Sometime later, Krune advanced into the 9th Stage of the Divine Soul Realm. Once again, there were no side effects. His cultivation foundation also didn't become unstable at all. It kept increasing when it finally reached the peak of the Divine Soul Realm, where it finally stopped.

'I guess it can't go any further without me entering the next Realm. Alright, let's start.'

​​

Elemental Source Energy started to gather at great speeds and struck against Krune's Soul. The Spirit Stones around Krune also were being depleted very fast. Still, Spirit Stones are what Krune doesn't lack at the moment.

'It was not as painful as I thought it would be.'

Of course, it was not that changing the Soul wasn't painful. It is just that Krune had tempered his Soul with Tribulation Lightning so many times that it got a lot resistant against pain. But it also came with a side effect.

'I see, it seems like I will need to strike the Soul several times more than someone else would need to.'

It can't be helped. The Soul resistance obviously will make it harder to for the transformation to happen. Krune's only choice was to do it several times over.

'From the information available, an average Peak Divine Soul Realm would need to strike 200 to 300 times. But from the looks of it, I won't stop before at least a thousand or two, maybe more. I guess the stronger the cultivator or demon beast, the more they need to do it. That should be a good thing in theory.'

Krune was right. The more times you needed to strike the Soul with Elemental Source Energy, the more thoroughly the transformation would happen. Some Sects and Clans also liked to use this method to measure a member's talent. It would show just how much effort that member put into his cultivation up to that point.

Feifei, who was watching from outside, couldn't help but ask the others who were already in the Soul Forging Realm.

"How many times you had to attack your souls during the breakthrough?"

Dilo was the first one to answer.

"I didn't have the Myriad Energies Technique at that time, so my soul power was just like any average one. I struck it 273 times to finish the complete transformation. Now that I remember, it was really a painful thing that I don't want to repeat."

Xankruan then answered next.

"I already had the Myriad Energies Technique by the time I entered the Soul Forging Realm. However, the time I spent with it wasn't as long as you guys, so the number didn't increase that much. After 407 hits, the full transformation was done as well."

Cinty was the last one to answer.

"In my case, I have the Blackhole Divine Soul. Also, as the Wisp Queen, although there weren't cultivation techniques for wisp, soul techniques were various. With the help of my Blackhole Divine Soul and the Soul Techniques, I was able to train my Real Soul quite well. Not to mention that I also used tempering processes. In the end, I had to strike my Soul 914 times to finish the transformation."

Dile and Xankruan were surprised. That was more than double their numbers.

"That was probably excruciating."

Cinty shook her head.

"The stronger your Soul, the lesser the pain since it becomes more resistant. I would say that the pain that I felt with my 914 hits was probably lower than your 273."

Dilo felt like crying. Not only was his Soul just average, he even had to feel more pain because of that.

'I guess that this is the effort being paid back.'

Cinty then continued.

"Still, Krune's Soul is supported by the Myriad Energies Technique since he was in the Qi Condensation Realm. He also used his Tribulation Lightning to temper it so many times that he probably doesn't even remember the number anymore. He also has his All-Encompassing Soul Technique. Simply put, his Soul was on an entirely different level from mine when I was in his Realm. I wouldn't be surprised if he needed to go over twice than what I required. His entire Breakthrough will probably take quite some time to finish too."

Time passed, and Krune kept hitting his Soul with Elemental Source Energy.

300 times...

500 time...

1000 times...

By this point, Krune finally could feel his Soul starting to transform.

'Only now the transformation began, at least there isn't much pain. Let's continue.'

1500 times...

2000 times...

2500...

It takes some time for you to gather the Elemental Source Energy to hit the Soul, so by the time Krune reached 3000 hits, over a day had gone by. Fortunately, Krune could tell that it was almost finished.

'Just another 200 or so hits, and the transformation will be completed.'

Finally, 3246 attacks later, Krune's Real Soul finished its transformation. Now, it was very similar to his own Divine Soul, a mix of Soul and Elemental Source Energy. Krune also noticed that his Soul became more compact. However, at the same time, he felt like his control power over everything increased several times.

That wasn't all. Krune entered the World of Laws and finally understood why Soul Forging Realm cultivators and demon beasts had an easier time comprehending Laws.

"I see... the laws are being attracted by my cultivation. No wonder the biggest majority outside Dalin Universe would start comprehending Laws only in this Realm."

Suddenly, Krune heard Heavin's voice in his conscience.

"You can feel amazed as much as you want later, our little friend in the skies is here to pay a visit already."

Krune looked up, and sure enough, the Heavenly Tribulation Clouds started to gather again.

"So far, this is just like a normal breakthrough. If anything, the Heavenly Tribulation size is several times larger than what was in Dilo's case. Still, this is something that I was already expecting."

Krune didn't even wait for the Tribulation Fire to descend. He got up and charged directly inside the clouds.

The Tribulation Clouds seemed to get enraged by Krune's boldness and immediately released the Tribulation Fire. However, Krune didn't care. He first activated his Tribulation Lightning Domain, which could eat the laws of everything. By the time the fire reached Krune's Wisp Body, its power was already reduced by half!

"It's Sun feeding time!"

Krune opened his Elemental Meridians and again guided the Tribulation Fire directly at his Sun in his Universe Foundation. Last time, Krune's Sun had gotten big enough to finally exert the necessary gravitational pull for his Planet Foundation to orbit it. During his entire time as a Divine Soul Realm Wisp, his Sun continued to absorb even more Spiritual and Elemental Source Energies. It was now at least 50% bigger than when he entered the Divine Soul Realm. Still, the Tribulation Fire was by far the best type of Energy for it.

Krune could also guide a lot more Tribulation Fire than he could in the past, so his Sun was having the feast of its life. Krune was also taking care of his Planet Foundation since the gravitational pull of his Sun kept increasing.

Krune looked at that and couldn't help but sigh.

"Light Spirit was the one who gave me this idea before. I wonder when he will wake up again."

Suddenly, Krune heard a familiar voice that he hadn't in a very long time.

"No need to wonder, I'm already here."

Krune was taken aback by that voice.

"Light Spirit! You are finally awake!"

Light Spirit, of course, didn't show the same enthusiasm as Krune.

"How can I not? With all this Tribulation Fire power shaking everything here, it would be a miracle if I did not wake up. Well, at least, you are doing the right thing by increasing the Sun's size."

Just as Krune was about to reply, Heavin's Divine Soul approached Light Spirit's Tribulation Source. He came so fast that Light Spirit had to dodge him to not hit each other.

"So you are finally back. Why did you take so long to wake up? Krune had been feeling gloomy for a long time because you never woke up, you know? Well, Krune doesn't matter much, so you don't need to care about him anyway."

If Krune was in his human form, his mouth would definitely have twitched after hearing that.

"The problem is that even Feifei felt sad because of you and that I can't let pass."

Light Spirit was speechless.

"You didn't forget who saved your asses back in the Mohie Zarks Inheritance, right? It was exactly because of that that I had to sleep for some time."

Heavin didn't care, though.

"This is this, and that is that. You have to apologize to Feifei later, or I will keep pestering you day and night until the day we get separated."

Krune couldn't help but remind them.

"You guys didn't perhaps forget that I'm in the middle of a Heavenly Tribulation at the moment, right? So, what about paying attention to it first?"

Light Spirit took a look outside and snorted.

"Hmph! Such a puny level of power. If you can't even deal with this weak thing, then there is nothing more for us to talk about. Anyway, I'm going to sleep a little more, call me if you need anything."

Krune couldn't help but sigh.

'Does this guy even know how much I worried about him? Oh well, whatever... I'll tell Feifei later.'