Chapter 128: Climbing, a Great Battle, Breaking Through to the Late-stage of Divine Transformation!

【You stood upon the steps, battling the phantom cultivators within, and through battle after battle, you continuously cultivated and mastered the techniques you had learned.】

【Relying on the Earth-rank high-grade technique, the Nine Firmament Zither-Sound Art, you cut down all opposition in your path, charging straight for the five hundredth step!】

【More than three hundred battles had deepened your understanding of the Nine Firmament Zither-Sound Art, and you had faintly glimpsed the threshold of the Grandmaster Realm.】

【You stood upon the five hundredth step, looking at the two passages before you, and did not immediately proceed to the next trial.】

【“To be able to make Jiang Qing, a Spirit Transformation Great Perfection cultivator, stop here, the intensity of the steps ahead must definitely be very high!” You sat in meditation on the spot, replenishing the spiritual power within your body.】

【Having charged through five hundred levels in a row, even if your spiritual power was abundant, by now it had been depleted by more than half.】

【Three days later, you stood up and resolutely stepped onto the five hundred and first step!】

【A phantom cultivator appeared before you. You sensed the opponent’s cultivation — a late-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator!】

【The instant the phantom cultivator appeared, he directly raised his blade and slashed at you. But before he could get close, he was blocked by the zither notes you played.】

【“This strike is already comparable to the strength of a Spirit Transformation Great Perfection cultivator!” Sensing the power of the opponent’s previous strike, you murmured to yourself.】

【“Fighting above my level? I like it!”】

【Your hands rested on the zither strings, your fingertips dancing without pause, releasing all manner of zither notes that lashed against the phantom cultivator’s body.】

【This time, it took you a full several dozen moves before you finally killed the phantom cultivator before you!】

【Relying on the Nine Firmament Zither-Sound Art, you defeated one enemy after another. But the further you went, the harder your victories became.】

【Arriving at the five hundred and ninety-ninth step, a Spirit Transformation Great Perfection cultivator appeared before you. You relied on the Nine Firmament Zither-Sound Art to constantly kite him.】

【Just as the spiritual power within your body was about to run out, your Nine Firmament Zither-Sound Art broke through to the Grandmaster Realm!】

【At the Grandmaster Realm, the power of the Nine Firmament Zither-Sound Art’s sound waves shook the heavens. You easily slew the Spirit Transformation Great Perfection cultivator before you!】

【Arriving at the six hundredth level, only a scattered dozen or so cultivators remained before you. Every cultivator who could reach this step was essentially a chosen prodigy of a major faction!】

【You looked upward. At the very front of the crowd, you saw a blurry figure. Though you could not see clearly, your intuition told you that the blurry figure was Yang Ji himself!】

【“Sister Ji, wait for me!”】

【Three days later, your spiritual power recovered. You noticed that your cultivation had improved greatly through these days of constant battle, and you believed it would not be long before you broke through to late-stage Spirit Transformation!】

【You stepped onto the six hundred and first step. A Body Cultivator appeared before you!】

【“A Body Cultivator? Interesting!” You charged straight at him, engaging in a battle of flesh and blood.】

【Three punches later, the Body Cultivator powerhouse comparable to Spirit Transformation Great Perfection was blasted to death by you!】

【Arriving at the six hundred and eleventh step, the number of punches you needed increased to five.】

【Arriving at the six hundred and fiftieth step, you could no longer easily blast apart the phantoms before you.】

【Relying on your formidable physical body, you endured bitter battle after bitter battle, never pausing in between.】

【Panting heavily, you arrived at the seven hundredth step. Though the battles had been fierce, you had not suffered much injury. It was only the relentless string of great battles that had left you somewhat exhausted.】

【You looked back. All the cultivators were trampled beneath your feet, still struggling within the six hundredth step. Every step forward required a long pause; some even needed a full day.】

【You looked upward. Yang Ji’s back was clearly visible. At this moment, Yang Ji was halted on the eight hundredth step, unable to advance.】

【You tried to transmit your voice to Yang Ji, but you failed.】

【On these golden steps, there seemed to be a special Heavenly Dao rule that suppressed all sound to the step where it was made. If two people were not on the same step, they simply could not communicate.】

【You knew that haste makes waste, so you calmly tended to your body and recovered your strength.】

【You began to absorb and refine the last two strands of Heavenly Lightning power within your body.】

【Your current physical body was no longer what it once was. Even so, you could only refine it thread by thread; the slightest carelessness might endanger your life.】

【Several decades passed. You absorbed and refined one-tenth of the power of a single strand of Heavenly Lightning. Your physical body grew stronger once more. You had a premonition that as long as you could refine one full strand of Heavenly Lightning, your physical body would break through its shackles and reach the Return-to-Void realm!】

【You did not continue cultivating, because you knew that even if your physical body broke through to the Return-to-Void realm, reaching the eight hundredth step would be no easy matter.】

【The higher your cultivation, the stronger the enemies you would face!】

【Once fully prepared, you set out once more!】

【A cultivator appeared before you whose physical body was infinitely close to the Return-to-Void realm. Compared to your own physical body, he was no less formidable.】

【Relying on the Heavenly Lightning power attached to your body, you fought a hundred rounds and barely defeated him!】

【A thread of energy as thin as a hair drilled into your body. It not only strengthened your physical body, but also enhanced the spiritual power within you.】

【You felt that breaking through to late-stage Spirit Transformation was near at hand!】

【The great battles continued. Every ten battles, you had to stop and rest. You could no longer fight all the way through as before.】

【When tired, you took out a jar of fine village wine and drank deeply.】

【When hungry, you took out a chicken bearing a trace of the Phoenix Bloodline and ate.】

【Your strength advanced by leaps and bounds. One month later, you finally arrived at the seven hundred and ninety-ninth step!】

【Your one month of bitter cultivation was worth several decades of other cultivators’ efforts!】

【Your cultivation could no longer be suppressed. Like water flowing into a channel, you broke through to late-stage Spirit Transformation!】

【Your physical body was also just one final small step away from the Return-to-Void realm!】

【On the final step before the eight hundredth level, you encountered a Return-to-Void realm cultivator!】

【Although not a Body Cultivator, he still posed an enormous threat to you!】

【You stood ready, holding nothing back, bringing out your full strength.】

【For the first hundred moves, you were at a disadvantage. After a hundred moves, you fought the Return-to-Void cultivator to a standstill.】

【After three hundred moves, you seized a sliver of an opening and successfully gravely wounded the Return-to-Void cultivator!】

【After five hundred moves, you unleashed your strongest strike. Just when you thought the battle was about to end, the Return-to-Void cultivator released a strand of rule power!】

【An indescribable, inexplicable force acted upon your body, and you immediately felt as though you had been struck by lightning!】

【You killed the Return-to-Void phantom before you, but in doing so, you were gravely wounded!】