196: Soul tempering, breaking through desperate situations
"Sever!"
Ye Chen let out a low roar, suppressed to the extreme. The black light of "Sever" on the guixu sword merged with the Nirvana Sword Intent, condensing into a thread so fine and absolute in its nothingness that it didn't strike at a physical entity, but at the intangible yet real rules binding him!
This sword strike poured out all his newborn strength, and contained his profound realization of "End" and "Existence" within the desperate situation of Guixu.
"Chi—!"
A light sound, like a broken harp string, exploded on the level of the Soul!
The terrifying devouring force originating from the Guixu vortex, which had been coiled around Ye Chen, was actually sliced open by a tiny gap by this sword strike containing the true meaning of "Severance"!
Although this gap started to close instantly, for Ye Chen, who had pushed his Chaos Limitless Steps to the limit, it was enough!
"Whoosh!"
His figure, like a bird breaking free from a spiderweb, used that not-yet-dissipated devouring pull to surge in speed, transforming into a distorted stream of light. He rushed dangerously close to the rule-based air current representing "Soul Nirvana," and grabbed the suspended pitch-black crystal—the Soul Nirvana Stone!
It felt ice-cold to the touch, not the cold of flesh and blood, but a freezing sensation acting directly on the Soul! It was as if he were holding a piece of eternal Soul ice!
Almost the moment he grabbed the Soul Nirvana Stone, a more terrifying Soul-devouring force erupted from the countless fine pores of the stone, like countless cold needles, fiercely piercing into Ye Chen's Divine Soul and Sea of Consciousness!
"Hmph!"
Ye Chen let out a muffled groan, his vision darkened, and he felt as if his Three Ethereal Souls and Seven Corporeal Spirits were about to be pulled away, torn apart, and devoured! The threat of this Soul Nirvana Stone to the Soul was even more direct and dangerous than the surrounding Guixu devouring force!
Besieged from within and without!
Outside, the Guixu vortex accelerated, and an even more powerful devouring force surged like a tide, threatening to drown him completely. Inside, the Soul Nirvana Stone was frantically devouring his Soul, aiming to turn him into an empty shell!
Desperation! A true situation of ten deaths and no life!
However, at the very moment his Soul was about to be completely devoured by the Soul Nirvana Stone, Ye Chen's Sword Intent, which had been tempered through countless trials and was already as firm as rock, let out an unwilling roar!
"My Dao Heart is indestructible! How can mere Nirvana devour me?!"
Instead of using his energy to resist the Soul Nirvana Stone's devouring, he made a crazy move—he voluntarily released his Divine Soul defense, guiding the terrifying Soul Nirvana force of the Soul Nirvana Stone, along with the Soul-ending Dao rhyme emanating from the surrounding rule-based air current, to rush fiercely toward the core of his Divine Soul like quenching ice water!
At the same time, he fully operated the Primordial Chaos Art. The chaos ancestral talisman, which had just completed the "Foundation of Existence" in his Qi Sea, erupted with unprecedented brilliance. A gentle yet vast force of Chaos Origin, like the nourishment of a mother, protected the most fundamental spark of his Divine Soul from being extinguished!
Destruction and rebirth, Nirvana and existence—in this moment of life and death, a highly dangerous balance was reached!
"Crack... crack..."
Under this extreme tempering of ice and fire, Ye Chen's Divine Soul emitted sounds as if glass were shattering and reshaping. Countless distracting thoughts, Heart Demons, and dust from the past were stripped away and dissipated like Impurities burned by a blazing fire under the scouring of this Soul Nirvana force. The essence of his Divine Soul was tempered a thousand times, transforming toward a purer, more condensed, and more "Dao"-like nature!
Pain! An indescribable pain of Soul tearing!
But in this extreme pain, Ye Chen's consciousness was clearer than ever. He "saw" the flaws hidden in his Divine Soul, saw the subtle weaknesses in his will, saw the attachment to "life" and the fear of "death"... And these were all ruthlessly shattered and stripped away under the baptism of the Nirvana force!
His Sword Intent, especially the Nirvana Sword Intent, began to deeply fuse with his Divine Soul Origin during this Soul-level tempering. The Sword Intent was no longer an external attack method, but became a part of his Divine Soul, as natural as breathing. The Soul Nirvana force released by that Soul Nirvana Stone was no longer just destruction; it became a "whetstone" for him to temper his Divine Soul and deepen his understanding of the Nirvana Sword Intent!
I don't know how much time passed; perhaps it was an instant, perhaps an eternity.
The pitch-black luster on the surface of the frantically devouring Soul Nirvana Stone gradually faded. The terrifying Soul Nirvana force contained within it seemed to have been forcefully "exhausted" by Ye Chen's powerful Divine Soul, which had been nourished by the Chaos Origin and constantly reshaped in Nirvana!
"Pfft..."
With a soft sound, the Soul Nirvana Stone turned into ordinary gray powder in Ye Chen's hand and drifted away with the wind.
And Ye Chen suddenly opened his eyes!
His eyes were no longer filled with the illusions of the Universe's heat death as before, but had turned into a profound calmness, like the eternal starry sky, or an ancient well that had seen through all life, death, and Reincarnation. Deep in his pupils, a speck of Nirvana starlight slowly rotated, emitting a chill that could freeze the Soul.
His Divine Soul had undergone a double trial of Guixu devouring and Soul Nirvana Stone tempering, completing an unprecedented Nirvana! Its strength, resilience, and affinity for the Nirvana rules had all increased by more than several times! If his Divine Soul had been a sturdy fortress before, now, this fortress was entirely forged from immortal refined gold and engraved with the Dao patterns of Nirvana!
The Nirvana Sword Intent, as if naturally flowing, stepped into the realm of Major Achievement! With a mere thought, without needing to deliberately urge it, an invisible Nirvana Domain formed naturally, faintly repelling the Guixu energy within a ten-foot radius around him. The devouring force of the central vortex, when acting upon this Domain, had its effect greatly reduced!
His cultivation, although still at the Peak of the Tiangang Realm Third Layer, possessed a Foundation of such depth, a control over power of such precision, and an understanding and application of rules that were already incomparable to before!
At this moment, if he were to face that Star Remains Puppet again, he probably wouldn't need to draw his sword; merely the natural emanation of his Great Accomplishment Nirvana Sword Intent would be enough to cause its Soul core to collapse on its own and return to dead silence!
Ye Chen let out a long breath of turbid air; even this breath carried a cold sense of Nirvana. He looked at the central vortex, which was still rotating frantically and emitting infinite devouring power, with no fear in his eyes, only an icy calmness.
He had successfully seized that sliver of life in a desperate situation and used it to complete the ultimate transformation of his Soul and Sword Intent!
It was time to leave this land of the end of all things.
His gaze swept over the relics at the edge of the central vortex that exuded a tenacious aura of "existence," and then at those hanging air currents representing different rules of termination. He knew that this place still contained countless secrets and Opportunity, but with his current strength, being near the vortex was still too dangerous.
The most urgent task was to find a way to leave.
Could the bronze giant gate be opened from the inside? Or did this Guixu core land contain other unknown exits?
Ye Chen cast his gaze toward those hanging rule-based air currents. Perhaps these air currents, manifested by the rules of termination, were not just symbols of danger; did they... also represent some kind of "path"?
He took a deep breath, his Great Accomplishment Nirvana Sword Intent circling around him, and took a step forward, no longer fearing the pull of the central vortex, beginning to carefully explore the mysteries of this Guixu core land, searching for that escaped sliver of life.