Chapter Forty-Four: Pearls Large and Small Fall Into the Black Box

“Let’s wait and see.”

Da Jiuxing smiled as he gazed up at the starry dome, brimming with confidence.

Thunder roared—deafening, earth-shattering—gathering into an endless ocean. Purple lightning streaked across the sky, howling as it tore through the void, rending space itself. The power of thunder surged, opening pathways to the shadowy dark cosmos, profound and terrifying.

The myriad spirits of the Flower Sea were tense, each one fearing that the Divine Thunder of the Universe would come crashing down. Except for the highest order of spirit beings, none could hope to survive such a catastrophe.

The black box floated lightly past the boundary of mist and vanished into the oceanic tempest, remaining motionless for a long while.

“Why haven’t the Divine Lords gone to face the thunder yet?”

On the snowy peak, Bai Xiatian stood with Feng Shang, whose black, luminous eyes were clear and beautiful, though now clouded with worry. The thunderous ocean radiated such terrifying might, its brightness outshining the stars themselves.

Should it descend, the myriad spirits of the Flower Sea would face annihilation.

“Don’t worry. The old man has the black box. That thing is astoundingly spiritual—it can swallow any amount of thunder tribulation,” Feng Shang said, much more composed. He had witnessed Da Jiuxing’s methods before and knew such calamities were nothing to him.

“What is the black box?”

“It’s a mysterious artifact excavated from the cosmic sea,” Feng Shang replied leisurely, raising a finger. “Some say it’s a component of an ancient holy weapon—who knows if that’s true. In any case, it lay buried for countless cosmic eras. The richer the thunder energy, the more excited the box becomes.”

With that, Feng Shang’s gaze drifted as he probed, “The Flower Sea has seen eight generations of Flower Masters—a long heritage. You must have your own holy weapon, don’t you?”

“I don’t know,” Bai Xiatian answered. She had only recently taken form; before, she was but a vague consciousness and hadn’t learned much about the Flower Sea’s legacy or secrets.

“As I recall, the previous Master Li Xian wielded the Heaven-Reversing Xuanming—a blade that once severed the Tyrant Claw of the Desolate Fang and split the Grand Funeral of Hell itself, earning the second place in the Universe Sword Codex,” Qing E interjected, appearing suddenly and gazing skyward.

“Oh? So it does exist.”

Feng Shang’s eyes gleamed. In the Spiritual Cosmos, there was an iron law: No more than three supreme weapons could appear in a single cosmic era. Their status rivaled even that of the eighteen Insignia-level Divine Decrees.

Across the vast starry expanse and endless ages, the number of intact holy weapons could be counted on two hands.

“How does it compare to the Ten Divine Weapons of the Thousand Realms?”

“They are equals, more or less. Judging by the exploits of Master Li Xian, Heaven-Reversing Xuanming should rank among the top three of the Ten Divine Weapons. Legend says it was forged from a piece of celestial gold in the primordial chaos, and the process began with the fifth Flower Master. It took generations to complete and was only finished in Li Xian’s hands.”

Qing E sighed softly. “It is said that in even earlier times, the Flower Sea possessed another supreme holy treasure, but, alas, it was lost to the river of time…”

The advent of a supreme weapon was a feat of utmost difficulty. Such items defied the heavens, unblessed by the Spiritual Cosmos, and often required the efforts of several generations to forge.

It was said that only a lineage with a holy weapon could be called a truly peak tradition.

Feng Shang was shaken. In ages past, the Flower Sea had once possessed two holy weapons—a glory beyond imagining.

Meanwhile, the tribulation thunder in the starry sky only grew more intense, its rolling fury unending. Yet, the ocean never poured down; as if something held it back in a struggle.

The black box—ancient and unadorned—reached the very bottom of the thunderous ocean, and there, a transformation occurred.

Here, the thunder was dazzling and magnificent, yet saturated with frenzied, destructive power. A single wisp could reduce a mighty being to ash. Relentless bombardments had already struck the mysterious black box countless times.

Gurgling sounds echoed without pause; from the seams of the black box floated golden bubbles. With each appearance, the violent thunder seemed to tense in alarm.

These golden bubbles were nothing like they appeared—fragile or easy to burst. Though small, each seemed to contain a world of its own, drifting comfortably in the midst of the destructive thunder sea.

Astonishingly, as the golden bubbles drifted, the surrounding thunder rapidly withdrew, causing the ocean to surge and whirlpools to explode in every direction.

It was dissolving—or perhaps devouring.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of miles of thunder vanished.

The black box quivered, as though excited, releasing even more golden bubbles. Gradually, the earliest bubbles began to take on new colors, growing vibrant and resplendent.

The thunder did not disappear; instead, it was drawn into these bubbles.

Boom!

The Universe Thunder Tribulation roared in fury, finally noticing this uninvited guest. A bolt of lightning, ten thousand miles thick, sliced through the sea like a supreme blade, making straight for the unremarkable black box at the bottom.

Ordinarily, such a wild onslaught would have utterly shattered it.

Yet the result was astonishing.

The black box did not budge. Its seams widened slightly, revealing only darkness within—no sounds, nothing visible—except that even more golden bubbles emerged.

“It… actually blocked it?”

At the foot of World Mountain, several Divine Lords of the Flower Sea were stunned. When Da Jiuxing had produced the black box, they had guessed it was a treasure for absorbing thunder tribulation.

But they had not expected its power to be so vast. As time passed, the thunderous ocean casting a colossal shadow over the Flower Sea shrank by a tenth in size!

This was nothing short of miraculous.

Even if there existed a vast, sturdy world inside the box, how could it escape the annihilating laws of the Universe Way?

After all, the Universal Law was omnipresent. Since this tribulation was triggered by star-forging divine energy, it would inevitably overflow, no matter where it was collected.

Unless someone could bear the thunder in its stead—but the black box was merely an artifact.

“It’s no longer our concern,” one Divine Lord of the Flower Sea remarked with a smile. She was strikingly beautiful, her skin gleaming with a soft radiance, her hair black and lustrous as silk, dressed in a splendid starry robe that accentuated her slender figure.

“It’s actually getting smaller. I haven’t seen any Divine Lord of the Flower Sea step forward to face the thunder,” Bai Xiatian said doubtfully, frowning in confusion. As the spirit of the Snow Domain, she could clearly observe the changes in the thunderous ocean.

“I told you, the black box is no ordinary thing. Back in the Star Sea, even a Star Saint coveted it, but the old man wouldn’t part with it,” Feng Shang replied, stretching with an air of leisure. “Now that the star-forging is done, I should return to Jiuxing City.”

Bai Xiatian blinked and looked at him.

In the starry sky, the Universal Thunder Tribulation gradually faded, its initial ferocity spent. From a force that had eclipsed the heavens, it diminished to the size of an ordinary star, and finally, the thunderous ocean dried up and vanished, leaving only a few lonely bolts of lightning wandering through the void.

The wrath of the cosmos subsided, as if resigned, making no attempt at a second onslaught.

Hundreds of golden pearls—crystal clear, beautiful, radiating divine light—appeared where the thunder sea had last vanished.

On closer inspection, every golden pearl diffused with wondrous mystical colors.

Clink, clink, clink…

The pearls collided with a crisp and pleasant sound, tumbling down together.

Large and small pearls fell into the black box.