Lei Lin closed his eyes.
At that moment, within a dim, greyish soul space, his half-moon-grade true spirit manifested, and across from it coiled the white serpent from before.
"Hsss…"
This contest had already taken place numerous times over the past month, so the moment the Devil White Phosphorus Serpent's beast soul sensed the familiar spiritual aura of Lei Lin's true spirit, it immediately shrank back in fear.
"Submit! Or die!"
Lei Lin gave the beast soul no time to deliberate. He issued his warning at once, and the mighty force of his half-moon-grade true spirit descended, crushing the white serpent flat against the ground.
"Hsss…" The white serpent flicked its tongue and surrendered without resistance. A sliver of cool moonlight began seeping through its eyes, seizing control of every part of it.
Gradually, the serpent's pupils grew increasingly hazy, and the image of a half-moon emerged within them…
[Ding! Host has successfully sealed the fifth-grade Devil White Phosphorus Serpent beast soul. Advancement to fifth-grade Beast Soul Master complete!]
The Chip's voice rang out, and everything had unfolded as smoothly as water flowing into a channel.
Beast souls of the fourth grade and above typically carried fragments of their original host's resentment or even memory shards, making them fiercely resistant to the complete loss of freedom that sealing entailed—a tremendous headache for any Beast Soul Master.
Even if the beast soul was eventually subdued, the struggle would invariably erode a portion of its spiritual essence, diminishing its overall power.
However, Lei Lin had thoroughly tamed this particular beast soul well in advance, so the sealing process had been extraordinarily smooth.
Moreover, the Soul-Sealing Formation he had employed had been optimized by the Chip, maximizing the compatibility between Beast Soul Master and beast soul. As a result, Lei Lin had not only successfully advanced to fifth-grade Beast Soul Master but was also able to draw upon the full power of the Devil White Phosphorus Serpent beast soul!
"Still, the sealing itself was simulated by the Chip beforehand, with a success rate of ninety-nine percent. The real challenge—the feedback process—comes next…"
At that thought, Lei Lin's expression grew even more solemn than before, and he sank his consciousness into the Singularity Nebula within his Sea of Consciousness.
[Ding! Fifth-grade beast soul feedback commencing!]
Accompanying the Chip's announcement, a wondrous transformation unfolded within the Sea of Consciousness.
On the back of Lei Lin's hand, a lifelike white serpent tattoo surfaced, writhing ceaselessly as a stream of pure spiritual energy was gradually drawn in, devoured by the Singularity Vortex of his Sea of Consciousness, refined once more, and then surged directly into the singularity.
The Mass of the Brillant Moon
Within the Mass, Lei Lin's Half-Moon True Spirit frolicked with elation. Upon the full-moon-shaped Mass, the luminance that had previously occupied only half began to surge, launching an assault on the remaining half.
Upon entering the Fifth-Grade Brillant Moon Wizard realm, a wizard's True Spirit took the form of a full moon, representing completeness.
The strength of one's soul power manifested as different intensities of light upon the moon — from the initial Crescent Moon, to the Half-Moon, and finally the fullest Full Moon, each representing a different stage in a Fifth-Grade wizard's cultivation journey.
Lei Lin's True Spirit had been at the Half-Moon stage, but now, with the assistance of the Devil White Phosphorus Serpent's beast soul, it began charging toward the Full Moon level!
[Ding! Fifth-grade beast soul feedback process commencing. Subject's soul power being enhanced. Various parameters shifting…]
The Chip's voice rang out at that very moment.
[Ding! Subject's soul power detected to have reached threshold. Enhancement initiated. Current value: 210!]
[Ding! Subject has absorbed a large quantity of pure soul essence. Soul power increasing. Current value: 220!]
The Chip's notifications continued to refresh, and alongside its mechanical voice, the Half-Moon True Spirit within Lei Lin's Mass grew ever more complete, beginning its transformation into a Full Moon True Spirit.
230! 240! 250! Under the amplification of the Fifth-Grade beast soul, the progress of Lei Lin's True Spirit was nothing short of terrifying.
The already-complete True Spirit swelled further in size, the Full Moon's radiance gradually threatening to blanket the entirety of the True Spirit.
And just then — an abrupt anomaly erupted!
"Hsssss!" Upon Lei Lin's forehead, a black serpent rune bound by thorny iron chains surfaced, surrounded by a dense ring of chaotic force seals.
[Ding! Detection: the Ten Thousand Serpent Curse Mark has become unstable. Determined to be triggered by the sudden surge in soul power. Activation in progress…]
Alongside the Chip's announcement, Lei Lin felt as though a terrifying black hole had materialized inside his body, begining to drain his bloodline and soul power in massive quantities.
"No!" Lei Lin's eyes were instantly flooded with blood-red veins.
He had long known that breaking through the seal of the Ten Thousand Serpent Curse Mark would not be simple, but he had never anticipated it would reach such a severe degree.
Originally, according to his plan, once he raised his True Spirit to the Half-Moon tier and pushed his strength to the peak of the Fifth Grade, even with the Ten Thousand Serpent Curse Mark still suppressing him, he could recover to his former peak — and perhaps even surpass it.
After all, if Lei Lin's previous strength had been 10, and the Ten Thousand Serpent Curse Mark's seal had reduced it by 2, what remained was only around 8.
But once Lei Lin advanced to the peak of the Fifth Grade and raised his upper strength limit to fifteen, even with the Ten Thousand Serpent Curse Mark still subtracting two, what remained would still be around thirteen — far exceeding his previous level.
However, the terror of the Ten Thousand Serpent Curse Mark, and the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents' mastery over curses, still exceeded Lei Lin's expectations to some degree.
"Power of Chaos!" A gray, ethereal feather materialized in Lei Lin's hand. Vast quantities of Chaos Crystals burned away, channeling their energy to support the seal on his forehead.
"This Ten Thousand Serpent Curse Mark — it actually increases its power automatically in response to the host's advancement!"
Lei Lin's expression was grim, then shifted to resolve. He had prepared contingencies for this situation, but he had truly been unwilling to make such a consumption unless it was absolutely critical.
"Fine! You want to devour? Then take it! Take it all!"
Eyes bloodshot, Lei Lin let out a low shout. A fiery, jade-like crystal suddenly emerged from his spatial storage, radiating red light, with the faint cry of a phoenix ringing through the air!
The essence of a fragment of the Soul-grade artifact, the Phoenix Egg — a treasure of the entire Lava World! It could directly amplify soul force, provided the host's constitution was strong enough to bear it.
Although Lei Lin had previously pushed himself to his absolute limit, after sealing the Beast Soul, his constitution had received an additional boost. Combined with the reserves he had accumulated over time, it was enough for him to use this essence once more.
"Yi yi!"
A dark, sinister fire phoenix suddenly manifested behind Lei Lin's back and swallowed the Phoenix Egg whole in a single gulp.
Boom! Brilliant golden flames erupted across Lei Lin's body, then shifted to an eerie, otherworldly black.
Terrifying soul force, wreathed in searing firelight, surged violently through Lei Lin's body and poured into the black hole of the Ten Thousand Serpent Curse Mark.
"Yi yi!" Unlike the power of bloodline, this soul force carried the fearsome searing might of an ancient fire phoenix, and the entire black hole began to ripple and tremble. Flickers of red light flashed ceaselessly from its depths.
"Get back!"
With Lei Lin's roar, the Ten Thousand Serpent Curse Mark on his forehead contracted violently inward, even leaving behind a faint crimson scar. Vast amounts of Power of Chaos formed a seal around the periphery, finally suppressing the eruption.
[Alert! Host has ingested Phoenix Egg essence! Massive soul origin acquired. Soul force data rising!]
Accompanied by the Chip's voice, Lei Lin's soul force data rocketed upward like a missile, breaking through the 250 bottleneck almost instantly. After several final surges, it smashed directly past the 300 threshold!
[Alert! Host's soul force has broken through 300, advancing to Full Moon tier! Body data undergoing major fluctuations. Re-collecting!]
The Chip's announcements continued to chime, but Lei Lin no longer had the mind to check them. At this moment, he was completely captivated by the true spirit within the singularity.
The true spirit, radiant as a full moon, had not only swollen to its absolute limit but was now suffused entirely with a clear, luminous soul radiance. An aura of sheer perfection radiated ceaselessly from its surface.
"Is this… the peak of the fifth level—a true spirit of the Full Moon tier?"
Lei Lin murmured to himself, gazing at the enormous full moon of a true spirit with an expression of pure enchantment. The full moon blazed with a cold, crystalline light everywhere, but at its very center, a faint golden thread flickered in and out of visibility, hidden beneath the overwhelming brilliance of the surrounding radiance—nearly impossible to notice without looking closely.
"This is… the power of another qualitative transformation of the soul force…"
A flicker of confusion crossed Lei Lin's eyes before they were instantly flooded with wild elation.
"I understand now—this is the true spirit power of the sixth level! Once a Radiant Moon Wizard advances to the Full Moon tier, the true spirit has already reached its limit. What comes next is converting the soul force from negative polarity energy into positive polarity—transforming it into the blazing-sun-like true spirit of a sixth-level Dawn Sun Wizard!"
"And this golden thread is the symbol that my true spirit has already reached the limits of the fifth level and has even begun its transformation toward the sixth!"
Lei Lin sighed. For an ordinary fifth-level Wizard, merely pushing the true spirit to the Full Moon tier would be incredibly difficult. As for the state of true spirit perfection and the trend toward automatic advancement, that would require constant tempering and at least several hundred years of effort to achieve. Yet Lei Lin had reached this state the very instant he advanced to the Full Moon tier.
"Converting negative-polarity soul force through the reversal of yin into yang to obtain substantiated yang-polarity power—this probably isn't something a fifth-level Beast Soul could accomplish on its own. The only explanation is the essence of the Phoenix Egg!"
Lei Lin's eyes lit up. "The Phoenix Egg doesn't just contain enormous amounts of primal soul source power that can amplify a Wizard's soul—its yang-polarity soul force serves as the very catalyst for a Full Moon Wizard's advancement. It saved me hundreds of years of painstaking effort!"
In that instant, Lei Lin understood the reason.