Chapter 1743: Progression

A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality, Main Text Volume 9: The Myriad Races of the Spirit Realm.

Han Li and his Second Nascent Soul simultaneously felt their bodies and consciousness being scraped by countless sharp blades, over and over again.

What was worse, this agony could not be alleviated or resisted by magical power or any divine ability, leaving them like ordinary mortals, forced to endure the extreme pain of being cut into a thousand pieces.

Therefore, even though Han Li's body could directly withstand damage from flying swords and knives, under this immense pain, he temporarily lost control of his magical power and fell directly downwards.

With a dull thud, he landed. Although he was in unbearable pain, the Vanishing Holy Demon Art covering his body had not dispersed. This trifling height naturally couldn't harm his physical body in the slightest. Instead, his powerful body slammed into the ground, creating a small pit, and fragments of rock splattered outwards.

Han Li had no time to notice such minor details. His cry of pain was only the first one; afterwards, he clenched his lips tightly, forcefully enduring it, though his complexion turned slightly bruised.

This kind of pain was truly unbearable for ordinary people, and he could only rely on his tenacious will to desperately resist.

In this situation, Han Li felt his primordial spirit burning abnormally hot, as if enveloped by an inexplicable heat, even his soul within seeming to ignite fiercely.

Although Han Li barely maintained a sliver of clarity in his mind, he was still greatly horrified. Clenching his teeth, he moved his body, managing to control it enough to sit up in the pit. He sat cross-legged, formed hand seals, and golden light once again erupted from his body.

After slightly adapting to the pain in his body, he actually tried to forcefully dispel the abnormality within him by relying on the power of the Vanishing Holy Demon Art.

But in the next moment, something that startled him occurred. As his magical power circulated, the pain transformed into streams of cool energy that furiously poured into his meridians, turning into a strange, never-before-seen energy that propelled the Vanishing Holy Demon Art to circulate at a terrifying speed.

After one full cycle of cultivation, his cultivation surprisingly increased by a certain amount. Although this increase wasn't much compared to his overall cultivation, it was a genuine, tangible increase out of thin air. Moreover, this peculiar advancement in cultivation continued as the Vanishing Holy Demon Art circulated.

Such a fortuitous event naturally filled him with both surprise and joy!

Han Li no longer pondered the reason, immediately closed his eyes, and focused on cultivating as golden light flickered around him.

In this situation, each full cycle of the cultivation technique was equivalent to a year of arduous cultivation under normal circumstances. He would never give up such a tremendous opportunity.

However, this increase in cultivation was still far inferior compared to that of his Second Nascent Soul, which was located within the distant pillar of light.

Although the Second Nascent Soul also circulated its cultivation technique to resist the pain, the portion it assimilated was insignificant compared to the continuous influx of massive energy from the light pillar. Thus, even with cultivation, the pain barely lessened. However, the increase in the Second Nascent Soul's cultivation was far beyond what Han Li's main body could achieve, almost three or four times greater.

After the time it takes to eat a meal, it broke through from the early Soul Transformation stage to the mid-stage, without encountering any bottlenecks.

Time passed bit by bit. Han Li felt his body tremble as an unusual sensation surged through him. After some effort, the bottleneck of the early Void Refinement stage was truly broken, and he smoothly entered the mid-Void Refinement stage.

Overjoyed, Han Li continued to circulate the Vanishing Holy Demon Art with all his might.

He did not notice that at the exact moment he advanced to the mid-Void Refinement stage, the golden liquid droplets in the distant pillar of light flashed, suddenly surging towards and gathering on the Second Nascent Soul.

In the blink of an eye, a brand-new golden body reformed and emerged within the light pillar.

The new golden body likewise possessed three heads and six arms, but it was covered in astonishing purple-gold patterns, forming peculiar, somewhat indistinct ancient runes. These purple-gold runes not only flickered in and out of sight but also appeared to be incomplete.

As such, the aura emanating from this golden body was vastly different from before. The reddish-gold spiritual light it emitted faintly revealed wisps of purple glow, making it appear exceptionally mysterious.

The golden body's third indistinct face also became noticeably clearer than before, with some facial features like eyes and nose even discernible. However, the features of the third face were still far from clear.

With the new golden body, the Second Nascent Soul's speed in absorbing pure spiritual energy and five-colored runes greatly increased, and its pain also lessened considerably.

A moment later, the Second Nascent Soul's cultivation broke through the mid-Soul Transformation stage again, entering the late Soul Transformation stage, and rapidly surged towards the peak of the late stage.

After a while longer, as Han Li's cultivation approached the peak of the mid-Void Refinement stage and he accumulated power for the next breakthrough, the Second Nascent Soul spent some time breaking through the Soul Transformation stage bottleneck and entered the Void Refinement stage, comparable to Han Li's main body.

Such terrifying advancement speed would leave any powerful being in the Spirit Realm utterly speechless and dumbfounded.

With a tremendous boom,

As if sensing something, the nine armored figures' silver halberds, pointed at the sky, simultaneously emitted long cries, and the nine pillars of light emanating from their tips flashed and disappeared into the void.

The milky-white pillar of light emanating from the golden vortex suddenly intensified, pushing out a circle wider than before.

The Second Nascent Soul, located within the light pillar, let out a mournful cry.

The Vanishing Holy Golden Body, which had just formed outside, rapidly flickered with golden light and once again began to dissolve and melt.

In the blink of an eye, dense golden liquid droplets once again floated within the light pillar. However, this time, these golden droplets contained wisps of purple threads, seemingly different from the previous droplets.

Below, the same scene appeared. Pure spiritual energy and five-colored runes flashed into these golden liquid droplets, and streams of mysterious energy once again washed and tempered them.

The purple light threads within the golden liquid droplets subtly grew at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.

Meanwhile, Han Li felt the pain in his body and consciousness intensify by more than twofold as the power of the milky-white light pillar greatly increased.

The immense power of the pain penetrated deep into his soul, nearly causing him to black out and truly faint.

Fortunately, by this point, he had adapted significantly to resisting this pain. Only then was he barely able to remain upright.

Moreover, as Han Li circulated his spiritual energy with all his might, the cool energy he absorbed increased greatly, accelerating his cultivation advancement by several times.

Han Li felt as if he were in a dual state of ice and fire.

His cultivation had already reached the peak of the mid-Void Refinement stage half an hour earlier, and he had used the mysterious energy to attempt breakthroughs to the late stage over a dozen times.

However, this bottleneck was clearly vastly different from the previous ones. Several consecutive attempts to break through had all failed.

As a result, the pain deep in his soul and the accumulation of mysterious energy quickly reached an unprecedented extreme state.

He felt that if he couldn't break through this bottleneck soon, his soul would either be torn apart by the agony, or his body would ultimately explode and he would die.

This was the result of his cultivation of the Great Evolution Art and the Vanishing Holy Demon Art, which had made both his primordial spirit and physical body many times stronger than those of cultivators at the same level.

An ordinary Void Refinement cultivator would have long since perished by this point.

Han Li's initial ecstasy had long vanished; he could only frantically gather his internal energy in horror, repeatedly crashing against the bottleneck.

It seemed he was just a hair's breadth away, yet he was consistently unable to fully enter the late Void Refinement stage.

His heart couldn't help but grow incredibly anxious.

Such a windfall, as expected, was not easily obtained.

According to his calculations, if he failed to break through the late stage bottleneck three more times, he would truly perish.

Therefore, despite Han Li being drenched in sweat, the golden light around him shone as brightly as a blazing sun, almost impossible to look at directly.

It was unclear whether his previous attempts had taken effect or if, in his desperate urgency, his opportune moment had truly arrived.

After the very next attempt to break the bottleneck, he succeeded as if everything had fallen perfectly into place.

Han Li's body trembled as several streams of hot energy surged from his Dantian, flowing into the meridians throughout his torso and limbs. At the same time, the golden-green spiritual light on the surface of his main Nascent Soul pulsed rapidly, and it also expanded by more than a circle compared to before.

His magical power cultivation instantly surged by more than half compared to when he was in the mid-stage. Han Li was overjoyed, but in the next moment, his eyes revealed a look of dread.

Because the golden liquid droplets in the distant pillar of light, at the very instant his main body advanced to the late Void Refinement stage, once again formed another golden body amidst the golden light.

The runes on the surface of this golden body were not only much clearer and more complete than the previous one, but the spiritual light it emitted had also turned a faint purple-gold color.

But in the next moment, the milky-white pillar of light descending from the sky also increased its power, causing the golden body to vanish and transform into liquid droplets once more.

And Han Li's spiritual energy showed no sign of stopping; the cool energy actually propelled his cultivation to increase even faster than before.

He had never imagined that one day he would be terrified by a rapid surge in his magical power.

Han Li knew clearly that even with the help of the light pillar's power, breaking through bottlenecks was becoming increasingly difficult. Given how strained his last breakthrough was, the major bottleneck to advancing to the Void-integration stage was definitely not something he could fortunately succeed at in his current state.

If his magical power continued to increase, he would naturally be unable to escape the outcome of his body exploding and dying. Under such circumstances, how could he not feel dread?

This bizarre situation was completely beyond his control. Only by first stopping the abnormal changes of the Second Nascent Soul in the distant light pillar could he avert the danger of his main body perishing.

But the Second Nascent Soul's golden body had been destroyed twice in a row, and the Nascent Soul itself was so suppressed by the powerful energy that it couldn't move an inch. What possible method could it use to resist the milky-white light pillar forcibly inducing its transformation?

He could only helplessly watch his own cultivation continuously surge upwards.

Half an hour later, the Second Nascent Soul broke through two layers of cultivation consecutively, advancing to the late Void Refinement stage, reaching the exact same realm as Han Li's main body.

However, the rate at which the Second Nascent Soul's cultivation increased within the light pillar was naturally incomparable to that of Han Li's main body.

While his main body was still a considerable distance from the peak of the late Void Refinement stage, the Second Nascent Soul already reached its peak state and began directly assaulting the major bottleneck of the Void-integration stage.

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