As soon as Qian Ye entered the Well of Stars, the protective force around him began to rapidly dissipate, while a pulling force from below tugged at him, dragging him deeper into the void.
Qian Ye had already witnessed the entire process of Li Kuanglan and Ji Tianqing extracting the primordial crystals, and he had a good idea of what to expect. He knew that the longer he stayed in the well, the more force he would consume. Therefore, instead of resisting, he allowed himself to be pulled and accelerated downward with the flow.
In a flash, Qian Ye had descended a hundred meters. The deeper he went, the stronger the pull became, and several other forces began to tear at his flesh and muscles. These were spatial tearing forces, and without the protection of primordial force, one could easily get injured.
At this moment, the spatial tearing forces were not too strong, and ordinary powerful individuals could handle them. With Qian Ye’s robust body, which was even sturdier than most divine generals, he could even forego the use of primordial force for protection. However, as he delved deeper into the well, the tearing forces would grow exponentially.
Li Kuanglan had mentioned that by five hundred meters deep, even a divine general would find it hard to withstand the spatial tearing forces. As for what lay beyond a thousand meters, no one knew.
Qian Ye, now with the constitution of an ancient vampire marquis, was physically stronger than most divine generals. According to Li Kuanglan, he should be able to reach five hundred meters without issue. However, his primordial force cultivation was much weaker than that of a divine general. If he did reach five hundred meters, his body might not be torn apart, but he would need to return soon, or he might end up like Li Kuanglan on her first attempt, too weak to return to the surface.
Li Kuanglan had Qian Ye to save her, but if Qian Ye became exhausted, there would be no one to rescue him.
To play it safe, Qian Ye slowed down when he reached two hundred meters, the same depth where Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan had been. He then descended another forty to fifty meters before stopping. Hovering in the Well of Stars, he prepared to condense the primordial crystal.
Qian Ye placed the Tianfeng Yunyan Pearl in his palm and examined it closely. The pearl was filled with swirling mist, and within the Well of Stars, it seemed to come alive, imbued with a spirit.
Though Qian Ye had seen many things, he still found it astonishing, inwardly admiring the Li family. The Li family’s ability to create the Tianfeng Yunyan Pearl was truly remarkable. Furthermore, the Li family’s creations were not limited to just this; Jing Tang’s Mirror Water Life Cleanser was no less impressive.
If it weren’t for the conflict between the factions of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect, which had greatly weakened the Li family, the Li family’s influence would have been even greater.
As Qian Ye’s senses touched the Tianfeng Yunyan Pearl, he felt a sudden connection, as if his consciousness merged with the pearl. Through the pearl, Qian Ye’s perception was magnified, and many stars that he had only faintly sensed before became clear and tangible.
Qian Ye’s gaze fell upon a large, pale red star. Although its star power was not as strong as the Seven Luminaries, it felt very familiar and much clearer to Qian Ye. When he focused on it, he suddenly felt as if he could grasp it with an invisible hand.
This star was hot, robust, and dense, with power flowing like slow-moving lava. In terms of primordial force attributes, it leaned towards the Dawn end, similar in distance to both the Chaos Origin and the Dawn Apex.
Primordial force at this position was often not pure, but it could easily produce some special abilities. Though Qian Ye felt that the star’s power was somewhat mixed, it was only compared to the Dawn’s Awakening. For most strong individuals, this level of purity was enough to cultivate them to the brink of becoming a divine general, and they might even try to break through the divine general threshold, though the chances were low.
Being able to sense this star was a pleasant surprise for Qian Ye. With its star power, he could likely condense a primordial crystal with some decent ability. The degree of improvement in his primordial force and physical attributes would depend on how much star power he could absorb. This star power, which came from the weaker stars, was limited, and the amount absorbed could be gauged by the number of stars he could sense.
Having spent some time in the Well of Stars, although Qian Ye felt he could last longer, he didn’t want any unforeseen complications, lest he fail to borrow the star power of this large star. Thus, he locked onto the pale red star. The star flickered, and wisps of pale red starlight slowly drifted toward the Tianfeng Yunyan Pearl.
With the star’s power roused, Qian Ye followed the proper method and mobilized a bit of the Dawn’s Awakening primordial force, infusing it into the Tianfeng Yunyan Pearl, and using it as a guide, he attempted to establish a connection with the surrounding stars.
The moment the Dawn’s Awakening entered the Tianfeng Yunyan Pearl, Qian Ye’s senses exploded, sweeping over countless stars like a storm. In an instant, numerous sensations flooded in. It was as if a fish food pellet had been thrown into a calm pond, and suddenly, the entire surface was teeming with fish.
For a moment, Qian Ye was at a loss, unsure how to handle it. Neither Ji Tianqing nor Li Kuanglan had mentioned this possibility when teaching him the method.
He forced himself to remain calm and responded one by one. Each response caused a star to brighten, sending a wisp of starlight to the Tianfeng Yunyan Pearl. In a blink, Qian Ye had responded to dozens of stars, and dozens of stars began to pour their light into the pearl. The number of these stars was several times that of Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan, but there were still hundreds more that had sensed him yet remained unresponded. As Qian Ye’s responses increased, even distant stars began to flicker.
Qian Ye hesitated, suppressing his urge to continue, and instead maintained his connection with the pale red star and the dozens of others, continuously infusing primordial force into the Tianfeng Yunyan Pearl, merging it with the star power.
Each bit of Dawn’s Awakening primordial force could combine with several bits of star power. Once combined, it would gradually solidify, forming crystal grains.
Qian Ye had a small doubt. When he had seen Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan condensing their primordial crystals, each bit of their primordial force had combined with two bits of star power. This meant that, with the same amount of primordial force, they could crystallize less than half the star power that Qian Ye could.
However, the more star power condensed, the better. Qian Ye set aside this doubt and continued to focus on converting the primordial crystal.
After an unknown amount of time, Qian Ye felt a shift and slowly opened his eyes. Before him, floating in the air, was a primordial crystal, entirely pale red. This crystal was as large as a fist, much larger than the thumb-sized crystals Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan had created.
Qian Ye raised his hand to collect the crystal, not pausing to examine it, and flew upward.
As he ascended, Qian Ye felt as if nearly a hundred tiny consciousnesses were calling to him, trying to make him stay. Each consciousness emitted a thread of force, clinging to Qian Ye. Although each thread was extremely weak and negligible, even hundreds of them together could not hinder Qian Ye, but it still made him wary.
These tiny consciousnesses seemed to come from the weaker stars, the ones he had responded to. Each star that received a response sent out a thread of force to hold Qian Ye back. Dozens of threads were manageable, but thousands or tens of thousands would form a net capable of making Qian Ye’s situation very difficult.
Qian Ye’s body trembled, and he ignited a scarlet-gold flame, shooting up like a rocket toward the well’s opening. Even though the Well of Stars had the unique effect of dissipating primordial force, the Dawn’s Awakening, being one of the three top-tier dawn primordial forces, dissipated very slowly.
Qian Ye flew faster and faster, bursting out of the well in an instant, free from all restraints. He couldn’t stop himself immediately and soared up several dozen meters before finally halting and descending to the ground.
Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan were sitting side by side, chatting amicably, looking quite close.
Seeing Qian Ye emerge, they both stood up to greet him. Ji Tianqing’s eyes gleamed mischievously as she said, “So, are you disappointed that you didn’t see the big meal?”
Li Kuanglan blushed, and Qian Ye was momentarily confused before he realized what she meant.
Ji Tianqing pouted, “Boring. Show me the primordial crystal. Let’s see what good stuff you got.”
Qian Ye handed over the pale red primordial crystal. The moment Ji Tianqing saw it, she gasped, “So big! It must be a top-grade primordial crystal!”
Li Kuanglan took the crystal first, her brows furrowing slightly, and tossed it to Ji Tianqing. In that brief contact, her palm was left with a small burn. The primordial force of the crystal clashed violently with her icy primordial force.
Ji Tianqing took the crystal, her primordial force flowing to protect her skin. She tried to infuse her primordial force into the crystal, and a pale red flame immediately rose. The heat from the flame was so intense that it felt like a scorching summer day.
“Such powerful fire energy!” Ji Tianqing exclaimed, withdrawing her primordial force and turning the crystal over and over in her hand. “This is a pretty good top-grade primordial crystal. Unfortunately, the fire energy is not quite pure, and the condensed star power is still lacking. Otherwise, it could have approached the super-grade.”
She looked disappointed, shaking her head, and then noticed Li Kuanglan’s strange look, realizing her mistake. Super-grade primordial crystals were incredibly rare, and they could not just appear out of nowhere. Both of them had used all their strength to create only a mid-grade crystal each.
Ji Tianqing had originally hoped that one of the remaining seven Tianfeng Yunyan Pearls would yield a top-grade crystal, which would be a great success. This was largely due to Qian Ye; if it were just the two of them, they would have aimed for mid-grade at best.
After examining it for a while, she reluctantly put the pale red fire-energy primordial crystal into her storage space and patted Qian Ye’s shoulder, “With this crystal, we’ve solved most of the problem for Sister Kuanglan’s ice sword. Alright, rest well tonight. Tomorrow, let’s try again and see if we can get another top-grade crystal. We’ll be rich!”
Qian Ye was at a loss, as top-grade primordial crystals were not like stones that one could pick up whenever they wanted.
It was getting late, and Qian Ye was also feeling tired. Ji Tianqing suggested they rest, and he naturally agreed.
As they packed up and prepared to find a campsite for the night, a voice suddenly echoed from the forest, “This is the Well of Stars. Don’t worry, those people from the Empire haven’t arrived yet. How could they be as fast as us? You can safely convert the primordial crystal here. It should be quiet for the night.”
Anwen spoke as he walked out of the woods, only to freeze in place when he saw Qian Ye and the others.
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