Chapter 50: The World Eater Sphere

Chapter 50: The World Eater Sphere

I cannot figure it out. I have spent days, now, probing the black sphere that hovers above my sea of consciousness but below my inner vessel. I understand, through that mechanism that living creatures call intuition, that it is hollow but I cannot find an access point.

It appeared, at first, as a black blob but over time it stabilized itself into a perfectly spherical shape like a celestial object and its exterior became shiny like metal. I know it is hollow. I know it has a purpose. I just dont know how to get inside it, or what its purpose is.

Over these past few days, the only difference I notice is a faint flash of gold light, like a transient hum of sword Qi, or a flash of array symbols refracting on the surface of the sphere from within.

This thing devoured most of the valuable materials and items that Li Fengs ring had stored, and there was no way to get them back without going inside. If they were even still there. After all, this appeared as a result of my new World Eater talent, though I hate to call it a talent because I was not able to activate it yet.

At first I thought, since the name suggests it could eat the world, that I could casually devour dirt or air, but when I opened my aperture, nothing happened. Even Zhao Wei did not get devoured. Only his spatial ring.

I wince internally or at least I pretend to wince, since I cannot really feel pain at the thought of losing Zhao Weis ring too.

Despite the catastrophic loss and unspeakable failure of recovering valuable materials, I still consider the whole situation to be an overall triumph. Lan Xiaohuis heart is like steel now. Where before I worried that she had not decided in her heart to follow this path and to sever herself from her previous attachments, there is now no such concern.

Even the betrayal and the prospect of having the closest thing to comrades try to kill her did not dampen her mood in the aftermath. If anything, her mood improved. As if she didnt just eliminate dangerous enemies, but extinguished the poisons in her heart.

Even though my attention is entirely committed to deciphering the strange object in my sea of consciousness, as it likely holds the key to unlocking my World Eater talent, that does not mean that I completely ignore Lan Xiaohui, or pay no attention to her.

The spot she picked out to scout is upstream of the small pond where she fought Li Feng and at a point where the stream split, she followed this new stream to another pond. This pond was not out in the open like the other one, but rather inside a grotto that seemed to have been created naturally.

Unlike the previous cave, this one did have strong ambient Qi, and it being a grotto did not diminish the presence of natural wildlife. Strangely enough, there were passive creatures inside, with cultivations as deep as Qi Refining, yet they showed no hostile intent or fear towards Lan Xiaohui.

The floor was overrun by vegetation, and thick moss grew on the stone walls of the grotto. In total, it was about fifty steps deep and wide, and thirty steps tall, though most of this area was dominated by the pool in the center of the chamber.

Here, Lan Xiaohui made her temporary home after scouting the surroundings and ensuring that they were safe. By my approximations, I didnt think that the surroundings would be safe, but perhaps Li Feng and Zhao Wei had already killed the most dangerous beasts. Or perhaps someone else did.

Or perhaps there was a mystery about this grotto, considering the presence of creatures that did not want to eat Lan Xiaohui.

Of those creatures, the spiritual elk seems the most eminent, with a cultivation base in the peak of the Qi Refining realm. The other creatures two doe, several hamsters, a few birds, and a small fox did not have cultivations anywhere near as impressive.

After reaching this place, Lan Xiaohui sighs happily and moves to a comfortable spot near the pond, where she lies down, hugs me to her chest, and goes to sleep at once.

At the same time, I notice the black sphere inside my sea of consciousness shimmer and flash, as if something passed through its surface.

Interesting.