"Wait, making your ascension now will cause you to lose out on a little bit when you break through to the Origin Core Realm." Pinaka warned, but obviously, she didn't do it in an urgent way, as if unwilling to stop Yan Zaizen from reviving Wu Yuanxu. As an existence that resided in his soul form, so close to his soul flame, and interconnected with his dao, how could she not know how heavy Wu Yuanxu's death affected him?
Not only that, it was the only thing, the blight on his life, that prevented his dao from reaching completion! He was someone with tyrannical ferocity, unyielding confidence, ice-cold decisiveness, somber calmness, and warmth! At the time, he only developed his tyrannical ferocity, but he watched someone he considered his friend die in front of him, unable to stop it from happening.
It was like a King of a Nation watching his friend be beheaded against his wishes. How painful would that hurt the king? How could they still have the face of a King?!
"I will ascend now." He coldly informed Pinaka, not giving no quarter for any form of convincing. Pinaka didn't do so, remaining quiet as a result. Even if he lost a little bit of an enhancement if he did so now, it wasn't too important. However, if he could complete his dao, it would be enormous! At the moment, his dao had the strength of a bestowed dao, this was why Hei in Sky Night Royal City didn't feel any great difference from his Palace Master.
At that moment, they were on the same level.
However, if he could complete his dao, develop it into a grand dao! His own dao! The difference was as great as the sky and the earth.
Old Tai brows perked up in suspicion, however, he didn't say anything due to not knowing exactly who this person was. "Here." He sent a medallion towards Yan Zaizen. With a quick scan, he felt like his previous question was answered. He was considered an Anima Initiate. It seems it didn't indicate status but was a title given to them by the organization which comes with responsibilities and organization-based authority.
"Refine that with your spiritual sense, then you can go to one of the white doors in the main hall. In there, you'll be able to request a cultivation room." Old Tai informed.
"What about soul resources? I thought I could exchange for resources with essence?" The reason Yan Zaizen asked was that normal essence was essentially useless for the soul. It required soul essence, but soul-attributed essence wasn't born from essence of the heavens, but it was essence of hell. Hell was the source of reincarnation, the rekindling of the souls, and such. It could be considered the soul hub of the 33 heavens and beyond.
"Yes. You can. Go to the left corridor. At the end, you'll arrive at the exchange. If you wish to change your status, you'll have to come here. Currently, you have the status of Sky-Rank, 1st Crest." This was because he wasn't able to determine Yan Zaizen's soul cultivation, so gave him the default. If he wishes to change it, just needed to display his cultivation base to him, and it'd be as simple as that.
Nodding in understanding, Yan Zaizen turned to dash off but suddenly stopped, asking, "Is it against the rules to speed through the corridor?" He didn't wish to break some rule of the Anima Syndicate. However, what he heard caused him to have a slightly ugly expression.
"No."
THEN WHY DID YOU WALK!?!?!
Yan Zaizen didn't even have the mind to fuss, his body directly vanished into the corridor, in a second, he was already at the circular room. Looking at the left corridor, he dashed forwards, arriving at a similar room with two silver spatial platforms, and an elderly woman behind a high podium. If anything, this place was symmetric and minimalistic in design. He also didn't see any other individual here, but then again, unless they arrived just now, it's likely they were within one of the twelve doors or in their respective forces.
"Hm? What do you need?" The elderly woman spoke in a monotone voice filled with ancientness.
"I need soul essence." He requested.
"Mhm. Low-grade soul crystals are worth ten million essence each. Mid-grade soul crystals are worth 1 billion essence each." Seeing that Yan Zaizen was in the Aurora Soul Realm, she completely disregarded liquid soul essence, and directly listed the price for soul crystals. They were similar to crystal essence, but they were comprised of soul energy of various quantities and purities. The higher the grade, the higher those characteristics.
"You'll need about 3 Mid-grade soul crystals!" Pinaka informed. As a True Spirit with experience, how could she not be familiar with soul requirements?
"I want 3 mid-grade soul crystals!" He immediately went into the Meteor Ring and moved the appropriate wealth, bringing it out without any hesitation in a spatial ring and offering it up.
The old woman was a little shocked by the wealthy and vibrant young man. Whoever this young man was, he must've had an exceptional status to be able to afford this by himself. No one has bought a mid-grade soul crystal in three centuries. However, as it wasn't like essence crystals which could directly ascend your cultivation, it wasn't worth much. Most of the time it'll be used in rare breakthroughs and recovery during missions. Despite this, the price was still far higher than normal because they are used to nourish and cultivate Spirit Forms and True Spirits.
"Mhm." The transaction was quick and swift, and Yan Zaizen vanished as quickly as he arrived.
Arriving at the white door that Tao and Bai Lufeng entered, Yan Zaizen knocked, causing the cute young girl from before to open it almost instantly. "I need a cultivation room." He straightforwardly asked, not willing to waste time. She simply nodded, gesturing him to enter. She brought him inside but the entire room was like a blank white space. After he entered, she left, closing the door leaving only a single door in a room filled with blank whiteness.
"This…" He was truly bewildered, it was like this room stretched infinitely. Besides this white door that seemed to be standing on nothing, this entire room seemed like its own dimension.
"Wow! A sub-dimensional space. It's a little small in comparison to your ring, however." Pinaka commented, her voice filled with wonder.
What?!
This was a sub-dimensional space? What a great cultivation grounds! Literally, for the soul, it required enlightenment into oneself, and typically this is done by experience and constant self-reflection and development. It's why all dedicated soul cultivators had bright eyes revealing wisdom. It's because they did!
There may be those powerful cultivators may just brute-force their souls to a specific level, but those who take step by step advances with experiences and self-reflection into themselves had higher levels of self-awareness! For example, when Yan Zaizen understood what he wanted in a woman, it ignited his soul to reach the Perfect Aurora Soul.
There are very few people in this world who truly knew what they wanted from a spouse, but Yan Zaizen did. It was this very reason why he didn't make a move on Ming Qi in Sky Night Royal City.
"Alright, let's begin!" He sat down. The three soul crystals about the size of a palm fluctuated with a profound aura, they were placed around him in a triangle, and he calmed his mental state. With his dao, how could this be hard? Incomplete or not, a dao is only developed by those with a strong will!
His aurora projected itself outwards, radiating a silver-blue light that turned this world of white into an aurora! The beauty of it was as if sitting in the Aurora Borealis itself like it was a solid thing constantly fluctuating its beautiful colors and shine. However, Yan Zaizen couldn't focus on that as the soul essence within the crystals were being siphoned off rapidly.
"Holy shit!" Pinaka's eyes widened with absolute disbelief. Typically, absorbing soul essence required more time than normal essence, but Yan Zaizen was absorbing it so fast as if he was drinking water. As she looked at his soul form, she saw his black eyes swirling violently, and the soul energy was being rapidly absorbed by them.
Normally, those black eyes were stationary, but now they looked like versions of the swirling black hole on his glabella. Looking inside the Meteor Ring, she could see the manifestation of the swirling black hole above the Aurora Borealis of his, it was stationary.
"What?" She became confused. The glabella was still swirling, his deep black eyes were now swirling, but the black hole manifested by his soul form was...stationary? How did that make sense? What the hell was the manifestation in the ring then? What the hell was the black hole on his glabella?
However, before she could think further, the Aurora Borealis manifested beneath the large black hole standard expanding at a rapid rate, condensing with an even greater silver-blue resplendent luminescence. The black hole once again started to swirl.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" His eyes were, for the very first time, widened as an egg. It's only been like one minute, how could it advance so quickly? She exited the Meteor Ring and saw Yan Zaizen's soul form. His swirling black eyes were stationary once more, while the aurora condensed in his soul form was absolutely perfect!
Yan Zaizen opened his eyes to see that the three mid-grade soul crystals no longer existed. His eyes, which should've been filled with happiness, was filled with so much confusion. Should...that have happened? He consumed the soul crystals in less than a minute! All of its essence was devoured like a quick meal, and he could feel his soul form experiencing an odd characteristic.
Now that he thinks about it, this was the first time in his life that he used soul essence for cultivation...
"You've ascended to the Perfect Aurora Soul...how do you feel? Pinaka asked, her voice obviously cautious. Yan Zaizen's changes were too intense and happened too fast that she couldn't study it properly. She also personally knew that Yan Zaizen had no idea of his unique traits either, so there was no need to ask that.
Clenching his fist, a silver-blue light that was brighter than ever before flickered. It seemed this soul energy was truly perfect. "I feel...okay! No! Better than okay!" He felt like his soul was galvanized with a peerless force. If he wanted, he was sure, he could kill Yao Wuhen within a single exchange!
"Wu Yuanxu! I'll bring you back!" He declared, exiting the white door. His movement was filled with a pep and he dashed back to see Old Tai. Old Tai was shocked, considering Yan Zaizen was gone for like a minute. If that.
"Is there something you want to ask?" Old Tai patiently asked once more.
"Yes!" Yan Zaizen took a deep breath and then exhaled. His soul cultivation base erupted with an intense momentum that caused the very headquarters to tremble slightly in response. A perfect silver-blue aurora manifested itself within the room, causing Old Tai's eyes to turn into a needlepoint.
"PERFECT AURORA SOUL?!" He was shocked to the point his heart stopped beating for a few seconds. If it wasn't for his strong cultivation base, it's likely he would have fainted dead from the surprise. A Perfect Aurora Soul wasn't to be underestimated, even in the Anima Syndicate, it was rare! If you had to put it into comparison, for every one hundred mid-True Essence Realm cultivators, there was one Perfect Aurora Soul Cultivator!
Even he, who lived thousands of years, only had an Advanced Aurora Soul!
POW!!
Yan Zaizen slammed his hand on the podium, his eyes filled with silver-blue light.
"Revive Wu Yuanxu!" Yan Zaizen demanded!