Vortex

The fallen leaves and dust on the ground were whipped into the air by gusts of wind, each stronger than the last, stinging everyone’s eyes.

Lightning crackled and thunder boomed overhead.

Suddenly!

A thick bolt of lightning crashed down without warning, yet made no sound as it struck in full view of everyone! Its point of impact was none other than the Lingxian Sect.

For a moment, it seemed as though heaven and earth themselves had fallen silent.

Only after a brief delay did the thunderous roar reach their ears.

It was like the signal of a bugle. As soon as that massive bolt descended, the countless bolts of lightning that had been lurking and churning within the dark clouds began to fall like rain, all pounding toward the same place!

Every one of them struck the entrance to the Natural Platform, where they were completely absorbed.

In the next instant, the platform’s internal structure channeled them straight into Lin Xiao.

Sitting cross-legged above the pool inside the Natural Platform, Lin Xiao’s scalp began to smoke as bolt after bolt of tribulation lightning crashed down upon him.

This tribulation was far more intense than the one he had endured when forming his Golden Core.

But Lin Xiao’s strength was also worlds apart from what it had been back then.

Moreover, the Natural Platform refined and purified the tribulation lightning. Though each strike carried greater force, it spared him much of the unnecessary damage he would otherwise have suffered.

Direct and pure tribulation lightning coursed through Lin Xiao’s body with a sizzling crackle.

Under the relentless barrage, the Nascent Soul within him continued to shrink and solidify until, at last, it had contracted to the size of a palm and sat firmly within his dantian.

The Nascent Soul hovered steadily in his dantian like a sponge absorbing water, frantically drawing in the elemental energy Lin Xiao had converted from spiritual energy.

As it absorbed more and more elemental energy, the Nascent Soul showed faint signs of swelling once again.

But before it could expand, a flash of golden light swept across its surface.

When the radiance faded, a translucent golden membrane had formed around the Nascent Soul.

The vast amount of elemental energy it had absorbed was tightly confined within that membrane.

Unable to spread outward, the surging energy gradually formed a deep vortex that rotated in the normal direction.

As the amount of elemental energy continued to grow, the vortex spun faster and faster.

Faster.

And faster still.

Gradually, a point took shape at the very center of the vortex.

As the vortex accelerated, the elemental energy within it continuously poured into that tiny point.

The point visibly expanded. Before long, it had become a small pill glowing with dazzling multicolored light.

The little pill revolved along with the vortex, stirring the surrounding elemental energy—and the elemental energy within Lin Xiao’s body—as it gradually spread outward.

To those outside, it appeared that the constant barrage of lightning from the sky had stirred up a vortex in the air.

Those with cultivation could clearly sense that the spiritual energy filling the surrounding world had responded to some unknown summons. It began to revolve around a certain center.

Inside the Natural Platform, once the small pill within Lin Xiao’s Nascent Soul had seemingly absorbed its fill of elemental energy, it stopped rotating in the normal direction.

But it did not stop there.

Without a moment’s pause, it abruptly began to rotate in reverse.

This time, however, it was no longer absorbing energy frantically. Instead, it continuously transformed the vortex of spiritual energy revolving outside Lin Xiao’s body into elemental energy, releasing it outward bit by bit!

Each wave of released elemental energy was denser than the last, and each circle spread farther than the one before!

Outside, Liao Pantu sensed the elemental energy surging outward and felt delighted.

He knew that Lin Xiao had successfully advanced to the Nascent Soul stage.

This spiritual-energy feedback only occurred when someone successfully advanced.

However, because of the cultivation method Lin Xiao practiced, what he sent back was elemental energy that had already been converted from spiritual energy.

Even so, Liao Pantu had not expected the scale of Lin Xiao’s spiritual-energy feedback to be so enormous!

The entire Northern Mountain Range was enveloped by it.

In the forests, across the fields, and even beneath the soil, seeds that had been waiting to sprout broke through the earth in an instant. The lush grass that had already grown became far more robust and beautiful than before.

The mortals living on this land felt their bodies become lighter than ever.

Those suffering from chronic illnesses discovered that their symptoms gradually eased with every breath they took.

As the cultivators were washed by this tide of elemental energy, they felt the spiritual energy within their bodies stir restlessly.

Although the circumstances made it inconvenient for them to cultivate on the spot, they found that their cultivation methods had begun operating on their own amid that agitation.

At the same time, the black aura wrapped around everyone on the Path of Trial also visibly faded beneath wave after wave of increasingly powerful elemental-energy feedback.

Sun Yigao, Qin Jianghe, and the others, who had kept their attention fixed on the Path of Trial, naturally noticed the change.

They exchanged glances, their faces lighting up with pleasant surprise.

While all these changes unfolded in the outside world, the dreams of those still persevering along the Path of Trial changed as well.

Within the dreamscape, in the world that had been connected, the sky—which had been filled with lightning, thunder, and gloomy clouds—suddenly began to pour.

The bolts of lightning that had been weaving through the dark clouds somehow gathered together, twisting into a gigantic pillar of light.

In the span of a single breath, it exploded in the sky with a thunderous boom!

All the darkness and gloom were shattered completely in that instant.

The layers of dark clouds were blasted apart without a trace.

The dazzling sun hung high overhead, illuminating the earth as brightly as day.

A gentle breeze swept past.

Those trapped in the depths of their nightmares suddenly felt an infinite surge of courage rise within them—

the courage to struggle free from the nightmare before them.

In the Blood Marsh, Shen Yingzi had been dragged downward by the woman’s spirit until only his eyes remained above the surface. Holding his breath, he summoned every ounce of strength he possessed and pulled a talisman from his robes.

It was a protective talisman his father had gone to great lengths to prepare for him years ago.

It could drive away evil and repel wicked spirits.

Shen Yingzi immediately pressed the talisman against the woman’s spirit.

A shrill, mournful screech rang out, and the woman’s spirit vanished from the world in an instant.

The Blood Marsh beneath him disappeared along with her. In the blink of an eye, he was standing firmly on solid ground once more, with his mother’s grave still quietly waiting before him.

Beside the grave, a tender green blade of grass had quietly blossomed into a small pink flower.

Peaceful and lovely.

Just like the portrait of his mother hanging in his father’s study.

Behind him came his father’s belated call.

Elsewhere, Xuanyuan Haoyue had been struggling desperately but was helpless against the overwhelming disparity in strength. Just as the middle-aged man lowered his head and was about to bury his face in the crook of her neck, her mind suddenly went cold and clear.

She reduced the force of her struggles and began gathering strength within her body.

The moment the man’s neck was fully exposed before her, she suddenly jerked her head upward and sank her teeth viciously into his throat!

She could safely say that she had used more strength in that bite than ever before in her life.

With every ounce of power a person could unleash, her sharp canine teeth pierced through his skin in an instant.

In that instant, she felt warm blood gush into her mouth.