.


    Ethan''s sea of consciousness began to tremble violently.


    Visible cracks started to appear everywhere, while a ckish-green aura began to envelop the space.


    Bai Yu didn''t know what was happening, but it didn''t take long for her to understand the cause of this strange phenomenon.


    ''Could it be rted to a spiritual beast?


    But how? It shouldn''t be possible, especially at this stage, not to mention this oppressive aura.


    Just…


    What in the world is going on?''


    Ethan was asking himself the same question at that moment.


    After he began to focus more on the fragments of his soul he could sense, he had almostpletely detached from the rest of the world, entering a state of absolute concentration.


    For him, time had lost all meaning, and the only thing on his mind was to close the gap between him and the perception of his soul more and more.


    At a certain point, he could finally confirm that what he was sensing was indeed his soul.


    But just as he managed to fully sense it, he also felt something else.


    ''This... what is this?'' he asked himself in confusion, feeling a sort of connection to something.


    At first, he thought it was his soul artifact, the silver cauldron, but then he sensed a strange attractioning from whatever was beyond this connection.


    He doubted it was the Seven Sages'' amphora, as that was located within his spiritual sea, and the only connection he felt with it was through the system.


    He wasn''t sure if it was indeed the amphora or something else, but he decided to investigate.


    He focused more on it, and as if entering a portal, his consciousness was suddenly transported to apletely different ce.


    It was simr to when he entered his spiritual sea, where he could feel his ethereal form moving within it.


    Although he wasn''t in his physical body, he still somehow felt a slight headache, and for a few seconds, he struggled to stabilize his mind.


    After a few moments, he finally regained hisposure, and as his eyes managed to focus on his surroundings, he muttered,


    ''W-what …''


    As his vision cleared, all he could see was a ck tunnel in which his soul seemed to be traveling at high speed.


    On the tunnel walls, lights of different colors appeared and disappeared constantly.


    The speed at which they appeared and then vanished made Ethan realize that his soul was traveling at an incredible velocity.


    He wasn''t sure what was happening or where his soul was being taken, but he knew the only thing he could do was wait and see, as he no longer seemed to have any control over himself.


    It was like being pulled by a force so powerful that any resistance was futile.


    Normally, Ethan would have panicked by now, but he thought that as long as his body was safe, he could survive whatever was happening now.


    After all, he had a being like Bai Yu watching over his sea of consciousness, as well as the Seven Sages'' amphora, which had proven useful in difficult situations before.


    A few seconds passed, and finally, Ethan began to notice changes urring around the tunnel.


    The ck color that surrounded him was gradually being reced by what appeared to be a ckish-blue-green fog.


    Ethan noticed that despite the high speed, he could distinguish this fog much more clearlypared to the series of lights from earlier.


    Then he realized that it wasn''t him focusing his vision more effectively; it was his speed that was beginning to slow down more and more.


    What had been mere traces of fog now became an entire mass, and in a few moments, the entire surrounding environment was enveloped by this strange fog.


    The fog was everywhere, surrounding him from all sides, and seeing this scene, he couldn''t help but associate it with the images taken by telescopes in Earth''s orbit, of cosmic clouds.


    It was a strange association, but it was the first thing that came to Ethan''s mind as he saw this scenario.


    As he moved forward, he noticed that certain points in the fog intermittently lit up at irregr intervals.


    It was as if something luminous inside it was moving at high speed.


    After a few more moments, as his soul continued to advance, Ethan realized what it was.


    They were bolts of lightning.


    Thin, blue, luminous, irregr streaks resembling lightning surged through the strange cloud, moving from one ce to another.


    Ethan didn''t have time to examine them calmly or understand what they were because, after a few more seconds, something else started toe into view ahead of him beyond the fog.


    At first, it was just a glowing dot, then it grew to the size of a baseball, and then to the size of a basketball.


    The closer he got, the bigger the dot became.


    The fog around this area seemed to dissipate like curtains being drawn back, allowing a view of the breathtaking, yet at the same time shocking, scene ahead.


    At a certain point, Ethan could finally see the actual size of the luminous mass in front of him, and as soon as he did, his body broke out in cold sweat, a strange chill coursing through him.


    "What the hell…"


    What had once been a small glowing mass was now, from this close distance, a gigantic luminous sphere, so vast that even from this distance, Ethan could clearly see its enormous size.


    The luminous sphere emitted an intense bluish-green light, like a sun in space, and around it, a dense mass of this fog swirled at high speed, forming what seemed like a luminous ring.


    Ethan had no idea what this ce was, nor what this gigantic sphere in front of him was, but he knew one thing, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn''t stop his advance toward it.


    Currently, Ethan''s soul was racing toward the enormous luminous sphere, with no sign of stopping.


    Helpless in this situation, Ethan could only grit his teeth and watch.


    He had tried to wake up, but he couldn''t.


    It was as if all the connections he had with his body hadpletely vanished, and he couldn''t evenmunicate with Bai Yu or the system.


    "Why the hell do I always end up in situations like this?" he cursed,menting his bad luck.


    At this point, his soul had already drawn very close to the sphere, and he could no longer see its outlines, only the blue-green light that was approaching ever closer.


    ''Hm?''


    Reaching this point, Ethan thought he saw something move inside the luminous sphere.


    ''Could it have been just an illusion?'' he wondered for a moment, but then he saw something shift again within the glowing mass.


    "F*ck, there''s something alive inside," he muttered, realizing that whatever it was, it was definitely alive, and judging by its size, it was anything but small.


    At this point, Ethan felt like his fate was sealed.


    All he had wanted was to perceive his soul, but somehow he had ended up in this kind of situation, where all he could do was wait and see what would happen to him.


    From the movements of the creature inside, it seemed to have sensed him, and feeling an increasing pressure on his soul, Ethan could tell that it had locked onto him.


    This pressure kept growing and in no time had surpassed that of the creature that had emerged from the portal earlier.


    In fact, there was no point inparing it to that creature.


    This one clearly emitted an aura that was many times more terrifying.


    Just as Ethan''s soul was almost swallowed up by the luminous mass, in his spiritual sea, the amphora of the Seven Sages, which had remained silent the entire time, finally showed signs of activity.


    Suddenly, runes on the amphora began to glow, and several series of floating symbols appeared, swirling around it.


    First, a ring of symbols materialized.


    Then another, and then yet another.


    In no time, almost a dozen rings had formed around the amphora of the Seven Sages, each onerger than thest.


    Bai Yu, who had been starting to panic over the strange phenomenon affecting Ethan''s spiritual sea, noticed the unusual activity of the amphora in the air and thought,


    ''And now what''s happening?''


    The series of rings made up of strange symbols, each one different from the other, began spinning faster around the artifact, and where it had initially only glowed in a few ces,


    it was nowpletely enveloped by a golden aura that slowly spread across its surface until it covered it entirely.


    Then, out of nowhere, a column of light shot upward from it.


    The thin column grew wider as it rose, while the swirling symbols around the amphora spun even faster, bing almost indistinguishable.


    The beam of light quickly reached an incredible speed, and in no time, it had already struck the ceiling of Ethan''s sea of consciousness.


    At the same moment the beam hit the ceiling of Ethan''s consciousness, his soul, which had been sucked into the luminous mass, began to shine.


    Ethan''s soul was nowpletely covered in a golden aura, though it continued moving forward.


    At this point, he was fully inside the luminous sphere, and the creature moving within it began approaching him.


    Just as the giant figure of the creature, encased in the glowing mass, came near, the golden aura surrounding Ethan shot forward at an almost imperceptible speed.


    In the next instant, Ethan could no longerprehend what had happened, as his mind suddenly went nk, and he immediately lost consciousness.