Seeing the system prompt, Yu Zhibo's face instantly lit up with joy.
To be targeted by the existence behind the demon ape, it was impossible not to be nervous. That was a terrifying existence from the Upper Realm.
But since he had already made a move, there was no possibility of reconciliation. Otherwise, it might bring greater hidden dangers.
"Supreme Demon Lord, Lord of Demons and Monsters. It sounds like quite the background... Unfortunately, brother has the system!"
'System, remove the imprint!'
Yu Zhibo's thoughts turned, and he directly issued the command.
On the system panel, 100 million energy points turned into light spots and dissipated. In the next second, Yu Zhibo felt a sharp pain in his soul.
On the soul level, the demonic mark that was firmly imprinted on his soul was forcibly pulled out and then completely annihilated.
"It still depends on the system!" Yu Zhibo breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that the faint sense of being spied upon and the hidden crisis had completely disappeared.
Only now did he have the leisure to carefully examine the异度空间 (otherworldly space) he was in.
After the great battle, the 异度空间 (otherworldly space) was more than half destroyed, but energy was constantly seeping into the spatial boundary, slowly repairing this world.
At the same time, abundant fire and earth elemental energies filled the entire space. This was the purest elemental energy. Even with his current strength, absorbing it made him feel that his control over the elements had improved significantly.
He had now reached S-rank. Earth was no longer a place he could return to. It was better to cultivate well here and choose to ascend when the opportunity was right.
Thus, he sat cross-legged in the void, silently comprehending and absorbing the elemental energies of this place.
As time passed, faint light of earth and fire elemental energies gathered around him. His body was like an invisible vortex, continuously absorbing them, and his strength began to slowly increase.
Correspondingly, his heart and spleen became stronger, and the two corresponding small worlds also became more powerful.
A month later, he opened his eyes. The captivating brilliance flowing in his eyes flashed and then returned to calm.
After cultivating here for a month, he had basically figured out the path ahead.
S-rank, also known as the Nascent Soul stage in the Upper Realm, was a very special level.
Unlike A-rank, which required ascending to the divine stage, S-rank was the stage of initially opening up the body's universe. Its main manifestation was using comprehended elements to transform oneself, incorporating elements into internal organs to form new small worlds. Simultaneously, life underwent a fundamental change, cultivating a primordial spirit. As long as a trace of the primordial spirit remained intact, the cultivator could be reborn and achieve immortality.
However, power often came with risks. The so-called immortality was only theoretical. To truly cross over, one still needed to overcome various tribulations, such as inner demons.
After cultivating a primordial spirit, cultivators could roam through various 异度空间 (otherworldly spaces), drawing abilities from them to use for themselves, while also strengthening the small worlds formed within their bodies.
But during this process, various inner demons would be attracted, transforming into the three calamities, tempering the cultivator's Dao heart, making the primordial spirit purer, and enhancing the comprehension of the elements.
This was the Nascent Soul Tribulation.
Such tribulations would vary depending on each cultivator's experiences. If one could overcome it, returning to the void was within reach. If one failed, their body and Dao would perish. Perhaps someone could reincarnate and cultivate again through other means, but unless there were special opportunities, they could never return to their former peak.
Yu Zhibo looked at the system panel and found that the panel had undergone a huge change, becoming more concise:
[Yu Zhibo: Male.
Age: 26.
Rank: Nascent Soul Stage
Tribulation Count: 0]
Through comprehension, Yu Zhibo found that there were weak and strong Nascent Soul stages, but unlike what was written in novels, there were no distinctions like early Nascent Soul, great perfection of early Nascent Soul, peak of early Nascent Soul, middle Nascent Soul, great perfection of middle Nascent Soul, peak of middle Nascent Soul, and so on.
Strength or weakness depended on the intensity of the body's elemental worlds. Some Nascent Soul cultivators only condensed one elemental world, and their every move unleashed the power of a world, capable of overturning mountains and seas.
But when encountering opponents with more worlds, they would shatter upon contact, their primordial spirits would be instantly wiped out, and they would die instantly, with no hope of reincarnation.
Those like Yu Zhibo, who possessed multiple elemental worlds, were extremely rare. His elemental worlds were mutually reinforcing and restraining, forming a perfect closed loop. As long as one remained intact, all of them could be immediately repaired, giving him more lives than others.
However, some had only one small world but had developed it to its extreme, breaking all laws with one world. Even when encountering opponents who had opened ten or eight elemental worlds, they could still shatter them all. But such people were very few, because elements had restraining properties, and those who could ignore such restraints were mostly those who could become monstrous existences in the immortal realm.
The body's small worlds were the greatest reliance for Nascent Soul cultivators to overcome lightning tribulations. Therefore, they needed to use their primordial spirits to communicate with various 异度空间 (otherworldly spaces) to absorb energy and strengthen them. When they reached a certain intensity, they would trigger lightning tribulations to temper the primordial spirit and elemental worlds.
After being tempered, the primordial spirit and elemental worlds would undergo a qualitative change, completely integrating into every cell of the body. At that point, every cell would be a small world.
At that realm, a single strand of hair could break a mountain range, and the human body itself would be the most powerful magic treasure.
At the same time, the primordial spirit could then freely differentiate and transform between reality and illusion, distributing itself into each small world. With every move, it could unleash the combined power of thousands of small worlds. This was the Void Returning stage.
As for the realms after the Void Returning stage, Yu Zhibo's current strength was far from enough to glimpse them, but when he approached that level, he would naturally know.
As he continuously understood his body, Yu Zhibo felt the wonder of his body more and more.
It could be said that everyone's body was actually an undeveloped small universe, a vast treasure.
After cultivating for a month, the fire and earth elemental small worlds within his body were nearing saturation. Thus, Yu Zhibo's eyes flashed, and he used 天之御中 (Heavenly Imperial Middle) again, transferring himself to another 异度空间 (otherworldly space).
This was an ice and snow world, vast and boundless, with blades of ice and swords of snow, but it contained the most fundamental water element.
Thus, Yu Zhibo began to cultivate silently again.
The water element world corresponded to the small world formed by the kidneys. As he continued to cultivate, his kidneys also became better and better.
One day, as he was cultivating, he suddenly felt a black line entwining his primordial spirit, and he could faintly hear countless piercing roars that could shake his mind.
"Is this the inner demon I attracted after my primordial spirit connected with the 异度空间 (otherworldly space)?"
Yu Zhibo's face showed a thoughtful expression, and he sank his consciousness entirely into his primordial spirit.
Thus, in the Mud Pill Palace, the primordial spirit opened a pair of Samsara Eyes, with purple light flowing.
Boom!
In an instant, Yu Zhibo's primordial spirit trembled violently. The black line transformed into a giant black bubble, forming an illusionary world that enveloped his primordial spirit.
In the illusionary world were countless scenes he had experienced or might experience. The most prominent among them was the scene of his father and mother being crushed into a mist of blood by Zhu Yan.
Besides that, there were many scenes that had not happened, such as being cuckolded, or the tragic death of his own child.
"Mere illusion, begone!"
The primordial spirit of Yu Zhibo's eyes flashed with purple light. In an instant, all the illusions shattered, and the black bubble that enveloped him, formed by the inner demon, also completely broke apart.
"Is this the inner demon tribulation?"
Feeling a purer primordial spirit, Yu Zhibo's eyes showed a thoughtful expression.