"Should we start now?"
Guangling asked after seeing Han Li deep in thought, waiting for him to come back to his senses.
"No, we still need to prepare a bit. Skydream, you can enjoy your last moments as an Iceworm," Han Li shook his head and then teased Skydream.
Skydream was momentarily stunned upon hearing this and looked down to examine its chubby body.
It had always despised its origins due to being born as an Iceworm. Even though it was extremely fortunate, becoming the first million-year soul beast, its combat power was still pathetically weak.
But now that it was about to give up this identity, it felt a bit nostalgic.
However, it quickly made up its mind. Changing was necessary. Even if it changed its species, it would still be Skydream, and it would always remember it was once an Iceworm. It was just changing to live better.
With the agreement on Skydream reached, Han Li had the three women leave the stone chamber, while he went back to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and sat cross-legged on the water's surface.
He had been in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well for a month, during which the Divine Realm couldn't spy on his situation.
He needed to speed up. Although the time flow was different, leaving the other side in the dark for too long might provoke some actions.
Ignoring Skydream, who was still being watched by the others but was carelessly boasting, Han Li immersed his mind into his spiritual space, quickly communicating with the plane's consciousness about his subsequent plans.
For the next two days, Han Li only occasionally left the pool to eat. To the others, he appeared to be either crazily cultivating or diving into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, doing something unknown.
It wasn't until the morning of the third day that Han Li left the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and stepped back onto the ground.
"All set?"
Guangling handed him some food, asking despite knowing the answer.
"Yes, we'll start soon," Han Li said, satisfied as he quickly finished his food.
"Is there anything we can do to help?"
Guangling refilled his bowl and handed it back to him.
"Once we start, please take everyone and move a bit further away. The commotion won't be small. Try to block any aura that might leak out," Han Li slowed his eating and looked at his master.
"Sure," Guangling nodded, then leaned closer, using soul power to seal the surroundings. After confirming Skydream was still asleep, he whispered, "If anything goes wrong, abandon it immediately. I'll get your Grand Uncle to help you get another soul ring from other fierce beasts."
Han Li couldn't help but laugh at his master's words. "Don't worry, I value my life more than you."
Guangling chuckled at his response, "Alright, I'll guard the perimeter and make sure no one disturbs you."
After everyone else had breakfast, Han Li repeated the instructions to them.
Finally, he turned his gaze to Skydream, who was happily devouring its food.
"Stay here and wait for my signal to start the sacrifice," Han Li instructed, giving no other orders. He had already prepared his soul power and spiritual power, not needing Skydream's assistance. He still didn't fully trust it.
Skydream nodded to show it understood, but it looked at its body again and resumed eating slowly.
"That's it for now. You all should leave temporarily," Han Li stood up, and Skydream followed him toward the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, while the others began to walk outside.
Through his senses, after ensuring everyone had left the poisonous miasma, Han Li submerged into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, leaving only Skydream by the pool, lost in thought.
In the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Han Li activated his Ice-Fire Domain to cover himself and continued to descend, fully immersing himself in the two-colored pool water.
The pool wasn't very deep. In just a few seconds, Han Li's feet touched the bottom, stopping in front of two massive skeletons.
This wasn't his first time here. On previous occasions, he had only observed from a distance without getting close, despite the strong allure of the two skeletons.
With a flash of light, the Ice-Fire Dragon God Bow appeared in Han Li's hand.
This time, he didn't resist the pull but allowed his martial soul to fly towards the skeletons, absorbing the aura above them.
As the two began to interact, the Ice-Fire DragonGod Bow started to tremble uncontrollably. At the same time, the pool water of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well began to boil. In an instant, the water vapor spread, completely obscuring the area in a dense white fog.
Seeing that the connection was established, Han Li didn't hesitate and moved closer, his arms radiating different elemental energies as he pressed them onto the skeletons.
The pain was excruciating! In just an instant, Han Li's body sent back intense feedback, the heart-wrenching pain forcing him to half-kneel on the ground.
Moreover, his mental space was simultaneously under attack. Resentment, hatred, unwillingness—all sorts of negative emotions bombarded Han Li's spirit, accompanied by continuous dragon roars calling for revenge. Han Li's will waver under this assault.
"If you're dead, then stay dead. Plane consciousness, gather all the power of belief, and cleanse them!"
Han Li's face contorted in pain, and he uncharacteristically cursed.
In his mental space, Han Li manipulated his spiritual power, transforming it into a dense rain of arrows to hunt down the rampaging dragon-shaped resentments.
Following his shout, a brilliant golden energy erupted from his body, pressing down on the gray resentments enveloping him.
At the center of the IceFire Dragon God Bow, a massive vortex had formed, drawing in the aura from the skeletons and converting the pool water into energy, emitting a dazzling light.
Han Li's arms were no longer on the skeletons but hung limp at his sides, glowing red and white, as if burdened with a thousand pounds.
"Arise!"
Han Li, now in his full state, had all his soul rings and soul bones fully revealed.
With a shout, his third soul ring lit up, and the Evil God Hook straightened, stabbing fiercely towards the bottom of the pool, while his green Wind and Thunder Wings flapped wildly.
Using this power, his body shot upwards like an arrow. Simultaneously, as he moved, the Ice-Fire Dragon God Bow, along with the vortex, surged towards the surface.
"Boom!"
A loud explosion echoed from the pool as Han Li and the Ice-Fire Dragon God Bow leaped out of the water, followed by a water tornado, seemingly under his control, creating a spectacular scene.
Unfortunately, the only spectator at the moment had no mood to appreciate this view, instead rolling on the ground in agony.
Skydream felt miserable. It hadn't expected that even while preparing for the sacrifice, it would suffer one more round of torment.
It had been standing nicely by the pool, and who could have thought Han Li would suddenly burst out? If that wasn't enough, he caused a huge commotion, drenching Skydream entirely with pool water. Although it didn't seem as potent as before, the sheer volume was overwhelming.
"Sacrifice!"
Through the pain, Skydream heard Han Li's voice.
Enduring the pain, Skydream looked up to see Han Li in mid-air, staring at it with killing intent, his right eye glowing red, ready to attack if it hesitated.
Skydream's body trembled. Not daring to delay, it mobilized all its energy and began the sacrificial ritual.
A massive blood-red beam shot skyward, shattering the energy barrier around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and breaking the plane consciousness's long-standing seal.
At that moment, everything in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well seemed to freeze—the wind stopped, and the floating leaves were suspended in mid-air.
In the next second, a torrent of intense energy surged towards Han Li.
Skydream Iceworm's body rapidly shrank, while three energy clusters were stripped from it. After passing through the blood-red six-pointed star above Han Li's head, they entered his body.
The damage inflicted on Skydram by the pool water rapidly vanished. This was the power of the rules: during the sacrificial process, the sacrificer would not be harmed, and any prior damage would not be reflected on its body.
A gentle force carried Skydream into the stone chamber that had been previously excavated. Accompanying it was a snow-white bone forcibly inserted into its body before the sacrifice ended.
Skydream fainted straight away, while the bone began to rapidly mend its fragile body.
Outside, above the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
With the entry of Skydream's three energy clusters into Han Li's body, his condition finally stabilized temporarily.
The energy from Skydream did not resist at all, directly transforming into Han Li's energy. At this moment, Han Li, using the power of faith to shield against the resentment of the fractured dragon soul, focused all his attention on controlling the energy within his body.
A large amount of soul power and spiritual power, under Han Li's guidance, continuously poured into his original four external soul bones, rapidly strengthening them and extending their years.
Seventy thousand years, eighty thousand years, one hundred thousand years.
After the external soul bones collectively broke through to one hundred thousand years, they vaguely established some kind of connection and started attacking Han Li's one hundred thousand-year-old right leg bone.
After only a brief resistance, the Blue Silver Emperor's leg bone's defense was breached. The vast energy permeated the entire soul bone, quickly transforming it and establishing a connection with the other soul bones.
Meanwhile, the million-year mental skull bone contributed by Skydream had also completely fused with Han Li. The originally white jade-colored soul bone had been tinged with a light red hue, becoming the leader of the soul bone alliance.
"Now, it's just you two left."
A ruthless expression flashed across Han Li's face. Without hesitation, he mobilized all his soul power and spiritual power, crashing them into his arms. Encasing all his core energy and residual resentment, he expelled them from his body.
A ridiculously large energy ball appeared in front of Han Li, and above the energy ball, the Ice-Fire Dragon God Bow hovered silently, compressing the energy ball towards a solid state.
At the same time, a platinum-colored halo quietly appeared above Han Li's head.