Chapter 185: Lonely Drifting

After flying around aimlessly for about two hours, Xu Chen felt he could not continue flying about without purpose like this; he needed to calm down and find the correct direction.

This place should still be under the Sealing Array of Black Wind Ridge, but he had no way of knowing exactly how deep he was, because that Soul Beast had been too fast, and he had to focus on practicing the Demon Refining Art to deal with the Soul Beast, so he had neither the energy to keep track of time nor the time to judge the distance.

However, this was not his first time encountering the Void.

Last time, when he and Lan You were dragged into the red light by that Ancient Fierce Beast, it took them over twenty days to find the location where the beast was sealed, and then they were brought directly near the Sealing Array by the Blue Light Treasure Bottle.

At that time, apart from the viscous red light churning all around like magma, it was just a pitch-black Void.

If his speculation was correct, he might have fallen once again into that Nether Rift used to suppress the Ancient Fierce Beast.

It was just that without the beast, the array had been destroyed, and that red light might have already vanished.

Without the obstruction of the red light, he estimated that was the reason for the massive leakage of Black Wind.

Xu Chen inferred the situation before him based on his limited knowledge.

Then, he released his Divine Sense to perceive his surroundings.

This place was still filled with Black Mist, though it was extremely dense, and its flow direction was also abnormally chaotic.

Because there were no reference objects, Xu Chen could only rely on instinct and habit to estimate; his current Divine Sense range was approximately ten miles.

Although it was far inferior to being outside, in reality, such a large range of Divine Sense still made him feel much more at ease.

What people fear most is not a formidable enemy, nor the threat of death, but the unknown.

No matter how strong one's mindset is, once they fall into the unknown, they will become panicked and uneasy, and if it lasts too long, they will lose control of their emotions.

After Xu Chen's Soul merged with the Blue Light Treasure Bottle, he rarely felt fear or terror anymore, but if he could not find an exit, he would sooner or later starve to death here.

However, it would not be easy for him to starve to death right now; ever since the ordeal in the underground cavern, he had been fully prepared, and his Storage Bag contained not only Bigu Pill and food, but also pots, pans, oil, salt, sauce, and vinegar; furthermore, he had a Storage Bracelet with a huge capacity, which, in addition to his personal Flying Sword, Pill Furnace, Thunder Fire Pestle, and Spectral Mirror, contained a large amount of Spirit Pill, Spirit Material, and Spirit Medicine, and he had even specially prepared several buckets of water inside just in case.

His mood was temporarily quite stable.

As long as no Soul Beast with the formidable strength he had just encountered appeared here, he could survive alone for at least a year.

If he still couldn't find a way out after a year, then it meant that even Heaven did not want him to live.

Xu Chen's thoughts slowly calmed down; with his Divine Sense covering a distance of ten miles, he carefully sensed the flow and speed of the Black Wind to judge the direction that might be the exit.

After a full quarter of an hour, Xu Chen headed in one of the directions.

At this moment, he was trying his best to conserve his Qi, so he was not flying fast; his whole body emitted a faint, pale halo, like a mayfly drifting in a pitch-black ocean, moving slowly through this world of total darkness.

After flying for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, having reached the edge of the area he had just explored with his Divine Sense, Xu Chen stopped and released his full Divine Sense again to investigate the flow of the Black Wind within a ten-mile radius.

After half a quarter of an hour, Xu Chen selected another direction and continued forward.

Repeating this constant observation and movement, Xu Chen also silently counted the number of observations to roughly judge the time and distance.

Of course, he could not judge whether he was moving forward or circling in place, but in this Void environment that was devoid of light and empty of everything, he could only use this clumsiest method to constantly probe and find a way out.

Moving might be a futile effort, but waiting in place would definitely lead to only one path: death.

Five times... ten times... twenty times... thirty times...

As he explored more and more places and moved more and more times, he slowly began to feel that he should not be circling in place, because he gradually felt the flow speed of the Black Wind becoming clearer, and his sense of direction also becoming more distinct.

Finally, after taking about a full day, he finally felt a very obvious flow of Black Wind like a river, and he no longer needed to distinguish directions and probe by moving time and again, but instead continued forward along the direction of this Black Wind flow.

He believed that as long as he followed this Black Wind, he would definitely be able to find an exit.

However, the situation that followed made him feel inexplicably uneasy.

Although he could not accurately judge the time, he had actually digested one Bigu Pill, yet he still had no discoveries.

That is to say, for these three days, he had been moving forward along the direction of the Black Wind, but it seemed there was no end in sight.

This kind of lonely drifting in pure darkness was quiet and lonely enough to make anyone's emotions restless.

However, just as he was hesitating whether to stop temporarily and observe again, suddenly, in the incomparable darkness ahead, a faint white dot flickered.

But when he steadied his mind to look carefully again, that point of white light seemed like an illusion, as if it had never appeared at all.

"Damn it, could it be that I'm starting to hallucinate because it's too dark?"

Xu Chen couldn't help but rub his eyes hard, and then, while continuing to move forward along the Black Wind, he stared at that direction again to watch carefully.

Not long after, that white dot, which seemed like an illusion, flickered again.

At this, Xu Chen became excited at once.

The first time might have been an illusion, but the second time was definitely not.

For a cultivator at his Foundation Establishment Stage, in reality, his entire body's Apertures, Meridians, dantian, and Soul had already become a unified whole; the eyes, ears, mouth, and nose were the innate open Apertures of the human body, each connected to the internal organs, and the internal organs were governed by the Twelve Main Meridians, which were the key meridians for entering the path of Qi cultivation; therefore, when a cultivator practices, the first batch of things to be strengthened are the sensory capabilities of these Apertures like the eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.

Therefore, a cultivator's sense of smell, taste, vision, and hearing are countless times stronger than those of a mortal.

Under this kind of powerful perception, a strong Soul would further reinforce this external perception.

The end result is that a cultivator's perception of changes in the external environment is very keen, and they rarely experience hallucinations, unless they have fallen into some kind of illusion that the Soul cannot resist.

Xu Chen believed that he had fallen into the Nether Rift passage, which should not be some kind of illusion.

The distance of the location where the white dot appeared could not be determined, but the direction could not be wrong.

As for whether it was dangerous, he would naturally judge carefully, so he restrained his aura even more, almost completely merging his body into the darkness, and then continued to move forward with the flow of the Black Wind.

Sure enough, as he slowly moved forward, that illusory white dot appeared more and more frequently; eventually, it completely turned into a clear light source the size of a finger in his eyes, though it was still flickering, with the interval between each flicker being about several dozen breaths, slow and rhythmic.

In such a world of darkness that seemed to have no boundaries, the sudden appearance of such a point of light, apart from making one pleasantly surprised and excited, also made one feel a sense of vigilance and unease.

Heaven knows what was emitting this white light.

But it was definitely not something simple.

Because Xu Chen was too clear about the characteristics of the Black Wind; not to mention that the observation distance of Divine Sense was limited, in reality, even if one used a Magic Treasure to illuminate it, it could generally only penetrate a few yards.

Xu Chen's eyesight was slightly stronger than that of an ordinary cultivator under the blessing of the Blue Light Treasure Bottle, but it was also very limited, at most able to see through a distance of a hundred yards.

But judging by his speed and time of travel, he had moved at least two miles before he truly saw this white light clearly.

If he wanted to get close, it looked like there was still at least ten-plus miles to go.

That is to say, this white light could penetrate nearly twenty miles of Black Wind.

This made him begin to feel somewhat nervous and uneasy.

However, after hesitating for a moment, he still gritted his teeth and continued walking forward.

Very soon, two quarters of an hour passed.

The white speck of light flickering ahead became clearer and clearer, gradually reaching the size of an egg.

Judging by the distance, there were still about ten miles left.

Xu Chen stopped and released his Divine Sense.

Ten miles or so was the limit of his Divine Sense; to avoid placing himself in an unknown, dangerous situation, he decided to use his Divine Sense to observe first.

Very quickly, his Divine Sense pierced through the pitch-black darkness and reached the vicinity of the white light, and then he was suddenly stunned.

Because the image fed back by his Divine Sense was actually a gigantic pitch-black Shell, quietly floating amidst the Black Wind flowing through the Void; as the massive Shell opened and closed, a cluster of white light would flicker and appear inside.

"A Shell? Could it be a pearl?"

Xu Chen's mouth hung open for a long time before he slowly closed it.

If his Divine Sense observation was not mistaken, then his judgment would not be wrong either; the glowing white light was a pearl the size of a head inside the Shell.

After being surprised for a long time, Xu Chen felt both amused and exasperated, while his tense heart also slowly relaxed.

This Shell should also be a type of Soul Beast, only it lived within the Black Wind of this Nether Rift.

This thing should also be very dangerous, but to what extent it was dangerous, he was unable to judge.

After all, there were too many strange and bizarre types of Soul Beasts; it was perfectly reasonable for an octopus to appear, and for a Shell to appear as well.

But regardless of how full of unknowns and dangers it was, this was the only light source and living creature Xu Chen had discovered since being brought in by that Soul Beast, so he could not give up the chance to make contact no matter what.

Perhaps by passing through this Soul Beast, he would be able to find an exit.

Even if he couldn't find an exit, obtaining this pearl for illumination would also be quite good.

With the help of this thing, he would definitely be able to see much further.

Therefore, after Xu Chen hesitated for a full half-quarter of an hour, he finally gritted his teeth and accelerated toward the Shell, while simultaneously releasing his powerful Divine Sense to lock onto it.

(End of this chapter)