Night of Despair

Feng Xuezi silently watched the Purification Furnace that continuously emitted a transparent glow, his expression complex.

He remained silent, but his reaction at this moment already revealed his hesitation and contradiction.

"I always thought that hope was false. The power of the Star Disaster was insurmountable; all hope was just an illusion. But now..."

"A Purification Furnace can reduce at least a third of your burden. And he's merely a Cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage." The Decaying Wandering Merchant laughed, "How is Qinghe Mountain now, how is Wanxue Palace now, don't you have any sense of it in your heart?"

"What do you plan to do?" Feng Xuezi looked at the Decaying Wandering Merchant.

"I happen to have a lot of things that need repair. Let's see how far he can go." The Decaying Wandering Merchant replied with a smile.

"...Keep observing." Feng Xuezi answered.

*

*

*

At this moment, in the safehouse, Yu Hong was still holding the damaged Purple Extreme Crown, examining it repeatedly.

The Black Mark provided the enhancement time: 11 days, 3 hours, and 8 minutes.

The enhancement magnitude was very low; Yu Hong enhanced it only for the sake of repair. But since the Black Mark could only repair items it had enhanced before, it was designed this way.

He placed the Purple Extreme Crown in the corner of the secret room, then ignored it, focusing entirely on cultivation.

Training, taking pills, absorbing from the Life Well, visiting Wanxue Palace, Yu Hong and Quan He rapidly advanced in this cycle.

In eleven days, their cultivation rose another level, reaching the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, and the Heavenly Tribulation increased from one to two strikes.

But for both of them, whose cultivation was already strong, it wasn't much.

And the Purple Extreme Crown finally reached its true restoration moment.

Inside the safehouse.

Yu Hong returned early from the Life Well today, specifically to wait for the enhancement of the Purple Extreme Crown to complete.

He had high expectations for this treasure obtained from the Decaying Wandering Merchant trade.

As noon approached.

Yu Hong sat cross-legged in the secret room, quietly awaiting the countdown's end.

The pale red numbers flashing on the Purple Extreme Crown reached the last three minutes.

He calmed his mind, closed his eyes, and remained still.

Soon, a point of purple-golden halo lit up silently on the Purple Extreme Crown.

The countdown completely vanished.

The previously indistinct Purple Extreme Crown blurred for a moment, the next moment, as if refreshed, glowed more brilliantly than before.

A few seconds after the purple-golden halo illuminated, a thin sheet of pale yellow paper appeared on the ground in front of the Purple Extreme Crown.

Yu Hong opened his eyes and picked up the paper.

This was the manual after enhancement.

'Purple Extreme Crown+1: The emblem of the former Sky Wish Sect Hierarch, capable of extracting pupil power from all things to replenish oneself. Unending, perpetual. Target's internal Energy Level must not surpass that of the wearer. After enhancement, the extraction speed is improved, reduced from six seconds to five seconds.'

'Ha, it's the Sky Wish Sect again?' Yu Hong chuckled. Wuji Palace and Sky Wish Sect seemed to be rushing to gather today, joining in the excitement together.

He took a deep breath, putting on the Purple Extreme Crown.

Swoosh.

The Purple Extreme Crown flashed a gleam and resized itself to perfectly fit his head circumference.

Simultaneously, Yu Hong immediately felt a warmth in his eyes, and an impulse rose within him as if seeing anyone would draw out their pupil power to replenish himself.

He stood up without hesitation, entered the Main Control Room, and took out the previously accumulated large amount of Outer Eyes from within.

First, he brought out a pair of Outer Eyes from a Three-eyed Dragon Head General. They were the ones he had enhanced, appearing as a pair of pale golden orbs, lying quietly in his palm.

Yu Hong looked at the Outer Eyes, and his mind stirred.

At that moment.

Swoosh.

Threads of transparent smoke swiftly rose from the Outer Eyes and entered his own eyes.

Quickly, an extremely soothing cool sensation spread from his eyes throughout his body.

Yu Hong couldn't help but let out a sigh of comfort, a few seconds later, he reopened his eyes.

The Outer Eyes in his hands had completely turned into a pair of shriveled husks, devoid of any life.

He discarded the husks, took out the next pair, and continued to absorb.

Now that he had the Purple Extreme Crown, the remaining Outer Eyes were meaningless.

He only needed to keep fortifying the pair he wore.

Soon, as time passed, after absorbing seventy-three pairs of Outer Eyes.

Suddenly, Yu Hong's eyes felt warm.

'The Outer Eyes received enhancement, evolving into the Immortal General Heavenly Eye. Original abilities unchanged, effects enhanced. 1. Eye of Destruction's destructive power increased by 50%. 2. Eye of Transmission's bodily burden reduced by 50%.'

'Not bad, the pupil power absorption directly enhanced the previous two abilities.'

In fact, he hadn't had the opportunity to use these two abilities yet.

The Eye of Destruction could annihilate opponents weaker in spiritual power than himself.

The Eye of Transmission could directly move to his desired location, as long as his body could withstand it.

These were abilities brought by the Immortal General's Eye. In reality, according to Yu Hong's understanding, orthodox Qinghe Mountain cultivators typically required the Nascent Soul Stage for the Eye of Transmission ability, though many Cultivation Techniques granted similar effects to the Eye of Destruction.

This essentially gave him an auxiliary mobility device in advance.

"Again!"

After tasting the benefits, Yu Hong continued using the Purple Extreme Crown to absorb the various Outer Eyes he had previously enhanced.

As his abilities stabilized, his plans and goals for the future became clearer. His current environment also stabilized, and the demand for various functional Outer Eyes vanished.

It was indeed time to clear out and refresh the batch of Outer Eyes.

After all, the eyes of the Three-eyed Dragon Head General were too low in starting point for him now.

Yu Hong once again resumed absorbing the pupil power.

Over an hour later, the Outer Eyes granted another enhancement, the Eye of Destruction's destructive power increased by 70%, and the Eye of Transmission's burden was further reduced.

As the last pair of Outer Eyes was fully exhausted, he let out a long breath, pausing the absorption process.

Removing the Purple Extreme Crown, Yu Hong didn't plan to wear it frequently, only to don it when needing to absorb pupil power, as it was a bit too conspicuous, belonging to the Sky Wish Sect Hierarch, and it wouldn't do to be recognized by someone.

With a click, he opened the door and walked out of the safehouse.

Yu Hong felt refreshed, removing the eyepatch from his right eye.

At this point, his right eye had completely become an enhanced version of the Immortal General Heavenly Eye.

'Let's test its effect first.'

First was the Eye of Destruction. Previously, the Eye of Destruction combined the Destruction Beam of the Chaotic God Heavenly Eye.

Enhancing the Eye of Destruction now meant boosting the ultimate strike of the Chaotic God Heavenly Eye.

With this thought, Yu Hong focused his gaze on the slope outside.

Hiss!

An invisible beam instantly landed on the Gray Stone Mountain cliff, boring a hole through it in an instant.

The hole's depth was unknown, silent and soundless as if a sharp spike pierced through tofu.

'Without a specific opposition, it's hard to gauge the effect. It will be useful when encountering an opponent after this. Let's also check the Eye of Transmission.'

This ability had been shadowed as Yu Hong always covered his right eye, only frequently utilizing short distance Instantaneous Movement.

Now, with the bodily burden of long-distance transmission cut in half, he intended to test it.

Standing outside the safehouse, Yu Hong envisioned an open space outside Wanxue Palace.

'Transmit!'

He stirred within.

Swish!

In an instant, his body felt slightly numb, and a blur flashed before his eyes, and he appeared on the target open ground outside Wanxue Palace.

Swish!

The next second, Yu Xuezi's figure also appeared simultaneously in front of him.

"Eh?" Yu Xuezi stared at him in surprise.

"I was wondering who you were, to teleport here in an instant. Never seen this wave before, turns out it's you?"

"Master, this is a new superpower I gained," Yu Hong quickly explained.

"Superpower?" Yu Xuezi blinked, "Aren't you a pure Human Clan member? Where did you get a superpower?"

"Can't a member of the Human Clan have natural talents? I'm surely an exceptionally gifted one among the exceptions." Yu Hong cleverly replied.

"Haha.... I believe you." Yu Xuezi shook his head, amused. "Alright then, remember to teleport farther next time, don't jump around here. It'd be troublesome if you trigger the protective Array."

"Understood!" Yu Hong nodded vigorously. "Disciple takes leave."

He bowed slightly, and the next instant, he vanished with a swoosh.

Before his eyes, flashes of color filled his vision, and a second later, Yu Hong felt a mild ache throughout his body.

Looking again at his surroundings, he found himself in a dim, damp swamp forest.

Thick poisonous fumes pervaded the air, with a mix of bacteria and viruses confined in the semi-open space.

A faint glow emanated from Yu Hong, isolating the air as he surveyed the surroundings.

He had just thought of transmitting to the far side of the Mining Star.

And then, he somehow arrived here.

'Quite handy.' Yu Hong thought pleasantly, then looked upwards, through the treetops, at the slowly moving satellites in the sky.

"Go to that satellite." He thought to himself.

Swoosh!

A sudden blur crossed his vision.

His body began experiencing a more intense pricking pain.

A second later.

Yu Hong staggered onto a silvery-gray desolate metal platform.

Above was the boundless starry sky.

Beneath was an endless silvery-gray metallic terrain.

The platform he stood on was in front of a gigantic temple-like architectural platform.

Bong.

Bong.

Bong.

The surroundings were hollow and empty, with no people, no flora or fauna.

Only a faint rhythmic metal beating sound lingered in the air from afar.

Standing on the platform, Yu Hong felt light, able to float easily at any moment.

'Gravity is only about one-ninth of the Mining Star's...' Yu Hong considered as he came to a satellite for the first time, moving along the platform, taking steps, and flying inward.

With a gentle leap, he glided like low-altitude flight.

He entered the temple-styled metal structure.

Before him appeared the enormous machine, as large as a house.

This machine had numerous wheels of varying sizes, with seam-like marks on its surface, and a faint blue glow flickering from within these seams.

Despite the blue glow, the machine seemed inactive for a long time. Black-yellow rust spots adorned the wheels.

The floor was strewn with bizarre tools and toppled chairs in disarray.

Frowning, Yu Hong recognized that the satellite, as Yu Xuezi had mentioned, was a place to transport mined stones, refining them.

Yet now, it seemed as though the machines hadn't operated in a long while?