Ah, Nascent Soul. This stage was one of the most famous in the entire stream of cultivation, because it introduced an entirely new element to the previously predictable and stagnant cultivation realms.
Nascent Soul had deeply changed from the previous realms and breaking through from Golden Core was not something just anyone could achieve. It might not be a stage climbing experience, but it was far more difficult than one for cultivators across Pan.
That the entrance of Nascent Soul, geniuses were broken and turned to trash while trash was elevated into geniuses.
Let's take young master Wang, heir of the Wang Clan. He was adopted into the Spirit Learning Sect and had a top-grade spirit root of the water element. Coupled with the Spirit Learning Sect's top cultivation manuals from their thick foundation, Young master Wang shot through Qi Condensation in 2 years, Foundation Establishment in 5 years and Golden Core in 10 years!
My god, what a genius!
Everyone in the sect fawned over him and his legion of admirers could likely wipe out any dissenting faction with just their spit alone. He was arrogant, lofty, and elegant, not even looking at his mates with amiability or his seniors with respect. However, everyone felt this was normal and praised his temperament.
However, the sect master and the elders, while they favored him with resources and praised him, did not take him in as a disciple as if they were patiently waiting for something. This puzzled the various disciples and made young master Wang feel unhappy, but no one said anything.
Soon, young Master Wang reached the peak of Golden Core and was qualified to become an inner sect deacon. He was given perfect conditions to breakthroughs to Nascent Soul but, he failed!
While he was lucky enough not to trash his core and maintained his cultivation, his foundation and potential were exhausted by the attempt and it was unlikely he would succeed again. This shocked the disciples, but the elders simply sighed and shook their heads.
In a matter of seconds, young master Wang's treatment changed from genius to trash, and all the fawning disappeared. His own family removed him from the position as heir and everyone but his mother treated him coldly.
Those he offended in the past descended upon him like locusts and the days of his life from then were very hard.
Meanwhile, in the Outer sect of the same Spirit Learning Sect, there was a commoner brat from a poor family called Cheng Jian. He had a third-grade spirit root which was a mixed Thunder and Fire root.
Not only was his spirit root of middle quality, but it was a mixed element too? Trash!
That was the verdict everyone gave him and they treated him as such. The outer sect deacon in charge of his batch gave him the nastiest jobs and his ext missions were very dangerous. The girl he liked spat on him and went to sleep with an inner sect senior who provided her cultivation resources in exchange for twisting her hips on the bed.
His life was difficult but he managed to live within the cracks and cultivate diligently. He passed through Qi Condensation in 10 years and entered Foundation Establishment. He was then raised to an outer sect deacon and the fellow who bullied him did not care as his backing was young master Wang, the rising star of the sect!
His ex-crush also was not moved as she entered Foundation Establishment far faster than Cheng Jian with the help of resources even though her talent was inferior. The former bully conspired to kill him with a few others, but Cheng Jian survived and reported it to the sect, which got them punished.
He then settled in and cultivated for 50 years to reach peak Foundation Establishment and entered Golden Core. He was finally admitted to the inner sect but he was only a bottom-tier fodder in there. The ex-crush now turned woman with a child - who had been abandoned to the side by the inner sect cultivator who grew tired of her and got some new trash talent outer sect girl onto his bed - rushed over and tried to mend things, but Cheng Jian cast her away.
She was filled with resentment and spread rumors that Cheng Jian raped her and was the father of her child. Cheng Jian immediately applied for an arbitration and the matter easily got out.
Turns out that the inner sect guy had a devil technique that used these girls as a cauldron, so he targeted those with average talent because they wouldn't be missed and their talent was trash anyway. Even if he sucked away at what little talent they had bit by bit, he would become a legend.
However, now the matter was out and he was crippled and locked in prison. As for his victims, they were expelled from the sect as they were now crippled and could never cultivate. As for the one who accused Cheng Jian, she was left for him to deal with.
She begged for her life and seeing the crying child in her arms, Cheng Jian let her go. After all this ruckus, he settled down and began to cultivate for 100 years until he reached the peak of Golden Core, and he was now a respected senior of the sect.
Many new disciples had come and gone, and scandals like the one with young master Wang happened aplenty.
As Cheng Jian settled in to breakthrough to Nascent Soul, the sect gave him minimal help because his talent was too poor. However, he then broke through easily and even caused a phenomenon when he did, awakening the old ancestor.
They all came to see that his Nascent Soul was perfect and its spirituality was high, making them screech 'impossible' and whatnot. They began to fight - almost physically - to take him as a disciple until the old ancestor stepped in and took him in himself, shutting everyone up.
From then on, Cheng Jain's life changed, and he eventually rose up to seal the heavens!
Cough cough.
Anyway, what was different about young master Wang and Cheng Jian? One had a top-grade spirit root and plenty of resources, so he tore through the first 3 major stages by was blocked by the 4th one, while Cheng Jian had a third-grade spirit root with mixed elements and struggled to go through the first 3 stages with his low talent and poor resources, but he easily smashed through Nascent Soul and would continue to rise crazily until he reached the Ascension stage.
So what exactly hindered young master Wang but exposed Cheng Jian? Well, it was summarized in one word: talent!
Yes, talent!
Only ignorant low-level cultivators who did not have anyone in the Nascent Soul Realm and above would stupidly believe that there was only one talent classification on Pan, which was spirit root grading.
Those at Nascent Soul and above keenly knew that there was one more talent grading that hid quietly until one reached this stage before exploding outwards, and that was Comprehension!
Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation. These three initial stages were greatly different from each other in terms of power, and they had subtle requirements that if not met, could end a cultivator's journey forever.
However, to those in the know, there was nothing mysterious. These three realms only focused on how hard you can suck in Spirit Energy in Qi. A genius was not one who had a perfect spirit root that could reach the top, as that would only ensure that they would have no bottlenecks through the first three stages.
That was just having talent. A genius was one who without such talent, could blaze through the first three stages. However, there was something different about Nascent Soul that made it such that the quality of your spirit root was no longer a major factor, but a minor one.
And this was spirituality!
Your Dantian, your Core, and your Spirit Root were all body organs that did not have consciousness and worked based on your control. Even the Golden Core which could passively absorb Spirit Energy only did so because it spun on itself and generated a pull due to its density.
Look at the existence of the 'Dan Tian', which means 'Heavenly Pill'. The Dantian in your abdomen or heart was shaped like a pill and then molded into a Golden Core. Looking at it like this, what did a pill or a spherical core reusable them most in this world?
Was it not an egg?
If the core's exterior was the shell and the thick solid Qi that was within the core was the albumen, then where was the embryo?
The cultivator who asked this question was the one to discover the path to Nascent Soul. By splitting small chunks of your own soul and infusing it into your Golden Core, nurturing an embryo of spirituality, you would then breakthrough into Nascent Soul where like an egg cracking open, a miniature soul fed by the solid Qi and nourished in the core would come out!
