This was, therefore, a rather severe test. If Ye Ningze could not pass it, it would be a suicidal trial for him.
When everything was ready, Ye Ningze's soul felt an immensely powerful suction.
Then, a beam of light seemed to appear before him. After the light dissipated, Ye Ningze opened his eyes again, only to see a colossal figure.
The owner of this figure appeared to have nine heads, somewhat resembling the Yamata no Orochi or a similar mythical serpent.
However, there was a difference: this colossal serpent had a sharp, single horn on each of its nine heads.
These horns seemed incredibly sharp, but beyond their sharpness, Ye Ningze also sensed fluctuations of spiritual power emanating from them.
These fluctuations were incredibly potent. When the serpent unleashed them, Ye Ningze felt his own spiritual power being suppressed.
He hadn't expected the opponent to reach such a level, completely suppressing his spiritual power. This was to prevent him from using his spiritual power to gain an absolute advantage over the opponent.
As a result, they were in a situation where Ye Ningze was at a slight disadvantage. However, Ye Ningze paid no mind to this slight disadvantage.
The reason was simple: facing a disadvantage without any emotional fluctuation was the very temperament a strong individual should possess.
If Ye Ningze lacked even this bit of temperament, he would never become a true powerhouse.
Ye Ningze, in almost every battle, was able to effectively suppress his inner emotional changes, including common human emotions like excitement, elation, fear, or even those primal fears rooted in human genetics.
These emotions rarely surfaced within Ye Ningze. The reason was simple: once these emotions appeared, Ye Ningze would cease to be an impenetrable entity.
Ye Ningze took a deep breath and began to rapidly survey the colossal serpent's body.
He could sense a peculiar and unpleasant odor emanating from the serpent. This odor was not physical but was emitted by its spiritual body.
Since Ye Ningze had developed immense spiritual power, the spiritual energy of all living beings had a distinct scent to him.
For instance, children exuded a fragrant aroma, while the elderly carried an aura of decay or the scent of twilight.
However, the aura emanating from the colossal serpent before him was that of blood, a foul stench, and the unmistakable scent of rot.
If Ye Ningze's guess was correct, this colossal serpent must possess a special method for devouring the souls of others.
Otherwise, it would not emit such a putrid odor, as if standing before him was a monster that had consumed countless corpses, forming a mountain of flesh and a sea of blood.
Ye Ningze knew that if he were to confront this colossal serpent, he absolutely could not afford to be careless, or he would meet a grim end.
Therefore, Ye Ningze focused his attention entirely on the serpent's every move. Suddenly, the serpent's nine heads began to writhe wildly in the air like water plants.
No one knew what this creature intended, but everyone knew that its nine heads were concentrating their power onto the horns atop them.
Then, he saw black energy orbs forming on its horns. As these energy orbs coalesced, the serpent began to propel them towards Ye Ningze.
Ye Ningze started to dodge continuously, but with each dodge, he could feel these energy orbs expanding.
Furthermore, with each expansion, the power of these energy orbs would increase once more.
In essence, this was a technique that continuously amplified its power until Ye Ningze could no longer defend against it.
Ye Ningze's heart began to feel an immense urgency. For him to defeat the nine-headed serpent before him,
the first thing he needed to do was to disperse the serpent's inherent power. If he could not disperse its power, then its spiritual energy would not weaken.
Consequently, he would be unable to fundamentally control its spiritual energy or, rather, its soul.
Ye Ningze had thoroughly grasped the crux of the matter. The key to this was to defeat the colossal serpent before him and then control its spiritual energy or, rather, its soul.
Then, he would make its spiritual energy or soul serve him, ultimately becoming a weapon or armor in his hands, thereby amplifying his own strength.
If that were the case, the first step would be to figure out how to conquer this colossal serpent. The only effective way to conquer it was to meet force with force.
Ye Ningze continuously appeared in the air, then vanished, then reappeared, and then vanished again.
Wherever he passed, a ripple of power would emerge. This ripple was the shockwave from the explosion of spiritual energy.
Anyone caught by these shockwaves, generated by the explosion of spiritual energy, would have their soul completely lose its ability to resist.
This meant that Ye Ningze would be utterly defeated in this battle. Therefore, Ye Ningze treated the opponent's every offensive maneuver with extreme caution.
Ye Ningze's continuous dodging was aimed at preventing the opponent from pinpointing his exact location.
However, the serpent's spiritual energy had already permeated the entire space. No matter where Ye Ningze fled, the opponent could accurately sense him. Thus, no matter how much Ye Ningze evaded, he would eventually realize that it was all in vain.
In fact, Ye Ningze knew the environment he was currently in. However, he had no other options at the moment.
He could only dodge while searching for an opportunity to counterattack, and ultimately, to eliminate it completely.
Ye Ningze continued to dodge, but the opponent's energy orbs kept increasing. After about several minutes, the entire space was filled with the presence of energy orbs.
While dodging at high speed, Ye Ningze's eyes simultaneously emitted a purple glow.
This was a special radiance emitted by Ye Ningze concentrating all his spiritual power into his eyes, allowing him to clearly perceive the locations of these energy orbs.
Concurrently, this was also a new technique developed by Ye Ningze. He had named this technique "Myriad Flower Pupils."
Just as he saw it now, the world was filled with a myriad of colors.