However, Zhou Ziwei had just observed very carefully that the red mist that flew out from the shattered black robes and skeletons no longer possessed the consciousness of the abyss demons. Even if they dispersed, they had no chance of being resurrected by those scattered energies.
This means that... Soul Chaser's sword strike just now actually and swiftly and completely annihilated an abyss demon.
Thinking back to the last time he was in the underground city, he almost used all his strength to condense a super powerful blue fireball and unleash a terrifying fire energy explosion like a nuclear explosion, which finally killed that mysterious black-robed monster.
The second time, on the plane, Zhou Ziwei and his clone worked together, and with great effort, they managed to absorb the souls of the abyss demons that were possessing several people into the clone's sea of souls, which then condensed into that strange blood-red crystal egg.
It can be said that the two Abyss Demons that Zhou Ziwei killed almost cost him his life. He used all his skills and abilities to barely manage to defeat them.
This time, Zhou Ziwei encountered two more abyssal demons here. With his clone absent, he really didn't know what to do except for using that incredibly powerful blue fireball.
But he never expected that Zhuihun's single strike would kill one of them so easily.
To be honest, although Zhou Ziwei admired Zhuihun, he didn't think the old man was that much better than him, especially if he really used all his trump cards, he might even be better than Zhuihun.
But now... Zhou Ziwei has lost even the slightest bit of confidence. Just that earth-shattering slash from Zhuihun has completely stripped Zhou Ziwei of all his arrogance.
Clearly... the strike that Soul Chaser just delivered was not as simple and easy as it appeared on the surface.
After delivering the final blow, Zhuihun solemnly lowered the black gold sword in his hand, which had completely lost its spirit. He then let out a soft sigh of relief. Zhou Ziwei noticed that the old man's face turned deathly pale the moment he exhaled.
Seeing that Zhuihun seemed to be swaying and about to collapse, Zhou Ziwei realized that the old man's knife must be extraordinary. Perhaps he had put all his strength into this one strike, which was why it could produce such a terrifying effect.
Thinking about it this way, Zhou Ziwei felt slightly more at ease.
However… upon further reflection, Zhou Ziwei felt greatly puzzled… He had clearly witnessed the old man's strike, which, despite its imposing aura, hadn't actually used any spiritual power… In fact, if his blade had been truly imbued with spiritual power, the effect of the strike would not have been like this. The abyss demon, after being struck, would likely have only become more energetic, rather than being annihilated…
Filled with doubt, Zhou Ziwei quickly stepped forward and helped Zhuihun up, then asked with concern, "Senior Zhuihun, are you alright? Or... should I take you outside to rest for a bit? This place... might not be safe. Although that other guy was badly injured when he attacked me, he wasn't fatally wounded. He's probably still hiding in the shadows, waiting to ambush us..."
Zhou Ziwei spoke sincerely. After all, when he discovered that the enemy here was actually an abyss demon, Zhou Ziwei had no expectation that Soul Chaser could be of any help. He would be grateful if the old man didn't cause him any trouble.
Now, not only did Zhuihun not hinder us, but he also cleanly and efficiently killed an Abyss Demon, which made Zhou Ziwei extremely excited. Seeing that Zhuihun's current situation was not good, Zhou Ziwei naturally dared not let him stay here any longer.
As for the remaining few abyssal demons... Zhou Ziwei figured that a single one would definitely not dare to appear in front of him again. In that case, even if he couldn't wipe it out in one fell swoop, he could at least burn it half to death with fire energy.
If the remaining three were to appear at the same time... Zhou Ziwei would naturally not hold back and would unleash a super-powerful blue fireball, guaranteeing that all of them would be wiped out.
Upon hearing this, Soul Chaser gently shook his head, then sighed softly, saying, "Kid, your skills are indeed impressive, but... against these ghosts, your fireball technique, while somewhat effective, is still lacking. I can see that... these ghosts are much tougher than cockroaches. If you can't kill them in one blow, they'll quickly recover. My Soul-Slaying Sword is precisely the nemesis of these ghosts... Don't worry! My nickname, Soul Chaser, isn't for nothing. Actually... for me, killing ghosts is more of an expert than killing living people. Even though these ghosts are powerful, with my strength, killing three or five more is no problem!"
Zhou Ziwei was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, only then realizing that the old man's nickname "Soul Chaser" actually came from this, and that his move, the "Soul-Slaying Sword," was indeed very powerful... He must ask him for a proper lesson sometime... Well, even if he refused to teach him, Chu Qiutang was his disciple, so he would have to teach her eventually! And what was his relationship with Chu Qiutang? As long as Chu Qiutang learned it, he would learn it sooner or later.
Since Zhuihun insisted on not leaving, Zhou Ziwei naturally wouldn't force him to leave. After all, their purpose in coming here was to rescue someone, who was currently hiding in this basement. To rescue the person, they had to first eliminate these abyssal demons.
Once Zhou Ziwei unleashes his blue fireball, everyone, human or ghost, will be wiped out completely, leaving no one to save.
So... if Soul Chaser really can kill three or five... oh no... not five. If Zhou Ziwei isn't mistaken, there should only be the last three Abyss Demons left in this world. One of them had about half of its energy burned away by Zhou Ziwei's flames, so it can only be considered two and a half Abyss Demons now.
If Zhuihun truly has the ability to take down both of these half-abyssal demons without any trouble, Zhou Ziwei would naturally be happy to see it happen.
The two decided to sit in the underground hall and rest for a while. To avoid being attacked by the abyss demons again, Zhou Ziwei released a ball of light energy, which was suspended in mid-air and used as a lamp.
Of course... this time the light energy ball didn't emit all the light instantly. Zhou Ziwei briefly controlled the ball, allowing the energy stored inside to be released slowly. It was estimated that it would last for at least ten minutes before slowly dissipating.
It would be even better if those abyssal demons could come to us on their own initiative again.
Now that Zhou Ziwei has Soul Chaser as his ally, he's even more fearless. He actually hopes those guys will come quickly so Soul Chaser can kill them all and put an end to it all. Zhou Ziwei's only regret is that he didn't bring his clone with him to the US. If his clone, Dwight, were here, he would be set for life... If he could devour all the soul energy of those abyssal demons... who knows how much Dwight's clone would grow?
Because Zhuihun appeared extremely tired, Zhou Ziwei didn't let him move around much and simply helped him sit down on the spot.
However, this place was right next to the skeletons left behind by that abyss demon. Soul Chaser didn't seem to care about the skeletons at all, as if they were just a pile of ordinary rotten wood.
However, Zhou Ziwei still had an instinctive psychological aversion to such things. He immediately reached out and released a wisp of wind energy, which directly blew away the pile of bones and the large black robe next to him.
A large pile of bones rolled away with a "crash" sound. Looking at the smooth ground next to him, Zhou Ziwei felt a little more comfortable. But then... Zhou Ziwei's gaze suddenly froze... He saw that where the pile of bones had been, there was a teardrop-shaped transparent crystal.
This is... something left behind by that abyss demon.
Zhou Ziwei was very curious, so he quickly stood up, walked over and picked up the thing. He gently squeezed it in his hand and then used his soul power to sense it. Instantly, he felt his soul power fall into a strange crystalline world, which was actually composed entirely of countless extremely pure solid soul powers.
Holy crap... it's actually a good thing...
Zhou Ziwei made a rough estimate and was then shocked to discover that the soul power contained within this tiny, teardrop-sized crystal was at least 100,000 units.
This left Zhou Ziwei completely dumbfounded.
However, the density of this thing was too abnormal. Zhou Ziwei tried to absorb some of the soul power contained within it into his body, but after a lot of effort, he only managed to absorb a very small amount.
This speed is really disappointing. For Zhou Ziwei, who is used to his soul power growing rapidly by tens or hundreds of thousands, this absorption speed is driving him crazy.
However, Zhou Ziwei soon discovered that as long as he held this thing in his hand, even if he didn't actively absorb it, it would still continuously emit some scattered soul power, which would slowly seep into his body.
However, this speed is somewhat slower... Of course, although the dissipation speed is slow, it is continuous. If one carries such a thing with them, wouldn't it allow one's soul power to gradually increase, accumulating little by little, yet still becoming a force not to be underestimated?
Zhuihun, who had been resting with his eyes closed, slowly recovering his lost strength, couldn't help but open his eyes curiously after noticing Zhou Ziwei's actions. He casually asked, "What is this?"
Zhou Ziwei hesitated for a moment, but then generously handed over the teardrop-shaped crystal, grinning as he said, "This is your spoils of war...hehe...absolutely a treasure...especially for spiritual warriors like us...this is a priceless gem."
To be honest, Zhou Ziwei was really reluctant to hand this treasure over to Zhuihun. If he had casually mentioned that it was a diamond... Zhuihun would probably have lost interest in taking another look.
Those gems that are expensive to ordinary people are nothing special in the eyes of these people.
Money is just an external thing. If Zhuihun really wanted it... with his strength, he could either become an assassin to earn a large commission, or simply rob it himself... I believe that there are few people in the whole world who could stop Zhuihun's ever-changing abilities... In that case, Zhuihun would hardly waste any time and could easily become the world's richest man. However... for a strong person like Zhuihun... what is the meaning of being the world's richest man? But this solidified soul power condensation is completely different.
Although Zhou Ziwei had not conducted any specific experiments, he estimated that this product should have different effects on different people.
If someone like Zhou Ziwei absorbs the energy here, he can directly transform it into soul power and absorb it into his own sea of souls. For a spiritual warrior like Zhuihun, he can absorb it into his body and assimilate it into his own spiritual power.
If an ordinary person were to wear such a strange crystal... it is estimated that these energy bodies would only be used as ordinary life energy to replenish the body. It is unlikely to give people any extraordinary abilities, but it can enhance the body's metabolism, making cells full of vitality, thereby delaying aging and maintaining youth.
Of course, these are all just Zhou Ziwei's own speculations, and it's hard to say what the actual situation is. But no matter what, it will definitely have an effect on Zhuihun. Although Zhou Ziwei was also very tempted by this treasure, he was too embarrassed to deceive Zhuihun and keep it for himself. So after a slight hesitation, Zhou Ziwei told the truth and decided to return it to Zhuihun.
"A priceless treasure!" Zhuihun glanced at Zhou Ziwei with some doubt before reaching out and taking the teardrop-shaped crystal into his hand. Then... after a few seconds of silence, he suddenly jumped up as if his bottom had caught fire. Looking at the crystal-clear teardrop-shaped crystal in his hand, he exclaimed in horror, "My God... this is... the Crystal Heart of Immortality!"
"The Immortal Crystal Heart? What is that?!" This was the first time Zhou Ziwei had ever heard of this thing. Given that he had merged with the memories of tens of thousands of souls, his knowledge should be unparalleled in the world. However, after searching through his memories, although he vaguely recognized the term, he only knew the name and that it was a treasure so expensive that it could bankrupt a small country. He had no idea what made it so special.
It seems that the original owners of the souls I absorbed were not of a high enough level... Since a tiny drop of this stuff can be worth the value of an entire small country, how could ordinary people possibly understand it?
Zhuihun gazed intently at the crystal-clear, teardrop-shaped gem in his hand, exclaiming, "You're right... This is indeed a treasure beyond measure... Hehe... In fact, it's more than just beyond measure... Even a mountain of gold couldn't buy this tiny drop... This... is simply priceless... Hehe... The Immortal Crystal Heart is a legendary treasure that can grant immortality; how could its value be measured by worldly money?"
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 641: I Have This Too
The Immortal Crystal is a treasure that can grant immortality.
Zhou Ziwei touched his chin and nodded repeatedly. It seemed that his previous guess was pretty accurate. The function of this teardrop-shaped crystal was roughly as follows: if an ordinary person wore it, it would revitalize their body cells, thereby delaying aging and prolonging life.
Therefore, calling this strange teardrop-shaped crystal the "immortal crystal core" is quite fitting.
Ultimately, however, its most valuable aspect is its ability to significantly enhance a martial artist's spiritual power cultivation in a short period of time.
It is estimated that this one characteristic alone is enough to make countless experts rack their brains over it.
"You mean... this Immortal Crystal Heart is... mine... my trophy... If it were anything else, I could take it, but... but such a precious treasure, how could I... how could I keep it all to myself..."
Zhuihun gripped the Immortal Crystal tightly in his hand, his expression tense and excited. His eyes were fixed on Zhou Ziwei, filled with endless longing and anticipation—a stark contrast to the polite words he had uttered.
Zhou Ziwei shook his head, then smiled and said, "This is your spoils of war. You killed that guy with one sword, so all the good stuff it left behind should naturally belong to you... Don't worry, although this kind of thing is very valuable, for me... it may not be such a great treasure. Besides... I think I had one of these before, hehe... So you can just keep it without any worries!"
Zhou Ziwei wasn't lying. Although the Immortal Crystal Heart was excellent and could enhance his strength, Zhou Ziwei estimated that absorbing all the tens of thousands of soul energies within it would probably take at least several years—several years indeed! With that much time, Zhou Ziwei could easily find a place near a large slaughterhouse, recite the Six-Syllable Mantra whenever he had free time, and amass tens of thousands of soul energies in a few years.
It's even more than that. As long as he doesn't consume too much during this period, it's possible for him to absorb another one or two million soul powers in a few years. So, while the old crystal is nice and Zhou Ziwei does like it, he's not really that moved by it. At least he's definitely not as excited as Zhuihun is right now, almost bursting into tears.
In addition, Zhou Ziwei said that he himself used to have such an ageless heart, and this statement was not unfounded.
In fact, Zhou Ziwei not only has such an ageless crystal heart, but the quality of his ageless crystal heart is definitely higher than this one.
That immortal crystal was the crystal that the Bat King spat out after he devoured all the Soul-Devouring Flying Insects when Zhou Ziwei was being chased by them in the ancient tomb.
At that time, Zhou Ziwei's abilities were still very weak, and he was even unable to penetrate the extremely dense crystal with his soul power. So he could only basically determine that the thing was a solid form of soul power, but he had no idea how much soul power was condensed inside.
At the time, Zhou Ziwei was somewhat amazed, but he didn't really care much. After all, that thing was just something the Bat King had condensed after devouring a small group of Soul-Eating Flying Insects. Of course, Zhou Ziwei didn't think that such a small group of Soul-Eating Flying Insects could contain much soul energy. But now that he thought about it... the volume of that crystal seemed to be more than twice or even three times larger than the one he saw today... If... if the density of these two things were the same, wouldn't that mean... the amount of soul power contained in that thing could even reach four or five hundred thousand or more?
If that's really the case, then they've made a fortune...
Zhou Ziwei was secretly delighted, and he looked down on the Immortal Crystal Heart in front of him, which could only contain a few hundred thousand units of soul power at most.
Zhou Ziwei didn't know how to use the crystal that the Bat King spat out, so after returning home, he put it away somewhere and didn't keep it with him.
Looking back now, I'm glad I didn't bring that thing with me, otherwise... I'm afraid that when I passed through the spacetime tunnel to the pilot plane, the energy in that immortal crystal would have been completely sucked away by the ubiquitous black hole-like thing there.
Upon hearing Zhou Ziwei's words, Zhuihun was overjoyed and quickly hid the treasure close to his body.
This thing has now become his lifeline. In fact, the position of this Immortal Crystal Heart is even more precious than his treasured magical artifact, the Hundred Transformations. The reason is simple: this old guy has been stuck at the peak of the Spirit Martial Master state for more than 20 years without making any progress. Under normal circumstances, it seems that he has no hope of advancing in this lifetime.
Originally, Zhuihun had basically accepted his fate. Even if he couldn't advance, it didn't matter. After all, the realm of Spirit Master seemed to have always existed only in legends. Although there were indeed people in history who achieved the miracle of becoming Spirit Master, none of them were unparalleled or extraordinary.
In any case, Zhuihun felt that he was far inferior to the few famous spirit masters in history, so it seemed to be only natural that he could not be compared with them.
But now... with this Immortal Crystal in hand, everything impossible has become possible. Because of the years of dedicated cultivation, although he has never been able to find the threshold for breakthrough, he has accumulated his experience from each failure. It can be said that his mental training is quite advanced. What he lacks is... only the accumulation of energy within his body.
However, he is currently stuck at this level, making it almost impossible for him to absorb any spiritual energy from outside the body. This is the reason why he has been unable to advance.
But now this Immortal Crystal Heart has solved the most crucial problem in one fell swoop... The moment he picked up the Immortal Crystal Heart, he already felt it, clearly felt it... Even though he didn't actively absorb the scattered spiritual energy in the air, the spiritual energy contained in the Immortal Crystal Heart kept slowly seeping into his body and allowing his body to accept and absorb it.
In just a short moment, Zhuihun felt that the total amount of spiritual power in his body had increased a little bit... Although this little bit of progress was like a drop in the ocean compared to the vast amount of spiritual power in his body, this little bit of growth was nothing short of a miracle for him.
Although this growth rate was extremely slow, for someone like Zhuihun who was just one step away from entering the realm of a Spirit Master, even the slightest progress was enough to make him ecstatic. Moreover, if this growth rate could continue, he estimated that he would definitely be able to advance to the Spirit God Master in a short time, at most a year or two.
A Spirit Master... This is a legendary being, almost like a god. Once one advances to this realm, the benefits they receive go far beyond just an increase in the concentration of spiritual energy; more importantly, they gain immense advantages from the difference in realm level...
In any case, for the sake of this Immortal Crystal Heart, which could bring him the greatest hope of advancement, Zhuihun was almost driven to madness.
So although he felt a little embarrassed, thinking that he had taken such a precious thing all by himself, he really felt bad.
However embarrassed he was, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and accept it.
Although Zhou Ziwei claimed it was his spoils of war, Zhuihun knew perfectly well what was going on... Although he had killed the Abyss Demon with a single sword strike, without Zhou Ziwei's reminder and the interference and obstruction from the barrage of fireballs he had used earlier, he probably wouldn't have even been able to reach the Abyss Demon. If he couldn't reach the Abyss Demon, his Soul-Slaying Sword, no matter how powerful, would be completely useless. This Soul-Slaying Sword required catalyzing the spiritual power within his body into a mutated special energy before unleashing it with a sword, thus creating the power to kill a ghost with a single strike.
However, this mutated spiritual power can no longer propel the spiritual weapon to flight, so... Soul Chaser must have the opportunity to get close to the abyss demon in order to have the final chance to strike.
Therefore, while Zhui Hun's Soul-Slaying Sword played the most crucial role in the final battle against that abyss demon, it wouldn't have been possible without Zhou Ziwei's cooperation.
So... even though Zhuihun has never been very thin-skinned, he was too embarrassed to really consider this thing as his own.
However, this Immortal Crystal Heart was far too important to Zhuihun, so… after hesitating for a moment, Zhuihun coughed lightly, his old face slightly flushed, and said, “Well… this thing is exactly what I need most for my cultivation right now, so… I’ll shamelessly accept it this time… but… but I estimate that one Immortal Crystal Heart will be enough for me to advance to the Spirit God Master realm. If… if we acquire more Immortal Crystal Hearts in this operation, then… no matter how much of the remaining spoils there are, no matter who acquires them, they will all… all belong to you alone. How about that…?”
After seemingly speaking very generously, Zhuihun couldn't help but blush.
This is the Crystal Heart of Immortality, not some ordinary diamond... It is said that the conditions for its formation are extremely harsh, and even in the entire history of humankind, there have never been more than ten known Crystal Hearts of Immortality.
In the last few hundred years, it seems that only three Immortal Crystal Hearts have been created, making them incredibly rare.
To find such a precious item here today is already a blessing, worthy of burning incense to celebrate. If we were to continue fighting here, we could obtain a second or third Immortal Crystal Heart... even Zhui Hun himself doesn't believe it.
So... his seemingly generous words were practically meaningless.