Chapter 1: Can’t Cultivate?
Chapter 1: Can’t Cultivate?
When Wang Che became conscious, he felt something sticky on his face.
It was as if he was wrapped in something.
Soft and mushy—this comfortable feeling was something Wang Che, who had remained single and cultivated for tens of thousands of years, had never experienced before.
He froze in shock. Could this be the legendary Pool of Immortal Transformation, which one entered after ascension?
Could it wash away his mortal body and turn it into a pure, transparent immortal form that was impervious to all magic?
Did I pass the Heavenly Tribulation?
Just as he was thinking,
a strange, weak energy poured in.
Sealed memories in his mind burst forth.
Wang Che suddenly opened his eyes…
and snapped back to reality.
He saw that next to his head, there was a small green insect about the size of a child’s palm, spitting globs of white stuff onto his face.
Looking closely, he realized it was white silk.
It felt sticky because so much had been spat out, making it thick.
The little insect was quite cute, with a big head and a short body.
On its large head were two glass-bead-like eyes. Its body was green, but its belly was light yellow. Near its head, on its torso, were four small white bumps.
Even in his current state, Wang Che could recognize this style.
It was just an ordinary green caterpillar!
If this was the legendary Upper Immortal Realm, then his tens of thousands of years of cultivation would have been wasted.
Wang Che stayed silent for a moment.
Right, since he had failed the tribulation, how could he have gone to the Immortal Realm?
“It’s fine, failing is nothing.”
Wang Che took a deep breath, flicked his finger, and sent the green insect by his head flying far away with a smack.
“Sii wuu~!” The little green insect rolled round and round and ended up lying on its back on the ground.
It showed its light yellow belly, wriggling left and right, but couldn’t flip over.
It tilted its head and looked at Wang Che with a confused expression: ⊙﹏⊙?
“Just failed the tribulation, that’s all.” Wang Che didn’t look at the little green insect anymore; a determined light shone in his eyes. “I still have tens of thousands of years of cultivation experience. I still have endless cultivation techniques and supernatural powers, from the Qi Refining Realm to the Ascension Realm. I have them all.”
“I’ve been to and learned about countless civilizations. Even in a low-spirituality end-times like the Little Blue Planet, I am confident I can cultivate back to the Ascension Realm.”
“In this life, I will definitely ascend and break through to the next realm!”
After reaffirming his belief, Wang Che began to sort through the memories in his mind.
“Martial Soul? Is this a world of Martial Souls? Douluo? Or martial artists? I’m familiar with all that! I stayed on the Little Blue Planet for a thousand years!”
“Soul Beasts, Soul Pets? Soul Pact Masters? Wait, something seems off… It’s fine, as long as there’s spiritual energy here.”
…
The memories slowly became clear.
Wang Che understood what kind of world this was.
In the Ancient Era of this world, humans awakened their own Martial Soul power because of the Soul Power between heaven and earth.
At the same time, this world also had many other creatures.
These creatures, nourished by the Soul Power between heaven and earth, were naturally very powerful and had long lifespans.
These were called Soul Beasts.
Humans relied on slaughtering Soul Beasts to obtain Soul Rings and Soul Skills, strengthening their own Martial Souls.
Soul Beasts relied on slaughtering humans to obtain Martial Souls and souls, undergoing mutation and evolution.
From the beginning of humankind, over tens of thousands of years of development, conflicts never ceased.
Countless wars broke out between humans and Soul Beasts.
Up to this point in the memories, Wang Che was still familiar and understood.
But about three thousand years ago, things changed.
The heavens and earth changed abnormally, the world’s barrier was torn apart, and Soul Ghosts and Dark Annihilation Beasts from other worlds launched a large-scale invasion.
Humans and Soul Beasts were slaughtered until only a few remained.
When the world was on the verge of extinction, both sides suddenly realized the truth and finally united, creating the Life Soul Pact. Combining their strengths, they unleashed immense power!
Reborn from destruction, revived from silence…
In the end, the invaders from other worlds were driven back, and the world returned to beauty. After a thousand years of development…
it became what it is now.
The level of civilization was similar to the Little Blue Planet he had stayed on.
However, Soul Pact Masters and Soul Pets were the main themes now.
Humans relied on forming Life Soul Pacts with Soul Beasts to increase their lifespan and aptitude, obtain Soul Rings, cultivate their Martial Souls, and strengthen themselves.
At the same time, they used the power of their own Martial Souls and souls to help Soul Beasts greatly open their Spiritual Intelligence for evolution, nurturing Soul Beasts to make them stronger quickly.
Humans and Soul Beasts became partners.
“So now it’s like Pokémon with Soul Beasts? But also very different… Whatever. Anyway, I’m a cultivator.”
Wang Che roughly figured out this world.
He glanced at the Green Caterpillar. It seemed that not long ago, he had formed a Life Soul Pact with this Green Caterpillar.
In this life, he was currently eighteen years old, in the second semester of his third year of high school. According to national regulations, one could form a Life Soul Pact with a Soul Beast at the age of eighteen.
During the winter break of the first semester of his third year,
the country usually sent a Soul Pet Egg. With extremely good luck, it was possible to hatch a rare Soul Pet.
But since it was given… most hatched into ordinary Soul Pets.
If one didn’t want it, they could purchase one themselves at a Soul Beast breeding base.
The cost was generally quite high then.
Ordinary families couldn’t afford it.
After forming a Life Soul Pact with a Soul Pet Egg, the unborn baby Soul Pet inside would transfer part of its Life Energy to the human side.
This would improve the human’s innate Martial Soul aptitude and their later lifespan.
The human would give part of their Soul Energy to the baby Soul Pet.
This ensured that after the baby Soul Pet was born, it directly opened a certain level of Spiritual Intelligence and gained wisdom.
It was precisely for this reason that the sealed memories of his Ascension Realm cultivation in his soul were touched and awakened.
After all, when he failed the tribulation back then, Wang Che only remembered that a wisp of his soul remained, drifting through the universe, and then he didn’t know which world he ended up in.
His memories stopped at that point.
The cause and effect were now all clear.
At that moment, the door suddenly opened, and a tall middle-aged man with a somewhat weathered face walked in.
Seeing the pushed aside Green Caterpillar, the middle-aged man frowned slightly and said slowly:
“Xiao Che, I know you’re very unhappy and dissatisfied that your Soul Pet Egg hatched into a bottom-tier… ordinary Green Caterpillar. But no matter how dissatisfied you are, you shouldn’t treat your Soul Pet like this.”
“Besides, you haven’t awakened your Martial Soul yet. If you nurture this Green Caterpillar properly and strengthen the Life Soul Pact between you two, your innate Soul Power aptitude will improve. Then if you can awaken a Martial Soul…”
“You could still become a Soul Pact Master in the future.”
“But if you treat your Green Caterpillar like this now, by the time you graduate from high school, your innate Soul Power aptitude won’t increase. When you graduate, your Martial Soul awakening won’t be good either…”
“Throughout history, many Soul Pact Masters whose first Soul Pet was ordinary also became Titled Heavenly Kings. For example, that Jade Dragon Heavenly King—his first Soul Pet was a Koi, a purely ornamental Soul Pet. But later, when he became a Heavenly King, that Koi had evolved into the super powerful Dragon-type Soul Pet White Jade Dragon! A fish leaping over the dragon gate…”
“So, there are still six months until graduation… You need to work hard…”
The middle-aged man’s voice grew softer and softer, probably thinking the example he gave was a bit far-fetched.
He knew what his son was made of.
And that Koi evolving into a White Jade Dragon had historical records and methods to follow.
Although the conditions were extremely harsh, requiring specific demands on the Soul Pact Master’s Martial Soul and countless various materials.
It wasn’t impossible.
But this Green Caterpillar…
“Ah, forget it. It’s all because your dad is useless,” the middle-aged man finally sighed. “No money to buy you a better Soul Pet Egg.”
Seeing this, Wang Che thought for a moment and still spoke up: “It’s okay, actually Green Caterpillar isn’t bad.”
“?” The middle-aged man was stunned and looked at Wang Che suspiciously.
He observed for a while, seeing no other changes in Wang Che, remained silent for a few seconds, then nodded and said, “Good, I’m relieved you think that way.”
After thinking for a moment, he added, “There are still two weeks until school starts. You might see many of your familiar classmates with other baby Soul Pets around them. Don’t compare yourself to them; treat it normally, understand?”
Wang Che nodded.
Tonight, I’ll start Cultivation. Who cares about Soul Pets and Soul Pact Masters? Wang Che thought to himself.
If not for his extremely calm temperament, he might not have even responded to this middle-aged man, who was his father in this life.
In Immortal Dao Civilization, especially at his previous level as an Ascension Realm great power, most were old monsters who had forgotten worldly affairs and lived for tens of thousands of years.
Not exactly detached from emotions.
But their emotional thresholds were sky-high. Even if reborn in a flesh body, they wouldn’t carry much other emotions.
Wang Che was different. He had cultivated for tens of thousands of years, enjoyed traveling the universe, observing other civilizations, and loved integrating into those civilizations to experience their beauty and different emotions.
He wanted to comprehend the various great Daos of the heavens through this.
Unfortunately, he touched the great Dao but perished in a cosmic Heavenly Tribulation.
Wang Jianguo saw Wang Che so calm and felt both relieved and a bit worried and scared.
But he knew saying more now was useless, so he walked out.
Not long after, night fell like a curtain covering the sky outside.
Wang Che looked through the window at the starry sky outside, his mind growing even calmer.
He didn’t start Cultivation immediately but first understood the world’s situation based on eighteen years of memories in his mind.
This world’s Soul Power was very abundant.
Meaning the energy here was definitely very strong.
It was definitely not an age of spiritual decline.
Then he calmed his mind, focused his spirit, and prepared for Cultivation.
Along the way, the Green Caterpillar crawled to Wang Che’s side multiple times, and each time Wang Che pushed it away.
He only wanted to Cultivate now.
‘I can start now.’
Wang Che’s mental state was as calm as still water, his condition adjusted to perfection.
‘Sii wuu!’
The Green Caterpillar wriggled its body and crawled to Wang Che’s side again, nudging Wang Che’s already crossed legs with its head.
Its big eyes looked at Wang Che with longing.
“Go away, go away. I don’t have time for you now,” Wang Che knew what the Green Caterpillar wanted.
This child was just born, and because of the Life Soul Pact, its Spiritual Intelligence had awakened. It probably wanted him to play with it for a while.
Once again rejected by its Soul Pact Master, the Green Caterpillar silently retreated, looking back every few steps.
From afar, it watched Wang Che. Its previously upright body gradually softened, then it rolled over, revealing its light yellow belly, and looked somewhat hopelessly at the ceiling.
Wang Che began to cultivate.
He selected the best Qi refining technique from his mind.
He began to enter the cultivation state… All of this, he was already extremely familiar with.
Until…
Several hours later.
The sky began to brighten with the first light of dawn… a beautiful day was about to begin.
However, Wang Che opened his eyes, his body slumping down. His eyes were empty as he stared at the ceiling, his face full of hopelessness.
After a night of cultivation, he finally understood one thing.
In this world, Cultivation was impossible