Chapter 255: Thirty-Eight Steps

Walking into the Dark Spirit Pool, what appeared before Li Luo and the others was a bottomless, pitch-black giant pit; there was no water in the pool, yet it contained extremely majestic heaven and earth energy, which seemed to form a massive vortex, swirling within the deep pool, giving off a slightly terrifying feeling.

The surroundings of the giant pit were not smooth; many giant boulders jutted out, intersecting throughout the pit in all directions, with gaps of roughly a dozen or so meters between the boulders above and below.

"Are you ready? They say there are thirty-eight steps within this Dark Spirit Pool; the deeper you go, the more energy pours into your body, and the lower levels have even stronger effects."

"Let's set our initial goal at the thirty-fifth step," Li Luo said with a smile.

Bai Bai Mengmeng stuck out her tongue and said, "Captain, that requirement is too high for me; I feel my limit is only around the thirty-second step."

Among the three, Bai Bai Mengmeng's strength was the weakest; she was still only at the Flower Seed Stage, the first stage of the Diviner Realm.

"Just do your best anyway. Being able to go down one more step will improve the cultivation effect, and this is our first time entering the Dark Spirit Pool, so the effect will be the strongest; we can't waste it." Li Luo nodded, knowing this couldn't be forced, and at times like this they could only rely on their own abilities; they couldn't help much either.

After saying that, the three stopped talking; their figures moved, leaping down from the giant boulder, their forms drifting through the energy waves, and after a dozen or so breaths, they had already landed on the giant boulder of the lower level.

The instant they landed on the boulder, they could feel the surrounding heaven and earth energy becoming extremely active, then surging toward their bodies one after another.

Heaven and earth energy poured in through their nostrils, rushing through their bodies, bringing an extremely comfortable sensation.

All three couldn't help but softly moan.

However, this feeling came extremely quickly; in just a few short breaths, the three noticed the body-infusion effect fading away, and immediately felt somewhat unsatisfied.

"That was way too fast, but the phase force really did increase a bit," Student Xin Fu complained first, then said with some pleasant surprise.

Li Luo nodded; he likewise felt that the phase force seeds within his two phase palaces had become brighter and more active, and the phase force within had indeed gained some growth, though this growth rate wasn't all that high.

But that was normal; after all, this had only just begun.

"Captain, I noticed your body infusion seems to last a few seconds longer than ours..." Student Xin Fu suddenly said.

Li Luo was startled and said, "Did it?"

The body infusion time was too short, vanishing in the blink of an eye; he hadn't even noticed whether it lasted a few seconds longer...

Bai Bai Mengmeng thought for a moment and said, "It does seem a bit longer than ours."

The body infusion on this first level only lasted about five or six seconds in total, as quick as a blink, and Li Luo's lasted a few seconds longer—wouldn't that mean the effect was twice as strong as theirs?

"Let's try going further down."

Li Luo wasn't particularly certain about this either; he said something, then took the lead and leaped down toward the next level, with Student Xin Fu and Bai Bai Mengmeng immediately following.

In the next short span of just a few minutes, Li Luo's group of three descended ten steps in a row.

And after testing through ten steps, Li Luo discovered that his energy infusion time really was a bit more enduring than that of Student Xin Fu and Bai Bai Mengmeng.

The effect this brought was that after ten steps, he already felt his own phase force strengthening step by step; the phase mark on the surface of the phase force seed had already become increasingly bright, like a swimming dragon.

"It's probably because of my dual phases." Facing the envious gazes of the two, Li Luo spread his hands.

Student Xin Fu and Bai Bai Mengmeng nodded; this made sense. The heaven and earth energy within this Dark Spirit Pool was also divided into many attributes; for instance, they could only absorb one type, while Li Luo, with his dual phases, could absorb two types—this was clearly no small advantage.

The two stopped caring, while Li Luo's gaze began to fix with burning intensity on the stone steps further below; after walking down these ten steps, he actually understood the changes happening within his body better than Student Xin Fu and Bai Bai Mengmeng did.

The heaven and earth energy surging into the body was actually equivalent to delicacies entering the stomach, but what made him different from others was that other people only had one stomach to digest, whereas he had two...

His body infusion time would last longer because the two phase palaces within his body were greedily devouring and refining; the speed of absorption was also far more efficient than that single phase palace of Student Xin Fu and Bai Bai Mengmeng.

The effect achieved naturally far surpassed that of others.

Therefore, Li Luo was now very eager to know—if he could walk through all the stone steps within this Dark Spirit Pool, how much would his strength improve?

For him, this would be a rare opportunity.

With anticipation in his heart, Li Luo no longer lingered and once again began leaping down toward the depths of the Dark Spirit Pool.

Time was passing; before anyone realized it, an hour had already gone by.

Li Luo's group of three had reached the thirtieth step.

At this moment, the surface of the three people's bodies had boiling phase force rising—this was a manifestation of the phase force within their bodies being extremely active. After these thirty steps, the repeated energy infusions truly gave the three a feeling of being stuffed to the point of bursting.

But no one chose to stop here; on the contrary, everyone's eyes looked greedily and longingly toward the depths below.

The improvement brought by this short hour probably equaled two or three months of ordinary bitter cultivation!

However, after reaching the thirtieth step, even with Dark Spirit Leaves in their mouths, Li Luo's group of three all began to sense layers of pressure surging from all directions; clearly, the energy pressure here had already become very strong, and even the Dark Spirit Leaves couldn't provide complete protection.

Therefore, to go further down, they would now have to bring out their true abilities.

The three exchanged glances, said not a word, and directly leaped toward the thirty-first step.

Not far away, two other small teams had also descended, but when everyone arrived here, their bodies were rigid, with sweat appearing on their faces—clearly all enduring tremendous pressure.

In the end, one person with a deathly pale face suddenly leaped upward, then, under the impact of the energy waves, shot straight up and, after a moment, burst out of the Dark Spirit Pool.

Clearly, this person couldn't withstand the energy pressure here and chose to retreat and give up.

Li Luo's group of three had no mood to pay attention to others giving up, because they too felt their bodies growing heavy at this moment, as if carrying boulders weighing ten thousand jin.

Among the three, the weakest, Bai Bai Mengmeng, had a fair little face growing ever paler, her shell-like teeth tightly biting her lip, the bite marks clearly visible.

Li Luo glanced at her; she understood what he meant and immediately shook her head stubbornly.

Li Luo nodded, and then the three leaped down again.

Step after step.

Finally, they reached the thirty-fourth step.

And upon reaching this position, Bai Bai Mengmeng had completely reached her limit, but her persistence also brought rewards; the phase force within her body suddenly became active at this moment, phase force fluctuations climbing steadily.

She ultimately completed a breakthrough, advancing from the lower stage of Flower Seed to the upper stage of Flower Seed.

And after completing this breakthrough, she gently exhaled and made a gesture to Li Luo and Student Xin Fu—that she planned to stop here.

Bai Bai Mengmeng herself wasn't a person with great ambition; she didn't have much interest in challenging her limits, so she felt this place was enough.

Li Luo nodded slightly; Bai Bai Mengmeng being able to reach here was already somewhat surprising to him; this should be her limit, and if she forced herself further, it would instead harm her.

Bai Bai Mengmeng didn't linger; her delicate figure moved, and she leaped up.

Watching Bai Bai Mengmeng's figure disappear, Li Luo and Student Xin Fu exchanged a glance, then without the slightest hesitation, their figures directly leaped down, landing squarely at the position of the thirty-fifth step.