Soul crystals

Indeed, the number of strikes he received reduced gradually until their attacks could no longer hit him because he could perfectly dodge all of them even without utilizing <Abyss walk>. He'd finally stepped into the legendary Domain realm!

"I did it!" Xuanyuan exclaimed to himself. But he didn't have the time to celebrate. He had to deal with this Soul warriors who exhibited the combat standards of a Void realm expert. Even though he was a domain realm expert now, he still suffered damage occasionally. And the pain he felt were not physical pain, it was mental pain which he couldn't endure even if he wanted to. He had to deal with these bastards first before they destroyed his consciousness with their never ending attacks.

As he dodged their attacks, his brain raced as he browsed through the techniques he could execute but none of them could damage or defend him from the Soul warriors.

"Wait, I haven't tried this <True aura>" He thought. Among all his skills, his innate abilities were the only ones he couldn't activate independently but since they do not have cooldown and could run non-stop for a while, he didn't mind. This was even the first time he'd use his innate skills in battle.

Just then, the Soul warriors sent another wave of sword lights at him. He gave up on dodging this time and instead activated the <True aura> and a sacred Golden Halo manifested around him.

Xuanyuan held his breath as he watched the sword lights tip closer to him. This was his final card after all, if even his innate abilities couldn't help him, he had no choice but to give up on this trial and maybe return when he figure out a way to scale through.

"Boom!" A loud sound rang out as Xuanyuan was forced three steps back but this time he didn't reveal the usual pained expression. Instead, he he wore an ecstatic look on his face as he gazed at the Golden Halo that remained standing even after being bombarded by the Soul warriors.

"It worked!" Xuanyuan exclaimed.

The Soul warriors weren't physical creatures. They were only souls and they do not attack with ambient Mana, they did with soul or mental energy which belonged to another category of power in the Realm of spirituality.

This mental energy is also known as the Mental concentration which are expended when executing Combat techniques.

In fact, these Mental concentration is expended when using all kinds of skills, techniques and abilities in the Realm of spirituality. For example, skills, Mana techniques and Magic arrays operate with Mana. But controlling Mana isn't just by thought, this Mental energy in form of Mental will is used to move Mana the way the user wants. That was why Mental concentration was one of the foundational requirements to get promoted to higher tiers.

But these Soul warriors used their soul energy to attack Xuanyuan and these Mental attacks couldn't be defended by physical means but by mental means that was why Xuanyuan didn't receive any physical damage but instead felt his soul being ripped apart. That precisely was mental damage.

His innate abilities like the <True aura> didn't require Mana to operate but instead used these Mental energy. That was why they could operate in a place that was devoid of Mana. Since they were mental abilities, they could defend and even affect the Soul warriors.

"They can be affected by my <True flame> then" Xuanyuan muttered once he realized that.

With a thought, he activated the <True flame> making his sword bathed in mysterious flames that appeared as if they could burn through the void. The flames didn't radiate any aura relating to Mana. Instead, he could feel an aura that felt similar to the aura radiated by the sword lights of the Soul warriors.

Before the warriors could attack him, he'd already two sword lights at them. The warriors believed the sword lights do not pose a threat whatsoever to them so they didn't bother to prepare any defensive measure. But to their astonishment, the sword lights left a vivid mark on their bodies as it sent them flying several metres backwards. Because the strike was executed with the power of the <True flame>, they suffered continuously from the fire damage which burned through their souls.

Xuanyuan smiled resplendently once he saw that he now had a way to deal with the Soul warriors.

"Now it's my turn" He said as he lunged at the Soul warriors with his swords that was covered in flames that threatened to erase every last bit of that souls. Once he got closer he began swinging his sword at the warriors as if to revenge for all the torturous pains he'd received in their hands.

But the warriors were just spiritual entities without emotion or pain. Their emotionless eyes didn't even react after all the beatings they've been receiving from Xuanyuan.

With one merciless swing, he finally destroyed the Soul warriors who only left two green crystals on the ground without awarding any experience point as reward.

"What are these?" Xuanyuan wondered as he picked them up. There was no information provided about the crystals. The only thing revealed when he appraised it was;

<Soul crystal>

He had no idea how he could use the Soul crystal or whether it was even useful so he just threw one into his mouth hoping he'd gain some results.

"Not bad" He muttered as he swallowed the crystal. It turned out its taste wasn't bitter.

But his expression suddenly transformed as he momentarily stopped chewing only to chew with even more intensity as if he'd encountered the most mind boggling fruit in the universe. With a gulp, he swallowed the crystal before throwing the other one into his mouth again and ate that one also.