Nuwa, the goddess of immortality, said that cultivating immortality does not require spiritual energ

Beneath the clouds of tribulation, Ye Hongli, dressed in a light purple fairy dress, sat cross-legged in mid-air.

Over the past seventy years, she has devoured the remaining palaces and origins of those seven chaotic strongholds, and swept away the scattered chaotic remnants in the ruins of the Holy War.

Today, the accumulated efforts have finally broken through a certain critical point, and the natural course has led to the attainment of the quasi-saint level.

But at this moment, she cannot be considered a true quasi-saint.

There's one last, and most crucial step left—to take control of a portion of the Heavenly Dao's authority!

Ye Hongli closed her eyes slightly and made a hand seal.

Above their heads, a pitch-black vortex with a diameter of over a thousand feet suddenly unfolded!

The vortex slowly rotated, emanating a terrifying suction force that ignored all rules and forcibly plundered everything!

The next moment, the devouring power forcefully pierced through the void and directly acted on the origin of the Heavenly Dao in the darkness!

A wisp of something, representing authority and rules, invisible yet containing supreme power, was forcibly torn and stripped from the origin of the Heavenly Dao by the vortex. It was then swallowed by the vortex and rapidly merged into Ye Hongli's body along an invisible connection!

This is the method of the demonic path!

The orthodox path to immortality requires a long period of time to comprehend the Great Dao, resonate with a certain part of the Heavenly Dao's authority, and gradually achieve success, eventually gaining recognition and control.

The demonic path, on the other hand, skips all the processes of understanding and acceptance.

Directly overpower skill with force, forcibly seize, refine, and control!

Simple, direct, and efficient.

The price is incurring the wrath of Heaven, which will unleash a devastating punishment—the Heavenly Tribulation!

Moreover, it was an incredibly terrifying heavenly tribulation!

Just as Ye Hongli completely devoured and refined that portion of the Heavenly Dao's authority into herself—

Boom!!!

The long-accumulated calamity clouds seemed to have been completely enraged!

A jet-black bolt of lightning, over a hundred feet in diameter and purely condensed from the will of destruction and punishment, struck down without warning!

The target was the enormous, still-swallowing vortex above Ye Hongli's head!

Click!

The black vortex trembled violently, its edges crumbling, and its light dimmed by the heavenly lightning, almost dissipating!

The lightning, undiminished in its force, continued to stab down at Ye Hongli below like a giant black spear tearing through the sky!

However, the lightning did not directly strike Ye Hongli.

When they were still a hundred feet away from her, the multi-layered defensive array that had been set up beforehand and was now fully activated suddenly lit up!

Various colors of light flowed and Dao patterns flickered, firmly resisting this terrifying heavenly lightning.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!

The first bolt of lightning seemed to be just the prelude. Immediately afterward, the second, the third... countless equally thick black bolts of lightning poured down from the tribulation clouds like a torrential downpour!

All of it bombarded the defensive array, whose radiance was growing dimmer and whose structure was on the verge of collapse!

The formation trembled violently, emitting a mournful cry of unbearable strain, clearly unable to hold on for much longer.

Ye Hongli remained oblivious to the devastating scenes unfolding outside.

Her consciousness was currently submerged in her sea of ​​consciousness, engaged in another extremely dangerous battle with an old friend.

The tribulation of inner demons has returned.

Unlike the last time he broke through to the Great Luo realm, this time his inner demons are more solid and cunning, and their attacks are even more fierce.

It shares all of Ye Hongli's memories and combat experience, like a shadow that knows her weaknesses best, with every move ruthless and aimed straight for the vitals.

Internally, he is tormented by inner demons that devour his soul; externally, he is struck by heavenly tribulations that destroy his physical body.

This is the dual tribulation, both internal and external, that demonic cultivators must face when attempting to reach the Quasi-Saint realm. Throughout history, countless brilliant demons have fallen at this final hurdle, their souls scattered and their bodies and paths extinguished.

Very few people were able to get through it.

After a fierce battle lasting about half an hour, Ye Hongli still managed to spare a sliver of her attention amidst the intense mental clash to sense the state of the external formation.

"Tsk...faster than expected." A hint of helplessness flashed through her mind.

Can't delay any longer.

As her mind returned, her attack suddenly changed, no longer a simple offense and defense, but a strange hand seal that even carried a hint of holiness.

Om-!

The inner demon, who was about to pounce on him, suddenly froze!

A tiny, almost imperceptible golden spot on its chest suddenly lit up, then transformed into countless fine golden chains that bound it tightly from the inside out!

The chains flowed with the supreme Daoist principles of suppression, purification, and sealing, remaining completely unmoved no matter how much the inner demons struggled and roared!

"What...what did you do?!" The inner demon's face, which looked exactly like Ye Hongli's, revealed a clear look of panic.

Ye Hongli looked at the imprisoned inner demon with a calm expression and smiled: "It's nothing, it just activated a little bit of backup plan that the senior had left on us long ago."

"A backup plan? The spirit of the Dharma Source Stele? When did it... How come I had no idea?!" The inner demon was both shocked and furious.

It should have completely shared Ye Hongli's memories, yet it was completely unaware of this so-called backup plan!

"It's very simple." Ye Hongli said in a relaxed tone: "I sealed away the memories of this backup plan, along with the triggering conditions. The condition for sealing it is—'It will automatically unseal the moment I successfully seize the Heavenly Dao's authority and advance to Quasi-Saint.' Before that, even I myself have no recollection of such a thing."

The last time she faced her inner demons, she preferred to perish rather than use this card because her memories were still sealed at the time, and she herself was unaware of its existence.

Setting the unsealing condition at the moment of advancement to Quasi-Saint is extremely risky and can be described as insane.

When the spirits of the Fayuan Stele first learned of her plans, they all thought she was crazy.

What if he perishes before reaching the Quasi-Saint level?

But Ye Hongli was incredibly persistent.

In her view, if she couldn't even reach the level of a quasi-saint, then she had no right to plan anything further, let alone touch the person chosen by the goddess Nuwa.

As for what happens after becoming a saint?

At that time, the Dharma Source Stele Spirit's backup plan was useless; only the Quasi-Saint stage, which was neither high nor low, was just right.

"..." The inner demon was completely speechless, with only icy despair left in its heart.

It reaffirmed that its true self, in terms of madness and scheming, was indeed far superior to its inner demon.

Too lazy to waste any more words, Ye Hongli moved her mind and the golden chains suddenly contracted!

Before the inner demon could even utter a scream, it melted and vanished rapidly in the pure purifying Daoist energy, like dew under the sun.

Consciousness regains control of the body.

Outside, the defensive array is riddled with cracks; the next wave of heavenly lightning will shatter it.

Ye Hongli looked up at the destructive lightning that poured down like a black waterfall. Instead of fear, a strange light flashed in her crimson eyes. She even stuck out her tongue and gently licked the corner of her lips.

"Heavenly lightning... it should be 'edible' too, right?"

Before she finished speaking, she formed a hand seal again!

Om-!

Above their heads, the thousand-foot-long black vortex, which had been nearly destroyed by the first bolt of heavenly lightning, suddenly trembled and instantly reformed!

Moreover, it was larger in scale, rotated faster, and its devouring power increased several times over!

Rumble—!

The lightning struck as expected, crashing heavily into the center of the vortex!

This time, the vortex only trembled slightly before it was caught steadily!

The raging black lightning raged and exploded wildly within the vortex, yet it could not penetrate it.

Instead, the terrifying devouring power acted like a millstone, forcibly crushing and absorbing the devastating lightning bolts, transforming them into pure yet extremely violent torrents of energy that, through an invisible connection, frantically poured into Ye Hongli's body!

Crackle!

Ye Hongli was instantly enveloped and leaped by countless fine black arcs of electricity, her clothes fluttering and her hair dancing wildly.

The destructive energy, powerful enough to instantly reduce an ordinary Grand Luo Golden Immortal to ashes, rampaged through her body, bringing tearing pain, but at the same time it was frantically tempering her meridians, bones, soul, and the Heavenly Dao authority that she had just seized and was not yet stable.

She frowned slightly, but gritted her teeth and used all her demonic power to guide and refine this violent external force.

She devoured and refined every bolt of lightning that struck!

A heavenly tribulation is both a calamity and an opportunity.

If you can get through this, you'll be completely transformed.

Even for the demonic path, which is unacceptable to the world, a glimmer of hope lies hidden within this destruction.

Time slipped away little by little amidst the deafening thunder and the silent, intense refining process.

More than half a month has passed.

The seemingly endless, pitch-black clouds of calamity finally began to slowly dissipate. The lightning that struck down also became less violent, and eventually stopped completely.

At the center of the tribulation clouds, Ye Hongli's figure was already completely enveloped by a huge cocoon of lightning, tens of feet in diameter, woven from countless black lightning bolts.

Lightning crackled and hummed, its internal energy fluctuating wildly, sometimes violent, sometimes obscure.

Another half day passed.

The electric arcs on the surface of the lightning cocoon finally began to weaken and converge, like rivers flowing into the sea, quickly disappearing into the core.

As the last spark of electricity dissipated, Ye Hongli's figure reappeared.

She still wore her purple dress and stood quietly in the void.

There was no trace of the raging lightning around him anymore; only an unfathomable and powerful aura emanated from him.

The true power of a quasi-saint!

She slowly opened her eyes, stretched her body, her joints making a soft cracking sound, and a satisfied, slightly lazy smile appeared on her face.

Looking up at the horizon, the last trace of the dissipating clouds was being gently covered by the sunset.

"Just one last step..."

She murmured to herself, her smile deepening, but a certain determined, almost obsessive light gleamed in her eyes.

saint.

It's just one last step away.

As for how to take that step, she already had a clear roadmap in her mind.

By then...

That one-of-a-kind toy should finally be in her hands.