Chapter 232: Faint Glimmer of Hope

Xu Chen returned safely, naturally sparking excited cheers from the Feng Clan and the other five tribes that had come to seek the activation of their clan patterns and divine patterns, surrounding him and welcoming him into the cave as if he were a god.

Originally, the Feng Clan Elder and Clan Leader had prepared to host a grand banquet and simultaneously plead for help on behalf of the other tribes, but Xu Chen was feeling sorrowful and depressed, so he declined the kind offer of celebration, returned directly to his own stone room, closed the door, and began to sit cross-legged in meditation.

This Heavenly Tribulation had come inexplicably, and he had survived it in a daze.

Although the harvest was unprecedented, the death of Feng Feiyi left him feeling extremely sad and heartbroken.

In the entire Feng Clan, only Feng Feiyi had a deeper emotional connection with him, and she could be considered his only truly selfless friend since arriving in Minghuang; as for the others, including the Clan Leader, the Elder, Feng Yi, and Feng Xing, they were only respectful and fawning toward him to enhance the strength of their tribe and themselves.

Now, he had no mood to remain in the Feng Clan any longer and decided to try to awaken the Old Witch Master; regardless of whether it succeeded or not, he would leave as soon as possible.

However, before awakening the Old Witch Master, he still held a faint glimmer of hope regarding the death of Feng Feiyi.

Although Feng Feiyi had died without a corpse remaining, that grain of Blue Starlight still existed.

The reason why these tribes in Minghuang were able to pass down their heritage for so long, and even be able to restore their clan patterns and activate battle patterns, was actually because their ancient bloodline had always existed.

And the most important part of this was the grain of cyan starlight hidden within the Soul.

It was precisely by relying on this discovery that Xu Chen forcibly communicated with the Blue Light Treasure Bottle to fuse a grain of Blue Starlight into Feng Feiyi's Soul, ultimately succeeding in activating a strange Ancient Rune for her that was completely different from the Feng Clan's.

Therefore, this rune was not only what the Nether Human Race called a clan pattern, but in reality, it was more likely a Slave Seal left behind in their bodies by some ancient god.

Once a thing like a Slave Seal was planted, a connection of heart and mind would form between the caster and the subject in the dark, allowing both sides to perceive each other's emotions and life fluctuations through the Slave Seal.

It was possible that Feng Feiyi had felt the connection between them about to be severed through the Slave Seal, which was why she could not help but rush into the Tribulation Lightning to save him.

But unfortunately, although she had awakened him, she had lost herself inside.

And that grain of Blue Starlight she left behind that returned to the Blue Light Treasure Bottle very likely still retained her Soul memories; if it could be awakened through some method, perhaps she could even be resurrected.

This was the same as when a great cultivator in the Immortal World had their physical body destroyed but their Primordial Spirit remained; as long as the Primordial Spirit had not completely dissipated, there was still a chance for resurrection through possession or other methods, though the conditions were harsh and the difficulty was great.

But no matter how great the difficulty, as long as there was a glimmer of hope, he wanted to try.

Xu Chen searched carefully within the Blue Light Treasure Bottle with his Divine Sense and soon found that grain of Blue Starlight.

His speculation was correct; the aura of this grain of Blue Starlight was completely different from the other starlight, and it actually had a very familiar feeling, truly carrying a trace of Feng Feiyi's aura.

Therefore, he used his Divine Sense to draw this grain of starlight out alone, suspended it in the center of the bottle, and began to ponder how to extract her Soul aura from within.

However, after trying several times, he could not find a clue at all, and finally speculated that if he used the Slave Seal to plant this grain of starlight into another person's body, could he perhaps take her place and resurrect her?

But it was obvious that this approach was even more cruel, and there was no certain guarantee.

It was possible that the outcome would not only be the death of another person, but also cause the aura of Feng Feiyi remaining in this grain of starlight to completely vanish.

Furthermore, this matter should not be dragged out for too long.

After all, everything would dissipate with the passage of time; if he could not find a way to preserve and restore the Soul as soon as possible, perhaps after a long time, the aura remaining in this grain of starlight would slowly disappear, and by then, even a true god would likely have no way to resurrect her.

Therefore, Xu Chen began to search for suitable items within the Blue Light Treasure Bottle, and finally, his Divine Sense landed on a pit of Ghost Soul Water.

Ghost Soul Water could purify the Soul and even awaken intelligence; this was also a strange resource needed by both the Nether Human Race and Nether Beasts.

If he placed this grain of starlight in the Ghost Soul Water to preserve it, he wondered if it would have any effect.

Thinking this, Xu Chen guided the Blue Starlight with his Divine Sense to fall into the Ghost Soul Water.

However, to his surprise, the moment the starlight hit the water, it actually took a turn and landed directly on the pitch-black Soul Beast egg of a bat floating inside, then merged into it.

Instantly, this Soul Beast egg, which carried a fluctuation of life aura, emitted a deep, dark blue light, gently floating and rippling in the Ghost Soul Water; at the same time, a strong aura was emitted, as if something was gestating and growing inside.

Xu Chen was both surprised and delighted; although he dared not be certain that this was a good thing, at least it did not look like an absolutely bad thing.

No matter what kind of thing eventually hatched, if it could truly retain Feng Feiyi's soul and memories, then based on the ability of the bat Soul Beast to invade and possess human souls at any time, Feng Feiyi would have plenty of opportunities in the future to truly be resurrected in the appearance of a human.

Recalling that Feng Feiyi was of the Nether Human Race and relied on Divine Blood Paste to maintain abundant blood and Qi to resist the erosion of Underworld Qi, Xu Chen directly introduced a God Crystal into the Ghost Soul Water.

And with the entry of the God Crystal, the pit of Ghost Soul Water instantly began to bubble and churn; under the reflection of the gold and red light, waves of blood-colored aura steamed upward, forming a layer of blood-red halo on the surface of the Ghost Soul Water pit, soaking the beast egg within it.

Xu Chen observed with his Divine Sense for a long time and found that the beast egg did not have much change; it was still swaying slightly, and the life aura it released had not increased or decreased.

"For now, this is all I can do!"

Xu Chen sighed, withdrew his Divine Sense from his Sea of Consciousness, opened his eyes, then flipped his hand to take out a Spirit Stone, crushed it into cyan dust, and began to circulate the Taiyuan Sect cultivation technique, trying to absorb the origin energy to see if it could be stored in his dantian.

Soon, a smile appeared on Xu Chen's face.

It succeeded.

Although the False Golden Core did not bring him the powerful origin energy of a Danyuan Realm cultivator, it completely blocked the black hole left behind after his dantian had vanished into thin air; not only could it store origin energy in his dantian, but it could also perfectly coordinate with the circulation of origin energy through his Meridians and dantian.

The only difference was that this dantian space, repaired after the explosion of the large pearl, was actually many times larger than before, as empty as a large room; if he wanted to fill it with origin energy and then compress it to liquefy it and begin Golden Core formation, he feared the Spirit Stones and Spirit Pills consumed would be countless.

But no matter what, he had completely survived this tribulation.

Although he did not know if the False Golden Core would eventually affect his Golden Core formation or even Spirit Transformation, and he knew even less if this False Golden Core would undergo other changes in the future, he could only take one step at a time and live for as long as he could.

In the blink of an eye, another ten-plus days passed.

After Xu Chen refined and absorbed five Spirit Stones in one breath, feeling that the origin energy in his dantian had filled one-third of the dantian's state, completely wrapping the mass of purple light and the Shell inside, looking like a gas core with a diameter of over a zhang, he ended his cultivation and walked out of the stone room.

In the corridor, Feng Xing and Feng Zhao were guarding outside.

Seeing Xu Chen come out, they were both surprised and delighted, and together they hurriedly stepped forward to salute and greet him.

Xu Chen asked a few questions about the recent situation, and upon learning that more and more people from the five tribes had come and were still waiting for him, he could not help but smile bitterly and shake his head, telling the two to contact the Clan Leader and the Elder, as he was prepared to formally receive some of these Minghuang tribesmen in the main hall.

Soon, as Xu Chen came out of seclusion and summoned everyone, the Feng Clan's residence suddenly became lively and boisterous.

Xu Chen did not wait long in the main hall before the Feng Clan's Elder and Clan Leader arrived in a hurry, bringing a group of elders and warriors from the other five tribes.

Soon, the entire hall was bustling with people, gathering nearly three hundred, packing the usually spacious stone hall until it was impassable.

And this time, all the other Minghuang tribes that had come no longer had the contempt and dissatisfaction they had at the beginning, but were instead incomparably cautious, submissive, and reverent.

That tribulation of Xu Chen's had already made all the people of the Minghuang tribes treat him as a true god.

That kind of terrifying power of heaven and earth was something they had not only never experienced, but had never even heard of; their ancestral records contained no information about such things.

That was no longer a power that the Nether Human Race could withstand; even the most powerful Nether Beast in Minghuang would likely be blasted into smoke and dust under the lightning tribulation.

Because that was a rule-based aura completely different from the Underworld.

Carrying incomparable masculinity and brightness, it was incompatible with the cold and darkness of Minghuang; any creature of the Underworld would feel fear and panic toward this aura.

After everyone was seated, Xu Chen first communicated with the Feng Clan's Elder and Clan Leader about his plan to awaken the Old Witch Master as soon as possible, and at the same time, he inquired about the requests of the other tribes.

After the exchange, Xu Chen expressed his views on the requests from other tribes to awaken dormant warriors and restore the Tribal Pattern of their tribal braves.

For every tribe to awaken their dormant warriors, they must use Blood God Grass to trade; one stalk of Blood God Grass exchanges for one person's resurrection qualification, and additionally, for every warrior's Tribal Pattern and Divine Pattern Battle Technique activated, one God Crystal must be provided as compensation.

During the explanation, Xu Chen took out a brilliant, gold-and-red intertwined God Crystal from the Blue Light Treasure Bottle to display, indicating that it should be found in the God Blood Pool of each tribe, and he also stated that this God Crystal was exactly what he had taken from the Feng tribe's God Blood Pool, merely a product of the Blood Poison crystallized from the Divine Blood over many years, which would not affect the function of the God Blood Pool.

Xu Chen had kept this matter hidden before, but since he had now decided to leave, he could not be bothered to continue hiding it.

Moreover, he had resurrected so many Tribal Pattern Warriors for the Feng tribe and had also transformed four powerful Divine Pattern Warriors; these contributions were enough to offset this inconspicuous matter.

As expected, neither the Feng tribe's Clan Leader nor the Elders felt any dissatisfaction; after hearing what Xu Chen said, they even arranged for people to check the God Blood Pool to see if they could find more God Crystals to give to Xu Chen together.

Of course, Xu Chen still needed to go to the Ancestral Temple of every tribe to search for clues to leave Minghuang and head to the Mortal World.

Regarding Xu Chen's decision, all the tribes expressed their full support and even cheered joyfully.

Whether it was Blood God Grass or God Crystals, to all the tribes of Minghuang, they were of no use.

In fact, if Xu Chen had not spoken, not a single tribe would have known that such a thing as a God Crystal existed.

Because the God Blood Pool of every tribe had existed for who knows how long, it had always been carefully looked after as a tribal sacred object; let alone going inside to fish things out, even in daily life, no one was allowed to approach it privately, and even if Divine Blood Paste needed to be taken, it could only be done by an Elder, the Clan Leader, or a specifically assigned person, and even the Blood God Grass inside could not be touched.

However, compared to restoring Tribal Patterns and activating Divine Pattern Battle Techniques, these rules could be completely ignored.

(End of this chapter)