Chapter 40: The Origin of the Black Pearl!

Chapter 40: The Origin of the Black Pearl!

The Triple Moons hung high and distant in the night sky, their cold, desolate light spilling down. A gentle mountain breeze softly rustled the forest trees, while the occasional chirp or two of crickets drifted from the thickets and grass below.

It was unclear whether he’d come to sit atop this mountain so often because he’d grown accustomed to gazing at the moonlight, or whether he’d developed the habit simply because he kept returning to this peak.

For a while now, every evening Tang Jinbiao would inevitably find himself drawn here. He’d sit on the large boulder and watch the moons above.

After nearly a year, he’d finally confirmed a key difference between this world and his own: the night sky here seemed devoid of stars. Throughout this time, besides the Triple Moons and the Triple Suns, he hadn’t glimpsed any other celestial bodies. Where were the familiar constellations? Where were the North Star, Mars, Venus, or Lyra? They had all vanished without a trace.

However, Tang Jinbiao’s expression was grim tonight, etched with deep anger. He mentally berated Huang Biaozi: “Damn it, Huang Biaozi, were you fucking scamming me? Didn’t you claim Body Refiners are invincible among their peers in the lower ranks? So why was today such a joke?”

“Kid, you can’t blame me. I didn’t lie,” Huang Biaozi retorted. “Body Refiners are invincible against peers of the same rank. That advantage is even more pronounced at the first and second tiers. Didn’t you prove that beautifully today? Think about it—if not for your speed and explosive power, would those two have been beaten so easily? As for your little ‘brothers’, it wasn’t that they were weak, but they had zero combat experience and absolutely no fighting sense! What purpose did charging in serve besides getting themselves pummeled? That kid named Ah Bu, his legs went weak from fear the moment he drew the first match! How the hell was he supposed to fight? Getting blasted off the stage in one move was merciful! And that one called Ah Xing, thinking himself a Body Refiner so he recklessly bull-rushed? If he met someone more vicious than what he faced today, getting kicked off stage would be nothing! If he’d encountered me in my youth, I’d have put dozens of holes in him! Brainless charging! Most infuriating was that Ah Bi! Damn it! More absurd than even you! He actually dared to shout: ‘Look into my eyes, God-Slaying Gaze!’ Screw me!”

Huang Biaozi seemed to rant himself into exasperation, even finding his own words intolerable.

“Uh…”

Tang Jinbiao fell speechless after hearing Huang Biaozi’s assessment.

It was true. His little brothers were each a special kind of weirdo. Tang Bu was cowardly, his spirit crumbling the moment he stepped into the ring. Tang Xing was a brainless brute, relying on raw toughness to launch suicidal charges. Tang Bi was practically an apocalypse waiting to happen—demanding opponents stare into his eyes while uttering words that still made Tang Jinbiao oscillate between tears and laughter. Yes, precisely the phrase Huang Biaozi quoted.

‘Look into my eyes, God-Slaying Gaze!’

What a supremely arrogant, apocalyptic declaration worthy of shattering worlds!

Contemplating the entourage fate had saddled him with, Tang Jinbiao felt a deep pang of regret, a visceral urge to bash his head against the giant boulder beneath him. Tang Hu hadn’t fought today, so what potential eccentricities he held remained unknown, though Tang Jinbiao guessed he was likely another troubled youth.

Above all, being addressed as ‘Laoda’ (Boss) by this collective of problem children made Tang Jinbiao feel he’d become their de facto representative, branded as the ultimate problem teen himself.

After the matches concluded, other Tang Family cultivators who’d previously mocked him now shot him pitying glances.

“Damn it, am I just life’s ultimate tragic joke?” he despaired. “Finally gets an isekai ticket, only to become designated trash. Accumulates a pile of enemies. Gets thrashed like a kid every other day. Finally picks up a Green Vial, thinks the comeback is nigh… turns out it is a treasure… but only for women! Finally gets a soul sharing my brain cavity, dreams of finding a mentor like Medicine Grandpa from Doupo Cangqiong, guiding my cultivation till I ascend like Xiao Yan, cheat codes blazing on a path to destroy worlds… instead, it’s an old fraud whose mouth spews nothing but scams! Finally spots a Goddess, mind swirling with glorious YY fantasies… but the old creep tempts me… forces me to witness the scene that shattered the Goddess’s image! Heavens above! Earth below! Holy Mother Maria Ozawa! Can you hear my pleas!? Save me!”

Confronted with the sheer accumulation of these misfortunes, Tang Jinbiao felt a profound helplessness settle over him, the path ahead shrouded in fog. A deep, innate sense of bleak desolation welled up inside.

“I…”

Faced with Tang Jinbiao’s inhumanly miserable, desolate monologue, even Huang Biaozi choked on his response.

“Speaking of,” Tang Jinbiao cut in after a moment of dry self-pity, suddenly shifting gears. “Huang Biaozi, you still haven’t told me what that black pearl is?” As he spoke, he pulled out his Storage Pouch and retrieved the black pearl.

The pearl remained unchanged—spherical, ping-pong ball sized, its surface marked by strange, fissure-like cracks that weren’t tactile, seeming to exist internally.

Tang Jinbiao rolled the black pearl in his hands, finding no obvious function. Yet, he recalled with surprise that when he’d used it to strike the small bell earlier, it hadn’t left a single mark. Its hardness suggested it wasn’t mere decoration. But strangely, as he fiddled with it, a peculiar expression crossed his face. He muttered, “This wouldn’t be another one of those kinds of treasures, would it?”

Though he shouldn’t go there, the incident with the Green Vial made the thought unavoidable. It was just wild conjecture, of course—he was waiting for Huang Biaozi’s explanation.

For some unknown reason, upon the mention of the pearl, Huang Biaozi’s demeanor turned grave, his expression troubled as if debating what to say.

Thump!

“What?! Is this really that kind of thing?”

Seeing the serious, heavy look on Huang Biaozi’s face in his mind, Tang Jinbiao cursed inwardly.

“Hey, Huang Biaozi! Spit it out! What exactly is this pearl? What does it do?”

Tang Jinbiao decided to cut off his own wild thoughts and just pressure Huang Biaozi instead.

“Cough. Hard to say whether this object will be a blessing or a curse for you, kid,” Huang Biaozi sighed after a long pause, shaking his head.

“Screw that! If you didn’t know whether it was good or bad, why the hell tell me to pick it up?! Why make me witness… witness my Goddess’s most unspeakable moment?! My Goddess! Ah! My heart is broken! Listen! The sound of shattering!”

Tang Jinbiao’s fury reignited at the memory of retrieving this accursed pearl. He felt a primal urge to grind Huang Biaozi’s bones to dust. Recalling the scene that destroyed his Goddess’s image made his heart truly ache!

“Oi! Brat! Mind your manners!” Huang Biaozi retorted, slightly annoyed. “Do you have any idea what this Black Pearl is?”

“Who cares what it is?! Is it useful? A treasure? Valuable? How much can it sell for? If it’s trash, I’m chucking it now! Saves me lugging it around and giving me damn crotch aches!”

Tang Jinbiao couldn’t care less. His deepest resentment was aimed squarely at Huang Biaozi. If not for this pearl, he wouldn’t have seen Tang Yilin in that moment. Tang Yilin’s immaculate image in his heart wouldn’t have imploded. Sure, she was beautiful, incredibly so. But ever since that sight, things felt weird. The resentment he felt now dwarfed even the time he witnessed his high school Goddess being done over by some rich, handsome bastard back on Earth.

“I…”

Huang Biaozi was at a loss for words.

“Stop stuttering! Speak! If you don’t, I’m throwing it away right now!”

Tang Jinbiao’s mood was turning volatile.

Sigh. Alright. But I warn you, what I say might scare you senseless. Prepare yourself!” Huang Biaozi gave in, seemingly because the pearl’s significance was immense enough to warrant the preface.

“Speak! What could possibly scare me? I’ve seen everything in this world! What’s so special about some lousy pearl?!”

Tang Jinbiao shot back, though deeper down, he seethed: “Hell! I’ve read hundreds of Xianxia novels! What kind of heaven-defying magical artifact haven’t I encountered? It’s just a damn pearl! So what? Best-case scenario, it’s something overpowered like Wang Lin’s bead from Xian Ni!”

“It’s a world. But a broken one.” Huang Biaozi stated after a deliberate pause.

“Hmph! Heard it all before!” Tang Jinbiao scoffed dismissively. “So what if it’s a world? And a broken one at that! Worthless! My Goddess is all I care about! The rest are vaporous clouds! Screw this! I’m going back to sleep! Hmph!”

With a disdainful snort, Tang Jinbiao stood up, flicked the Black Pearl away with casual disdain, sending it tumbling down the cliff face, then turned and strode purposefully towards the mountain path below.

But after just a few steps, he abruptly froze. A realization seemed to dawn. His entire body went rigid. His voice came out trembling slightly as he halted and demanded, “Huang Biaozi… say that again. What… what did you say the pearl was?”

“It’s a world. A broken world.” Huang Biaozi’s voice was low, carrying the weight immense epochs. “A world inhabited by countless beings known as Yin Spirits… Shadows. I cannot perfectly recall the era; it was perhaps an eon ago? Maybe before the last Millennial Era? I remember this Great Cosmos once held Three Thousand Great Realms! Ah, but these so-called Three Thousand Great Realms were merely intermediate planes, akin to the Immortal Realms or the Demon Realms. Each of those Three Thousand Great Realms was incredibly powerful… Then, seemingly after uncovering some profound secret, they united… plotting to assault the uppermost Divine Realm… said they sought some ultimate truth. Ah, that conflict… truly a cataclysmic war unparalleled in all of history! Countless Cultivators from Three Thousand Great Realms unleashed their fury… though none rivaled the God-Kings in power; only beings as insignificant as the Immortal Emperors remained… But so many ants gathered… even an elephant can be devoured… That war… rivers of blood… mountains of bleached bones… so very, very brutal…”

Huang Biaozi’s voice trailed off, heavy with the burden of distant, harrowing memory.

“I BOUGHT A WATCH LAST YEAR!”

The moment Tang Jinbiao’s paralyzed mind processed Huang Biaozi’s words, the blasphemous curse exploded from his lips. Then, without a second thought, he spun around and launched himself headlong towards the cliff edge. Not pausing for even a heartbeat, he plunged down after the vanished pearl…