Ch. 481Li Fire Refines the Spirit
Chapter Summary: Li Fire Refines the Spirit
Key Plot Points and Events
- Gao Wu realizes that Qingguang Dao Ancestor’s mastery of space makes him nearly impossible to defeat in the physical world. To overcome this disadvantage, Gao Wu lures him into his spiritual world, where his Yang Spirit can use its full power and activate the Tianming Sword.
- Gao Wu employs all Five Divine Mantras:
- Li Fire Divine Light and White Tiger Divine Weapon empower the Tianming Sword.
- Qilin Divine Hero, Black Tortoise Heavenly Gang, and Azure Dragon Divine Qi strengthen and support his Yang Spirit.
- These abilities raise Gao Wu’s attributes to forty-five points, giving him spiritual power even greater than Qingguang Dao Ancestor’s.
- Gao Wu seals the spiritual world and uses the Xuan Dragon Hammer to suppress Qingguang’s spatial abilities, preventing him from escaping or summoning his Divine Armor.
- Qingguang abandons his controlled positive-energy form and reveals his true demonic nature: a black, distorted spiritual entity driven by negative emotions. His spiritual power surges dramatically, temporarily overwhelming Gao Wu and threatening to break the sealing.
- Using the Qilin Divine Hero Incantation, Gao Wu analyzes the frequency of Qingguang’s spiritual attacks. He synchronizes the Tianming Sword with those vibrations, creating a counter-resonance that disrupts Qingguang’s assault.
- Gao Wu pierces Qingguang’s spiritual core with the Tianming Sword and Ying Dragon Slash. Though Qingguang repeatedly reforms, the Li Fire Divine Light burns his core from within.
- Gao Wu destroys Qingguang nine times, using the Xuan Dragon Hammer to recapture every fragment of black smoke. Qingguang ultimately collapses into an ash-white crystal containing his accumulated energy and Divinity.
- The battle causes powerful spiritual tremors throughout the Abyss, but Despair Ridge’s gray mist conceals Gao Wu’s presence.
- Gao Wu receives over seven hundred billion Merit from Qingguang’s death, raising his total Merit above one trillion.
- The remaining crystal is extremely valuable but dangerous, since Qingguang might potentially revive from it. Gao Wu cannot refine it with his current Li Fire Divine Light.
- He considers using it to improve the Tianming Sword, Longyuan, or the Wuji Divine Armor. His instincts warn against strengthening the sword and suggest that merging the crystal with the Wuji Divine Armor is the best option, though he fears being unable to bring the armor back afterward.
Character Developments
- Gao Wu demonstrates major growth in spiritual combat. Rather than relying on physical strength or the Wuji Divine Armor, he uses planning, analysis, resonance, and endurance to defeat a Demon God.
- His Qilin Divine Hero Incantation proves crucial, allowing him to interpret Qingguang’s spiritual attack patterns and turn them against him.
- Gao Wu shows determination and courage by continuing the fight despite not knowing whether his Yang Spirit could return if destroyed.
- He gains confidence from the enormous Merit reward but also becomes more cautious, recognizing that his victory has attracted the attention of other Demon Gods.
- Qingguang Dao Ancestor undergoes a dramatic transformation. His calm, godlike appearance gives way to his true negative spiritual form, revealing that his apparent stability was merely a restrained state. Once unleashed, he becomes irrational and berserk, relying on overwhelming force rather than strategy.
- Even after his spiritual core is shattered, Qingguang’s immense age and accumulated power allow him to regenerate repeatedly, emphasizing his status as a powerful Demon God.
Significant Themes
- Strategy overcoming superior power: Gao Wu succeeds not through simple domination but by choosing the battlefield, exploiting spiritual combat, and using resonance to counter Qingguang’s attacks.
- The danger of hidden strength: Qingguang’s positive-energy form conceals his true demonic essence, while the ash-white crystal contains both extraordinary power and the possibility of resurrection.
- The cost of killing a god: Gao Wu recognizes that defeating Qingguang nearly costs him his own life and that victory requires total commitment without relying on luck or retreat.
- Spiritual power as the foundation of advancement: The chapter emphasizes that numerical increases alone are insufficient; Gao Wu must improve his actual divine abilities, especially the Vermilion Bird Divine Light Incantation.
- Power brings danger and attention: Gao Wu’s victory provides immense Merit but also reveals him to other Demon Gods, forcing him to strengthen himself quickly.
- Refinement and transformation: The title reflects Gao Wu’s intention to use Li Fire to refine Qingguang’s remaining essence, while also symbolizing the purification of dangerous demonic power into a resource for further growth.
Character Interactions
- Gao Wu and Qingguang Dao Ancestor engage in a battle of spiritual strength, with Qingguang initially underestimating Gao Wu because he cannot foresee the danger.
- Gao Wu uses the Five Divine Mantras in combination, while Qingguang relies on spatial manipulation and eventually brute-force spiritual attacks.
- Their conflicting spiritual vibrations become central to the fight: Gao Wu’s Tianming Sword harmonizes with and then disrupts Qingguang’s shrieks.
- Qingguang’s inability to reason in his berserk state allows Gao Wu to exploit openings and repeatedly destroy his reconstructed form.
- After Qingguang’s death, Gao Wu’s relationship with the other Demon Gods becomes indirectly important, as his victory makes him a new threat they are likely to monitor.