Chapter 239: The Soul’s Breakthrough

Looking at the churning black clouds rolling continuously in mid-air, Yang Yan's expression turned somewhat solemn, as he could sense a profound and dangerous aura hidden beneath that thundercloud.

The sky, previously echoing with thunder, had now lapsed into an eerie and profound silence. The all-encompassing black clouds rolled endlessly like ink, yet strangely, they emitted not a single sound.

At a certain moment, when the black clouds in mid-air had condensed into a state akin to a tangible, pitch-black liquid, a sudden change occurred.

Right in the center of the dark cloud, a black beam of light, roughly the thickness of an adult's thumb, suddenly appeared and shot downward toward Yang Yan below at a speed difficult for the naked eye to track.

Noticing this, Yang Yan's pupils could not help but constrict. Although this black lightning was much smaller in volume than the previous ones, the extreme destructive power and immense energy it contained were dozens of times stronger than those thick white beams of light!

Moreover, that blackness was not an ordinary hue of black, but an extreme darkness, resembling a black hole. Even a single glance gave one the illusory sensation that their soul was about to be sucked right in.

"This is the Black Demonic Lightning!"

At this moment, Elder Yang also let out an exclamation in his mind.

This brat is simply too monstrous; he actually triggered the Black Demonic Lightning based solely on his own strength. It's hard to tell whether this is a blessing or a curse!

Elder Yang sighed inwardly at that very moment.

The so-called Black Demonic Lightning was a rather formidable type of heavenly tribulation. Ordinarily, cultivators could only summon the descent of the Black Demonic Lightning when breaking through from the peak of the Spirit Sea Realm to the Forgetting Life Realm. Yet the Yang Yan before him was merely at the peak of the Spirit Awakening Realm, and yet he had already managed to draw down the Black Demonic Lightning!

"It seems this brat is simply too defying of the heavens. Vaulting straight from the Spirit Awakening Realm to its peak in one go has provoked the wrath of the heavens!"

After pondering from various angles, Elder Yang felt this was the only explanation that made sense.

Indeed, Elder Yang's premonition was correct. Yang Yan's heaven-defying rate of cultivation, if not completely unprecedented, was certainly rare in history!

In merely a few short hours, he had achieved breakthroughs across four consecutive tiers, which was truly somewhat mind-boggling.

The black lightning streaked across space. Although it did not stir the slightest bit of energy fluctuation or sound, Yang Yan sensed that wherever the black lightning passed, it left trails of shattered space in its wake. Furthermore, the oppressive feeling it exerted upon him was something the earlier silver-white light beams simply could not compare to.

Yet, despite his extremely solemn expression, Yang Yan's face held not a trace of fear. He stared intently at the oncoming black lightning, and a boundless heroic spirit rose within his heart.

Right now, Yang Yan faced two possible outcomes. The first was that his physical body would completely fail to withstand the violent energy within the black lightning, reducing him to ashes and erasing his name from this world forever.

The second outcome was that if he managed to endure it stubbornly, the cultivation of his profound heavenly body within the Supreme Profound Heavenly Scripture would naturally reach the Great Completion stage.

Back when he was in the Sensing Spirit Realm, Yang Yan had been able to rely solely on his physical strength to contend directly with low-grade spiritual artifacts. Now, with the elevation of his own spiritual energy level, if the Supreme Profound Heavenly Scripture advanced once more, Yang Yan would dare to take on certain precious-grade artifacts bare-handed, relying purely on his physical might!

Of course, all of this was conditional on Yang Yan surviving the impending attack of the Black Demonic Lightning!

Hiss!

The black lightning lunged viciously like a venomous snake, striking straight down at Yang Yan's head. Seeing this, Yang Yan let out a great roar. A faint blue stratum corneum once again emerged across his scarred body, entirely enveloping his fists. Moreover, through his deliberate manipulation, the defense around his fists appeared somewhat stronger than anywhere else.

After all, that was the initial point of contact with the Black Demonic Lightning. If he were careless and capsized in the gutter right at the start, Yang Yan truly wouldn't even have a place to cry.

Gritting his teeth fiercely, Yang Yan raised his head and hurled a savage punch straight at the pitch-black lightning!

The moment his fist made contact with the black lightning, no sound echoed forth. Instead, the pitch-black lightning seemed to transform into a tiny dark stream, continuously spreading across Yang Yan's arms and into every part of his body. Meanwhile, the liquid-like lightning seemed endowed with a certain spirituality, acting like a living creature that penetrated everywhere, slipping into Yang Yan's body in an extremely eerie fashion.

The instant those black lightning bolts burrowed into Yang Yan's body, his form suddenly stiffened.

He could feel every single cell throughout his entire body being torn apart alive, as if ten thousand ants were gnawing at him simultaneously. That heart-rending pain, accompanied by a tingling itch, almost caused Yang Yan to lose his sanity instantly.

Not only his physical body, but even his soul was affected by the black lightning at that moment. It was as if a drop of ink had suddenly fallen into a bowl of crystal-clear water; the previously pristine soul began to be stained by those pitch-black threads, looking exceptionally bizarre.

At this very moment, Yang Yan's consciousness also began to grow somewhat chaotic.

Caught between the dual torment of flesh and soul, Yang Yan could not help but emit a low roar like a wild beast. Even with his strong composure, he still appeared somewhat overwhelmed under this double blow.

"Brat, remember to hold fast to your true nature! A moment of slackness right now will plunge you into eternal damnation!"

Just as Yang Yan was on the verge of losing his sanity, Elder Yang's voice timely rang out in his mind, causing him to shudder involuntarily and regain a shred of clarity in his mind.

Struggling to maintain his sanity, Yang Yan channeled the soul power from the center of his brow to sense the current condition of his body.

After careful perception, a jolt of shock ran through Yang Yan's heart, for he could perceive that every single cell in his entire body was now permeated by those bizarre black threads.

That eerie black energy continuously eroded the vitality within his cells. Presently, even his Qi Sea and Tianshu acupoint harbored that black energy, which was slowly devouring the wood-attribute and water-attribute spiritual energies within him.

Yang Yan was utterly astounded; he had not expected this bizarre energy to not only erode his flesh but even devour his spiritual energy.

"I refuse to believe that I, your father, will fall into the hands of a freakish thing like you today!"

With a low roar, boundless fury ignited within Yang Yan's heart. With a swift movement of his mind, he suddenly released all the sealed energy within his body and the vast soul power stored within his Spirit Gathering Vessel, frantically channeling them to every corner of his body.

Today, he was going to fight the Black Demonic Lightning to the bitter end!

A continuous stream of spiritual energy surged into the cells across his body, locking into a state of opposition against the bizarre black energy. Whenever the vitality and energy within his cells were eroded away by a fraction by the Black Demonic Lightning, more spiritual energy immediately flooded in to replenish it, maintaining this delicate stalemate.

As for the bizarre black energy within his soul, Yang Yan dared not slacken in the slightest. He understood deeply that if these freakish things completely invaded and occupied his soul, he would likely be reduced to a walking corpse devoid of emotion, a fate far more agonizing than death itself.

Therefore, he could no longer afford any hesitation. He directly drew the immense soul power from his Spirit Gathering Vessel into his body, forming a tripartite balance with the black energy.

Time slowly passed. The rolling black clouds atop the mountain peak began to dissipate, while Yang Yan, sitting cross-legged on the ground, remained motionless like an ancient monk in meditation, his brows furrowed slightly and his face occasionally contorting with expressions of pain.

Although Yang Yan appeared quite calm on the surface, no one knew the fierce tug-of-war currently raging within his body.

If Yang Yan emerged victorious, he would successfully elevate his Profound Ice Body to the Great Completion stage, and his overall strength would skyrocket. Conversely, should he carelessly fail, he would likely be reduced to ashes on the spot.

As time slowly drifted by, without him even realizing it, the confrontation within Yang Yan's body had persisted for nearly an entire day. Throughout this single day, both his flesh and soul had endured harrowing trials.

Because under the erosion of the bizarre black energy, the slightest flicker of distraction on Yang Yan's part would result in a death without a whole corpse. Under his desperate control, the vast energy within the seal and the soul power within the Spirit Gathering Vessel continuously poured into his body without pause, steadily consuming that bizarre black energy.

After a full day of stalemate, the two forces, which had previously been evenly matched, finally began to tilt. Although the energy of the Black Demonic Lightning was extremely bizarre and formidable, it lacked continuous reinforcement. In contrast, the spiritual and soul powers within Yang Yan's body were different; backed by a steady stream of replenishment, they finally began to wear down the energy of the Black Demonic Lightning.

Yang Yan perceived this shift, and a trace of joy welled up in his heart.

As long as he gained the upper hand in this confrontation, devouring and refining the Black Demonic Lightning within his body would merely be a matter of time. By then, not only would his cultivation of the Profound Ice Body break through to the Great Completion stage, but even his soul power would become much denser and stronger through the tempering of that dark energy.

In short, as long as he could survive this tribulation, the benefits Yang Yan would reap would far exceed the risks he had undergone!

Realizing this, boundless confidence surged within Yang Yan. He possessed an inherently optimistic and resilient disposition; even when matters reached the very brink of despair, he had never entertained the thought of giving up. Perhaps it was precisely this mindset and patience that had enabled him to endure these rigorous trials of life and death and successfully grow to where he was today.

Under Yang Yan's unyielding perseverance, two days flashed by in the blink of an eye. At a certain moment, when Yang Yan instinctively attempted to draw upon the energy within the seal out of muscle memory, he suddenly discovered that the seal was completely empty, with no energy left for him to absorb.

As it turned out, through the continuous breakthroughs and resistance against the black energy in his body over the past few days, the energy left behind by the Tiger-Headed Profound Ice Python had been completely exhausted.

After a brief flicker of disappointment, he regained his composure. After all, that Tiger-Headed Profound Ice Python was merely at the peak of the Spirit Awakening Realm; being able to support his cultivation up to this point had already squeezed out its utmost utility, somewhat exceeding his expectations.

Sensing this, Yang Yan hurriedly permeated his soul power into the Spirit Gathering Vessel. Fortunately, the soul power stored within was still abundantly sufficient, having consumed less than a fifth of its total volume—a situation Yang Yan could readily accept.

After all, compared to spiritual energy, cultivating soul power was vastly more difficult, and finding exceptionally pure soul power in this world was no easy feat for Yang Yan.

Lacking the support of the vast spiritual energy from the seal, Yang Yan could only absorb the natural energy of the external world himself and convert it for his own use. Although this absorption rate was much slower than directly absorbing the energy from the seal, fortunately, the black energy in his body had already been depleted to a great extent, allowing it to sustain his consumption.

Moreover, through the continuous consumption and replenishment of his spiritual energy over the past few days, the water- and wood-attribute spiritual energies in his Qi Sea and Tianshu acupoint had become even denser—an unexpected benefit for Yang Yan.

With a thought, the vast energy of heaven and earth swirled like a tornado, pouring unceasingly into Yang Yan's body. These ambient energies were entirely absorbed and refined by Yang Yan into spiritual energy, used to counter the dwindling remnants of black energy within him.

Over the course of several days, the remaining energy of the Black Demonic Lightning lingering in his body had been depleted by seventeen or eighteen parts out of ten, and those remnants had all been completely devoured and refined by him. At this moment, he could clearly perceive the benefits he had gained.

The cells, muscles, and even bones within his body, which had previously grown somewhat feeble, emerged from the erosion of the life-and-death black energy like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, greedily absorbing those energies to transform them for their own use.

When Yang Yan spread his soul power throughout his body at this moment, he was astonished to discover that his muscles, internal organs, bones, and meridians were all plated with a faint layer of silver-white radiance. Although the light was not dazzling, he could perceive through it that his physical body had undergone a thorough transformation from the inside out.

Every single cell seemed to have undergone a reconstruction; both vitality, elasticity, and resilience showed a qualitative leap compared to before. It was as if he had undergone a thorough cleansing of marrow and severing of bones.

During these days, the pores of Yang Yan's body began to discharge layers of black, sludge-like impurities. These were the grime and toxic substances deeply hidden within his body, which had been forced to the surface by the ferocious energy impact of the Black Demonic Lightning and expelled entirely under the resistance of Yang Yan's brand-new physique.

With a slight tremor of his body, the impurities crusting his skin fell off in succession, revealing the physical form of Yang Yan wrapped beneath.

His body was now much fairer than before. Although it lost a bit of mature masculine ruggedness, he could sense that the defensive capability of his skin had reached a terrifying degree.

That seemingly fair skin was far tougher than ox hide, with elasticity, toughness, and hardness all attaining realms beyond ordinary reach.

On the fourth day, at a certain moment, the lingering Black Demonic Lightning within Yang Yan's body was entirely and completely refined. His physical body had finished its thorough transformation, and the cultivation of the Profound Ice Body within the Supreme Profound Heavenly Scripture had officially entered the Great Completion stage.

Sitting cross-legged atop the mountain peak, completely motionless for days, Yang Yan finally burst into a roar of wild joy in his heart. He hurriedly stood up and stretched his limbs, and a series of crisp, firecracker-like snaps burst forth from within his body.

Clenching his fists and sensing the surging, boundless energy brimming within him, Yang Yan nodded in profound satisfaction.

Through this nearly week-long period of cultivation, Yang Yan could be said to have reaped endless benefits. Not only had his spiritual energy cultivation skyrocketed from the fifth tier of the Spirit Awakening Realm to the terrifying peak of the Spirit Awakening Realm, but his Profound Ice Body had also completely stepped into the Great Completion stage.

Yang Yan was now confident that when facing cultivators at the peak of the Spirit Awakening Realm, even without mobilizing a shred of spiritual energy, he could fight them to a standstill relying purely on physical might.

And this was merely the power of the Profound Ice Body at Great Completion; beyond it lay the Perfection stage of the Profound Ice Body, and even further ahead, the Profound Jade Body and the Profound Heavenly Body!

Yang Yan could scarcely imagine what terrifying combat prowess he would possess once he cultivated the Supreme Profound Heavenly Scripture to its highest level, the Profound Heavenly Body. Perhaps even a powerhouse at the Forgetting Life Realm from the Martial Alliance could be blasted into nothingness with a single punch.

No wonder this martial art could be called a Heavenly-tier technique; legacies left behind by the God of War in ancient times were indeed extraordinary.

Pondering this, a sense of realization dawned on Yang Yan. In ancient times, the God of War and the Goddess of Luo were a deeply in-love couple. Had a sliver of the Goddess of Luo's consciousness remaining within the Goddess of Luo's Tears not discovered his cultivation of the Supreme Profound Heavenly Scripture earlier, Yang Yan would likely have perished in those ancient ruins.

Sometimes fate was truly wondrous. Had anyone else been placed in that exact situation back then, even a genuine peak Spirit Awakening Realm powerhouse would have perished under the backlash of the Goddess of Luo's Tears. Thus, Yang Yan's successful devouring and refinement contained a fair share of luck.

Fortunately, his luck had always been decent, which was why he was able to bounce and leap all the way to the present.

"Now I can set off for the Kunyang Gate."

Yang Yan muttered softly to himself at this moment.

Having attained sufficient strength, he no longer feared whatever tricks the Kunyang Gate might attempt to pull. He was confident that should he encounter Liu Zong, the head of the Liu clan, once more, he now possessed a sixty percent chance of defeating him!

Moreover, if he went all out and unleashed all his trump cards, he even stood a chance of completely slaying a genuine Spirit Sea Realm powerhouse!

The current Yang Yan was countless times stronger than when he had fought Liu Zong in Shangzhou. This transformation went far beyond raw strength alone; following this baptism of heavenly lightning, his entire constitution had undergone an internal and external metamorphosis, rendering him far more formidable than before.

Excitement coursed through Yang Yan's heart. His previous clothes had long since been reduced to ashes in the heavenly lightning. Hurriedly retrieving a fresh set of clothes from his Cosmos Bag and changing into them, he prepared to descend the mountain and head toward the Kunyang Gate.

Just as he was about to move, however, the soul power between his brows suddenly began to spin out of control, forming an invisible vortex that continuously drew soul energy from the Spirit Gathering Vessel.

"What is happening?"

A jolt of shock coursed through Yang Yan's heart at this bizarre spectacle. This was the first time his soul power had ever acted beyond his control. Compared to spiritual energy, soul power was far more crucial to a cultivator; after all, a person's soul was exceptionally fragile. While physical injuries could eventually heal over time with proper recovery, soul damage was a lifelong affliction—in severe cases, it could reduce someone to an absolute idiot.

"The opportunities gifted to a brat like you are truly enviable."

A moment later, Elder Yang's somewhat wistful voice echoed in his mind.

"What on earth is going on?"

Hearing the tone of Elder Yang's voice, the anxiety and unease in Yang Yan's heart slowly receded as he asked with lingering confusion.

"This is a sign that your soul boundary is about to break through to the Great Completion of the Spirit Realm! It seems the tempering and honing your soul underwent from the Black Demonic Lightning earlier played a phenomenal role!"

Upon hearing Elder Yang's reply, Yang Yan plunged once more into wild jubilation.

Great Completion of the Spirit Realm! He never imagined that in just a few short months, soul power—the most arduous aspect of cultivation—would be advanced by him to such a degree. Upon reaching the Great Completion of the Spirit Realm, he would be capable of launching substantive soul attacks. He had long coveted the ability to freely condense soul power into various weapons at will.

He had originally thought it would take a very long time before his soul boundary could break through, yet through such a fortuitous coincidence, the breakthrough had arrived right here and now.

Under Elder Yang's guidance, Yang Yan allowed the pure soul power within the Spirit Gathering Vessel to pour unhindered into the center of his brow. As the formless soul energy converged into a sea of soul power, it was continuously compressed by the unceasing influx of energy. Astonishingly, the soul power between his brows began to exhibit a trend toward liquefaction!

Once the soul power at the center of his brow completely liquefied, it would herald the breakthrough of his soul boundary to the Perfection stage of the Spirit Realm!