In a daze, Nie Kong's spiritual thought seemed to merge entirely with the elemental particles of surrounding spiritual energy.

"Gather!"

With a mere thought, Nie Kong commanded, and those elemental particles obeyed, drawn by an intense force, converging rapidly before him. They swiftly coalesced into six humanoid passages, perfectly matching Nie Kong's stature in height, width, and shape.

As Nie Kong's spiritual thought extended, these passages stretched forward—one meter... five meters... ten meters... twenty meters... forty meters...

The instant the passages formed, a peculiar power tugged at the formless barrier within the "Second Avatar's" Spiritual Acumen Aperture, causing it to ripple violently.

The longer the passage extended, the more fiercely that invisible barrier fluctuated. When the humanoid passage reached fifty meters, the formless barrier hovered on the brink of collapse, threatening to shatter at any moment and finally usher Nie Kong into the Void Spirit realm.

"Just a little more!"

In his mind, Nie Kong urged his spiritual thought to continue drawing the element particles saturating the void, weaving them into the humanoid passage. In the blink of an eye, the passage reached sixty meters.

Truly putting his long-held theory into practice, Nie Kong suddenly understood. The concept of "Body Merging with the Void" wasn't about literally compressing space for instantaneous traversal; rather, it involved using spiritual thought to marshal the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, forming a conduit. Once entered, willingly or not, one would instantly flash through, arriving at the destination in an instant. This explained the illusion of drastically compressed space he first felt when experiencing this technique in Spirit Guard City.

Generally, the distance a Spirit Master could traverse instantly was equal to the length of the passage they could condense.

For a Void Spirit First Grade Spirit Master who had just broken through from Spirit Command Ninth Grade, condensing a thirty or forty-meter passage was already excellent. As cultivation and spiritual thought strength increased, the passages they could condense would naturally grow longer.

Nie Kong, having formed a sixty-meter passage, was already displaying terrifying capability.

Yet, even at this level, the formless barrier in his Spiritual Acumen Aperture stubbornly held, refusing to break.

"Could it really only break at the absolute limit?"

If he merely projected his spiritual thought, it could certainly reach beyond that distance, but manipulating the elemental energy of heaven and earth with it was far more complex. The sixty-meter span already caused a slight stinging sensation between Nie Kong's brows, but with the invisible barrier still intact, he could only grit his teeth and push his spiritual thought further forward. A moment later, the humanoid passage in the void stretched to seventy meters.

However, that formless barrier remained within the Spiritual Acumen Aperture!

"Still not enough!"

Nie Kong bore the needle-prick pain between his brows, continuously drawing elemental particles.

Seventy-two meters—the barrier persisted!

Seventy-five meters—the barrier would not yield!

Seventy-nine meters...

"Eighty meters!"

With a final surge of effort to move it just one meter further, Nie Kong felt as if his brow had been pierced. His head swam, and he nearly swooned!

"Boom!"

Just as Nie Kong was about to lose control, a sharp crack erupted from the Spiritual Acumen Aperture. Not only did the barrier dissipate entirely, but the eighty-meter-long humanoid passage instantly collapsed, dissolving into countless elemental particles that reintegrated with the void.

Nie Kong’s mind cleared instantly. He felt spiritual energy surging madly through the avatar’s meridians, its power increasing exponentially. After nearly half a minute, the tide-like, surging spiritual energy gradually calmed.

"Void Spirit First Grade!"

Sensing the profound change in his avatar's cultivation, Nie Kong let out a long breath. To achieve his goal—the main body reaching the Sixth Order and the avatar reaching the Void Spirit realm—in less than three months of training in the Nether Sea Fire Source filled even Nie Kong with a flicker of excitement.

Nie Kong understood perfectly that the Second Avatar reaching Void Spirit First Grade did not mean his true cultivation was the same. Once the spiritual energy from the avatar returned to the main body, allowing the highly concentrated life essence of Wood Spirit power and the Death Qi to fuse back into Spirit Treasure Essence Qi, his real cultivation would attain at least the level of Void Spirit Fifth Grade.

Having reached such a height in less than half a year within the Nether Earth far exceeded Nie Kong’s initial expectations. If this trend continued, Nie Kong estimated he could return to the Heavenly Spirit Continent half a year to a full year ahead of schedule.

After a long while, Nie Kong’s agitation settled.

Reflecting on the process of breaking through to the Void Spirit realm, a thought struck him. His spiritual thought shot out from between his brows and extended forward again. Wherever the thought passed, spiritual energy elements converged, and in almost an instant, an eighty-meter humanoid passage coalesced.

"So fast!"

Nie Kong was startled. Having reached the Void Spirit realm, the time required to condense such a void passage had shortened countless times compared to before. If Nie Kong stepped into the passage now, he could cross the eighty-meter distance and reappear on the other side in a flash.

Alas, this was not the time for experimentation!

Nie Kong forcefully suppressed the urge to employ "Body Merging with the Void." With a shift of intent, he prepared to dissipate the passage, but a sudden, ominous premonition rose in his heart. As expected, an instant later, Nie Kong discovered that the elemental particles forming the passage had completely slipped beyond his control.

"What is happening?"

Nie Kong’s heart lurched. Immediately following, an immense suction force transmitted from the humanoid passage. The suction was so overwhelming it seemed capable of effortlessly shattering any thought of resistance. Nie Kong’s face drastically changed. The "Spirit Seal" covering his body instantly vanished, and in its place, a new "War God Star Seal" shimmered forth from the Jade Pool Aperture, exploding violently at the entrance of the humanoid passage!

"Shatter Seal!"

This was a technique to instantly detonate the War God Star Seal. The moment the Star Seal exploded, a powerful force swept toward the passage...

"This time, it's truly over!"

Seeing the massive flame outside the "Heart of Fire" finally cease its frantic flickering, Zhan Baisong’s aged face was wreathed in a satisfied smile.

However, less than a second after his words left his lips, Zhan Baisong noticed the void before Nie Kong rippling, and myriad beams of golden light pierced through.

"Not good!"

The two words escaped his lips as Zhan Baisong’s expression darkened. He could feel that spirit-shaking power once again, but unlike before, this power seemed to be detonating, as if its master had encountered an irresistible danger.

"Hoo!"

Zhan Baisong hesitated for a moment. His body suddenly swelled, and a bizarrely shaped black great-saber materialized out of thin air, slashing lightning-fast toward the location where the golden light erupted. Wherever the saber light passed, the surrounding elemental spiritual energy roared and billowed to either side.

"Chii! Chii..."

Zhan Baifeng, Zhan Baige—the two Ninth Order powerhouses—along with Zhan Feihong, Zhan Feixing, and Zhan Tianhe—the three high-level Dark Alchemists—unleashed their most potent attacks almost simultaneously. The mighty force followed closely behind Zhan Baisong's black great-saber, hammering toward the golden light.

In that instant, it was as if the heavens and earth were splitting. The void within a hundred-meter radius shuddered thunderously! Such an attack, unless met by a peak Ninth Order Dark Beast like Fu Fang or a super expert like Zhan Xinzi, was utterly invincible in the Nether Earth.

But just then, the Fire Source seemed to transform into a living, sentient entity, swaying rapidly. The tip of the roaring flame struck the point where the golden light burst half a second before any of the six attacks from Zhan Baisong's group. The next moment, all six attacks landed squarely on the flame.

"Boom!"

Like ten thousand catties of explosives detonating, brilliant red-orange luminescence rebounded outward.

The attacks from Zhan Baisong and the other five vanished into nothingness instantly, inflicting no damage upon the flame. Subsequently, the tip of the flame bloomed proudly, much like a matured lotus flower. Immediately, a flash of red light enveloped and swallowed the giant crimson cocoon that had been encasing Nie Kong’s body.

"Hoo!"

Like a straightened bamboo rod snapping back into place, the mass of flame recoiled to its original position. It merely undulated a few times, and the previously bulged tip of the flame returned to its normal shape, continuing to burn high toward the sky, as if nothing unusual had transpired.

"This, this..."

Witnessing this scene, Zhan Baisong, Zhan Feihong, and the others felt a chilling dread, their faces turning pale. They were rendered speechless.

Before coming to the "Nether Sea Fire Source," they had considered countless potential emergencies. But the event that just occurred was as unimaginable as a Dark Beast suddenly appearing in the Nether Sea, an area where no sign of Dark Beast life had ever been recorded.

In two thousand years, numerous sects and individuals, including the Zhan Clan, had visited this place. Only three scenarios posed a mortal danger: touching the external currents and perishing; being incinerated by the Nether Fire while attempting to extract it; or being burned to death by the searing heat while trying to absorb the Nether Fire or temper their own fire seed with it.

Never, not once, had they heard of the Fire Source actively attacking and swallowing a Dark Spirit Master resting on the Heart of Fire. Yet, this bizarre situation had just materialized, clearly before their very eyes.

"Plop! Plop..."

Faint sounds of a heartbeat jolted the six members of the Zhan Clan back to reality. Zhan Feihong glanced around vaguely, then suddenly realized the sound wasn't a heartbeat but was coming from the "Heart of Fire" beneath their feet: "Not good, this stone is sinking!"

The others were alarmed. After a brief scan, they confirmed the "plop" sound indeed originated from deep within the Heart of Fire. According to past experience, this throbbing was the precursor to the Heart of Fire submerging. Within ten minutes, the stone would disappear, only to reappear on the same day the following year to begin its descent again, cycling continuously.

"Plop!"

"Plop!"

"..."

The heartbeat-like sound intensified rapidly, and soon the soles of their feet felt a slight tremor, a sensation that grew increasingly violent.

Just leave like this?

Zhan Baisong's expression darkened. He glanced down at the Heart of Fire, then looked up toward the Fire Source. A sudden thought flashed across his mind, and he blurted out: "Could this Fire Source be the life force of this generation?..."

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