After the Soul Realm was completely sealed off, all the soul force began to converge there, growing more and more abundant.
Nie Li continued to consume various pills, constantly enhancing this soul force.
It became thicker and thicker, like a volume of air that was compressed to a single point, ready to unleash astonishing power.
The soul force kept crowding within the Soul Realm, unable to find an exit.
It jostled and tore.
Nie Li felt his Soul Realm continuously shatter and reform.
This intense pain drained the color from his face, and sweat poured down like rain.
"Ah!" Nie Li roared in agony.
Although his will was being challenged, he forced himself to maintain clarity of mind, guiding the terrifyingly compressed soul force, slowly directing it to move.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each crucial node in the Soul Realm shattered.
With each node that broke, Nie Li could feel his soul force expand several times instantly.
Finally, with a loud bang, the compressed soul force exploded violently, engulfing the entire Soul Realm in a tumultuous churn.
Hiss!
That horrifying pain swept through his entire body, like countless fine needles stabbing into his mind.
His meridians were continuously torn apart, but Nie Li gritted his teeth against the pain, waiting for the explosion of soul force to impact through the Soul Realm, breaking open the sealed meridians.
Huff!
Nie Li let out a breath of relief, his entire body relaxing.
Though his meridians were heavily damaged at that moment, a smile of excitement spread across his face.
Just as he had predicted, by using the method of intercepting the meridians, he expanded his Soul Realm to the silver level.
Once his soul force fully recovered, he would become a silver demon spirit master!
Nie Li swallowed a few restorative pills and sat down cross-legged to quietly cultivate.
After reaching this realm, even if he absorbed the night’s Yin energy, he could easily resolve it.
Plus, being male, he had abundant Yang energy and wouldn’t suffer any hidden consequences like Ning'er.
After sitting in meditation for about an hour, Nie Li's meridians and soul force gradually recovered.
He had finally reached the silver level!
Nie Li opened his eyes, and a gleam of divine light flashed through them.
He could finally use that shadow demon spirit lamp!
He took out the shadow demon spirit lamp, his right hand gently caressing it.
Waves of soul force flowed into the lamp, and with a puff, a dim yellow flame flickered to life, appearing like a ghost light in the night.
Haunting cries, like those of vengeful spirits, emanated from the shadow demon spirit lamp.
Amongst that flickering flame hid the shadow demon spirit!
But Nie Li felt no fear.
With a fierce shout, his soul force wrapped around the light like ropes.
He detected a dark shadow with his soul force, and as it entwined around it like a cord, the shadow demon spirit let out a shrill scream, struggling fiercely to cut off Nie Li's soul force.
"Trying to escape? Not so easy! Submit to me!" Nie Li shouted, sending out a jolt of soul force to command the shadow demon spirit.
The shadow demon spirit trembled, resisting with all its might, but under the suppression of Nie Li's soul force, it gradually ceased its resistance.
With a whoosh, it transformed into a shadow and darted into Nie Li's Soul Realm.
Once a demon spirit entered a demon spirit master’s Soul Realm, it would be under the mastery of that spirit master, nurtured by the warmth of their Soul Realm.
To gain freedom, the spirit would have to be willingly released by the master.
It was as if it had been branded with some kind of soul imprint.
After the fusion with the shadow demon spirit, Nie Li's Soul Realm quickly expanded by over twofold.
Once a demon spirit merges with a spirit master, they would influence each other, and the speed of soul force enhancement would also stimulate each other, multiplying it beyond usual expectations.
The shadow demon spirit was one of the most mysterious and rare types of demon spirits.
Few knew their characteristics, making it hard for most demon spirit masters to perfectly cooperate with them in battle.
But for Nie Li, this was no difficulty at all.
The shadow demon spirit was undoubtedly powerful and possessed high growth potential, incomparable to ordinary demon spirits.
Moreover, Nie Li had a plethora of battle techniques suitable for the shadow demon spirit in his mind, ensuring that he could leverage its power to the fullest.
With a wave of his right hand, Nie Li summoned the shadow demon spirit.
As his body swiftly fused with it, he became ethereal, like a ghost, and his arms grew strange scythe-like bone spikes, resembling a mantis.
The shadow demon spirit could disappear at will or solidify whenever needed.
When Nie Li was in a ghostly state, few could trace his presence.
However, in that state, he had no offensive power but could solidify at any time, delivering a fatal strike to his enemies!
The shadow demon spirit was an incredibly formidable assassin.
Even against enemies at much higher levels, it could easily land fatal blows with a careless mistake!
The bone spikes were nearly a meter long, shimmering with a cold glint, appearing extremely sharp.
Nie Li glanced at his transformed arms and then at a large tree several meters away.
With a motion, he dashed to the tree with incredible speed.
The cold light of the bone spikes flashed, and with a crisp sound, the tree was severed and fell with a resounding crash, the cut smooth and clean.
Satisfied, Nie Li retracted his arms and concentrated, his body slowly becoming transparent, vanishing from sight.
After a moment, he reappeared where he had been.
"Truly, the shadow demon spirit is extraordinary!" Nie Li smiled, satisfaction evident on his face.
The capabilities of the shadow demon spirit were undoubtedly a trump card in battle, and unsuspecting foes could easily fall victim to its attacks.
Furthermore, it had great potential for growth, strengthening alongside Nie Li's own skills!
Thus, choosing the shadow demon spirit as his first spirit was undoubtedly the right decision!
Typically, a demon spirit master would take months to master the abilities after their first fusion.
But for Nie Li, it posed no challenge at all.
Within just half an hour, he had already become adept at using these abilities.
"Not bad at all!" Nie Li smiled a little, settling down.
He looked at the damaged spirit lamp in his hand.
After merging with the shadow demon spirit, the lamp no longer served much purpose, so Nie Li tossed it into a corner of his spatial ring.
At that moment, a small figure rushed towards him in the dim moonlight.
Nie Li recognized the figure as the adorable little Yu.
"Little Yu, what brings you here?" Nie Li asked her.
"I couldn't sleep, so I want to train hard like Brother Nie Li!" Little Yu replied earnestly, her young face serious.
"Before reaching silver level, it’s best not to train at night, or it could backfire!" Nie Li said sternly, hoping to guide her.
"But why can Brother Nie Li?"
"I..."
Nie Li couldn’t just say he had broken through to silver level.
"Boys and girls are different. Boys have abundant Yang energy and are not scared of Yin energy entering their bodies!"
"I don't believe that!" Little Yu pouted, clearly unconvinced.
Nie Li helplessly shook his head.
Little Yu was a bit stubborn, and sometimes no matter how he explained, it didn’t get through to her.
After some thought, he said, “Since I’m back, let me teach you a skill!”
"Great, thank you, Brother Nie Li!" Little Yu clapped her hands in excitement, her chubby face full of eagerness.
Nie Li pulled out a junior soul crystal from his spatial ring and handed it to Little Yu.
"First, pour your soul force into this junior soul crystal!"
"Oh!" Without hesitation, Little Yu infused a strand of soul force into the crystal.
Moments later, the crystal began to glow faintly.
“Soul force of thirty-two. Not bad, Little Yu; you have such high soul force at only nine years old…” Nie Li suddenly stopped, his gaze focused on the soul crystal, shock consuming him. “No wonder Little Yu's training speed is so fast; turns out she has the Heavenly Mark Body!”
"Brother Nie Li, what's the Heavenly Mark Body?" Little Yu asked, bewildered.
She had never heard of this term, and she couldn’t comprehend that her training speed was fast; she didn’t feel it at all!
What Little Yu didn’t know was that Nie Li was referring to her past life.
Unfortunately, in her previous life, her Heavenly Mark Body talent had not yet manifested before she perished in that great battle.
Nie Li ruffled Little Yu's hair and said, “Our Heavenly Mark family has been passed down since the era of the Snowstorm Empire. We have a very ancient history and noble bloodline. The strongest warriors in our family almost always possess the Heavenly Mark Body. The chance of it appearing in our bloodline is roughly one in a hundred. In other words, for every hundred members of our clan, about one will have the Heavenly Mark Body. Unfortunately, the method of training the Heavenly Mark Body was lost during the Dark Era!"
"Oh..."
Little Yu blinked, seeming to understand but not fully grasping it.
Fortunately, the Temporal Demon Spirit Book contained the training method for the Heavenly Mark Body, making Nie Li feel thankful.
It would be perfect to cultivate Little Yu!
“Will Brother Nie Li still teach me skills?” Little Yu asked, somewhat worried.
If those methods were lost, could she not learn them?
"Absolutely. However, you must not tell anyone about me teaching you the skills. This will be our little secret, alright?" Nie Li gazed gently at Little Yu.
He knew that in the Heavenly Mark family, there were many complex interests at play, so he didn’t intend to disclose the training method for the Heavenly Mark Body completely.
Once Nie Li became powerful, he would safeguard the Heavenly Mark family, but that did not mean he would contribute everything for them.
"Mm!" Little Yu nodded seriously.
"I won't tell anyone!"
Nie Li taught her the first section of the Heavenly Mark Body training mantras, and Little Yu recited them in the wind.
With a soul force of thirty-two, her memory was already quite remarkable, and she quickly memorized the mantra.
For safety, teaching the first section was enough.
Once Little Yu completed the first part, he would teach her the rest! After all, she was still quite young, innocent, and easily misled.
Little Yu silently chanted the mantra in her heart, and soon, waves of soul force began surging in her Soul Realm.
In the era of the Snowstorm Empire, demon spirit masters with the Heavenly Mark Body were considered among the three strongest types of demon spirit masters! Genius abounded in that time, and legendary demon spirit masters were countless.
Even so, the Heavenly Mark Body still held such prestige, illustrating just how powerful it was.
(End of Chapter)