Chapter 20: The Wonderful Use of the Black Bead

Jiu Shixiong was nearly out of Qi at this moment; after breaking free, he flipped his hand to stuff a Great Origin Pill into his mouth, then lunged toward the black-robed Daoist and roared, "Junior Sister, take Junior Brother and leave quickly! I will hold him off!"

The black-robed Daoist laughed loudly, "What big talk! None of you are leaving today; all of you can die here together!"

As he spoke, the Array Disk transformed into a shadow and whistled as it smashed down onto the top of Xu Chen's head.

Although Xu Chen's soul was in agonizing pain at this moment, in a split second he perceived another ability of the Jade Bead: it could counter the opponent's Divine Sense.

Because just a moment ago, when the opponent's Divine Sense invaded his Sea of Consciousness, the Jade Bead flashed with blue light, neutralized the attack, and seemingly even invaded the opponent's Sea of Consciousness.

Although it was only a fleeting sensation, as if it were an illusion, he did not believe it was an illusion, because the powerful and keen Divine Sense of a cultivator generally does not experience so-called illusions.

Therefore, Xu Chen poured out all his Qi to resist the Array Disk, while simultaneously thrusting his own Divine Sense into the Jade Bead. As his Divine Sense entered, the Jade Bead instantly shone with great brilliance, like a blue sun exploding. Suddenly, a blinding blue light swept across his Sea of Consciousness, and his soul felt as if it had been thrown into molten iron.

"Ah!" Xu Chen's vision went black and he sat down on the ground with a thud.

"Awoo~" The black-robed Daoist actually let out an even more miserable scream, clutching his head as he tumbled and fell downward.

The Array Disk simultaneously lost control; the light and shadow of the Array flickered violently a few times before disappearing, suddenly shrinking to the size of a palm and falling as well.

The instantaneous change left both Jiu Shixiong and Zhao Xuan dumbfounded, while not far away, the Princess of Xiyun Prefecture, who had already emerged from the luxurious carriage, was pale to the point of having no color, her body trembling violently and her face equally blank.

"You... what kind of Magic Spell is this?"

The black-robed Daoist was, after all, a powerhouse of the Zhenyuan Realm; before even landing, he regained control of his body and soared into the air again, gritting his teeth in terror as he pointed at Xu Chen and roared.

Zhao Xuan stepped forward first to block in front of Xu Chen. Although Jiu Shixiong was shocked, afraid, and completely bewildered at this moment, he knew the situation had changed, so he grabbed his Flying Sword and stood behind the black-robed Daoist, pinning him in the middle.

Having fought to this point, both sides were in a life-or-death situation.

"Are you just going to stand by and watch?" Jiu Shixiong roared at the Princess of Xiyun Prefecture not far away.

Although the Princess of Xiyun Prefecture was terrified and panicked, she still gritted her teeth and pulled a black Jade Talisman from her bosom.

The black-robed Daoist's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly roared, "Wait! Today, this poor Daoist admits defeat. Shall we call it quits here?"

Jiu Shixiong flipped his hand to reveal a red Jade Talisman and sneered, "Admitting defeat is fine, but leave behind all your Magic Treasures and pills!"

"You..." The black-robed Daoist was so angry he could not speak.

"Since you are unwilling, then go to your death!" Jiu Shixiong gritted his teeth and activated the Jade Talisman in his hand.

As the Jade Talisman exploded, a flash of fire condensed in the air into a raptor the size of a zhang, releasing a terrifying aura as it lunged toward the black-robed Daoist.

"Third-grade Blazing Fire Talisman!" The black-robed Daoist exclaimed and turned to flee, simultaneously casting his Array Disk to release a zhang-sized array of light and shadow to block behind him.

"Junior Brother, do it!" Jiu Shixiong roared.

Xu Chen:...

Although he found it shameless that Jiu Shixiong had actually hidden a Third-grade Spirit Talisman, and even more shameless that Jiu Shixiong had just used him as a shield, he knew that only by killing this black-robed Daoist did the three of them have a chance to survive. Therefore, without hesitation, he used his Divine Sense to lock onto the black-robed Daoist while simultaneously activating the Jade Bead in his Sea of Consciousness again.

"Boom~"

Amidst the exploding blue light, Xu Chen's vision went black and he nearly fainted.

The black-robed Daoist once again let out a scream as if struck by lightning, his figure staggering as he spat out a mouthful of blood, and the Array Disk hovering behind his head instantly collapsed in light and shadow before falling away.

At the same time, the giant fire bird released by the Spirit Talisman had already lunged onto the black-robed Daoist.

However, just when everyone thought the Daoist was surely dead, this aggressive giant fire bird actually passed through the black-robed Daoist's body and then dissipated into a few wisps of starlight-like fire.

"Illusion Talisman!" The black-robed Daoist realized and roared.

But before he could turn around, a Flying Sword whistled over and pierced through his abdomen, passing through his body with a tearing sound and a spray of blood, before whistling back to sweep across his neck.

A head filled with rage and unwillingness soared into the air, tumbling in the sky before hitting the ground with a thud along with the headless body; blood sprayed across the sky, scattering over a radius of more than ten zhang.

"Damn it, finally dead!" Jiu Shixiong muttered, his body going limp as he tumbled down from the sky.

"Senior Brother!"

Zhao Xuan put down Xu Chen and hurriedly lunged over to help Jiu Shixiong up.

As for Xu Chen, he was already dizzy and blacked out. Looking at the head still rolling on the ground and the headless corpse still twitching and spraying blood, he had never seen such a bloody murder scene. He opened his mouth and vomited messily, then collapsed to the ground.

"I'm fine. Junior Sister, take care of Junior Brother; I need to recover my Qi!"

Jiu Shixiong's face was as white as paper; he bared his blood-stained teeth and smiled with difficulty, then sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to circulate his energy.

Zhao Xuan hurriedly went to help Xu Chen up, discovering that Xu Chen had already fainted, though his breathing was still steady and he did not seem to have any major issues.

When Xu Chen woke up in a daze, he only felt a splitting headache; his soul felt as if it had been scorched, and his whole person seemed to be smoking.

"Water... water..." Xu Chen used all his strength to open his mouth and call out.

Soon, he felt himself being half-propped up, and then cool water was poured into his mouth.

But this coolness had nothing to do with his soul; instead, as the cold water stimulated him and made him more awake, his entire soul felt as if it were burning, becoming increasingly unbearable, and he couldn't help but let out a cry of pain.

"How is it? Is Junior Brother feeling any better?" This was Thirteenth Senior Sister's anxious voice.

Xu Chen struggled to open his eyes and slowly saw the situation before him, discovering he was already lying in a clean room, which should be an inn.

"My soul feels like it's burning; it's so uncomfortable!" Xu Chen's face was pale as he clutched his head and shook it with difficulty.

Zhao Xuan put down the bowl and paced anxiously, saying, "This is soul damage caused by overusing Divine Sense. If we don't treat it with pills immediately, I'm afraid it will affect your cultivation."

"Woo woo..."

Just at this moment, Xiao Huli crawled out from somewhere, a Black Bead still in its mouth, and crawled slowly along the quilt to Xu Chen's chest, nudging his hand while making whimpering sounds.

Xu Chen was dizzy and in a terrible mood at this moment, so he reached out and pushed Xiao Huli to the side, but Xiao Huli quickly crawled back up, even climbing up his arm.

"Senior Sister, it seems the little fox is hungry. Did you feed it any milk?" Xu Chen groaned weakly.

Zhao Xuan was so anxious she was fuming, and she glared, "What time is it? You still have the mood to care about this beast; we haven't even eaten ourselves!"

Xu Chen smiled bitterly, "Senior Sister, don't worry. I just have a headache and thirst; I imagine I'll be fine after resting for two more days. By the way, how is Jiu Shixiong?"

"Jiu Shixiong is fine, but his Qi was over-exhausted and his Meridians are somewhat damaged; he is meditating in the next room!" Zhao Xuan replied.

Xu Chen immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Recalling the fierce battle with the black-robed Daoist just now, and then recalling the rolling head and the headless, blood-spraying corpse, his whole person felt unwell again. His face turned white and he leaned over the side of the bed to dry-heave a few mouthfuls of acid.

When he lay back down weakly, Xiao Huli actually crawled onto his forehead and lay down, its little tail even covering Xu Chen's eyes.

"This little beast..."

Zhao Xuan was both angry and anxious, grabbing Xiao Huli and preparing to throw it away.

However, Xu Chen suddenly grabbed Zhao Xuan's hand and said urgently, "Senior Sister, wait!"

Zhao Xuan chided, "At a time like this, you are still indulging it."

Xu Chen quickly said, "No, it lying on me is very comfortable."

Zhao Xuan withdrew her hand with a face full of surprise and said, "There is such a thing?"

Xu Chen closed his eyes to sense it for a moment and hummed softly, "It should be because of that Heizhu; I feel a trace of cool energy entering my Sea of Consciousness, and my Soul doesn't feel as painful."

Zhao Xuan was stunned for a moment and said happily, "It seems Junior Brother is a person of great opportunity. This Heizhu was picked up after you killed a Demon Beast in Black Wind Ridge, and we never discovered its use; it turns out it actually has the effect of calming the Soul. If it is truly effective, it will surely be of great use in the future."

Xu Chen naturally agreed with this statement very much.

There are countless Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure in the world, but the ones that can be truly used daily are only the Spirit Material and Spirit Medicine for alchemy and artifact refining; the number of types an ordinary cultivator can see and recognize in a lifetime is barely over a hundred, and even in a large Immortal Sect, many so-called Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure are obtained without knowing how to use them, requiring a long time to slowly explore.

The origin of this Heizhu is strange; Disciples of the Taiyuan Sect had never seen it before, so naturally, they did not know its use, and furthermore, many things cannot be used at will.

Back in the rift of Black Wind Ridge, Xu Chen had already discovered that probing this Heizhu with Divine Sense would make his Soul feel cold, so he dared not touch it easily.

Because the Soul is the most fragile place for all living beings, and it is also the foundation of survival.

Ordinary people can still recover from bodily injuries, and even missing arms or legs does not affect their lives.

But for a cultivator, even if their Meridians are damaged or their dantian is severely injured, they can still live well, but if the Soul is damaged, it is an absolute disaster for cultivation.

Therefore, in the Immortal World, the most powerful Magic Spell is the Soul-type Magic Spell, and the greatest difficulty is also how to protect and cultivate the Soul; even a great cultivator as powerful as the Spirit Realm needs to carefully protect their Primordial Spirit that has already undergone Spirit Transformation, and never dares to rashly experiment with unknown Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure for cultivation.

Cultivation is talent, resources, plus persistent effort; basically, there is not much possibility of taking shortcuts.

However, Xu Chen had forcibly activated the Blue Jade Bead twice, and his Soul had already suffered severe damage; at this moment, he was in excruciating pain, so he could not care about the origin of this Heizhu, as long as it could make him feel comfortable.

Moreover, he currently could not use his Divine Sense at all, nor could he mobilize his vital energy to sit and cultivate, so he could only lie quietly, letting this wispy, cool energy continuously seep from between his eyebrows into the depths of his Sea of Consciousness.

As this cool energy continuously entered, Xu Chen slowly felt that his Soul, which felt as if it were being roasted by fire, became more and more comfortable, and the extreme pain was constantly receding, so he soon fell into a drowsy sleep once again.