Soul Refinement
"Thump--"
The moment the soul enters the pool, it is not the sound of ordinary falling into water, but a suffocating feeling as if the mind and spirit are enveloped and dragged down by something sticky, cold, and filthy!
The moment Lin Ming's Soul Body entered the dark pool, his five senses and six perceptions were completely distorted and submerged.
Everything outside—the desolation of the Myriad Beast Hall, Zi Yan and Xiong Zhan's worries—vanished.
Instead, there was boundless darkness and a torrent of malice surging in from all directions, cold and piercing yet scorching to the soul!
This is not a physical attack, but an erosion and pollution that directly affects the Soul Origin!
"Roar--!"
The first thing to strike was the countless raging Beast Soul Remnants!
They are the resentment and hatred left behind by countless Magical Beasts that were suppressed, tamed, and eventually perished here by the Beast Taming Sect throughout the ages.
The giant bear's slam, the tiger's bite, the venomous python's coiling, the fox's allure... all sorts of bestial ferocity, cunning, and cruelty transformed into countless twisted Soul Shadow, frantically assaulting Lin Ming's Soul Body, attempting to tear him to pieces and assimilate him into this Grudge Pool Water!
The excruciating pain, as if my soul were being torn apart, was a thousand times more painful than any physical injury!
Lin Ming's Soul Body trembled violently, and the Soul Barrier of the Spirit Realm Grand Perfection shone with brilliant light, forcibly resisting these initial impacts.
He firmly adhered to the methods of the "Turbid Lotus Spirit Quenching Art," visualizing his own soul transforming into a flawless Lotus Seed radiating Pure Light. Regardless of the raging storms outside, he remained unmoved, deeply buried beneath the Malice Mud.
However, this is just the beginning.
Before the impact of the Beast Soul had subsided, an even more bizarre and unpredictable erosion followed.
Those are the most primal evil thoughts of all living beings—greed, jealousy, anger, delusion, fear... They are formless and intangible, yet like the most deadly toxins, they ignore the defenses of the Soul Barrier and penetrate directly, attempting to pollute the Consciousness Core.
Various illusions began to appear before my eyes:
He witnessed the Mittel Family of the Jia Ma Empire being slaughtered by a powerful enemy, his relatives dying tragically, and he was powerless to do anything about it;
He witnessed the Xiao Yi Xian's poisonous body erupt, transforming into a demon in agony and turning against him;
He saw Zi Yan captured by the Heaven Demon Phoenix Clan, her scales and tendons ripped out;
He witnessed Qing Lin fail to receive the inheritance, the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils shatter, and his soul scattered.
He saw Yun Yun perish while saving him;
All the things he feared most and least wanted to see were magnified and distorted by his evil thoughts, turning into the sharpest thorns that frantically attacked his defenses. Waves of violence, despair, and regret grew like weeds in his heart, trying to make him succumb and abandon his principles.
"It's fake! It's all fake!"
A roar erupted from the depths of Lin Ming's soul, a Zhu Huo of clarity in his Spirit Platform like a candle flame in a storm, flickering yet stubbornly unextinguished. His powerful willpower played a crucial role at this moment, forcefully severing and rejecting these negative emotions and illusions.
But the Malice Pool Water seemed to possess a life of its own. Realizing that a direct attack would be ineffective, it immediately changed its strategy. It no longer merely attacked and intimidated, but began a more insidious process of "assimilation" and "temptation."
A warm and peaceful feeling suddenly enveloped his soul, as if he had returned to his mother's warm embrace. All the pain, struggle, and responsibility vanished, leaving only endless peace and comfort.
A seductive voice whispered deep within his soul, "Give up... why suffer so much? Join us, and you will find eternal peace... no more strife, no more worries..."
This is a thought of laziness and decadence!
Immediately afterwards, an incomparably powerful sense of strength surged forth from nowhere, as if with a mere nod, he could instantly control all the evil thoughts and Remnant Soul within the pool, possessing earth-shattering power with every gesture, enough to sweep across the Middle Continent and dominate the continent! The voice was filled with inflammatory rhetoric. "Accept us! You will become the new Sovereign! Power! Strength! All are at your command!"
This is the Thought of Ambition!
Various temptations, targeting the weaknesses of the human heart, come one after another, penetrating every nook and cranny.
Lin Ming's Soul Body began to flicker, and his unwavering resolve wavered for a moment. The allure of tranquility and the promise of power held a fatal attraction for any soul struggling in agony.
"No! The power I seek is to protect and to transcend, not to succumb to or control!" Lin Ming bit his tongue sharply.
Although the Soul Body, this action triggered a tremor in the Soul Origin, instantly jolting him awake from those temptations! The Soul Lotus Seed in his visualization once again burst forth with pure light, forcibly expelling and Purified the infiltrating Thought of Ambition.
However, just as he had withstood this psychological onslaught and his mind relaxed slightly—
A phoenix cry, filled with endless resentment and a destructive will, exploded like Nine Heavens Thunderclap deep within his soul!
It was the Heavenly Phoenix Remnant Soul that had been crushed and merged into the pool by Yu Cang's last power! Although it was broken, its extremely high-ranking and deeply resentful will made it the most terrifying existence in this Malice Soul Pool!
The Red Gold Phoenix Fire, carrying a furious rage that could burn away souls, swept in like a tsunami!
This flame is not a real fire, but rather the manifestation of the Ancient Heavenly Phoenix's resentment upon its fall and its extreme hatred for the Beast Taming Sect and all living beings! It not only intends to burn Lin Ming's soul, but also to turn his will, his memories, and everything about him to ashes!
"Boom!"
Lin Ming's Soul Body was as if it had been thrown into a purgatory furnace. The Red Gold Hatred Fire were frantically scorching his Soul Barrier, making a hissing sound. His Soul Power, which was at the Spirit Realm Grand Perfection, was being consumed and dimmed at a visible speed! Even more terrifying was that the violent will of the Ancient Heavenly Phoenix contained in the flames was like countless red-hot steel needles, piercing his consciousness and trying to assimilate him into a mad being who only knew destruction!
"Ah--!"
This time, Lin Ming finally couldn't hold back and let out a painful, soul-wrenching scream!
This pain far surpasses anything before! It's not just the excruciating agony of a burning soul, but also a kind of oppressive and erosive force emanating from a deeper Life Level!
His visualization of the Soul Lotus Seed was almost forcibly interrupted. The pure light quickly dimmed under the scorching of the Red Gold Hatred Fire, and even the edges began to be stained with an ominous dark red!
My resolve began to waver, and countless chaotic and violent thoughts surged uncontrollably. Destruction! Burning everything! Let all living beings feel my pain!
Fine cracks began to appear on the surface of Lin Ming's Soul Body, and wisps of dark evil thoughts, like maggots clinging to bones, eroded inward along the cracks. His eyes were sometimes clear and sometimes bloodshot and crazed.
Myriad Beast Hall outside, although Zi Yan and Xiong Zhan could not see the specific situation inside the pool, they could clearly feel the heart-palpitating Soul Fluctuation emanating from the Malice Soul Pool, as well as Lin Ming's suppressed, occasionally leaked, painful howls.
Zi Yan was frantic, her little fists clenched, wishing she could jump in and help, but Xiong Zhan held her back tightly. Xiong Zhan's expression was extremely solemn. He knew that this kind of soul-level tempering was something that outsiders couldn't interfere with; it could only be Lin Ming's own doing.
Inside the pool, Lin Ming's consciousness struggled on the edge of endless pain and madness.
The light of the Soul Lotus Seed grew dimmer and dimmer, almost completely swallowed by the surrounding darkness and Red Gold. He felt his consciousness being torn apart; one part wanted to give up and merge into this endless resentment and destruction, while the other part, relying on its last instinct, desperately clung to that last glimmer of clarity in his Spirit Platform.
"I can't... fall here..."
"Ya Fei is still waiting... for the Bodhi Primordial Beginning Pill to change her constitution..."
"Qing Lin is still receiving the inheritance... Zi Yan and Xiong Zhan are still outside..."
"The Five Elements Sect... is still waiting for me..."
My journey... is not yet over...
"Heavenly Flames... Chaos Spirit Five Elements Art... The Path to the Dou Di..."
Each unwavering conviction, like the last reef in a raging storm, stubbornly supported his crumbling will.
Just as the light of the Soul Lotus Seed was about to completely extinguish, and Lin Ming's consciousness was about to be completely swallowed by darkness—
The general principles and incantations of the <Turbid Lotus Spirit Quenching Art> resounded once again deep within his soul, like a resounding bell:
"... The Lotus Seed is buried deep, not to sink into oblivion, but to accumulate! Malice Mud, not to destroy, but to provide sustenance! The heart is like crystal, clear inside and out, pure and without blemish... See your True Heart in the deepest darkness, and realize purity in the midst of defilement... Destruction leads to creation, and Nirvana brings rebirth!"
"Destruction precedes construction... rebirth from the Nirvana..."
These eight words seemed to carry some strange power, instantly striking the core of Lin Ming's Consciousness Core, which was on the verge of collapse!
He suddenly "opened his eyes"—not his physical eyes, but the Soul Eye!
He no longer merely passively resisted and rejected these evil thoughts and pain, but began to "examine" them from a completely new perspective!
That raging, Beast Soul Remnants is wildness, one of the sources of power!
Those endless negative emotions are the manifestation of all living beings, a trial for the soul!
The Hatred Fire of that Ancient Heavenly Phoenix represent the unwillingness of Life Level to perish. Could they also contain a trace of... the mystery of Nirvana?!
"I see..."
Lin Ming's eyes, which were on the verge of fading, regained a brilliance that shone with unparalleled radiance—a light of wisdom that saw through to the essence of things.
"Refining the Lotus in Turbidity... is not about rejecting impurity... but about... understanding it, embracing it, and ultimately... transcending it!"
"The lotus emerges from the mud unsullied... not because the mud does not exist... but because the lotus... has the ability to transform the mud into nutrients!"
A single thought brings clarity and enlightenment!
His dying Soul Lotus Seed did not continue to dim; instead, deep within its core, it began to sprout a tiny, almost imperceptible bud, yet containing boundless vitality and the power of Purified!
He no longer forcibly rejected the evil thoughts, but began to carefully guide a wisp of the outermost, relatively mild evil thoughts into the core of this newborn embryo, trying to understand its composition, analyze its emotional origin, and use his own unwavering will and the Origin Power to conduct a preliminary transformation and tempering of it!
This process is a thousand times more dangerous than mere resistance! It's like dancing on a knife's edge, walking on the edge of a cliff! The slightest misstep, excessive guidance, or even the slightest wavering of will will immediately lead to being devoured by evil thoughts, resulting in utter ruin!
But Lin Ming's heart was like an ancient well, calm and undisturbed. He was completely immersed in this mysterious state of dancing with countless evil thoughts and seeking a glimmer of Purified and sublimation in endless filth.
The excruciating pain in his soul persisted, even becoming clearer and more intense due to his active guidance, yet his eyes grew brighter. The tiny sprout at the core of the Soul Lotus Seed, amidst this extremely dangerous tempering, began to grow slowly but steadily...
The most dangerous phase seems to have passed temporarily, but the real tempering has only just begun. There is still a long and arduous road ahead before the lotus blossoms, untainted by the mud.