Chapter 146: Preparing for the Breakthrough

Darkness, endless darkness.

I felt dazed and groggy, drifting aimlessly through this boundless dark void.

Suddenly, Hu Xiaoyu’s delicate and lovely face appeared before my eyes.

"Live on, you must live on!" Hu Xiaoyu’s red lips parted slightly, her voice echoing endlessly in my ears.

Xiaoyu!

I roared hoarsely, beginning to struggle violently within the darkness.

Abruptly, a giant eye opened in the dark, and a beam of cyan light shot forth from it.

Then, a tear was ripped across the darkness.

I snapped my eyes open, only to find myself in a world of cyan, with countless distorted cyan runes floating and flickering around me.

This is...

I raised my hand and waved it in front of my face, noticing that my hand under the gaze appeared almost transparent, with skin, flesh, and bone clearly distinguishable.

No!

I reached up to touch my eyes, only to discover with a shock that this eye was planted vertically on my forehead, while my own two eyes were tightly shut.

The Eye of the Evil Moon! This name instantly flashed into my mind.

At that moment, I saw a shark lunging toward me amidst the ocean waves.

Almost instinctively, the distorted cyan runes in the cyan world gathered together, and a beam of cyan light shot outward.

In an instant, the shark turned to stone and sank to the ocean floor.

I felt a portion of my mental energy being instantly drained away. It turned out that unleashing the power of the Eye of the Evil Moon required mental energy as its driving force.

"Close!" I chanted silently in my heart.

The cyan world vanished, and I plunged back into darkness, though my consciousness had already recovered.

I felt as though I were soaked in seawater, drifting along with ocean currents toward an unknown destination.

At that moment, a warm current surged toward my eyes, and I abruptly opened them.

This time, it was my own two eyes.

I looked up and saw a sky full of starlight, studding the entire night sky like diamonds.

Amidst the starry sky, I seemed to see Hu Xiaoyu’s parting gaze, filled with gentleness and lingering affection.

"Xiaoyu..." My face instantly twisted in agony, whispering her name as a frenzy of burning hatred surged within my heart.

"Ah..." I flipped over and let out a wild roar, the soundwaves rushing toward the sea surface and exploding into a massive splash.

Eastern devils, the Miyamoto clan, I swear I will slaughter every last one of you to quench the hatred in my heart!

I must take revenge, I must have my revenge!

However, with my current strength as a tier-six Yin-Yang Master, can I exact revenge?

I silently assessed my own condition. The reason I was stuck at the peak of tier-six Yin-Yang Master and unable to break through was because I had yet to condense a Dharma Form.

A Dharma Form cannot be condensed casually. The so-called Dharma Form must be based on a powerful, living entity as a blueprint, traced using magic power, capturing at least three parts of its divine essence, so that it can resonate with the arcane realms.

Manifestations follow the heart, and forms are born from the mind!

Dharma Forms are generally classified into three grades—Upper, Middle, and Lower—but above them lie the Supreme Dharma Form and the Divine Dharma Form.

A Dharma Form is the standard equipment of an advanced Yin-Yang Master, and at the same time, it is the dividing line among advanced Yin-Yang Masters.

Between two tier-seven Yin-Yang Masters, one possessing an Upper-grade Dharma Form and the other a Lower-grade Dharma Form, without a doubt, the spell intensity unleashed by the one with the Upper-grade Dharma Form will far surpass that of the one with the Lower-grade Dharma Form.

If I am to break through, I must condense a Dharma Form. With the Dharma Form as a guide, I can finally transform my river of spiritual energy into a sea of spiritual energy.

However, what kind of Dharma Form should I condense?

The Dharma Forms I could clearly trace were those creatures from the apertures of the Gate of Reincarnation: the Flood Dragon Soul, the Fierce Ghost, the Toad...

No! Condensing those would yield at most a Middle-grade Dharma Form.

At that moment, I suddenly thought of the dragon head on the grand hall of the Nether Dragon Palace.

However, just a Nether Dragon head alone...

Right then, I noticed a small island appearing ahead. I burst forth from the seawater and sprinted across the waves.

The island was very small and uninhabited.

I dug a cave on the island and set up a concealment array over it.

Then, I sat cross-legged inside the cave.

Immediately, I found myself inside the Nether Dragon Palace. Just as I was observing the Nether Dragon head on the great doors, the dragon stele deep within suddenly emitted a faint, dim glow, and a vague voice was calling out to me.

I walked involuntarily toward the depths, stopping before the dragon stele.

The dragon stele had originally been completely blank, but at this moment, it unexpectedly manifested the shadowy phantom of a dragon.

It was the Nether Dragon!

A boom echoed in my mind, and a piece of information was transmitted to me.

"Pass the trial path of the Gate of Reincarnation to obtain the complete image of the Nether Dragon."

I stood stunned for a long while. This dragon stele could perceive my thoughts; could it possibly be a living entity?

Forget it, I won't think about that for now.

Passing the trial path to obtain the complete image of the Nether Dragon was an immense temptation for me.

Especially at a time like this.

However, I had attempted the trial path twice, and both times had ended in failure.

That swamp was practically a nightmare. Could I possibly get through it?

Hesitating for a long while, I decided to try my luck once more. Failure wouldn't result in true death anyway; it was merely experiencing the genuine sensation of dying.

Yet at that moment, another message from the dragon stele flooded into my mind.

"You are granted only ten attempts at the qualification for the trial path. If you fail ten times, the Nether Dragon Palace will be permanently sealed. Passing within three attempts yields the highest reward; passing within four to six attempts yields a medium reward; passing within seven to ten attempts yields the lowest reward."

My heart skipped a beat, feeling as though my thoughts were completely transparent. What surprised me even more was that the dragon stele could actually respond to my thoughts.

Just then, the dim light on the dragon stele faded, and it fell silent once more.

I had a feeling that this might be my only chance to acquire the Nether Dragon image. If I failed this time, there would be no possibility left.

I steadied my emotions and stepped into the Gate of Reincarnation.

It was still that desolate wasteland drifting with countless nether ghosts. I was already quite familiar with it and quickly pushed forward.

Along the way, I slaughtered countless nether ghosts and killed two soul-eating birds, harvesting dozens of intermediate nether crystals and three advanced nether crystals.

Before long, with practiced ease, I arrived once again at the nether ghost swamp where I had failed last time.

"Nether ghosts above, soul-devouring crocodiles below. How on earth am I supposed to cross this swamp?" I stood at the edge of the swamp and muttered to myself. The trial path of the Gate of Reincarnation offered no way back—one could only advance, never retreat. To pass, I had to press forward with indomitable will.

"If I could blend in among the nether ghosts, I wonder if I could make it across?" I thought to myself.

No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than I saw a soul-devouring crocodile leap up and directly swallow an evil ghost whole.

"Fine, that thought was a bit foolish. Soul-devouring crocodiles feed precisely on nether ghosts. If I blended in with a group of ghosts, wouldn't that just be sheep walking into a tiger's den?" I smiled wryly and shook my head.

"Unless I can fly across," I thought.

At that moment, I spotted a soul-devouring bird circling in the sky, and an idea stirred in my heart.

The nether ghosts on the trial path of the Gate of Reincarnation could only drift; they couldn't leap up at all, and my soul body was restricted in the same way.

However, the creatures of the sky here were not subject to this limitation.

Thinking of this, I felt I had found a way to get past this nether ghost swamp.

I released the dense aura of my soul outward, immediately attracting the attention of the soul-devouring bird in the sky.

Simultaneously, however, the surrounding evil ghosts and fierce spirits were also drawn in, surging toward me.

With a wave of my hand, I destroyed several evil and fierce ghosts. Given the tier of my soul body, two or three ordinary fierce ghosts posed no threat to me at all.

The problem, however, was that more and more evil and fierce ghosts were pouncing over. While I could handle two or three fierce ghosts, I certainly couldn't handle dozens or hundreds of them.

Right at that moment, the soul-devouring bird let out a sharp cry, plunging downward like lightning. Its razor-sharp soul-splitting talons gleamed with a dim light as they grabbed toward me.

I shouted loudly, activating the Nether Ghost Step. My soul body flashed into a blur of afterimages, instantly twisting and grabbing hold of the soul-devouring bird's neck.

However, the soul-devouring bird's descent was so fast that I grabbed empty air, only managing to catch hold of one of its wings.

Struggling violently, the soul-devouring bird shot upward, turning its head to peck at my arm with its long, sharp beak.

I let out a miserable scream, feeling a sharp pain ripple through my soul body as a little less than half of my soul power was pecked away by the bird.

"Damn it, you dare peck me!" I roared angrily. As the soul-devouring bird swooped in for another peck, I flipped onto its back, transforming both of my hands into soul spikes, and plunged them viciously into the bird's eyes.

The soul-devouring bird let out a series of miserable screeches, tumbling wildly through the air.

Refusing to let go, I pried upward with the soul spikes embedded in its eyes, causing the creature to shriek miserably as it soared high into the sky.