"Furthermore, by burning the physical body and entering the Spirit Realm, the Awakener resonates with the World Origin and is able to manipulate the Power of Laws at will, so... every gesture is tremendously powerful."
As he spoke, he said to the young girl in the front row, "Shuishui."
Shuishui had been all ears during their conversation. Seeing Huo Lin calling her, she immediately reached out to the side.
Fang Ze followed the direction of her hand and then saw a decorative big tree by the roadside mysteriously lift off the ground as if something had grabbed it.
At the same time, Huo Lin gently tapped Fang Ze, and Fang Ze suddenly saw a misty veil before his eyes, clearly revealing that "thing."
It was a huge, ethereal hand as big as a room, grabbing the treetop like picking up a weed, gently lifting the tree!
Fang Ze couldn't help but look towards Shuishui.
Shuishui, with a proud tilt of her chin, obviously controlled that hand.
Fang Ze, "Destroying public assets, a fine of 500 Lini. Thank you, Commissioner."
Huo Lin ignored their bickering and continued, "Besides having immense power in every move, awakeners who have undergone Spirit Ascension can also fly, travel thousands of miles at night, become invisible, and merge with the world. If one hasn't reached this stage, even a high-ranking ascended master standing in front of you would be invisible to you."
"However, similarly, because the ascended beings no longer have a physical body and their souls aren't as solid as those in Yang Transformation stage, they are incredibly fragile, even more so than regular awakeners," he explained.
"As soon as their whereabouts are discovered, they can easily be hurt or even hunted down."
"Furthermore, since the ascension involves the Spirit Realm, which is fraught with dangers, one careless move can lead to downfall."
"This results in Spirit Ascension having the highest mortality rate, being the easiest to fall, and also the easiest to be overpowered by the weak."
"Therefore, Spirit Ascension often leaves an impression of fragility among other awakeners."
After listening to Huo Lin, Fang Ze felt somewhat enlightened and formed a general idea of Spirit Ascension.
Plainly put, Spirit Ascension involves burning everything, elevating the soul, and resonating with the World Origin."
This also leads to the issue of "high offense, low defense" becoming more pronounced in Spirit Ascension: other stages still have some "defense," but Spirit Ascension has none, making it appear particularly weak.
The advantages of becoming a Spirit Ascension are also obvious: the ability to fly, more powerful moves, becoming invisible, hiding in space, and shifting between two worlds, among others.
Thinking this, Fang Ze couldn't help but wonder: does Spirit Ascension really require burning the physical body and igniting the soul to advance?
Could it be possible that one could advance to Spirit Ascension while retaining their physical body?
Fang Ze recalled the path of Faith Ascension.
In the path of Faith Ascension, an awakener ignites both the physical body and the Power of Faith during ascension!
Because of the additional power, the accumulation is doubled, thus greatly shortening the process from Spirit Ascension to Yang Transformation compared to other pathways.
This suggests that besides the physical body, the Power of Faith can also be used as "fuel" to burn."
So... Fang Ze pondered: if there is enough Power of Faith, could one only burn the Power of Faith, sparing the physical body, and break through the void, allowing the soul to ascend?
Thinking this, Fang Ze felt it was a promising direction. So he decided to ponder it further when he returned home tonight...
Thus, the three of them chatted and arrived near the Red Light District.
Upon reaching the target area, Huo Lin and Shuishui just told Fang Ze to keep moving ahead, while they turned invisible and followed by his side.
Fang Ze led them to the entrance of Flower God's Private Garden in the small alley maze.
He explained how to navigate the maze while demonstrating it to them.
As Fang Ze demonstrated, a buzzing sound like that of mosquitoes filled his ears.
Fang Ze looked towards the source of the sound and saw the ethereal figures of Huo Lin and Shuishui standing not far from him, observing the surroundings and whispering to each other.
That "buzzing" sound was their conversation.
It felt odd. If Fang Ze were to describe it: it was as if... because he and Huo Lin, Shuishui were no longer of the same species, they used different frequencies to communicate, so Fang Ze couldn't hear them.
During Fang Ze's demonstration, the three of them arrived at the small black house.
This time, Huo Lin signaled Fang Ze to stop.
Meanwhile, he and Shuishui flew toward the small house to start the external reconnaissance.
Soon, they returned with some data to Fang Ze, "Let's go back."
Fang Ze nodded and then retraced his steps back the way he had come.
Only after leaving the maze and walking a distance did Huo Lin and Shuishui reveal themselves.
Coming to Fang Ze's side, Huo Lin said to him, "After the orders were issued in your major district, you haven't visited this private garden anymore, have you?"
Fang Ze nodded, "Yes, other than the initial explorations by the Emerald City Security Bureau and the State Security Bureau, to avoid alerting the enemy, no one else has come here."