I transformed into a cute girl and lived a carefree life in the apocalypse.

Soon, she broke through one barrier after another, reaching the peak of the Divine Gathering Realm, just one wall away from that realm second only to Soul Heaven.

By this time, she only had about one-tenth of the nutrients the aurora's crystal core had provided her, and they were about to run out.

If possible, Yan Ziming wanted to use just one-tenth of this to help himself break through to the Void Spirit Realm!

Her foundation was so rich, and combined with her innate advantages, she achieved such a remarkable improvement in this final sublimation!

Reaching the peak of the Divine Gathering Realm in such a short time is enough to terrify anyone who heard it. More than half of the world's ninth-level cultivators would be ashamed in her presence.

She achieves in one year what others do in ten years, or even decades!

How many ninth-tier cultivators in the world reach the Divine Gathering Realm? Less than a third of the total, and she achieved it so easily.

Her years-long battle with the aurora was not in vain; she gained immense benefits during this time, which greatly deepened her understanding and maturity.

Although this meant she spent a little longer in the eighth tier than Mu Mu, it wasn't all bad.

At least, her current strength has already caught up with Mu Mu's, saving her several years of effort and completely catching up.

Putting that aside, the benefits she gained from the aurora borealis alone justify her efforts over the past few years.

From the crystal core of the aurora, to the invaluable experience of her first direct confrontation with a sequence-level being, and the skills she acquired that were highly compatible with her—which of these wasn't an experience that outsiders would never witness in their entire lives?

Her efforts were directly proportional to her gains, nothing more.

"When essence is abundant, qi is generated; when qi is full, spirit gathers..."

Yan Ziming pondered and realized that Liu Mengxian, who was at the very end, had not mentioned a single thing to her; the road ended there.

However, her thoughts were only halfway through when she was disrupted by what happened next.

Because she clearly felt that although she had already reached the peak of the Divine Gathering stage, something within her body was still continuing to sublimate, and the Aurora Crystal Core was still consuming nutrients to provide 'fuel' for her sublimation.

Is this what Mo Xin meant by "divinity"...?

Feeling his own divine nature being elevated, Yan Ziming was incredibly shocked.

Rather than saying that "divinity" was enhanced, it would be more accurate to say that elemental affinity was improved, or perhaps both? However, there was only one thing that surprised Yan Ziming—

Her elemental affinity was already 100%, and now it seems to be increasing?

Although it's very slow, it's improving. If it was 100% before, it has now jumped up by 0.01%, breaking through the '100' threshold.

"How can this be?!"

The dreamlike improvement left Yan Ziming feeling completely bewildered.

“There’s no mistake. When essence is abundant, qi is generated; when qi is full, spirit gathers; when spirit overflows, it transforms into emptiness.” Seeing this situation, Mo Xin murmured to herself in disbelief.

"......ha?"

"What do you mean, 'haha'? Even if you ask me, I don't know. I just saw this line in my master's notebook."

Mo Xin said innocently, which put Yan Ziming in a dilemma.

"Zimo, your current situation seems to be that your divinity is full, causing it to overflow. It's unlikely to be a normal phenomenon, is it?"

"......"

Yan Ziming suddenly realized that the few words he heard from Liu Mengxian might not be just a rough overview, but rather her most accurate and authoritative view on the ninth rank!

She perfectly described the ninth level in just three short sentences.

"If that's the case, then it makes sense. Does this mean that Xian'er also encountered a similar situation back then?"

The more I think about it, the more likely it seems. Without similar experiences, how could it fit her current situation so perfectly?

[Considering the last sentence, "When the spirit overflows, it transforms into emptiness," perhaps the amount of this overflow is closely related to how far I can go in the future...]

Therefore, the more you accumulate, the better!

She desperately wanted another sequence-level crystal core to continue providing her with power, so that she could make up for a certain regret.

Unfortunately, when she completely consumed the Aurora Crystal Core, her "divinity," or elemental affinity, only overflowed by a little over one percent, which was already the limit.

This left her somewhat disappointed and also a little uneasy, wondering if it would be enough.

New problems then arose.

When the spirit overflows, it transforms into emptiness. What does this "transformation into emptiness" mean?

The first two sentences are somewhat plausible, but what on earth is this last one? Judging from the words alone, it has absolutely nothing to do with the 'ethereal realm' level!

Yan Ziming pondered for a long time, then suddenly raised his hand and drew a circle in front of him, drawing lightning elements from all directions and converging them in front of him.

hum-

The space was tinged with blue and purple hues, as if what lay before me was no longer just space, but had transformed into a different kind of concept.

Then, a small wisp of lightning flowed out from the void and fell to the ground, leaving a deathly silence for ten thousand meters.

Perhaps we should start by learning techniques from observing the aurora borealis?

A muffled thud came from the sky. The enormous black calamity dragon lost its ability to stay airborne and fell from the sky. Even as it fell, fine rain of blood sprayed from its body.

On the other side, a cyan-gold meteor tore through the sky, almost shattering the clear blue expanse, its target Si Mo, intent on killing her!

"Oops!"

Although Yan Ziming was very unhappy with Si Mo's usual behavior, Si Mo had been protecting her all this time, and for that reason alone, she couldn't let Si Mo die in front of her like this.

With a heavy heart, discard the last shred of possibility of continuing forward, and the sublimation ends there.

Yan Ziming transformed into a ball of blazing light, releasing the terrifying energy of a nuclear explosion in that brief instant, propelling her to move at the speed of light in an attempt to save Si Mo.

However, in that fraction of a second, the direction of the cyan-gold meteor subtly changed, suddenly turning into a tiny ball, but its speed increased more than tenfold.

"?!"

Yan Ziming felt a chill run down her spine, as if an invisible hand was gripping her, chilling her to the bone.

She realized that she seemed to have overlooked the most important thing—Qing's goal seemed to have been herself from the very beginning?

By the time Yan Ziming realized this, it was too late. There was no time to react. He felt his neck being grabbed, and his body flew backward, crashing heavily to the ground.

Without time to think of any countermeasures, Yan Ziming hurriedly unleashed his strongest attack at the fastest speed possible. The world was completely filled with blue-purple light, and a small figure was sent flying backward, suffering severe burns to his abdomen.

Qing touched her abdomen, which had almost been pierced, with her small hand, feeling somewhat bewildered.

[I actually got hurt...]

How could an ant that she almost crushed once be able to stand up to her now?

Yan Ziming's figure appeared from a great distance, with obvious strangulation marks on her neck, panting heavily, her body extremely weak, and seven-colored light shimmering within her.

It was so dangerous just now!

She had reason to believe that Lei Ling's invincible physical advantages would be completely neutralized in front of Qing!

117. Fight and retreat simultaneously.

There are ways to deal with any broken limbs that can regenerate and reassemble, given Qing's methods.

After all, she's a mirage dragon...

People often say that only those at the ninth rank can deal with those at the ninth rank, and therefore only other extraordinary beings, such as elemental spirits or immortal spirits, can deal with a transcendent being like a thunder spirit.

Yan Ziming can use this advantage to deal with Aurora and enemies much stronger than herself, creating one miracle after another. But this won't work on Qing. Qing, who is known as the strongest in the sequence, is far superior to her in this regard.

When such an absolute advantage is erased or even falls behind, then even if Yan Zimo is at the peak of the Divine Gathering stage, it is simply not enough, and it is no different from courting death.

Should we run?

A bead of cold sweat trickled down Yan Ziming's forehead. She felt it; this long-lost sensation of her senses tensing up in response to external stimuli was the feeling of being human that she had lost long ago.

Her heart was pounding wildly; she felt both trembling and excited.

Qing seemed to sense Yan Zimo's thoughts, raised his hand and pointed in Si Mo's direction, a chilling killing intent whistling out.

hum-

A beam of light blocked his path, obliterating the murderous intent. Yan Ziming let out a muffled groan and staggered backward.

At the same time, a vast fog filled the world, and everything was white. The visible distance was less than one meter. She felt that her connection with the lightning element had become much weaker.

This made Yan Ziming shudder. Was the other party trying to eliminate all of his methods?

Her body immediately lit up, and blue-purple lightning illuminated the mist. Purple energy surged for three thousand miles, making the place look like a fairyland.

This was like lighting a beacon, allowing many lightning elements who had lost contact with her to find their way back, and their abundant combat power returned.

Yan Ziming reassessed his current situation.

She's now completely trapped. Qing has used this method to get herself locked up. Yan Ziming isn't naive enough to think that she can just rush out in one direction; that's impossible.

The situation is dire. If we can't get out, we'll have no choice but to face Qing head-on. No, we'll be lucky if we can even withstand Qing's sneak attacks.

But this also shows that he still poses a threat to her.

Otherwise, why would she need to trap herself in this way instead of overwhelming her with absolute combat power?

She is no longer the Yan Ziming who could not move at a glance. She has the right and the ability to receive such careful treatment.

But I don't want to be treated with such caution...

Yan Ziming gave a wry smile, looking around. The Raikiri had already appeared in her hand. She had pushed all her senses to their limits, and lightning was constantly expanding and contracting around her, actively absorbing information from the lightning element.