Gou's Liver Experience in the World of Demons and Demons

With a loud "bang," it exploded completely, shattering the soul and scattering the spirit!
"Uh... ah!"

A low, muffled groan escaped from between Gu Sheng's teeth.

He concentrated all his will, activating the power deep within his soul—a power more primal and profound than spiritual strength. The invisible power of his soul transformed into countless shackles and sturdy foundations, forcefully suppressing the edge of his consciousness, firmly imprisoning the ever-expanding boundary and preventing its continued expansion!

It was like forcibly building a dam on the banks of a raging river, constantly raising and reinforcing it, while withstanding wave after wave of the floodwaters. The pain stemmed from a tearing agony deep within his soul, overwhelming Gu Sheng's will like a tidal wave.

His face was as pale as paper, and his clothes were soaked with sweat, which dripped onto the floor, forming a small puddle.

At the same time, he also had to guide the ever-flowing, yet confined, spiritual energy within a fixed volume. Quantitative change leads to qualitative change, but this process requires guidance and compression. Within his sea of ​​consciousness, the silvery-white spiritual energy surged like a boiling ocean, violently surging, impacting, colliding, and squeezing against each other.

Under the guidance and high pressure of Gu Sheng's soul power, some forms of spiritual energy began to undergo subtle changes, gradually transforming from pure gaseous and liquid states towards a more condensed and solidified crystalline state. Nearly materialized spiritual energy continuously accumulated within the limited space of the sea of ​​consciousness, its density increasing and the pressure becoming increasingly terrifying.

Inside the Nine Dragons Universe Cauldron, in that tranquil space, Qin Ling'er, dressed in a red dress, slowly opened her beautiful eyes.

Her gaze seemed to penetrate the cauldron and see the perilous scene unfolding in Gu Sheng's mind.

"What a madman..."

Qin Ling'er murmured to herself, her clear, cold voice carrying a hint of barely perceptible complexity.

"Such violent compression and purification, forcibly transforming and sublimating a massive amount of sourceless spiritual power within the eighth-grade upper limit of the sea of ​​consciousness, could easily lead to the collapse of the sea of ​​consciousness, severe damage to the soul, and even becoming an idiot would be the least of one's worries."

Only he, having undergone the initial tempering through the fusion of his spiritual essence with that girl Tantai Xueli, and then having received a second refinement and stabilization from her sister who spared no effort to draw upon her innate spiritual fire essence, laying an incredible foundation, dared to attempt such a perilous method.

She recalled the scene where Tantai Xuefei, seemingly domineering and probing, was actually secretly helping Gu Sheng stabilize his spiritual essence.

The primordial power of that innate spiritual fire is one of the key guarantees that Gu Sheng is able to withstand this extreme cultivation method, coating his fragile sea of ​​consciousness with a tough "fireproof membrane".

"Although the sourceless spiritual power is good, without the groundwork laid by the previous two opportunities, it would have caused his sea of ​​consciousness to explode ten or eight times already."

Qin Ling'er gently shook her head, but her gaze did not leave.

"However, no pain, no gain... Once he gets through this ordeal, his mental strength will truly undergo a transformation. It's just that the process..."

She remained silent, simply watching as if witnessing a high-stakes gamble.

Time flowed slowly amidst the extreme pain. The faint light filtering through the window gradually transformed from the cool white of dawn into a bright golden hue, and then slowly tinged with the orange-red of twilight.

Two hours felt like centuries to Gu Sheng, who was enduring soul-crushing torment.

Finally, the white steam rising from his head gradually subsided, his damp hair began to dry, and his tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly. Within his sea of ​​consciousness, the turbulent, roaring silver "ocean" calmed down. It didn't disappear, but rather completed some crucial transformation.

The vast spiritual power was compressed to the extreme within the original sea of ​​consciousness. It was no longer a simple liquid, but rather presented a peculiar gel-like substance. Deep within the core, there were even tiny, diamond-like solid crystals floating and shimmering, emitting a stable, resilient, and powerful fluctuation.

The entire sea of ​​consciousness seemed to have been forcibly compressed from a vast lake into a piece of spiritual crystal with extremely high density. Although its volume did not increase, the energy and essence it contained were no longer comparable to what they were before.

The qualitative change has been largely completed.

Just then, Gu Sheng suddenly opened his eyes, which had been tightly closed!

"Om-!"

There was no dazzling light, no powerful aura emanating from him. But an invisible and intangible yet clearly present ripple of spiritual energy spread out from him silently yet with incredible speed!
This ripple of spiritual energy penetrated the walls of the room, ignoring the numerous protective restrictions within the Wanbao Hall, spreading in all directions like mercury spilling onto the ground.

In an instant, it enveloped an area of ​​a thousand miles around him! Within that thousand miles, the hustle and bustle of the market, the whispers of cultivators, the low growls of demonic beasts, the rustling of leaves in the wind, the crawling of insects and ants underground... countless complex and trivial pieces of information flooded in like a tidal wave.

But Gu Sheng's mind was unusually clear at this moment, like a sage looking down from the clouds. This information flowed through his consciousness without causing any disturbance. Instead, it made his insight into this area extremely detailed.

He "saw" Gu Yuanyuan, Qi Diaoyao, and Su Youwei still quietly cultivating in the next room; he "saw" the customers trading and the busy servants on each floor of the Wanbao Hall; he "saw" the endless stream of people on the streets of the imperial city, and even sensed the presence of some cultivators with concealed auras, some strong and some weak...

This sense of control is wonderful.

His spiritual power has officially entered the threshold of the ninth rank! Although it is only the initial stage, and it was obtained by means of compression, it still needs a long time to be polished and stabilized, but its total amount and purity, especially its keen insight into the surrounding environment, are far beyond what they used to be.

However, just as his mental energy ripples swept across a specific area on the top floor of the Wanbao Hall—

On the top floor, in a room filled with sophisticated instruments and shimmering runes, more like a weapon-refining workshop.

Tantai Mingjing stood intently in front of a blazing furnace, holding a strange metal plate that had just cooled and was shimmering with a dark purple light in one hand. With his other hand, his fingers were joined together like a pen, and his fingertips were filled with highly concentrated spiritual power and mental will. He was carefully inscribing an extremely complex miniature magic circle on the metal plate.

This is the core sensor component of her latest composite psionic puppet, and it cannot be lost.

Just as the magic circle was about to complete its final stroke!

An invisible, faint, yet exceptionally clear, spiritual energy fluctuation carrying a fresh, probing meaning, brushed against her body like the softest feather, even swirling around the unfinished metal piece.

"Um?!"

Tantai Mingjing froze instantly! The spiritual light gathering at her fingertips almost went out of control.

A hint of surprise flashed across her stunningly beautiful face, followed by a sharp, icy glint in the depths of her eyes!
It wasn't an attack, nor was it a deliberate attempt to spy on forbidden territory. The fluctuation of mental energy itself wasn't particularly powerful, but its texture and the unconscious, curious, and inquisitive desire to explore its surroundings that had unconsciously spread after the breakthrough were incredibly distinct.

More importantly, she was very familiar with the source of this spiritual energy fluctuation! It was right here in the Wanbao Hall, in that kid's room downstairs!
"Gu Sheng?!"

The name flashed through Tantai Mingjing's mind in an instant.

Wasn't this kid refining the Source of Void Spirit? How much time has passed? Only two hours!

She immediately composed herself, and her powerful Saint Realm divine sense spread out silently like ripples on water, accurately locking onto the room where Gu Sheng was below. At the same time, she carefully savored the fleeting ripple of spiritual energy she had just experienced.

"This level of precision...this range of detection and subtle perception..."

The look of surprise in Tantai Mingjing's eyes grew stronger, even carrying a hint of disbelief.

"It's absolutely impossible to reach the eighth rank! This is clearly the characteristic of a newly entered ninth-rank spirit talisman master, whose spiritual power has begun to interfere with reality and form a stable 'divine field'!"

But his mental strength was clearly still quite far from the peak of the eighth rank... No matter how strong the effect of the Void Spirit Source was, it couldn't possibly allow someone to cross the threshold of the peak of the eighth rank and directly enter the ninth rank in just over two hours!

Unless... he didn't use the conventional slow absorption and refining method at all!
Recalling Gu Sheng's various unusual behaviors, especially his sister Xue Li's vague mention of "exceptionally resilient spirit," and Xue Fei's "strange resistance" that she mentioned after returning, both angrily and thoughtfully, a startling guess suddenly arose in Tantai Mingjing's mind.

"This kid... could it be that he forcibly compressed and purified the spiritual power of the Void Spirit Source in some kind of almost self-destructive extreme way, and completed the qualitative transformation and sublimation of his spiritual power without expanding his sea of ​​consciousness? How did he withstand that terrifying pressure? Why is the barrier of his sea of ​​consciousness so tough?"

Tantai Mingjing put down the unfinished metal sheet in her hand, turned around and looked towards the room downstairs. Her beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, sparkling with a light of inquiry and contemplation.

This unexpected discovery raised her opinion of Gu Sheng to a new level and also sparked her curiosity.

"It seems that this 'little gift' that I casually gave you has given me quite a surprise, little brother Gu Sheng..."

A meaningful smile curved her lips slightly, then her consciousness receded like the tide, returning to calm, as if the momentary alertness and surprise had never happened.

However, in her heart, the level of attention she paid to Gu Sheng had quietly been raised to the highest level.

The secrets hidden within this young man are perhaps far more interesting than she initially imagined. Meanwhile, Gu Sheng, who has just broken through and is still immersed in his new sensory world, is completely unaware of the extent to which his unconsciously dispersed spiritual energy has attracted the attention of the Lord of the Myriad Treasures Palace.

Just as Gu Sheng's newly entered ninth rank, still carrying a touch of naivety and curiosity, swept across Tantai Mingjing, this Saint Realm expert's reaction was not as simple as "noticing being spied on."

That spiritual power... although it already had the rudiments of a ninth-grade level in terms of texture, it carried a subtle quality of initially interfering with reality.

However, in Tantai Mingjing's vast and star-like divine perception, it was still like a clear candle flame in the dark night, revealing its source, characteristics, and even the irrepressible "gazing" emotion of its owner after the breakthrough, which was directed towards a wider world.

"Gu Sheng?"

Tantai Mingjing's fingers, which were carving the magic array, did not tremble at all. The last stroke fell as steadily as a rock, and a flash of light appeared on the dark purple metal plate, and the miniature magic array was perfectly formed.

But deep within her eyes, which seemed to see through the very essence of all things, a true turmoil stirred. It wasn't anger at being spied on—this wasn't malicious, but rather the unconscious act of a baby opening its eyes to survey the world for the first time—but pure astonishment.

"His spiritual power... can actually reach me?"

The top floor and the guest room she had specially arranged for Gu Sheng were not only physically separated, but also isolated by the layers of arrays within the Wanbao Palace itself. Ordinary early-stage ninth-rank spiritual power, let alone being able to "scan" her so clearly, would even need to be deliberately used to penetrate the walls of the room, and would be easily distorted or blocked by the arrays.

Gu Sheng's spiritual power could spread so naturally, even with a certain penetrating quality, covering thousands of miles! This was a breadth and penetration that no ordinary early-stage ninth rank could achieve!

The dark purple jade pendant she had just finished was casually placed on an exquisite jade shelf to the side. Tantai Mingjing's figure swayed slightly, like ripples on water, and instantly disappeared from the top-floor weapon-refining workshop.

The next moment, a barely perceptible ripple spread through Gu Sheng's room, and Tantai Mingjing's figure silently appeared.

She didn't deliberately conceal her aura; the natural fluctuations of the laws of heaven and earth stirred up by a Saint Realm expert were like undercurrents beneath a tranquil deep sea, making the air in the room seem a bit heavier.

Her gaze fell on Gu Sheng, who was still sitting cross-legged with his eyes slightly closed and sweat still clinging to his forehead. A point of light, as clear and pure as the moon, silently bloomed between his brows, transforming into a soft, gauze-like moonlight that shone down on Gu Sheng's head.

This month, Hua Qinghui was not attacking, but rather using a profound auxiliary divine power from the "Taiyin Soul Suppressing Technique" she cultivated—"Taiyin Nourishing Divine Light," which is most effective in calming restless spiritual power, stabilizing the barrier of the sea of ​​consciousness, and nourishing the origin of the soul.

Seeing that Gu Sheng had just completed such a violent breakthrough, she subconsciously wanted to lend him a hand to prevent his foundation from becoming unstable or leaving him with hidden injuries.

However, when the moonlight touched Gu Sheng's brow and attempted to penetrate his sea of ​​consciousness, Tantai Mingjing was stunned once again.

Stable! More stable than you can imagine!

The barrier of her sea of ​​consciousness did not feel fragile and tense like it had been forcibly compressed after the violent expansion. Instead, it felt like a divine iron barrier that had been tempered a thousand times, thick, tough, and perfectly integrated.

Her gentle, spiritual light swept over, giving the feeling of water droplets gliding across smooth glass—difficult to penetrate, nor necessary to penetrate—because although the spiritual energy within surged and churned, it was orderly, with the star-like solid crystals at the core radiating stable and powerful fluctuations.

What surprised her even more was that Gu Sheng's "acceptance" and "guidance" of this external force seemed exceptionally skillful. He was not passively accepting it, but subconsciously setting aside a wisp of invisible spiritual power.

Like nimble fingers, it gently "flicked" the Taiyin Divine Light, absorbing its most essential part to nourish the spiritual core that had just undergone a qualitative change and was slightly "hot," while the rest was gently rejected.

This exquisite control over mental power, this instinctive use of materialized mental power, is something that someone who has just broken through to the ninth rank and is only just beginning to encounter "divine sense" could not possess! It's more like that of a seasoned veteran who has been immersed in this realm for many years, wielding mental power with the ease of an extension of their own limb! (End of Chapter)