Chapter 186: Giant Clam

Amidst the boundless pitch-black, a brilliant Escape Light of Yuan Qi tore through the air, causing the piercing Black Wind to vibrate and howl.

Seemingly sensing the lock of Xu Chen's Divine Sense and the fluctuations of his Yuan Qi, the enormous Shell suddenly snapped shut, and the space ahead instantly turned pitch-black.

Almost simultaneously, Xu Chen also felt a wave of intense hostility and a terrifying aura of a Soul sweep toward him.

Xu Chen's heart trembled incessantly.

This Soul aura brought him a pressure even greater than that of the giant octopus Soul Beast, incomparably thick and heavy, like a thousand-jun boulder, pressing heavily upon his Soul in an instant.

The illusory Blue Light Treasure Bottle glowed slightly, dissolving this pressure.

Xu Chen let out a breath of relief, and while accelerating, he took the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus Thunder Fire Pestle from his bracelet and began to infuse it with Yuan Qi to activate the Array within.

Ten miles... eight miles... five miles... three miles...

Xu Chen's speed grew faster and faster, and the power accumulated in the Thunder Fire Pestle grew stronger and stronger; the cyan lightning circling its entire body flickered and churned with a crackling sound in the boundless pitch-black, dragging a long tail of lightning flame behind it, resembling a lightning dragon flying at high speed, emitting a sound like the roaring of mountains and seas.

The enormous Shell remained in its original spot and did not move.

However, its pitch-black body, several zhang long, was tightly shut without the slightest gap.

If it hadn't been for it opening and closing its Shell just now, revealing the pearlescent light inside for Xu Chen to find, even if a True Immortal had come here, finding it would likely have been like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"Boom~"

The Thunder Fire Pestle slammed heavily onto the Shell.

A massive ball of cyan lightning exploded amidst the boundless Black Wind, and the churning Black Mist in the surroundings was instantly cleared away for several hundred zhang.

The blinding light was like a thunderstorm, splashing out in all directions.

"Clang~~"

The moment the lightning exploded, Xu Chen's entire body shook; he felt as if this strike had hit an iron mountain, the Thunder Fire Pestle bounced high into the air, and a loud noise simultaneously rang out in his mind, causing his Soul to tremble crazily, even causing the Blue Light Treasure Bottle to spray Blue Starlight in all directions.

While Xu Chen's head was buzzing, he stared dumbfounded at the black Shell hanging lonely in the Void.

He had put his full strength into this strike, activating nearly thirty percent of the Thunder Fire Pestle's Array, yet he could not shake the Shell in the slightest.

The Shell remained like a pitch-black coffin, solidified in this Void, and its outer shell didn't even have a single scratch.

"What on earth is this thing, why is it so hard?"

For a moment, Xu Chen felt it was unbelievable.

But after a moment, he raised the Thunder Fire Pestle again and smashed it fiercely once more at the gap where the Shell was closed.

Another earth-shattering loud noise followed, and when the lightning dissipated, the Shell remained completely unmoved.

Xu Chen gave up completely.

This Shell was exceptionally hard, far beyond what he could break with the Thunder Fire Pestle.

However, what made him feel glad was that this strange Shell Soul Beast did not show any signs of counterattacking or fleeing, but instead sealed itself up completely.

Perhaps this was also a method of self-protection for the Shell.

Holding the Thunder Fire Pestle and standing a hundred zhang away from the Shell, Xu Chen's Divine Sense was like a torch; he stared carefully at the Shell for the duration of a cup of tea and found that the Shell still had no movement at all.

So he let out a soft breath; although this Shell was incomparably hard and its Soul attack power was also very strong, its strength might be even better than the octopus Soul Beast that had dragged him in.

But as long as it didn't have the agility and powerful attack force of the octopus Soul Beast, he was not afraid.

Additionally, the white Qi of the Blue Light Treasure Bottle should have powerful lethality against all Soul Beasts, just like two completely opposite energies; once they come into contact, an annihilation explosion occurs.

This situation is not uncommon in the natural world; the simplest example is like water and fire being incompatible.

The Dao gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, and Three gives birth to all things.

Taiji gives birth to the Two Forms, the Two Forms give birth to the Four Symbols, the Four Symbols give birth to the Eight Trigrams, and the Eight Trigrams derive all things.

Although the theories of each sect in cultivation are different, they are largely the same, reaching the same destination by different paths, and their understanding of heaven, earth, and nature is roughly the same.

The initial evolution of heaven and earth was born from a chaos like an egg; the Green Spirit Qi rose to become heaven, and the Nether Turbid Qi sank to become earth; the Green Spirit Qi represents vitality, and the Nether Turbid Qi represents death.

And vitality and death are the two ultimate ends of the evolution of all things in heaven and earth, just like the Yin and Yang fish of the Taiji, transforming into each other, harmonious but different, taking shape but not merging, separated but not divided, apart but not scattered.

All things that have life have death.

The purpose of cultivation and refining Qi is to seek life and discard death, to have a lifespan equal to heaven.

To achieve this step, one must shed the mortal flesh and body that living beings possess, get rid of the shackles of the Five Elements, and leave only the Yang Spirit condensed from the Green Spirit Qi to ascend and become an Immortal.

Although Xu Chen did not know what Nether Qi was, he knew that the Black Wind carried a strong aura of death; once any living being in the mortal world came into contact with it, they would quickly die.

The only ones who could resist this power of death were cultivators and Demon Beasts.

But even for cultivators and Demon Beasts, the longer they stayed in the Black Mist, the greater the erosion on their bodies and Souls would be, and they would slowly fall into a state of chaos and fear; if they could not escape as soon as possible, they would have no choice but to die after a long time.

And regardless of whether they were cultivators or Demon Beasts, the reason they could resist the Black Qi was the Spirit Qi they cultivated and absorbed in their bodies.

The Blue Light Treasure Bottle could refine Black Qi into white Qi to strengthen the Soul, flesh, blood, tendons, and bones; it was an extremely powerful force of vitality.

In other words, the Blue Light Treasure Bottle could refine death Qi into life Qi.

This was a completely extreme transformation.

It was as incredible as someone being able to transform water and fire into each other.

Previously, Xu Chen didn't think there was any problem; he only felt that the Blue Light Treasure Bottle refining the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus and Black Water Black Qi into white Qi through the Demon Refining Art was just a simple function possessed by a True Immortal Magic Treasure.

But now he suddenly realized.

This kind of life-and-death transformation was a capability that completely overturned the universe and twisted heaven and earth; even a Void Immortal probably couldn't do it.

Could it be that that Blue Jade Bead was more than just an Immortal artifact?

Under this sudden realization, Xu Chen was seized by a feeling of bewilderment and fear.

Refining the Spirit to return to the Void is to be a True Immortal.

Refining the Void to merge with the Dao is to be truly immortal, penetrating heaven and earth, giving birth to and transforming all things; the universe, from ancient times to the present, is all within a single thought.

However, for cultivators in the mortal world and the Immortal World, a True Immortal is like a legend, and refining the Void to merge with the Dao is completely a myth of creation.

That was no longer something that a mortal cultivator like him could imagine or understand.

After a moment of wild thoughts, Xu Chen pulled himself together and refocused his attention on the Shell, which looked like a giant black coffin.

Although he is currently trapped in a crisis and does not know if he can eventually escape, not taking a treasure when encountered is not the style of a Taiyuan Sect cultivator.

But how to pry open this black coffin-like object left him somewhat at a loss.

In the end, he still placed his hope in the white Qi.

Thus, he began to silently circulate the Grand Void Demon Refining Art, and instantly, a stream of faint blue starlight erupted from his one hundred and eight apertures, transforming into an illusory mist of light that enveloped him.

Almost simultaneously, a beam of white light, guided by his Divine Sense, landed on the giant Shell.

The moment the white Qi appeared, the giant Shell suddenly began to churn and explode with colorful rays of light, as beautiful as fireworks; amidst the spraying fireworks, the surrounding Black Mist also began to boil and splash as if ignited, flickering and transforming into a brilliant rosy glow.

The Shell, like a black coffin, remained unmoved while wrapped in the five-colored rosy glow, steady as could be.

After a moment, Xu Chen stopped the Grand Void Demon Refining Art.

Because he discovered that this white light still had no lethality against the Shell; after such a long time, it seemed there was not even the slightest bit of damage.

Thus, Xu Chen had to put away this divine ability and began to slowly approach the Shell.

This outer shell is likely also an extraordinary treasure; if refined into a Magic Treasure, even a Spirit Realm Great Cultivator would probably be unable to break it.

It is just a pity it is too large; even if pried open, he fears he could not take it back.

Besides, even the invincible white Qi could not damage it—it could not be knocked or broken—and at this moment, he felt he was almost completely at his wit's end.

What to do?

Xu Chen flew to a distance of three zhang from the Shell, frowning and scratching his scalp hard.

After observing carefully for a while longer, he simply landed directly on the Shell and stomped his feet hard several times, discovering that it felt like stepping on a massive rocky mountain, steady as Mount Tai with no sense of swaying at all.

He even struck it a few times with the Thunder Fire Pestle, and it emitted a clear yet dull sound, truly like a heavy iron coffin weighing ten thousand jin.

Xu Chen was completely stumped, and in the end, he simply sat down cross-legged.

Having flown for several days, he finally found a place where he could settle down securely.

If only this Shell could fly, perhaps it could even take him to find a way out.

However, this thing was as if it had taken root, fixed in the Void, and no matter how the Black Wind flowed past from all sides, it did not sway even a little bit.

Thinking and thinking with no solution, Xu Chen decided not to think about it for the time being; he took a Bigu Pill from his Storage Bag and swallowed it, circulated his energy to refine it slightly, then took a cup of water and drank it, closed his eyes slightly to restrain his aura, and began to circulate his cultivation technique.

Although this clam shell was incomparably tough and he could not break the outer shell, Xu Chen believed that as long as it dared to open even a sliver of a gap, he would have a way to kill it.

After all, no matter how hard the outer shell is, it cannot block the softness inside.

As long as there is an opportunity to pour the white Qi inside, this clam shell will surely die.

What he needs to do now is wait.

However, he would not wait forever; he decided on a three-day limit, and when he felt hungry again, if this Shell still did not open, he would leave to continue searching for a way out.

Pitch blackness once again shrouded this Void.

The Black Wind flowed slowly past his side.

Time and space here seemed completely static; he could not feel any change, only eternal darkness and loneliness, seemingly without a shred of vitality.

Unknowingly, Xu Chen began to feel a hint of hunger and thirst again.

He slightly released a trace of Divine Sense, letting it land on the edge of the tightly closed gap of the clam shell.

The clam shell still showed no signs of opening.

He sighed secretly, saying to himself that this was the end of it.

For human cultivators, a single session of meditation and seclusion might last for days or even months.

For such a powerful and strange species, perhaps a single slumber lasts for months or even years.

Three days, to it, might just be a nap.

Therefore, Xu Chen decided not to continue wasting time with this thing; his own life was more important, and he had to hurry to find a way out and escape.

However, just as he prepared to stand up, a cold and powerful aura suddenly rolled over him like a flood.

(End of this chapter)