The third Soul Pulse Ring's spiritual pressure was far beyond what an ordinary Soul Idol expert could unleash. But the now thirty meter-sized Astral Souls were unflinching, withstanding it with seemingly utter ease. The ring soon shattered, being wildly absorbed by the Astral Souls and forming a third Soul Ring around their Spiritual Forms.
They soon zipped far, far away, arriving at the center of the fourth Soul Pulse Ring. Wei Wuyin was somewhat startled at the moment. The size of this ring was dozens of times larger than the starfield. But even still, he had only seen the vast darkness of the Dark Void. It was seemingly endless. It was seemingly boundless.
Wei Wuyin felt that there would be a nearby starfield nearby, and the possibility of being carried to these starfields was a possibility. However, he saw nothing but darkness and in the faint distance behind him, the bright light emitted by the three solar stars of his own starfield. This shocked him somewhat.
But what happened next caused his heart to fiercely quake!
His Astral Souls withstood the fourth Soul Ring, which exuded a spiritual pressure that touched upon the next phase of power. He knew that Spiritual Strength wasn't determined by a cultivator's phase. In fact, most Soul Idol cultivators don't experience any upgrade in spiritual strength from the Soul Idol Phase to the Spatial Resonance Phase.
So, this 'phase' was like another tier of quality.
He didn't know how to describe its power, wishing there was a form of numerical depiction of spiritual strength. As he thought about this, Eden quivered slightly. He was instantly sent a transmitted thought, his eyes shining brightly as a result.
Was there a numerical depiction of Spiritual Strength? There wasn't! But Eden wasn't a part of the Mind Dao for nothing nor an Alchemic Astral Soul that possessed the extraordinary means of the Alchemic Dao for show. Seemingly bearing the same thought as Wei Wuyin, Eden started to measure the Spiritual Strength in much the same way as weight was measured.
Using the lowest portion of extractable yet fully stable spiritual strength within the lowest imaginable quantity of spiritual energy, it devised and determined it as spirit units. As these 'spirit units' combined together to form greater connective bonds, the 'total' power of Spiritual Strength was elevated.
By this seemingly conceived standard, the first Soul Pulse Ring that was slightly stronger than an ordinary Soul Idol Expert was measured as 1,200 Spirit Units of Spiritual Strength. The second ring, according to these described standards, was roughly 1,600 Spirit Units. It was four hundred units of strength beyond the first!
The third was 2,000 and this fourth ring exuded a strength of 2,800. He felt that beyond 2,000 units might've been the substantial difference of this 'new' phase of spiritual strength. His eyes widened at Eden's means, once more praising the Mind Dao's calculative abilities.
But the event that shook his heart finally occurred as he was whisked away to the fifth ring. While its strength was at the 3,600 level, that's not what shook him! What shook him was his current location!
His eyes widened as he saw a lifeless husk of floating rock in the Dark Void to his left. He was only a few thousand miles away from it, but he could see it! Furthermore, as he swept his Celestial Eyes across the world around him, he realized that he was surrounded by earthly debris! There were numerous bits and chunks of solid rock floating all around him.
They were all dim and dark grey, seemingly lifeless. He could see the coldness of the Dark Void had infected it, depriving it of any semblance of its original form. His heart was quaking as he inspected a portion of these chunks and found that their sizes could rival some continental flat earths of his starfield!
When his Astral Souls, now fifty meters in their Spiritual Form, completed their refinement in nine seconds, he was shifted away to the sixth ring. But his eyes widened in unbelievable shock! When he turned his head back, he saw it.
It was an utterly vast area filled with debris! The area was slightly the size of his own starfield, yet there was nothing but crushed bits of lifeless rock everywhere. When his Celestial Eyes peered into their existence, his entire existence shivered. A word left his lips…
"Planets…"
He had seen the fragments of planets! They contained faint traces of their previous star cores, once emitting vibrant and powerful energies. Even the numerous years of cold intrusion by the Dark Void could only lower it to the lowest level, not extinguish it entirely.
This was a starfield!!
A starfield that had all its Continental Flat Earths and Planets destroyed! Furthermore, as he swept his eyes for something, he paled in abject horror, even his complexion turned ashen like snow. He had experienced fear before, but his inability to find something within this starfield caused an untold level of it to surge in his heart.
"Where's…where's the Solar Star?!" A solar star was an existence that emitted heat and light, qualities needed for life. There was no way this starfield was destroyed without having a solar star. Furthermore, these things seemed to have been in a particular orbit, not floating endlessly in the Dark Void Sea.
He gulped. But before he could gather himself, he felt the pressing concern of his Astral Souls as they shouted for his focus. He issued a roar in his heart, and his body was whisked away to the seventh ring. While his Astral Souls raced through the Soul Pulse Rings with fearless vigor, Wei Wuyin felt his mind continuously tremble.
Not just because of the previous sight, but because he was shifted away even further. He had somehow gone even further than ever before, already leaving the crumbs of the former starfield behind, traversing an entire Dark Void Sea, and arriving at the edge of what seemed to be another starfield!
This starfield was even more devastated than before. There were barely any chunks of rock that were larger than a continental flat earth, but he saw a planet, no, a former planet that was fragmented perfectly. These tens of thousands of fragments floated with each other and could be easily pieced together with some effort.
His Celestial Eyes could view their former form, realizing it was larger than any planet in his own starfield. This caused him to gulp once more, trying to find the Solar Star but to no avail. For some reason, his heart was feeling incredibly tense.
He turned to his Astral Souls who now sported Six-Ringed Spiritual Forms, resisting the spiritual pressure with their unified effort. It seemed the power of this trial already exceeded their individual limits. Now they were thoroughly working in coordinated action, seemingly shifting the refinement pressure through each of them to lower the strain on each other.
If they failed to resist, they would shatter and his path of cultivation would end. But he could do nothing to help them but silently cheer them on. This was their tribulation. He had accepted this fact when they revealed sentience long ago; this particular path of cultivation was theirs. His own path involved cultivating spells, arts, methods, alchemy, formations, and arrays. But the basic principles of this cultivation path were theirs.
They were the canvas and paint, he was the painter.
Now, they had to withstand the natural elements to prevent their ruin. He could only hope they could resist. If they could, they would be stronger than ever before.
As for his own dilemma, he was pondering about the destroyed starfields. He hadn't even known much about other starfields, simply that the King of Everlore had once ventured out in search for other starfields that contained what he needed to surpass his limits long ago.
He cursed himself for not bringing Wu Yu with him. He wished he could ask him questions, but he didn't wish to expose all his secrets to an outsider. In fact, a Mystic Ascendant might be able to help him overcome his current predicament. Unfortunately…
Well, there was no pill for regret, so he felt no need for it. With a quick second of a breath, he realigned his mentality and focused on what he could do rather than what he hadn't done or couldn't do. He had already formulated an idea. Whether it'll work will depend on his luck.
After the nine seconds were over, the Soul-Pulse Ring shattered, and was swiftly absorbed by his Astral Souls. With that, he urged himself to push forward. Tense heart aside, he needed to overcome this obstacle before him first.
The eighth Soul Pulse Ring was even further, bringing him into the Dark Void Sea that lacked any objects or obstacles. He couldn't help but praise his luck that he hadn't smashed into any objects along the way. He felt that this had somehow been due to his high Karmic Luck Value. Thinking of that, his eyes brightened.
Maybe…
The spiritual pressure of the eighth Soul Pulse Ring was extremely powerful! He felt choked to the maximum by it, his mind nearly turned dark. He wasn't even the target! Yet his Astral Souls had to experience this at full force. He wanted to ask Eden regarding the spiritual strength level of this one, but it was occupied fully with sending streams of seven-colored light into the other three. It was pulsating with so much power he felt awed by its efforts.
It was clearly working to refine the spiritual pressure that was integrating into their Spiritual Forms, trying to offset some of it. Even Kratos was releasing thundering ripples outwards that met the spiritual pressure. It was as if it was sending a portion of that force elsewhere.
King was releasing fierce saber light that seemed to dominate the world, swiping in all directions as it shielded its siblings. Ori wasn't doing much. Out of the four, it seemed to have the greatest troubles resisting. This shocked him considering the profound aspects of Elemental Origin Energy. As a Material Dao-based Astral Soul, could its spiritual aspects be weaker than the other three?
But after some thought, he also felt that shouldn't be right, considering she was a 'Divine' Astral Soul. In terms of Spiritual Strength, she and King were innately stronger than Kratos and Eden. This was quite puzzling to him. Fortunately, he soon found out the truth.
After the full nine seconds, completing the eighth ring, the other three were almost thoroughly exhausted. There was barely any time to waste, the atmospheric bubble was already reaching its utter limits, having a dozen or so seconds left.
He didn't panic, however.
Wei Wuyin calmly issued a command in his heart and they zoomed away! This time it was further than the total distance of one through eight, causing him to travel an untold amount of distance. When he arrived, his eyes widened once more.
What he saw shook him to his very core.
But his Astral Souls acted at this exact moment, especially Ori. It unleashed its elemental origin energy at the earliest moment, releasing these powers into the bodies of the other three. Somehow, their Spiritual Forms started to glow with a white brilliant, seemingly regaining their precious vigor! It had given them all its energy!
The other three roared in their own way, with a saber keen, a draconic shout, and twisting of roots and branches as they excitedly moved about. They took a triangle formation with Ori at the center, protecting their now weakest member.
They had Ori restrain itself, storing all its energy to share at the very last moment! This was extremely brilliant! The one thing about elemental energies was their easy to refine state, and this was even more certain with elemental origin energy. Its versatile nature and highly adaptable quality allowed for the quickest stim injection for them.
After all, since the Elemental Birth Phase of the Qi Condensation Realm, they had refined elemental energies into their very core!
While Void Energies, Draconic Energies, Saber Energies, and Alchemic Eden Energies were extremely powerful, they lacked that essential quality of easy conversion.
With this, they faced the greatest tribulation of a Soul Idol since ancient history till now together!
Wei Wuyin, however, was far too amazed to watch as they triumphed against all odds with their jointly exquisite planning. He trusted them entirely, so it didn't matter whether he observed. His eyes were unblinkingly watching the distance. He was still in the Dark Void Sea, but also at the very edge outside a starfield.
But this starfield…
This starfield had a solar star!
Furthermore, there was ONLY one!!
And…
When he saw the sheer enormity of it, his heart stopped beating for a moment. It must've been, from this distance, the size of half his starfield. To add to the already fascinating, it had a white-colored radiant ring circulating around it. Its yellowish-red surface was accompanied by that ring that seemed to be much larger than the star itself.
Within that ring, he could've sworn there was something swimming within, and it felt very, very, very close to a Soul Pulse Ring's Manifested Spirit Energy, but it contained something his Celestial Eyes had never seen before! He was rendered utterly breathless at the gorgeous sight of its brilliance.
He hadn't noticed the planets or the flat continental earth nearby, just that solar star that took up almost the entirety of one's vision. It seemed to invoke a sensation of desire from every ounce of his flesh, causing every cell in his body to shake, and every thought in his mind to thrum.
Before he could absorb more, lost in his own mental wonder, he felt the atmospheric bubble swiftly fade away. The unique coldness of the Dark Void started to invade and infect his flesh, entering his bones, and trying to freeze his thoughts. It was so extremely cold that his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets!
Compared to the Dark Void coldness near his starfield, this one was far, far, far stronger. He reached out his hand towards the solar star surrounded by a ring as his vision started to darken. Fortunately, his Astral Souls had already finished their ninth refinement at this exact moment, re-entering his body in the blink of an eye.
The shock of Eden entering his mind shook loose the last bits of his consciousness. He felt the world start to fully blacken in all his senses, but he hadn't lost everything yet!
He connected with his heart, feeling Kratos' power. He withdrew a strange disk from his storage ring alongside numerous materials with indescribably and prepared quickness. He hadn't been completely lost, making plans on a way to return home. Regardless of anything, he didn't want to be a floating corpse in the Dark Void for all eternity.
There was but one way, no matter how unlikely!
Kratos!
'Use it!' He commanded in his heart, sending the now boundless draconic void force into the strange disk, connecting with the materials floating beside it. A slight pop sound could be heard. He felt his body move slightly as his consciousness quickly faded, frozen by the Dark Void's coldness…
