parentshiftbook Chapter 2102 Huge Gains
Chapter 2102 Huge Gains
Chapter 2102 Huge Gains
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
He took three steps back, each step leaving a clear, deep, jet-black footprint on the ground. The edges of the footprint were smooth, as if instantly branded by the hottest iron, with no trace of brick or stone texture, only a pure, light-absorbing blackness.
He Qiusheng barely managed to stabilize the dissipating phantom, slowly raised his head, and looked again at Chen Fei, who stood holding a halberd, whose aura had calmed down but who seemed even more unfathomable.
On his blurred, distorted face, madness and resentment receded like a tide, replaced by an indescribable, complex expression. His lips twitched with extreme difficulty, as if trying to form an expression.
But what ultimately solidified was a smile ten times uglier than a cry.
"puff!"
A soft sound, like a bubble bursting.
He Qiusheng's already illusory figure, along with the remaining thin black mist around him, suddenly shrank inward at this moment, and then silently exploded.
There was no earth-shattering explosion, no scattered debris, only countless black specks of light, finer than dust, mixed with the last shrill, almost inaudible shriek of will, instantly dissolving into the air without a trace.
Chen Fei calmly watched the spot where He Qiusheng had disappeared, his Qian Yuan Halberd pointing diagonally at the ground, the last trace of black energy clinging to the halberd quietly being purified.
With a flick of his left hand, Chen Fei extracted and compressed wisps of thin black smoke, dissipated pure demonic energy, and even the traces of destructive intent contained in the still-unsettled spatial fluctuations.
The next moment, a black bead, about the size of a longan and dark and deep in color, appeared out of thin air.
It is not crystal clear, but rather seems to condense the deepest darkness within it. Its surface is smooth, but inside, countless tiny black vortices seem to be slowly rotating, occasionally flashing a chilling dark light.
Chen Fei's gaze fell on the black bead, and the calm in his eyes was replaced by a hint of surprise.
Space fragments!
An extraordinary number of fragments of personalities!
Although Chen Fei had not been in the Tai Cang Realm for very long and had never actually killed other cultivators of the same level to plunder their origins, he still had some understanding of the number of rank fragments that might be extracted from the origins of Tai Cang Realm cultivators after their deaths.
According to common knowledge, the number of fragments of a cultivator at the early stage of the Tai Cang Realm that can be extracted and collected after their death is pitifully small.
However, Chen Fei's divine sense touched the black bead, sensing the starlight floating in the cold, deep sea inside.
Each star represents a relatively complete fragment of a lattice. Their brightness may vary, but their number is several times greater than normal.
This is obviously not normal.
Even with the environmental support of this ancient ruin, the amount of fragments of the original core of a vengeful demon in the early stage of the Tai Cang Realm should have a relatively stable upper limit.
It's like a small puddle; no matter how you shake it, the total amount of water that splashes out is fixed.
The bead in front of me resembles a small, compressed pond. Although its size appears unchanged, the amount of water it contains far exceeds that of an ordinary puddle.
Is it because the environment of this ruin is special? Or is there something unusual about this vengeful demon itself?
Certain extremely special regions can indeed, to some extent, prevent the dissipation of the primordial power of a living being after its demise.
For example, the Demon Lotus Realm that was previously on the front lines had similar characteristics in its internal areas.
The ancient celestial ruins before us, after countless years, still retain incomprehensible array remnants and distorted rules of heaven and earth. It is not entirely impossible that they could form a cage-like environment similar to the Demon Lotus Realm, capable of preventing the natural dissipation of fragments of rank.
If that's the case, then it makes sense that after He Qiu's death, most of the fragments of his original personality contained within were retained by the force field of this relic.
However, Chen Fei leans more towards the second explanation, which he sees as the more likely one.
The generation and accumulation of rank fragments are directly related to a cultivator's realm, the depth of their understanding of the rules of heaven and earth, and the degree of refinement of their Dao fruit.
The higher the realm, the more fragments of status naturally arise and are carried within its origin, and the better their quality.
The vengeful demon is essentially a strange creature formed from a mixture of intense resentment, lingering resentment, and special energy.
Their strength may become more formidable due to environmental factors and their resentful nature, and they may even unleash power that surpasses their current level of existence in a short period of time. However, this is more a manifestation of external forces and characteristics, and cannot elevate the level of their fundamental existence.
Unless... its foundation was incredibly strong from the very beginning of its transformation.
He Qiusheng was formed from the resentment of those who perished during the destruction of the ancient Heavenly Court. If he was not an ordinary celestial soldier or general in his previous life, but a powerful expert with a profound realm, then even in the tragic fall, his divine soul and Dao fruit would have been destroyed, leaving only a wisp of the deepest resentment.
After countless years, it combined with the demonic energy of the ruins and transformed into a vengeful demon. Its remnants may still retain some of the underlying essence of higher realms and deeper levels of rules.
Thinking of this, Chen Fei couldn't help but recall the vengeful demon He Qiusheng's venomous and manic roar during the fierce battle not long ago: "If I were facing the me of that time, I could crush you to death with a single finger."
Now, considering the existence of this black bead containing fragments of an extraordinary dimension, let's reflect on this statement again...
If we exclude emotionally charged exaggerations, if this statement contains even a trace of genuine understanding based on past strength, then the information it reveals is extremely astonishing.
A powerful figure with extremely high cultivation during the ancient Heavenly Court era perished amidst dramatic changes in the world. His lingering resentment and vengeance have persisted for countless ages, transforming into a vengeful demon in this place.
The erosion of time and the distortion and degeneration of its existence have caused its power level to plummet, its intelligence to become dulled, leaving only madness and resentment. Its actual combat power is limited to the early stage of the Tai Cang Realm, and it relies on the environment of the ruins and strange methods to fight its enemies.
But at its most fundamental core, it still bears the imprint of rules from a higher realm in the past, at a deeper level.
When its existence was completely crushed by Chen Fei with absolute power and its origin collapsed, these deeply hidden, high-quality remnants of rules appeared in an extraordinary number of fragments of rank.
Despite the many thoughts swirling in his mind, Chen Fei gathered his thoughts and stopped dwelling on the past with the vengeful demon. The past is gone; what matters is the present gain and situation.
Chen Fei circulated his cultivation technique, and the Devouring Heaven Divine Forge and the Undying True Light Mirror within his body simultaneously emitted a faint light. He began to carefully peel away the floating fragments of the rank within the black bead.
As Chen Fei peeled away the fragments, he looked up into the distance.
The terrifying energy impact from the collision of the halberds and the disintegration of the demonic body created a vacuum zone in this ocean of dark demonic energy in a short period of time.
But at this moment, this area has already been filled again by the endless, surging, viscous demonic energy around it.
Vision was once again compressed to its limit, and even extending one's divine sense felt like being stuck in quagmire, making every step difficult. That familiar, soul-crushing sense of oppression surged in from all directions.
Moreover, the eerie whispers filled with pain, resentment, madness, and temptation once again echoed in the deathly darkness, as if countless unseen wronged souls were whispering in one's ear, or as if the most murmured secrets from the deepest recesses of the heart were being amplified, attempting to penetrate the sea of consciousness and dismantle the will.
"Stay...become a part of us..."
"The eternal final resting place...is here..."
The sound seemed to come from near and far, high and low, layer upon layer, penetrating straight to the soul.
This dark and desolate region was not created or maintained by He Qiusheng. It is a more fundamental and bizarre external manifestation of the ancient Heavenly Court ruins. He Qiusheng is just a ripple in it.
The process of separating the lattice fragments took a little longer than expected, but went smoothly overall.
A moment later, Chen Fei's palm trembled slightly, and the dark black bead completely lost its luster. Under Chen Fei's control, a cloud of light mist emitting faint rays of various colors floated quietly in front of him.
Within the luminous mist, countless extremely tiny, irregularly shaped streams of light could be vaguely seen floating and shimmering, each radiating a unique and subtle, regular fluctuation.
With a thought, Chen Fei stored the precious fragment of his spatial dimension into his spatial dimension.
Just as Chen Fei had sensed before, a large number of fragments of the dimensional avatar had just been stripped away.
According to estimates, these fragments of the rank can be synthesized into roughly 50% of a 16th-rank low-grade rank spiritual material.
When Chen Fei broke through to the Tai Cang Realm, he consumed a massive amount of resources. Now, by killing a vengeful demon in the early stage of the Tai Cang Realm, he actually obtained half a portion of a sixteenth-grade low-level spiritual material.
This efficiency is frighteningly high.
Normally, the fragments of a cultivator in the early stage of the Tai Cang Realm, a demonic cultivator, or a demonic monster, provided by their source energy after their death are usually about one-tenth of the sixteenth-rank low-grade spiritual materials.
In many cases, due to factors such as combat losses, the dissipation of resources, and environmental interference, the actual amount that can be collected is even less than this.
What He Qiusheng left behind was only 50%. If he hadn't possessed a high level of spiritual attainment and an exceptionally solid foundation during his lifetime, it would have been impossible for him to achieve this.
Chen Fei gently exhaled a breath of turbid air. One of the difficulties in cultivation is accumulating fragments of a rank and condensing rank spiritual materials.
Exploring ancient ruins and hidden realms to find complete spiritual materials nurtured by heaven and earth? Such encounters are rare and precious.
Therefore, one of the most common and direct methods is plunder. Taking from other living beings, monsters, and demons.
Various thoughts flashed through Chen Fei's mind. He looked at the black bead in his palm, which was originally dark and deep, containing star-like patterns. Now, it had lost its luster and turned into a dull gray-black.
Its core value lies in the fragment of its rank; once stripped away, it loses most of its divine power. For most cultivators, this item is no longer of great value.
But for Chen Fei, it still has great use!
Chen Fei held up the black bead with his left hand, and pointed it in mid-air with his right hand, fingers pointing like a sword.
From his cuff, a wisp of golden-black energy, exuding both grandeur and decay, meandered out, like a small, living black snake, hovering silently in front of his fingertips.