For Lin Hai, he had no idea how much time had passed outside. He only knew that he had been continuously driving the Life Force within his body to make contact with the black crystal sealed inside the silvery-white metal sphere.
He had been "grinding away" at the dark, deathly energy within that crystal for a long time.
Life Force surged out from his body, passing through the hollow patterns of the metal sphere and touching the Dark Energy inside the crystal. That familiar conflict and fusion occurred at once. Azure-gold and black intertwined, probing each other, devouring each other, merging with each other.
He could feel the last small portion of unconverted Life Force within him beginning to change. It was no longer simply azure-gold, but began to take on a deeper luster.
When the final trace of unconverted Life Force had completed its harmonization, joy surged through Lin Hai's heart. It was over, finally—
Then his expression changed.
The remaining dark, deathly energy within the black crystal did not remain inside the crystal as it usually did after he ended contact. Instead, it surged into his body along with the Life Force he withdrew.
Why?
The thought flashed through his mind.
Perhaps their countless contacts had caused this Dark Energy to develop some kind of "affinity" or "habit" toward his Life Force? Like two pieces of metal pressed together for a long time, molecules would diffuse at their boundary until they eventually became difficult to separate.
Perhaps during that final contact, he had been too focused on completing the last step. When retrieving his Life Force, he had not severed it as cleanly as usual, giving the Dark Energy an opening.
Perhaps it was both.
Lin Hai had no time to think further. That energy had already rushed