88: Chapter 88 Consuming the Soul Fruit

In the Starfall Secret Realm, atop a steep cliff far from human tracks.

Without any violent fluctuations of energy, relying solely on the terrifying Physical Body strength of a Star King ninth rank, which was comparable to a humanoid tyrannosaurus, Su Wu held the white dragon warblade and, as if cutting through tofu, forcefully carved out a hidden cave large enough to accommodate several people in this extremely hard, dark red stone wall.

Moving a giant boulder to block the cave entrance and spreading his Divine Thought, Su Wu only sat cross-legged after confirming that there was no one within a hundred miles.

Inside the dim cave, Su Wu gently flipped his wrist.

Amidst a flickering light, he took out the supreme treasure he had just intercepted from his space ring—the soul fruit.

This fruit, only the size of a fist, appeared entirely translucent and milky white.

In the dim cave, it emitted an extremely soft, lustrous glow, like moonlight. The glow was not blinding, yet it carried a strange magic capable of soothing all restlessness.

"Truly a good item!"

Su Wu held the soul fruit, unable to hide his admiration.

He had not yet consumed it, merely bringing the fruit closer and taking a light sniff of the unique, exotic fragrance emanating from the skin of the soul fruit.

An indescribable, extreme coolness, like the first drop of snowmelt beneath a ten-thousand-year glacier, flowed through his nasal cavity and surged straight into the depths of his mind without any obstruction!

Su Wu felt a shiver run through his entire body; the slight mental fatigue caused by days of traveling was instantly swept away, and even the strength of his Divine Thought, which had been stuck at a Bottleneck, increased by a fraction under the stimulation of this exotic fragrance!

"If the scent alone has such miraculous effects, what if I were to refine it completely..."

A flicker of heat flashed in Su Wu's eyes. He no longer hesitated, opened his mouth, and gently placed the milky white soul fruit inside.

A truly miraculous scene occurred.

The soul fruit, which appeared to have a solid texture, did not provide any sensation of chewing flesh the moment it touched Su Wu's tongue; instead, with a "hum," it melted instantly upon entering his mouth!

It instantly transformed into an extremely gentle and strange liquid.

This liquid did not enter Su Wu's stomach; instead, it turned into thousands of strands of invisible air currents and flowed straight toward the depths of his Sea of Consciousness.

Boom—!

The moment that gentle liquid completely merged into his Sea of Consciousness, Su Wu felt as if countless clear springs had spontaneously appeared in his mind, crazily flowing and washing over his mental barriers.

Immediately after, his consciousness was pulled into an extremely wondrous state of introspection.

He clearly felt that in the deepest part of his brain, a gray, boundless open space was slowly unfolding within his perception.

This was the core location of a Martial Artist's Soul—the Soul Sea!

However, for Su Wu, who had not specifically Cultivated Soul secret techniques, this Soul Sea, while vast, was a dry desert. Currently, there was no "water" in this Soul Sea.

However, this dryness lasted for only a brief moment.

As the medicinal power of the soul fruit completely erupted, a powerful, ancient, and pure-to-the-extreme Soul Power surged forth from the deepest part of Su Wu's Soul, like an awakened ancient Dragon!

"Whoosh—!!!"

This Soul Power, transformed from the soul fruit, rushed towards the empty, dry Soul Sea like a flood from the Nine Heavens, carrying an overwhelming force that could destroy anything in its path!

As this Soul Power continued to pour in, the previously empty gray Soul Sea began to ripple with visible, illusory waves.

Following that, a miracle occurred.

Waves of crystal-clear "Soul Water," emitting a faint silver radiance, began to gather and take shape in this desert. From initial small streams, they quickly converged into rivers, and finally, at a terrifying speed visible to the naked eye, they surged crazily across this boundless space, turning into a true vast ocean!

As the "Soul Water" in the Soul Sea continued to fill and expand.

Su Wu, sitting cross-legged in the cave, began to involuntarily emit layers of silver mental ripples, like water waves, from the surface of his body.

He clearly felt that his Soul Power was continuously strengthening at a crazy, exponential rate.

That feeling was like a giant originally trapped in a small iron box, constantly expanding and struggling, as if it were about to burst through that iron wall at any moment, breaking through some innate dimensional shackle and stepping into a completely different, brand-new Realm!

"Break!"

Su Wu kept his eyes tightly closed, letting out a silent roar in his heart.

Finally!

After a slight tremor that seemed to come from the depths of his Soul.

"Crack."

A crisp sound, like glass shattering, which only Su Wu could hear, exploded in his Sea of Consciousness.

Su Wu's Soul, at this moment, seemed to have broken free from some invisible shackle, completing an ultimate transformation like a cocoon turning into a butterfly!

He clearly felt that the strength of his Divine Thought had successfully crossed the huge chasm between Star King and Star Emperor, as if cutting through bamboo.

Officially stepping into the—Star Emperor Domain!

Hum—!!!

The moment the transformation was complete, Su Wu felt his Divine Thought become incomparably sharp and vast.

He did not open his eyes, yet the entire world was projected directly into his mind with unprecedented clarity!

This perception had transcended sight, hearing, and touch; it was a "God's-eye view" that pointed directly to the essence of matter!

He "saw" it!

He saw the swaying trajectory of every blade of grass and tree outside the cave in the breeze; he saw the friction and collision of every strand of Origin Qi in the air; he even saw the extremely tiny molecular structures on the surface of the rocks vibrating in a regular pattern!

His Divine Thought continued to expand infinitely outward!

One kilometer, ten kilometers, one hundred kilometers, one thousand kilometers, ten thousand kilometers, one hundred thousand kilometers!

He clearly felt the faint heartbeat and the sound of blood flowing of a low-rank exotic beast lurking and hunting in the continuous mountain range hundreds of kilometers away; he detected the unique and heavy fluctuations emitted by a hidden rare mineral vein deep underground, tens of thousands of meters beneath his feet.

This absolute sense of control over the surrounding environment—all-encompassing, without blind spots, and omniscient—was a shocking Realm he had never experienced before!

Not only that.

As his Divine Thought advanced to the Star Emperor Level, Su Wu's thinking and computational abilities also became unprecedentedly active.

The "Three-Fire Thunder Blade" that had already been Cultivated to Perfection, the domineering and unparalleled "Blood Fiend Transformation," and the mysterious and unpredictable "Yuan Escape"—the operation routes and force-exertion techniques of these Martial Skills and movement techniques were now spinning and deducing crazily in his mind at the speed of light.

Some obscure points of the Dao of martial arts, which he previously only knew the 'what' but not the 'why' of, became even more clear at this moment.

Furthermore, he had a deeper, more direct realization of the Law regarding the four attributes of water, fire, thunder, and space!