Xun Cosmic Crystal

The gaseous giant star, its diameter unknown trillions of kilometers across, shrank into an indigo bead the size of a fist and floated in the Wind Beast God's palm.

After Wind Abyss Star vanished, that stretch of void suddenly collapsed, forming a brief vacuum zone.

Lanke King also bowed with cupped hands, utterly motionless.

The Wind Beast God put the indigo bead into the bell around his neck. After flicking the bell, he turned and glanced at Fang Yan.

"Kid, remember what you said."

He said, "No one can make the right choice every step of the way. But I hope you will not take more wrong paths than I did."

Fang Yan cupped his fists and bowed deeply.

"This junior will remember."

The Wind Beast God's figure began to fade, as though merging into the void.

Fang Yan turned to look at the guardian.

"Thank you, Senior, for your protection."

Lanke King straightened. No expression could be seen on his pale face.

"There is no need for thanks. It is simply my duty."

Even so, Fang Yan solemnly cupped his fists and gave him another bow.

When Fang Yan returned to the Footless Bird, Little Fox Fairy immediately began chattering away.

"Master, Master! Was that the Universe Lord just now? He was terrifying! So Master is now the Universe Lord's registered disciple?"

Fang Yan slumped into the cockpit seat and let out a long breath, giving a bitter laugh.

"Beast Gods do not tend to meet good ends."

"Master, where are you going now?"

Fang Yan leaned back against the chair and closed his eyes.

"To the Virtual Universe Company headquarters to see how the Chaos Stele is coming along. I wonder how much Chaos Venerable's heart aches now that Wind Abyss Star has been snatched away by the Wind Beast God."

The Footless Bird completed its turn at the edge of the Xianan Starfield, transforming into a streak of silver light as it shot into the Dark Universe.

Fifty times the speed of light.

Fang Yan touched his World Ring. Inside lay ten Xun Cosmic Crystals and one Beast God Inheritance Token.

Along with rare treasures worth nearly fifty million chaos elements, such as Wind-Flow Origin Liquid, Wind-Commanding Flow Liquid, the Replica Windbearing Divine Spear, and Wind-Listening Fang.

Fang Yan quietly took stock, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"Quite... a haul."

The silver-white spacecraft continued through the emptiness of the Dark Universe.

Behind the cockpit, inside the cultivation room.

Fang Yan sat cross-legged, with a Xun Cosmic Crystal floating before him.

He first tested it with the Spring Autumn Cicada, only to discover that the Spring Autumn Cicada could not fuse with the Xun Cosmic Crystal.

Fang Yan's heart skipped a beat. His human body's right index finger lightly cut across his left palm, opening a thin wound from which crimson blood seeped.

Without hesitation, Fang Yan pressed the amber Xun Cosmic Crystal against the wound.

The instant the Xun Cosmic Crystal touched his blood, a strange suction force came from the wound. The entire crystal melted at a visible rate like ice dropped into boiling water, turning into a stream of bluish-silver liquid that burrowed into his body through the cut.

"Hiss—"

Fang Yan sucked in a sharp breath.

It hurt.

It was as though a red-hot iron spike had pierced his palm and driven all the way up along his meridians.

But it was far more bearable than he had imagined.

Fang Yan remembered that in the original novel, absorbing Blood Luo Crystals brought a baleful-energy assault powerful enough to make a weak-willed World Lord collapse outright.

The Xun Cosmic Crystal, however, was exceptionally gentle. Like a gust of wind—powerful, yet not violent.

"Maybe it's because the Wind Beast God hasn't fallen yet."

Fang Yan guessed.

Absorbing the first Xun Cosmic Crystal took less than the time it took an incense stick to burn.

Once that bluish-silver power had fully merged into Fang Yan's body, he could clearly feel that his perception of the Law of Wind and the Time Law had become several degrees sharper.

"Not bad."

Fang Yan took a second Xun Cosmic Crystal from his World Ring and pressed it against the wound.

The third, the fourth... the pain piled up layer upon layer, yet it never reached Fang Yan's limit.

By the fifth Xun Cosmic Crystal, Fang Yan finally felt resistance.

That bluish-silver power rampaged through his meridians like a ferocious beast locked in a cage, trying to burst out of his body.

Fang Yan let out a muffled groan. When he pressed the sixth Xun Cosmic Crystal to the wound, even his hand was trembling.

This time, the pain had reached an utterly terrifying level. Bluish-silver patterns began to emerge across his skin, spreading from his palm to his arm, shoulder, and finally covering half his body.

Every pattern emitted a faint glow, resembling ancient secret inscriptions—or perhaps a sign that some power was about to lose control.

Fang Yan gritted his teeth, veins bulging across his forehead.

He felt his body undergoing some kind of mutation. The muscles beneath his skin began twitching uncontrollably, while his bones gave off soft cracking sounds, as though something inside was trying to tear him apart.

Yet just as he was about to fail, the pain finally ended.

Fang Yan gasped for breath, his entire body drenched in sweat as though he had just been hauled from the water.

He lowered his head to look at his arm. The bluish-silver patterns were slowly fading, like receding seawater, retreating bit by bit into his palm before disappearing completely.

"Six crystals. That's my limit."

Fang Yan wiped the sweat from his face and forced out a smile.

The effects of absorbing six Xun Cosmic Crystals had already far exceeded his expectations. He could clearly feel an entirely new power within his body.

With a thought, Fang Yan activated that new power.

Bluish-silver patterns emerged across the skin of his chest, covering half his body.

"Xun Cosmic Power."

Fang Yan clenched his fist, feeling that power flow through his body.

A two-and-a-half-fold boost—and that was merely the result of fusing six Xun Cosmic Crystals.

If he could fuse all ten Xun Cosmic Crystals, the boost would reach tenfold. That was the true value of Xun Cosmic Crystals.

Fang Yan stood and walked to the mirror in the corner of the cultivation room.

The young man in the mirror was pale, exuding an indescribable aura.

"I knew from an early age that the world was hard..."

He murmured to the mirror, then reached into his World Ring and took out a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.

Fang Yan set the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose and examined himself in the mirror once more.

He nodded in satisfaction, pushed up the frames, and gave the mirror a gentle smile.

"I walk the righteous path. Looking like this... makes me seem more like a good person."

Little Fox Fairy's snicker immediately rang out. "Master, since when did you start caring about that?"

Fang Yan did not answer. You wouldn't understand if you'd never been to the Gu World.

"Chaos Venerable should be getting impatient, shouldn't he?"

Fang Yan said. News of the Wind Beast God taking Wind Abyss Star should already have reached Chaos Venerable's ears.

The Footless Bird continued flying through the Dark Universe. At fifty times light speed, it became an almost invisible silver thread within the Dark Universe.

One hundred and twenty years passed.

Fang Yan sat cross-legged in the cultivation room, faint bluish-silver light winding around his body.