Han Li and his Second Nascent Soul simultaneously felt their bodies and spiritual sense as though being scraped by countless blades, over and over again.
Even worse, this pain could not be lessened or resisted by Magical Power or any other divine ability — it was as if they were mere mortals, forced to endure this extreme agony of a thousand cuts directly to the bone.
And so, even though Han Li's body could withstand direct strikes from flying swords and blades, under such excruciating pain, even the Magical Power within his body temporarily lost control, and he came plummeting down.
A muffled thud rang out.
Though he was in terrible agony, the Sacred True Devil Art on his body had not dissipated. This height was far from enough to harm his flesh. Instead, the impact of his powerful body smashed a small crater into the ground, sending chips of stone scattering in all directions.
Han Li had no attention to spare for such trivial matters. His cries of pain had been limited to that initial sound — afterward, he pressed his lips together and forced himself to endure in silence, though his complexion had turned slightly blue-purple.
This pain was truly beyond what ordinary people could withstand, and he could only resist it desperately through sheer willpower.
Under these circumstances, Han Li felt that his Primordial Spirit was scorching hot, as though wrapped in an inexplicable blaze, its very soul seemingly ablaze within.
Though he barely maintained a sliver of clarity, he was deeply alarmed.
Gritting his teeth, he shifted his body and managed, with tremendous effort, to control his form well enough to sit up within the crater.
He crossed his legs, formed hand seals, and the golden light on his body blazed forth once more.
After partially adapting to the pain, he actually attempted to use the formidable power of the Sacred True Devil Art to forcibly expel the strange sensation within his body.
But the very next moment, something that left him stunned occurred.
When the spiritual power within his body circulated, those waves of pain transformed into streams of cool qi that surged wildly into his Meridians, converting into a strange energy he had never encountered before, propelling the Sacred True Devil Art to circulate at a terrifying speed.
After a single complete cycle, his cultivation base had inexplicably increased by a small amount.
Though compared to his total reserves, the increase was not substantial, it was nonetheless a genuine, tangible gain from nothing.
And this bizarre advancement in cultivation continued to grow as the Sacred True Devil Art kept circulating.
Such good fortune — how could it not fill him with both surprise and elation!
Han Li gave no further thought to the reasons behind it. Without a second word, he closed his eyes, golden light flickering across his body, and devoted himself wholeheartedly to cultivation.
Under these conditions, a single cycle of his technique was equivalent to a full year of arduous practice under normal circumstances. He would absolutely not give up this tremendous opportunity.
However, this increase in his own cultivation was still far less than what his Second Nascent Soul within the distant pillar of light was experiencing.
Although the Second Nascent Soul also circulated its technique to resist the pain, the portion it could neutralize was truly insignificant compared to the enormous energy constantly flooding in — precisely because it was directly absorbing the power from the pillar of light.
And so, even while circulating its technique, the pain barely diminished. But likewise, the increase in the Second Nascent Soul's cultivation was far beyond what Han Li's main body experienced — roughly three to four times greater.
Within the time it took to finish a simple meal, it had broken through from early-stage Deity Transformation to mid-stage Deity Transformation, encountering no bottleneck whatsoever.
Time passed moment by moment!
Han Li felt his body tremble as a strange sensation surged through him. The bottleneck of early-stage Void Refining, after some effort, had actually been broken through — he advanced in one fell swoop into mid-stage Void Refining.
Overjoyed, Han Li continued to furiously circulate the Sacred True Devil Art.
He did not notice that the instant he advanced to mid-stage Void Refining, the golden droplets within the distant pillar of light flashed brilliantly and suddenly converged upon his Second Nascent Soul.
In the blink of an eye, a brand-new Golden Body materialized within the pillar of light.
The new Golden Body was likewise three-headed and six-armed, but its entire form was covered in startling purple-gold patterns, forming vaguely discernible, peculiar runes. These purple-gold runes flickered in and out of visibility and appeared to be somewhat incomplete.
Yet the aura emanating from this Golden Body was utterly different from before — the crimson-gold spiritual light radiating from it carried threads of purple luminescence, lending it an air of profound mystery.
The third, previously indistinct face on the Golden Body was noticeably clearer than before — the eyes, nose, and other facial features were becoming visible. Still, the third face could hardly be called clear.
With this new Golden Body, the Second Nascent Soul's speed of absorbing pure spiritual energy and the five-colored runes increased dramatically, and the pain subsided considerably.
Moments later, the Second Nascent Soul's cultivation broke through mid-stage Deity Transformation and entered late-stage Deity Transformation, then continued to surge toward the peak.
A short while later, as Han Li's own cultivation was approaching the peak of mid-stage Void Refining and he was gathering strength for the next breakthrough, the Second Nascent Soul spent a brief time breaking through the Deity Transformation bottleneck and entered the Void Refining realm — comparable to Han Li's main body.
Such terrifying speed of advancement would leave any mighty cultivator in the Spirit World completely dumbfounded.
A thunderous boom!
As though sensing something, the nine silver halberds held aloft by the armored figures all emitted a long, piercing wail, and the nine beams of light shooting from their tips flashed and vanished into the void.
The milky-white pillar of light erupting from the golden vortex suddenly shuddered and thickened by roughly a ring compared to before.
The Second Nascent Soul within the pillar let out a shrill, agonized cry.
The Sacred True Devil Golden Body that had just formed outside flickered violently with golden light and began to dissolve once more.
In the blink of an eye, dense golden droplets once again hovered within the pillar of light.