Chapter 772: Return Immediately
In that very instant, Li Xiaofei suddenly understood why he had never been able to break through to the Black Hole level. His understanding of that level had simply been insufficient.
He had believed that so long as one gathered enough energy to surpass the limits of the Pulsar level, one could ascend directly to the Black Hole level. But now he realized, the Black Hole level, as defined by Chongque City, was fundamentally different from other levels. It was not merely a matter of accumulating energy. It was a qualitative transformation of life itself. This transformation meant rebirth through destruction.
What was a Black Hole? According to Li Xiaofei’s understanding, which was compiled from nine years of compulsory education, three years of high school, and four years of college, it was the implosion of a star. When a star began to die and collapse, its core would rapidly contract under the pull of its own gravity, triggering a massive explosion. When all the matter in the core compresses into neutrons, the collapse would halt and a dense stellar object that warped space and time within it would be born.
He had come across this information before during his cultivation journey. But he had overlooked a critical prerequisite. It was death and destruction. In other words, the formation of a black hole required the complete demise of its previous form.
Li Xiaofei tapped his temple with his knuckles.
Does that mean... in order to advance to the Black Hole level, one had to die once? Or perhaps go through a life-and-death tribulation?
He examined Ishihara Masami’s condition more carefully. He quickly discovered that the intense repulsion between martial arts energy and superpowers within her body had created a state resembling that of a dying star at the end of its life. It was constantly collapsing and contracting. She was, quite literally, in the midst of becoming a Black Hole level being.
It was truly difficult to imagine what kind of belief and strength had supported her, what had kept Ishihara Masami going for so many years without succumbing to death. However, what was even more astonishing was that, even as her life approached its end, she never gave up cultivating.
She had known full well that cultivating both martial arts and superpowers at the same time would inevitably lead her to death, yet she still pressed on with unwavering determination. It was like knowing the wine was poisoned, and still raising the cup to drink without the slightest hesitation.
Why? Li Xiaofei had a vague sense of the reason. The appearance of Tōan Ritsu and that otherworldly god had shattered the final fragile balance within Ishihara Masami's body, pushing her life force to the brink of collapse. And so, death descended.