The milky luminescence continued wandering through his Spiritual Soul body, like countless stars scattered across the heavens. Every so often, his physical form solidified a fraction, and the vitality emanating from within grew a little richer.
At one point, Tian Yan's gradually materializing body suddenly unleashed an intense gravitational pull. The spiritual energy across the entire Spirit Sword Peak surged in unison, rushing toward him and being devoured clean in the blink of an eye.
An even stronger wave of suction followed. Howling winds and gathering clouds swept across Spirit Sword Peak as distant spiritual energy poured in from every direction, yet it still wasn't enough to satisfy Tian Yan's hunger.
The physical body he had forged from the Spirit Pill now seemed like a bottomless pit — no matter how much spiritual energy arrived, it was swallowed without a trace.
Wen Zishan sensed this immediately and sprang into action. Using his consciousness, he connected with the Green Sun Divine Temple's sect-protecting grand formation, redirecting all the spiritual energy within the entire temple toward Spirit Sword Peak. Yang Kai, meanwhile, brought out his Elder's Jade Disc to channel the spiritual energy flooding into Spirit Sword Peak directly into Tian Yan's body.
The two worked in seamless tandem.
With the deluge of spiritual energy, the vitality within Tian Yan's body grew ever more vigorous.
If there had still been something faintly unnatural about that vitality before, that unnaturalness was now gradually being purged. Tian Yan's body was transforming into one of true flesh and blood.
The omnipresent Heavenly Dao seemed to sense something. A formless, indescribable divine might coalesced above Spirit Sword Peak — still exceedingly faint, not even fully formed, yet it made both Yang Kai and Wen Zishan shudder.
The might of Heaven and Earth! Yang Kai distinctly caught a whiff of it.
The natural laws of every world differed, but the one thing they all shared was the might of Heaven and Earth — the world's origin, the totality of its power. This was why Sovereign Realm experts could command the laws of heaven and earth, while Great Emperors had already glimpsed the might of heaven and earth itself. That was the fundamental divide between the two.
Tian Yan's very existence was intolerable to the Star Boundary. He had previously used a divine ability to conceal himself from the Heavenly Dao, but as time wore on, that deceptive measure gradually began to show cracks, allowing the Dao to perceive his presence.
There really wasn't much time left. If Tian Yan couldn't complete the construction of his physical body before the full might of the Dao manifested, he would inevitably be cast out of this world and banished into the endless void. If it came to that, even Yang Kai's Seven-Colored Warm Spirit Lotus might not be able to save him.
Yang Kai and Wen Zishan wore grim expressions as they accelerated their efforts, channeling every last wisp of spiritual energy from the entire Green Sun Divine Temple into Tian Yan's body. It was all they could do. The rest depended entirely on Tian Yan's own efforts.
Time trickled onward. The spiritual energy within the Green Sun Divine Temple never ceased its churning, and the sounds of wind and thunder rumbled ceaselessly across Spirit Sword Peak. Tian Yan's physical body grew ever more substantial, its vitality ever more robust.
At the same time, the power of the Heavenly Dao gathering above Spirit Sword Peak intensified with each passing moment — like a blade suspended over everyone's heads, liable to fall at any instant, leaving hearts pounding with dread.
Then, in a sudden moment, Tian Yan opened his eyes. His hands formed a series of intricate seals — slow in appearance but swift in execution — and his newly forged body seemed to embrace the ocean and absorb all rivers, devouring the spiritual energy within dozens of miles in a single gulp. The milky luminescence that had been circulating within him vanished without a trace.
The sky overhead remained clear, the moon bright, the stars sparse. Spirit Sword Peak had, at some unknown point, returned to calm, and the oppressive might of the Heavenly Dao that had been gathering overhead had inexplicably dissipated.
Yang Kai's eyes darted back and forth — glancing at Tian Yan, then at Wen Zishan, then up at the sky — looking thoroughly bewildered.
"Congratulations, Senior!" Wen Zishan spoke up suddenly, cupping his fists and smiling toward Tian Yan.
Tian Yan returned the smile. "I owe it to the two of you for your assistance. This old man is grateful."
Wen Zishan chuckled. "Wen simply contributed a bit of brute force. That you were able to forge a physical body is all thanks to Yang Kai finding the Life-Giving Pill."
Yang Kai asked, "Senior, so it's worked?"
He had already gleaned the answer from their exchange. If it hadn't succeeded, Tian Yan wouldn't be this relaxed.
Tian Yan smiled. "It's done."
"That's wonderful news!" Yang Kai was elated. Only now did he release his Divine Sense to sweep over Tian Yan, and upon seeing the result, he was left utterly dumbfounded.
Because Tian Yan at this moment gave him the impression of being extremely weak — not the weakness of someone on the verge of death, but a very natural weakness. Or perhaps it could be called… smallness.
Yang Kai felt not the slightest ripple of power from within him. Tian Yan seemed no different from an ordinary person who had never cultivated at all.
"Senior, what's…?" Yang Kai stared at him in astonishment.
Tian Yan smiled faintly. "The Heavenly Dao is not easily deceived. Even if one can fool it for a time, one cannot fool it for a lifetime. I could only submit to the Dao's will. Right now, this old man should be roughly equivalent to a newborn infant."
Yang Kai's jaw dropped. This wasn't at all what he had expected.
He had assumed that after Tian Yan forged his physical body, he would still be a Great Emperor-level powerhouse. Who could have guessed the result would turn out like this? But when he thought about it, it made sense. How could such a thing come so easily? In the Spirit Soul World, Tian Yan had indeed been at the level of a Great Emperor, but that applied only to spiritual power. His physical body had been created by the Life-Giving Pill, and even after devouring countless amounts of spiritual energy, there was no way it could reach the level of a Great Emperor overnight.