Chapter 316 - Breakthrough
The craze brought forth by the killing of a Spiritual King continued within the hunting grounds. There were some people who exclaimed in admiration, others with envy. There were even some who doubted it. However, regardless of that, everyone knew that the two Freshmen, one named Mu Chen and the other named Luo Li, might become the most dazzling dark horses in this hunt.
Within this hunt that did not lack any dark horses, they had obviously walked to the apex position. They had even stolen the limelight from Zhao Qingshan, whose ample fame was suppressed by them, without any room for discussion.
However, while the entire hunting grounds was abuzz with the news of the killing of a Spiritual King, Mu Chen and Luo Li disappeared without a trace. For almost a day, there was still no one that had seen them.
This made everyone guess that the two might have suffered overly serious injuries. After all, regardless of what method they used, wanting to kill a Spirit King without playing any price was obviously an impossibility.
On a lone peak within a desolated area of the Spiritual Light World, Luo Li stood tall on the mountain summit, her clear and limpid pupils would vigilantly search in all directions, from time to time. Only after detecting no abnormal activity did she turn around and look towards her back. There sat a youth on top of a giant boulder, whose eyes were tightly shut while his Spiritual Energy fluctuations were undulating and being unstable.
Different from the guesses of the outside world, the reason why the two of them had not shown up for a day was not due to injuries. Although their consumption was indeed extremely large due to the fight with the Spirit King, the injuries they suffered had completely recovered after a short span of less than a day’s worth of time.
The reason why they were delayed in showing up was due to Mu Chen reaching a short-of-a-breakthrough state after experiencing that big battle.
After training bitterly in the Lightning Territory, Mu Chen’s strength had increased; however, he was still unable to successfully breakthrough to Heavenly Transformation Stage. He could only be considered as a Quasi-Heavenly Transformation Stage. Although the difference between the two was only a single word, the disparity was pretty big.
Only those that could truly step pass that stage would be able to discover the marvels of the Heavenly Transformation Stage, and would possess the strength of a genuine Heavenly Transformation Stage.
For the past few days, Mu Chen had always been lingering with the feeling of breaking through. However, after recovering from this great battle, this marvelous feeling had involuntarily arisen, causing extreme joy and happiness within Mu Chen’s heart.
This kind of breakthrough was a kind of enlightenment, and was unrelated to how overbearing one’s Spiritual Energy was. Mu Chen knew that just based on the degree of overbearingness of his Spiritual Energy, he was comparable to a Heavenly Transformation expert. However, if he did not break pass this level, he could only be classified as having more vigorous and dense Spiritual Energy than a normal Heavenly Fusion Stage. As for wanting to experience the marvels of the Heavenly Transformation Stage, he should not even consider thinking about it.
Although this was a small step, wanting to step past it was not an easy task.
Mu Chen quietly sat cross-legged on top of the green boulder, allowing the Spiritual Energy around his body to undulate indefinitely. Contrary to that, his breathing was abnormally calm and tranquil, as if there was not a single trace of influence from his Spiritual Energy.
Within his body, Spiritual Energy was churning and boiling. However, he did not give any particular care to control it; instead, he let it automatically circulate.
Within his aurasea, his Divine Soul was seated down while radiating light. Halos continuously erupt out from the surface of the Divine Soul, while a peculiar fluctuation was faintly discernable as it radiated out.
The Divine Soul slowly opened its eyes, revealing eyes that were akin to the night sky, looking exceptionally deep. Slowly spreading out its hands, it looked akin to trying to hug the world.
Rumble!
In the outside world, a low and deep rumble resound as gales started to erupt.
The surface of the Divine Soul turned increasingly radiant. Its small body was starting to expand, little by little. In a short period of time, it had already made contact with the edges of the aurasea.
Upon contact, a sluggish and astringent feeling transmitted out, causing the Divine Soul to have difficulty moving.
The Divine Soul peacefully sat motionless, sinking into the fantastic feeling that resonated within the heavens and the earth. In the next moment, a force of absorption started to radiate out in the outside world. It tugged at Mu Chen’s Divine Soul, causing it to break free from the aurasea bit by bit, while being increasingly unfettered.
A ray of light surfaced on Mu Chen’s abdomen, before passing through his body, and shot towards the Spiritual Energy enveloping the sky.
Cry!
A clear ray of light furiously shot out of Mu Chen’s Spiritual Energy cover, rushing towards the heavens. This ray was extremely peculiar, as it did not have any Spiritual Energy fluctuations. However, it gave people a feeling that it was unable to be penetrated.
“The Divine Soul leaves the body, and enters the heavens and the earth.”
Seeing this spectacle before her, a joyous smile appeared on the corner of Luo Li’s mouth. Being able to achieve this step, this meant that Mu Chen had already stepped past his current stage, and had truly promoted to the level of Heavenly Transformation Stage.
The so-called ‘Heavenly Transformation Stage’ indicated the breaking of fetters by one’s Divine Soul, and was able to enter the heavens and earth. This made one able to conceal one’s body at any time, making it hard to detect someone. Even if one suffered an attack, as long as one could assimilate one’s body into the heavens and the earth, one could reduce the damage caused by the attack. This was why people of the Heavenly Transformation Stage had far higher resistance to attacks than people of Heavenly Fusion Stage. A large portion wasn’t due to becoming more stronger and vigorous, but when receiving an attack. A Heavenly Transformation Stage expert would be able to assimilate with the heavens and earth, dispelling part of the attack.
Brilliant and clear light erupted from the Spiritual Energy cover around Mu Chen, before the fist-sized Divine Soul surfaced. Upon surfacing, it followed the clear ray of light and rushed towards the sky.
When Mu Chen was still in the Heavenly Fusion Stage, his Divine Soul could only leave for a short period of time. In addition, it could not leave far from his body. However, following his promotion to Heavenly Transformation Stage, his Divine Soul had clearly been granted more freedom. This was the reason why the fetters binding it had become increasingly less.
As the Divine Soul sat within that clear light pillar, it spread out its hands, akin to soaring through the world. At this time, a deeply drunk expression appeared on the little guy’s face.
Mu Chen’s body had also blossomed with radiance. When Luo Li looked over, she was able to see him sitting there. However, if she only used her senses and relied on Spiritual Energy fluctuations, she would discover that the place was empty and devoid of people. Even if she was to specifically examine that area where he was at, she would not find the slightest trace of him.
Obviously, Mu Chen had already stepped passed this stage.
In the sky, the clear light pillar gradually dissipated. Mu Chen’s Divine Soul swept over, following the Spiritual Energy cover and drilled into his body, finally sitting down within his aurasea again.
His tightly shut eyes started to slowly open at this instant. His black pupils sparkled with brilliance akin to a scorching sun before dissipating, bit by bit.
“Ah!”
Mu Chen raised his head. Unable to contain the extreme feeling of carefreeness in his heart, he faced the sky and roared. His roar was akin to thunder, rolling around in this stretch of the world as it expanded out.
Standing up, he could feel that his body had become much more lithe and graceful. Although the Spiritual Energy within his body did not have an overly clear increase, he was able to feel that he had become much stronger.
The current him had an even deeper resonance within the heavens and earth. He was able to absorb the Spiritual Energy from the world much more easily. In addition, the degree of resonance and fusion had far exceeded his previous degree.
From Quasi-Heavenly Transformation Stage to Heavenly Transformation Stage. Mu Chen had finally stepped across this gap.
“Congratulations, you now possess the strength of a Heavenly Transformation Stage.” said Luo Li as she gently strutted over. Walking to his front, her absolutely beautiful, loveable face was brimming with a smiling expression.
“I’m only at the Heavenly Transformation Stage. This is far from enough.” replied Mu Chen with a faint smile. He had told the girl in front of him before that he would become an expert that was at the apex of the world. The current him clearly still had an extremely far distance from that step.
“We should leave first and calculate the time. Perhaps this hunt should be nearing its end. We still have to reach the deepest parts.” said Luo Li.
Mu Chen nodded his head in approval. The true protectors were stationed in the deepest part. Although they had obtained the Spirit King’s Spirit Crystal, if they were unable to fight their way through the final pass, not only would it be of absolutely no use, all the other students that had obtained Spiritual Lights from this hunt would have to return empty-handed.
Mu Chen smacked his lips and hurriedly felt some pressure and stress. Although he had yet to see those three final protectors, according to his estimates, their strength might even be stronger than that Spiritual King. After all, not only did they possess vigorous Spiritual Power, they still had rich combat experience, as well as various kinds of powerful methods.
All the participating students in this hunt might feel exceedingly pressured to defeat them.
Mu Chen sighed and lamented, before grabbing hold of Luo Li’s small hand. The two of them swiftly shot forward. Taking out the map to identify their location, they swept towards the southeast.
After approximately an hour, the two of them slowed down, before descending on a nearby hill. There was a number of figures waiting for them. They were Wang Tong, An Ran and the rest. This was the place that they had previously decided to rendezvous.
Upon seeing Mu Chen and Luo Li’s figures, Wang Tong and the rest instantly breathed a sigh of relief as they felt a heavy burden drop off their shoulders. They had already waited there for an entire day.
“You’ve finally appeared. If you two didn’t appear, we’d all assume that something happened to you two.” Wang Tong said while wiping away the cold sweat on his forehead.
Mu Chen smiled and replied, “Let’s rest here awhile and delay a bit of time.”
“You two are now famous people within the hunting grounds. Do you know how many people were looking for you?” Wang Tong said in a low voice.
“What’s the matter?” asked Mu Chen with concern.
“The matter of you two killing the Spirit King has already spread throughout the hunting grounds. Everyone one knows that you two have the Spirit King’s Spirit Crystal in your hands. If they are able to snatch it from your hands, they would be able to achieve perfection in their Spiritual Light Empowerment this time.” An Ran replied with a smile.
“Therefore, there are, currently, quite a few people that have plans against you two. Before you two arrived, all of us assumed that something had happened to you.”
Mu Chen faintly wrinkled his brows, as he never imagined that there was actually such trouble waiting for them. However, he only gestured with his hands while saying, “It’s alright. If there are truly blind people wanting to come, they can’t blame us for being discourteous.”
As he said those finishing those words, he flicked his finger, sending multiple purple-coloured Spirit Crystals shooting out towards Wang Tong and the rest.
“These are Spiritual Lights of Heavenly Transformation Stage Late Phase Spirit Generals. There’s enough for everyone.” Mu Chen said with a smile. When he was in the underground world, he had obtained dozens of Spiritual Lights from the Heavenly Transformation Stage Late Phase Spirit Generals. As of now, it had benefited Wang Tong and the rest.
“Hehe. Thanks very much.” Wang Tong and the rest did not act polite and received them with fiery eyes. It was already extremely hard to acquire a high grade Spiritual Light.
“Let’s go. We’ll head towards the deepest part of the hunting grounds.”
Mu Chen said while gesturing with his hands, while casually asking, “Is there any news that’s more important than that?”
Wang Tong thought for a moment, before grinning while replying, “Yes. It’s said that He Yao, who is rank 4 on the Heavenly Ranks, had sent a challenge towards Su Xuan, who is rank 3. The fight would be at the base of the Spiritual Light Mountain. The absolute majority of people are now currently heading over there.”
Upon hearing that, Mu Chen’s eyes abruptly contracted. So, that fellow was unable to endure it any longer?