Chapter 849: Transformation

The black bead!

What saved me must have been the black bead!

This black bead was truly miraculous. My divine soul had been severely wounded by the demon god Garuda, yet the black bead brought me back to life!

Then, was it also the black bead that trapped me in that dark space?

“What exactly is this black bead, so miraculous?” Ye Yuan murmured.

“What bead is the master talking about? Oh, when that demon god Garuda emerged from your body, he mentioned something called a Soul-Calming Bead.” Heifeng suddenly recalled something and said.

“Soul-Calming Bead?” Ye Yuan was startled, having never heard that name before.

Back when he obtained the black bead from the ruins of the Dayan True Sect, it had inexplicably entered his sea of consciousness.

And it had saved him several times in critical moments.

This time, it had pulled him back from the brink of death and completely repaired his shattered divine soul.

“Hmm? You said… a year? I’ve been sleeping here for a whole year?” Ye Yuan suddenly remembered something and asked in surprise.

“Yes, master. At first, Heifeng was very worried about your safety. But later, although you didn’t wake up, you kept breaking through realms in your sleep, which amazed Heifeng, so I felt relieved. Just now, you actually broke through to the Heavenly Enlightenment realm in your dreams without even triggering a heavenly tribulation—it’s incredible!”

After Ye Yuan fell into a coma, his aura had been faint and intermittent, looking terrifying, as if he might die at any moment. Heifeng could only fret on the sidelines, not knowing what to do.

But after this state persisted for a while, not only did Ye Yuan not die, he directly broke through a minor realm, reaching the fifth level of the Infinite realm.

This discovery left Heifeng utterly astonished.

How could someone on the verge of death still break through?

Then, about a month later, Ye Yuan broke through again!

Over the course of a year, Ye Yuan’s cultivation soared, all the way to the peak of the ninth level of the Infinite realm.

From initial worry, Heifeng turned to shock.

Ye Yuan’s situation was too bizarre; Heifeng simply couldn’t understand it.

But one thing was certain: Ye Yuan was fine!

Who would keep breaking through while dying?

Recently, however, Ye Yuan’s cultivation had reached the threshold of the Heavenly Enlightenment realm, and Heifeng grew worried again.

The heavenly tribulation from the middle three realms to the upper three realms was no easy matter.

Yet just now, Ye Yuan had directly broken through to the Heavenly Enlightenment realm without even triggering a heavenly tribulation!

Breaking through the middle three realms inevitably required experiencing a major heavenly tribulation. Given Ye Yuan’s strength, the tribulation’s power would surely be immense.

But now that the breakthrough was complete, there wasn’t even a trace of the heavenly tribulation—this truly made Heifeng’s jaw drop.

Ye Yuan was also somewhat baffled, but he recalled his experience in the dark space.

Could it be that the torment of the will in the dark space was actually cultivation?

Ye Yuan examined his divine soul and found that between the brows of his divine soul, there was indeed an extra eye!

This was the mark of breaking through to the Heavenly Enlightenment realm: opening the Heavenly Eye!

In the upper three realms, one comprehends the Dao. The so-called Heavenly Enlightenment realm is when the divine soul opens the Heavenly Eye, allowing one to initially glimpse the secrets of the Heavenly Dao.

This Heavenly Eye is a resonance between the divine soul and the Heavenly Dao. Through it, martial artists can see the laws of power that were previously invisible, comprehend them, and use them for themselves.

Achieving this step is a great challenge for martial artists in the middle three realms.

Before breaking through to the Heavenly Enlightenment realm, one must have comprehended a sufficiently high level of artistic conception to more easily open the Heavenly Eye.

And after opening the Heavenly Eye, the speed at which a martial artist comprehends artistic conception increases dozens of times!

Especially for genius martial artists, the speed may increase by hundreds or thousands of times. For them, the Heavenly Enlightenment realm is truly the realm where they soar.

Thus, upon reaching the Heavenly Enlightenment realm, a martial artist’s strength undergoes a qualitative leap. Martial artists at the Infinite realm are simply no match for those at the Heavenly Enlightenment realm.

However, precisely because comprehending artistic conception is harder before the Heavenly Enlightenment realm, it was all the more remarkable that Ye Yuan had comprehended the Supreme True Intent to the fifth level before the Infinite realm.

In terms of artistic conception comprehension, Ye Yuan had not cut any corners; he had relied on his own insight step by step.

Ye Yuan also examined his yuan force sea and found that it had unknowingly expanded to a terrifying hundred thousand zhang in radius.

This was dozens of times larger than that of an ordinary Heavenly Enlightenment realm martial artist.

In terms of yuan force sea alone, Ye Yuan could now match a mid-stage Heavenly Enlightenment realm martial artist.

“Truly incredible—my soul power has actually reached the mid-stage of the Saint Alchemist realm!”

What surprised Ye Yuan even more was his soul power.

Previously, Ye Yuan’s divine soul realm had always followed his cultivation realm. Even if his soul power reached great perfection, it could not break through the body’s shackles.

But now, he had shattered those shackles!

Ye Yuan had never heard of anyone whose divine soul realm could surpass the limits of the body.

No matter how powerful one’s divine soul cultivation technique, an early-stage Heavenly Enlightenment realm martial artist could not cultivate soul power to the mid-stage Saint Alchemist realm.

Yet now, Ye Yuan had done it!

“What? Master has just broken through to the Heavenly Enlightenment realm, yet his soul power has already reached the mid-stage Saint Alchemist realm? This… how is this possible?” Heifeng was utterly shaken.

Ye Yuan gave a wry smile and released a powerful surge of soul power.

Feeling Ye Yuan’s soul power, Heifeng’s eyes were filled with disbelief.

“It really is the mid-stage Saint Alchemist realm! My god, how can such a miraculous thing happen in this world?”

Heifeng could no longer find words to describe his astonishment. This impossible event was happening right before his eyes.

No matter what divine soul cultivation technique one practiced, it was common sense that one could not break through to the next realm at the corresponding cultivation level.

But Ye Yuan had shattered this common sense!

Ye Yuan shrugged helplessly and said, “I don’t know what’s going on either. It seems the problem lies with the Soul-Calming Bead. I’ll have to find Garuda and ask him about it when I get the chance.”

Garuda’s emergence should have plunged the Divine Realm into great panic, but Ye Yuan had severely wounded him several times.

Especially during this possession attempt, Garuda’s demonic consciousness had likely damaged its foundation, making it impossible for him to return to his peak in a short time.

When he next saw Garuda, Ye Yuan believed he would have enough strength to deal with him.

“Master, you must never reveal that you’ve broken the body’s limits in front of others, or it will cause huge trouble,” Heifeng said gravely.

If such a thing were exposed, Ye Yuan would surely be treated like a lab rat, attracting countless covetous eyes.

Ye Yuan smiled and said, “You don’t need to remind me; I know that. By the way, I remember there were two saints back then. They were extremely powerful—why didn’t they attack us?”

Heifeng’s expression darkened. “Lord Wang… seems to be in a very bad state!”