Chapter 239

Chapter 239: Two Years Later

In the Soul Prison, the sky is either gray or blood red.

It always looks covered by a haze.

The sky over Myriad Arts City is at least blue.

Li Shuang’s nerves, long stretched tight, began to relax.

In the Soul Prison these two years, she stayed on high alert every moment.

Even so, she fell into deadly danger more than once. The worst time, a Soul Beast equal to the Integration Stage chased her for a thousand miles. She ran for half a month before she finally escaped it.

If not for the Heaven and Earth Furnace, a strange treasure that let her redeem items at any time to keep herself in top shape, she would have died who knows how many times.

Even with the Heaven and Earth Furnace, every time she thought of those narrow escapes, her hair stood on end.

Only after she entered Myriad Arts City did she feel truly light all over.

The City Lord has rules here. No one is allowed to fight inside the city.

Only here is absolutely safe.

Though it was hard, Li Shuang gained a lot.

Half a year after entering the Soul Prison, on a plain and quiet night, she formed her Nascent Soul.

She had walked this path once before, so doing it again was easy.

Compared to the first Nascent Soul she cultivated, her new Nascent Soul showed some subtle changes.

In her dantian, the Nascent Soul floats quietly.

In the Nascent Soul’s hand, there is a Lotus Seed.

It seems tied to the moment she did Foundation Establishment, but after careful sensing, it is not exactly the same.

Li Shuang already tested it in battle.

Right now, the Lotus Seed in her Nascent Soul’s hand is at an early state. Its effect is repair.

The Lotus Seed stores spiritual power, and once she is hurt, it patches the damage for her.

The healing is frightening.

A big reason she could escape again and again from Soul Beast hunts is this almost broken self repair.

With the Supreme Emotionless Art plus the Lotus Seed, as long as she has a single breath left, she can recover fast.

Li Shuang feels that even if her dantian shattered, she could repair it on her own.

She does not know whether the Lotus Seed appeared because of her Foundation Establishment treasure or because of her Supreme Ice Spiritual Root.

She remembers the scene from when her spiritual root evolved.

A Giant split the chaos, and an Azure Lotus was born.

[It seems I am fated with the Azure Lotus.]

The Nascent Soul Stage was not the end.

Over two years, she barely broke through to the Divine Transformation Stage last month.

That was because she slowed down on purpose, polished her base to the limit, then chose to break through.

If she had pushed her power without caring about the cost, her cultivation level would be higher by now.

But while rising fast matters, a solid base matters too.

Now she has entered Divine Transformation. Her foundation is unshakable. Even though she just broke through, her spiritual power is as steady as that of cultivators who have been at Divine Transformation for many years.

Besides that, her soul cultivation improved even more.

In the Soul Prison, she refined her spirit day and night. Now her Soul Realm has reached Peak Divine Transformation.

She is only one step from the Integration Realm.

But that one step has blocked her for six months.

Half a year ago, she was already at Peak Divine Transformation.

No matter how she trained or how hard she pushed, her soul would not move at all.

So after her energy level breakthrough, Li Shuang chose to return to Myriad Arts City.

First, the Golden Soul Altar is about to open. She needs to rest and join at her best.

Second, her growth hit a bottleneck. Killing more enemies cannot help her break through anymore. She might as well leave the Soul Prison and seek another chance.

Li Shuang silently reviewed the last two years.

Then she decided to exchange some Merit Points, and after that, challenge the Three Grand Secret Grounds again.

As she was thinking this, she looked up and paused.

Why was the city wall even livelier than before?

A huge Golden List hung there. Almost half of Myriad Arts City had gathered under it, talking loudly.

Li Shuang hesitated.

Wait.

Why did she keep hearing her own name?

[Have I stayed in the Soul Prison too long and started hearing things?]

Curious, Li Shuang followed the crowd over.

Along the way, the talk gave her the gist.

Before the Golden Soul Altar opens, a Golden List appears, showing every name that qualifies.

And after two years of nonstop effort, she was ranked exactly one hundred.

Top one hundred.

Even if Soul Points do not perfectly reflect real strength, Li Shuang’s eyes still grew bright.

In the Central Continent, experts are as many as the clouds.

For a Cultivator from the Nanlan Continent to rank in the top one hundred here is already rare.

A playful mood rose in her. She pulled her soul back into her body.

After two years away, she stretched freely.

She still did not know how the City Lord managed it.

Even though only their souls enter Myriad Arts City, everything that happens there syncs to their bodies.

This kind of Manifesting Reality, where illusion becomes real, must be close to what Immortals can do.

Such power is not something Li Shuang can guess at now.

She did not dwell on it. She turned and stepped into the Sword Dao Space.

Su Mu lay by the lake, lazily fishing.

When she came in, he sat up at once, eyes full of shock.

Soul Realm: Peak Divine Transformation.

Spiritual power realm: just entered Divine Transformation.

In less than two years, how did Li Shuang rise this much?

“Senior Su,” said Li Shuang with a heavy look.

Worried, Su Mu softened his voice: “Did something happen?”

He feared her sudden rise hid some danger.

Li Shuang sighed.

Su Mu tensed up.

“Senior, do you know the Golden Soul Altar and the Golden Soul List?” asked Li Shuang.

Su Mu nodded: “Of course.”

He suddenly understood why she looked a bit down.

He hurried to comfort her: “The Golden Soul Altar is a rare chance. You got the Wanfa Eye not long ago, so it is normal if you do not meet the standard yet. You are still young. Train for a few more decades and you will make that Golden List and earn a spot.”

Li Shuang blinked.

“Senior Su, is the Golden Soul Altar limited to only ninety nine people?” she asked.

Su Mu paused: “No. Anyone who meets the conditions can join.”

“Then I am exactly in one hundredth place. Does that mean I still cannot join?” asked Li Shuang carefully, as she projected the Golden List image she had stored in the Memory Stone.

Su Mu: “???”