Chapter 79: Shattering Space
In the dark night sky, the stars were looking strangely dim, with the exception of the ring-shaped Big Dipper, which was glowing radiantly like a purplish-silver sun.
All of a sudden, the enormous pillar of purplish-silver light that it was projecting downward vanished without any warning.
A burst of rumbling rang out, and the spherical light barrier that encompassed the entire mountain exploded violently, scattering into countless specks of silver light that danced through the air like a sparkle of fireflies.
From afar, it looked as if a beautiful galaxy of stars were descending into this world.
However, this glorious scenery didn't linger for very long before the silver specks of light abruptly converged rapidly toward the peak of the snowy mountain as if they had been summoned there, then vanished into the body of a young man, whose entire body was radiating bright silver light.
The young man was none other than Han Li, and even though waves upon waves of silver light were surging into his body in a frenzy, he remained completely still with his eyes tightly shut.
After an indeterminate period of time, his eyelashes fluttered slightly, and his eyes abruptly sprang open. Blue light was flashing within his eyes, which were incredibly clear and reflecting all of the stars in the sky like a pair of mirrors.
In the next instant, he let loose a low cry, and a cloud of glowing silver mist surged out of his mouth, then gradually faded into the night.
Seven specks of blue light were glowing radiantly from his chest and his abdomen.
He had finally manifested the seventh profound aperture!
The silver light radiating from his body was also gradually fading, but a thin, semi-transparent film was taking shape over his skin, and there were wisps of silver light flowing incessantly over the surface of the thin film.
"This is a True Extreme Membrane, the sign of a True Extreme Body! As expected, full mastery of the Big Dipper Origin Arts really does instantly result in the attainment of a True Extreme Body!"
Han Li was ecstatic as he raised his arm to examine the thin film that enveloped his entire body. He discovered that the film required no magic power expenditure to maintain, and that it was slightly cold to the touch. In addition to that, it didn't feel foreign at all, as if it were a part of his body.
With a single thought, he was able to compress the film so that it adhered to his skin, then vanished into his body after a flash of starry light.
He then summoned the film again, and it instantly appeared over his body at his behest.
After experimenting with this sequence a few times, Han Li's elation only continued to grow. Not only was he honing his mastery over the True Extreme Membrane, he also discovered during the process that his spiritual sense had made a full recovery.
In terms of spiritual sense alone, he was already far ahead of the average True Immortal, and that was undoubtedly a piece of fantastic news for Han Li, who was about to return to the Immortal Realm.
Only at this point did the phenomena taking place in the area gradually subside, and even the erupting volcano slowly settled down again.
However, it was going to take some more time before the fire sweeping through the forest burned itself out.
Hundreds of kilometers away, all of the vagrant cultivators hovering in mid-air were looking up with awe-struck expressions, at a complete loss for what to do.
The white-robed young man's back was already drenched in cold sweat, and he murmured in a bewildered voice, "Is... Is it over?"
"Perhaps..." the thin elderly man replied with a rather hesitant expression.
Standing atop the snowy mountain, there was no hint of elation on Han Li's face. Instead, he wore a rather solemn expression, as if he were preparing for an ordeal.
Only he knew that the true test had only just begun.
In the instant that he had attained a True Extreme Body, the rejection from this realm had already begun to act upon him, applying immense pressure to try and banish him from this realm.
At this moment, he felt as if even the air circulation around him had become extremely sluggish, and even his breathing was slightly hampered, as if he had fallen into a swamp.
This force of rejection wasn't unfamiliar to him. Back when he was ascending to the Immortal Realm in the Spirit Realm, he had briefly felt the same thing, but at the time, he was too busy dealing with the lightning tribulation to bask in the sensation.
He took a deep breath as he made a hand seal, then began to chant an incantation.
A faint buzzing sound rang out as dozens of bursts of light appeared around him in unison. Bursts of rich spiritual power surged out of the spirit stones embedded into the tops of the surrounding stone pillars, then flowed into the array along the patterns on the pillars.
The runes that were engraved onto the ground and the stone pillars instantly lit up, quickly forming an extremely intricate and complex array that was glowing with silver radiance.
This array was known as the Spatial Spirit Pattern Array, and it was a spatial array that he had found in an ancient array tome in the Origin Realm Temple's scripture library.
Even though the array wasn't capable of directly shattering space, it could clear away part of the spatial resistance that he was going to encounter, and that was going to be very helpful to him.
Dozens of pillars of silver light erupted into the heavens from the snowy mountain in unison, piercing straight into the dark clouds up above.
In the instant that the pillars of light erupted into the dark clouds, they instantly transformed into a giant vortex that revolved rapidly around the pillars of light, and the surrounding wind and snow were also swept up into a frenzy.
Thick bolts of lightning began to twist and churn incessantly around the pillars of light like a series of dark blue wyrms while releasing bursts of dull rumbling.
The vagrant cultivators who were watching from afar were greatly alarmed to see this, and they immediately retreated even further away for fear of any further perilous phenomena arising from the scene that they were witnessing. This time, they retreated all the way back to close to 1,000 kilometers away, and only then did they draw to a halt.
Right at this moment, Han Li stood up within the array, then released dozens of streaks of black light out of his sleeve with a flick of his wrist. This was a batch of close to 100 Starmoon Mirrors, and all of them flew toward the surrounding pillars of light.
These Starmoon Mirrors possessed spatial power, and in order to refine them, not only had he exhausted the Heavenly Ghost Sect's entire supply of Yin Dawn Stones, he had even used up all of the Yin Dawn Stones that he had acquired from Tong Ren'e's storage bag.
Upon flying into the pillars of light, the Starmoon Mirrors rose directly upward before vanishing into the dark clouds.
Han Li made a string of hand seals while chanting an incantation, and all of a sudden, blue light flashed within his eyes as he let loose an explosive cry.
A string of earth-shattering booms instantly rang out in rapid succession, and boundless silver starlight exploded in the heavens, forming a silver screen of light that opened up a vast area of silver radiance within the vortex of dark clouds.
Right at this moment, Han Li's entire body began to glow, and he sprang up into the air, flying directly upward toward that glowing silver area.
Inside the vortex was a vast expanse of chaos, and gray mist filled the entire area. Thousands of gray spatial rifts of different shapes and lengths were scattered haphazardly throughout the glowing silver area, presenting an extremely unstable sight to behold.
Han Li swept his gaze over the area to find that small blades of gray light would occasionally fly out of these spatial rifts.
As soon as the surrounding dark clouds came into contact with these blades of light, they would be instantly shredded, and even a bolt of lightning that was struck by one of the blades of light was instantly sliced into two.
As more and more of these blades of gray light appeared, the glowing silver area that had been opened up by boundless starlight was also being eroded, and it was shrinking rapidly at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
The dark clouds were beginning to swallow up the vast expanse of silver radiance, and Han Li didn't hesitate any longer upon seeing this. He immediately let loose a low roar, and dazzling golden light erupted from his body as he rapidly swelled in size, transforming into a giant golden ape that was several hundred feet tall in the blink of an eye.
The giant ape took a deep breath, and a gash appeared on its glabella, out of which a cloud of black qi surged forth, and an inky-black eye abruptly appeared.
Black light flashed deep within the pupil of the eye, and a thin thread of black light was released.
As soon as the thread of black light emerged, it immediately transformed into a thick pillar of black light, which vanished into thin air in a flash.
However, in the next instant, a burst of rumbling suddenly rang out from deep within the vortex of dark clouds.
Immediately thereafter, the entire sky suddenly fell still. It was as if this entire space had been frozen in time, and even the swirling dark clouds and the surrounding wind and snow had become completely stationary.
Deep within the vortex, an indistinct wall of gray light that was around 100 feet in size and extremely irregular in shape emerged within the dark clouds.
Blue light flashed within the giant ape's eyes, and it raised its arms, upon which two bursts of dazzling silver light appeared on its enormous fists. A pair of gauntlets that were tipped with a series of white bone spikes emerged, enveloping both of its fists.
The giant ape then let loose a thunderous roar before drawing upon its reserves of magic power, and countless threads of golden light instantly emerged from its body before flowing into the silver gauntlets along its arms.
The gauntlets instantly began to glow with bright silver light, and they expanded to around twice their original size.
At the same time, seven radiant balls of blue light appeared on the giant ape's chest and abdomen, and the muscles all over its entire body bulged even further, while its arms abruptly thickened considerably.
Immediately thereafter, it raised a fist before throwing a vicious punch at the gray wall of light.
A burst of silver light erupted out of its fist, then rapidly expanded as it surged through the air, transforming into a projection of a silver wyrm's head that was around the size of a house before plunging deep into the vortex.
A resounding boom rang out, and the entire sky trembled violently. A string of loud cracks akin to the sound of a shattering mirror rang out from the gray wall of light deep within the vortex, and a series of cracks appeared at its center before quickly spreading over its entire surface.
Even so, the gray wall of light still didn't shatter. Instead, the glowing gray area that was being supported by starlight crumbled amid the violent tremors.
The dark clouds that had fallen still began to churn ferociously once again, and the countless gray spatial rifts gradually expanded as they converged toward the giant ape.
The giant ape immediately picked up the pace upon seeing this, rushing over to the gray wall of light after just a few flashes in a wraith-like manner.
It then drew upon its magic power once again, and golden light surged over its arms as a layer of golden scales emerged from beneath its fur. At the same time, its muscles quickly bulged even further, and the seven profound apertures on its chest and abdomen also began to glow brightly, as did its Heaven Piercing Gauntlets.
A silver dragon's head projection appeared on the gauntlet, and it was accompanied by a low draconic roar.
The giant golden ape let loose a thunderous roar as it slammed its fist into the gray wall of light, and a resounding boom rang out as the bone spikes on its right gauntlets instantly shattered upon impact, while the projection of the draconic head and the gauntlet itself exploded in unison.
A scintillating silver sun abruptly appeared in the night sky, releasing blinding light that engulfed virtually the entire wall of gray light.
Immediately thereafter, a crisp crack rang out, and an opening that was around 10 feet in length finally appeared on the wall of gray light, revealing a murky gray space beyond it.
At the same time, the rift released a burst of extraordinarily powerful spatial fluctuations, the ferocity of which Han Li had never felt before.
Golden light flashed over the giant ape's body as it quickly reverted back into its human form, then flew into the opening in a flash.
As soon as Han Li entered through the opening, the dozen or so spatial rifts and the dark clouds behind him devoured the wall of gray light.
Several seconds later, the silver pillars of light on the snowy mountain peak gradually faded, and the vortex of dark clouds in the sky also dissipated, while the spatial rifts that had been left behind slowly sealed over again.
The storm of wind and snow resumed, and aside from the howling of the wind, everything was peaceful and quiet again.
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