Though the battle was dire, Jing Qian remained calm!
He said nothing, pouring all of his focus into the Sumeru Life Pattern, feeling the pulse of that strange dimensional space.
Following the flow of his own will, he once again moved forward.
Under the pressure of battle, Jing Qian's understanding of the Sumeru Pattern advanced ever so slightly.
His mana was only enough for one last strike, but even that tiny breakthrough changed the effect of the Sumeru Pattern entirely!
Every cultivator, upon first obtaining a Life Pattern, would, after experimenting with its mysterious powers, enter a period of rapid growth.
Only when they had grasped the full extent of the Pattern's power would they face their first bottleneck.
For Jing Qian, who had risked everything to burn his body and solidify fate, refining such a high-tier Sumeru Life Pattern, it had only been a few short days.
His control over it was still shallow at best!
Right now, every bit of new insight into Sumeru was a chance for his strength to undergo a qualitative transformation.
And before him stood a giant crab of the White Fang rank, the first enemy he had faced alone since parting ways with Qingzhuzi.
Pressed between life and death, he devoted his entire mind to the Sumeru Pattern, and in doing so, touched upon a critical breakthrough.
Until now, his void-walking ability allowed him as long as his life essence was sufficient to sink into air or water and reappear anywhere his will desired.
That ability alone was already powerful enough to render him nearly invincible in any fight!
But as his comprehension of the Sumeru Pattern deepened, a thought stirred in his heart.
If gas and liquid could not obstruct his space-walking…
Could solid matter also be bypassed with the power of Sumeru?
With that instinct, he followed the threads of Sumeru's spatial energy, diving straight toward the crab's shimmering, multicolored carapace.
"Does it not work?"
When Jing Qian tried to rely on Sumeru to slip directly out from within the crab's body cavity, he realized at once it couldn't be done!
His power simply wasn't enough to pierce the White Fang's life essence covering the creature's surface.
It wasn't that Sumeru lacked divine might; he was simply too weak!
And yet Jing Qian could sense it clearly: if his life essence became deeper and stronger, then one day he really might pierce such defenses and phase directly into an enemy's flesh.
But that was a matter for the future.
Right now, the battle had reached its decisive moment!
With his improved mastery of Sumeru, even if his first tactic failed, the true opening for victory had already revealed itself in his heart!
Jing Qian seized the moment when the giant crab roared with its mouth wide open and compressed the power of Sumeru to the extreme.
In the next instant, he slipped straight through its gaping maw into the digestive tract, flying swiftly down along its stomach and intestines.
He had already realized: if piercing the carapace was impossible, then he only needed to find a place left unguarded by the creature's power!
The crab's life essence had been concentrated entirely into its shell, vastly boosting its defenses.
But the organs hidden inside that armor were tender and vulnerable!
With iron resolve, Jing Qian struck like a dragon, unsheathing its sword. Holding his iron skewer, he leapt out of the void and appeared inside the crab's small intestine.
He poured every last drop of his remaining mana into his weapon, lashing out at the delicate inner walls. Within just a few thrusts, he had pierced through, completely entering the crab's body.
Jing Qian held nothing back. Now he fought without restraint!
His stabbing sword danced wildly, wrecking every organ that came into his sight.
The giant crab, wracked by sudden waves of internal pain, thrashed madly in the depths of the sea.
But all of it was in vain.
That proud fortress had been breached from within!
It struggled desperately for the time it takes an incense stick to burn before finally collapsing lifeless onto the seabed.
A small figure emerged from its mouth, dragging with it a gush of foul blood and bits of shredded organs, which scattered into the surrounding waters.
Jing Qian had finally slain the giant crab!
Slowly, he swam upward, casting out a strand of silk to pull over half of a coconut log, and clambered onto it with difficulty.
After such an ordeal, he once again found himself drained of mana and utterly exhausted
even worse than when he had barely escaped the tsunami.
Now he had no raft, no hammer, and the only blanket covering his body was fouled and cast away to the seabed.
All he had left was the embroidered pouch tied to his arm.
To anyone unaware of the truth, his appearance was pitiful, lying back on a rotting plank, looking like a bedraggled boy lazing under the sun.
Who could have guessed he was a cultivator at the Fatebinding Realm?
Jing Qian let out a long breath, finally shaking off the tension of battle.
Instead of rushing back into the Fate Stele to replenish his life essence, he first untied the pouch from his arm.
Life in this strange world was far too unstable. If he didn't hurry to examine this pouch, something might happen, and he could lose it to another.
He stroked the three-inch-long pouch, examining it carefully.
It was woven entirely from spider silk, cool and smooth to the touch, clearly no common item.
Jing Qian first thought to tear it open and see what it held, but quickly realized it had no opening at all.
So, he sent his spiritual sense into the pouch.
As he suspected, it was a spatial storage treasure!
Within, he sensed a cramped space barely one square meter.
And inside that small space were only three simple items.
But just as he was about to draw them out and inspect them, the Sumeru Life Pattern in his sea of consciousness suddenly shifted!
A strange force surged from the Sumeru Pattern, flowing down his arm into the pouch.
Then, like a balloon, the precious pouch burst apart with a muffled pop!
Jing Qian was startled, but quickly understood. In a flash of instinct, he slipped into the dimensional space and vanished.
This time, however, after entering and exiting the void several times, he found the space transformed.
Before him appeared a bubble-like pocket of independent void!
The Sumeru Pattern had devoured the storage pouch and evolved a new pocket space within its dimension!