CHAPTER 157: SINGLE FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE (PART 2)

Sitting in the living room of the spaceship, Azrael gazed out the window at the endless expanse of outer space, his eyes slightly unfocused as he watched the spaceship continue its journey forward, leaving behind one shining star after another.

It was the first time he had ever traveled aboard a spaceship and stepped into outer space. Before this, he had only used teleportation formations to travel between different planets.

The moment the spaceship had entered the outer space, Luo Bingqing and Elyara had immediately returned to their rooms, but Azrael had chosen to remain in the living room.

As his eyes lingered on the celestial bodies drifting past, a strange and inexplicable feeling welled up inside him. For some reason, he felt as though he had seen such scenes before. This confused him, for he was certain this was his first time entering outer space.

For the next hour, Azrael simply stared at the stars, planets, and glowing nebulae without doing anything. But eventually... boredom began to creep in.

Shaking his head, he commanded his second consciousness to cultivate his source core, while his main consciousness focused entirely on the Rune Symbol of the Sun, Moon, and Star Sutra within his consciousness space.

Inside his consciousness space, Azrael gazed at a mysterious symbol. At its center rested a half-moon, which was encircled by a great, blazing sun. Surrounding the sun were countless flickering stars, glowing faintly like jewels against the darkness.

The moment he focused his gaze on the symbol, a tremendous pressure radiated from the Rune, bearing down heavily upon his soul.

At the same time, Azrael felt as if his very soul had been cast into the searing flames of the sun, burning with unbearable intensity and sending waves of sharp pain throughout his existence.

The burning agony lasted for a full minute before it finally began to fade. His soul gradually cooled down, returning to normal. But the cooling did not stop there and within seconds, the sensation shifted again—this time, his soul felt as though it had been thrown into the coldest, most desolate region of the moon.

The freezing cold sank into his very essence, making him shiver internally.

Combined with the overwhelming pressure that the Rune Symbol exerted upon his soul, it became extremely difficult for Azrael to maintain his focus on it.

A minute later, the cold sensation dissipated, and the stars inscribed within the Rune Symbol began to glow brightly, raining down streams of warm light.

Azrael suddenly felt as though his soul was submerged in a bath of warm water, enveloped in soothing comfort. At the same time, he noticed that his spiritual power had increased slightly.

Although the improvement was not significant, it was still progress and for Azrael, that was enough.

For the next five hours, he continued practicing the Sun, Moon, and Star Sutra to temper and increase his spiritual power, while his second consciousness cultivated his source core, bringing it closer to reaching level 14.

By his estimation, at his current pace, he would be able to break through and level up within one or two days.

When Azrael finally stopped cultivating the meditation technique, he could distinctly feel that his spiritual power had improved, even if only slightly.

The Mind Stone that Ashara had given him—now transformed into a ring that he wore proved invaluable. Thanks to it, the spiritual power he consumed while practicing the meditation technique recovered much faster than it normally would. (Chap—29)

"Do you need something?" Azrael asked calmly as he opened his eyes, his voice breaking the silence.

He turned his gaze toward Elyara, who was sitting on the couch across from him, studying him with a curious look.

He had sensed her arrival nearly five minutes ago and knew she had been watching him ever since.

"Were you practicing a meditation technique?" Elyara asked curiously. "I felt faint fluctuations of unstable spiritual power coming from you. But at the same time, your source core was absorbing the surrounding cosmic energy, as though you were cultivating it. How did you manage to do both at once?"

Azrael wasn’t surprised that Elyara had sensed the fluctuations of cosmic energy while he cultivated his source core—after all, when it came to affinity with cosmic energy, elves were among the most gifted.

However, what did surprise him was that she had also detected fluctuations of spiritual energy.

"I am still a class-level warrior. How could I possibly practice meditation techniques..." Azrael replied evenly. "I was simply cultivating my source core."

Elyara studied him for a few moments before giving a slight nod.

"Do you have any plan on how to search for their hideout once we arrive?" She asked.

"We don’t even know what the exact situation will be when we get there. We can only make plans after we understand the circumstances from the security forces," Azrael said with a shake of his head.

"So you don’t have any plan?" Elyara pressed again.

Azrael turned his gaze toward her, his expression indifferent. Slowly, he rose to his feet and said in a cold voice.

"You can stop using the power of your trait. It’s useless against me..."

Elyara’s eyes widened in shock, her pupils shrinking as disbelief spread across her face.

Azrael ignored her reaction and leaned forward slightly, his cold eyes locking onto hers.

"I can sense that you hold no malicious intentions, which is the only reason I am letting you off this time. But I do not like what you are trying to do. So... Don’t attempt it again or you’ll end up spending a very long time under the care of a professional healer."

Azrael straightened and stepped back, a small smile spreading on his lips.

"Let’s work together to complete the mission teammate," He said, repeating the very same words she had spoken to him yesterday, before turning and walking away into his own room.

Elyara remained seated on the couch, the look of shock still frozen on her face, her body trembling instinctively.

Only after Azrael’s door closed did she finally regain her composure.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself down.

’This guy... he’s definitely a monster, on a level completely beyond anyone I’ve ever met before...’ She thought inwardly.

But when she recalled his earlier words about making her spend a long time with a healer, the corner of her mouth twitched uncontrollably.

’What a brute. He doesn’t even know how to speak to a lady. I am sure he will stay single for the rest of his life.’