other souls, quickly increasing his strength.
Some people have these talents, but most die without knowing they have them; soul talents only kick in once one reaches at least the void soul realm, while most physical talents are visible even for non-cultivators.
Detecting soul talents is possible, but the process is extremely difficult; even a behemoth like the Brown Dynasty can only afford to test around 1,000 people per year. 1,000 is not even a drop in the ocean compared to the continent's population.
It's not that the Brown Dynasty cannot expand its capacity to test more people; it's just that it is not worth investing. 1,000 a year is enough to test the children and relatives of big-shot cultivators, which is enough for them.
John was from the branch family; the main family suppressed them and unjustly denied the soul talent test, so his talent remained undiscovered.
But Jack knew it, so he sent Lucy to John.
John likes to pretend that he falls in love so much because of his multiple souls realm issues, but the real reason is that he enjoys it; Jack wrote it into his backstory. John only looks for excuses to date beautiful women with strange personalities. Lucy was his type, so he was easily trapped.
Once he reaches the void soul, he can quickly get stronger and even reach soul transformation; as he gets stronger, Lucy, his girlfriend, also gets stronger.
It's not that Jack is relying on outside help; it's just that having a possible helper somewhere is better than not. Lucy was ideal anyway, so this was a low-investment and high-return adventure.
"You got it, Lucy! Just act like your usual self; John likes girls like you. Don't need to pretend to be anyone else!" Jack said. He wrote Lucy as a playful girl who constantly looks for other men to have affairs with; during this time, he was very busy trying to conquer the world, so he gave tasks to her, preventing her from messing around. But now, it's time for her to shine.
"Hero-sama, isn't it dangerous? If he catches me cheating on him...?" she asked doubtfully. She knew the plan but still had doubts.
"Don't worry! John is very special; if he sees you with another man, he will only love you more! Just trust me on this!" said Jack, almost laughing.
During his time creating this dream world, he designed all kinds of characters: men who are extremely protective of their women, women who are protective of their men, people with strange tastes in partners, etc. John happens to be one of those who enjoys open relationships.
After all, Jack designed the most important characters, totaling millions. It would have been boring if he copied and pasted the same personalities. Diversity of characters, thoughts, and opinions is what makes everything fun. It may sound good to have a world in which everyone is loyal, good, kind, caring, etc., but in practice, such a world would be extremely boring; the human brain is made to be challenged with difficulties. If none appear, one would be depressed.
"Hero-sama, just know I always respected you and wouldn't be upset even after death!" Lucy said, after all, cheating on a multiple soul realm cultivator is not different from suicide.
"Just trust me! Go and have fun! I heard there are a lot of handsome men in Sky City!" Jack said while laughing.
Sky City was famous for its male brothels.
The immortal world is different from the mortal world; in the mortal world, especially in medieval times, women usually have a hard time progressing independently in society; men have most of the power, and they restrict women, while they themselves may sleep with many mistresses. But, in the immortal world, where women have equal power, there are many situations where some women with unconventional personalities collect handsome men and form a harem for themselves. After all, if, for example, Master Stormy did such a thing, would anyone dare to say anything? Of course not.
Cultivator women are not all ice beauties who are loyal to their man; some mortal authors think of them as that, but the truth is much different; many of those mortal authors, if they see real immortal women, may die of astonishment.
There are extremely few high-level cultivator men or women who care about such useless affairs as sex or love; however, those who do are usually extreme, having harems full of sex partners; there are even cultivation techniques that rely on multiple sex partners, both for women and men; they are known as intimate techniques.
Male-centered intimate techniques usually rely on seed planting, while female-centered intimate cultivation techniques usually rely on seed extraction.
The male brothels of Sky City are made for those women and some men who are interested. But even in the immortal world, there are more female brothels than male brothels; some things never change.
"I didn't dare go there until now, but I always wanted to; I will visit one tomorrow!" Lucy said.
"Have fun!" Jack said, then disconnected. Lucy was his creation, but he didn't consider himself her dad, nor was she his lover; he had no issue with her if she slept with the entire city. She is his loyal subordinate, and that is all that matters. Jack generally doesn't take anything in these low-level worlds too seriously.
Next, he called Faith.
"Master? I have missed you!" she said, excited to hear his name.
After what happened last time, where Jack killed thousands of her fellow cultivators, she became afraid of him, so she quit and went back to the branch sect. But after many years, the impact of that incident faded, and she has been looking forward to meeting Jack again.
"Faith, come to Heaven's Lab near Brown City; I arranged for some people to get you here!" Jack said. The system mission requires him to accept a disciple, and he intends to accept Faith as one. Faith is technically already his disciple, but for some reason, it didn't register in the system. He has to perform the ceremony, kowtowing nine times, etc., for it to register with the system.
"Did something happen, master?" Faith asked with worry.
"Don't worry, it's a good thing! I'm waiting!" Jack disconnected before she could ask anything else. He will explain everything when she arrives, so there is no need to talk so much behind the communication spell.
With that done, he returned to the lab and started working.