Chapter 251 - 247: Senluo Seal
"Rashomon?"
Hong Yu took a deep breath, staring at the strange rune on his palm, unable to snap out of his stupor for a long time.
’A Rashomon the size of dozens of Forbidden Cities.’
’What kind of existence was this?’
’If it were to stand upright, what kind of building could possibly be worthy of this Rashomon?’
’The gate alone was several million square meters. If a city with such a gate truly existed in the world, wouldn’t its walls have to be tens of thousands of meters high?’
Hong Yu swallowed hard.
HUMMM!
A faint ripple suddenly emanated from his palm. Hong Yu’s nerves instantly tensed as he looked down at his hand.
The small, worm-like rune that had been transferred from Rashomon and branded onto his palm was squirming, shifting through numerous shapes before finally settling into the form of a Luo Rune Seal.
The seal flickered with light.
Then, it quietly faded, disappearing completely into his palm.
’Strange, what is this thing?’ Hong Yu frowned, deep in thought, but he couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
He couldn’t help but tentatively channel his Spiritual Power into his palm.
Under the infusion of Spiritual Power, the Luo Rune Seal quietly reappeared.
A terrifying aura surged forth from the seal.
Just the energy fluctuations radiating from the seal made Hong Yu’s heart pound, giving him the urge to fall to his knees in submission.
’It seems I can use it to attack?’
Stunned for a moment, Hong Yu tentatively thrust his palm forward.
HUMMM!
A golden light flashed from his palm as a resplendent golden "Luo" character grew in size, shooting forward.
The golden light from the seal traveled a full sixty-four meters.
Everything the golden seal touched—the surrounding river currents and even the hard, giant pearl clams—was visibly reduced to dust.
HISS!
Hong Yu gasped.
He had personally experienced the formidable defense of those pearl clams. He had previously tried to harvest some pearls from them, but no matter how he attacked, even using the Three Flames Palm and Destruction, he couldn’t harm them in the slightest.
He could safely conclude that the clams’ defenses were at least on the level of a Spirit-level top-grade spiritual weapon!
But now...
Within the light of the golden seal, they were effortlessly pulverized into dust. The enormous difference was enough to astonish anyone.
Hong Yu couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement. ’With this seal, I’m confident I can defeat Zheng Tian if I face him again!’
But Hong Yu soon discovered that he had celebrated too early.
Just as the golden seal vanished, he was about to walk forward to inspect the destruction it had wrought when his vision suddenly went black. His legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground with a THUD.
’H-How could this be? Why does it feel like my Spiritual Power has been completely drained? And my Dantian’s Elemental Power... it’s... it’s ninety percent gone? My heavens...’
Hong Yu was horrified as he assessed his body’s condition.
His current Spiritual Power was already enough to affect experts at the Peak of the Celestial Soul Realm. And after cultivating the Celestial Soul Nine Refinements to the Eighth Refinement, his Elemental Power reserves had increased again, reaching seventeen times that of his peers. He could even use the Ice Divine Blade more than three times in a row.
He could even use the Three Flames Palm about ten times.
’But just now, I only subconsciously activated the golden seal, and it nearly wiped me out?’
’This seal is powerful, but the cost is just too high. In the future, unless it’s a matter of life and death, I must not use it lightly.’
Hong Yu silently reminded himself.
’The outcome of a battle between experts is decided in an instant. Sometimes, even a subtle oversight can be fatal, let alone completely draining one’s Spiritual Power and Elemental Power.’
’The seal’s power is immense, but so are its limitations.’
’It’s just like my Ice Divine Blade.’
Sighing, Hong Yu murmured, "But it’s not good to just keep calling it the Luo Rune Seal. From now on, I’ll call you... the Senluo Seal!"
The Senluo Seal flashed faintly with golden light, then vanished.
’Damn it, I have to spend more time recovering now!’
Hong Yu gave a wry smile, rubbed his nose, and sat down cross-legged.
In his hand was a bottle of pills for restoring Elemental Power. They were Second-Grade Spirit Pills; a single one could fully replenish the Elemental Power of an ordinary Earth Soul Realm expert.
As for Hong Yu...
He downed the entire bottle, and it only got him about halfway there!
As he cultivated, his Fire Spirit Body continuously absorbed the pill’s power, and his depleted Dantian gradually refilled with Elemental Power.
The nine Qi Vortexes of the Primordial Spirit in his Lower Dantian became full and abundant again.
In his Upper Dantian, his Celestial Soul had already undergone eight cycles of being spiritually shattered and reformed, and had now become incredibly powerful.
Even with his formidable Spiritual Power, he was still unable to forcibly break through his Primordial Spirit, which was why he couldn’t advance to the next realm.
After a full two days of recuperation, Hong Yu finally returned to his peak state once more.
The space around Rashomon was exceptionally stable. Even the riverbed currents had become peculiar; despite being submerged, he felt no excessive pressure.
As his strength returned to its peak, Hong Yu’s Essence, Qi, and Spirit grew even sharper.
He took a deep breath and was about to get up when he suddenly froze. ’W-What’s going on?’
Hong Yu was stunned to discover that his Spiritual Power had once again risen by a whole level.
Although his Ice Divine Blade hadn’t improved this time, Hong Yu’s own Spiritual Power had ascended again, reaching the level of the Peak of the Celestial Soul Realm.
This discovery sent Hong Yu into a state of ecstasy. ’Excellent, excellent! This is fantastic! My Spiritual Power has risen by a whole level. With my current strength, I’m now fully capable of undergoing the Ninth Refinement. But the most important thing now is the Heaven and Earth Energy required to condense my Celestial Soul...’
The power of a Celestial Soul Realm expert was determined not only by their Celestial Soul, but also by the amount of Heaven and Earth Energy they absorbed during their breakthrough.
It was like a flexible bucket that could only be shaped once: its future capacity was determined by the amount of water it held the first time it was filled.
By the same token, Hong Yu’s future achievements would depend not only on the Celestial Soul Nine Refinements and the Nine Refinements of the Primordial Spirit, but more critically, on the amount of energy he absorbed when advancing to the Celestial Soul Realm!
’This river water... if only it were all Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi!’
Gazing at the clear water around him, Hong Yu sighed faintly.
But just as the words left his lips, a strange transformation began to occur...
The entire Rashomon began to glow, its boundless golden light enveloping the whole riverbed. Bathed in this light, tiny specks of gold could be seen rising from Rashomon and merging with the river water.
After this fusion, the once-clear river water took on a faint golden hue.
’What’s happening? Huh? Why is the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi in the river water so dense?’
Hong Yu’s face fell in astonishment.
He was horrified to discover that the river water surrounding him had transformed into Liquid Spiritual Qi of extremely high density!
Legend had it that when Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi became dense enough, it would liquefy.
Some lucky individuals had discovered similar Grotto Heaven Blessed Lands, places that often contained lakes or springs formed from pools of Liquid Spiritual Qi.
But those were merely lakes and springs!
’Who had ever heard of an entire riverbed made of Liquid Spiritual Qi?’
’Good heavens, what kind of treasure is this Rashomon? To turn an entire river into Liquid Spiritual Qi... this is just insane!’
Hong Yu was left speechless.
He had, however, overlooked the fact that Rashomon had existed in the Celestial Essence Secret Realm for over a thousand years. This Spiritual Qi was the accumulation of several millennia, or perhaps even longer. Now that it was released, the sheer quantity was naturally terrifying.
’I can’t worry about all that now. I’ll use the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi here to break through first!’
Hong Yu took a deep breath.
A cold glint flickered in his dark eyes.
He couldn’t help but recall all the ways Qin Mutian and Zheng Tian had targeted and framed him on this journey. If he hadn’t been so lucky, he would have been torn to shreds and devoured by those Desolate Beasts long ago.
At this thought, the corners of Hong Yu’s lips curved into a cold, sharp arc. ’Zheng Tian, Qin Mutian... just you wait. Once I break through to the Celestial Soul Realm, it will be time for my revenge!’
Slowly closing his eyes, Hong Yu began to cultivate.
As a faint light flickered, the entire riverbed began to tremble. A vortex resembling a black hole slowly formed with Hong Yu at its center.
The vortex began to spin.
Torrents of energy surged toward him relentlessly.
This was the purest Heaven and Earth Energy, all of which was absorbed into Hong Yu’s body. Aided by the innate advantage of his Fire Spirit Body, his absorption speed could only be described as astonishing.
In his Lower Dantian, the Nine Great Vortices spun frantically, their speed accelerating to nine times the norm!
In his Upper Dantian, the Celestial Soul that had undergone eight cycles of shattering and reforming devoured the energy like a greedy Desolate Beast, its speed increasing even further to seventeen times the norm!
As the energy gathered, Hong Yu’s Lower Dantian became completely full. In his Upper Dantian, a faint golden Celestial Soul condensed once more. This Celestial Soul resembled a miniature version of Hong Yu, like a small golden figure sitting cross-legged within his Upper Dantian, gradually solidifying.
’Now is the time! The ninth shattering and reformation. If I succeed, I will officially step into the Celestial Soul Realm!’
Hong Yu took a deep breath.
All of his Spiritual Power converged into a single point, surging into his Upper Dantian like a tidal wave.
BOOM!
The surging Spiritual Power charged into his Upper Dantian like a meat grinder, bombarding the small golden figure within.
Under this onslaught, the newly condensed golden Celestial Soul was utterly shattered.
Hong Yu immediately began to operate the Celestial Soul Nine Refinements, and the shattered pieces of the golden Celestial Soul figure began to coalesce once more.
This recovery process was extremely slow, but with every part that re-formed, his power increased significantly.
As Hong Yu’s Celestial Soul condensed, the vortex formed by the Liquid Spiritual Qi on the riverbed spun faster and faster, creating a whirlwind of Spiritual Qi that swept away all the sediment at the bottom of the river.
The colossal Rashomon gradually revealed its true form.
The entire Rashomon was a staggering nineteen million square meters in area, equivalent to thirty Forbidden Cities.
In the very center of Rashomon, Hong Yu sat quietly, surrounded by streams of golden light. Above his head, a massive and turbulent Energy Vortex churned.
He was undergoing a metamorphosis.
Once this transformation was complete, Hong Yu would truly join the ranks of Celestial Soul Realm experts. Then, the vast sky would be his to fly, and the boundless sea his to leap!
Time flowed by quietly during this long transformation.
「In the blink of an eye, more than two months passed.」
On this day, in a certain place deep on the other side of the river, a simple, pyramid-like altar slowly rose from beneath the ground.
This platform was named the "Championship Platform," and many powerful experts had already gathered around it.
The event on the Championship Platform was about to begin with great fanfare.
Meanwhile, thousands of kilometers away at the bottom of the river, Hong Yu slowly opened his eyes!