Chapter 179: Metamorphosis

Extreme pain can best wear down will; even if your will is like steel, it can grind you into iron powder.

Wang Ping's current suffering is something he shouldn't endure at this stage, so he suffers, suffering to the extreme; that will-star has already been ground down to the size of a grain of rice!

Before the soul body fully transforms, it may very well turn into flowing light and dissipate between heaven and earth! At that point, the fate of Wang Ping, who cannot persist, is easy to imagine.

The Soul Refining Hall has cultivated these scriptures for so many years; they have long since explored every checkpoint of the first layer crystal clear, and they have always cultivated step by step, never overstepping.

This law-abiding nature was bought with countless lives by them, but Wang Ping doesn't know that he broke through the second segment in the Qi Refining Stage and expects that he can also break through the third segment in the Foundation Establishment.

But he never imagined that the pain therein had already reached the point where it could wear down his will. The once vast illusory will-star had already shrunk to the size of a grain of rice, and before long, the last remnant of his steadfast will would also dissipate.

In his daze, Wang Ping sensed his own danger and also felt that he was just one step away from success, but that one step he could never catch up to.

He must think of a way to save himself; this is Wang Ping's current idea!

How to save himself?

Wang Ping doesn't know; he now can't think of a solution! But he still desperately thinks, the pain comes from within the soul, this kind of pain cannot be severed at all!

Accelerate! Accelerate! Accelerate!

Wang Ping, in despair, had a thought: as long as the speed of the soul's transformation is increased, that will do!

The pain has already reached the extreme; it will not increase further, but the speed of the soul's transformation can be increased, and the speed of the soul's transformation is related to the forging speed, so increase the forging speed,

This is a race against time; Wang Ping believes the pain has already reached the extreme, so increasing speed will not add more pain—this is merely his guess, not necessarily correct, but for now it's the only method!

Wang Ping's consciousness grew increasingly blurry, yet he mechanically continued the forging, and the speed of his soul's transformation grew ever faster.

Fifty percent! Sixty percent! Seventy percent! Eighty percent! Ninety percent!... Ninety-nine percent!

Just as Wang Ping's last trace of will was about to dissipate, that agonizing pain suddenly vanished, replaced by a wonderful sense of comfort!

This sudden change caught Wang Ping off guard; he almost couldn't hold onto the last trace of his will, but he ultimately pulled through, and an extremely comfortable feeling enveloped him, causing his will—about to dissipate like a grain of rice—to suddenly emit countless crystal-clear rays of light!

The outside world! A cluster of radiant light blossomed at Wang Ping's brow, a near-real star slowly turning, and even more astonishingly, that star was encircled by a ring of five-colored light.

Snore—! Snore—! Snore—!

A thunderous snore echoed in the Undying Hall; the old man who had been watching Wang Ping, upon hearing this sound, suddenly let go of his worried heart, then burst out laughing and scolding:

"You little brat, truly worrisome—even more so than that Qingdi kid, you never give anyone peace of mind!"

Laughing and scolding aside, the old man's eyes could not hide their admiration. Gazing at Wang Ping, now completely fallen into deep sleep, he whispered:

"This kid, at the Foundation Establishment stage, surpasses even the Qingdi of old! Too bad—why is there no Dao Protector? Damn Qingdi, you'd better not be dead, otherwise the inheritance of my Undying Lineage will be cut off in your hands!"

In the Undying Hall, the old man continually burst out with muttered curses.

Six days later, Wang Ping slowly opened his eyes; his surroundings seemed somewhat different, and his perception of them seemed sharper.

Seeing Wang Ping dazed, the old man snapped: "Kid! Wake up and get up at once—don't lie there like a corpse. You've been lying for six days and still haven't had enough? What sin have I committed to have to listen to your snoring for six days?"

Hearing that, Wang Ping rose, gave the old man a slightly embarrassed smile, and wondered, "Snoring? Is that really me?"

"Sorry for disturbing you, senior!"

The old man waved his hand, indicating he should go cultivate; Wang Ping smiled, and his consciousness entered his Sea of Consciousness, where the space was more vast and, even more strangely, filled with radiant light.

The source of the light is the newly condensed will-star; it is no longer a vague illusion but looks utterly real, as if a genuine planet were truly floating in his Sea of Consciousness.

But Wang Ping knows this is his illusion; the will-star remains in a semi-real state, only now it is more condensed than before.

Moreover, it has now moved from the corner of his Sea of Consciousness to the center!

After looking around again, the silver stone gate remained as before; though he would need to gather energy once more, Wang Ping estimated he didn't need to specially select a spot to listen to the insights of the Five Elements Return to One.

The Undying Lineage inheritance in his Sea of Consciousness is already sufficient, and with those three jade slips added, he now has enough confidence to walk the path of the Five Elements Return to One!

Withdrawing his consciousness from the Sea of Consciousness, Wang Ping returned to his dantian, where in an unknown space five huge beads floated in a darkness as deep as the cosmos.

This time Wang Ping easily broke through that former obstruction, seeing thousands of runes! After undergoing a life‑and‑death transformation, he gained his own insight into the spiritual roots as well.

The so‑called rune array can be understood as a spell, and the cultivation world is certainly not lacking in spells that resist pressure!

Among his spoils were hundreds of jade slips and thousands of spells; spells that resist pressure should certainly be among them. He only needs to find them, study each one, then comprehend which runes they employ, and thus he can pinpoint them—this greatly narrows the scope.

Saying done, done, Wang Ping waved his hand and laid a hundred jade slips on the ground, placing them one by one on his brow; now his divine sense is formidable, his information‑reading speed extremely fast, and after just three hours he had finished browsing all the spells.

Wang Ping ultimately selected thirty spells that met his requirements.

These spells all have the effects of calming the mind, clarifying the spirit, consolidating the will, and resisting pressure.

Most of these spells are medium‑grade, with only five being top‑grade; Wang Ping needs to master each one, but in fact it won't take much effort.

The most important point is that these spells are not attribute‑specific, which shows that among attribute‑specific spiritual roots there exist certain runes common to all of them. Wang Ping merely needs to find them.

After two hours, Wang Ping had mastered all twenty‑five medium‑grade spells and the five top‑grade spells.

He multitasked, casting spells on one hand while observing the runes on his spiritual roots with the other.

Wang Ping, the creator of Dao arts, already had some understanding of the runes on his spiritual roots—for instance, when he casts a spell now, some of those runes light up.

After casting all thirty spells, Wang Ping was astonished to find that the runes lit up by those spells mostly numbered twenty‑four, but because the order of illumination varied, the five top‑grade spells lit up at most twenty‑one runes, and not a single one managed to illuminate all twenty‑four runes!

Wang Ping decided to first contemplate these twenty-four runes, to see what they actually mean.