[Artifact Refiner's Journal: Refining a Peak Fourth Realm Magic Artifact, Gained 89.3 Billion Experience]

Today, he felt like kicking over those pill furnaces that only gave out a few million experience after several months!

"Do you want more?"

Yan Ruge waved his hand, "Let me rest for a bit, the Sui Sha Pearl is too intense. I've expended fifty percent of my Spirit Palace's origin and need some time to recover."

"You're really weak!"

Xu Guang curled his lip.

Yan Ruge snorted coldly, considering the help he received from Xu Guang in artifact refinement, he didn't argue further.

He simply closed his eyes, took out an elixir, and began to consume it.

Xu Guang was helpless but was fortunate that many demons hovered above the Sea of Illusions, with most being ancient alien species, some of which had completely distorted forms.

However, slaying these demons yielded precious remnants, allowing Xu Guang to study pill formulas and research his Qi Refiner's Professional Talent, the Human Furnace.

This talent's effect must be extraordinary.

Days later, Xu Guang dragged a giant shark out of the Sea of Illusions, his face solemn.

Today, during the hunt, he encountered cultivators who had been lost in the Sea of Illusions. They drifted on small boats crafted from the corpses of demons, but Xu Guang didn't approach them.

Because on their boat were Fourth Realm cultivators!

In the subsequent five years, Xu Guang and Yan Ruge continued to hide their tracks and wander, occasionally assisting Yan Ruge in refining magic artifacts.

Perhaps due to a sudden pang of conscience on Yan Ruge's part, she declared during the crafting of the fifth artifact that it would belong to Xu Guang.

Fusing her Starlight Power with Xu Guang's true intention of Sui Sha, it became a small seal capable of suppressing time and the Soul Blood Pursuing Soul Order on Xu Guang.

Xu Guang thanked her.

Looking at the experience exceeding thirteen digits on his panel, he felt satisfied.

Such abundant experience was enough to attempt a Nirvana Transformation.

The only regret was that the Five Divine Techniques could gather five Martial Dao intents, but for now, only three had been accrued. The fourth, related to training soldiers, had vaguely formed through the study of the Human Furnace talent, but the true intent of Return had eluded him entirely.

Nevertheless, it was sufficient. Would four true intents enable a successful Nirvana Transformation to obliterate a Dharma Image?

Xu Guang pondered in his heart.

...

On this day, Xu Guang, who was meditating, suddenly opened his eyes and gazed into the dim distance.

Yan Ruge seemed to have sensed something as well, standing up with a grave expression.

In the distance on the sea's horizon, dots of black shadows appeared, rapidly approaching. They were boats of peculiar design, assembled from various bones, coral reefs, and even demon shells, with figures standing on them in various forms, some human, some half-demon, and some maintaining their entire sea beast demon forms.

Their auras were mixed and powerful, their gazes uniformly locked onto Xu Guang, or more aptly, the blood-red mark on his forehead.

"They're exiles from the Sea of Illusions!" Yan Ruge exclaimed softly, "The Soul Blood Pursuing Soul Order has drawn them here!"

On the first bone boat stood a burly man with scales covering his cheeks. He licked his lips, his eyes shining with greed and ferocity: "Soul Blood Pursuing Soul Order of the Azure Dragon Race! Hahaha, who would've thought we could encounter such a treasure here, someone with a bounty from the Azure Dragon Race! Boy, your head is ours!"

The exiles on the other boats began to jeer, their voices malicious and clamorous.

"I've heard that killing someone marked by the Soul Blood could earn the Azure Dragon Race's favor and a hefty reward!"

"Tear him apart! Our chance to leave this hellhole is right here!"

Yan Ruge stepped forward, standing shoulder to shoulder with Xu Guang, starlight gathering in her palm.

She surprisingly showed no intention of leaving.

Xu Guang glanced at her, his heart momentarily warmed, but it quickly turned into determination.

He was aware that the Soul Blood Pursuing Soul Order was like a beacon in the dark, constantly attracting outlaws from the Sea of Illusions.

Staying with him, Yan Ruge would only be continuously ensnared.

Fifteen minutes later, the sea surface was littered with corpses, blood forming rivers, and the entire sea reeked of a pungent, overwhelming stench.

"Their target is me." Xu Guang spoke slowly, his voice calm, "You don't need to accompany me into danger."

Yan Ruge raised her eyebrows: "What do you take me for? You've helped me before..."

Before she could finish, Xu Guang sighed inwardly, gave her a profound look, his gaze complex, filled with gratitude, resolution, and a hint of barely detectable apology.

The final divine weapon they refined together embodied Xu Guang's three true Martial Dao intents and Yan Ruge's Talisman Treasure Origin Power. Yan Ruge had nearly exhausted her origin and was at her weakest now.

Xu Guang did not wish to entangle her further.

The next day.

Yan Ruge sat quietly, opened her eyes, and didn't see any trace of Xu Guang, just the words 'Take care' written on the cave wall.

"What a bastard."

Yan Ruge cursed quietly, packed up her magic artifact.

...

Xu Guang maximized his speed, disregarding Source Qi consumption, and fleed through the vast Sea of Illusions.

He needed to find a sufficiently concealed and safe place to digest what he had gained, to break through the critical checkpoint—the first Nirvana Transformation in Martial Dao!

He didn't know how long he fled until the sense of pursuers in the distance temporarily vanished and Source Qi was nearly exhausted before stopping at a seemingly calm black sea area.

"This is it."

He took a deep breath, circulated the residual Source Qi within, letting the Black Soul Venerable Body activate its affinity to darkness, his body slowly sinking, merging as if into ink, into the cold, desolate Sea of Illusions.

The seafloor wasn't flat but had undulating ridges and deep valleys. Xu Guang continued descending, enduring increasingly terrifying water pressure and the ever-intensifying impact of chaotic will.

With the intention of slaughter, he shattered distracting thoughts, using the intention of forgetting to shield interference, unwaveringly moving downward.

Finally, at an unknown depth of the ocean bed, he saw a vast expanse of ancient, desolate palace ruins. These palaces were long dilapidated, covered by thick seabed silt and seaweed, with only remnants of broken pillars and crumbling palace walls speaking of past glories.

"The deep palace of the Sea of Illusions... there are legends of those who fall into the Sea of Illusions occasionally having great fortunes, finding ancient relics, and it seems it's not a mere rumor."

Xu Guang found a relatively intact palace chamber, waving his hand, setting several simple concealment and alert forbidden techniques, and sat cross-legged.

He took out what he had gained: the slaughter insights brought by refining the Ghost Dragon Deadly Talisman Treasure, the enhancement of the Black Soul Venerable Body towards the origin of the Secret Realm, the integration of the three major Martial Dao intents, and... the azure and purple large cauldron seized from Yin Kuang's hands. This large cauldron shared the same origins as the Celestial Capital, though it couldn't directly aid his breakthrough, its induction of suppression and stabilization of Dao rhythm was particularly critical now.

He closed his eyes, his heart spirit sinking within.

The vigor began to surge like the Yangtze River; the three major intents—Sui Sha, forgetting, and slaughter materialized in his knowledge sea, intertwining and clashing, triggering the Spirit Palace's rumble; the Black Soul Venerable Body resonated with the nine major Secret Realms within him, the Source Qi operating in a mysterious trajectory.

Nirvana Transformation was the leap in the level of life, the thorough fusion and elevation of Martial Dao will with the body's essence origin. It required invoking the heavenly rules from the netherworld, tempering oneself, and condensing the embryonic form of a personal 'Dharma Image'.

Xu Guang's accumulation was already exceedingly rich, in this extreme place of the Sea of Illusions' deep palace, under immense pressure, all insights and all power began to boil, compress, and transform!

Outside the palace chamber, the black seawater silently rotated, forming a massive whirlpool, stirring the eternal dead silence.

At the center of the whirlpool, vaguely, a blood sun rose and set, residual rain scattered, rageful roars echoed... all manifestations of his Martial Dao path.

Time lost its meaning here.