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Chapter 941 - 913 Black Pearl

Chapter 941: Chapter 913 Black Pearl

"What exactly is this thing?"

Looking at the bead in his hand, Li Chen’s face revealed a look of confusion.

Although this bead appeared to be just an ordinary luminous pearl, Li Chen could sense a completely different type of energy emanating from it.

Sitting on the shore, a pensive expression crept onto Li Chen’s face.

"Zhi zhi—"

At this moment, the Netherworld, who had been thoroughly engrossed in chewing on its fish, suddenly seemed to discover something unusual and leapt toward Li Chen’s direction.

In a mere blink, it landed on Li Chen’s shoulder.

Noticing Netherworld’s reaction, Li Chen felt a bit curious.

However, he chose not to disturb it. He too was curious to see what Netherworld would do next.

Before long, something that left Li Chen utterly surprised occurred.

Netherworld climbed directly down his arm and onto the bead. Under Li Chen’s attentive gaze, a delicate stream of energy began to flow from the bead into Netherworld’s body.

"This... could this thing really be used for cultivation? And even Netherworld can absorb it?" Li Chen’s face was unmistakably filled with astonishment.

Back in the water, the bead had seemed extraordinary, even dazzling.

Yet now, on the shore, the bead appeared no different from any ordinary glass sphere—except that its base color was black.

As Li Chen stared at the black bead in his hand and at the Netherworld, who was now joyfully absorbing the bead’s energy, his thoughts churned in contemplation.

Whatever this thing was, what he needed most desperately right now was to increase his strength.

Just as he’d often told himself: though his strength had grown, his enemies were becoming stronger at an even faster pace. For now, the Earth Level was beyond what he could hope to overcome.

He no longer had any path of retreat.

As Fourth Grandfather had once told him, from the moment he chose this path, there was no turning back.

Now that it was certain this black bead could aid in cultivation, his only focus had to be figuring out how to make the best use of it.

Netherworld, after only absorbing the energy briefly, unexpectedly jumped off the bead.

Li Chen noticed that Netherworld, seemingly overfed, was teetering unsteadily on the ground.

Before long, it collapsed nearby and ceased moving altogether.

A faint shimmering aura began to appear over Netherworld’s body. Li Chen didn’t know exactly what this aura was, but he could clearly sense that Netherworld had grown slightly stronger.

"This thing..."

Gripping the black bead in his hand, Li Chen’s face once again wore a look of deep contemplation.

After a long pause, Li Chen raised his head and once more grasped the bead, attempting to absorb its energy.

Sure enough, a flood of immense energy surged from the black bead into Li Chen’s body in no time.

"Hmm?"

Li Chen’s cultivation had already reached a critical juncture. What he needed now was to break through to the Earth Level.

And yet, until this moment, Li Chen hadn’t been able to grasp even the location of the Earth Level’s threshold, let alone make an assault upon it.

He could sense that his accumulation was still insufficient. Only by building up enough reserves could he hope to break through to the Earth Level in a single effort.

Even after absorbing energy within the Cold Pool, it still felt far from enough.

"No wonder so many Earth Level experts are older folks who’ve been around for ages," Li Chen mused with sudden clarity.

If he were to spend a few years cultivating in the Cold Pool, perhaps he really could accumulate the strength needed to break through to the Earth Level.

But what he lacked most now was time.

Forget about years; Yu Manfang likely had already realized he was still alive. Even a few days could be a luxury he could not afford.

And now, this black bead had given him a glimmer of hope.

"This energy..."

Completely pure energy, free of any impurities, surged into Li Chen’s meridians, immediately sending shockwaves through his body.

The energy wasn’t unruly, yet it felt like waves upon waves of a turbulent tide crashing through him.

"Urghhh!!"

Gripping the black bead tightly, large beads of sweat began to form on Li Chen’s forehead.

The immense force of the energy was too much for his still-recovering body, pushing him to his limits.

But Li Chen refused to let go!

He knew well that every injury—especially internal injuries—was an opportunity to reshape his meridians and body.

This, too, was a truth he had realized from the Purifying Body Pills.

Those pills he had crafted for Lin Yi and the others had been carefully modified by both Li Chen and Fourth Grandfather.

Although these pills could also purify the body, they were much gentler in effect, their potency substantially reduced.

Because Purifying the Body was not merely about expelling impurities.

It was also about reshaping the meridians!

Li Chen had personally experienced the unaltered, original Purifying Body Pill himself.

The process, even he had to admit, was agonizingly excruciating.

"Huff—"

Large drops of sweat seeped from Li Chen’s brow, and from the pores of his body, tiny blood beads began to emerge.

"I can’t... take this anymore!"

Li Chen’s face hardened before swiftly releasing the bead in his hand.

He was someone with a clear sense of his own limits. The moment he reached them, Li Chen immediately let go of the black bead.

The flood of immense energy finally ceased flowing into his body.

Utilizing his True Qi, Li Chen began guiding and refining the accumulated energy within himself.

After several internal rotations, he gathered his strength and launched an all-out assault on the ’door.’ A new threshold.

"Earth Level!!"

"Earth Level!!!"

Li Chen’s voice erupted in a deafening roar. The sound was like thunder, echoing within the cave.

Even Netherworld, who had seemed to be in a deep slumber, opened its eyes at this moment, gazing intently at Li Chen.

"Boom!!"

A strange sensation exploded in Li Chen’s mind.

When he opened his eyes, what greeted him was a sea of stars.

"Where... is this place?"

Looking around in bewilderment, Li Chen realized he no longer had a physical form but instead appeared as a faint glow of light.

All around him was a starry void resembling the expanse of a cosmic universe.

Here, there were countless celestial bodies.

With a single thought, Li Chen found himself suddenly before a planet-like object he’d been staring at.

However, what he saw was not a true planet.

Rather, it was a ’water sphere’—entirely composed of water.

"What is... this thing?"