Xiang Shaoyun flashed everyone a wide smile as he said, "Wait for my good news."

  Then, he stepped into the purple tunnel without any hesitation. The eight Heaven Battling Realm cultivators' auras weakened the moment he entered, allowing the seal to reform.

  Haha, let's see how you'll survive this, thought Xiang Yangxuan smugly.

  He did not think that Xiang Shaoyun would survive the ancestral pond's baptism. After all, over the years, everyone they had sent was the strongest among those beyond the Heaven Battling Realm, but so many had failed. Xiang Shaoyun was only a second-stage Soul Foundation Realm cultivator. Even with the bloody robe helping him, he would still die.

  However, Xiang Shaoyun naturally had his reasons for remaining so confident despite knowing how dangerous the pond was. Starfall lightning energy wrapped around Xiang Shaoyun's body, protecting him as he stepped into the pond with boundless lightning origin energy. The destructiveness of this energy was beyond anyone's imagination.

  Xiang Shaoyun's strength had increased considerably with the robe's help, but he still felt like his body was on the verge of being blasted into pieces. He had a body tempered by the Limit Stimulation Technique. Even so, he still suffered greatly amid the boundless lightning origin energy.

  He wailed in pain.

  Numerous lightning tendrils flickered about like snakes, each as powerful as a Saint's attack. A regular Sovereign would be instantly killed. Xiang Shaoyun had to use both the bloody robe and the Radiant Saint Armor before he dared to even step into the pond. Without these two pieces of equipment, he would definitely have much less confidence.

  He also activated the Nether Soul Dragon Headband to protect his saint soul. He could not afford to have his soul destroyed by the lightning energy. He clenched his teeth and ignored the intense pain as he charged madly ahead. The ancestral pond wasn't a place of sure death. Otherwise, nobody would have been able to survive in the pond. There was a certain spot in the pond that was actually a land of life.

  This land of life wasn't near the entrance. One could only reach it after enduring the lightning origin energy near the entrance. At the land of life, one could find top-quality lightning liquid one could use to heal one's injuries. One could also slowly temper one's lightning bone there. Additionally, one would also be tested by the first ancestor's willpower. One could only reap the benefits of the ancestral pond and leave after passing all the tests.

  Xiang Shaoyun was aware of all that. Thus, he naturally wouldn't waste any time staying near the entrance. Instead, he did everything he could to reach the center of the pond. The boundless lightning origin energy torched his entire body black. Not even the bloody robe and Radiant Saint Armor could fully protect him from the lightning energy that seemed to penetrate everything.

  The intense pain almost caused his willpower to collapse fully. His lightning bone worked at full power to absorb the lightning energy all around him. A part of the lightning also entered his lightning star, causing the star to overflow with energy.

  Xiang Shaoyun was already at the very peak of second-stage Soul Foundation Realm. He was ready to enter the third stage at any time. At this moment, he felt like he could no longer suppress his cultivation. However, this wasn't the most optimal time for a breakthrough.

  "Charge! Charge!" Xiang Shaoyun repeatedly roared as he ran. He had never moved so fast in his life. He rushed through the sea of lightning, arriving at the center of the pond.

  \r\r\r

  When he arrived at the center, he found a clump of incredibly pure lightning liquid filled with thick life force. Just by being near the lightning liquid, Xiang Shaoyun felt himself recover considerably.

  He dove right into the clump of liquid and stopped moving. He was so tired he couldn't even lift a finger. He only wanted to lay down and forget about all the torture he had just gone through.

  The top-quality lightning liquid was much better than regular lightning liquid. Even Saints would rarely stumble upon something of such quality. The lightning liquid in the pond could instantly heal even a Saint's injuries.

  Xiang Shaoyun was still not a Saint, so he naturally didn't have any trouble recovering. Soaked amid the top-quality lightning liquid, his badly battered body healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. It was rare to see a substance with such thick life force.

  With renewed vigor, Xiang Shaoyun felt like he had just taken a walk through hell before reaching heaven, two completely contrasting sensations. The peace did not last long. Suddenly, a long purple silhouette charged toward him. With a furious roar, it bit down at him.

  Xiang Shaoyun immediately reacted. He opened his eyes, and his soul clone charged the purple silhouette.

  "Corporeal willpower? Break!" Xiang Shaoyun roared as he blasted the silhouette with a boundless lightning strike.

  He pushed his punch to its limits, and it erupted with a destructive profundity of lightning, attempting to destroy the purple silhouette. However, the purple silhouette actually behaved like a living being and twisted its body to dodge the attack. Its heavy body then swept toward Xiang Shaoyun.

  Rumble! Rumble!

  Two different energies collided and exploded, causing the lightning liquid to splatter in all directions and dissipate. Anyone would feel terrible when witnessing such wastage.

  Xiang Shaoyun's soul clone sent out a boundlessly powerful punch only to end up beaten back instead of defeating the silhouette.

  When he focused, he noticed that the silhouette was actually a purple lightning dragon formed of lightning origin energy. It was also the manifestation of the first ancestor's willpower. Only by defeating the dragon would one be able to cultivate peacefully at the center of the ancestral pond.

  Xiang Shaoyun's soul clone unleashed all its strength and started battling the lightning dragon. Borrowing the lightning origin energy in his surroundings, Xiang Shaoyun displayed a strength comparable to even a fourth-stage Saint.

  Currently, his physical body was still far weaker than his soul. In fact, the two were in two completely different realms. Thus, it wasn't easy for him to fight those with cultivation levels higher than his soul clone. He had to wait until his physical body caught up in terms of strength before he could further strengthen his soul clone.

  The purple lightning possessed a tiny bit of wisdom that mainly concerned matters of battle. The lightning was nimble and unpredictable, possessing powerful combat strength. It was at least a fifth-stage Saint and strong enough to deal with him.

  However, Xiang Shaoyun had already battled the lightning dragon in his past life. He knew its weakness well and was only waiting for the moment to defeat it with one strike.

  Right when the purple dragon wrapped its body around Xiang Shaoyun's clone, the clone turned incorporeal and phased through the dragon. His clone attacked the dragon's head.

  Chapter 1183: Advancing to Third-Stage Soul Foundation Realm

  The purple lightning dragon was the manifestation of the first ancestor's willpower. After fusing with the lightning origin energy, the willpower had obtained a valiant combat strength. Even regular Saints wouldn't be its match.

  Xiang Shaoyun had faced this same dragon in his previous life, which was why he knew the dragon's weakness well. Only by wiping out the willpower imprinted on the lightning dragon would this danger be resolved. It was worth noting that he would also gain some benefits from defeating the dragon.

  Plunging his saint soul into the purple dragon's body seemed like a suicidal action. One ought to know that all souls were immensely weak against powers of extreme yang. The lightning origin energy was one such power. It was basically the bane of all souls. Even Saints would have their souls destroyed upon contact.

  However, as someone who had formed a saint soul at the Sovereign Realm, Xiang Shaoyun naturally had an extraordinary soul—a filthless soul that had been tempered by lightning and fire. It could withstand the powers of extreme yang.

  When the soul dove into the dragon's body, it nearly collapsed, giving Xiang Shaoyun an intense headache. He felt like his head was about to split apart. Fortunately, he persevered and reached the dragon's core. There, he slammed his soul against the first ancestor's willpower.

  The willpower wasn't threatening at all. It wrapped around Xiang Shaoyun's soul and isolated it from the lightning energy, protecting the soul from further damage. The willpower proceeded to disperse, followed by the dispersal of the lightning dragon.

  Xiang Shaoyun took the opportunity to move his main body over and started absorbing the dispersing energy. Instantly, the purple dragon's energy rushed into his body, flooding him with energy.

  More importantly, the energy was completely harmless and was much gentler than before, allowing Xiang Shaoyun to absorb it as he wished. As his lightning bone absorbed the energy, the bone became even more glossy and sleek. Its purple tinge deepened, and it became harder to suppress his overflowing lightning star.

  Bringing the remnant willpower of the first ancestor, the soul clone returned to his head. He thus started his breakthrough. He sat down cross-legged amid the lightning liquid, surrounding his body with a boundless amount of life force. The life force was so abundant that breaking through felt easy.

  His nine stars erupted at the same time as the energy in his body circulated incessantly. A nine-colored radiance burst from his body, making him look incredibly majestic. He looked incredibly dazzling, like a heavenly child who had descended upon the mundane world.

  His soul foundation unfurled from his body. Numerous new complicated soul marks appeared on the two-layered soul foundation. Eventually, a third layer formed atop the second layer.

  Seated cross-legged atop the third layer, his soul looked divine and emanated a sparkling and translucent radiance.

  \r\r\r

  Each additional layer in one's soul foundation would bring a cultivator's strength up a notch and deepen the cultivator's comprehension of everything related to cultivation, enabling the cultivator to use all their techniques better. At the same time, the cultivator's soul would also be further strengthened.

  This breakthrough, in particular, also enhanced Xiang Shaoyun's soul considerably, but he didn't let his soul grow too much. Instead, he consciously redirected the new soul power to reinforce his soul foundation and deepen the foundation's soul marks.

  He aimed to suppress the speed of his soul's advancement to forge a stronger foundation for his soul. After he entered the third stage, not much of the dragon's energy was left. However, there was still a decent amount left. After all, energy of this level was comparable to the energy of a Saint.

  If Xiang Shaoyun was a pure lightning cultivator, the amount of energy from the dragon could probably bring him straight to the peak of the Soul Foundation Realm. Perhaps it could have even pushed him into the Saint Realm.

  It was fair to say that cultivating nine powers had caused him to miss many opportunities to rapidly improve his cultivation level. Left with no choice, he could only let the excess lightning origin energy enter his astral cosmos sea.

  "I can slowly refine the remaining energy in the future. I can also let Money use it to cultivate," decided Xiang Shaoyun.

  Not only had he survived the crisis, but he had even advanced into third-stage Soul Foundation Realm. One could say that he had benefited considerably after entering the Xiang Clan's ancestral pond. However, it was still not the time to leave. He still needed to temper his lightning bone to its limits and obtain the first ancestor's acknowledgment before he could leave.

  Prior to this, he had tempered his lightning bone with starfall lightning energy. Therefore, his lightning bone was already rather powerful. But that was not enough for him. He wanted to make use of the pond's lightning origin energy to temper his lightning bone again.

  Having absorbed the lightning origin energy from the dragon, Xiang Shaoyun no longer had any trouble with the lightning around him. He remained seated in the lightning liquid and circulated his cultivation method. He absorbed strands of lightning origin energy to temper his lightning bone.

  The Xiang Clan had a unique bone tempering technique that Xiang Shaoyun had never bothered using in the past since he disliked his heritage. Here, he had no choice but to use it. The tempering technique was no weaker than the Limit Stimulation Technique. In fact, it was much more effective for tempering bones.

  As he chanted the mantra of the tempering technique, he circulated the berserk lightning energy to hammer every single bone in his body.

  It was quite a barbaric technique, as it involved crushing every single bone in one's body before growing new bones with lightning liquid. The tempering would only be considered a success when one reached the point where the lightning origin energy could no longer damage one's bones.

  Only after all the bones in one’s body were fully tempered would one possess a complete Lightning Bone Physique that was no weaker than the Lightning Star Physique. This physique was the reason the clan had been able to survive for so many years. In the past, only those at the Rebirth Realm had been able to fully temper their bones with the tempering technique.

  Xiang Shaoyun withstood the torture as he tempered every single bone in his body. Fortunately, he had already experienced tempering his bones in the past with the Limit Stimulation Technique. Thus, the tempering didn't feel too difficult. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to endure such torture with a Soul Foundation Realm cultivation level.

  After 49 rounds of tempering, he finally finished tempering a single bone, reaching a point where the lightning origin energy could no longer damage it. He moved on to the second bone. Similarly, he needed 49 rounds to perfect it. On and on he went.

  And thus, Xiang Shaoyun fully immersed himself in bliss and suffering as he forged the most terrifying Lightning Bone Physique in existence. Once the process was done, he would be a new person.