The colossal might of the heavens and earth surged toward He Yiming like a trickling stream flowing into the ocean; at that moment, his body was a vast, bottomless abyss capable of containing an infinite torrent of this power.

Around him, the immense forces coalesced into air currents resembling a raging whirlwind, spinning and coiling about his form, the resulting phenomenon possessing unparalleled, devastating might.

On the ground, thousands upon thousands of terrifying monsters were swept up without mercy into the vortex. They were hurled high into the air, tossed dozens of zhang above the earth before being flung far away, to tumble back down under the pull of gravity.

Falling from such a height, even those monsters possessing formidable physiques were essentially smashed to death upon impact. Likewise, the unfortunate souls struck beneath them met fates just as tragic.

While these hordes of the dead posed no great threat to him, the sheer, limitless spectacle of it all still sent a shudder of profound awe through him.

In the distant sky, flying monsters occasionally became visible, but the ones with reddened carapaces were the strongest among them, and their numbers were sparse compared to the vast army below. Under the assault of the Divine Path Coagulated Blood Men and the Cloud-Mist Clones, these aerial threats rarely managed to breach the defensive perimeter. Even the occasional stragglers lost their power of flight within the mighty vortex surrounding He Yiming and smashed down violently into the mass of creatures below.

At this juncture, He Yiming’s spirit soared. He no longer had the capacity to concern himself with these inexhaustible hordes of the dead.

In his perception, this world saturated with the power of heaven and earth was utterly marvelous. Within this realm, he felt a sense of profound fulfillment—a sensation he hadn't even experienced when the Ice Island first manifested.

As he manipulated and absorbed the world's power, He Yiming felt increasingly adept; this constant rise in efficiency plunged his entire being into an extreme state of euphoria.

Faintly, he could sense it—he was truly brushing the very edge of the Divine Path.

His spirit became increasingly agitated, his eyes blazing brilliantly, and a phantom silhouette abruptly materialized above his head.

The intense power of his will erupted fully at this critical moment, beginning to coalesce above him with unprecedented force.

He had experienced a similar realization atop the main peak of Tianchi in the Northwest, but back then, the action had been entirely subconscious, lacking the clarity he felt now. Furthermore, He Yiming was now consciously releasing his will, shaping it in the void, holding absolute command over every aspect of this transformation.

The moment the illusory figure of his will appeared over He Yiming’s body, the surrounding energy of heaven and earth seemed to go wild.

Dense power gathered in the higher reaches of the atmosphere, causing vast, inexplicable rolls of might to churn between heaven and earth. This miraculous change propagated outward through the fluctuations of the world's energy, seeming to reach the very ends of existence.

At the entrance to the passage, the colossal dragon started, raising its head in astonishment, its eyes alight with an arcane glow.

“So fast, he actually grasped the Divine Path so quickly. He truly lives up to being the one possessing this infinite physique. Heh, grow quickly now. If you can step into the True God Realm, I can finally lay down this burden.”

The dragon muttered to itself, its tone suggesting it held no great fear for the True God Realm—a plane achieved by only two powerful beings in the mortal world.

As this wave of power spread rapidly, certain powerful entities scattered across the world felt an extremely subtle resonance.

In several distinct locations, individuals turned their gaze toward the distant expanse.

They all shared a single, synchronous thought.

How could someone be advancing to the Divine Path? Has a newcomer finally emerged here…

What is the deal with that old dragon, letting a mere junior who hasn't even reached the Divine Path through? That deviates entirely from the original agreement.

※※※※

He Yiming was entirely unaware of the consternation his actions were causing among the world’s powerhouses. He focused every ounce of his concentration, beginning the frantic process of drawing in that sliver of divine essence contained within the power of heaven and earth.

Having arrived here and engaging in ceaseless battle, punctuated by the deployment of several world-shaking displays of might, he had exhausted vast stores of mental and physical energy, leaving him panting like an old ox. Yet, this exhaustion had also granted him insight into the true treasure hidden within the world’s power.

The power of the divine was not confined to specific locales; rather, it had already integrated itself into all the energy of heaven and earth across the world.

To ascend to the Divine Path, one absolutely had to master this free-floating divine power. Only then could one utilize that power limitlessly, becoming a true powerhouse of the Divine Path.

At this moment, vast quantities of heaven-and-earth energy swirled around He Yiming’s physical form, while invisible threads of divine power were stripped away and channeled into the mighty, ethereal silhouette hovering above him.

Soul Extraction, Divine Power Forging.

This was an indispensable step for achieving the Divine Path. The so-called soul extraction was, in essence, the external condensation of immense willful power. If the power of will was insufficient, there was no hope of breakthrough. Once sufficient will was amassed, a complete body formed purely of that will could be manifested outside the physical form.

Now, by absorbing enough potent divine power from the world's energy, this phantom will-body was endowed with abundant divine might, achieving an effect nearly identical to a physical presence.

This was the true path of Divine Path ascension.

Because each individual’s constitution differed, the attributes of the divine power absorbed from the world's energy would also vary. The final proportions of the absorbed elemental divine powers would stand in absolute direct correlation to the true qi energy within the body.

This was why the former peak experts of the Mortal Path, and even the Sacred Beasts possessing top-tier bloodlines, dared not attempt to ascend to the Divine Path in a domain purely concentrated with, for example, Metal-element divine power.

If, during this process, they only absorbed one elemental divine power, once their divine power forging was complete, that willful energy would never be able to re-enter the physical body.

Although He Yiming possessed the peerless Chaos Dantian within him, once the will departed the body, it existed entirely independently; it could only absorb the divine powers it encountered, with no means of conversion within the Dantian.

Currently, the mortal realm hosted many entities at the peak of the Mortal Path and many Sacred Beasts with supreme bloodlines, but because the energy of heaven and earth was so critically scarce, people could not draw enough diverse elemental divine forces to forge their bodies. Consequently, no new Divine Path practitioners had appeared in five thousand years.

Should anyone attempt the ascent with reckless hope, the result was always the same: failure due to insufficient forging power, leading to the explosive disintegration of the will, and often, the catastrophic demise of the physical body alongside it.

But now, all these problems were effortlessly resolved. With the guarantee of abundant heaven-and-earth energy, He Yiming had reached the verge of the Divine Path. After condensing his will into human form, he fearlessly drew upon the inexhaustible energy of the world for the divine powers he required.

The Five Element divine powers of the East, the Light and Dark divine powers of the West, along with the powers of Wind, Cloud-Mist, and Ice—though these specific divine attributes were scarce within the general world energy—their virtue lay in their sheer infinity. As long as one possessed the ability to extract these powers, success was inevitable.

Slowly, the illusory figure in the sky began to shine with dazzling brilliance. Massive quantities of divine power, drawn from the world's energy, poured into this phantom will-body according to a precise ratio. The resulting disturbance in the surrounding energy grew stronger; the boundless power of heaven and earth became He Yiming’s anchor, channeling the subtle, elemental divine powers contained within into his consciousness.

After an unmeasured period, the radiance emanating from He Yiming’s will-body intensified, and the pressure it projected grew heavier and heavier.

If he were facing anything other than the creatures of death, no living thing would dare challenge him in this state.

Strange colors and lights converged into the will-body. Finally, when the accumulated power reached its zenith, all influx abruptly ceased.

What followed were a series of deafening cracks, like continuous thunderbolts exploding in succession, stirring up endless currents of air.

On the ground, countless monsters were launched airborne, buffeted and lifted by this single, immense surge of force.

The flying monsters approaching from afar fared even worse; they flapped their wings frantically and futilely, yet could not stabilize their centers of gravity in the slightest.

In a flash of blinding light, two He Yimings stood side-by-side in the air.

One was naturally his true body; the other was the will-body, shimmering with a multitude of colors. Yet, this current manifestation of the will-body was now as robust as a physical entity, possessing a strength that would absolutely not yield to the original.

Gazing down at the thrashing monsters below, He Yiming’s will-body extended a finger and tapped lightly, repeatedly.

In an instant, the entire world’s energy was drawn in, compressed with maniacal speed, and then violently released.

Deep craters erupted across the ground as the monsters, possessing non-trivial strength, were vaporized like mere toys under the relentless onslaught of this world-shaking might.

In mere moments, He Yiming’s will-body had tapped dozens of times. On the ground, vast swathes of territory were rendered blank.

The dozens of massive craters, stained with pervasive green blood, served as testament that this area, moments ago, had teemed with the living dead.

But at this instant, the endless tide of the dead could no longer surge forth ceaselessly. Their rate of demise finally surpassed the speed of their reinforcements. The entire ground was a ruin, covered in infinite fragments of corpses. Viewed from above, one could perceive a strangely eerie, pale green coloration blanketing the earth.

This, truly, was the might of the Divine Path!