Rocky believed that his Imperial Soul was strong enough to withstand the Divine Nether Flower's
power.
With no hesitation, he released his Imperial Soul and activated his spiritual power at the same time to
absorb the Divine Nether Flower's power. His body ached with all his might as he tried to withstand its
sheer strength.
It came flooding into his veins, filling both his body and soul with a power he had never experienced
before.
But much to his surprise, the holy power residing within him repelled the Divine Nether Flower's power,
causing a violent reaction inside him.
The powers surged destructively into Rocky's meridians at an extremely fast speed.
He felt his body was about to implode at any moment.
His bones ground against each other, sending a numbing pain all across his body. It broke and
rearranged itself over and over again.
But to his bad luck, this was only the beginning!
It took a gruesome six hours for Rocky to finally get over the first stage. After all, this was just another
trial that he had undergone.
But to his credit, both his mind and will were as strong as steel, making it able for him to endure it all.
Then without any sign, the flesh and skin all over his body began to crack, allowing pints of blood to
seep out and cold air to enter underneath his skin. He experienced pain ten times worse than the last
one. He let out a loud cry into the sky, hoping to alleviate some of it.
Much like in the previous stage, his bone-dry skin healed and cracked again and again.
Another six hours passed by at a snail's pace.
Hard as it was to endure, Rocky finally made it through the second stage.
He felt his skin had become both stronger and lighter, allowing him to shield against powerful attacks.
Of course, his suffering wasn't all for naught. His body already underwent tremendous changes due to
the Divine Nether Flower's power. His meridians had been widened several times than before, allowing
them to contain an even greater amount of power.
At the same time, his Imperial Soul became sturdier as it kept growing. The speed of its growth would
easily exceed that of a normal Imperial Soul.
After two meticulous and pain-ridden stages, the last and most important phase awaited Rocky.
At this time, his body was now filled to the brim with the power released by the Divine Nether Flower.
His body felt like a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at a moment's notice.
The last stage was meant to completely destroy his body so that it could be remolded to perfection.
A beam of purple light pierced through him like a hot knife through butter. Finally, he couldn't fight back
anymore and let the sharp light tear his body into pieces.
He was experiencing something worse than death!
But Rocky didn't even let out a cry for help.
In a few short moments, his body had been completely enveloped in the purple light, making it
disappear completely.
With each passing moment, Rocky felt as if he was getting closer to death's doors.
The faces of those closest to him flashed in his mind such as Isis, Marcia, Alyssa, and Lena.
They were who he loved the most.
But the soothing faces of his loved ones were abruptly changed into a memory belonging to the king of
the Shura Race. In the vision, Rocky saw a terrifying devil that towered above the sky, annihilating
everything in its path.
"I shall kill you!" An ominous voice suddenly rang out in the vision.
Not knowing how long it had been since he passed out, Rocky regained consciousness and found that
his body had returned to its original state. Although nothing changed on the surface, his body
underwent a tremendous change on the inside.
When he sensed the things that changed within him, he was shocked to see his Imperial Soul grow
from an infant to the teenage stage.
What surprised him even more was that the Divine Nether Flower kept releasing its power into his
body, as if it was an endless source of strength.
Rocky saw this as an opportunity to absorb even more power. Since his body was now stronger, there
was no more risk of him getting hurt.
One day and one night had passed before the meridians in his body expanded to their limit.
Coincidentally, the Divine Nether Flower seemed to have run out of power at the same time he finished.
Before long, Rocky's entire body began to emit a beam of faint purple light while a chilling fog shrouded
him.
'Have I cultivated a divine body?' he thought to himself. He took a deep breath and immediately sensed
that his body was drastically different than before.
This meant that the sturdiness of his body exceeded that of the Shura Realm.
In other words, his body alone was now strong enough to survive any attack from a Shura Realm
warrior unharmed.
Although he hadn't even reached the realm of god yet, his body was now already stronger than that,
while his strength was now equal to a half-god.
On top of that, since his meridians expanded to its limit and his Imperial Soul grew drastically, he broke
through from the premium stage of the Emperor Realm to the Shura Realm.
Seeing that the Divine Nether Flower was about to exhaust all its energy, Rocky knew this was his last
chance to strengthen even more.
He immediately created an isolated area within his body, absorbed all the remaining energy from the
flower, and sealed it shut using his holy power.
The Divine Nether Flower wilted the moment it released the last remaining drop of its energy. At an
instant, a blinding beam of light shot out from Rocky's body and surged high into the sky above.
The clouds parted ways as the sky split open into two, causing a mysterious light pillar to envelop him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
This violently shook the whole Holy Heaven Palace. The entire space reverberated as if it was to
collapse into itself at any moment.
Colton and Jaiden instantly looked at each other when they sensed the strong quakes. All this time,
they were waiting patiently for Rocky in the center of the Holy Heaven Palace.
"Does this mean that someone is going to break through to the peak level of the Emperor Realm? Who
could it be?" Jaiden asked in surprise.
Hearing this, Colton couldn't help but hope it would be his friend Rocky.
"Could it be the guy you are looking for? It seems that he was lucky enough to encounter something
amazing in the Holy Heaven Palace!" Seeing the hope shining in his eyes, Jaiden cheered for his
grandson's happiness.
"It's possible!" Colton was shocked. If it was true that Rocky had broken through to the peak level of the
Emperor Realm, the news would quickly spread like wildfire throughout the Ethereal Region.
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