Chapter 403

No abnormal change occurred; the ring remained motionless between the two bony palms.

On the other side, Wang Yu held a bone banner, pale and ghastly, held horizontally before him, his gaze flickering toward the skeletal demon's hands.

After waiting a moment, the ring showed no change whatsoever.

Wang Yu's eyebrows twitched slightly; a silver light swept across his brow, and the bone banner vanished in a flash.

The skeletal demon walked over mechanically and extended the ring, still pinched between its fingers.

Wang Yu stared at the black crystal on the ring; after a whirl of thoughts, he slowly extended one finger toward the crystal.

"Puff."

A wisp of flame shot from his fingertip, curling straight toward the ring gripped by the two white bones.

"Sss slip"

The same scene occurred: the moment the flame touched the ring, it was directly sucked into the black crystal.

Prepared for this, Wang Yu's expression didn't change; instead, he chanted a spell, and what flew from his fingertip was no longer a flame, but a massive fireball the size of a watermelon, engulfing the ring entirely.

But the next instant, the fireball blurred and vanished into thin air.

"A spell-disrupting artifact? No—it's a spell-absorbing artifact!"

Wang Yu exhaled slowly, his mind making a startling guess.

"Spell-disrupting" and "spell-absorbing" differ by only one character, yet their meanings are worlds apart.

Spell-disrupting means nullifying a spell entirely, while spell-absorbing means sealing, isolating, or even converting the opponent's spell into one's own.

In the cultivation world, spell-disrupting artifacts, though rare, were not unheard of; core disciples of sects sometimes carried them, especially low-grade spell-breaking talismans, the most common type.

But spell-absorbing artifacts were truly rare—he had never seen one, nor heard of anyone possessing such a device, only learning of their existence from obscure sect texts, which claimed they could perform unimaginable feats under special circumstances.

Having formed a judgment, Wang Yu still harbored doubt; he changed his incantation, flicked his finger, and a palm-sized transparent wind blade appeared, flashing once before slicing toward the ring.

After a blur, the wind blade vanished just as suddenly.

After infusing his eyes with yin energy, Wang Yu clearly saw the wind blade, the instant it touched the ring, being sucked into the black crystal like crumpled paper.

Next, he tried several other minor spells, discovering that any energy-based spell was almost invariably absorbed by the black crystal.

He then deliberately directed a yin spirit toward the ring—same result: it vanished without a trace, swallowed by the black crystal.

This further stirred Wang Yu's curiosity.

This thing was not an ordinary spell-absorbing artifact; at least, no texts recorded such artifacts capable of absorbing ghostly entities.

He sent a thought, instructing the skeletal demon to keep holding the ring; another sweep of silver light across his brow, and in his hand appeared a sharp bone blade.

It was one of the low-grade artifacts held by the skeletal demons.

These low-grade bone artifacts had no other power, but were typically inscribed with special runes of durability and sharpness; in sharpness alone, they far surpassed ordinary knives from Blue Planet.

"Zi."

The sharp bone blade scraped the surface of the black crystal—no mark remained; indeed, it was incredibly hard, beyond the reach of any low-grade artifact to damage.

But the next instant, a familiar surge of spiritual energy burst from the blade, unexpectedly piercing into his palm, then rapidly spreading through all his meridians.

What is this?

Wang Yu was startled, and could not believe it—he scraped the black crystal again with the bone blade.

The next instant, another surge of spiritual energy flowed from the blade, entering his body once more.

Wang Yu stared at the silver ring held by the skeletal demon, his expression shifting repeatedly.

There was no mistake!

The spiritual energy that had surged into his body was unmistakably his own—converted from yin energy—and even the faint chill within it was identical.

The black crystal was returning the absorbed spells as spiritual energy.

Wang Yu still found it hard to believe; after thinking, he directly pressed the bone blade against the black crystal and held it there, unmoving.

The next instant, a torrent of spiritual energy surged from the blade—but within a few breaths, it weakened and vanished entirely.

That's all?

Wang Yu mentally estimated: the spiritual energy returned by the black crystal matched almost exactly the amount he had expended in the earlier spells.

The bone blade vanished in a swirl of silver light; he reached out again and took the ring directly from the skeletal demon's grasp.

This time, he did not cast a spell; instead, he gripped the silver band and channeled streams of yin energy from his palm, steadily pouring them into the black crystal.

After a full minute, he stopped the yin energy flow, drew a light breath, and carefully touched the black crystal with one fingertip.

Indeed, without the bone blade as intermediary, the spiritual energy surging from the crystal was more direct and violent.

Within moments, the spiritual energy flowing from the ring ceased precisely when it matched the amount of yin energy he had poured in.

No, there was still a slight difference.

The spiritual energy returned by the crystal was slightly less than the yin energy he had input—about one-tenth less.

After carefully analyzing this, Wang Yu stared at the ring in his hand, pondered for a long while, then once again channeled yin energy into the black crystal.

This time, he poured in yin energy for roughly five minutes before stopping, then returned to the room, found a small wooden box, carefully placed the ring inside, and kept it on his person.

Until he understood the nature of this object, for caution's sake, he did not intend to directly store it in his spiritual sea's talisman.

He planned to check in a few days whether the spiritual energy within the crystal remained, and whether any leakage occurred.

If this black crystal could truly preserve spiritual energy long-term, its value would far exceed imagination—he might truly need to contact that "White Wolf" and find out what this thing truly was.

Several days later.

In a residential district in the East District of Pengjie City, home to many middle-class households.

In a second-floor bedroom of a three-story building.

A white youth with hair dyed red and yellow stood by the window, holding a cup of black tea, silently watching several women below chat about household matters.

The white youth's face bore deep blue tattoos, nearly obscuring all his features; even upon close inspection, only vague outlines could be discerned.

The white youth downed the tea in a few gulps, then turned to Li Xiaodao with a smile:

"This house is well-located; though not in the bustling center, it's still a prosperous area—great concealment lies within the city. Unless the Britons get precise intel, they won't suspect this place."

The tattooed white youth was, of course, Wang Yu in another disguise.

"Mr. Sai, I'll impersonate you and stay at the villa; I won't come see you unless necessary. This phone was custom-made by someone special—guaranteed no backdoors. If anything urgent arises, use it to contact me or Cindy—our numbers are already saved; we'll arrive at top speed the moment you call."

"And from now on, you are Dai Sen. Just visit the slaughterhouse every two or three days; otherwise, stay home—you don't need to go out." Li Xiaodao handed him a small black phone, speaking cautiously.

"I know. I've memorized the slaughterhouse's location and worker records—no problems." Wang Yu waved his hand, his expression calm.

"Understood. I'll slip out quietly from the back." Li Xiaodao bowed respectfully and left.

"Dai Sen."

Wang Yu turned again toward the window, murmuring the name, but his gaze unconsciously fell upon a multi-story building nearby, its design futuristic.

On its rooftop, a massive sign flashed two glowing characters: "Star River."