"Th–this… these are Violet Crystals?"
Although Locke had never actually seen Violet Crystals before, that didn't stop him from recognizing them.
Even if they weren't Violet Crystals, anything that could make his soul power react with such naked hunger had to be a treasure capable of restoring soul strength.
What Locke hadn't expected was that he would obtain several Violet Crystals before even reaching the Purple Thorn Mountains.
But on second thought, it made sense.
That bandit leader had possessed divine clones. Back when he was still a demigod, he must have searched for soul-recovery treasures as well.
And on the Violet Crystal Continent, was there anything more readily available for restoring soul power than Violet Crystals?
If you managed to find them, of course you'd want as many as possible.
Then, once your soul fully recovered, having a surplus of soul-recovery treasures left over from your earlier searches wouldn't be strange at all.
"Well then… all of this ends up benefiting me."
Whoosh…
With several Violet Crystals already in hand, Locke naturally wanted to refine them as quickly as possible to restore his soul.
He descended onto a mountain peak, took out the Dawn Spear, and after a few casual swings, carved out a cave dwelling directly into the mountain.
After setting up a soul-based barrier at the entrance to block divine-sense scans, Locke sat cross-legged inside the cave. With a flip of his wrist, a Violet Crystal appeared in his palm.
"If I remember correctly, the soul power contained in a Violet Crystal is comparable to a two-centimeter Soul Gold Pearl."
"The problem is that the soul energy inside Violet Crystals is far too violent. Most people can only refine about twenty percent of it."
"On top of that, most cultivators are extremely crude in how they manipulate soul power, which greatly increases the difficulty of refinement and makes Violet Crystals poor value overall."
"But for me… even if Violet Crystals aren't quite on the level of Soul Gold Pearls, they're not far off."
"After all, when it comes to the soul, I'm still very confident."
Locke transformed his soul power into a barrier, completely enveloping the Violet Crystal in his hand. Then, he slowly guided his soul power into the crystal.
Boom!
His soul power acted like a fuse, instantly detonating the soul energy within the Violet Crystal.
In the blink of an eye, the crystal's soul power erupted violently, vast quantities of soul energy spilling out in all directions.
This was precisely why Violet Crystals were considered inferior to Soul Gold Pearls.
The soul power inside a Soul Gold Pearl, once it came into contact with soul power, would automatically cling to it and be fully absorbed—safe, gentle, and without any aftereffects.
With enough Soul Gold Pearls, even a freshly ascended god could restore their soul to full strength in the shortest possible time.
Violet Crystals, on the other hand, contained extremely violent soul energy. Once ignited, that energy would disperse uncontrollably—and the process was irreversible.
In other words, before all the soul energy in the Violet Crystal dissipated, how much a deity could refine depended entirely on their own ability.
Ignoring the raging soul energy, Locke devoted all his focus to the soul barrier surrounding the crystal.
Whoooosh—
He poured his emotions into the barrier and ignited them. Emotional flames burst forth, shimmering with seven-colored light.
The violent soul energy inside the Violet Crystal rampaged wildly within the barrier, but no matter how it crashed about, it couldn't break through Locke's defenses.
More than that—
Whenever the escaping soul energy touched the barrier, it was scorched and tempered by the emotional flames within.
Only after being refined in this way was the soul energy absorbed by Locke.
A cool, refreshing sensation rose from the depths of his soul.
The searing heat of burning emotions and the chill of absorbed soul power placed Locke right on the boundary between eruption and calm.
Yet whether explosive or tranquil, everything remained firmly under his control.
After all, explosion and calm were merely different expressions of emotion.
Sometimes, a living being's emotions could resonate with the laws, allowing them to unleash more than double their usual strength.
At other times, they could earn the laws' disdain, leaving them barely able to exert a tenth of their power.
At this moment, Locke divided his mind in two.
One part—the emotional eruption—focused on burning and refining the soul energy within the Violet Crystal.
The other—the calm—handled absorption and recovery, steadily strengthening his soul.
Under these conditions, refining the Violet Crystal went extraordinarily smoothly.
Although the speed couldn't match that of absorbing a Soul Gold Pearl, in terms of total gain, Locke felt he was losing almost nothing by comparison.
His mastery of the soul allowed him to absorb the Violet Crystal's soul power perfectly—without wasting even a trace.
One month later, the Violet Crystal wrapped in Locke's soul barrier shattered with a sharp crack, the final wisp of soul energy escaping.
Just as expected, that last strand was swiftly refined and absorbed.
Locke opened his eyes, a hint of delight flashing within them.
"Excellent. This single Violet Crystal wasn't enough to completely restore my soul from its weakened state, but my soul power is at least twice as strong as before."
With a brief test, Locke discovered that his divine sense had reached the absolute limit of a demigod—spreading out to a full one hundred and twenty meters.
His soul power, meanwhile, could now extend a hundred meters.
And this was only the effect of refining one Violet Crystal.
Glancing at the seven remaining Violet Crystals in his spatial ring, a faint smile curved at the corner of Locke's lips.
For the next half year, Locke ignored the outside world entirely, remaining hidden in the cave as he refined Violet Crystals.
As his soul strength increased, his refinement speed rose dramatically as well.
The remaining seven Violet Crystals were completely refined in less than five months.
Thanks to them, Locke's soul finally shed its "weakened" state, allowing him to once again comprehend profound mysteries normally.
Of course, while his soul was no longer weakened, it still hadn't reached its absolute peak.
In other words—there was still room to grow.
Over the following two months, aided by his restored soul and the enhanced elemental affinity unique to Hell, Locke immersed himself in the comprehension of profound mysteries.
At present, both his Essence of Water profound mysteries and the Ice-Edge profound mystery had reached the Saint-level limit—only a final thread remained before complete mastery.
(End of Chapter)
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