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In the depths of the near-endless dark void.
Wei Yang sat cross-legged, suspended in midair. He raised his hand, holding a slightly rough-looking wooden box in his palm. With a flick of his finger, the lid popped open.
Instantly, a faint, soul-soothing fragrance of medicine spread out, enveloping the entire void. Just by inhaling it, one felt as though their very soul was ascending to the heavens, that refreshing sensation flooding from the soul all the way to every corner of the body.
Under this alluring medicinal aroma, Wei Yang's soul, which had already been on the verge of a critical point, began to stir restlessly, as if undergoing some inexplicable transformation.
"Just by smelling the fragrance, my soul is already reacting, almost breaking through that final barrier... worthy indeed of a Gold-Grade Soul Baby Fruit!" Wei Yang murmured as he looked down.
Inside the wooden box lay a golden fruit, its surface shaped faintly like a baby, quietly resting within.
Reaching out, he picked up the fruit and tossed it directly into his mouth. Then he inhaled deeply through his nose, drawing in every trace of the medicinal fragrance lingering in the air, unwilling to waste even the tiniest wisp of it.
As the fruit slid down his throat, it immediately dissolved into an exceptionally pure and vast surge of strange energy. That boundless energy surged upward, flooding straight into his mind and pouring into his Sea of Consciousness.
Boom!
It was as if the heavens and earth were being split apart!
Wei Yang's entire Sea of Consciousness trembled violently. Then—
"Ahh... so good!" He couldn't help but tremble, letting out a low, involuntary moan. That feeling was indescribable.
Like a drought meeting sweet rain? Or perhaps like ascending to the heavens in broad daylight?
The pleasure that came from the very depths of the soul was something the flesh could never compare to.
His entire soul was transforming, ascending!
A majestic pressure of the soul began to spread outward. The dark void rippled like the surface of a vast lake, layer upon layer of waves spreading endlessly outward along with that awe-inspiring might.
Before the great bronze gate, Zhu Kun slowly opened his eyes, a faint smile curling at the corner of his lips.
"This boy... he did it."
"Heaven Realm!"
The power of Wei Yang's soul was surging with terrifying intensity, overflowing with spiritual light, and it was still rising without pause. One wave of soul fluctuation after another spread out in all directions.
With a casual wave of his hand, Zhu Kun blocked the overwhelming energy, preventing it from disturbing the slumbering Zi Yan. That dreadful soul pressure carried a natural sense of majesty and nobility, howling like a storm through the dark void.
Time flowed on.
Wei Yang's breakthrough had yet to stop — the overwhelming medicinal energy of the Soul Baby Fruit still hadn't been fully absorbed. The aura emanating from his soul was becoming even more terrifying.
"This intensity... he's already stepped into the Heaven Realm, and yet the breakthrough still isn't ending?" Zhu Kun muttered in disbelief.
Absurd!
A Heaven Realm soul corresponded to the Dou Sheng Realm in cultivation. Wei Yang's Dou Qi level hadn't even reached the Dou Sheng Realm, yet his soul had already stepped into the Heaven Realm — and it was still climbing higher?
The power of the soul was nothing like Dou Qi; it was far more difficult to cultivate and strengthen!Although there were soul cultivation methods, they could only raise soul strength bit by bit through slow training.
But soul cultivation didn't absorb the natural energy of heaven and earth like Dou Qi did. Instead, it drew upon a far more mysterious and rare essence — tiny specks of luminous, sentient energy, originating from the unknown depths of the void.
This type of spiritual essence could only be faintly perceived once one's soul had reached at least the half-step Spirit Realm, and even then, it was nowhere near as abundant as heaven and earth energy — not even close.
That spiritual energy was thin and scarce, requiring one to painstakingly absorb and accumulate it over long periods of time. The soul cultivation methods handed down through the ages were generally low in level, most barely reaching the Xuan Grade.
Unlike Dou Qi techniques, which could easily reach the Earth Grade or even the Heaven Grade.
(A.N: Perhaps the reason is simple — that mysterious spiritual essence capable of strengthening the soul is far too rare. Even if you possessed a Heaven Grade soul cultivation technique without enough of that energy, it would be useless. After all, if the water source is just a small trickle, why would you need a high-powered pump? A small one would already do the job.)
As a result, cultivating and enhancing the soul was an extremely slow process — one that relied almost entirely on time. That waiting, that slow tempering, was far more difficult to endure than advancing one's Dou Qi realm.
Sometimes, one could also passively enhance their soul power slightly by breaking through to higher cultivation realms.
Many Dou Zun who were stuck at the peak of Nine Stars for years weren't necessarily hindered by a lack of resources or exhausted potential — it was simply because their soul realm had not reached the required level.
In short, the higher one climbed within the Dou Zun realm, the more critical the soul became. Below Dou Zun lies the mortal. Beyond Dou Zun, one transcends the mortal and steps toward the sacred.
At a certain moment—
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Thunderous explosions roared through the endless dark void, as if heavenly lightning had split open the darkness itself. A surge of terrifying soul power, overflowing with vitality and vigor, erupted violently before expanding outward at a frightening speed.
In the blink of an eye, it had covered the entire vast stretch of the dark void. The boundless darkness churned and boiled, rolling like water brought to a furious boil. Then, as though fearing something, that mighty soul power quickly retracted, condensing inward once again.
Though its eruption had lasted but an instant, the overwhelming might of that soul energy was enough to make even Zhu Kun's expression change slightly.
"This level of strength... there's no mistake — that's the mid-stage Heaven Realm soul!" Zhu Kun couldn't help but exclaim softly.
"The Soul Baby Fruit's effects are that incredible? Even if it's of the highest Gold-Grade quality, this is still far beyond expectations!"
It would've already been impressive enough for Wei Yang to break through into the Heaven Realm, but to actually soar straight to mid-stage in one go?! That brat wasn't even a Ban Sheng yet!
"This is what they call — accumulated strength unleashed in a single burst."
Sitting cross-legged in the void, Wei Yang felt his body and mind completely refreshed as he quietly sighed.
He hadn't rushed into breaking through earlier. Instead, he'd waited until his soul power had reached the brink of overflowing at the peak of the Nine-Change before using the Soul Baby Fruit to push through in one strike — and it was indeed the right decision.
With that single surge, he not only crossed the great threshold but even advanced another minor realm beyond it.
Mid-stage Heaven Realm!
The strength of his soul had grown countless times more vast and powerful than before. In terms of quality — it was on an entirely different level. It had become denser, tougher, and far more agile.
Moreover, there was a strange and profound feeling of transcendence within it, as though Wei Yang had torn through the veil of illusion to glimpse the true essence of the world. To strip away the false and retain the real!
"So this... is the true wonder of the Heaven Realm soul. Fascinating — such an unbelievable kind of power."
"The heavens, the earth, this void, and all things under the sky... they all look different now, completely renewed. It feels like I'm gazing upon everything from a higher, multidimensional perspective."
"Am I... getting closer to the true essence of this world?"
Wei Yang closed his eyes, quietly savoring the sensation, a faint smile of joy gracing his face.
In this moment, he felt as though he had attained a revelation worth dying for — a sense of bliss like, 'If I hear the Way in the morning, I could die in peace by dusk.'
He was no longer using mere eyes to observe the world, but his heart — perceiving with the "eye of the soul." What he now saw and sensed was completely different from what he had seen before.
It was like finally seeing through illusion to witness the truth hidden beneath — an indescribable joy that welled from within. No wonder saints could create their own self-contained worlds of reality.
To beings of such level, illusions had already been pierced through — they had begun to touch the very essence of existence itself. Their understanding of power, their command of spatial energy — it had undergone a qualitative transformation.
Compared to when they were Dou Zun, the difference was monumental. The two simply weren't on the same dimension anymore. An alchemist with a Heaven Realm soul... could refine Tier 9 pills — Treasure Pills, Mysterious Pills, Golden Pills!
Such pills were truly the embodiment of divine creation — refining the false into the true!
Yes, refining the false into the true — granting lifeless matter vitality and consciousness, creating from nothingness a true, sentient life form. A Tier 9 pill wasn't just a pill. It was a living being, infused with immense energy and spiritual awareness.
Such life could learn, think, and even cultivate to grow stronger. There was almost no difference between it and a living creature. For instance, the ancestor of the Pill Tower — his true body was a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill.
That — was the profound mystery of a Heaven Realm soul. See through illusion, refine the false into the true!
(A.N: This section is free. This isn't really a "second setting," per se — just a small expansion and interpretation of the original lore. It shouldn't be too exaggerated, right? After all, I'm merely giving a logical explanation based on the original story. The author, Tudou, didn't go into much detail on this aspect.)
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