350: Chapter 344 As long as there is hope

But compared to that unattainable fourth-grade ore.

This goal seemed so within reach, so real!

"It is good as long as there is hope."

"As long as there is a path, no matter how difficult it is to walk, I can crawl across it step by step."

Chen Zhiwen let out a long, turbid breath.

He forcibly suppressed the urge to continue trying immediately.

Although he still had a few pieces of fourth-grade ore in his hands, each piece had a great use.

Especially since he still had to save them to exchange for the "Seven Soul and Seven Spirits Eye" that could restrain Divine Soul attacks.

That was the most urgent priority at the moment.

Greed leads to failure.

Only by staying alive would he have the qualifications to Cultivate the Soul Transformation Art》.

"No rush for now."

Chen Zhiwen retracted his gaze.

He carefully put away the remaining pieces of fourth-grade ore,

setting aside a sufficient amount.

His gaze shifted to the light shield flickering with a faint green light beside him.

What was Sealed there was exactly a part of the "Seven Soul and Seven Spirits Eye" — the "viper eye".

This was an extremely sinister, yet extremely powerful Divine Soul ocular technique Materials.

Once refined,

it could not only greatly enhance the penetrating power of his Divine Sense but also see through the vast majority of illusions and concealment methods.

"It is time to take it down."

Chen Zhiwen's thoughts stirred.

His Divine Sense withdrew from this mysterious space.

Outside.

Inside the simple, temporary Immortal Cave.

Chen Zhiwen opened his eyes.

He rummaged through the corner of his storage ring and found a pitch-black stone.

This stone was entirely black, its surface pitted and uneven,

emitting an uncomfortable, chilly aura.

"Black Yin Stone."

"This is also an anomaly among fourth-grade ores, containing extremely strong Yin Sha power."

"It is perfect for opening that viper eye, which belongs to the Yin attribute."

Chen Zhiwen did not hesitate at all.

He closed his eyes again, his Divine Soul wrapping around the Black Yin Stone, and descended back into the stone tablet space.

"Sacrifice!"

He skillfully threw the Black Yin Stone toward the stone tablet.

Another rich stream of black energy was extracted.

Coupled with the other three streams of Ore essence accumulated from previous sacrifices,

at this very moment,

Chen Zhiwen already held four streams of fourth-grade ore essence that were different in attributes but equally powerful.

He took a deep breath.

His expression was solemn, like a general about to head to the battlefield.

"Four elements merge into one, break for me!"

With his shout,

the four streams of energy of different colors intertwined in the air, transforming into a huge energy meteor.

Carrying a whistling wind,

it slammed fiercely into the green light shield that Sealed the "viper eye".

"Boom—!!!"

A loud noise

reverberated in this silent space.

It was as if something had shattered.

That tough green light shield finally could not bear the load under the violent impact of the four streams of fourth-grade ore essence.

Its surface was covered with dense cracks.

Immediately after,

with a crisp "crack" sound,

it completely shattered into countless points of light and dissipated into the air.

And at the original position of the light shield,

four eyeballs, only the size of a thumb and entirely of an eerie dark green color, were quietly floating there.

These eyeballs were not living things,

yet they seemed to possess life.

The pupils were vertical, emitting a chilling light that made one's heart tremble.

It felt as if just one look would freeze even the Soul.

"Finally... obtained it."

Chen Zhiwen felt a surge of joy.

The large hand formed by his Divine Soul reached out and grabbed the four "viper eyes" in its grasp.

The bone-chilling cold touch made him shiver uncontrollably.

But the burning heat in his heart could not be suppressed no matter what.

With this thing,

his "Truth-Breaking Eye" could advance to the next level.

He might even be able to Cultivate the prototype of the legendary "Soul-Capturing Demonic Eye"!

However,

just as he was satisfied and prepared to take the spoils,

the moment he was about to withdraw from this Divine Sense space,

a sudden change occurred!

"Rumble—!!!"

A heaven-shaking explosion, a thousand times louder than the shattering of the light shield just now,

exploded without warning above the entire space!

This sound was too loud.

It was so loud that it exceeded the limits of hearing.

It directly vibrated into the depths of his Soul!

"Puff!"

Chen Zhiwen's Divine Soul body was like being smashed hard by an invisible giant hammer.

It instantly became illusory and transparent, nearly dissipating directly!

"What is going on?!"

He was terrified.

An unprecedented sense of life-and-death crisis instantly enveloped his entire body.

Since he obtained this stone tablet space, it had always been synonymous with dead silence, stability, and safety.

Such a terrifying incident had never happened before!

The entire space was shaking violently.

It was like a magnitude 12 earthquake.

The world was spinning.

The originally stable space barrier was now actually appearing with distortions and wrinkles.

"Not good!"

"Is this place collapsing?!"

Chen Zhiwen's first reaction was to escape!

He frantically recited the exit technique.

That was the only key for him to enter and exit this place, and it was also his greatest life-saving talisman.

"Exit! Exit! Let me exit!"

He roared in his heart.

However,

the technique that worked every time in the past seemed to have failed at this moment.

There was no reaction at all!

His Divine Soul was still tightly,

trapped in this space that was about to collapse, unable to return to his Physical Body!

"Damn it!"

"It's been blocked!"

Chen Zhiwen's expression became extremely ugly.

His Divine Soul was already severely damaged by the loud noise just now,

and at this moment, it was fluctuating violently due to terror.

But after all, he was someone who had experienced countless life-and-death hardships.

After extreme panic,

he forced himself to calm down.

"Since I can't get out, then I will hide!"

He endured the tearing pain in his Divine Soul.

His figure shrank.

Like a frightened mouse, he quickly hid in the corner behind the huge stone tablet.

He curled up his body as much as possible to reduce the exposed area.

The heaven-shaking explosion lasted for a full dozen breaths.

It only gradually subsided.

But this did not mean it was over.

Instead, it was like the calm before a storm.

Chen Zhiwen poked half of his head out from behind the stone tablet and looked upward cautiously.

At this look,

he immediately gasped.

He saw that in the originally gray and empty high sky,

at some unknown time, a huge "dark cloud" had appeared.

That was not an ordinary cloud.

That was a storm eye formed entirely by gray Qi currents!

It was spinning and roaring crazily.

Carrying a terrifying hurricane, it was slowly pressing down toward the ground.

"That is..."

Chen Zhiwen widened his eyes, and his Divine Sense probed out a little, wanting to perceive the essence of that dark cloud.

"Ah!"

The next moment,

he retracted his Divine Sense abruptly, as if he had been burned by fire.

He let out a painful scream.

Even though he only slightly touched the edge of that dark cloud,

the sliver of Divine Sense he probed out was instantly shredded into pieces!

Completely annihilated!

"It is all Divine Sense power!"

"That dark cloud... is actually condensed from pure, violent, ownerless Divine Sense power?!"

Chen Zhiwen's heart was filled with stormy seas.

This was simply inconceivable!

Divine Sense power is formless and intangible, usually only existing by relying on the Sea of Consciousness of a living being.

Even for a Nascent Soul Cultivator, if their Divine Sense leaves their body for too long, it will dissipate.

But the dark cloud in front of him, the total amount of Divine Sense it contained, was unimaginably huge!

It was simply like an ocean of Divine Sense compressed here!

"If this were to hit someone..."

"Let alone me."

"Even if a Soul Transformation Stage old monster came, they would probably instantly become an idiot, or even directly Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering!"

Chen Zhiwen was trembling.

He stuck tightly to the back of the stone tablet.

He even wished he could dig himself into the cracks of the stone.

That sense of oppression from the depths of his Soul made it difficult for him to even breathe.

"Don't come over... definitely don't come over..."

He prayed frantically in his heart.

That gray Divine Sense storm did not pay attention to the prayers of this ant.

It still fell with a boom along its established trajectory.

However,

fortunately,

it did not smash directly toward the stone tablet where Chen Zhiwen was.

Instead, it landed on an open space about several hundred zhang away from the stone tablet.

"Boom—"

Another dull impact sound.

The entire ground jumped violently with this blow.

Chen Zhiwen only felt his vision go black, and he almost fainted.

But he held on to one breath and stared fixedly at the dark cloud that had landed.

A bizarre scene occurred.

The incredibly violent Divine Sense dark cloud, the moment it touched the brown ground,

did not explode as Chen Zhiwen had expected.

Instead, it was like rainwater seeping into the soil.

It actually silently... merged into it!

"This..."

Chen Zhiwen watched in astonishment.

What is this?

Fertilizing this space?

Immediately after,

an even more shocking change appeared.

With the injection of that huge Divine Sense energy,

the originally dry, hard, and lifeless brown ground

actually began to change.

"Crack... crack..."

A series of fine cracking sounds rang out.

With the landing point of the dark cloud as the center,

the ground began to crack.

Small cracks spread to the surroundings like a spider web.

And from those cracks,

strands of soft, life-filled green light actually shone through!

"That is..."

Chen Zhiwen rubbed his eyes, unable to believe everything he saw.

Those green lights were not illusory.

They were like substantial liquid, flowing out along the cracks, soaking the surrounding soil.

Wherever the green light touched,

the originally lifeless brown soil instantly turned into fertile black soil.

And,

a layer of tender green moss grew on it at a speed visible to the naked eye!

There were even a few unknown small grasses, trembling as they broke through the soil and swayed in the wind!

The originally silent and desolate Divine Sense space,

at this moment,

actually had a touch of moving green.

A bit more vitality!

Chen Zhiwen stared blankly at this scene.

The fear in his heart was gradually replaced by shock and curiosity.

"This space... is alive?"

"Are those Divine Sense storms some kind of nourishment?"

"Used to nourish this land?"

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind.

What exactly is this stone tablet space?

Is it really a dead object?

Or does it... is it actually a huge living organism that is reviving?

Thinking of this,

Chen Zhiwen felt his scalp tingle.

He tentatively, in an extremely humble and respectful tone,

called out softly toward that empty Void Realm:

"Sen... Senior?"

The voice echoed in the space.

With a trace of trembling and probing.

"Is anyone there?"

"Or... is there some great expert sleeping here?"

"Junior did not mean to offend, it's just..."

There was no response.

Only those few newly grown small grasses, in

the breeze, swayed gently.

As if mocking his sentimentality.

Chen Zhiwen did not give up.

He changed a few more forms of address and even used a few ancient sacrificial languages.

It was still dead silent.

Except for the gradually subsiding wind and the green light seeping from the cracks in the ground, there was no other movement.

A full half-stick of incense worth of time passed.

After confirming that there was really no will descending or awakening,

Chen Zhiwen finally gave up dejectedly.

He leaned against the cold stone tablet and slowly slid to the ground.

His heart was filled with mixed feelings.

This experience was truly too exciting.

It could be said to be a mix of joy and worry.

The joyful part is,

he not only successfully verified the feasibility of using fourth-grade ore to open the Seal, but also obtained the "viper eye" he had been dreaming of.

More importantly,

this space seemed to have undergone some kind of benign evolution.

Those green lands full of vitality, although still very small now,

this is undoubtedly a huge foreshadowing.

If in the future this place can grow Spirit Medicine, or even... breed some kind of spiritual object,

then the value of this consciousness space will be immeasurable!

But the worrying part is,

this sudden change made him realize,

his understanding of this space is still just the tip of the iceberg.

There are too many secrets hidden here, and it is too dangerous.

Where did that Divine Sense storm come from?

Why did it suddenly descend?

Will there be more in the future?

What if it hits him directly next time?

And...

the feeling of being out of control just now, being unable to exit the space, still makes him fearful.

This is like living in a magnificent palace,

but the key to the gate of this palace is not completely in your hands.

And the roof of the palace occasionally drops a huge stone that could crush you to death.

This feeling really makes one feel very insecure.

"Hoo..."

Chen Zhiwen took a deep breath.

He tried to recite the exit technique again.

This time,

the sense of blockage disappeared.

A familiar pulling force came.

"Finally able to go out."

Chen Zhiwen felt a sense of relief.

He took one last deep look at the land where the green grass had just grown.

His eyes were complex.

"Whether you are a blessing or a curse."

"Since I have already boarded this ship, I can only bite the bullet and continue."

"At least for now, the benefits you give me far outweigh the risks."

A flash of light.

Chen Zhiwen's Divine Soul completely disappeared from the stone tablet space.

...

Outside.

Inside the Immortal Cave.

Chen Zhiwen's body shook violently.

A mouthful of blood could not help but spurt out.

"Puff!"

That was the backlash after his Divine Soul was injured.

His face was pale as paper, and his aura became listless.

But he could not care about wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.

He opened his palm immediately.

Four "viper eyes" emitting a faint dark green light were lying quietly in his palm.

Cold, real.

Proving that everything that happened just now was not an illusion.

"Cough, cough..."

Chen Zhiwen coughed violently twice.

A pale yet crazy smile appeared on his face.

"It's worth it."

"Even if I almost suffered Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, it was worth it."

He struggled to take out a bottle of Soul Nourishing Pills from his bosom and poured them into his mouth like beans.