It was already afternoon when he returned to the Kong residence with Miss Meng.
After handing him the organized Materials, Miss Meng chose to begin her daily cultivation.
The longer she stayed by his side, the more she realized that her own talent was not much; if she wanted to always remain by his side, then she had to work hard.
Watching Meng Hongchen's energetic back disappear around the corner of the corridor, Kong Ming'an's faint smile slowly faded.
Turning around, Kong Ming'an walked back into his laboratory.
With a "ding," the identity verification was successful. The heavy alloy door silently slid open and then closed tightly after he stepped inside.
The light in the laboratory was as bright as ever, the air was dense, carrying a metallic chill that instinctively made one's spirits rise.
Returning to his position, Kong Ming'an took out a crystal box from his Soul Tool Storage Ring.
The crystal box was specially made, constructed from high-strength insulating crystal combined with an insulating Soul Tool array, capable of sealing most special Materials within it, preventing their properties from diminishing over time.
And in the crystal box before Kong Ming'an, a carving knife lay quietly.
The carving knife had an ancient design, its entire body a dark green that sent shivers down one's spine. The blade was long and narrow, its edge gleaming with a cold, eerie light.
The hilt was wrapped in twisted, dark gold patterns, subtly emitting negative auras of coldness, malevolence, greed, and more, as if countless wailing and screaming Souls were trapped within.
Without a doubt, this was the Soul-Devouring Carving Knife.
In the original work, this carving knife should have been obtained by Huo Yuhao a few years later at an auction in Star Luo City.
But now, this carving knife was his.
Not long after he Awakened his past life memories, he used his authority to send people to search for various Opportunities that had appeared in the original work, and the Soul-Devouring Carving Knife was one of them.
And persistence paid off; more than half a year ago, his dispatched people purchased it for a mere 400,000 gold coins from the descendant of a fallen noble family in the Star Luo Empire, a family that had been ruined by the carving knife's evil backlash.
For this Soul-Devouring Carving Knife, whose Origin was the Gold of Life, this price was practically a steal.
Kong Ming'an did not immediately take it out. Instead, he closed his eyes and concentrated, gradually adjusting his mental state to its Peak.
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Half a year, a full half a year!
From the very first day he obtained the Soul-Devouring Carving Knife, its purification work had never stopped.
Although he did not have Ilieks with him, his absolute control over his own mental force allowed him to avoid the influence of the resentment and curses on the Soul-Devouring Carving Knife.
Leveraging this advantage, he used his own mental force, meticulously peeling away the resentment and curses from the Soul-Devouring Carving Knife bit by bit.
The bad news was that this was very inefficient; the good news was that it was effective, and this process of stripping away resentment and curses could also, to a certain extent, train his own mental force.
It was precisely because of this that daily stripping of the resentment and curses from the Soul-Devouring Carving Knife became his routine for training his mental force.
Slowly extending his hands, silver-glowing mental force threads emerged from his fingertips, gradually enveloping the Soul-Devouring Carving Knife in the crystal box, and precisely Binding those curse threads that coiled and intertwined like venomous snakes.
Without any hindrance, the silver-glowing threads swiftly and cleanly peeled off a trace of curse from the foul evil thoughts on the main body of the Soul-Devouring Carving Knife, then skillfully shredded it with the silver-glowing threads.
Each act of peeling and shredding was accompanied by the violent trembling of the Soul-Devouring Carving Knife and an ear-piercing shriek from thousands of resentful Souls.
To this, Kong Ming'an, long accustomed to it, merely silently felt his own mental force growing stronger and purer, as if being forged under the piercing shriek.
Time slowly passed. This purification of the Soul-Devouring Carving Knife took longer than any previous attempt.
Simply because... today was the final push.
Kong Ming'an's fingertips remained as steady as ever, the slender silver-glowing threads like a surgical knife, precisely cutting and peeling away the resentful Souls from the Soul-Devouring Carving Knife, one stroke at a time.
"Buzz—!!!"
The Soul-Devouring Carving Knife erupted with an unprecedented vibration!
On the blade, the last and most core mass of dark red curse Origin, so dense it couldn't be dispersed, was tightly bound by dozens of silver-glowing threads, forcibly dragged out from the core of the blade bit by bit!
"Roar—!"
A mournful roar from the Soul level exploded in Kong Ming'an's mental sea, attempting to twist and influence his mental force, but he completely ignored it.
Without any hesitation, the silver-glowing threads suddenly tightened, and then pure mental flames abruptly appeared!
"Sizzle—!"
Like a red-hot iron plunged into ice water, the struggling curse Origin, incinerated by mental will that was pure to the extreme, let out its final wail, then rapidly melted and vaporized, disappearing.
And just as the last wisp of defilement dissipated, the once eerie and terrifying Soul-Devouring Carving Knife in the crystal box suddenly underwent a monumental transformation!
The dark green color seemed to shed a thousand years of grime, revealing its inner brilliance.
The blade became like the finest jade carving, crystal clear throughout, emitting a refreshing emerald green light.
It was an unimaginably vast and utterly pure life aura, filling the entire laboratory in almost the blink of an eye!
"Gold of Life..."
Kong Ming'an stared unblinkingly at the Gold of Life, now revealing its true form before him, his eyes showing a sense of relief and a rare hint of joy.
Half a year of hard work, finally bore fruit!
Undoubtedly, this carving knife, forged from the Gold of Life, would become a powerful aid in his future research into life Energy and exploration of the mysteries of "Qi and blood"!
Without much hesitation, Kong Ming'an reached out, preparing to personally feel the pure Gold of Life.
However, the moment his fingertip touched the Gold of Life... an unexpected change occurred!
"Rip!"
An extremely faint but seemingly space-tearing crisp sound abruptly rang out in the air less than three feet in front of Kong Ming'an.
A spatial rift, as thin as a hair yet so profound it seemed capable of devouring all light, appeared before him without any warning.
Immediately after, a faint gray light cluster, so weak it seemed it could extinguish at any moment, drifted out of the rift, swaying like a candle in the wind.
Kong Ming'an: "?!"
The light cluster flickered erratically, its aura as weak as dust, as if a gentle breeze could disperse it.
But the extremely ancient and pure mental fluctuations it emitted, imbued with endless vicissitudes and wisdom, made Kong Ming'an almost instinctively wary!
The gray light cluster seemed to sense something as well. It slowly turned towards Kong Ming'an, or rather... the Gold of Life in his hand.
The next moment, an old yet weary voice directly sounded in Kong Ming'an's mental sea:
"Such pure and vast life Origin... Gold of Life? Heh heh... I never thought that this wisp of my remnant Soul, on the verge of dissipating at any moment, would still have... a chance to live..."
The weariness in the voice grew heavier. After a slight pause, the gray light cluster flickered, transmitting a clearer thought into Kong Ming'an's mental sea:
"Kid... would you like to... make a deal with this old man...?"