The barrier between the 4th and 5th stages was significant. It marked the transition from the early stages of the realm to the late stage. It was where the soul began to truly solidify and integrate with the body. The connection between the soul and body becomes stronger. They rely on each other to get stronger. The stronger the body, the stronger the soul can become. The stronger the soul, the better the control over the body.

Li Yu’s Ocean of Qi was churning. Waves of spiritual energy crashed against the shores of his inner world. The Golden Koi Soul was leaping frantically, its scales shining like miniature suns. The Fisherman stood on his island with his fishing rod in his hands. His fishing rod was bent over as if he had hooked the core of the planet.

Outside, the valley began to shake.

The ambient Qi for miles around was being seized. It rushed toward the valley like water down a drain. The wind howled and trees bent toward Li Yu. The fire in the pit was sucked out and extinguished instantly by the vacuum of energy Li Yu was creating.

"Greedy," Fengliu muttered as he witnessed the scene and was bracing himself against the wind. He reinforced the arrays even further, sweat beading on his forehead. "You are trying to drink the whole mountain and surrounding area dry."

Inside the eye of the storm, Li Yu felt a hunger.

His soul was growing stronger but it lacked substance. It needed fuel. Massive amounts of fuel. The ambient Qi wasn't enough. The spiritual energy of the mountain and miles around it wasn't enough.

‘I need more!’

As if responding to the call of his soul, his storage ring vibrated violently. A light exploded from the ring and penetrated the fabric of the spatial container. An object floated out.

It was the Xylarri Orb, the "gift" he had received from the Xylarri that now marked him for death. The one Viridus had called a rare and valuable treasure even in the home world where it came from.

It hovered before Li Yu’s chest and was pulsing like a heart. Li Yu nearly forgot about it due to all the events after he had come back home. It was also something that seemed dangerous even if he was told twice it wasn’t.

The orb was dense, heavy and filled with a chaotic power that was a mix of many different types. It radiated an aura of the soul but it was extremely chaotic and violent, an energy that would not be so easily absorbed.

"What is that?" Fengliu whispered, stepping back as the pressure inside the array sky rocketed. "That energy... it feels like the end of the world."

The orb didn't wait for any kind of command. As though it knew what its job or role was, it quickly dissolved. It turned into a stream of thick violet liquid energy that shot straight into Li Yu’s chest and sucked down by his Koi martial spirit. The energy was quickly purified and refined causing it to lose a lot of its chaotic and violent nature. But even with that…

BOOM.

Li Yu threw his head back, a silent scream tearing from his throat. It felt like swallowing a star. The energy wasn't just Qi, it was pure and refined Soul Essence. It flooded his meridians and was expanding his channels until they felt like they would burst. .

It rushed into his Ocean of Qi.

The ocean turned purple for a moment and the island grew. The Fisherman glowed with blinding light and his form became more detailed. Li Yu could see the stitching on his hat, the calluses on his hands and the aged but calm expression on his face.

A similar thing happened to his Koi Soul with it slowly becoming more and more like a mirror image of his own martial spirit.

The Abyssal Leviathan Physique roared to life. This was incredible food and it wasn’t going to miss out. It devoured the heavy and crushing pressure of the orb, turning the burden into strength. His cells were drinking in the power and further strengthening. It has been a long time since they have had such a feast.

While this was going on Li Yu’s mind was elsewhere. With the massive influx of power from the orb and Qi rushing in, his perception was blown wide open. He was no longer just sensing the valley. He was sensing the sky.

For weeks now, ever since he laid in the jungle looking up at the night sky, he had been trying to sense the Moon, Sun and Star Qi. He had tried to pull it in countless times but it had always slipped through his fingers, too distant, too ethereal.

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But now, fueled by this orb and the advancing state of his soul, the veil finally lifted. He felt it. The Moon. It wasn't just a rock in the sky. It was a cold silver river of Yin type energy. It was heavy and fluid.

And further out... the stars.

They were pinpricks of incredible sharpness. Ancient, distant and piercing. They felt like needles of diamond. ‘Finally, got you,’ Li Yu thought.

Inside his Ocean of Qi, it was the Fisherman that acted. It casted its line upward and towards the heavens.

The hook flew into the void of Li Yu’s mental sky. It snagged something. Li Yu gritted his teeth and told the Fisherman to pull. He began to draw it in. Slowly he pulled the celestial energy down.

Outside the hut, Fengliu watched on in awe.

A beam of silver moonlight seemed to bend and redirected itself directly on Li Yu. And within that silver light there were tiny specks of starlight that danced like glitter.

They entered Li Yu’s body.

Li Yu’s skin began to glow with a faint silver sheen. His aura started to change slightly. It was no longer just that of the ocean. It now carried the cold and distant vastness of the night sky. The Star Qi refined his bones; the Moon Qi his blood.

The process was slow. The Xylarri Orb provided the foundation while the Moon and Star Qi provided the refinement. Hours passed.

Fengliu remained where he was and stood guard in case anyone came. A spirit tiger was drawn by the massive energy and leaped out from the brush. Fengliu didn't even look at it; he simply slashed the air with his materialized wing and the beast fell. He would let nothing disturb the breakthrough.

He watched Li Yu transform.

"Monster," Fengliu whispered but there was pride in his voice. "You really are leaving us all behind."

The sun began to crest over the Mist-Veil Mountains. The first rays of dawn hit the valley floor and turned the mist into gold. As the light touched Li Yu’s face the storm within stopped. The winds died down instantly. The swirling Qi vanished and the pressure evaporated.

Li Yu still sat there in the same spot he was all night. The formation disks around him still hummed with energy and were being maintained by Fengliu. He finally opened his eyes.

For a second his entire two eyes were black. They had faint starlight in them and seemed to contain the entire galaxy within. Then they faded back to his normal eyes. He exhaled and a cloud of grey impurity left his lips and dissipated into the morning air.

He had successfully made his advancement to Soul Formation: Stage 5.

Li Yu stood up but he felt different. He felt heavy, yet weightless. His perception extended even further than before but this time without any effort. He could count the needles on a pine tree far away and it felt like he wasn’t even using his spiritual sense. He could hear the heartbeat of a sleeping bear in a cave. He could feel the movement of Qi in the air.

Li Yu then looked at his hands. They looked the same but he knew that if he punched now, the force would be even more explosive. The earlier stages in Soul Formation didn’t seem to make much of an impact on his body but this one did. It felt like he had made an advancement in his body refining technique but he hadn’t.

He then collected his thoughts and turned to Fengliu. Fengliu looked exhausted. Maintaining the array against that kind of constant pressure and scanning for threats all night long had drained him. His face was paler than usual.

"You are loud," Fengliu finally said once he saw Li Yu look over at him.

"I apologize," Li Yu smiled as he was stretching his arms. His bones popped like firecrackers. "It was... unexpected."

"That orb," Fengliu asked. "What was it?"

"A gift from a lifelong enemy if you can believe that. The Xylarri are strange…" Li Yu said. "It seems I owe them a thank you though, if I ever see them again. Perhaps a quick and painless death?" When it came to killing Li Yu was more resolute than ever before. He knew who his real targets were and they seemed like a threat much greater than the Xylarri that gave him this orb or his people.

“What are you talking about? That sounds insane.” Fengliu shook his head. "You seem incredibly strong now. I won’t even try to guess your level with my own low standards. What was that Qi coming from the sky though?"

"I managed to catch some starlight," Li Yu said excitedly. "It is quite wonderful… I think anyway. I am not really sure."

"Of course it does," Fengliu sighed. He kicked dirt over the fire pit. "You are okay now and I must go. I have responsibilities and my own mission as you know…. And if I stay around you much longer, I will get an inferiority complex."

"Will you be okay?" Li Yu asked. His tone shifted to a serious one.

Fengliu looked at the rising sun. "I will walk my path, Li Yu. Just as you walk yours. Maybe I can walk out or perhaps I will simply be content once I get my revenge."

"We are here if you ever need help," Li Yu promised.

Fengliu nodded. He didn't say goodbye either. Fengliu simply dissolved into shadows and vanished, leaving Li Yu alone in the valley.

Li Yu stood there for a moment and was enjoying the morning sun. He felt the hunger in his stomach and he was more than happy to fill it.

"Breakfast," he decided. "Then, West."

He took one last look at the hut and then gathered his things. It looked extremely lonely there alone now. It was a testament to his past and a short time that he spent building. During that time he realized that building back up the past was nice but as he saw it now it seemed futile. The world continued to move on and didn’t even allow him a few more days to stay here.

Li Yu turned and began to walk away with a mouthful of a bun. The path ahead was long but his step was lighter than ever. The stars were no longer just above him, a piece of them was now inside him.