Outside, Ye Ling remained sitting cross-legged and motionless. Her face paled one moment and flushed slightly the next, her breathing shallow and fluctuating.
Forcing herself to endure the inhuman agony of soul tempering throughout the entire process, she silently underwent a bone-deep transformation of her soul.
After an unknown amount of time, the needle-like pricking and the unbearable itch deep within her sea of consciousness slowly faded away.
Her mind instantly returned to a state of peace. The first layer of the 《Soul-Tempering Spiritual Art》 had been mastered.
Ye Ling raised her hand to wipe away the cold sweat from her forehead and exhaled a long breath of turbid air.
As the torment of the soul tempering gradually receded, an unprecedented sense of clarity spread from the depths of her heart to her entire body.
She instinctively spread out her Divine Sense to examine her surroundings. Previously, the limit of her Divine Sense was only two hundred and fifty meters, but now it had expanded directly to three hundred meters.
Ordinary cultivators who reached the peak Xiantian Realm could barely manage a Divine Sense range of three hundred meters. Yet, she was only in the mid-stage Xiantian Realm, and she had already caught up to the soul foundation of a peak Xiantian Realm cultivator.
At this moment, Ye Ling felt her senses become exceptionally sharp, with every minute movement in her surroundings clearly entering her perception.
The rustling of grass blades trembling in the gentle breeze dozens of meters away, the tiny scuttling of insects crawling between the crevices of distant rocks...
Even the faint, rhythmic breathing of the Giant-Horned Demon Goat resting in its lair was incredibly clear.
In the past, using her Divine Sense for too long would make her mentally exhausted and her head feel heavy.
Now, with her soul condensed and solid, even when she released her Divine Sense for a wide-range sweep, her sea of consciousness felt light and stable, without the slightest hint of exhaustion or sluggishness.
From the inside out, Ye Ling exuded a sense of refreshing clarity and tranquility.
She decided to strike while the iron was hot, immediately retrieving the Sorrow-Clearing Spiritual Herb from its jade box.
This spiritual herb was originally the core ingredient for refining Soul-Tempering Pills. The safest approach would be to wait until she left the secret realm and hand it over to Peak Master Wen to refine into a pill before consuming it.
However, the Qingyun Grand Tournament was just around the corner. Finding someone to refine the pill for her would take too much time, so she could only consume it raw now.
With that thought, she immediately circulated the newly mastered 《Soul-Tempering Spiritual Art》 and directly guided her spiritual energy to wrap around the entire Sorrow-Clearing Spiritual Herb.
She liquefied the spiritual herb and drank it, swallowing all its medicinal power into her stomach.
In the next instant, a majestic, surging, and incredibly pure medicinal power for the soul rushed straight into her sea of consciousness, instantly filling her entire mind.
This medicinal power was several times more violent than simply practicing the cultivation method, and the pain it brought far exceeded the suffering of breaking through to the first layer.
An excruciating pain, like thousands of steel needles piercing her soul, swept through her mind. Her sea of consciousness felt as if it would be torn apart by the immense medicinal power.
Ye Ling gritted her teeth, enduring the tearing pain of her soul, and steadily circulated the pathways of the cultivation method without the slightest panic.
Using her exceptionally strong mental fortitude, she guided the medicinal power to repeatedly wash over and polish the origin of her soul, gradually turning the violent power into nourishment for her sea of consciousness.
After an unknown amount of torment, the churning and turbulent medicinal power in her sea of consciousness finally settled and dissolved completely.
A look of joy surfaced on Ye Ling's face as she clearly sensed that the second layer of the 《Soul-Tempering Spiritual Art》 was complete!
She immediately released her Divine Sense to examine the changes in her soul. Her original three-hundred-meter range had expanded once again, extending to three hundred and fifty meters.
With her mid-stage Xiantian Realm cultivation, her Divine Sense range had far surpassed cultivators of the same rank. Even among ordinary peak Xiantian Realm cultivators, the vast majority could not reach this level.
At this moment, her five senses were sharp to the extreme. Not a single subtle movement within the valley could escape her perception.
After testing her Divine Sense, Ye Ling calmed her mind. It would be difficult to improve her soul further in the short term; now was the time to focus on raising her cultivation realm.
She then took out over a dozen warm, translucent mid-grade spirit stones from her storage bag.
Pinching one in her palm, she circulated her Qi-drawing mantra and began to absorb the spiritual energy.
In an instant, a pure, majestic stream of spiritual energy, completely free of impurities, surged along the meridians of her fingertips and into her dantian, circulating endlessly through her bodily meridians.
“So this is a mid-grade spirit stone?”
“The spiritual energy is indeed incredibly pure, far beyond what low-grade spirit stones can compare to.”
Ye Ling could not help but marvel inwardly. She then cleared her mind of distracting thoughts, settling down to refine the spiritual energy of the spirit stones with all her might.
For a time, the surrounding spiritual energy instantly gathered around her.
During her previous life-and-death battle with the demon goat, she had been severely injured, with damage to her internal organs and meridians everywhere.
It took Ye Ling a full month, relying on pills, the True Dragon Unfettered Art, and the continuous nourishment of spirit stones, to fully recover from her injuries.
During this month of uninterrupted bitter cultivation, supported by a large supply of mid-grade spirit stones, her cultivation steadily climbed, leaving her just one final step away from the late-stage Xiantian Realm.
Counting the days, there was less than a month left before the start of the Qingyun Grand Tournament.
Ye Ling felt completely confident, certain that she would successfully break through to the late-stage Xiantian Realm before leaving the Bailing Secret Realm.
When that time came, she would use the Spirit-Converging Green Grass to make a push for the Xiantian Realm Great Perfection in one go.
Now that her injuries were fully healed, and both her soul and cultivation had been polished, it was time to get down to business.
Ye Ling stood up and walked toward the lair deep within the valley where the Giant-Horned Demon Goat resided.
At this moment, the Giant-Horned Demon Goat was lying on the ground resting. Atop the stumps where its horns had been sheared off, only a short, tender layer of horn had grown.
The regeneration speed was extremely slow; it would be impossible for it to recover its former combat strength in the short term.
Seeing Ye Ling approach, after a month of calming down, the unwillingness and grievance in the Giant-Horned Demon Goat's heart had already faded significantly.
It looked up and spoke calmly, “Human, we have been together for a month, yet I still do not know your name.”
Ye Ling was slightly taken aback, then replied, “My name is Ye Ling.”
The Giant-Horned Demon Goat repeated it in a low voice, committing it to memory, and shook its thick hooves.
“I have noted it. Why have you come to find me today?”
Ye Ling turned around, her gaze drifting toward the continuous mountain forests outside the valley, and asked sincerely.
“Senior Demon Goat, I would like to ask: in the upper levels of the second region, which other Tongxuan Realm demon beasts have spiritual herbs growing in their territories?”
The Giant-Horned Demon Goat instantly saw through her intentions, its narrow pupils contracting slightly.
“Are you planning to seek out other Tongxuan demon beasts and seize the spiritual herbs they guard as well?”
Ye Ling slowly turned her head and nodded gently, making no effort to hide her plans.
The Giant-Horned Demon Goat let out a low chuckle and advised, “I suggest you dismiss the idea of searching for spiritual herbs everywhere as soon as possible.”
Ye Ling was slightly stunned by its words and asked in confusion, “What do you mean, Senior?”
The Giant-Horned Demon Goat's expression grew serious as it explained slowly.
“For us demon beasts, any spiritual herb that is suitable for our own cultivation will be refined and absorbed immediately once it matures.”
“Those like me, who specifically preserve a Sorrow-Clearing Spiritual Herb to use when breaking through to a new realm, are extremely rare.”
“As far as I know, in the upper levels of the second region, there are very few demon beasts guarding rare spiritual herbs to begin with.”
“Even if there were, they would have devoured them long ago when the herbs matured.”
Ye Ling nodded to herself, agreeing with this reasoning.
If it were her, if she had a spiritual medicine suitable for her own cultivation, she would never leave it sitting around for a long time to invite the covetous eyes of others.
Spiritual medicines were also divided into categories: some were only suitable for human cultivators, some were specifically for nourishing demon beasts, though the vast majority of spiritual herbs could be refined and consumed by both humans and beasts alike.
Seeing that the path of seizing spiritual herbs was a dead end, Ye Ling quickly shifted her thoughts, formulating a new plan in her mind.
She immediately pressed further, “Senior Demon Goat, then do you know which powerful demon beasts reside in the upper levels of the second region?”
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