Wei Wuyin's heart was filled with unfathomable pride at this moment. The four Astral Souls stood unified. It invoked various memories of his life, including how he'd felt when his older brother met his untimely end. He had lost his only true family at that moment, and with it, a portion of his heart. But that missing portion felt as if it was being slowly filled with the pouring image of these four Astral Souls.
Cultivation was a miraculous thing.
With his mind occupied with such thoughts, the four Astral Souls acted! They stood together at the central point of the first Soul Pulse Ring, swimming within the dark void, slowly observing the Manifested Spirit Energy that seemed to exist. It was extremely abundant and tantalizing.
The first to take action was Eden. Eden was the construct of Eden Energy, an existence of the Mind Dao, and Alchemic Energy. The latter energies allowed for great refinement abilities, far beyond what the other Astral Souls could compare. The others took a small step back, allowing Eden to begin.
Its one-centimeter tree body started to radiate seven-colored light as it erupted in the surroundings for hundreds of miles in an instant! Even Wei Wuyin was washed by the light, feeling invigorated and fiery. The Manifested Spirit Energy was present as a faint cyan glow, but as the seven-colored light swept this glow, it was rapidly transformed into billions of brightly cyan-colored orbs about a few meters in size each. They were all the same size and filled the surroundings in every direction.
Wei Wuyin gawked at wonder, seeing the Manifested Spirit Energy be rapidly refined. While the seven-colored light merely swept for a few miles, it lasted for several seconds. These seconds caused the entirety of the starfield's Manifested Spirit Energy to be refined.
He realized that the ambient energy was filling in at speeds that were inconceivable, so as it was refined, new and pure Manifested Spirit Energy would emerge and be refined as well. In the matter of seconds, all the Manifested Spirit Energy was drawn to the center and refined!
His heart pounded with amazement at this detail, realizing that Eden's ability to process the situation and circumstances were far, far faster than his own. While he had similarly reduced the unique speed of Manifested Spirit Energy thanks to him being carried away and his own Celestial Eyes, he hadn't yet reached the point of understanding to do something like this.
Observing the billions of Manifested Spirit Energy that filled the entire world, he felt intrigued.
Then Kratos took the stage. The other three clustered around it in a make-shift ring, their bodies emitting various light. Kratos' grey Astral Core started to ripple with nearly invisible waves that swept all the Manifested Spirit Energy Orbs. He couldn't even blink before he felt a depression form at the location they were and the Manifested Spirit Energy Orbs started to rapidly vanish with seemingly no reason.
'Void Force!' He mentally exclaimed, witnessing the unique aspects of spatial shifting and condensing that exceeded anything he'd read about before. While he knew Void Dao contained the grand profundities of space, time, and astronomical forces, he still found it shocking when he observed its abilities. Even if he'd traveled through the Void once before.
Those orbs vanished and the various lights surrounding the Astral Souls started to brighten and condense into a thicker, more viscous-like substance. They wrapped around their bodies and he could see them refine the Manifested Spirit Energy at unimaginable speeds. Despite being extremely familiar with their abnormal refinement speeds, he still found their coordination to refine billions of Manifested Spirit Energy Orbs in moments shocking.
Also, he didn't need to wait long. Typically, it would require a few days for the body to refine the Manifested Spirit Energy into the Astral Soul, forming the primary Spiritual Form of the Astral Soul. This would be the base of their Soul Idol when manifested into existence.
He could only silently watch on the side, thankful for their swift speed. He was still within the Dark Void's hazardous environment, shrouded in astral force mimicking atmospheric conditions to sustain him. With its current remaining forces, it would only last a little under two minutes. This would be cutting it extremely close.
Without this protection resisting the unusual coldness of the Dark Void, he might plunder into the sweet embrace of death long before. But calculating the time of overcoming each Soul Pulse Ring, he felt it would be enough.
The first to finish their refinement was Eden. With his innate qualities, he could refine every type of energy far faster than his fellow brethren. Its tree body started to tremble with a faint cyan glow as its Astral Core released faint light. The tree started to experience rapid growth, going from one-centimeter to ten meters in a blink of an eye.
Then, the others followed suit. King became second, surprising Wei Wuyin, as its saber form expanded to ten meters. Ori and Kratos were seemingly spherical orbs, with the former being like a bright solar star and the latter like a dim lunar satellite. Ori emitted endless white light that revealed the spirituality of various elements, diffusing that light like a star into its surroundings.
But Kratos's transformation was slightly different. His Astral Core was still one-centimeter in size, seemingly containing a creature swimming within it. But the faint ripples it effused expanded to ten meters.
Wei Wuyin gasped slightly as he observed these ten meters of void ripples, feeling as if he was observing something unfathomable. With his Celestial Eyes, he swore he could see a pair of eyes opening and closing! He felt that the profound Void Dao exceeded the current level of his Celestial Eye, otherwise he would've been able to see Kratos's true body. A body that seemed to be hidden within the boundless and mysterious void.
When they finished their expansions, he realized from Kratos that their actual Astral Core hadn't enlarged by ten meters, but their Spiritual Forms had been constructed at that size.
Zuuung!
A sound erupted in the surroundings, causing his silver eyes to contract! The tribulation was officially starting! Preparing himself for the worse, he watched the four Astral Souls. The cyan glow started to condense into waves, liquid-like in form, and started to cascade upon them from all directions like a vicious waterfall.
The frightening collapse was shocking, causing his heart to race. The level of spiritual strength wasn't directed at him, but he could feel its immense strength. Just the first Soul Pulse Ring at this level was enough to crush any ordinary Soul Idol cultivator in mind, body, and spirit.
But to these four Astral Souls who've refined numerous eighth-grade products that enhanced their innate physical, mental, and essence energies while augmenting their spiritual strength, this was child's play! They gathered together and took up a direction each, seemingly trembling in laughter as they met the crushing force!
1…
2…
4…
7…
When the last ninth second of refinement was reached, his eyes widened as the first Soul Pulse Ring started to tremble. The sight was beyond majestic, witnessing the quiver of a cyan ring that encircled the entire starfield. The sheer vastness of it expanded his understanding of enormity and horizons of what was possible. But this enormous ring's trembling lasted for a brief moment before it shrunk around the four.
In a matter of a moment, it had become only a few hundred meters in size!
Wei Wuyin could now see his Astral Souls clearly. Their Spiritual Forms were more lifelike and exuded a unique spirituality. He recalled that with each refinement, a Soul Idol goes from being transparent to solid, until the Ninth Soul Ring that brought it to its full manifested form, even capable of temporarily merging with the cultivator in some exciting ways.
Zuhei had once demonstrated this ability to great effect.
The Soul Pulse Ring shattered into trillions of pieces and in a blink of an eye, was divided into four portions that were siphoned and refined by the four Astral Souls. He then saw a cyan-colored Soul Ring encircle their Spiritual Forms!
If he were to stop here, no longer willing to advance, he would be a one-Ringed Soul Idol, capable of activating its unique properties to exhibit extraordinary spiritual strength! But this was clearly not a possibility! He fearlessly interfaced with the four Astral Souls.
Despite their independent and audacious actions, they still needed him to steer the tribulation. The only reason they were capable of initiating their own tribulations was because he had done it on Ori and they were all connected. It was easy to use it to jumpstart their own, mimicking the resonance signal for the tribulation.
But without Wei Wuyin, they would still be incapable of advancing or cultivating, lacking the aspects that only a True Soul possessed: the right to cultivate.
Therefore, their existence was a shared one, especially on the path of cultivation.
"Go!" He exclaimed, but with the Dark Void's environment, it only sounded out in his atmospheric bubble. Still, it initiated a response from the second Soul Pulse Ring! It started to release Manifested Spirit Energy that encapsulated around him and his Astral Souls. In a blink of an eye, he was shifted into the center of the second Soul Pulse Ring!
When he turned to see behind him, his eyes shrunk. The distance between them and the starfield had become even greater! The three solar stars were now little specks in the distance, causing him to gulp involuntarily. The thought of never returning, lost in the vastness of the Dark Void, caused his heart to tremble.
By the time he finally calmed himself, turning around to see his Astral Souls. They had expanded to twenty meters in size, having thoroughly absorbed the Manifested Spirit Energy in the surroundings in the same manner as before. The spiritual pressure once more initiated, and the power of it caused him to be shocked.
If he had to compare the sheer strength of this force, he felt that only the most elite Soul Idol experts could resist. This caused him to pale slightly. If it was already this terrifying at the second ring, what about the ninth?!
But his Astral Souls were immensely powerful with the best foundation fueled by alchemical products! They were by no means fragile, and just a single one of them could decimate any Soul Idol cultivator with ease. This was clear when he struck down the three Gold-Starred Beasts in the Grand Spirit Trials with just Kratos, who still had an exhausted Bloodline Source!
They were fearless, yelping in excitement at the challenge. He had even felt as if he heard King 'tch' with disdain. A faint smile emerged on his face as the full nine seconds of spiritual refinement soon passed. With the subsequent shattering and absorption of the Soul Pulse Ring, a second Soul Ring formed around them!
Two-Ringed Soul Idol!
His eyes brightened. Once more, he unleashed his will to proceed! The four Astral Souls mimicked his will, releasing faint light effusing an intense spirit. As for traveling far, far beyond the starfield? That was something to worry about in two minutes!
Onwards!
In a split second, he was whisked away again!
