As a sword practitioner, Guo Xingyue naturally had a fondness for swords. He picked up the small crystalline sword from the stone table. The sword was cold to the touch and unusually heavy for its size. No matter how much he examined it, he couldn't figure out its true use, so he set it aside for now. Next, he turned his attention to the three glowing crystals. Guo Xingyue had seen many rare jewels during his time as an assassin, but he had never encountered anything like these transparent stones. He tested their hardness by squeezing one with all his strength. Normally, he could easily deform a piece of steel with his grip, but the crystal remained completely intact.
Setting the crystals aside, Guo Xingyue picked up the jade pendant. As soon as it touched his hand, a sudden stream of information flowed into his mind. It was a set of cultivation techniques, focusing on strengthening one's spirit and manipulating internal energy, something far beyond what he had learned from the Meditation Mind technique. The latter half of the technique spoke of transforming one's golden core into a nascent soul. His mind raced. "Could it be that the golden bead within my dantian is actually a golden core?"
Unsure of what might happen, Guo Xingyue decided to follow the instructions in the technique. He sat down, calmed his mind, and began to circulate his energy as directed by the new method. His inner power, which had already solidified into a golden core, began to rotate rapidly inside his dantian. As it spun, the golden core started to expand and contract rhythmically, like a heartbeat, with spirals of energy surrounding it. It grew larger and larger, until it reached the size of a fist.
Then, with a sudden jolt, the core contracted sharply and exploded. In its place appeared a small, golden figure—a miniature version of Guo Xingyue, sitting cross-legged within his dantian. Around the nascent soul, a faint layer of spiraling energy rotated, almost as if protecting it.
Guo Xingyue stood up, his body bursting with vitality. He had not only healed from his previous injuries, but his inner strength had grown by leaps and bounds. "I've done it... I've truly formed my nascent soul!"
He lightly flexed his hand and felt a surge of energy. With a simple thought, his body floated off the ground, effortlessly levitating within the stone chamber. He grinned to himself. "This must be what the ancient sages meant by the ability to fly through the skies. Have I already ascended to the realm of the immortals?"
The pendant continued to offer more revelations. The information it held came from a cultivator named Xiaoyaozi. According to the message left within the pendant, Guo Xingyue's world was a spherical planet called Pangu Star, just one of countless planets in the vast universe. Xiaoyaozi claimed to be the last immortal cultivator on Pangu Star. Due to the depletion of spiritual energy, all the other immortals had left the planet long ago. Though Xiaoyaozi himself was also preparing to leave, he didn't want the path of cultivation on Pangu Star to end, so he left behind a Foundation Establishment Pill, three crystals, and a flying sword, hoping that someone with destiny would find them and continue the journey of cultivation.
Xiaoyaozi also warned that cultivation was divided into eleven major stages: Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Soul Projection, Soul Transformation, and eventually Tribulation Crossing and the Ascension Stage. Each stage was further divided into early, mid, and late phases. However, there were three major hurdles along the way: forming a nascent soul from the golden core, transitioning from the nascent soul to the spirit projection, and finally facing the heavenly tribulation before ascension. Only those who passed the tribulation could ascend to the celestial realms, but the path was fraught with danger. Most cultivators were stuck at the nascent soul stage for their entire lives, unable to advance.
Xiaoyaozi had left behind a map of the planet's mountain ranges, showing the location of a teleportation array on Kunlun Mountain's western peak. The crystals he left were intended to activate the array and supply energy for teleportation. However, Xiaoyaozi repeatedly warned that using the teleportation array before reaching the nascent soul stage would be fatal, as the array's pressure would crush the body.
In addition, the pendant contained techniques for refining and using the flying sword, including Sword Control and Sword Flight techniques. These instructions taught how to use the sword as both a weapon and a mode of transport. Xiaoyaozi apologized for not providing any techniques beyond the nascent soul stage, as he himself had only reached the early phase of that stage and didn't possess any further methods.
Guo Xingyue couldn't help but laugh at his predicament. "Did Xiaoyaozi save me or doom me? The path of cultivation is full of dangers, and without the right techniques, how am I supposed to progress?" He shook his head and sighed. "I guess I'll just have to take it one step at a time."
Following the instructions, Guo Xingyue infused his energy into the flying sword, refining it further before storing it within his dantian. He practiced the Sword Control and Sword Flight techniques, finding that both were straightforward once he mastered the manipulation of his internal energy.
Satisfied, Guo Xingyue called forth the sword and tested his control, guiding it through the air. The sword moved with precision, following his commands effortlessly. However, as he was about to fly out of the cave, he suddenly realized his clothes were in tatters, practically disintegrating at a touch. He chuckled wryly. "I've been cultivating in this cave for so long that my clothes have rotted away. I can't very well fly around naked like some wild beast, can I?"
Reluctantly, Guo Xingyue decided to wait until nightfall before flying out of the cave to a nearby farmhouse. There, under the cover of darkness, he stole a simple set of clothes. They weren't exactly high-quality, but they would do for now.
The next day, Guo Xingyue entered a nearby town and asked around for the date, discovering that he had been cultivating in the cave for over sixty years. He sighed, "Time flows differently in the mountains. It's as the old saying goes: a day in the mountains is like a thousand years in the outside world. I suppose I have nothing left to tie me to this planet. I might as well leave as soon as possible."