Chapter 535 - 344: Targeted

Chapter 535: Chapter 344: Targeted

The massive Five-Colored Coral King paused for a moment.

Then, it let out a pained roar.

Countless cracks bloomed across its densely branched body.

From within the cracks, a brilliant golden light burst forth.

SWISH~

In a flash of light, Fei Lin sheathed her longsword and returned to Han Ning’s side.

BOOM~

The Five-Colored Coral King’s body exploded, turning into motes of light before vanishing.

Even without the aid of Spiritual Power, Fei Lin was still a Soul Beast nearing the Upper Monarch (Monarch III) Level.

The massive Coral King it faced was only around Monarch II in strength and was hardly a match for Fei Lin.

Without needing to switch Soul Beasts, Han Ning followed the rules Oli had set and swiftly swept all three opponents to pass her trial.

However... this time, although his name made it onto the board, he didn’t break the completion record.

This made some of the Trialists who had been watching Han Ning secretly breathe a small sigh of relief.

If he really managed to plow through all 50 palace floors like a hot knife through butter, they, the pure-blooded Deep Sea Race, would have no face left to show.

At this moment, Han Ning was still unaware of the special measures the Secret Realm Manipulator was taking to restrain him.

It wasn’t until he had passed through another five trials that he gradually sensed something was wrong.

Starting from the 23rd palace, the Guardians’ requirements became more and more bizarre.

Now, in the 29th palace, he was only allowed to send out a single Soul Beast and was forbidden from using any Spiritual Secret Techniques.

His opponent, however, could send out a full six Soul Beasts comparable to the Upper Monarch Level.

If the difficulty was truly this high for everyone, that would be one thing. But according to Han Ning’s observations, there were a total of 40 Trialists on the list of those who had reached the 30th trial.

Yet, based on the information he had initially gotten from Bobo Man and Lin Ke, the number of Trialists capable of fighting six Monarchs in a row with a single Soul Beast should not exceed 30.

And this was only the 29th palace. The difficulty would continue to increase after the 30th. Would there really be that many people who could pass the trials?

Thinking of this, Han Ning didn’t rush to continue the trials. Instead, he chose to stay in the great hall and rest for a while.

He planned to wait for Irena to catch up and then ask her about the situation.

Because he had been instantly killing the Guardians with his Profound Moon-quality Spiritual Power, his rate of progress was nearly twice as fast as Irena’s.

When he was in the 29th palace, Irena had just barely reached the 16th floor.

The great hall was vast and empty, with some precious Spiritual Herbs placed around to replenish Spiritual Power and the Spiritual Energy of Soul Beasts, preventing Trialists from becoming too depleted from the intense battles.

Han Ning summoned all of his Soul Beasts. With a thought, his Spiritual Body separated from his physical one and floated in mid-air.

The moment his Spiritual Power appeared, Starlight automatically condensed around him, forming an invisible barrier that repelled all sorts of external negative Spiritual Energy.

’While I’m resting, I’ll start the first step of refining and constructing the Starlight Treasure Body.’

Han Ning manipulated his Spiritual Power to retrieve a series of precious materials from the valuable Storage Pouch at his waist.

Some of these materials were obtained from the Dragon Palace Hall, while others were a personal gift from Bobo Man. They were all rare enough to be more than sufficient for him to construct his Spiritual Treasure Body.

According to the description in the Four Symbols Meditation Technique, constructing the initial Treasure Body was divided into three steps.

One: Refine the Spiritual Body, further enhancing the Elemental Affinity within it until it’s almost a half-Spiritual, half-Elemental Body.

Two: Construct a corresponding Spiritual Model on the surface of the body. This was very similar to a Divine Will Model, but the model for constructing a Treasure Body was countless times more complex than the former.

Three: Once the second step is complete, the Spiritual Treasure Body is considered initially formed. When it re-enters the physical body, a slight discord will form between the powerful Spiritual Body and the physical one. It’s necessary to strengthen the physique to gradually bring the spirit and body into harmonious unity.

Han Ning used his Spiritual Power to levitate a rugged, palm-sized, polygonal ore.

"Egg Pancake, shoot your flames at it," he said to Egg Pancake, who was lying to the side and watching him intently.

"Jiji!"

Egg Pancake excitedly raised its head and, following its master’s instructions, spat a crimson Flame at the silver ore.

This was an ore called Star Core Essence. It contained abundant Power of Stars and could only be found deep within the core of a newly formed star. Its value was extremely high, almost comparable to an Emperor’s Treasure. If not for the treasures from Bobo Man and the Dragon Palace Hall, he had no idea when he would have ever been able to gather a treasure of this caliber.

WHOOSH~

The Flame Egg Pancake spat out was extremely hot. Before long, the silver ore disappeared, replaced by a ball of molten metal shimmering with a gold and silver luster.

The Flame died down. With a casual wave from Han Ning, the molten metal flew before his "mouth."

"Jiji!"

Egg Pancake felt the scorching heat radiating from the liquid and looked at Han Ning in astonishment.

’Master... Is he giving up on life?!’

"Do you want to get stronger? If you do, then swallow this liquid." Han Ning smiled at his spectating Soul Beasts and enveloped the fiery liquid with his Spiritual Body.

’But... looking at this nearly boiling liquid, the path to becoming stronger might come with a few... twists and turns...’

’A Spiritual Body’s "nerves" aren’t very effective at transmitting pain, so the fusion process shouldn’t be too agonizing.’

’It shouldn’t... right?’

Han Ning guessed inwardly.

The moment the liquid touched his Spiritual Body, with a WHOOSH, it turned into fine streams. Like meridians, they became thin filaments that spread throughout his entire body.

TSSSSS~

Not long after swallowing the molten metal, a pearlescent white luster immediately began to emanate from Han Ning’s body, from the inside out.

Wisps of ethereal white smoke rose from every part of his body.