Chapter 1726: Self-detonation and the Golden Disc
Breaking the bottleneck to the Body Integration Stage required far more power than the normal person could imagine. The golden droplets seemed to have also sensed that a major breakthrough was being attempted, and it converged to form a golden body that enveloped the second Nascent Soul again.
Enormous amounts of energy surged out of the Nascent Soul's body, and even the golden body couldn't withstand such immense energy output as it crumbled away again.
The last attempt that had been made was nowhere near enough for the second Nascent Soul to make a breakthrough to the Body Integration Stage, so it had no choice but to accumulate energy anew after the golden body vanished.
Following the golden body's disintegration, it reformed once again amid a flash of purplish-golden light.
This process was repeated seven or eight times, and every breakthrough attempt that the second Nascent Soul made was enough to expend all of the mysterious energy it had accumulated. However, at the same time, due to the sheer enormity of the power output, the golden body that was manifested each time was easily broken, only to be rapidly manifested once again at the second Nascent Soul's behest.
Every time the golden body took shape again, even more tremendous energy was accumulated than last time. However, the Body Integration Stage bottleneck was far more powerful than anticipated, and even after so many surges of energy, it was only just beginning to budge slightly.
The second Nascent Soul was clearly still nowhere near able to make this breakthrough, and Han Li's heart sank further and further.
At this point, he had also reached the pinnacle of the late-Spatial Tempering Stage, and the cool energy was beginning to force its way through his meridians, resulting in a slightly swollen feeling.
Han Li was extremely alarmed by this mounting development, but due to the agony that he was currently being afflicted by, he was only able to just barely hold onto a shred of consciousness, but he was unable to make any hand seals or summon any treasures.
As such, despite his vast array of powerful abilities and treasures, he was unable to use any of that to his advantage.
Meanwhile, the golden vortex continued to expel the white pillar of light, which wasn't abating in power in the slightest.
Han Li could sense the mysterious energy rapidly mounting within his meridians, and his face became deathly pale.
He knew that no matter how powerful his body was, there was no way it could compare with the might of his golden body projection. Even the golden body was being easily destroyed by the surges of energy during the second Nascent Soul's breakthrough attempts; there was no way that his body would be able to withstand this power.
The energy within the pillar of light was indeed extremely potent, but it was also far too aggressive and overbearing. This sense of complete and utter powerlessness was something that Han Li had virtually never experienced during his cultivation journey, and even with his strong mental fortitude, he was beginning to panic.
After a short while, it was as if a layer of golden powder had been applied to Han Li's body. Not only was he shimmering with golden light, the golden scales over his skin had also swelled significantly in size and begun to intertwine to form a faint golden suit of scale armor.
Even though it was extremely thin, from a distance, it appeared as if Han Li had donned a suit of complete golden armor.
This was none other than Provenance Amor, which was the bonded armor that would appear once one cultivated the Provenance True Devil Arts to an extremely high level.
The suit of bonded armor currently didn't possess any powerful abilities, and its defensive prowess was less than one-thousandths of the Heavenly Devilish Armor, but this type of bonded armor had boundless potential. It could develop as its wearer's cultivation base improved, and due to the fact that it was something that was bonded to the wearer, it was far more versatile than a normal suit of armor.
Of course, this Provenance Armor wasn't something that a Spatial Tempering Stage being was supposed to be able to attain. Instead, it was a powerful ability that was only supposed to manifest itself after one reached the Body Integration Stage while cultivating the Provenance True Devil Arts.
Han Li was only able to manifest an incomplete version of this ability in advance due to the overflow effect from the vast influx of energy.
Even though this bonded armor certainly couldn't be considered to be very powerful, the earlier he attained it, the more latent potential it would possess, and he could use his own true essence to refine it.
This was something that would've made Han Li ecstatic under normal circumstances, but in this current situation, he barely even took a glance at it.
His attention was currently entirely focused on trying to think of a plausible method to save himself before he exploded like an overinflated balloon.
In his desperation, Han Li really did think of a way to save himself.
If he could self-detonate in the instant before his body exploded, he could draw upon the power released by his self-detonation to help his Nascent Soul escape.
Even though Han Li was unable to summon any treasure or use any abilities at the moment, his body was like a ticking time bomb, and it wouldn't be a difficult task to detonate it slightly earlier than it otherwise would.
Even though both scenarios would conclude in self-detonation, the connotations were completely different.
If he were forced to self-detonate by that mysterious energy, he wouldn't be able to control the explosion at all, and it was most likely the case that his Nascent Soul would be swept up and destroyed.
However, if he were to undergo a controlled self-detonation, he would be able to control the power and range of the explosion to a certain extent, thereby buying his Nascent Soul the opportunity to escape intact.
Of course, this was only a last resort method that he would refrain from using until he absolutely had to. After all, a Nascent Soul without a body was virtually nothing more than a sitting duck that was at everyone's mercy.
Thankfully, he had the spirit body of the immortal zoysia in his storage bracelet, and if he really were forced to self-detonate, then the only course of action available to him would be to forcibly possess that spirit body.
It was unknown whether this course of action would truly allow him to escape alive, but there were no alternatives for him.
As for his second Nascent Soul, it would be up to the heavens to decide whether it survived or not. He wasn't even sure if he could save himself, so he naturally didn't have any spare capacity to worry about the second Nascent Soul's safety.
Han Li heaved an internal resigned sigh, and he was regretting his reckless actions. If he had refrained from acting in such a rash manner, he wouldn't be in this desperate situation.
After a short while, bursts of sharp pain began to spear through all of his meridians, and he felt as if they were about to be torn apart at any moment.
His expression changed several times in succession, and he took a deep breath before beginning to activate what little remaining spiritual sense he had.
His meridians had already been filled to the absolute brim by pure spiritual power, and it only took the slightest stimulus for it to begin churning violently.
Golden light flashed erratically from his body, and the Provenance Armor that had just taken shape began to warp slightly. There were even white cracks that had begun to appear on its surface, and a wry smile appeared on Han Li's face.
He cast his gaze toward his second Nascent Soul, which was situated within the pillar of light in the distance, and he strengthened his own resolve before preparing to detonate all of the magic power within his body.
In doing so, he was essentially going to be tossing a spark into a bubbling pot of oil, and his body would instantly explode.
However, right at this moment, a startling turn of events suddenly unfolded.
One of Han Li's arms suddenly became extremely hot, as if it had been enveloped by scorching flames.
His heart immediately jolted in response to this sudden development, and his spiritual sense faltered as he hurriedly cast his gaze toward that arm.
As a result, he was stunned to see that a faint glowing yellow insignia had appeared on his forearm.
His heart immediately stirred as he identified what this was; it was none other than the Profound Heavenly Fruit that had been sealed within his arm!
Before he had a chance to think of anything else, the yellow insignia suddenly began to flash and warp. The mysterious energy and pure spiritual power within his body immediately surged toward the insignia from his meridians in a frenzy as if they had found an outlet.
The insignia was like a bottomless pit that didn't display any reaction aside from flashing slightly even after devouring such an astonishing amount of spiritual power.
Moments later, close to half of the mysterious energy within his body was devoured, and the life-threatening peril he had been placed under was easily alleviated.
He was naturally ecstatic to see this, and in the next instant, an even more astonishing turn of events unfolded.
The yellow insignia suddenly flashed one final time before a yellow wooden rod appeared on the surface of his arm. It was none other than the Profound Heavenly Fruit. The fruit seemed to be extremely excited, and it only flashed violently a few times before all of the spiritual power and mysterious energy within Han Li's body was completely sucked dry.
The Profound Heavenly Fruit then released an astonishing aura before gently swaying a few times toward the direction of the golden vortex in the sky. Immediately thereafter, green light flashed from one end of the fruit, and a blade that was around a foot in length suddenly emerged from that end of the fruit.
The blade was as smooth as a mirror, but there was a string of green runes inscribed on its center, all of which were flashing with a cold light.
This was none other than the Profound Heavenly Sword!
There was no need for Han Li to issue any instructions to the sword before it ascertained the biggest threat in this place, and it abruptly pointed its sharp blade at the golden vortex in the sky before a clear ringing sound erupted into the heavens.
Immediately thereafter, spiritual light flashed, and countless dark green runes suddenly appeared on the surface of the sword blade. The sword then tremored slightly a few times, and the nearby world's origin Qi surged violently. Countless wisps of five-colored light suddenly appeared out of thin air before surging toward the Profound Heavenly Sword in a frenzy.
The sword immediately began to glow with scintillating light, the clear ringing sound also became around twice as loud as before as it unleashed a slash toward the golden vortex up above.
An azure sword projection appeared, and it was as scintillating at a bolt of heavenly lightning. In the next instant, it reached the golden vortex before unleashing a diagonal slash.
A resounding boom rang out, and the white pillar of light was sliced in half. A burst of power of laws that seemed capable of destroying heaven and earth erupted from the sword projection before inundating the golden vortex.
A loud ringing sound immediately rang out from the vortex, following which light flashed, and it transformed into a golden disc that was around an acre in size.
The massive golden disc had the exact same image inscribed upon it as the starry sky diagram on the platform, and at the same time, there were countless five-colored runes hovering around it.
One pillar of white light after another was being expelled by the golden disc in a frenzy as it desperately attempted to resist the power of laws imbued within the sword projection.
This was clearly an extraordinary spatial treasure even in the True Immortal Realm, and its value most likely exceeded that of even the average Profound Heavenly Treasure, but its forte clearly didn't lie in its offensive power, so how could it possibly withstand an attack that was imbued with the power of laws of an entire realm?
Within mere moments, all of the white pillars of light were completely destroyed by the power of laws, and the surrounding space warped as the azure sword projection struck the golden disc.