After four years of absorption and refinement, it could be said that every cell in Li Qing's body contained Death Qi.
The moment the Death Qi entered his body, it was immediately surrounded and annihilated.
In just two breaths, it was completely devoured and then refined into Li Qing's own Death Qi.
"Is that all?"
Li Qing had thought it would be much more dangerous, but it was no different from the Death Qi in the outer regions.
He tried a few more times, each time for longer and absorbing more Death Qi.
Although it wasn't refined in an instant, it was close.
Finally, Li Qing simply stepped into the core area.
"Boom!"
The Death Qi in the core region suddenly surged violently, and a massive Death Qi vortex condensed above Li Qing's head, with countless streams of Death Qi rushing into his body.
Li Qing sat cross-legged and refined it with all his might.
As time passed, the surrounding Death Qi seemed to thin out slightly, but even more Death Qi continued to pour in from all directions, seemingly endless.
And as more and more Death Qi was refined, the Death Qi within Li Qing's body gradually began to change.
Countless streams of Death Qi gathered in his Dantian, constantly compressing themselves, two strands becoming one, three strands becoming one, gradually condensing into a spherical object.
"Is this a Dan Bead or a Spirit Core?"
Li Qing was somewhat uncertain. The Spirit Core was a concept from the second part of the Douluo series, where spirit power was continuously compressed into an inner core-like Spirit Core.
The Spirit Core was a concept from Douluo Dalu 2, requiring a massive total amount of spirit power and powerful mental force control.
It was formed by continuously rotating and compressing spirit power into an inner core-like Spirit Core, usually only achievable at the Title Douluo level.
Its functions included increasing cultivation speed, spirit power recovery, and spirit power intensity.
The Death Qi in Li Qing's body had long since merged with his spirit power, so the changes in the Death Qi naturally encompassed his spirit power, which was why he thought of a Spirit Core.
However, the changes within his Dantian were completely beyond his control; they were acting autonomously.
This made him somewhat worried, as no one knew if there were any hidden dangers in something beyond one's control, such as soul possession and rebirth.
Although talking about such high-end things in this sewer-like World seemed a bit absurd, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Li Qing tried to control the condensation of the Spirit Core, but found that he could easily do so.
However, once he stopped the condensation, the Death Qi entering his body would overflow, as if his body couldn't hold any more Death Qi.
But when he gave up control of the Death Qi, they would start to condense autonomously again.
At first glance, there seemed to be no problem; condensing the Spirit Core seemed only to be for absorbing and refining more Death Qi.
Seeing this, Li Qing no longer resisted.
Because at present, if he wanted to uncover the secrets of Death Canyon, this step was unavoidable, unless he withdrew from Death Canyon and never returned.
The sphere in his Dantian became more solid through continuous compression.
At first, it was a misty sphere, but gradually it showed a substantial luster, and it was no longer black, but a half-black, half-white yin-yang color.
Its size was also continuously shrinking.
After an unknown period, the yin-yang 'Spirit Core' had already shrunk to the size of a thumb, and at this point, the 'Spirit Core's' condensation seemed complete.
All the Death Qi entering Li Qing's body flowed into it, and then automatically transformed into his own Death Qi.
"Holy crap—"
Suddenly, Li Qing couldn't help but curse, because he found that as the Death Qi continuously flowed into the Spirit Core, his spirit power also seemed to be slowly increasing.
He hadn't actively absorbed the energy from the World; it autonomously surged into his Spirit Core along with the Death Qi.
Although the speed was very slow, the fact that his spirit power could increase without him actively cultivating it was already beyond his comprehension.
Even the Spirit Core in Douluo Dalu 2 didn't have this effect, did it?
Was it due to Death Canyon, or was this Spirit Core special?
Li Qing tried cultivating actively and found that the speed of energy absorption was significantly faster than before, roughly comparable to the Spirit Ancestor level in terms of efficiency.
The so-called level ratio refers to the ratio of the speed of refining spirit power to the total amount required for a given level.
In other words, although he was currently a Spirit Emperor, his spirit power level increase speed was not slower than when he was at the Spirit Ancestor level.
To put it more plainly, he should be able to increase his spirit power by three levels per year.
After a brief experience, Li Qing opened his eyes with a lingering sense of enjoyment.
He stood up, and the previous feeling of fear was gone; it wasn't weakened, but completely disappeared, and there was no longer any aura that made him feel afraid.
Although he had absorbed a lot of Death Qi, the visibility hadn't increased much.
Li Qing walked to a Spirit Bone and picked it up.
It was a right arm bone, and its energy fluctuations were comparable to the Soft Bones Rabbit Spirit Bone he had obtained earlier, indicating it should be a Spirit Bone of ten-thousand-year grade.
The Spirit Beast it came from was unknown.
Li Qing happily put it away, then picked up the other few pieces and examined them one by one, finding that they were all Spirit Bones of ten thousand years or more.
"I'm rich, I'm rich!"
Even Li Qing, who had possessed many Spirit Bones, couldn't help but grin.
After putting them all away, he walked deeper with anticipation.
Along the way, there were many white bones, but very few Spirit Bones, though not none.
He didn't rush to actively search for Spirit Bones, but walked straight ahead, picking them up if they were on the way, and ignoring them if not.
Soon, he arrived before an altar.
It was a black, circular altar.
On the three-tiered steps was a ten-meter diameter circular black platform, covered with strange runes, and in the center of the altar stood a three-meter-high strange stone.
At about one meter high on the strange stone, there was a recessed handprint.
Strange red patterns spread out from the handprint, covering the entire strange stone, as if reminding people to place their hand in the recessed handprint.
"Hoo!"
Li Qing took a deep breath, then stepped directly onto the altar.
He had already come this far.
Even if there was danger, he had to try.
Moreover, this altar indeed looked somewhat similar to a place for testing divine force, just with the pillar replaced by a strange stone.
Li Qing stood before the strange stone, lifted his right hand into the handprint, and then channeled his spirit power into it.
"Om!"
As Li Qing injected his spirit power, a blood-red light spread out from the handprint along the Texture, quickly illuminating the entire strange stone.
Profound darkness enveloped the entire altar.
It was an indescribable black, as if no light could penetrate it; just looking at it would make one fall into it forever.
However, in just a moment, light broke through the darkness again, shining forth from the profound darkness.
The intertwining of black and white, the entanglement of life and death, darkness receding to reveal light, and light dissipating to return to darkness, as if the end of life was death, and after death, new life was seen.