Ning was flying on top of the ocean. The view from there looked the same as anywhere in the ocean that didn't have a view of the land. However, the feeling he got was certainly very unique.
It felt like he was at the place with the most concentrated Qi on all of the planet, and yet, he knew that whatever was inside should be much more concentrated.
"There's a space being hidden here right?" Ning asked. "Is it a seal that exists outside of the planet, or can I teleport in there?"
<You can Teleport there so long as you know the location>
"Since I don't know it, I must find a way there first huh. Can you help me and tell me where it is then?" Ning asked.
<It will cost you 20 Billion energy to know the location of this island. Are you sure?>
"Oh, so you can tell me. I guess it is fine as long as I'm finding it on my own, huh?" Ning thought. "Yeah sure, that energy is almost nothing for me now."
<Confirmed>
A small piece of information entered his mind, and Ning now knew the location of the island that was hidden within the foldings of the space.
"Alright, let's check it out then," Ning said and disappeared.
When he reappeared, he suddenly felt out of breath. The air was filled in with so much Qi that Ning was taking in Qi by simply breathing the air. His body wasn't used to this much Qi, so it took a moment to adapt.
Finally, once he did, he looked around at the scenery in front of him. What he saw was a massive island with mountains that seemed to be in a spiral shape in the island.
Most of the island was filled with forests and grassland, and so were the mountains.
Ning slowly flew down onto the island. He could see many rare plants and ingredients that he could use to make very rare pills, however, he didn't pick any of them.
There were 2 different feelings inside of him that were starting to annoy him a little. He couldn't tell what the first one was, but the 2nd one he knew far too well.
Now that he was in the area, his body was trying to break through on its own. The island was so rich with Qi, that Ning didn't have a say over his breakthrough.
After all, going into the Spirit Transformation was long overdue for him. He took a deep breath and went to the top of one of the mountains and sat on the fresh grass that grew there.
He didn't have anyone to protect him this time, so just before he broke through, he sent out his divine sense over the island as far as he could.
He was quite surprised to realize that his divine sense couldn't reach as far as it normally would. 'Is the thick presence of Qi affecting the range of my divine sense?' he wondered.
He had learned about it through the knowledge about cultivation but never felt such a thing happen before. He had mostly forgotten about it until he tried it out just now.
He also saw that aside from plants, there were no animals. So he was safe to breakthrough as he pleased.
He finally let go of any self-restraint he was still holding on to and let his body go through whatever changes it wanted to on its own.
Ning's Nascent Soul that he held in his Sea of Qi was now fully grown into an adult spirit that looked just like him.
The spirit wore no clothes and was a perfect spiritual replica of Ning himself. The spirit had filled the entire sea of Qi even though it sat there in a lotus formation.
Once Ning let his body start to go through the breakthrough process, the surrounding Qi started coming to him.
When he did this outside anywhere else on the planet, he would end up feeling that there wasn't much Qi in the surrounding. Even Qi gathering formations weren't enough to gather Qi to reach a high concentration.
So, every time he would end up with the soul not getting enough Qi.
However, now it was different. With the Qi being as abundant as it was, the Qi started seeping through his body and made its way to the soul in his Sea of Qi.
When the soul started getting Qi, Ning could feel a certain connection with his soul that he hadn't before. Previously, he felt like his body and soul were two separate entities that were both connected to each other through his mind.
However, now it felt like both the soul and body were the same being. With that, his soul grew a little more.
The soul took in as much Qi as it could and soon there was a vortex outside of Ning's body that constantly took in Qi. If he weren't in the Origin, where there were no animals anywhere, the current phenomenon he created would be enough to alert an entire Empire.
And it was only continuing to grow. As time went on, the Qi he was absorbing kept on increasing, and with that, his Soul grew as well.
Soon, the soul was so big that his Sea of Qi couldn't contain it at all. Instead of bursting out, however, just as any soul would, his nascent soul turned ethereal and continued growing normally.
Ning could tell what was happening, but he was still surprised. The sun soon went down on him, and night fell, but the phenomenon that Ning was creating didn't seem to find an end at all.
The soul soon grew to almost half his size and finally opened its eyes. They were his eyes, and he could see from them as well as he could see from his own body.
Ning could see 3 different visions right now, the third one being something that only he could do thanks to being energy.
The soul took a deep breath or at least acted as it did, and suddenly the Qi it was taking in increased once more.
Its size was slowly, but surely increasing, and with the increase in the amount of Qi it was taking, the speed at which the soul grew also increased by a lot.
The soul was almost the entire size of his body now and it was then it finally stopped growing. This was the most the soul would go on its own. The next few steps were something Ning would have to do himself.
He suddenly took control and the calming Qi around him started getting agitated once more. This was the final and most important phase of Spirit Transformation. If he failed here, he would suffer quite a strong damage to his cultivation and may even lose the chance to ever enter the Spirit Transformation ever again.
So, Ning took it quite seriously. Since he was both the soul and the body at once, his Qi started helping both at once. The Qi he was taking in was starting to refine his body as much as it was helping his Soul grow.
To enter the Spirit Transformation realm, he had to refine his body enough to house the Soul perfectly. Any misalignment would surely harm his cultivation base.
Ning calmed down as much as he could and handled it with care. His body was filled with Qi right now, and it continually refined it to make it houseable for the soul.
At the same time, the soul was slowly growing to be about the same size as the body. Ning couldn't control the speed at which the soul grew as it took in about the same amount of Qi as his body did, so he could only hope that when it was the same size, his body was good enough.
And the time came.
Ning's soul grew to the same size as his body and started phasing out of his at parts. Ning saw the problem and panicked for a second before calming and taking in more Qi. He refined the parts where the soul seemed to be escaping form until the soul didn't leave anymore.
He did so in multiple places until his soul didn't phase out of anywhere.
Finally, it was the same size and staying at the same place. Once that happened, his soul slowly started to merge with his body.
His soul started merging with his body, the bones, the muscles, the skins. Every part of his soul merged with every part of his body. It took a while for it all the happen, but when he was done, not a single piece of the soul remained.
It could also be said that not a single piece of his body remained as well. As his current body was both body and soul and at the same time something better.
He felt a sense of calm and all the Qi rushing towards him stopped. Ning could feel his cultivation base elevate to a level he had never before perceived.
He had entered the Spirit Transformation realm. Finally, his one body opened its eyes and he only saw two visions instead of 3.
His soul was no more, and no more was his body. They had both merged and transformed to form something better. Something that allowed him to grow once more and at the end of it, this would be what leads him and many other cultivators to immortality as everyone wanted.
Ning smiled. He didn't care for immortality, but he definitely loved the idea of his loved ones reaching such a realm.
"Finally, after so many years.. I can give them the long life I promised them."
