Kai's entire body began to burn in black and purple fire! But not only that, even the entire surroundings began to blaze! It seemed like the water on the lake began to ignite.
Kai's Spiritual Sea merged with the Astral Sacrifice Fire. Trying to fight the Kai within it was akin to suicide. Previously, the King of Terror had constantly tormented him with illusions, but he didn't try to get to the very depths of his consciousness.
It seemed that the final torture was going to be incredibly difficult. For the Terror King would torture the very soul of a martial artist. Such pain was far more intense than bodily pain.
But in Kai's case, everything was turned upside down. A master of his level who was only trying to complete the second level of the Invisible King Torture Technique shouldn't have such spiritual defences.
Looking at the entire situation, Kai immediately realised how things were. That was why he was gloating right now. It seems like things would be much easier than he had previously thought!
- Inflame! Hehehe! - Laughing, Kai shouted out.
As if on cue, the entire Spiritual Sea was instantly flooded with black fire! The Terror King also seemed to realise the danger of what was happening and decided to retreat.
Except that it was already too late...
The Terror King was sealed on all sides by the fire. There was no escape route left!
- So... Don't you think it's time to go back to basics? Hehehe. - Kai said angrily, and clenched his fist.
At the same moment, all of the fire rushed to a single point. And the centre of that point was the King of Terror!
......
Sitting in the lotus posture, Kai's eyes suddenly opened. And after that, he immediately clenched his teeth and clutched his head with both hands. He was pierced by an intense pain! But at this moment, in his heart, he was incredibly happy!
It wasn't clear whether it was irony or coincidence... But he had defeated his first and last opponent on his first attempt.
Torturing the Terror King, was a simple matter for Kai, who already had his Spiritual Sea open. He instantly shattered the King's illusions and counterattacked. After sealing his escape routes, Kai simply burned him to the ground! The Terror King, could not resist the Astral Sacrifice Fire. Especially in a place where it could appear at any point in space. The Spiritual Sea of Kai, was literally fused together with the Heavenly Fire.
Finally, it had consumed all of the Invisible Kings! The second stage of the Invisible King Torture Technique was officially complete!
- Hehehe... Just great! - Through the intense pain, Kai said.
The pain was subsiding a little at a time. But when it was about to fade away, the atmosphere suddenly changed.....
Doo-dum! - A loud and thudding sound like a heartbeat sounded in Kai's head!
This sound brought with it a very strange sensation... But it wasn't coming from Kai's flesh, but from his Energy Centre!
"What the..." - Pronounced in Kai's mind.
He instantly straightened his back and closed his eyes, starting to examine his Energy Vortex.
At that moment, it began to swirl with even greater speed, slowly merging into the centre. But at the same time, it would sometimes expand for a second and then narrow back down. It seemed like it was pulsating!
Initially, it scared Kai. But when he realised that such changes did not cause any pain or discomfort, he calmed down a little. Kai continued to watch the process warily.
Doo-dum! - Another blow sounded!
In the same second, a huge amount of energy in the Tomb of Time began to rush into Kai's body! It also swirled into a vortex and penetrated into Kai's body, nourishing not only the Energy Centre, but also his entire flesh!
At this moment, it was as if Kai had become a bottomless hole that absorbed everything that entered it.
"What is this!" - Thinking with horror, observed Kai.
Such a drastic change was a surprise even to him!
"It seems that as soon as I finished the second level of cultivation techniques, my body went through a metamorphosis... It absorbs a huge amount of energy! So much that it doesn't fit inside it and passes into the Energy Centre! I'm breaking through to the Cloud Sphere!" - Kai suddenly realised.
It seemed that the energy storage tanks in his body had opened up. Every cell in his body was becoming a micro storage facility. But as they filled up, they began to slowly flow into the Energy Vortex and stimulate it.
"Eyes of the Essence" - Kai thought and began to closely observe the processes within himself.
Doo-dum! Doo-dum! Doo-dum! - The pulsation began to occur with greater and greater frequency!
Watching what was happening in his Energy Centre, Kai tensed up a little. The vortex of energy had now shrunk to almost three times its original size! It seemed much smaller than it had originally been.
"So what's next?" - Kai thought.
As soon as that thought occurred in his mind, there was an explosion of energy! But it did not manifest on a physical level and did not affect Kai's body in any way.
Duum! - The sound was so loud that it spread throughout the Time Tomb, sending a wave of energy around Kai.
Just before that sound, Kai's Energy Vortex shrank incredibly hard and collapsed!
Kai caught himself by his stomach and rested his head on the ground in pain. But he continued to watch the Energy Centre, trying to control his energy.
There was incredible chaos going on there right now! Kai's black energy was flying everywhere, behaving haphazardly.
"What's going on! Is this how it's supposed to be!!!" - Tensely thought Kai.
As he continued to watch this process, after half an hour, he noticed that some changes started to occur.....
The energy began to calm down and take some shape....
"Everything seems to be normal... It's good that nothing terrible happened..."- Kai thought apprehensively.
As he continued to watch, Kai saw his black energy begin to take on a spherical shape. And in the centre of this sphere was a tiny black nucleus, which was smaller than a sesame seed....
All of his energy was now like a spherical shell that had a void inside and a small nucleus in the centre. And the shape of the energy itself was like huge black clouds that moved slowly. It was like a sphere made up of clouds that surrounded the core on all sides.
Watching this, Kai opened his mouth in astonishment. This appearance was very different from the Energy Vortex.....
- So that's why this stage is called the Cloud Sphere! I understand it now! - Kai suddenly shouted out!
He was now watching the black energy in the form of clouds slowly floating around the core.
- It really does look like clouds... Assuming I were to stand on this black grain and look up... The energy would look exactly like the sky... - Kai reasoned in amazement.
While all this was going on, Kai didn't even notice that almost his entire body was now covered in lines the colour of blood. And his very appearance had changed as well... But it seemed that these changes were not permanent. Right now, everything was already returning to normal.
All those red lines, were starting to be absorbed back into his skin and Kai was getting his usual appearance back. Just at the last moment, Kai seemed to notice something.
- Hmm... What was that? - Kai said thoughtfully.
Rubbing his chin, he smiled slightly. He seemed to have already made certain assumptions about it.
- Hehehe... I still have two more months to go. Until the Tomb of Time is opened, I won't leave this place.'' - Kai said to himself, smiling, "The Kings have been absorbed and I've broken through to the Cloud Sphere. I think I'll consolidate the result and do some research on my body in the remaining time. - Laughing contentedly, Kai said.