The Soul itself is like a vast sea, and Soul Energy is akin to the seawater filling it; while there are numerous ways to gather this Soul Energy, the expansion and alteration of the Soul itself remain incredibly arduous.

It is much like how seawater can accumulate gradually—through rainfall or the confluence of rivers—leading to an increase in volume, yet the ocean itself is difficult to make significantly vaster; only through painstaking excavation can its capacity potentially be enlarged.

The Soul and Soul Energy exist in precisely this relationship.

Soul Energy, commonly known as spiritual force, has various avenues for enhancement, but the Soul Furnace (Jiu Hun) itself is inherently difficult to continually expand. The Soul, in its nature, resembles a colossal ocean, and only with a powerful Soul can one gather more Soul Energy.

A stronger Soul equates to stronger Soul Energy; for a Heavenly Master (Tianshi), beginning from the Three Realms of Heaven (San Cai Tian), every step in Soul cultivation is fundamentally about unlocking the Soul's potential, making the Soul Ocean progressively larger.

This is analogous to the meridians (Jinmai): only when the meridians become wider and tougher can they accommodate more Primordial Force (Yuan Li).

The Soul follows the exact same principle.

The Dragon Soul Essence within that Sinful Dragon Crystal (Nie Long Long Jing) does not alter the Soul Energy, nor does it augment the Soul’s spiritual force; instead, it acts like a colossal, relentless excavation beast, tasked with unearthing a person's Soul potential, making the Soul Ocean vastly more expansive.

This should inherently be a positive development, but the agony arises when the Dragon Soul Essence from the Dragon Crystal is too massive, and the influx rate becomes overwhelmingly swift.

This is comparable to a pond: gradually digging and filling allows the pond to grow larger, but if thousands upon thousands of scoops suddenly try to excavate the pond simultaneously, and do so haphazardly, not only will the pond fail to become deeper or wider, but it will be utterly destroyed. Ultimately, the pond ceases to be a pond, unable to gather any water flow, and is rendered completely useless.

When the immense Dragon Soul Essence from the Sinful Dragon Crystal violently surged into his mind, Ji Changkong felt an excruciating sensation of being stretched to the breaking point. Had this Soul growth been gradual, he would have happily accepted and embraced everything gained.

But reality was starkly different. The massive influx of Dragon Soul Essence slammed into his mind, the mysterious Dragon Soul power forcibly reshaping his Soul Ocean, throwing it into turmoil and instability, making it feel as if it could explode at any second.

When the Source Poison (Ben Yuan Zhi Du) acted upon him, releasing his own Soul power, it only managed to divert a few dozen streams of the Dragon Crystal’s Dragon Soul Energy; the essence energy of the Dragon Soul continued to surge violently within his mind.

Were it not for Ji Changkong’s abnormally tenacious capacity to endure pain, in that brief moment, he would have lost mental defense, been entirely subjugated by the agony, and instantly turned into an imbecile.

The Soul Ocean possesses no defenses; it would simply shatter, and his head would explode along with it.

The situation was terrifyingly precarious!

Gritting his teeth while enduring the piercing agony within his mind, Ji Changkong held fast to his core intent, meticulously following the unification method of universal power (Rong Tian Xia Zhi Li) from the Grand Void Secret Record (Tai Xu Mi Lu), time and again, to comb through the colossal Dragon Crystal energy that had flooded his consciousness.

To harbor Heaven and Earth is to make the Soul infinitely broad.

Ji Changkong immediately sat down within the five-colored light barrier, casting aside all else, holding the resplendently shining Sinful Dragon Crystal, guiding the vast Dragon Soul Energy pouring into his Soul Ocean.

The other stream of Soul power that had entered the Primordial Origin Pearl (Tian Yuan Zhu) within his body, miraculously, managed to draw out the seven Sinful Dragon Souls that had been collected there. These seven Dragon Souls then flew out one by one from his body, beginning to enlarge again.

The Source Poison recoiled in alarm, preparing to gather its strength to extinguish those seven Sinful Dragons first.

At that precise moment, Ji Changkong, who had closed his eyes and sunk into stillness, reached out subconsciously. With a single sweep of the Dragon Radiance Blade (Long Yao Chang Dao), a fluctuation subtly in harmony with the rhythms of Heaven and Earth suddenly erupted from the weapon.

In that instant, the Dragon Radiance Blade faintly radiated the peculiar aura of the Primordial Origin Pearl, as if Ji Changkong, in a fit of divine inspiration, had grasped the miraculous method the Pearl used to absorb souls.

The Dragon Radiance Blade swept over the seven Sinful Dragon Souls, absorbing them one by one, like a sponge.

Moreover, the Soul Energy that had drawn the seven Sinful Dragon Souls out of the Primordial Origin Pearl was gathered into the blade simultaneously.

Having instantly absorbed the seven Dragon Souls in their spiritual form, the Primordial Origin Pearl suddenly shimmered brilliantly, hovering in the void and slowly rotating. Streaks of flowing light coiled around the blade body, and continuous, strange dragon roars echoed from within it.

As if sleepwalking, Ji Changkong extended a finger and flicked the top of the Dragon Radiance Blade. Ripples spread across the blade’s surface, lingering long after the touch.

Faint, minute strands of light roamed across the Dragon Radiance Blade, and immense energies entangled and fused within it, seemingly growing stronger and stronger.

The Source Poison, which had been deeply concerned, suddenly relaxed upon seeing this, murmuring, "Incredible..."

The Sinful Dragon Crystal held in Ji Changkong's hands—the six points of its facets flickered with flowing light, and visible crystal radiance flowed out from the six horns, entering his hands and surging toward his mind. This state persisted for a considerable duration.

Suddenly, Ji Changkong’s head blazed with light, and faint, crystalline traces began to emerge slowly from his nostrils, ears, and eye sockets, drifting out into the five-colored light barrier.

Boom!

A violent shock resonated in his mind, and Ji Changkong abruptly snapped awake from that peculiar realm. A fierce light shot from his eyes; his pupils were like black diamonds, dazzling and piercing!

The Sinful Dragon Crystal held in his hands suddenly dimmed slightly, and the strange light on its six facets no longer flowed into his palm.

His gaze was initially vague, but after a moment, clarity slowly returned.

His Soul Ocean had been expanded to an extremely vast extent. Sensing it with his mind opened, he felt this was likely the absolute limit achievable by a Heavenly Master at the Nine Palaces of Heaven (Jiu Gong Tian) realm!

Although a substantial amount of massive, strange energy remained within the Sinful Dragon Crystal, he likely would not need it until he broke through to the Ten Directions of Heaven (Shi Fang Tian) realm.

Each major realm imposes a limit on the Soul; if the Soul exceeds this limit before the realm advances, it becomes extremely dangerous, potentially leading to instant death.

Taking a deep breath, Ji Changkong put away the Sinful Dragon Crystal, then noticed the Dragon Radiance Blade hovering before him, emitting continuous dragon roars.

With a slight smile, Ji Changkong beckoned, and the Dragon Radiance Blade immediately settled into his palm.

A sense of intimacy immediately arose, and a colossal surge of power erupted from the weapon. With a mere thought, Ji Changkong infused his internal Primordial Force into the blade, causing a fifty-meter-long blade light to erupt from its edge.

The blade light struck the five-colored light barrier, tearing open a massive hole, and the accumulated rubble piled above the barrier shattered violently.

"Let's go!" he roared, stirring the Dragon Radiance Blade in his hand.

Crack! Crash!

The sound of shattering stones echoed from above. The terrifying blade light of the Dragon Radiance Blade cleared the way, forcefully re-excavating the blocked, dead volcano. Under the beam of the blade light, he and the Source Poison shot upward, soaring toward the sky.

Suddenly, beneath the sea of fiery red rock, blocks of peculiar stones appeared, jet-black and glistening like scales.

There was an extremely faint residual Sinful Dragon aura clinging to those stones, but the aura was slowly dissipating, seeming as if it would vanish soon.

Puzzled, Ji Changkong swung the Dragon Radiance Blade, hacking wildly nearby, managing to uncover even more of these scale-like stones.

"If we hadn't destroyed this place, in a few thousand years, this dead star might have transformed into the Sinful Dragon's body, with the rocks becoming its scales. The Dragon Crystal within that Black Iron Tombstone, and the Sinful Dragon souls now within your blade, are the fundamental core. As long as these two things remain, it might even resurrect here after ten thousand years," the Source Poison stated quietly.

Ji Changkong was astonished but immediately believed the Source Poison’s account. The evidence was right there: scale-like rocks were already forming in the nearby rock faces. Without their intervention, if this desolate place had been left alone, the Sinful Dragon would indeed have had a chance to revive using the Dragon Crystal and the souls.

Crack, crack, crack!

The Dragon Radiance Blade tore through the rubble blocking the path above, and the starlight of the vast cosmos suddenly shone through.

Ji Changkong burst out through the gaps in the debris, blade in hand, and stood beside the anxiously worried Shang Bingjie. He looked up at the expanse of stars, feeling a wonderful sense of rebirth.

"Changkong, are you alright?" Shang Bingjie asked urgently.

Smiling, he shook his head. "Naturally, I'm fine."

The dead star remained lifeless, though faint, muffled sounds could be heard from the dead volcano beneath them; it seemed the collapse below was continuing but was nearing stabilization.

The luminous Sinful Dragon Crystal suddenly materialized in his palm. He casually handed it to Shang Bingjie, saying with a smile, "Be careful. I will guard you while you absorb its power."

Shang Bingjie froze, looking at the dazzling Dragon Crystal in his palm in disbelief, exclaiming:

"It’s truly beautiful!"

The spectral forms of the Torey brothers watched him from afar, momentarily stunned, not having expected Ji Changkong to actually retrieve the Sinful Dragon Crystal from below.

"You have a share too, but wait just a moment," Ji Changkong added warmly.

The Torey brothers looked pleasantly surprised, nodding slowly, unmistakable gratitude shining in their eyes.

"I will guard you. Hold the Dragon Crystal, but be cautious—don't release your mind too quickly yet..." Based on his own recent experience, Ji Changkong carefully explained to Shang Bingjie, reminding her of the specific points requiring attention.

Shang Bingjie was highly intelligent; after hearing Ji Changkong explain it once, she grasped it completely and adjusted her Soul exactly as he instructed.

"Begin!" Ji Changkong commanded sternly.