Soul Refinement

If there was one universal enemy all formations across the globe should avoid at all cost, it was the Reversed Potential Formation. With enough energy reserves and opportunities, there was virtually no set up a Reversed Potential Formation couldn't hijack and hurl back at the opponents. Alas, though that skill scaled with the Formation Master and was rather simple pattern-wise, it relied on one unfair advantage: Extreme Talent.

Unless the Formation Master could read and comprehend the patterns and energy circuits he faced, he couldn't set up the matching Reversed Potential Formation, and would just hasten his death. And while pure cultivation talent wise, Mehran was far from unparalleled and couldn't compare to a monster like Jiyan, his talent in formations ridiculed ancient masters' achievements. For him, understanding the patterns was a matter of a casual glance.

Thousands of broken soul filaments shot toward the Reversed Potential Formation's eye—toward Harun. The filaments poured into Harun's mind, filling it with aggrieved or incredulous souls that mourned and raged against their hasty demise. Behind the dazzling atmosphere and posturing, the Divine Soul Formation was a sinister art that could rob legions of their reincarnation rights. Typically, the formation's masters split the grief and resentment the refined souls carried among themselves. But as Harun alone bore the brunt, multiple challenges surrounded him.

At teleportation-level speed, Jiyan struck down the traitorous association members—who attempted to use the chaos to escape—and returned to the royal palace to assist her beloved. With the enemies out of the way, Mehran controlled the formation to reduce Harun's burden, yet didn't dare refine any of the souls. This was the primary reason why Mehran didn't seem thrilled by their countermeasure. For sure they could destroy their enemies, but at the same time, they risked harming themselves. Each of the souls carried at least celestial level strength. Harun and Jiyan aside, none could afford to refine them.

This wasn't a problem willpower could solve. The gap was just that deep, so Mehran did what he excelled at, manipulating the formation to Harun's benefit. Jiyan sat crossed-legged, pressing her hands on Harun's back to draw the excess souls. Thanks to his Death and Sovereign Essence, Harun could withstand much of the load, but through her cultivation base alone, Jiyan could handle the rest. After all, in the Second Step, the Myriad Poison Bridge required extreme soul attainments and tempering.

Having exceeded the Soul Exalting stage, Jiyan could handle many of the filaments. But as the pair shared the load, Harun fell into a trance. His right eye opened wide, purple rays shot out, and without Harun's permission, the right eye awoke. Faced with a pair of golden and purple double pupils, in the current cultivation world, even a mortal expert such as Mehran understood who he faced. But knowing that the refinement's success relied on his input, Mehran suppressed the shock, the awe and billowing questions to focus on his task.

The cries of hundreds of souls were like cracking thunder tearing through Harun's mind. But with each he overwhelmed, his soul grew more potent and resilient—increasing his chances against future mental tribulations. But at the same time, the right eye played tricks, making Harun experience past lives at critical junctures. When a loss in focus could cost him his life, such a reaction naturally made no sense. Once more, the Eye of Sovereign Fate went against all survival instincts, threatening to push Harun into destruction—he wouldn't have it.

Each extra soul boon became a weapon Harun bashed on his unruly eye—suppressing its frenzied awakening to focus on the soul refinement. Blood dripped from his right eye, and after seconds of struggle—the purple hue and double pupils vanished—making it return to an ordinary brown shade. On the contrary, Harun's Eye of Luminous Treasures had never looked more enchanting, and he could feel that besides his soul, his physical senses were growing at an exponential rate.

An Embryonic Seed formed in Harun's Sea of Consciousness, a Soul Seed that opened the road to that intricate Mystery. On the Mandate cultivation road, each new Mystery started with a seed rooted in the Sea of Consciousness. Each seed had one color, and though some like Fire Seeds were simple to identify, others, like Soul Seeds, showed color schemes invisible to mortal eyes.

Harun didn't care, and focused on the growth in his soul and senses strength, as well as the knowledge the victims carried. At his back, Jiyan too received massive benefits. Mehran alone didn't get anything from this ordeal. To remedy that, Harun tapped Mehran's forehead, pouring the fifth elder's accomplishments in the Formation Arts into the high king's mind. Overwhelmed by waves of information, Mehran sat crossed-legged, meditating on his gains. As his soul's might and resilience rose to new heights, the silver-blue moon mark on Harun's forehead shimmered.

Beyond the castle, the citizens driven and arranged in phalanges for Mehran to channel all lost their strength, and dropped on the ground—as exhausted as one could get. The rebellion thus ended.

Knowledge, abilities, pill recipes, formation arts, refining secrets, and evil arts flooded Harun's mind. Sorting them all out, Harun focused on two categories: the Soul Refining Hall's forces, and the Weeping Soul Mantra's mnemonics. Meanwhile, a certain Reverend experienced an existential crisis.

…

As he sat in his orrery, tapping his thigh with a pensive and disturbed look on his face, Reverend Weeping Soul recalled the clash from start to finish. From the beginning, Weeping Soul never took Lord Revelation as a cultivator of the Heavenly Dream Land, believing that just like so many in the Truth Scrying Grotto, he came from the outer world. But once "he" used the Divine Power: Forbidden Zone, the previous certitude turned into a thorny problem—making the painful loss of the fifth elder look irrelevant.

"That person's bloodline level is extremely high. How could it possibly be one of those Empyreans? It has to be..." Weeping Soul stopped his thoughts here, because he didn't dare speak the rest, didn't dare accept the eventuality, didn't dare be right. This was an enemy that all experts of the Truth Scrying Grotto combined couldn't scratch, an unforgiving tyrant standing below one and above myriads.

Weeping Soul didn't fear death, but if by mistake he offended that person's close kin, the grotto was finished, and Nakula's plans forever destroyed. But at the same time, why would another one of that person's close kin appear here, and with only that level of strength? When his thoughts reached this point, Weeping Soul stood up, and with a sequence of seemingly ordinary steps, crossed the sky to appear above the royal palace.

In a stance that took the world by surprise, Weeping Soul joined his hands in a prayer sign and bowed toward the royal palace.

"Lord Revelation, I was rash and impulsive, overreached, and offended my betters. If you're willing to, why not make a Dao Pledge of truce?" Weeping Soul offered, startling the Dark Stone City.