Chapter 18: The Ink-like Pebble

Xiaobei, suppressing the buzzing in his head, was suddenly startled. He immediately began to circulate the cultivation method of the "Star Canon," trying to suppress the powerful force that was making his heart rebel.

However, Xiaobei found that the Star Palace and the Central Star, which had always followed his cultivation path, were now not cooperating with him at all. It was as if he had become a mere observer, helplessly watching the Star Palace, formed from his sea of consciousness, become chaotic and no longer obey his commands.

Xiaobei was a person who never gave up easily; otherwise, he would not have become a master of his generation solely through his intelligence.

Amidst his surprise, he summoned his fighting spirit and immersed his consciousness completely in the Star Palace.

The Star Palace was formed from the sea of consciousness.

The sea of consciousness was the source of one's innate spirit.

"This is my own consciousness, it will not be allowed to cause mischief!"

Xiaobei, with a domineering expression and closed eyes, gritted his teeth and resisted...

"Boom!"...

An incomparable force appeared, and Xiaobei felt as if his head was about to shatter. Even his own consciousness, in the face of this immense power, was like a grain of sand in the vast ocean, or perhaps even less, negligible and almost invisible.

Xiaobei fainted.

...

When Xiaobei woke up, the sun was already setting.

At that moment, Xiaobei's Star Palace immediately gained a new sensation. This sensation was truly connected to his consciousness, and he discovered that he seemed to be able to control the ink-like pebble.

It seemed that as long as he moved his consciousness, the pebble would fly and shoot towards the place he wanted it to go.

Moreover, his Star Palace seemed to have undergone some changes.

As his consciousness sank, Xiaobei discovered the nature of this change.

The Central Star, which was about the size of a fist, had grown larger, now almost the size of a human head!

Furthermore, the earth-yellow starlight emitted by the Central Star had become even brighter.

This was a sign of increased power!

Moreover, Xiaobei also felt that his sea of consciousness, which formed the Star Palace, seemed to have expanded.

After all, the Star Palace was the sea of consciousness, and the expansion of the Star Palace meant the expansion of the sea of consciousness!

This was the first time Xiaobei had discovered that the sea of consciousness could expand on such a large scale!

However, apart from this, Xiaobei did not feel any other significant changes.

After a moment of contemplation, Xiaobei silently recited the cultivation method of the "Star Canon" and found that it was running smoothly. The power emitted by the Central Star was several times stronger than before. Xiaobei estimated that if his spatial teleportation could last for seven hours half a day ago, this time it should last for about two days without any problem.

Next, Xiaobei shifted his gaze to the ink-like pebble in his hand, noticing that the black, smoke-like glow on it had deepened, and he fell into deep thought.

After all, this clearly did not meet Xiaobei's expectations. Although his power and spirit had increased, it had not reached his expectations!

According to Xiaobei's understanding, once he successfully merged with the ink-like pebble, it should have triggered some incredible event.

The Star Palace's jubilation should not have been just this, right?

Xiaobei once again immersed his consciousness completely in the Star Palace and quietly sensed it.

After a while, Xiaobei opened his eyes with a smile.

He was satisfied.

Because Xiaobei could feel that the ink-like pebble could not only serve as a secret weapon but also brought him a tremendous stroke of luck. From the connection between the pebble and his Star Palace, there were subtle fluctuations.

These fluctuations carried a force.

This force was even stronger than the elemental energy of heaven and earth. Xiaobei could feel with his heart that his Central Star was gradually growing stronger under the influence of this force.

The reason he had not felt it before was that the force's fluctuations were like a heartbeat, occurring at intervals of about thirty seconds.

"Finally, it has not disappointed me. The energy from this pebble, with just one fluctuation, is enough to match an hour of my effort. Good, good! With its help, I will see when the Central Star can expand to its limit, allowing me to achieve the next level beyond the Imperial Warrior!"

The sunset illuminated the waterfall, and the water around the stone where Xiaobei was sitting sparkled in the sunlight.

With a thought, Xiaobei made the pebble shoot out.

"Whoosh!"

Xiaobei could feel that the pebble, like a weapon he controlled with his own hands, shot into the waterfall at an incredible speed. When it hit the rock wall behind the waterfall, it penetrated about a hundred meters without stopping.

"It seems I was lucky that day. If the yellow-robed man had been someone like me controlling the pebble, the speed and power would have been even greater, and I would surely have been killed."

After muttering these words, Xiaobei frowned.

He began to understand why the yellow-robed man did not use the pebble from the start.

Using the pebble consumed spirit energy.

Just a short while, and he felt a bit weaker.

However, Xiaobei smiled slightly because, for someone who cultivated the upper dantian and used the Star Palace as his sea of consciousness, as long as it was not for too long, there would be no significant damage to his spirit energy.

It seems that this ink-like pebble was tailor-made for me.

With a thought, Xiaobei made the pebble return to his hand.

Looking at it, Xiaobei smiled, "From now on, you will be my weapon, and your name will be the Star Stone. I believe that with you in hand, I will win every battle."

...

Three days later, Xiaobei returned to the waterfall. This time, he had taken off his robe and made it into a bundle, wearing only a white silk inner garment and black trousers.

Opening the bundle on the stone, Xiaobei looked at the demon beast cores he had obtained over the past three days. He picked up one core with both hands and began to absorb it.

One, two, three... seven.

After seven, Xiaobei felt his limit. If he absorbed any more, he felt that his Star Palace could not handle the immense power.

"Six cores of Royal-grade demon beasts and one core of an Imperial-grade demon beast are my limit. But the energy provided by this pebble is different."

"The pebble is a pebble, with its own special properties. It can continuously provide me with energy without overwhelming me. The Star Palace's sensitivity is indeed terrifying, and this pebble is truly extraordinary."

With a joyful expression, Xiaobei nodded as he looked at the ink-like pebble.

Immediately after, Xiaobei sat down to meditate and digest the power from the additional cores in his Star Palace. He refined the complex energy and guided it to be absorbed by the Star Palace.

...

Twenty days later, Xiaobei, who was meditating on a large stone, suddenly opened his eyes.

"Being able to directly absorb the cores containing complex elemental energy and quickly digest them, the 'Star Canon' is indeed wondrous. Such a cultivation method, who in the world can compete with it? The ancestor of the Xiao family who created this method must have been an extremely wise person. What a fortunate thing for me."

With a thought, Xiaobei waved his hand.

"Starry Sky"!

Even under the midday sun, the brilliant starlight was extremely dazzling.

"Boom!"

The stars converged into a massive fist, like a small hill, and struck the waterfall forcefully.

The mountain peak was flattened.

Next, Xiaobei used the shaped stars to form a fist and practiced a few moves of the Star Body Fist.

After finishing, Xiaobei smiled, tidied up the remaining demon beast cores, and then floated up, preparing to return to the Xiao residence.

Xiaobei knew that the next day was the time for the clan's disciples who had reached the Fifth Rank of the Later Heaven Warrior to go to the clan's library to obtain annotated classics from their predecessors.

Xiaobei wanted to see if there were any books in the clan's library that could provide him with inspiration for better cultivation and if there were any books introducing the continent, although he knew the chances were slim. After all, the continent was vast, and just the city of Luzhou was likely much larger than he could imagine. Moreover, most people here did not travel far due to the presence of demon beasts, so the chances were slim.

"I hope there are such books. Over these few days, I have become even more convinced that there are stronger people out there. I will not be lonely."

Xiaobei's body, which was moving horizontally, turned to look at a distant valley to the west. In that direction, Xiaobei could sense a slightly stronger aura than his own. Even with the Star Stone, he knew he might be on par with that demon beast.

Although it was just a feeling, Xiaobei trusted his intuition... but he also had a premonition that he would soon encounter this demon beast.