After the Blood Pearl penetrated Zhu Bufan's palm, it started to dart towards the meridians within his body. At this moment, Emperor Yan opened his mouth, "Steady your mind, guide the Primordial Qi as usual, refine and absorb the Spirit Soul!"

As Emperor Yan's words fell, Zhu Bufan immediately started to guide the Primordial Qi within his body, driving the Blood Pearl. Soon, under the control of Zhu Bufan's Primordial Qi, the Blood Pearl stopped its chaotic path in his meridians and, following Zhu Bufan's guidance, moved towards the Qi Vortex.

The moment the Blood Pearl settled in the Qi Vortex, the Poison Fire seed within Zhu Bufan seemed to sense something, and instantly enveloped the Blood Pearl. Then, under the wrap of the Poison Fire, the Blood Pearl began to struggle vehemently.

Although Zhu Bufan expected the Blood Pearl to struggle, its power still startled him slightly. The struggling of the Blood Pearl was purely instinctual resistance, not a conscious action, similar to the reflexive kick resulting from a hammer tapping a specific spot on the knee.

With full focus on the flames of Poison Fire, Zhu Bufan began to control the flames to refine the Spirit Soul of the Blood Pearl. The Spirit Soul, which had no conscious control and only knew to dash around chaotically, stood no chance against Zhu Bufan. After struggling for a while, the Spirit Soul began to be refined by the Poison Fire, and Zhu Bufan's originally dark green Poison Fire also started to change.

Threads of blood-red mist drifted from the Spirit Soul, merging into Zhu Bufan's dark green Poison Fire. Initially, the Poison Fire showed no change upon absorbing the blood-red mist. However, as more of the blood-red mist evaporated, the color of the Poison Fire started to darken until it had entirely turned into a purplish-red color.

The purplish-red Poison Fire, with its emitted pressure and eerie presence, was unrivaled by any ordinary Poison Fire. Zhu Bufan was sure that if he hadn't tamed the Poison Fire earlier, suddenly subduing this type of purplish-red Blood Spirit Poison Fire would have only resulted in being burnt to ashes. However, since he had already controlled the Poison Fire, this upgraded Blood Spirit Poison Fire showed no rejection towards him.

The power of the Blood Spirit Poison Fire began to overflow, and vast amounts of Spiritual Energy surged from the thoroughly Spirit Soul of the Blood Pearl towards all limbs and bones of Zhu Bufan. Zhu Bufan knew that the refinement upgrade of the Poison Fire was complete, and the next task was to completely absorb the remaining Spirit Soul of the Blood Pearl to turn it into his own power.

The Spirit Soul of the Blood Pearl, refined into Spiritual Energy, was very easy to absorb and didn't cost Zhu Bufan much effort; he completely absorbed all the Spirit Soul power, and Zhu Bufan's cultivation soared to the peak of the Body Tempering Eighth Layer Heaven, just one step away from the highest level of the Body Tempering Realm - the Ninth Layer Heaven.

Ever since absorbing the Spirit Soul of the Blood Pearl, Zhu Bufan hadn't moved at all for five days straight. To the uninformed, seeing Zhu Bufan's pale face now might lead them to think he had died.

But Emperor Yan knew from the Primordial Qi constantly condensing and the slowly soaring aura that Zhu Bufan was preparing to break through to the Ninth Layer Heaven of the Body Tempering Realm.

On the sixth day, Zhu Bufan's originally pale complexion suddenly began to flush, and his aura also started to wildly expand. With eyes suddenly opening, a beam of brilliant light shot out from Zhu Bufan's eyes.

"Is this the feeling of the Ninth Layer Heaven of Body Tempering?" Opening his eyes, Zhu Bufan felt his own body, filled to the brim with Primordial Qi, and noted the changes that had made it remarkably resilient. After another refinement by the Spirit Soul of the Blood Pearl, his body's strength now far surpassed any typical Body Tempering Practitioner, even possibly rivaling those in the Bone Forging Realm.

"Have you awakened? How do you feel?" As Zhu Bufan was sensing the changes after entering the Ninth Layer Heaven of the Body Tempering Realm, Emperor Yan's voice came, and at the same time, a petite figure jumped onto the bed, her bare little feet stepping directly onto Zhu Bufan's stomach. If an ordinary person were treated this way, they might vomit out of shock.

"Emperor Yan, you... Huh? You've changed back?" Just as Zhu Bufan was about to complain about Emperor Yan's violent behavior, he surprisingly discovered that Emperor Yan had reverted to the appearance of a ten-year-old girl, her pitch-black, bright eyes blinking at him, and her long twin ponytails swaying adorably.

"Yes! I've found out that I can now freely switch between two age states, so I returned to my original form!" With a pout, Emperor Yan continued, "Mostly, I've found that if I appear in this form, no matter what wrong I do or say, people always seem to blame you. That's great! So, I've decided not to grow up, staying just like this!"

Emperor Yan, shaking her head as she explained her reason for reverting to her original form, nearly made Zhu Bufan faint on the spot. It turned out Emperor Yan resumed this appearance to conveniently shift blame to him after causing trouble. What was more frustrating was that Emperor Yan didn't even bother hiding her intentions, telling the victim, Zhu Bufan, directly, which hurt him more than anything.

After some commotion, Emperor Yan suddenly turned serious. Zhu Bufan, already resistant to her intermittent changes, knew when she turned serious, she was about to discuss important matters.

"Fool, this Emperor has thought about it, and this Emperor has now broken through the First Layer's seal and regained much strength, this Emperor intends to apply a seal on you."

"Apply a seal? What kind of seal?" Seeing Emperor Yan speak seriously, Zhu Bufan also picked up Emperor Yan and placed him aside, then sat up and said, the atmosphere between the two, one big and one small, turned quite intense and solemn, making it indeed feel quite peculiar.

"The seal this Emperor wants to apply on you is to shut off the power you borrow from the Blood-colored Soul Shadow. That is to say, once the seal is applied, you'll no longer be able to use the Soul Power of that soul shadow, at least not until you are capable of handling that Soul Power."

"I understand." Zhu Bufan nodded, showing little hesitation as he agreed with Emperor Yan, "Actually, even if you didn't mention it, I, too, would've asked you to help me apply something of this sort."

"Why?" Hearing Zhu Bufan's words, Emperor Yan this time was taken aback. Initially, Emperor Yan thought Zhu Bufan would need some time to consider accepting the sealing, and Emperor Yan had even prepared much reasoning, considering the temptation of obtaining powerful Cultivation strength instantaneously is not something ordinary people can resist.

"Because I fear becoming reliant on the power of the Blood-colored Soul Shadow. If I develop a dependence on that power, I fear that from now on, I could only rely on the soul shadow's power in battle, and my own Cultivation might never advance further." Recalling the sensation of being possessed by the Soul Power and feeling overwhelmingly strong, Zhu Bufan said pensively.

"Yes, getting addicted to borrowed power and not being able to free oneself from it, that's what this Emperor fears the most. Because gaining great power suddenly can easily make one lost in its midst. If it were not necessary to break the curse of the Blood World, this Emperor wouldn't have mentioned the soul shadow matter so soon. But now… alas, the only choice left is to apply the seal." Emperor Yan too showed a bit of regret as he spoke, as the power of the Blood-colored Soul Shadow was strong, but now he must temporarily seal it in Zhu Bufan, truly regrettable, yet it is necessary considering Zhu Bufan's future Cultivation progress.

Both gave a somewhat regretful sigh, then Emperor Yan asked Zhu Bufan to turn his back to him.

Joining Hand Seals, Emperor Yan's white hands switched through no less than ten different Hand Seals in a matter of seconds, the speed was breathtaking. When Emperor Yan formed the last Hand Seal, the pitch-black Wutian Black Flame condensed into a sinister and mysterious rune pattern in front of him.

"Summon the abyss of a thousand depths and ten thousand precipices, seal the vast Wutian Flames, call upon the darkness that obscures sun and heavens, borrow the fierce brilliance of the seven heavens, thousands of abysses and vastness, all seal this mark! Seal of Flame Death!!"

The cold voice of the Spell reverberated within the room, and as Emperor Yan's spell concluded, the black seal in front of him began to burn furiously and imprinted itself on Zhu Bufan's back.

"Ah!!!!"

Waves of blue smoke rose continuously, and when the imprint landed on Zhu Bufan's back, even the well-prepared Zhu Bufan could not help but cry out in pain, the scorching intensity of Wutian Black Flame was not something ordinary people could withstand.

Fortunately, the branding of the seal did not last long. Soon, the burning flame disappeared, and on Zhu Bufan's back, the bizarre rune pattern now emerged, with strands of black luminescence flowing from the seal, appearing both eerie and ominous.

"This Emperor has now temporarily used the Seal of Flame Death to lock your Spirit Veins, thus you cannot borrow external Soul Power anymore unless your own strength reaches the Soul Refining Realm or higher, only then you might be able to break the seal using your own power and borrow Soul Power."

"To reach the Soul Refining Realm before I can break the seal again?" Feeling the searing heat on his back, Zhu Bufan couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"Yes, only when you reach the Soul Refining Realm can you truly begin to control that immense power, and even then, only a portion can be borrowed! Because that soul shadow, evidently, was a strong being who had mastered Law Power in life, hence even the power from a Soul Fragment requires reaching the Soul Refining Stage to possibly be used."

"Law Power?"

"Yes, it is indeed Law Power, a capability only potential to Cultivators at the Heaven Rank, and of course, many people, even after reaching the Heaven Rank, find it difficult to master the power of laws. It can be said that the number of people who truly master Law Power is quite few, reaching Heaven Rank is the basic requirement, but reaching Heaven Rank does not necessarily allow one to touch upon the laws. Of course, talking about this to you now is really too premature, but since you've once experienced the Law Power possessed by the Blood-colored Soul Shadow, it should be no harm telling you about it."

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