A mass of golden-red light exploded, then slowly contracted into a golden-red sphere.
A tiny golden figure appeared within it.
The green sea of flames below was affected, taking on a crystalline sheen.
Wisps of white air hovered above the surface of the Sea of Consciousness, which had grown a hundred times larger in the blink of an eye.
The spiritual power that had once been incredibly abundant was now only a thin layer clinging to the seabed.
The green flames vanished.
But Mu Han could feel that neither the corrosive attribute nor the fire attribute had disappeared. Instead, they had completely fused.
In the past, Mu Han's spiritual power had possessed both corrosive and fire attributes.
That was why it had taken the form of green flames, though the two attributes had ultimately remained distinct.
Now, however, his spiritual power had undergone another qualitative transformation.
Although he was still in the Spirit Abyss Realm, his spiritual power had crossed the Spirit Domain Realm and reached the God Origin Realm directly.
Under normal circumstances, spiritual cultivation could only progress step by step.
After reaching the Spirit Domain Realm, one first had to comprehend one's own spiritual domain,
then accumulate power continually until quantitative change gave rise to qualitative change, reaching what was known as the God Origin Realm.
But Mu Han had skipped the process of quantitative change and undergone qualitative change directly, successfully converting his Spirit Consciousness into Divine Consciousness.
That was because he had just touched—and even mastered—a domain belonging to the gods.
"When things reach their worst, they can only get better."
Back then, the extreme strength of the Ultimate Ice within Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao had brought things to a turning point, allowing him to reach Ultimate Fire.
Mu Han, too, had once transformed ice into fire, but that hadn't been a case of things reaching their worst and turning around.
It had been due to the Vermilion Clear Ice Toad's dual ice and fire attributes.
Still, Mu Han had already begun to comprehend this power back then.
Now, he had also obtained the artifact-grade Heart of the Ice God.
As he refined it, Mu Han had tried to transform the power of Ultimate Ice directly into Ultimate Fire.
His spiritual power had undergone a qualitative transformation as well, changing directly from Spirit Consciousness to Divine Consciousness.
In fact, Ultimate Fire alone would not have been enough to bring about a qualitative transformation in his spiritual power.
The turning point was the key!
Possessing both fire and corrosive attributes didn't mean that the two attributes had fused into one.
In the past, the two attributes in Mu Han's spiritual power had been roughly evenly matched.
His spiritual power had originally been fire-aligned,
but he had fused with a head soul bone from an Evil Eye Tyrant that was primarily corrosive and secondarily fire-aligned.
That was why the two attributes had been evenly matched at the time.
Now Mu Han's spiritual power had evolved from Spirit Consciousness into Divine Consciousness.
The two attributes in his spiritual power had also fused into one.
Besides, poisonous fire and fire poison were different things.
Fire poison meant a poison with a fire attribute, such as the fire poison of the Vermilion Clear Ice Toad.
The Infernal Delicate Apricot also contained potent fire poison.
Poisonous fire, on the other hand, was fire that carried poison.
That was what Mu Han's spiritual power had become: flames laced with poison.
And the poison was of the corrosive kind!
No one knew how long the tranquil feeling lasted. When he gradually regained consciousness, his body seemed to have turned transparent.
The Soul Power in his dantian swirled in cycles, forming a vortex.
The Soul Power within the vortex had completely turned to liquid, rotating quietly in place.
All the energy in his body seemed to have fallen into an orderly rhythm.
He had actually condensed a Soul Power Vortex?
Of course he knew what this was. It was standard for a Seven-Ring Soul Sage.
In fact, the Fatui could mass-produce Seven-Ring Soul Sages because they had found a way to create Soul Cores quickly.
Once a first Soul Spirit reached the thousand-year level, it could provide the first three Soul Rings.
The second Soul Spirit, meanwhile, was one's life-bound Soul Spirit.
When the second Soul Spirit reached the ten-thousand-year level, it would naturally condense a Soul Core.
That Soul Core could then be used by a Soul Master, allowing them to reach the Seven-Ring Soul Sage realm in a short time.
But Mu Han hadn't used that method.
He had chosen to cultivate normally.
With normal cultivation, most people didn't begin trying to condense one until reaching level sixty-nine.
A very few prodigies could condense one earlier, but for most, it still happened after level sixty.
Yun Ming, the Heaven-Propping Douluo and the strongest person on Douluo Planet, had only managed it at level fifty-nine.
The protagonist Tang Wulin from the original story had also only managed it at level fifty-three.
But Mu Han was only level fifty. He hadn't even obtained his fifth Soul Ring yet; he was just a mere Four-Ring Soul Ancestor.
This meant that his Soul Power was compressed far more densely than an ordinary person's,
and that his understanding of his own Soul Power was just as exceptional.
Next, all Mu Han had to do was add a second Soul Spirit, and he could reach level sixty or even seventy in a short time.
That was the advantage a Soul Power Vortex could bring.
However, Mu Han knew that his Soul Power Vortex had been obtained through a shortcut.
Other people's Soul Power Vortices were the embryonic forms of Soul Cores.
Mu Han's Soul Power Vortex, on the other hand, was a "relic" of a Soul Core.
Before the turning point, the Heart of the Ice God had already counted as his Soul Core.
It had merely disappeared after the turning point.
In the end, the powers of ice and fire had fused, forming the power of wind.
This wasn't the Wind Eye Soul Skill produced by removing water, fire, and earth from the four elements.
It was the true power of wind, condensed by the temperature difference between ice and fire.
Generally speaking, the attribute of a Soul Power Vortex depended on the attribute of one's Soul Power.
Whatever attribute one's Soul Power had, the Soul Power Vortex would have as well.
But in Mu Han's case, it was the other way around. Since his Soul Power Vortex was wind-aligned, his Soul Power had also become wind-aligned.
That had also led Mu Han to discover a new path.
He couldn't be certain yet, but he had already found some inspiration.
As it happened, he was at Shrek Academy now.
Most of the Six-Ring Soul Emperors at Shrek Academy had already condensed Soul Power Vortices.
When Mu Han proposed recruiting some volunteers, they all agreed.
After all, it was a great opportunity to get closer to Mu Han.
And there was no need to fear danger.
With the Holy Spirit Douluo at Shrek Academy, even if someone suffered backlash, they wouldn't die unless they blew themselves up directly.
With the help of so many volunteers, Mu Han quickly proved his theory.
Use one's own Soul Power Vortex as a furnace to fuse and refine external objects, strengthening one's own Soul Power.
External objects usually meant rare natural treasures.
Normally, absorbing rare natural treasures did no more than strengthen oneself or one's Martial Soul.
But according to Mu Han's theory, refining rare natural treasures with a Soul Power Vortex could also improve the attribute of one's Soul Power.
Put simply, one had to fuse other substances into one's Soul Power, transforming one's own spiritual power in the process.
However, only a Soul Power Vortex could incorporate the essence of external objects into Soul Power.
Otherwise, using them normally would be no different from consuming them.
The reason no one had discovered this over all these years
was that they hadn't had the time.
Anyone who could condense a Soul Power Vortex would cultivate at a breakneck pace.
They would hurry to condense a Soul Core and then advance to the Seven-Ring Soul Sage realm.
Under normal circumstances, who would spend time studying all these fancy tricks?
Only someone in Mu Han's unusual position could discover this by chance.
And only Mu Han would bother researching it.
Before you continue