Chapter 65: Enhancement and Secret Technique’s Eye

Chapter 65: Chapter 65: Enhancement and Secret Technique’s Eye

The dream shattered like glass, cracking from the mountain’s peak to its foot, from the foot to the Nether River, and from the Nether River up to the sky.

Shards tumbled through the air, each one reflecting Chen Shang’s calm face. As the fragments fell, they transformed into countless motes of light. These motes converged into a river that flowed upstream, surging directly into Chen Shang’s chest.

Within his Sea of Consciousness, the Crystal Core suddenly flared, as blinding as the midday sun. Light erupted from the center of the Crystal Core, pulling in all the surrounding liquid Spiritual Power that was still sluggishly flowing. It compressed, condensed, and solidified them.

The Crystal Core expanded at a visible rate, growing from the size of a walnut to an egg, and then to the size of a fist. Its surface was no longer smooth; it was now covered in fine, dense patterns resembling tree rings, water ripples, and the texture of the earth.

The next moment, Chen Shang felt the panel vibrate.

[Collectible Entry Detected: Glimpse the Truth from Falsehood (Green). Source: Dream World Rule Fragment. Extract?]

He thought, "Extract!"

A refreshing wave of power flowed into his entry library, and a green mote of light flashed on the panel. However, the panel didn’t quiet down. Instead, it vibrated even more violently.

[Mythical Resonance condition met!]

[Collected: Celestial Vision and Earthly Hearing (Green) + Glimpse the Truth from Falsehood (Green) + Water Element Perception (White) + Fire Element Perception (White) + Wind Element Perception (White) + Earth Element Perception (White). Fuse?]

Chen Shang paused. Celestial Vision and Earthly Hearing was Erya’s core ability, Glimpse the Truth from Falsehood had just been snatched from the dream, and the perception of the four Basic Elements had been collected from various Apprentices and Otherworld creatures.

Now, they had found each other.

He thought, "Fuse!"

Six streams of light intersected on the panel. The green light grew brighter and brighter until a blue light flashed.

[Mythical Entry Acquired: Secret Eye (Blue)]

[Secret Eye (Blue): Grants mastery over some of the operational laws of natural Elements, allowing minor manipulation of them. Within your field of vision, you can "see" the flow direction, density distribution, and intersection points of Elemental Energy. Improves the parsing speed of elemental magic and the prediction ability against Elemental Attacks. Upgradeable.]

Chen Shang closed his eyes and opened them again.

The world in his vision had changed. The laboratory walls were covered in a layer of flowing light. Pale blue Water Elements seeped from the pipes on the ceiling, while crimson Fire Elements gathered around the still-running machinery in the corner. He could "see" them now.

Then, the pod door opened.

Ella stood to the side, hugging her little bear. The dark circles under her eyes were as heavy as ever.

Chen Shang sat up in the pod, instinctively rolling his shoulders. The wounds on his body had long disappeared, but the memory of being scraped by stones remained. He clenched his fists, and his knuckles let out a loud CRACK.

In his Sea of Consciousness, that fist-sized Crystal Core floated quietly, its blazing white light flowing slowly through the patterns. The progress of his Spiritual Power Crystallization this time had saved him several years of hard Cultivation. He figured that if he could do it just one more time, he would be able to completely finalize his Spiritual Power Crystallization.

"You look like you’re in great shape. Big harvest?" Ella’s voice came from the side.

"Cultivation is all about continuous growth, whether in strength or mindset," Chen Shang nodded, then looked at her with some expectation. "Can we do it again?"

Ella rolled her eyes. "It’s not that easy. If we could continuously improve Spiritual Power Crystallization, our laboratory would be mass-producing Second Level Apprentices!"

"Fair enough." Not too disappointed, Chen Shang climbed out of the pod. "By the way, where did you go later on? Why didn’t I see you on the opposite shore?"

"Huh? What opposite shore? I appeared in your dream?" Ella paused, asking in return.

Chen Shang was also surprised. "Ah? Didn’t you go in with me?"

"I was borrowing your nightmare, not entering it. You dreamt of me?" Ella replied.

"Uh... I was misled by you. To think it was fake from the very beginning." Chen Shang shook his head. After thinking for a moment, he took out a set of six Huluwa from his Space Book, then produced a few Throne Fragments and handed them to Ella. "Thanks to you, I gained quite a lot this time. Here’s the Mechanical Armor I promised you."

Ella put it away and looked at the Throne Fragments. "And this? Is it an item related to a Divine Spirit?"

"Good eye. It’s a Throne Fragment of an Elf God. It might still have some residual Divine Power aura. Take it and play with it."

"You don’t need to pay an extra price," Ella said with some hesitation.

"It’s a thank-you gift. If there’s ever another Cultivation method like this, remember to call me."

"Alright, no problem!" Ella accepted them.

After saying goodbye to Ella, Chen Shang returned to the Starfall Half-Plane.

He first went to visit the Wood Spirits’ small garden. Everything was fine. Luna Xiya’s mycelium hadn’t blocked out the sunlight. The Wood Spirits were already working in the fields, their tiny figures weaving through the vines.

Yilu and a large group of Wood Spirit children were currently studying under the Golden Crow. Seeing Chen Shang return, the Golden Crow flew over and landed on his shoulder.

"Mr. Chen, you’re back! How was the haul?"

"Not bad. How is the Wood Spirits’ progress?"

"They have no problem learning the common tongue, but their progress with Runes is very slow." The Golden Crow was somewhat embarrassed; it was a half-baked teacher itself.

"No rush, I have time." Chen Shang patted the Golden Crow and walked into his small building. He noticed an unread message on his Crystal Plate. It was from Leia: "Read. Come over for a detailed chat when you have time."

Chen Shang changed his clothes and headed to Leia’s laboratory. It wasn’t very far from him, but Chen Shang had never been there even once.

Fifteen minutes later, Chen Shang arrived at Leia’s laboratory.

It was a square, gray building that covered a large area. It had no special decorations, nor any windows, and a silver-white metal door stood at the front. Chen Shang took out his Identity Card and swiped it. The door opened, and a mechanical servant walked over.

"Mr. Chen Shang? Please come with me."

Chen Shang followed the mechanical servant through the corridor and into the main hall. The interior layout was still very simple—just a table, a few chairs, and a painting hanging on the wall. The painting depicted a starry sky, with a dark blue background sprinkled with silver-white specks of light.

Just as Chen Shang was observing the painting, the stars inside suddenly moved. Then, an entire face squeezed out of the canvas. It had no facial features, only two pitch-black eye sockets and a mouth that grinned from ear to ear, making a funny face at Chen Shang.

Chen Shang didn’t move, his heart completely unperturbed.

The face waited for a few seconds. Seeing that he wasn’t scared, it instead burst into hearty laughter.

"Gurulu is just this bored, please don’t mind it," the Mechanical Puppet said, helplessly spreading its hands.

"It’s fine. Is this a native race or one of the Creatively Born Creatures?" Chen Shang asked.

"One of Ms. Leia’s Creatively Born Creatures. There was a time when she was obsessed with alchemical biology and made a lot of messy things."