With his heart firmly resolved, the struggle in Xiao Yan's eyes swiftly faded. He exhaled deeply, his gaze tightly fixed on the jade bone wings hovering before him, gradually tightening his fists, a determined expression now etched upon his face. "I won't believe I can't even manage a pair of bone wings!" Clenching his teeth fiercely, Xiao Yan extended his hand, and the jade bone wings drifted gently downward, coming to rest half a foot in front of him. He glanced once more at the wings, then moved a hand seal. Closing his eyes, a powerful spiritual force began to radiate from his brow, spreading out and eventually converging, carefully wrapping itself around the wings. "Boom!" As Xiao Yan's spiritual energy first made contact with the jade bone wings, a deep, resonant rumble erupted within his mind, causing his spirit to momentarily waver—his surroundings suddenly transformed! It was a world shrouded in gray, lifeless and still. High above, Yuan's soul hung suspended in the sky, his gaze furrowed as he scanned the dim, lifeless expanse, murmuring, "Is this the Bone Wings realm? Where is the lingering essence?" "Such an odd thing..." The changes in his body had not gone unnoticed by Xiao Yan. His face slightly tightened as he quickly stabilized his spirit, pushing aside the negative emotions swirling in the gray aura to prevent them from infecting him. "Roar!" At the very moment Xiao Yan was centering his spirit, a thunderous roar erupted suddenly within the gray flow—a roar filled with overwhelming fury and ferocity. As the roar resonated, the gray aura seemed to be guided, surging forth in a massive wave directly toward Xiao Yan. Watching the transformation of the gray flow, Xiao Yan felt a sudden jolt of alarm and immediately summoned his spiritual energy to form a protective spiritual barrier around him, shielding himself from the oncoming gray currents. The spiritual barrier had only just taken shape when the diffused gray airflow began to ripple swiftly. Within mere blinks, it transformed into a massive, solid-bodied creature formed entirely of gray energy. Though the gray energy was somewhat thin, making the creature's precise size somewhat indistinct to Xiao Yan, the pair of unparalleled, furious crimson light columns reappeared at its head—like two terrifying eyes. "Roar!" As the form of the creature solidified, those fierce, blood-red gazes fixed upon Xiao Yan, and then it roared again, its body surging forward like a charging rhinoceros, crashing directly into the spiritual barrier. "Boom!" Though both entities were originally intangible, the impact was as if they were solid, striking each other with tremendous force and sending out continuous ripples that surged across the otherwise invisible spiritual barrier. With the fierce impact, Xiao Yan's soul emitted a low, dull hum. At present, he existed only in a soul state, and the external soul forces were directly linked to his own soul; should any of these forces suffer damage, it would inevitably cause injuries to his soul. Taking a deep breath, Xiao Yan swiftly summoned his soul energy to reinforce the external soul barrier once more. Yet, his expression subtly changed—surprised to find that, as the mysterious gray airflow beast struck, the fierce, predatory essence within him seemed to seep into the barrier like an invisible current of air. With a serious expression, Xiao Yan immediately severed the strand of soul energy that had been eroded and dispersed, then quickly drew fresh soul energy from within himself to reestablish the protective barrier around him. This layer of spiritual barrier had just formed, yet the ethereal form of the mysterious beast previously expelled by the barrier swiftly re-coalesced, immediately once again channeling power and striking with force against the spiritual barrier. "Boom!" "Hmph!" The intense impact sent a low groan through Xiao Yan's throat. With a simple flick of his fingers, he promptly dispersed the spiritual barrier once more, his gaze dark and fixed upon the swirling ethereal form of the beast. He had expected nothing more than a mere remnant of energy—yet it proved so difficult to contain. This was only possible due to his own strong spiritual prowess. Should another warrior have faced it, the fierce, aggressive emotions would have already overwhelmed their minds, transforming them into relentless killing machines. Nevertheless, even with just these two encounters, Xiao Yan's spiritual strength had begun to show signs of wear, while the gray airflow—already possessing a hint of intelligence—remained unchanged, showing no signs of weakening. If this continued, Xiao Yan would inevitably be the first to be drained. "Like this, it simply won't do," Xiao Yan muttered, his gaze fixed intently on the swirling gray airflow. After spending so much time in this place, even with his remarkable composure, he found himself growing increasingly restless—knowing full well that it was the gray airflow that was causing the disturbance. As Xiao Yan pondered these thoughts, the gray airflow once again coalesced into the form of a mythical beast, opening its fierce, gaping maw and roaring toward Xiao Yan with a tone laced with mockery. Then, it surged forward like a rhinoceros, striking with powerful force. Fixing his eyes firmly on the charging beast-like silhouette, Xiao Yan's expression grew steadily more serious. Suddenly, he altered his hand seals! "Shhh—" As Xiao Yan's hand seal changed, an intangible flame suddenly surged forth from within his soul, rapidly colliding and instantly enveloping him completely. The mythical beast silhouette directly struck this intangible flame, causing a hissing stream of white vapor to rise, and a piercing, agonizing cry to echo through the hazy space. Gradually, the beast silhouette faded, eventually vanishing entirely. With this sudden development, the surrounding gray airflow reacted as though startled, swiftly expanding outward in all directions and no longer daring to maintain proximity to Xiao Yan. Yet faced with this sudden turn of events, Xiao Yan was momentarily stunned, then a gleam of joy spread across his brow—unexpectedly, this move proved effective. The Fallen Heart Flame indeed inflicted direct damage upon the soul and such ethereal substances, clearly indicating that the gray currents were precisely among them. Thus, Xiao Yan now seemed to have gained some means of counteroffense. "No matter how powerful you were in life, right now you are merely a fragmented, spiritless residue of energy!" With a cold gaze fixed upon the spreading gray currents, Xiao Yan swept his sleeve, and the fallen heart flame instantly surged forth in clusters from within his body, then shot directly toward the gray streams. The eruption of the fallen heart flame immediately stirred the gray currents, which reacted as if encountering their perfect counterforce—frightened and scattering in all directions. Yet, under Xiao Yan's precise control, the flames behaved as though endowed with eyes, steadily following the gray currents and suddenly engulfing them whole. Some of the fallen heart flames, after absorbing these gray streams, returned to Xiao Yan's soul body. As these flames re-entered his soul, Xiao Yan suddenly experienced a surge of exhilaration—he discovered that his soul power had subtly strengthened! The enhancement of spiritual strength is exceptionally difficult, unless one reaches a higher stage or consumes some celestial or terrestrial treasure, at which point spiritual strength truly strengthens. However, currently, Xiao Yan's spiritual strength has unexpectedly intensified without any such cause—clearly, the issue lies within those gray flows of energy. Most significantly, the adverse emotions such as fury and aggression concealed within the gray flows have been entirely transmuted into nothingness by the fallen heart flame. As a result, the gray flows that once had troubled Xiao Yan and made him particularly wary have now transformed into a potent nourisher for his spiritual strength. Having experienced such benefits, Xiao Yan immediately became vibrant and energetic, chuckling happily. Increasing numbers of Fallen Heart Flames surged forth from within him, eventually forming groups that pursued the gray air currents across this dim, misty space. As a result, those gray air currents that had previously boasted dominance now became mere fugitives—complete outcasts. With Xiao Yan fully engaged in the pursuit, more and more gray air currents were consumed by the Fallen Heart Flames and returned to his body. This process continued for approximately half an hour, until not a single trace of gray air current remained in the space—its fierce vitality entirely extinguished. Clearly, beneath the power of the Fallen Heart Flames, the residual essence hidden within the jade bone wings had been fully transformed into a nourishing supplement for Xiao Yan’s soul.