Three days later, in a black canyon.
With a world-shattering, piercing roar, a fierce beast with wings spanning over a hundred feet crashed to the ground. The impact shook the earth, but the demon quickly dissolved into wisps of spiritual light and disappeared.
Soon, a streak of lightning flew into the depths of the canyon.
There, a hazy ball of light floated quietly. Within it were two Vortex Spirit Pearls and a slightly transparent yellow crystal, emitting circles of yellow halos.
Ning Fa picked up the yellow crystal, his face filled with joy as he whispered, "This piece of Yellow Yuan Earth Essence is one of the best Earth Attribute spiritual items for enhancing the source of my Supreme Earth Divine Thunder below the fifth tier. Such a large piece is enough to elevate my Supreme Earth Divine Thunder to third-grade high-tier."
Ning Fa smiled and put away the precious item. He then looked at the two Vortex Spirit Pearls, his expression contemplative.
In the previous sixty-second Spirit Realm, after recovering his condition, he had successfully eliminated a group of demon monkey monsters in the dense forest and obtained two Vortex Spirit Pearls. He had then proceeded to this secret realm.
Besides needing the Yellow Yuan Earth Essence, it was also because the difficulty was lower. Ning Fa wanted to quickly gather ten Vortex Spirit Pearls to meet the conditions for the second level of the Spirit Mountain.
Although there were many spiritual items listed in the Vortex Spirit Realms on the first level that greatly tempted him, none were as important as the Soul Nurturing Divine Spring.
Soon, Ning Fa waved his right hand, and nine more Vortex Spirit Pearls appeared.
All eleven Vortex Spirit Pearls emitted a hazy spiritual light, converging into a mass in the air.
With a humming sound, a portal of light appeared. The scene behind the portal was distorted and unclear.
Ning Fa transformed into a beam of escape light and flew into it without hesitation.
His vision blurred, and he found himself in a different location.
The sound of immense rushing water filled his ears. Ahead, he saw the same incomparably vast Thousand Vortex Spirit Mountain.
Not far below, a white barrier of light, whose edges were impossible to discern, covered the lower half of the mountain.
Clearly, this was the second level of the Spirit Mountain. Ning Fa scanned his surroundings and immediately looked up. On the surface of the mountain body above, there was an enormous vortex.
Unlike the first level of the Spirit Mountain, this second level seemed to have only this single vortex.
Ning Fa no longer hesitated and flew upwards.
Besides himself, two other people had arrived a step ahead of him, hovering about thirty feet away from the vortex.
One was a white-robed man with a complexion as gentle as jade, Shen Cizhou, a core figure of the Brilliant Moon Palace of Great Qin.
The other was dressed in a dark golden dragon robe and had rare dark green hair. He was Ying Zhen, the esteemed grandson of the president of the Nine Immortals Association.
Ning Fa couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
It wasn't surprising that Ying Zhen had reached the second level ahead of time. After all, in addition to his own formidable strength, he had also been accompanied by guards.
However, Shen Cizhou's ability to arrive so quickly caught Ning Fa by surprise.
After all, the number of cultivators from Great Qin who had arrived was small, and Shen Cizhou was the only one who had entered the Abyssal Heavenly Pool.
This indicated that he, like Ning Fa, was fighting alone, yet he had reached the second level even faster than Ning Fa, which was a testament to his strength.
The two also looked at Ning Fa, their expressions varied.
Ying Zhen sized Ning Fa up, a flicker of surprise in his eyes, and asked with a half-smile, "You are that Ning Fa?"
Ning Fa looked at him and said calmly, "Do you have any advice?"
Ying Zhen's lips curved upward. He didn't answer, merely continuing to look at the massive vortex ahead.
Ning Fa frowned slightly; the man's gaze made him uncomfortable.
At this moment, Shen Cizhou smiled gently at him and said, "Fellow Daoist Ning, the Spirit Realm on this level is extraordinary. Take a look."
Ning Fa smiled and nodded at Shen Cizhou, ignoring Ying Zhen, and flew over to examine it closely.
Soon, a look of surprise appeared on his face.
As the massive vortex spun rapidly, it emitted a misty vapor, forming a blurry water mirror. Within it, numerous scenes flashed by at an extreme speed, like a fleeting glimpse.
Simultaneously, that ethereal voice reappeared in Ning Fa's sea of consciousness.
"On the second level of the Thousand Vortex Spirit Mountain, each trial-taker will be randomly assigned a Spirit Realm. Passing requires successfully navigating three Spirit Realms within fifteen days to advance to the third level of the Spirit Mountain. Furthermore, each person has two opportunities to re-select a Spirit Realm, but once a challenge begins, it cannot be abandoned midway. It's either success or death."
After listening, Ning Fa's eyes couldn't help but show a hint of astonishment.
This Thousand Vortex Spirit Mountain was truly peculiar, having initiated random matchmaking.
This meant it would rely on individual strength, as it seemed impossible to team up as in the first level's Spirit Realms.
There might also be an element of luck, perhaps some of the randomly matched Spirit Realms would be relatively easier.
This was naturally good news for Ning Fa.
This way, he wouldn't have to worry about the Sea Race and the Demon Race.
He assumed that even if multiple people were assigned to the same Spirit Realm, their numbers would be very small.
Ning Fa had no fear of that, confident that with his current strength, he was among the absolute elite of the participants.
Then, Ning Fa's heart was filled with worry, as he was unsure if the Spirit Realm containing the Soul Nurturing Divine Spring was on this second level.
If it was, what would he do if he wasn't assigned to that Spirit Realm?
This was indeed a troublesome problem.
Another possibility, Ning Fa thought, was that the Soul Nurturing Divine Spring was located in the third layer of the spirit realm. He believed this possibility was even more likely.
Ning Fa secretly resolved to pass through this second layer of the spirit realm as quickly as possible and head to the third.
"Fellow Daoist Shen, I'll be going in first then."
Ning Fa said to Shen Cizhou, and without hesitation, he transformed into a bolt of lightning and flew into the vortex.
Shen Cizhou pondered for a moment, then also flew into it.
Only Ying Zhen remained. The frivolous look on his face vanished, replaced by a sharp glint in his eyes. With a flash of light, he too disappeared from his original spot.
At this moment, Ning Fa had already appeared in an unfamiliar place.
He looked around with a strange expression.
Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled all around, the sky filled with churning, ink-black clouds that seemed to have no boundaries. Occasionally, bolts of lightning as thick as a bowl would strike down.
Further in the distance, the lightning grew even denser, appearing like a dense forest formed entirely of lightning. Even from afar, it sent a soul-shaking tremor.
"No way?" Ning Fa muttered with a peculiar tone.
Could the trial in this spirit realm be this Heavenly Thunder power?
If that were the case, it would be like cheating for him to be tested here.
Ning Fa felt his luck was exceptionally good. He hadn't expected the first spirit realm assigned to him randomly to be his home turf.
He no longer hesitated and immediately flew forward.
The closer he got, the denser the Heavenly Thunder power became. By the time Ning Fa reached the halfway point, the area was already a thunderstorm region.
The violent power contained within was something ordinary cultivators could not withstand.
But Ning Fa walked as if strolling through a garden. The raging lightning around him became docile the moment it approached him.
Even the thunder dragons, which seemed to be formed from lightning hidden within the thunderstorm, let out a respectful roar towards Ning Fa and immediately retreated.
Before long, Ning Fa had arrived deep within the cloud layer.
The powerful lightning force here would surely kill even a Great Cultivator if they stayed for too long, but it still posed no threat to Ning Fa.
Then, Ning Fa finally reached the center of this thunder cloud.
Here, the thunderstorm had calmed down, and a thick, mercury-like liquid was floating quietly in the air.
Upon closer inspection, the thick liquid was clearly formed from lightning compressed to its absolute limit, emitting an unimaginable pure lightning power.
"This is... Innate Thunder Essence!"
Upon seeing this, Ning Fa exclaimed in shock.
His eyes were filled with overwhelming joy because Innate Thunder Essence was an unimaginably precious spiritual item of the lightning attribute.
Generally speaking, while the common Heavenly Thunder in the Human Realm was also Innate Divine Thunder, most of it contained the turbid energy of the realm. Therefore, even he couldn't absorb it casually.
However, in the Ninth Primordial Heaven, the place with the most violent spiritual energy and the least turbid energy, the Heavenly Thunder born there could be purified and refined by the violent spiritual energy, thus forming this precious spiritual item called Innate Thunder Essence.
This item was a genuine fifth-tier divine artifact, and even among fifth-tier divine artifacts, it was considered top-tier.
It was an excellent primary material for forging some lightning-attribute Heaven-Piercing Spirit Treasures. More importantly, it held a greater significance for Ning Fa, as it was a great tonic that could enhance his Innate Divine Thunder.
Innate Divine Thunder was not the end; in some ways, it was just the beginning. It also needed continuous cultivation and improvement to raise its grade.
Ning Fa's current two Innate Divine Thunders, Supreme Metal Divine Thunder and Supreme Fire Divine Thunder, were only at the early Innate stage in terms of grade, just at the very initial stage of Innate Divine Thunder.
Once Ning Fa absorbed and refined this Innate Thunder Essence, it was highly possible that the cultivation of these two great Innate Divine Thunders would take a significant leap.
It was not impossible for even one of them to break through to the middle Innate stage.
This was of extraordinary significance, as the most powerful Divine Ability of a Spirit Transformation Cultivator was the ability to control the surrounding Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi.
Once his Innate Divine Thunder advanced, it would undoubtedly give Ning Fa more confidence when facing Spirit Transformation Cultivators.
It was no wonder Ning Fa was so excited. However, he felt a slight regret because this item could not help his other three Five Elements Divine Thunders, which were still acquired divine thunders, break through to the Innate stage.
To put it simply, if his Innate Divine Thunder was compared to the Spirit Transformation realm, then this Innate Thunder Essence was equivalent to a Spirit Transformation-level pill that advanced cultivation and magical power, and its effect was not for breaking through bottlenecks.
As for those special items that could help acquired divine thunders break through to the Innate realm, they were equivalent to breakthrough pills like the Foundation Establishment Pill and Condensing Crystal Pill; their effects could not be arbitrarily replaced.