C120 The Breakthrough of the Realm!

The Moon Demon who styled himself "Yuefei" seized the perfect moment to launch a sudden and deadly attack.

Missing his target, he quickly retreated, making no attempt to stay.

Yu Yuan lay in a pool of blood, several ribs shattered, his internal organs suffering damage.

His mind throbbed with unbearable pain, as if his skull might split apart.

Had it not been for the protective aura of his sword light, the full-force strike from the formidable Yuefei could have scattered his soul to the winds.

Yet, compared to the profound damage to his soul, the physical injuries seemed trivial.

"Yuefei, do you truly believe you can flee this forbidden place?"

Gritting his teeth against the agony in his chest, Yu Yuan slowly propped himself up, his gaze fixed on the direction of the fading green soul spirit, and he swallowed an Elemental Pill.

The pill's power dispersed the moment it touched his tongue.

Yu Yuan held his breath and concentrated, refraining from using the Evil Body Refining Skill. Instead, he took out several Spirit Stones and employed the Glorious Heavenly Wheel to draw in the spiritual energy they contained.

The Evil Body Refining Skill required a transition from stillness to movement, but given his current physical state, significant activity was out of the question.

He had no choice but to rely on Spirit Stones and Elemental Pills to mend his corporeal wounds.

At the early stages of the Spirit Accumulating Stage, the focus of physical cultivation was on the sinews and bones.

These were the very foundations, and the practice of the Evil Body Refining Skill emphasized this even more.

Often, Yu Yuan's injuries appeared severe, with skin flayed and blood flowing, but these were merely superficial wounds.

The true forging was of his bones.

The intensive refinement of flesh and blood was not for this phase but for the next stage of cultivation.

Unbeknownst to him, the frenzied and chaotic spiritual energy of the forbidden land, combined with the Demon Core and the relentless practice of the Evil Body Refining Skill, had slowly imbued his bones with a translucent, jade-like sheen.

Legend had it that upon reaching the Profound Break Stage with the Evil Body Refining Skill, one's bones would become like clear green crystals, filled with profound mysteries.

Though Yu Yuan was not quite there yet, his bones already bore the luster of green jade.

Indeed, even Yuefei's mightiest strike could only shatter Yu Yuan's breastbone, not pierce straight through his chest. "Chi! Chi!" The spiritual energy drawn in by the Glorious Heavenly Wheel, mingled with the life force from the Elemental Pill, swarmed into the fractured bones like a flurry of fireflies. His chest bone, akin to green jade, shimmered with an eerie glow as the fractures slowly knit back together, and the intense pain began to subside.

Yu Yuan swallowed another Elemental Pill. Beneath his feet, Spirit Stones crumbled into gray rubble, their spiritual essence completely absorbed. Time passed unmarked.

Suddenly, Yu Yuan rose to his feet, pacing slowly across the icy, silent expanse. From stillness, he moved into motion. The Evil Body Refining Skill kicked in automatically, whipping the surrounding tempestuous spiritual energy into a swirling vortex. As the vortex spun, it purified the muddled, toxic spiritual energy, funneling only the purest essence into the inner circle and into Yu Yuan's pores.

Anyone who could penetrate this inner circle would see fine, hair-like white strands, snaking into Yu Yuan's flesh like ethereal serpents. Within his body, his arms lay dormant, their sword-like potential sheathed in slumber. The bones within radiated a soft, bright green luminescence, reminiscent of jade or precious gemstones. Strands of spiritual energy seeped in from the outside, while threads of vital force emanated from the Blood Elemental Pill. Together, they ceaselessly fortified and nourished the bone joints.

First the arms, then the chest vertebrae, the leg bones, and finally the toes... Time stretched on.

In an instant, Yu Yuan's skin became translucent, revealing the green jade-like bones beneath. At a glance, he resembled a skeleton crafted from green jade, draped in a cloak of human skin. The flesh and blood were inconspicuous, unable to overshadow the brilliance of the jade.

Within the heart of the storm, spiritual energy continued to surge in, infusing each segment of jade-like bone with strength and purging any impurities. Only when the spiritual energy had coursed through his entire body, finding no crevice to penetrate within each bone, did it begin to transform.

"Boom!"

Yu Yuan's body suddenly ballooned, his skin's translucency vanishing without a trace.

He resembled an inflatable ball, his flesh quietly swelling as it absorbed the spiritual energy and the life force from the Elemental Pill, initiating the first cycle of purification.

"Middle phase of the Spirit Accumulating Stage, focusing on the refinement of flesh and blood!" he realized in a flash. Yu Yuan understood that his cultivation within the Spirit Accumulating Stage had advanced, entering the phase dedicated to honing muscles and blood.

Refining sinews and bones in the early phase, flesh and blood in the middle, and internal organs in the late phase—these were the essential steps of the Spirit Accumulating Stage.

Each phase required attention to refining other aspects, though the emphasis varied.

For instance, in the early phase, while bones were being tempered, spiritual energy and life force also nourished the flesh and internal organs, albeit in minor amounts.

The majority of the power was channeled into the bones, rendering them as translucent as jade.

"My bond with the sword soul is strengthening. Upon entering this realm, I can invoke the formation's prohibitive powers and master the sword soul's force with finesse," Yu Yuan mused, his eyes suddenly sparkling with insight. "It's intimately linked to the robustness of my arm bones!"

He was well aware of the formidable and fearsome nature of the Evil Body Refining Skill, cultivated with the wild spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth and supported by the Demon Core.

The Devil Spell's advantages were significant for him.

The jade-like hue of his bones allowed the sword light etched onto his hand bones to channel the sword intent and sword soul through his arm bones with increased ferocity.

Consequently, each sword strike he delivered surged in power.

If his arm were a sword, then his practice of the Evil Body Refining Skill was akin to whetting the blade, rendering it ever sharper!

Moreover, his Heavenly Soul had markedly progressed from repeatedly vanquishing Alien Soul Evil Spirits and practicing the Soul Forging Technique.

"This land shall be my sanctuary!" Yu Yuan proclaimed, having reached the second phase of the Spirit Accumulating Stage. He wasn't in a rush to engage in relentless cultivation. Instead, he pondered his next move: should he pursue the fleeing Moon Demon or rendezvous with Lee Yuchan and the others?

The escaped Moon Demon was merely a disembodied soul spirit. To Yu Yuan, Yuefei posed no further threat. As long as he remained in this realm, encountering her again would seal her fate—whether she had taken a new host or not, her end was inevitable.

"Lee Yuchan it is," he decided, his mind made up. With purpose, he glided towards his chosen destination.

Two hours passed, and suddenly, a luminous moon pierced the dull expanse of the sky. The wilderness chilled abruptly, the howling wind growing wilder. From afar, under the moon's glow, came the piercing, heartrending screams like a chorus of tormented ghosts.

Yu Yuan paused, momentarily taken aback, then hastened towards the source of the cries with all the speed he could muster.

Before long, he beheld a spectacle: thousands of bizarre, multicolored soul spirits swarmed the heavens like a plague of locusts, desperately surging forward.

Lee Yu, perched atop the soul sacrifice ball, was in a dire state, blood trickling from his eyes as he valiantly defended against the onslaught with a shimmering light screen.

A serpentine purple soul spirit, its tail sharp as a scythe, whipped and twisted, then thrust forward, puncturing a small hole in the light screen.

In an instant, an evil spirit, no larger than a toddler's fist, darted through the breach.

The evil spirit made a beeline for Lee Yuchan, who sat in meditation. Above him, the Spiritual Sense Spider Web had taken on a tangible form.

An unseen Lee Yuchan, invisible to the average eye, sat at the web's heart like a spider, ready to devour the intruding evil spirit.

Lee Yuchan's Yin God was on the verge of full manifestation, still drawing power from the soul spirits' sacrifice to solidify its existence. Yet, the sheer number of Alien Soul Evil Spirits outside posed a grave threat. Should they penetrate the soul sacrifice ball's defenses, her newly coalesced, fragile Yin God might well become their prey.

With just a glance, Yu Yuan grasped the perilous nature of the situation.

"Yu Yuan!"

Upon spotting him, Lee Yu cried out with a mix of shock and relief, as though he had just clung to a lifeline.

"..."