"Wh-what…" Yan Zaizen softly breathed out with a slight cough. Awakening, the first thing he saw was the dirt-ridden ground. It felt desolate and dry, but it emitted faint red glow.
Instinctively analyzing his physical condition, he felt an odd sensation linger in his heart, as if it was foreign, but also contained incomparable familiarity. However, his introspection lead to a shocking discovery!
His was heart was without injury and had faint traces of sky-blue light around it. It was similar to soul energy, but felt different. It was soulforce! Similar to lifeforce, it was the emissions of spiritual creatures like Pinaka and Phantoms. It was the odd aura that Yan Zaizen first discovered in the Deep Mines.
Soulforce and lifeforce were intermixed with peak synchronicity, coexisting peacefully within his heart. Even more, this faint aura of these two forces traveled the entirety of his body, from bones to blood. There was a profound strength hidden in his body.
Clenching his fist, he was shocked. The excess death aura that was siphoned from the hell altar by the shadow of death was converted into lifeforce energy by the white flame. This life force energy was sent through Yan Zaizen's physique, refining it to an incredible degree! His physical body received an enormous enhancement in strength! Even if his vital energy didn't increase in aura intensity, his physical body was far beyond what it was before.
He decided that when he returned, he'll do a more thorough inspection of all these changes.
When he looked around, he realized that he wasn't in the Asura Phantom Palace any longer. A brilliant red glow shone down on him from up-high.
The Moon of Asura!
Ma Xiuren, who had cleaned herself up nicely with a new flower dress, was sitting quietly beside him. Her soft eyes lingered on his face, but one could see faint traces of disbelief in them. Earlier, the man who had 'killed' Yan Zaizen left her alive in his panicked hurry. She lost consciousness soon afterwards.
After several hours, she woke up to see Yan Zaizen breathing steadily in a sleep-state. The hole in his chest was healed and the soul form of that man was gone. Even the blood that seemed as if it was poured on the white-bone altar was gone, it was also considerably duller. It was no longer pure white, but dull gray as if most of its energy within was consumed somehow.
However, she was relieved that she and Yan Zaizen were still alive, regardless of how. As a cultivator who lived for several thousand years, she knew that people had their secrets, and Yan Zaizen had his. Therefore, she exited the Asura Phantom Palace and took him out without question.
As for the others, after bypassing the fifth floor, they were examining the dull-gray hell altar, trying to obtain some benefits from it. How could they bother with them? Not to mention, Yan Zaizen seemed to be asleep, not dead. If they acted rashly and he woke, wouldn't that be the same as courting death?
"Thanks," Yan Zaizen sincerely said. He didn't know what happened, but regardless, Ma Xiuren had taken him out of the Asura Phantom Palace alive. That was more than enough to be grateful for.
"..." She nodded softly in response. However, she wanted to say thank you instead. For quite a while, she was tortured by the Asura Phantom Palace Master. The torture was a death by a thousand cuts, but instead of a thousand, he lacerated every inch of her body with nearly a hundred thousand small cuts. Each of these cuts caused soul-deep pain. Her current appearance was only suppressed but if one looked closely, tiny lines marked her entire body.
At that moment, she wanted to die. However, somehow, they had survived while the Palace Master was gone.
"I wonder why this keeps happening," Yan Zaizen softly muttered. Every time he goes unconscious, he awakens with new abilities or qualities. Firstly, it was the arrival of the Meteor Ring and a soul cultivation base. Secondly, he had ascended to the Aurora Soul Realm in the Serene Moon Cove. Thirdly, albeit it took sometime, his soul form had experienced incredible changes and his soul cultivation base increased.
Now, his physical body had been strengthened to the point that he couldn't even begin to estimate. His heart now contained both soulforce and lifeforce. If he looked in the mirror, his amber-gold eyes, in the deep depths of his pupils, he could see faint wisps of sky-blue.
"I'm…" Pinaka voice resounded. She felt apologetic for her uselessness. As a True Spirit, she should've been able to help Yan Zaizen. After all, at her peak, she was used by a peak middle-stage Heavenly Genesis expert. A measly two-floor Infernal Forger wouldn't even reach her eyes at her peak. Alone, she could've killed him.
Yet...he almost killed Yan Zaizen. He restricted his soul so that he could slowly die. If it wasn't for a surge of soulforce from the regalia, Yan Zaizen's soul would be damaged after being in a state similar to death for several hours.
He also got trapped within sub-dimensional space but she could do nothing but stay silent. When was she ever this useless?
"When will you recover?" Yan Zaizen smilingly said to Pinaka. He understood her dilemma. The dilemma of weakness. To be useless, to have your life and death controlled by others, to be unable to save those who you wished to live, and to be so weak you could only let others stomp all over you.
It wasn't a good feeling. In truth, he detested this feeling and cultivated to rid himself of this feeling. What was the essence of his Mortal Dao? To relentlessly seek ascension and become a sovereign! Not just a sovereign, THE Sovereign.
"At this rate, another 300 or 400 years…" Pinaka responded, but her voice didn't seem to contain any satisfaction at her speed.
"Good! We can expedite that with resources. With our gains this time, it shouldn't be difficult. However…" his voice trailed off, shifting into his soul form and appearing beside Pinaka's, "I'll still need your guidance. For several hundred more years. Hehe." Yan Zaizen's smile was filled with warmth.
Pinaka was stunned, but then realized who Yan Zaizen was. What his dao represented. Back there, wasn't Yan Zaizen just as useless? How could he expect her to know everything and handle all things just because she lived longer? She was injured, but she had already helped him so much.
Could he have obtained the Asura Golem without her? No. Could he have obtained Asura Milk without her? Likely not. Would he even know anything about the Heavenly Path, Regalia of the Heavens, or the Hell Path without her? No.
He would've left the books in the Meteor Ring alone, would've never reached the second level of the Herculean Physique, or understand a lot of the mysteries beneath the heavens without her. How could he blame her?
"En." Pinaka nodded, her eyes filled with determination and resolve.
"Good. Now, I can finally explore my origin source." His eyes sparkled as he shifted into the Meteor Ring. At first, he wasn't sure why he couldn't find it in his body. With his senses and perception, it shouldn't be difficult.
However, then he thought about everything that happened in chaotic space. How he was being ripped to pieces. He had the feeling that his origin source hid somewhere somehow by something, being protected in a similar way his soul was after hibernating.
However, where?
He looked up to see the spiraling black hole in the Meteor Ring. His eyes flickered with a light of brilliance.
Indeed.
Someplace connected to his body and soul, but safe and isolated from chaotic space.
In the Meteor Ring.