Chapter 317: Martial Soul vs. Beast Soul
Within the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal, wisps of vast and hazy spiritual energy floated about.
The Time-Space Crystal itself was a source of spiritual energy, constantly releasing it.
Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged, holding the spirit flower petals in both hands. The True Qi of the Spiritual Fire surged out from within his body, rushing toward the petals to begin refining them.
Under the refinement of the Spiritual Fire True Qi, after roughly one breath of time, the spirit flower petals melted slightly. A drop of crystal-clear spiritual liquid dripped down, emitting a rich, exotic fragrance, and flowed into Zhang Ruochen's palm.
With a "chi" sound, Zhang Ruochen absorbed that drop of spiritual liquid into his meridians, where it merged with the True Qi within his body.
Once the spiritual liquid entered his meridians, it immediately transformed into a surge of potent, flame-like medicinal power. As the True Qi circulated, it flowed to every part of his body—muscles, meridians, blood, organs, and heavenly impulses—finally converging into the Qi Sea at his brow.
With each drop of spiritual liquid absorbed, Zhang Ruochen's martial arts cultivation increased by a fraction.
As the melting continued, the volume of that single petal of the Nirvana Fire Spirit Flower grew smaller and smaller.
"Whoosh——"
After roughly half an hour, a large amount of Spiritual Fire surged out from within Zhang Ruochen's body, forming a fireball five meters in diameter that enveloped him at its center.
The power within Zhang Ruochen grew stronger and stronger, as if he were a balloon stretched to its limit. The meridians within his body could no longer contain that surging force, which was why it spilled out.
At the same time, it signaled that Zhang Ruochen was about to break through his shackles and reach a new realm.
"Boom!"
At the spot between Zhang Ruochen's brows, a flame mark appeared. The Qi Sea within his skull let out an explosive sound.
The spiritual energy within the entire inner space of the Time-Space Crystal trembled slightly.
The Qi Sea expanded rapidly, and all the meridians in his body dilated at an accelerated pace. Moments later, Zhang Ruochen finally broke through the realm, reaching the Great Perfection of the Earth Extreme Realm in one go.
He had broken through!
The capacity of the Qi Sea increased, becoming parched and desperate, frantically absorbing the surrounding energy.
The Spiritual Fire that had originally enveloped Zhang Ruochen's body surged like a tide toward his brow, passing through the Divine Martial Mark and entering the expanded Qi Sea.
Before breaking through the realm, Zhang Ruochen had already absorbed one-third of a single spirit flower petal.
After the breakthrough, his speed of refining and absorption became even faster.
Another half hour or so passed, and Zhang Ruochen completely absorbed that one spirit flower petal. The True Qi within his body became immensely dense, filling roughly forty percent of the Qi Sea's capacity.
A strange luster radiated from the surface of Zhang Ruochen's skin.
"Finally, I've broken through to the Great Perfection of the Earth Extreme Realm. I wonder how much my strength has increased now?"
Zhang Ruochen raised his arm and gently pushed out a palm. Powerful True Qi condensed in front of his hand into a massive palm print, two meters long.
With just this palm technique alone, he should be able to severely injure experts of the caliber of Guo Shisan or Cao Lin.
Zhang Ruochen did not unleash the palm print. Instead, he activated his cultivation technique and withdrew the True Qi from the palm print back into his body.
"If I refine another spirit flower petal, I should be able to cultivate the True Qi in my Qi Sea to perfection, reaching the peak of the Great Perfection of the Earth Extreme Realm. By then, my strength could increase by another notch."
Zhang Ruochen did not immediately refine a second spirit flower petal, because he sensed that the battle outside was nearing its end.
Indeed, the Silver Light Shark had proven stronger, severely injuring that giant octopus beast and seizing the spirit flower seed.
Although the octopus beast was wounded, its strength was formidable and not much weaker than the Silver Light Shark. As it fled, it swept away five spirit flower petals.
The Silver Light Shark seized the remaining four petals and the spirit flower seed, letting out another long roar, as if declaring its dominance over this stretch of water and displaying its immense power.
The beasts in the waters, hearing the Silver Light Shark's roar, all trembled in fear and dared not covet the Nirvana Fire Spirit Flower any longer. They immediately turned and fled.
The entire waters fell completely silent.
The Silver Light Shark swam to the bottom, swallowed the spirit flower seed and four petals into its belly, planning to use the medicinal power of the Nirvana Fire Spirit Flower to purify itself and advance to the fifth-rank beast level.
The Silver Light Shark was currently a fourth-rank upper-level beast, comparable in strength to a Great Perfection of the Heavenly Extreme Realm martial artist.
With the medicinal power of the Nirvana Fire Spirit Flower, it could fully enhance its physique, with a significant chance of undergoing a transformation.
Once it became a fifth-rank beast, its significance would be entirely different.
From then on, in the Death River section, it would be a top-tier overlord, ruling over an even broader waters.
On the verge of success, the Silver Light Shark was naturally ecstatic.
But...
Just as it was about to refine the spirit flower seed and five petals, it found that they had vanished!
Disappeared without a trace.
Where had they gone?
The Silver Light Shark grew frantic. On the cusp of becoming a fifth-rank beast, how could such a sudden change occur?
The treasures it had swallowed into its mouth had also disappeared.
Zhang Ruochen, after storing the spirit flower seed and four petals into the Space Crystal, immediately put on the Flying Fish Armor, rushed out of the Space Crystal, and arrived inside the Silver Light Shark's belly.
Inside the Silver Light Shark's body, there was extremely potent corrosive fluid. If Zhang Ruochen had not worn the Flying Fish Armor, his body would have been corroded.
"Silver Light Shark, this ends now."
Zhang Ruochen's entire body was covered by the armor. He drew the Abyssal Ancient Sword and swung it in a slash, severing a major artery inside the Silver Light Shark's body.
Then, he continued his assault, striking at several other vital points within the Silver Light Shark's body.
The Silver Light Shark felt the intense pain in its abdomen and also sensed Zhang Ruochen's aura.
When had it swallowed a human into its belly?
The Silver Light Shark had no time to ponder. Furious, it immediately released its beast soul.
A blinding light burst forth from its skull, and a ferocious, domineering soul shadow flew out, exuding an aura of a wild beast.
"Shua!"
The beast soul charged into its abdomen, attacking Zhang Ruochen.
A beast's soul, like a martial artist's martial soul, was of the same nature.
Only fourth-rank upper-level beasts could cultivate a martial soul, reaching the realm of "soul out of body."
The Silver Light Shark's beast soul erupted with immense power, baring its fierce teeth as it rushed toward Zhang Ruochen, intending to bite him to pieces.
"You have a beast soul, and I have a martial soul."
Zhang Ruochen immediately connected with his soul meridian. A white pillar of light shot out from the top of his head.
A figure identical to Zhang Ruochen flew out from his body and met the Silver Light Shark's beast soul in battle.
"Boom!"
The beast soul and martial soul collided, forming a powerful energy wave.
In his previous life, although Zhang Ruochen had only been at the Great Perfection of the Heavenly Extreme Realm, he had been ranked first on the Heavenly Ranking. His personal strength surpassed even some weaker Fish-Dragon Realm martial artists.
His martial soul was definitely far stronger than that of a Great Perfection of the Heavenly Extreme Realm martial artist, and not much weaker than that of a Fish-Dragon Realm martial artist.
Now, his martial soul's strength had naturally increased further, fully comparable to the martial soul of a Fish-Dragon Realm martial artist.
However, his cultivation had not yet reached the Heavenly Extreme Realm, so he could only use his soul meridian to communicate with his martial soul. As a result, the power his martial soul could unleash was not yet at its peak.
After breaking through to the Great Perfection of the Earth Extreme Realm, Zhang Ruochen could mobilize more of his martial soul's power, enough to contend with the Silver Light Shark's beast soul.
"Although the Silver Light Shark is a fourth-rank upper-level beast, it was already injured from its battle with that giant octopus. Now, I've severed several of its vital points, wounding it even more severely. Even if its beast soul is comparable to a Great Perfection of the Heavenly Extreme Realm martial artist, the power it can unleash is very limited."
Both beast souls and martial souls could mobilize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, converting it into their own power.
The stronger the soul, the more spiritual energy it could mobilize, and the greater the power it could unleash.
Zhang Ruochen's greatest advantage was not that his martial soul was stronger than the Silver Light Shark's beast soul, but that he was inside the Silver Light Shark's belly. No matter how fiercely the beast soul and martial soul fought, in the end, it was the Silver Light Shark that suffered.
The Silver Light Shark had initially thought that releasing its beast soul would easily kill the human inside its belly, but it hadn't expected that human to have cultivated a martial soul.
Its beast soul was completely unable to overpower the opponent.
Now, the beast soul and martial soul were locked in a frenzied battle, causing even more damage to the Silver Light Shark's internal organs. The pain in its abdomen grew more intense.
Blood gushed from its mouth as it howled in agony.
"Lightning Halberd."
The spiritual energy of the waters converged toward Zhang Ruochen's martial soul, transforming into bolts of lightning.
The lightning twisted together, forming a war halberd that stabbed toward the beast soul's shadow.
Just as the lightning war halberd was about to pierce through the Silver Light Shark's beast soul...
Suddenly, the Silver Light Shark took the initiative to beg for mercy, communicating with Zhang Ruochen through its beast soul: "Human strongman, I am willing to submit to you and become your battle beast mount. Please spare my life."
The lightning war halberd hovered above the Silver Light Shark's beast soul, emitting a bright radiance. Its sharp edge gleamed with cold light, terrifying the Silver Light Shark into submission.
Although Zhang Ruochen's martial soul did not unleash much power, it possessed a strong deterrent force.
It was precisely because it sensed the powerful aura of Zhang Ruochen's martial soul that the Silver Light Shark was willing to submit.
In the Silver Light Shark's view, possessing such a powerful martial soul meant Zhang Ruochen was a human martial artist at the Fish-Dragon Realm. Submitting to him was not a disgrace.
Whether human or beast, all revered the strong.
If the Silver Light Shark had known that Zhang Ruochen was only at the Great Perfection of the Earth Extreme Realm, even if it knew it would die at his hands, it would never have chosen to submit. After all, it was the overlord of this waters—how could it submit to a human weaker than itself?
Zhang Ruochen said, "Why should I trust you? What if you suddenly go back on your word and bite me?"
The Silver Light Shark, afraid of angering this human strongman, quickly replied, "I am willing to offer my beast soul. As long as my beast soul is in your hands, even if I wanted to rebel, you could directly crush my beast soul."
The Silver Light Shark was highly intelligent. It knew that to survive, it had to make the greatest concession.