Steal Heaven and Earth's Spiritual Awareness, Seize the Spiritual Opportunities of Past and Present

Qiu Chihu's corpse began to dissolve.

It turned into fine motes of light, like dandelion seeds scattered by the wind, drifting and fluttering through the air before finally returning to nothingness.

The thirty-four beams of radiance above his head, together with the thirty-fifth beam formed from his corpse, slowly rose and then flew toward Chen Lingxi.

One after another, milky-white lights tinged with faint gold fell upon his head, like a crown woven from starlight.

Chen Lingxi stood where he was and looked down.

Deprived of flesh and bone to support it, Qiu Chihu's splendid robes lay limp and collapsed upon the ground.

His belt had come loose, and two tiny pouches rolled out from amid the folds of his clothes.

He bent down, picked up the two small pouches, and opened them one after the other.

"Pills?"

There were indeed five pills in the first pouch. They were silvery white, round as pearls, and clearly no ordinary objects.

Yet only a single jade pearl rolled out of the second pouch.

The jade pearl was no larger than a longan. It was lustrous white throughout, its jade warm and smooth, warm to the touch. Threads of vapor seemed to flow within it.

"What is this?"

Chen Lingxi held it in his palm for a closer look, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

"The qi within this jade pearl is..."

"Spiritual qi." He softly spoke the two words, yet his brow furrowed even deeper.

"Whose spiritual qi is this?" Doubt rose in his heart. He did not know why Qiu Chihu had carried such a jade pearl.

Yet he had no time to ponder it now.

"The pressing matter is to consider what to do next."

Ignoring the pills and jade pearl, Chen Lingxi let out a long breath.

He had originally thought today's affair would be no more than a beast fight, like the cockfights and dogfights raised by those noble young masters in the capital. They would decide victory or defeat, and he would win Lin Longyue a little face. That would be all.

Yet he had never imagined that Qiu Chihu, a nobleman, would enter this Beast-Fighting Palace...

"By dying, you have forced me into such a desperate strait."

Chen Lingxi sighed.

If he had not killed Qiu Chihu, Qiu Chihu would certainly have killed him after getting out. With the Qiu Family's power in the capital and Qiu Chihu's vindictive nature, even if he, a government slave, died a hundred times, it would not be enough.

But now that he had killed Qiu Chihu, once he left, the Crown Prince and those so-called noblemen would certainly call him to account.

"Both paths lead to death!"

Chen Lingxi could not help closing his eyes.

His thoughts were in turmoil.

A few breaths later, he suddenly opened his eyes, a flicker of light passing through them.

He remembered that day on Inlaid Gold Mountain, when the youth in the purple-gold crown stepped out of the canopy carriage. In his hand, he held a treasure bottle with its mouth pointed downward, Purple True Treasure Aura pouring forth like a waterfall.

He raised his head and looked toward the sky.

There was no sun in that firmament. Only a lustrous white jade bottle hung high above, purple light spilling from its mouth and cascading between heaven and earth, illuminating the entire Beast-Fighting Palace.

The bottle's shape and the color of that purple qi were identical to the one in his memories.

"That treasure bottle is inside this Cauldron Artifact Fragment." Chen Lingxi muttered, his gaze growing sharper. "Then the person who was assassinated on Inlaid Gold Mountain that day, and who wished to use the treasure bottle to suppress and kill the blade-wielding assassin, must undoubtedly have been the current Crown Prince."

His thoughts raced.

"This treasure bottle belongs to the Crown Prince, and this Beast-Fighting Palace is where the Crown Prince holds banquets and takes his pleasure. Then how much control does the Crown Prince have over this Cauldron Artifact Fragment?"

He thought of Lin Suri, and of the black-clad man whom Lin Suri had called Brother Chao Dao.

The two had obtained the Candle of Time Fragment, yet they were far from having complete control over it. They were merely trading their lifespans with the Cauldron Venerable.

Chen Lingxi swiftly sorted through every scrap of information. He raised his first finger and silently calculated in his heart.

"First, the Crown Prince enjoys beast fighting. Every noble youth in the capital knows this. It is nothing strange for him to establish this Beast-Fighting Palace and invite the young masters of every household to bring warriors here to fight.

"But Qiu Chihu's cultivation was clearly far above that of the other fighting beasts. Silver Bone Major Accomplishment, blade arts, a treasured blade—such strength was already among the very best of the younger generation in Yuan River Prefecture, and his status was exceptionally exalted!

"Why would the Crown Prince allow a nobleman whose cultivation surpassed that of ordinary 'fighting beasts' to enter?"

He raised his second finger.

"Second, does the Crown Prince truly possess complete control over this Cauldron Artifact Fragment? Can he see everything that happens within the cauldron vessel? This is of utmost importance."

He paused, then raised a third finger.

"Third, I killed Qiu Chihu. If I leave like this, I will certainly die... How am I to seek a way to live?"

Yet his mind grew ever clearer, operating at high speed as it dismantled and pieced together those seemingly unsolvable problems, searching for the tiniest crack.

Then, in an instant, a flash of insight struck his mind, and those two words surfaced again...

Cauldron vessel!

"This place is inside a cauldron vessel... If so..." he murmured, his eyes blazing. "Why not see what wondrous uses this Cauldron Artifact Fragment truly possesses?"

With that thought, Chen Lingxi no longer hesitated.

He sat cross-legged. His left hand slowly descended to the ground, and the strand of spiritual qi in his dantian was driven into motion, flowing out and passing from his palm into the muddy earth.

At the same time, he circulated his qi and blood, forcing several drops of blood from the tip of his index finger.

The blood, carrying a faint silvery sheen, dripped down onto the yellow mud, silently merging with that thread of spiritual qi sent into the earth!

In an instant, the void changed abruptly!

The clouds and mist winding through the distant mountains churned. The spiritual opportunities between heaven and earth suddenly grew several degrees denser, and an ancient aura came rushing toward him!

That aura was too old, so old that it seemed to have existed since the first opening of heaven and earth.

It was neither sharp nor oppressive, merely so heavy that it nearly made one unable to breathe.

Yet Chen Lingxi was slightly stunned at that moment.

He clearly sensed that within the Divine Chamber deep in his mind, a line of tadpole-like characters was flashing violently—

[Divine Ability: Total Perception (Essence Replenishment: 100%)]

The progress that had been stuck at 99% all this time suddenly changed beneath the wash of that ancient aura. It made up that final fraction and was finally complete!

"This Thorough Awakening Divine Ability has changed again!"

Chen Lingxi raised his brows.

The instant Essence Replenishment reached completion, an immense and complex flood of information surged into his mind like water bursting through a breached dam, every word clear and not the slightest bit disordered.

Chen Lingxi focused his attention and carefully read that information, the light in his eyes growing brighter and brighter.

"Steal heaven and earth's spiritual awareness, seize the spiritual opportunities of past and present!"

"From that endless Long River of time, steal a thread of true spiritual awareness and spiritual opportunity—after the Thorough Awakening Divine Ability transformed, it had gained another ability: it could bring back an item from the evolution of Total Perception!"

"Bring back an item." Chen Lingxi murmured those words, and his heartbeat abruptly quickened.

This meant that the Thorough Awakening Divine Ability was no longer a mere simulation, no longer an empty illusion. It could truly turn the unreal into reality!

Turning the unreal into reality—how profound was that?

"What exactly is the origin of this Divine Chamber?"

Chen Lingxi was astonished.

Just then, the churning spiritual opportunities and ancient aura in the void abruptly formed into a human face!

The face hung in midair, more than three zhang above the ground. It was woven from countless fine motes of light and mist, its brows, eyes, mouth, and nose all distinct. It was like a real human face enlarged several times over, suspended in the air and looking down at him.

The face was valiant and imposing, carrying an inborn nobility and majesty. It possessed the bearing of one who looked down upon all beneath heaven, as though the mountains and rivers, heaven and earth, and all things in creation were no more than playthings in its palm.

Such a clear face?

The cauldron vessel's face did not look at him. Instead, its gaze passed over his head and fell upon the thirty-five suspended beams of radiance above him.

After a long while, it spoke. Its voice exploded across the heavens like thunder.

"Sacrifice thirty-five lives, nourish the Purple True Treasure Bottle!"

"The victor of the beast fight shall obtain the cauldron vessel's opportunity! Upon what shall this opportunity descend?"

That question boomed beside Chen Lingxi's ears like a great bell and a mighty lute.

"Sacrificed lives, the cauldron vessel's opportunity..."

Chen Lingxi's eyes brightened slightly, as though he had grasped something.