Refining

Buzz!!

An invisible gray ripple spread silently from the spot where his fingertip touched the ground.

As the ripples spread, time seemed to slow down.

The foul-smelling, poisonous mist, powerful enough to melt gold and fossilize stone, lost all its activity the moment it touched the ripples, turning into ordinary air and vanishing without a trace.

The sharp bone blades that slashed in from all directions, under the influence of the ripples, had their attached Power of Laws instantly crumble. The sturdy blades became mottled at a speed visible to the naked eye, and finally shattered like sand sculptures, returning to dust.

All the incoming energy waves seemed to crash into an absolute dead zone, like a mud ox entering the sea, without causing the slightest ripple, before being completely assimilated and erased.

It was as if they had never existed.

The Insect Race powerhouses who launched the attack suddenly froze.

An indescribable fear, stemming from an innate life force, instantly seized their Divine Souls.

They were horrified to discover that they had lost contact with the powerful, indestructible Origin Source within their bodies at that very moment!

It wasn't just that they lost their ability to contain themselves; their Life Origin was being devoured in an incomprehensible way by that eerie gray ripple!

"No... my power!"

A powerful Insect Race warrior let out a desperate roar.

Its armor, as hard as divine iron, is rapidly turning gray and losing all its luster.

Then, the flesh beneath the shell began to weather and disintegrate, turning into dust that filled the sky.

This process was extremely quiet.

Because the moment their life force is drained, their Divine Souls Annihilation along with it.

In the blink of an eye, all the Insect Race powerhouses who participated in the siege followed suit, turning into handfuls of gray dust amidst extreme fear and confusion, drifting away with the wind.

This incomprehensible, almost miraculous scene utterly terrified the leading mantis leader.

The greed and cruelty in its six eyes have all faded, leaving only the most primal fear.

Run!

We must run immediately!

The moment this thought arose, it burned its Origin Source without hesitation, turned into a streak of Purple-Black Stream of Light, and fled madly toward the horizon.

However, Chen Fan merely raised his eyes and glanced at it indifferently.

A barely perceptible gray thread shot out from his pupils, ignoring the distance in space, and instantly caught up with the stream of Stream of Light, gently wrapping around it like a bone-deep infection.

The mantis leader, who was frantically fleeing, suddenly froze in mid-air.

In the next instant, its enormous and ferocious body, like snow exposed to sunlight, melted away silently from its very Origin Source, ultimately returning to nothingness.

In the blink of an eye, all the attackers were reduced to ashes.

Only a dozen or so Life Cores of varying quality remained, scattered on the ground, radiating an alluring aura of energy.

Chen Fan withdrew his gaze, looked at the newly acquired spoils, and then looked down at the intact core of the giant beast at his feet. Instead of showing any joy, he sighed softly.

He stretched and muttered to himself in a voice only he could hear:

"It seems that cultivating in peace and quiet is not an easy thing after all."

Chen Fan looked at the scattered Life Cores on the ground, then looked down at the mountain-sized beast core at his feet, and shook his head helplessly.

With a casual wave of his hand, the dozen or so Insect Race cores of varying quality transformed into streaks of Stream of Light and were stored in his storage space.

Having done all this, his gaze returned to the crystal-clear core of the giant beast beneath his feet.

The energy contained within this object is vast and immense, far surpassing the sum of all the spoils he had previously obtained.

He knew very well that refining it so openly in this perilous trial ground would cause intense energy fluctuations, much like a lighthouse in the night, attracting all living beings within a radius of tens of thousands of miles.

However, fortune favors the bold.

This incredible opportunity is right in front of us; there's no reason to let it slip by.

However, Chen Fan did not begin immediately.

He sat cross-legged on the core, his hands forming a profound hand seal in front of him, activating the Life-and-Death Dao Principles within his Dantian.

Strands of gray, Annihilation energy, barely perceptible to the naked eye, quietly overflowed from his fingertips, merging into the surrounding Void like swimming fish.

Soon, a simple array capable of isolating auras and distorting perception was set up. Though simple, it was enough to conceal most of the noise generated during the subsequent energy refining process.

Having completed all these preparations, Chen Fan no longer hesitated.

He gently placed his palms on the massive core, and with a thought, the Life-and-Death Furnace within his Dantian instantly roared like thunder and began to operate wildly.

Boom!

A vast, Origin Power as a river or sea, flowed from his palm, transforming into a surging torrent that violently surged into his limbs and bones.

If this force were applied to an ordinary Seventh Grade Immortal Realm expert, their physical body would likely be instantly ruptured, and their Dao Foundation completely destroyed.

But for Chen Fan, it was like rain after a long drought.

He looked inward at himself.

In the center of his Dantian, the "World Seal" Dao Mark, refined from the entire Origin Ancient Realm, emitted a series of joyful hums after sensing this power of the same origin and purity.

The surging torrent of energy was swallowed whole by the Life-and-Death Furnace without any mercy as soon as it entered his body. After being crushed and recreated hundreds of times, it was finally transformed into pure power and flowed into the Dao Mark within Chen An's body.

As the refining process continued, bizarre and wondrous sights appeared within the array that Chen Fan had set up.

Beneath him, a withered weed, under the influence of the emanating vitality, sprouted new shoots at a visible speed, growing wildly, only to be enveloped by another force of Annihilation a moment later, quickly withering and turning into dust.

A miniature cycle of life and death quietly unfolded around him, repeating itself endlessly.

Outside the formation, everything was as usual, calm and peaceful, as if nothing had happened.

Time seemed to lose its meaning during this period of seclusion.

I don't know how much time passed.

When the last glimmer of light on the mountain-sized core of the beast completely dimmed, and it finally cracked into dust, Chen Fan slowly opened his tightly closed eyes.

At this moment, the amount of Life-and-Death Dao Blood in his body had surged to an astonishing number.

His aura also rose to an unprecedented peak.

Even the Dao Mark have become many times stronger.

He could clearly feel that there was only a thin veil between him and the Late Stage of the Seventh Grade Immortal Realm, as thin as a cicada's wing, as if it could be pierced with a single poke.

However, the energy was ultimately just a tiny bit lacking.

It failed to help him break through that final barrier in one fell swoop.

Chen Fan showed no impatience or annoyance whatsoever.

He calmly stopped the practice.

The path of cultivation is like climbing a towering mountain; both accumulation and enlightenment are indispensable.

The stronger the foundation, the more demanding the opportunity required for a breakthrough; this cannot be forced.