Chapter 3

This strike caused the air to emit a series of whistling sounds, clearly indicating it was a demonic python that had reached the sixth level of the Body Tempering stage.

Bang!

Under the pressure of the fierce wind, Xiao Yun's body tilted, his palm slipped, and he lost his balance, falling towards the fiery abyss.

"The heat below is intense; if I fall, I will surely be burned to ashes." Xiao Yun's body fell into the abyss, unable to control the downward momentum, but he still tightly held a spiritual flower in his palm, unwilling to let go.

"Spiritual Soul!" The scorching flames surged, and in this critical moment, Xiao Yun quickly calmed down, sensing with his heart and activating his Spiritual Soul, trying to use the green branch to pierce the rock wall to stop the downward momentum.

Under Xiao Yun's mental command, the Spiritual Soul in his sea of consciousness emitted a green glow, and a branch appeared in his palm, radiating brilliant green light. Just as he was about to control the Spiritual Soul to pierce the rock wall, the green branch trembled, emitting a joyful hum. The light patterns of the Spiritual Soul, still embedded in Xiao Yun's sea of consciousness, flashed and disappeared into his forehead.

"What is this...?" This sudden change made Xiao Yun quite surprised. Has the Spiritual Soul left his body?

For a Spiritual Soul to leave the body, one must have awakened their origin, and the cultivator must be completely fused with the Spiritual Soul!

To awaken the origin, one must reach the Essence Core stage.

Even at the True Essence stage, cultivators can barely make the Spiritual Soul manifest, but cannot truly separate it from the body.

The Spiritual Soul left the body, emitting a green glow, full of vitality. The brilliant light made the world seem refreshed, filled with an inexplicable vitality. The Spiritual Soul then rooted itself in Xiao Yun's forehead, emitting mysterious patterns that enveloped his entire body. At this moment, the young man had already fallen into the abyss.

"What the hell, what are you doing?" Seeing that the Spiritual Soul was not obeying his command, Xiao Yun's face was full of bitterness. "You've already drained my essence, and now you want to take my life? How did I awaken such a high-quality Spiritual Soul?"

The green glow enveloped Xiao Yun as he fell into the fiery abyss. Before he could fully submerge, a wave of fire engulfed him, the immense force causing him to lose consciousness.

Just as Xiao Yun lost consciousness, the heartless Spiritual Soul hummed excitedly. The green glow emitted primitive patterns, like chains of the great way, enveloping the young man. Then, the green branch extended, piercing deep into the fiery lava, absorbing the vast fire essence.

The vast fire essence was absorbed by the green branch, and the nearby fire sea calmed under the green patterns emitted by the Spiritual Soul, no longer raging, as gentle as a lamb, as if it had met its nemesis.

Time passed quickly, and night fell. The stars twinkled in the sky, and the night wind occasionally blew.

In the depths of the abyss, a green glow shone brightly, particularly dazzling.

Upon closer inspection, the branch that had pierced the fire sea had grown much thicker and had branched out. After absorbing a large amount of fire essence, Xiao Yun's Spiritual Soul had clearly benefited greatly.

As the moon set and the sky began to lighten, the warm sunlight enveloped the earth. The young man, enveloped in green light, slowly woke up. When he opened his eyes, he was stunned.

"Am I still alive?" Xiao Yun's eyes scanned the surroundings, showing a look of surprise.

Now, his body was enveloped in green light, with a green branch rooted in his forehead. His senses were still clear, indicating he was still alive. However, he was still in the fiery abyss, which puzzled him.

"Why didn't I die?" Xiao Yun was stunned, then looked at the green branch still embedded in the lava. Suddenly, his eyes lit up with surprise. "Is the Spiritual Soul absorbing the fire essence from the flames?"

This sudden realization made Xiao Yun excited.

"My Spiritual Soul can absorb my sister's cold energy, neutralize toxins, and now it can absorb fire essence. Could it absorb all kinds of elemental energy?" At this thought, Xiao Yun's heart raced.

If so, it would not be difficult for his Spiritual Soul to advance.

With this thought, Xiao Yun examined the Spiritual Soul more closely. When he noticed that it had branched out and sprouted a red leaf, his heart raced even more. This change clearly confirmed his hypothesis.

"The new leaf is rich in fire essence." Xiao Yun carefully sensed and found that the leaf sprouted from the green branch was fire red and grew on the newly branched out branch.

With this discovery, Xiao Yun's fear completely dissipated, and he began to examine his body.

After the examination, he found that he was not injured and seemed to have become even stronger.

His eyes could see fine details, and his senses had greatly improved.

"Is this the benefit of the Spiritual Soul advancing?" Xiao Yun was stunned by this unexpected joy.

Although he had not yet awakened his origin and fully fused with the Spiritual Soul, they were closely connected, almost as one.

Now that the Spiritual Soul had advanced, he had also benefited greatly.

With these discoveries, Xiao Yun was no longer surprised and allowed the Spiritual Soul to continue absorbing the nearby fire essence.

After another hour, the surging fire essence in the fiery abyss seemed to have dissipated, and the intense heat was no longer felt. The lava had cooled due to the lack of fire essence.

The entire fiery abyss had undergone a dramatic change in just one day.

And this change was brought about by Xiao Yun.

Finally, the lava cooled completely, and the fiery sea turned into a red rock. The Spiritual Soul withdrew, its light flashing, and it returned to his sea of consciousness, re-rooting itself in the depths of the chaos, everything returning to normal.

Xiao Yun scanned the surroundings, feeling a bit dazed.

Yesterday, this place was a dangerous area, but now it had changed so much. If he told others, it would surely cause a commotion.

After the Spiritual Soul returned to the sea of consciousness, Xiao Yun's body suddenly trembled, as if his meridians had been unblocked. A strand of dense essence energy entered his dantian, and a long-lost sense of power surged through his muscles, seemingly stronger than the sixth level of Body Tempering.

"What is this..." Xiao Yun was stunned, sensing and finding that he had unexpectedly advanced, reaching the seventh level of Body Tempering. After nearly eight years of stagnation, he had finally advanced.

"Is it because the Spiritual Soul absorbed a large amount of fire essence and no longer needs my weak essence energy?" Xiao Yun thought, to verify his idea, he began to absorb elemental energy from the surroundings, testing the Spiritual Soul.

Indeed, with the advancement of the Spiritual Soul, the speed at which he absorbed elemental energy had increased by more than ten times.

Originally, he could only attract a few specks of star-like essence energy, but now the essence energy was vast, like a mist enveloping him, as if he were wearing a misty cloak.

In just an hour, he felt he had reached the peak of the seventh level of Body Tempering.

At this point, he stopped cultivating and waited for the Spiritual Soul to react.

In the past, the Spiritual Soul would always forcibly absorb the essence energy he had gathered.

After waiting for a moment, the Spiritual Soul showed no signs of absorbing the essence energy.

"Does it really not need my essence energy anymore?" This discovery made Xiao Yun both surprised and confused. He had longed for this moment, but now he felt a bit at a loss, finding it hard to believe.

After a while, the Spiritual Soul still showed no signs of movement. Xiao Yun's mind sank into the sea of consciousness, sensing the Spiritual Soul.

"Do you really not need this essence energy?" Although the Spiritual Soul and he were one, he could not truly empathize because he had not fully awakened his origin and fused with it. So, he could only ask with his mind.

As if to answer Xiao Yun, the Spiritual Soul hummed, responding.

At this point, Xiao Yun's heart finally settled.

Since his youth, he had dreamed of the day when the Spiritual Soul would no longer absorb his essence energy, allowing him to recover his talent. He had waited for eight years, practicing hard every day, just for this moment. Now, it had finally come true.

Xiao Yun was so excited that he couldn't help but let out a long cry to the sky.

The young man seemed to be declaring his return to the heavens, releasing the years of suppression and the grievances known only to him.

Because the Spiritual Soul absorbed his essence energy, Xiao Yun had endured ridicule for eight years.

This kind of suppression was unbearable for an ordinary person, let alone a child.

From now on, this humiliation would no longer exist. How could he not be excited?

After releasing his emotions, Xiao Yun calmed down and saw that the fire spirit flower was still in his palm, a smile appearing on his lips. "Fortunately, the fire spirit flower wasn't destroyed. This trip has been quite fruitful."

After putting the fire spirit flower away, Xiao Yun climbed up the cliff.

As he approached the mountain peak, he became particularly cautious.

Hiss!

A strange cry sounded, and the fire python that had ambushed Xiao Yun yesterday appeared, lashing out with its tail.

"Hmph, you almost killed me yesterday. Do you still dare to attack me today?" Xiao Yun's eyes narrowed, not panicking. He grabbed a rock with one hand and slapped the snake's tail with the other.

The palm strike was powerful, the wind roaring, and the nearby rocks cracked.

Bang!

A dull sound echoed, and the fire python was directly hit and crashed into the mountain wall.

"Today, I'll catch you and make soup to nourish my sister." With a successful strike, Xiao Yun took advantage of the momentum, leaping forward like a monkey, his hand turning into a claw, tearing the fire python apart and killing it.

"The peak of the seventh level of Body Tempering is indeed powerful, even the fire python couldn't resist." The feeling of this power made Xiao Yun quite satisfied. He grabbed the fire python, which was as thick as a thigh, and climbed nimbly to the mountain peak.

This trip had been quite fruitful.

Most importantly, Xiao Yun had learned that the Spiritual Soul could advance by absorbing the vast essence energy from the elemental veins.

This way, it would no longer hinder his cultivation.

"As long as I can cultivate normally, I will not be inferior to anyone." The young man stood on the mountain peak, his hands clenched into fists, gazing into the distance, his face showing a determined expression, his eyes shining with hope.