Eternal Temptation: Awakening Sinful Desires

After pausing momentarily, Asher resumed his cultivation again, as the rate of the increase in spirit essence inside his Dantian continued at an unprecedented pace.

In fact, if someone were able to observe the cultivation chamber from outside at this moment, they would only see darkness engulfing Asher, as pure spirit essence was absorbed by him continually through his skin.

This scene resembled that of an infinite dark space. Even Asher himself felt lost within it because of how silent everything appeared around him, allowing him to lose track of time.

However, despite being trapped within the darkness itself for a prolonged period, he kept meditating without ceasing as he continued harnessing spirit essence, allowing himself to advance rapidly.

At some point, Asher eventually broke through to the Peak-Stage of the Spirit Foundation Realm, which made him reach the boundary to the True Spirit Realm before pausing at this point.

'I need to consolidate my cultivation and improve it further,' Asher thought decisively. 'It won't be enough if I remain only at the Peak-Stage of the Spirit Foundation Realm since my Spirit will transform once I breakthrough to the True Spirit Realm. This will allow my Spirit to grow and unlock some of its innate abilities that I currently lack.'

This meant he must accumulate sufficient spirit essence to empower himself completely prior to advancing ahead with the breakthrough.

Asher looked at the Spirit inside his dantian, which had grown a little and showed signs of transformation, turning darker than before. It was starting to grow bigger as its black scales emitted an even darker aura.

It was still relatively small due to its immature state, but it had an intimidating presence nonetheless, which allowed anyone else who saw it to realize immediately that they shouldn't provoke it carelessly.

'With the increase in my cultivation level, my Spirit seems to be showing early signs of transformation; it must have been the effect of the Abyssal Spirit Essence Devouring Art.' Asher reasoned internally.

Taking a deep breath, Asher focused entirely on the Spirit floating above the Abyssal whirlpool within his Dantian. He gathered all of his concentration into it and tried to enhance its growth through constant cultivation.

His efforts weren't in vain, as he sensed that something seemed to awaken deep within him, causing his mind to resonate with an unknown power within his very soul—something familiar yet unfamiliar at once. It was hard for Asher to comprehend precisely, yet it was still connected directly to the Spirit.

A powerful aura emanated from his entire being as Asher concentrated heavily on this unknown power, concentrating upon increasing its potency.

Then a mysterious force emerged from his spirit, causing it to tremble as he felt a strange sense of emptiness within him. This sensation confused Asher because he had never experienced anything similar before.

With the aid of Abyssal Spirit Essence Devouring Art, Asher continuously refined the dense dark element of pure spirit essence within the chamber, refining it and channeling it directly to his Spirit.

The process was complicated, requiring one to focus intently on it so they could properly understand the correct methods necessary.

Gradually, Asher managed to manipulate this energy correctly, thereby gaining some insight on how to perform this process efficiently.

With that being said, Asher calmed his mind before entering a state where nothing else mattered aside from refining spirit essence.

At this point, Asher had been immersed inside his Dantian and refining the spirit essence for so long that he simply forgot about the passage of time itself; only a vague sense of awareness remained within him now as a result.

Finally, after a long time, with a final burst of spirit essence, Asher achieved yet another breakthrough, this time advancing from the Peak-Stage of the Spirit Foundation Realm straight to the Initial-Stage of the True Spirit Realm!

A dark aura gushed from his spirit, enveloping the entirety of his physical form in its dark shadow and emanating a strong pressure.

The Spirit hovering over the abyssal whirlpool looked even more mysterious than before. Its obsidian scales glimmered ominously, and its crimson eyes shone brightly in the dark shadows covering the space around it.

It grew enormously in size as it floated there, emitting an even more domineering aura compared to before.

Meanwhile, there was just something about it that seemed to signify a threat to everything in existence, which made Asher's heart skip a beat whenever he glanced at it.

'Although I have successfully broken through, and my Spirit has gone through transformation as well, getting stronger than before, I still have so much more to grow in. But still...' Asher thought in excitement, 'With this, my Spirit now possesses the ability to interact with the world in physical form, and I won't have to expend my mental strength to keep its manifestation.

Moreover, I can feel that my Spirit has now also matured with intelligence, meaning it will be able to use its power more efficiently and be able to fight alongside me.'

'And finally, most importantly, it also represents the greatest step in cultivation, marking me as a real cultivator and separating me from beginners altogether.' Asher thought about all these things with excitement. He planned to train harder than ever before with his Abyssal Spirit Essence Devouring Art and work tirelessly towards becoming an invincible existence among cultivators.

Noticing that he could no longer benefit from this cultivation chamber any further, Asher slowly opened his eyes.

His vision adjusted to his immediate surroundings shortly within the cultivation chamber, and while sighing softly under his breath, Asher shortly stood up to leave.

Upon doing so, Asher exited his cultivation chamber and headed back downstairs.

No matter how much Asher wanted to proceed with his cultivation right away, he understood that he couldn't ignore the needs of his own body for too long because his body required sustenance from time to time to continue smoothly.

'Even though my cultivation has improved substantially compared to before, I feel somewhat hungry after cultivating and refining spirit essence for so long. I guess it would be wise to have a meal first, and then I can resume practicing my techniques.' He decided as such internally before walking towards the dining hall.