Chapter 1033: The Ruins Appear

His current soul was only at the ninth level of Mortal Transformation, though stronger than the souls of some Saint Domain experts, it was still far from being able to set up this formation.

This formation required the power of the Primordial Spirit of a Saint Domain fourth-level expert at the peak of the Seven Stars to complete. The soul and the Primordial Spirit were similar in essence, but it was too weak now to accomplish this.

Unless it could be advanced further!

Of course, President Han was a peak Seven Stars formation master and could set up this formation elsewhere, but... below was all lava, and the formation needed to be formed and activated in an instant when the power erupted, with an error of no more than one breath—this... he definitely couldn't do.

Moreover, only by setting up the formation himself could he control it perfectly; any mistake might cause them to miss the location of the ruins, wasting half a day's effort, and might even get everyone killed inside.

"I've figured out how to set it up, but I need to prepare in advance!"

Looking around, Zhang Xuan turned to the crowd and said, "I will enter the lava again with the Gold Origin Cauldron to calculate the position. This time, it may take a long while. Everyone, just wait patiently outside; there will be no danger!"

He planned to enter the lava to cultivate his soul, which might take some time. He explained in advance to avoid worry and the trouble of them coming to find him.

Everyone nodded.

After the discussion, Zhang Xuan said no more. His body flickered, and he once again钻进 the Gold Origin Cauldron. The latter let out a roar and flew straight toward the magma, plunging into it the next moment.

This time, the spot he landed was some distance from where the power erupted, so there was no danger.

After entering the magma, the cauldron hovered about ten meters deep, evading everyone's divine sense. When everything was ready, just as he was about to let his soul leave his body, Zhang Xuan had a thought.

Whoosh!

An identical figure also appeared inside the cauldron.

The clone!

This place could temper the soul, so it was a good opportunity to hone it and increase its strength.

After the two communicated and understood the situation, the clone's eyes lit up.

Swish!

The soul flew out: "I'll go take a look!"

With that, it flew downward.

Seeing that this guy was even faster than himself, Zhang Xuan shook his head helplessly, and his soul followed behind, diving in.

With the experience from last time, this time he didn't stop and flew straight down.

Twenty meters, thirty meters, forty meters...

In the blink of an eye, he reached the fifty-meter range.

The higher the temperature, the more effective the tempering of the soul. Although the fifty-meter range was hard for the soul to bear, it also had the greatest effect; deeper would be unbearable.

"Where's the clone?"

He stopped, sat cross-legged, and was about to cultivate when he suddenly remembered the guy who had left before him. Looking around, he found that at some point, the clone had already reached the sixty-meter point, with eyes tightly shut.

The scorching flames flowed along its soul body, tempering the soul and making its aura grow stronger.

"It reached sixty meters?" Zhang Xuan's eyes widened.

This clone was split from the same soul as him. He had used all his effort to reach fifty meters, yet it had gone deeper...

"I lost a lot of soul power helping Wei Ruyan, and then lost more when splitting the consciousness in the Dean's Tomb... That guy was already stronger than me from the start, and now it's naturally even stronger..."

Soon, he figured out what was happening, and Zhang Xuan felt quite frustrated.

To wake Wei Ruyan, he had lost part of his soul, and later, when splitting his consciousness, he lost more... Although he had replenished it, his soul was not as pure as it was before the split, far from the singularity it had then.

Therefore, the other could go deeper, far surpassing him.

"No, I need to speed up my cultivation. Otherwise, if I can't even compare to my clone, I, as the original, will be embarrassed..."

Raising his gaze, Zhang Xuan felt a strong sense of pressure.

Others always beat their clones, but he was constantly being beaten by his clone—what kind of situation was this!

Closing his eyes, he focused his mind. The Heavenly Dao Soul Cultivation Technique activated, and the scorching flames around him slowly merged into his body, burning his soul, making the somewhat scattered soul more condensed and powerful.

Gurgle gurgle!

Previously in the underground cavern, he had merged the cultivation techniques of many alien tribes, transforming the ninth-level Mortal Transformation soul technique into a Heavenly Dao technique, and his soul power had smoothly reached 34 million cauldrons.

Now, through tempering, his soul body, which was over ten meters tall, shrank in size, but its power increased greatly.

35 million cauldrons!

36 million cauldrons!

37 million cauldrons!

...

As time passed, his power grew faster and faster, and his entire aura became more solemn and profound.

Crack!

After who knows how long, the soul's power finally could not bear it and broke through the limit, advancing from the ninth level of Mortal Transformation to the Half-Saint level.

"Breakthrough?"

He had no cultivation technique for the Half-Saint level soul. He thought it would be nearly impossible to break through, but never dreamed that in this scorching magma, he had accomplished it.

It seemed that the soul was not about being as large as possible; it also needed purification. The purer it was, the more agile and powerful it became.

It was somewhat similar to true qi.

Breaking through the shackles, he felt refreshed. Looking down at his clone, he saw that this fellow had also broken through, and it seemed he had even reached the mid-stage of Half-Saint.

"Hmph!"

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Xuan swam toward the sixty-meter mark.

Previously, entering here would give him a feeling of shattering, but now, with his soul body stabilized, he could fully withstand it.

"Continue!"

Knowing that to catch up to this fellow, he had to be even stricter with himself, he didn't pause and entered the seventy-meter range.

As soon as he arrived, he felt his soul tremble, again experiencing a sensation of wanting to shatter. Not daring to go deeper, he sat cross-legged and continued to temper himself.

As the speed of tempering accelerated, Zhang Xuan's strength grew increasingly stronger.

His soul body also shrank from the previous range of over ten meters back to about ten meters.

"If I can get back below ten meters, my strength will surge again..."

Zhang Xuan knew that ten meters was a huge dividing line for the soul body. It was precisely when he broke through this shackle that the Cleansing Pool of the Huanyu Empire had exploded into powder.

If now, using the scorching temperature of the magma, he could suppress his size back down, not only would it become more convenient to enter his physical body later, but his strength would also inevitably improve further.

The power of flames coursed through his body, tempering his soul, making him feel as if he were being roasted in fire. The intense pain was unbearable.

Clenching his teeth and persevering, after an unknown amount of time, there was another roar within his body.

His size had broken through the ten-meter shackle, and his cultivation had smoothly reached the mid-stage of Half-Saint.

"Success..."

His eyes brightened, and he quickly looked up, only to find that the clone was no longer there. Looking down, he saw that it had somehow reached the eighty-meter point, sitting with eyes closed in cultivation. Its size was only about nine meters, and its strength had reached the late stage of Half-Saint.

"This fellow..."

Unexpectedly, the other was always faster than him. Zhang Xuan grew a bit anxious, shook his body, and also swam downward.

With his soul power back within the ten-meter range and more condensed, the eighty-meter mark, which had previously threatened to collapse him at any moment, now held no pressure at all.

Continuing to swim, he reached the ninety-meter point and stopped again to cultivate. This time, progress was very fast. In less than ten minutes, his soul body also shrank to nine meters. Knowing that the clone was still faster than him, he didn't bother to look further and sped up. Twenty minutes later, he finally reached eight meters, and his strength also reached the peak of Half-Saint, on the verge of breaking through at any moment.

Having cultivated to this level and knowing that the ninety-meter range was no longer effective for him, he stood up and continued swimming downward. Sure enough, he saw that the clone had already reached the hundred-meter point.

At this moment, its strength was similar to his own, also at the peak of Half-Saint. However, instead of continuing to cultivate, it was looking downward at something.

Coming up to it, Zhang Xuan also looked over and couldn't help but be startled.

Below the hundred-meter mark, there was no more magma, but a huge membrane. Beneath it were layered towers and pavilions, exactly as he had seen before.

"Could this be the ruins? So they really are hidden below..."

His heart shook, and Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

The fleeting glimpse earlier had left him uncertain, but now he was absolutely one hundred percent sure.

This was the ruins they had been searching for.

But... how had the old dean and the others managed to enter this place, hidden as it was?

He reached out and touched the membrane below. Like the white light membrane above, it could not be opened when not activated. Even with his strength, he could not break it.

Slowly swimming along the membrane, he suddenly furrowed his brows and his pupils contracted.

"Spirit Clan members..."

Inside, several Spirit Clan members were walking slowly forward, unaware of the two people hidden behind the membrane.

These individuals all had strength at the first level of the Saint Domain, exuding a murderous aura that was terrifying.

"Let's see what they're up to..."

Zhang Xuan was curious.

They had paid an unknown price to get here and were still trapped above the magma. How had these Spirit Clan members, only at the first level of the Saint Domain, managed to enter?

And what were they doing?

Quietly following behind, after a while, they soon arrived at a small square in the center of the buildings.

In the middle of the square was a circular platform, atop which stood a huge gate, surrounded by a sturdy seal maintained by some unknown power. Dozens of Spirit Clan members were gathered around, seemingly preparing to break it open.

Sensing it, he immediately felt a world-destroying heat burning within the gate. Even someone as strong as he was now would likely be burned to ashes if he got too close.

"Such pure energy... Could it be that these magma flows were melted by the power surging from the gate?"

He had thought that this place led directly to the earth's core, and that the presence of core magma caused the scorching lava. But now, it seemed otherwise; likely, the hundred meters of magma were all related to this gate.

Swish, swish, swish!

Just as he was shocked, he saw a tall Spirit Clan member walk out from the crowd. His cultivation had reached the fourth level of the Saint Domain. At his command, the group let out a furious shout and launched a coordinated attack, which immediately struck the seal.

Boom!

A flash of light, and a majestic force shot straight upward. The seal then became faint, as if on the verge of shattering.

"This force..."

Zhang Xuan's face darkened.

It was none other than the energy that had been giving them headaches and that they had been trying to harness.