Chapter 473: Heavenly Xuan Realm
"Hmph, not bad. You actually managed to survive."
Though Mo Li's voice carried her usual habitual coldness, deep down she was also immensely relieved.
Yun Che's face was completely submerged in blood, making his expression unreadable. Above his head, the pale golden pagoda slowly revolved without pause, ceaselessly absorbing the energy of heaven and earth… and Yun Che absolutely could not let it stop, otherwise, within just a few breaths, he would be torn to shreds by the spatial turbulence.
In past history, there had been many people who, for various reasons, failed to leave the Primordial Mystic Ark. Among them were Overlord Emperors, and even an Emperor Lord. The Overlord Emperors, using all their strength, could not last more than three hundred breaths. As for that Emperor Lord, he only managed to hold on for a little over ten days before being torn apart. For spatial turbulence of this intensity over a short period, an Overlord Emperor or Emperor Lord could withstand it completely. But against this unending calamitous storm, no matter how powerful an Overlord Emperor or Emperor Lord, none could sustain themselves indefinitely.
Yet Yun Che, whose strength was far inferior to an Overlord Emperor, had stubbornly survived… though he did so in immense agony and misery.
Yun Che's teeth had almost all been ground to pieces. Every single breath felt as if he were trapped in a briar-filled hell. The chaotic space tore and twisted every part of his body. If it were someone with even slightly weaker willpower, even if they could endure, they would rather choose death to gain release.
Time continued amidst the hellish spatial storm, but Yun Che had completely lost any sense of its passage… In the agonizing struggle where he frantically squeezed out every ounce of his willpower, he had no idea that an entire month had already passed.
A whole month. The concentration of his mind, the rotation of the pagoda, the release of his profound energy—not a single half-breath of rest. If someone told him now that he had lasted an entire month in this environment without dying, even he himself wouldn't believe it.
Over this month, his blood had been continuously splattered and regenerated, his flesh and skin constantly torn and restored, his profound energy endlessly consumed and recovered… The number of times his body had been tempered in this single month far exceeded the total of his two lifetimes combined.
Before Yun Che stood a slender figure clad in red. For this entire month, Mo Li had not returned to the Heavenly Poison Pearl. Instead, she silently observed every single change in Yun Che. When he persisted to the tenth day, she was already sufficiently astonished, thinking he would collapse at any moment. But Yun Che's limit once again exceeded her expectations. Yun Che's own willpower was incredibly tenacious… and on top of that, he had been granted the Dragon God's Soul!
Yun Che himself could not perceive his own changes, but Mo Li saw them clearly. As time passed, Yun Che's endurance would inevitably decline. Both the speed of his protective profound force release and the rotation rate of the pagoda had been continuously weakening, yet the intensity of the spatial turbulence had not diminished at all… Still, Yun Che managed to avoid death, maintaining a balance between injury and recovery.
That was because his physical strength and the density of his profound energy were both skyrocketing at an astonishing rate throughout this process.
"In one month, the density of his profound energy has increased by a full three times. The continuous damage and regeneration of his body stimulated the Dragon God's Marrow, causing the concentration of the Dragon God Bloodline in his regenerated blood to grow higher and higher. The Dragon God aura on his body is now nearly twice as strong as before… even more exaggerated than I imagined."
Mo Li gazed at Yun Che and muttered to herself. Then a faint smile curled on her lips as she whispered, "It seems my choice was indeed correct."
But even with the existence of the Dragon God's Soul, a month had completely pushed Yun Che to his limit.
Yun Che's body began to shake violently. The pagoda above his head spun slower and slower, until finally the golden light of the tower dimmed, as if it might vanish at any moment.
Mo Li's brow twitched slightly, and she spoke sternly in the tone and manner of a master: "Yun Che, listen carefully. Now is the test of your willpower. If you don't want to die, then grit your teeth and hold on with everything you've got. If you can persist for a year, then your body might fully adapt to the spatial turbulence here and no longer be affected by it. By then, your body will be tougher than even an Emperor Lord's! Few people in the entire Tian Xuan Continent will be able to harm you. But if you can't hold on, you will only die!"
Mo Li's voice rang out clearly in Yun Che's ears. His faltering will managed to sober up slightly under the stimulation of her voice, and the pagoda above his head once again flickered with a faint golden light. After a short while, he uttered an extremely indistinct sound: "One… year…"
Mo Li said coldly, "To support yourself in these conditions for a year seems impossible to you. But some of the peerless powerhouses I know of—including my brother—experienced hardships countless times more brutal and cruel than this to become strong, things you cannot even imagine! The reason the strong can become strong is precisely because they can endure what ordinary people cannot, and with immense obsession and willpower, they accomplish what seems impossible in the eyes of others!"
"If you refuse to fight with all your might because of 'impossibility,' 'despair,' or 'unbearable pain,' then you will never become a true powerhouse surpassing ordinary people, and you will die right here! You won't even have a future!"
Mo Li's words struck directly at his heart, fiercely stabbing Yun Che's nerves and forcibly awakening his stubborn obsession and pride. With a deep, muffled roar, his eyes, which had been closed for nearly a month, suddenly opened wide, revealing a shocking bloodshot hue.
The profound energy that had almost completely subsided surged up again with great intensity. The pagoda released a dazzling golden light, absorbing the energy of heaven and earth on a massive scale, and rapidly restoring his battered body.
Yun Che's state made Mo Li's eyes soften a little, but she knew that this was only a brief surge of agitation under the stimulus of her words. He would soon be on the verge of collapse again—and it would be an even more severe breakdown. Given Yun Che's foundation and strength, being able to endure to this extent was already an unbelievable miracle. To persist like this for a whole year was indeed harder than ascending to heaven… What Mo Li was waiting for was an opportunity that should appear.
At that moment, Yun Che suddenly felt the profound energy he was desperately releasing cut off completely. The profound energy in his profound veins went entirely out of control, churning chaotically. Even the profound energy inside his body did not surge out; instead, it was pulled back into his profound veins as if by some attraction. All the profound energy condensed into a massive vortex within his profound veins, spinning wildly and violently.
Yun Che's mind jolted sharply: This is…
Boom!
The turbulent vortex suddenly exploded. At the same time, a brilliant red and blue light blazed within Yun Che's profound veins, dazzling like stars. Then, tides of immensely dense profound energy gushed out from the depths of his profound veins, flooding like a torrent into all the major meridians throughout his body. His profound veins began to expand rapidly, while his meridians contracted and relaxed under the influx of profound energy, as if dancing in excitement.
The profound energy at the Earth Xuan Realm appeared as a thin white color. But now, under his inner vision, Yun Che saw a thick, pure white—like flowing white paste! Its density was countless times greater than before. The protective profound force spreading to the surface of his body also became several times stronger! The damage and pressure on Yun Che's body plummeted instantly, and the speed of his body's recovery greatly exceeded the rate of injury.
The red and blue lights within his profound veins shone in mutual brilliance, becoming even more dazzling and bright. Yun Che, who had been utterly exhausted and on the verge of collapse, suddenly felt his mind become extremely clear. It was as if he had been reborn. Feeling the changes in his profound veins, profound energy, body, and spirit, his heart was filled with immense joy. As his aura spread outward, his perception of the entire world underwent a noticeable transformation. Even the surrounding spatial storm no longer seemed so terrifying.
Breakthrough!!
A breakthrough from the Earth Xuan Realm to the Heavenly Xuan Realm! Under this nightmare-like spatial disaster, amidst hellish tempering, in just one month, Yun Che's profound force had broken through the Earth Xuan Realm boundary and formally stepped into the Heavenly Xuan Realm!
Yun Che quickly composed himself in surprise and concentrated fully on resisting the spatial storm. Having broken through a major realm, his profound energy and mental strength were fully restored, at a peak state. Yun Che, who could barely withstand the situation even at the Earth Xuan Realm with the Great Dao Pagoda Art, now found it relatively easy to cope. Gradually, the bloodstains on his body reduced little by little, slowly revealing his face and body… Later, wounds and blood barely appeared before quickly disappearing.
Though every breath still felt like being sliced ten thousand times, and he had to remain focused without stopping, it was now incomparable to before.
"Not bad. Even earlier than I expected," Mo Li murmured to herself. Then a strange smile curled at the corner of her mouth. "Looks like I need to increase the difficulty a bit!"
Mo Li's tender white hand stretched out and grasped the void. Immediately, a spatial rift several feet long appeared before her. Ordinary spatial rifts, once formed, would quickly vanish, but this rift remained wide open—not only did it not disappear, it didn't even contract. Mo Li's body flickered, and she stepped into the spatial rift. As her figure completely entered, the spatial rift promptly disappeared.
All of this, Yun Che—fully focused on resisting the spatial storm—naturally did not see, nor would Mo Li allow him to.
In the next instant, Mo Li's figure appeared in another space. Around her, it was sometimes pitch black, sometimes a chaotic riot of colors. This was the gap between spaces, also known as… a space tunnel! A place ordinary people could not even comprehend, let alone reach.
Ahead of Mo Li was the massive Primordial Mystic Ark, hurtling at extreme speed through this mysterious space tunnel, its destination unknown. Mo Li fixed her gaze on the Primordial Mystic Ark, raised her palm, and a red light flashed in its center. Then she lightly patted the ark.
Before the Primordial Mystic Ark, Mo Li's body was as insignificant as a speck of dust in the vast ocean.
But the moment Mo Li's palm touched the ark, the entire Primordial Mystic Ark was instantly shrouded in red light. Propelled by an indescribably immense force, its speed through space abruptly accelerated… and the spatial turbulence inside it also intensified dramatically in an instant.
"That should be about right."
Mo Li's small hand cut again, and another spatial rift appeared before her. Just as she was about to step in, a sinister voice suddenly came from all directions: "Heh heh heh heh… A human dares to enter this king's domain, and a little girl at that! Heh… This king hasn't tasted fresh human flesh for several tens of thousands of years."
Mo Li slowly turned around, her face still bearing the coldness that utterly mismatched her youthful and exquisitely delicate features: "A Shi Kun Beast?"
The Shi Kun Beast, a creature that dwells in the gaps between spaces, feeds on space itself, and occasionally devours living beings traveling through space. It is an extremely rare, high-tier ancient alien profound beast.
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