Chapter 2: The Mysterious Black Pearl (Part 1)

  New book seeking collection, recommendation and clicks. Thank you everyone.

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  Starry forest, icy spring by the small lake's shore.

  Zhou Weiqing's body was almost in the shape of a big character, lying on the ground, and he had already fallen into a deep coma. However, at this time, strange changes began to appear on his body.

  First to appear on his body was a layer of black light, although the sunlight reappeared in the sky, but the dark aura emanating from him remained so profound. The black light was like a cocoon, quietly wrapping around Zhou Weiqing's body, and his previous severe injuries caused by the explosion of the fireball, some places even exposed ribs, were healing at an imperceptible speed. What was most shocking was that when the muscles, meridians on his back healed, one could faintly see that his skeleton, muscles, and meridians had all been dyed with a thick layer of gray.

  That was a color that was difficult to describe, the gray gave people a feeling of being even colder than the black on Zhou Weiqing's body surface, but it was full of vitality. However, as this layer of gray gradually spread out from Zhou Weiqing's body and replaced the black light on his body surface, the surrounding plants underwent a strange transformation. It could be clearly seen that starting from the plants around Zhou Weiqing, all the plants were dyed with the gray color on his body, and then these plants quickly withered in the gray and spread outwards. In just a short while, within a radius of five meters centered on Zhou Weiqing's body, all the plants had withered, and an inexplicable evil energy was rampant in the air, while the wound on Zhou Weiqing's back healed even faster.

  The dark grey light gradually became denser, with four auras of coldness, overbearance, evil and eeriness constantly swirling around Zhou Weiqing's body. His body also started to tremble slightly, and then, from the dark grey light, three strands of light quietly appeared, gently swaying above his body. These three strands of light were the cyan, blue and silver colours that had been on the black pearl he had swallowed earlier.

  The warm sunlight could not penetrate the surroundings of Zhou Weiqing's body. On his forehead, a black "Wang" character slowly appeared, and on his skin, there was also a layer of curled black magic lines. Under the black magic lines, there was another identical layer of gray magic lines. The two layers of magic lines superimposed, giving a strong three-dimensional effect. These magic lines were not only densely covered on Zhou Weiqing's body but also extended to his face.

  It wasn't until nearly half a joss-stick's worth of time had passed that all the colors gradually faded, re-fusing into Zhou Weiqing's body. The strange double wheel patterns on his body also disappeared along with it.

  Zhou Weiqing's originally healthy, dark bronze skin now looked a few shades paler, and even his facial features seemed to have become more handsome. His back, which had been blasted by the explosive fireball, had completely recovered, with smooth skin and not a single scar left behind. It was as if he had never been injured at all.

  After a while, Zhou Weiqing's fingers moved slightly, and his deeply unconscious consciousness gradually woke up.

  When Zhou Weiqing subconsciously opened his eyes, he couldn't help but shiver slightly. Although he had fallen into a deep coma and didn't know what had happened, after waking up, he still felt a chill run down his body. His heart was cold and numb, and the wave of coldness made him very uncomfortable, accompanied by an inexplicable emotional change.

  I'm not dead? Zhou Weiqing suddenly sat up, he only felt that his body seemed to have lightened a lot, and hurriedly raised his hand to touch his back. The smooth skin on his back made him widen his eyes in surprise.

  "Was it just a dream I had while I was asleep?" Zhou Weiqing looked around and suddenly discovered that there were still some remnants of his torn clothes, especially the withered plants on the ground around him, which were so obvious. Clearly, this was not a dream.

  He patted his own forehead, and Zhou Weiqing's mind gradually cleared up, recalling the various things that had happened before.

  "That eerie black bead seems to have drilled into my belly?" Soon, Zhou Weiqing recalled the situation that occurred before he fainted. At that time, he only felt a chill entering his abdomen, and his whole body was cold, losing consciousness. As for the withering of plants on the ground, he subconsciously thought it was caused by the scorching heat brought by Empress Difuya's explosive fireball when it hit him.

  Because of the congenital meridian blockage, although Zhou Weiqing was a noble, he only attended an ordinary school. He only had a slight understanding of the abilities of the Imperial Pearl Master, otherwise, he wouldn't have made such a huge judgment error. If Empress Fiona's first-grade pearl skills could produce such terrifying power, she couldn't be simply called a genius. Moreover, if that were true, his body would have been blown to pieces at that time.

  "What exactly is that black bead?" Although all the other judgments were incorrect, Zhou Weiqing had one thing clear in his mind - his severe injuries from being blasted by the Exploding Fireball must have been healed by that black bead.

  "Am I really that lucky? What kind of encounter did I have?" Zhou Weiqing thought to himself, and his heart suddenly became hot with excitement. Although he was naturally optimistic, having been born into such a family, in his heart, he actually longed for the ability to possess great power more than anyone else.

  He turned his head down and looked around, and immediately locked a tall star tree next to him as his target.

  The Xingchen tree got its name because its leaves are pentagonal, like the stars in the sky. The trunk of a hundred-year-old Xingchen tree is already usable and has high hardness but also sufficient toughness, making it the best material for making strong bows.

  Zhou Weiqing sprinted a few steps forward and arrived in front of the Starlight Tree, cracking his knuckles before throwing a fierce punch at the rough trunk.

  "Bang - Ah - " The first sound was the collision of his fist with the tree trunk, while the second sound was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, that kind of shrill cry was no longer human-like.

  Zhou Weiqing had been afraid of pain since he was a child. With this punch, the sturdy Starlight Tree didn't budge, but he himself was already clutching his right hand and hopping around on the spot. The intense pain had numbed his right fist, and the skin surface was torn and bleeding. As the saying goes, "the ten fingers are connected to the heart", the intense pain made him jump around for over ten minutes before he gradually calmed down a bit.

  "Damn it!" The guy cursed while constantly blowing air onto his hands, "It seems that good things won't happen to me."

  Fortunately, he was young and the force of this punch was not great after all, so he didn't hurt his bones. After the pain eased a bit, he pulled off the torn clothes on his body, picked up his outerwear from the side of the icy spring lake, and walked away dispiritedly.

  But he didn't know that about a minute after he left, on the big tree where his fist had hit earlier, the place where his fist broke the skin and left a trace of blood, the sturdy trunk of the Star Tree began to quietly rot, and a layer of light black gas also spread out. About three days later, this Star Tree, which had grown for at least fifty years, forever disappeared in the Star Forest. This is a later story, and it's something that Zhou Weiqing would never know.

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  It seems we are very close to the top 5 of the recommended list. Everyone, let's work hard and vote for recommendations! If we make it to the top 5, there will be a third update tonight.