Fortunately, as these six dots rotated, the entire circle also rotated.
Thus, the collapsing space around quickly recovered.
Zi Linling's eyelids trembled slightly, and the circle formed by the six dots seemed to be startled and drilled into the nascent world within her dantian.
Ye Lingyuan's zither music abruptly stopped, and the chanting in his mouth only left a lingering echo.
Zi Linling withdrew from that state of enlightenment.
She felt that her Sea of Consciousness had expanded by another circle, and deep within the Sea of Consciousness, the passage formed by the vortex had become even clearer.
And that sense of danger had intensified, as if a terrifying ferocious beast was slowly awakening.
She wanted to probe into the passage with her divine sense, but the Human Emperor's Medical Canon and the Scripture of Creation simultaneously blocked the entrance to the passage.
Their meaning was clear: Zi Linling was not allowed to take risks!
Helpless, Zi Linling could only return her divine sense to her body and slowly open her eyes.
A beam of light flashed and disappeared from her eyes, causing even Ye Lingyuan, who was at the half-step God King realm, to feel a palpitation.
He subtly raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Congratulations, Lin'er, on breaking through the shackles of soul power and reaching the ultimate realm!"
Ultimate realm?
Zi Linling was bewildered.
Although she felt her soul power had become much stronger, even if she didn't deliberately use soul power, every blade of grass and tree within a thousand miles could not escape her perception.
However, she truly did not know that this was the mark of the ultimate realm.
Ye Lingyuan smiled, "Lin'er, judging by your expression, do you not know the divisions of soul power realms?"
Zi Linling nodded and said, "Indeed, I do not!"
The key point was that ancient texts did not record any information about soul power realms.
Even the thousand-year-old Elder Du judged the strength of soul power by the range it covered.
The reason Ye Lingyuan knew this was because a true living fossil resided within his body.
Ye Lingyuan pulled Zi Linling down from the vine and had her sit beside him before imparting the knowledge that Bao Fengxi had given him to her.
It turned out that when cultivators on Azure Star broke through to the Saint King realm and formed a Sea of Consciousness, it was the first stage of soul power advancement—the introductory realm.
Afterward, cultivators refined their souls to break through to the Emperor Realm, and their soul power entered the second stage—the subtle realm.
When cultivators gained deeper insight into the laws and broke through to the Minor God Realm, their soul power entered the third stage—the minor accomplishment realm.
As cultivators' comprehension deepened further and they broke through to the Great God Realm, their soul power entered the fourth stage—the great accomplishment realm.
And when cultivators broke through to the God King Realm, their soul power reached the fifth stage, which was the ultimate stage—the ultimate realm.
Of course, these five realm divisions only pertained to soul power and did not conflict with the realm divisions of spiritual power and laws.
However, Zi Linling was a freak.
Perhaps because her residual soul was tempered by the laws of space-time during its transmigration, her soul power had always maintained a state of being one and a half levels higher than her spiritual power cultivation.
Just like now, she was clearly at the peak of the Minor God Realm, but her soul power had reached the ultimate state—the ultimate realm.
In other words, from this moment on, the pressure of the God King realm would be ineffective against her.
At this moment, Zi Linling finally understood why she could fight across one and a half, or even two major realms.
After listening to Ye Lingyuan's explanation, Zi Linling pondered for a moment and said, "So, what you mean is that the ultimate realm is the peak of soul power realms?"
Ye Lingyuan nodded and said, "Indeed, the Azure Emperor Bao Fengxi said so. However, I believe there should be realms above the ultimate realm. Otherwise, what would be the soul realm of the Ancestral God, who is of the Creation Realm?"
Zi Linling nodded in agreement, "I think so too!"
"Regardless, I still have to thank you. Without your zither music and chanting just now, I don't know how many years it would have taken for my soul power to break through to the ultimate realm!"
"Oh? Then how does Lin'er intend to thank this king?" Ye Lingyuan said teasingly.
Zi Linling asked doubtfully, "How do you want me to thank you? How about I play a song for you?"
"You can play the zither?" Ye Lingyuan asked, somewhat surprised.
Zi Linling proudly said, "What are you saying? Playing the zither, what's so difficult about that?"
Ye Lingyuan nodded, "Since that's the case, then Queen shall play a song first and broaden this king's horizons!"
"You little rascal! Underestimating me? You'll be so shocked your jaw will drop! Come, lend me your zither!"
As Zi Linling spoke, she moved the zither over.
Her hands rested on the strings, but she didn't make a move for a long time.
Ye Lingyuan teased, "What? Is the Queen trying to concentrate her mind and calm her spirit?"
Zi Linling said proudly, "Concentrating my mind and calming my spirit is a must. But I'm thinking about what song to play."
"Oh? Has the Queen decided?"
Zi Linling smiled mysteriously and said, "Of course! Although your song just now was gentle, it contained the sound of the Great Dao. How could I lose to you?"
"How about this! Today, I'll let you feast your ears and listen to the music of my homeland. Listen carefully!"
As her voice fell, melodious music began to play.
Before Ye Lingyuan's eyes, a scene of a general going to war appeared, from the encampment and the beating of drums to announce the general, to the formation of troops and their march, encountering an ambush, fierce battles, and finally, the hero in his twilight years, unable to bear it, committing suicide.
All of this continuously impacted Ye Lingyuan's heart.
At this moment, there was no other word to describe his mood other than empathy.
After a long while, the zither music ended, but the sorrowful atmosphere lingered for a long time.
"Lin'er, what is this song called?"
Ye Lingyuan's voice carried a hint of barely perceptible choking, a regret born of mutual admiration among heroes.
Zi Linling looked up at the starry sky and smiled, "Ambush from Ten Sides!"
That's right, she was playing one of the timeless famous songs of the Yan Kingdom on Azure Star—Ambush from Ten Sides.
"Ambush from Ten Sides?"
Ye Lingyuan's gaze was pulled back from the musical scene to reality, and he looked at Zi Linling again.
"Lin'er, this king is even more curious about your homeland!"
Zi Linling turned her head, and her eyes met Ye Lingyuan's.
She shyly averted her gaze and said, "Then we must work even harder!"
Remembering the words of the soul of Azure Star, if she wanted to return to her homeland, she had to help Azure Star overcome the catastrophe of world destruction. Zi Linling immediately became full of vigor.
"Yes, that's a must! But for now, we have more important things to do!" Ye Lingyuan said with a mischievous smile.
Zi Linling was stunned and said, "Now? More important things? What?"
Ye Lingyuan said, "Aren't you going to thank this king? Then accompany this king to bed!"