While Heavenly Punishment clouds were still in the process of dissipating, Ace panted as exhaustion washed over him, and he sat down in the center of a massive charred crater. The sword cores were already returned to their dark state, as there were no traces of the runes left.
Nevertheless, Ace was feeling quite robust at the start of Heavenly Punishment, and he then looked at Page-09, which again helped him with the Heavenly Punishment, especially the Heaven's Terminate Manifestations!
His eyes contorted when a strange blurry golden gray image appeared in the center of the once dark page right below the words, [Avatar of Holy Twilight]. However, it was so vague that Ace couldn't determine what it was.
Still, he knew some sort of secret was hidden in this Page-09, and the Heavenly Thunder was probably the key to unlocking it.
Nevertheless, the heavenly punishment was over, so he had to wait for the next one, and until then, Page-09 will be Cyrus's bed like usual.
Stowing it away again, Ace was ready for the process of breakthrough, and the system didn't keep him waiting either.
[Congratulation, Host, for successfully crossing the fourth form of Heavenly Punishment!]
[Martial and Soul breakthrough process has been started!] =====
Just as the system's voice trailed off, the surrounding air, which still contained the heavenly thunder aura, suddenly stirred, and a massive amount of heavenly Qi started to pour into his martial and soul space.
The process of entering the Soul Realm was quite straightforward. It was basically the process of condensing your Qi Soul or Soul Embryo from the River Qi Core or River Soul Core.
That's why it was called the Soul Realm as a cultivator would be finally able to come in contact with their own illusive soul. However, these condensed souls could be varied depending on a cultivator's cultivation techniques and with what type of river core they are making the breakthrough.
Naturally, the Martial Path and the Soul Path are the most significant differences.
A martial cultivator's soul will be far more resilient and give a massive boost to their physical aspects and martial Qi. At the same time, a soul cultivator's soul embryo will be more inclined toward the soul aspects and give a boost in soul attacks and soul defenses.
As the fifth realm out of the eight realms of the mortal sky, both martial and soul cultivators start to walk on their own unique paths truly, and from here on out, the difference only grows wider and wider.
But for Ace, it was quite different. As the dense heavenly Qi pumped into his martial space, his revolving dark Qi sea was stirring with massive waves, and heavenly darkness Qi was getting more potent by the second. Thereby his Qi sea was getting even more, darker and dark.
At this moment, the pitch-black Dark Sea Core with nine dark blue rings, right below the dark void and in the middle of the revolving dark sea, suddenly started to quiver as dark lightning crackled around it.
But it was just the start, as suddenly a dark blue chain shot down from the dark void and penetrated the Dark Sea Core, and then that chain suddenly pulled the dark sea core up until it was right below the dark void.
Thereby, a small dark vortex appeared below the Dark Sea Core, and the Dark Sea suddenly started to rise towards the dark vortex like a dark cyclone.
The Dark Sea Core quickly started to devour the Dark Sea, and Ace felt more and more heavenly Qi condensing around him, making the air around him wrap slightly, and his aura started to change.
To his astonishment, when the Dark Sea was on the verge of being fully devoured by the Dark Sea Core, emptying the entire Martial Space, the Dark Sea Core began to crack as more and more lightening was emitting from it.
Ace's entire body trembled as he could feel something was about to come out from the depth of his very being, and it made him uncomfortable as well as anticipated like never before.
At this moment, the dark sea core finally cracked open, revealing the thing inside. Ace was completely gobsmacked when he saw it was a tiny corporeal dark figure in a hood, and dark lightning was shimmering all over its tiny body.
The dark blue chain, which was connected to this hooded figure, suddenly started to shimmer in a dark blue hue, and tiny dark blue symbols began to emerge over the dark figure, and they slowly fads as fast as they appeared.
After the dark blue symbols were fully etched, the blue chain trembled before it retracted into the dark void, leaving the dark hooded corporeal figure, who sat in the middle of the empty martial space cross-legged.
Now, there was the Dark Void in the middle, the Martial Thief Sword Core above it, and the tiny hooded figure blow present in the martial space.
Ace knew the tiny hooded figure was his Martial Qi Soul, but even he wasn't expecting it to look .
But then, just when Ace thought it was over, a majestic aura appeared from the dark soul, which had a strange compelling to it. Ace felt an even more powerful suction force appear around his body, and a massive amount of heavenly Qi poured into his martial space.
Furthermore, he noticed that now his heavenly Qi was getting processed at a breakneck pace, and his meridians seemed to be somewhat strange.
But what happened next made him even more surprised because dense dark lightning, which was none other than despair lightning started to fill his empty martial space.
If before it was like a sea of heavenly darkness Qi, now it is a pure sea of despair lightning, and it was far, far more potent than his despair lighting has ever been.
On the other hand, Ace's true soul finally showed signs of stirring after his martial breakthrough was over.
Ace quickly shifted his focus toward his true soul while his martial space was still getting filled up with pure despair lightning!