Chapter 016: Black Crystal Card

Along the way, Chen Xiao felt somewhat terrified. He still hadn’t fully adapted to his identity as a supernatural being. Or rather, having been an ordinary person for eighteen or nineteen years, he couldn’t make a fundamental change right away. Fortunately, aside from the ghosts selling goods at stalls and the zombies hopping around in the streets, there were many other supernatural beings in this market—at least Chen Xiao could sense their presence.
The headquarters of the North China Supernatural Association was a building that looked extremely ancient, just like the elegant pavilions of ancient China, with blue bricks and tiles.
“Come in.”
There weren’t many people in the Supernatural Association usually. After all, in this world devoid of sunlight, even supernatural beings found it hard to adapt—or rather, they didn’t like it.
Mo Changli took out his supernatural card again and waved it in front of him. After a ripple like waves, the ancient pavilion became clear.
“Normally, no one comes here, but it contains many precious items, which is why a defensive barrier was set up. Only high-ranking members of the association can open it,” Mo Changli explained with a smile.
“Hmm, I see. It’s like when the owner isn’t at home, the door has to be locked, right?” Chen Xiao nodded.
“Uh, that’s a way to put it,” Mo Changli said helplessly, clearly unable to accept Chen Xiao’s logic right away.
After entering, Chen Xiao was stunned. He found that this place was completely different from what he had imagined. The interior of the association’s headquarters was actually another space, far larger than it appeared from the outside. Just the hall Chen Xiao was in now was bigger than the entire market outside.
In an instant, Chen Xiao felt as if he had entered another world.
“No need to be surprised. This is a dimensional space created by ancient supernatural beings. It can be said to be a space within a space,” Mo Changli explained, observing Chen Xiao’s expression. He had seen this many times before. Chen Xiao’s reaction was much better than when he first arrived here. At first, he had stood there for over ten minutes before recovering.
“I see,” Chen Xiao nodded. He already had his own master space, so although he was amazed by this, it wasn’t enough to shock him greatly.
“Follow me. I’ll first issue you a supernatural card, then help unleash your potential.”
Not knowing what Chen Xiao was thinking, Mo Changli led him to another area.
“It seems this huge headquarters of the Supernatural Association isn’t very useful. It’s complete space waste,” Chen Xiao murmured, looking at the vast space.
“You’ll understand whether it’s useful or not in a while,” Mo Changli said mysteriously.
“Alright, this is it.”
Mo Changli stopped in front of a black door. For the third time, he took out his purple supernatural card and swiped it to open the door.
“Is this supernatural card a universal key or something?” Chen Xiao thought to himself.
The door opened, and the two stepped inside.

This room wasn’t absurdly large like other places; instead, it was just a very small room. There was nothing inside except for a crystal about human height placed right in the center, looking like something out of a dream.

“This is the special ability crystal. Drop your blood on it, and it will form an ability card based on your potential for special abilities. The stronger your potential, the higher the rank of the ability card that will be formed,” Mo Changli said.

“Do all those with special abilities get their ability cards this way?” Chen Xiao couldn’t help but think of Lin Tianchi’s red crystal card. It seemed he was really a no-good guy.

“That’s right,” Mo Changli explained. “However, although there are quite a number of people with special abilities in the world, few can obtain a multi-colored ability card. Aside from the multi-colored cards, there are also white cards, and most people with special abilities have white cards.”

Mo Changli knew Chen Xiao had been in contact with Lin Tianchi, and Lin Tianchi had quite a powerful backing, so he was worried Chen Xiao might underestimate Lin Tianchi and thus gave him this reminder.

“I see. So what’s the difference between cards of different colors?” Chen Xiao asked. “If a newly awakened person gets a purple crystal card, doesn’t that mean they’ll grow into a master? Shouldn’t everyone rush to stop them?”

Mo Changli was stunned for a moment before laughing. “A purple crystal card? Do you really think purple crystal cards are that easy to get? You should know that those who manage to obtain a purple crystal card are undoubtedly geniuses among millions. Even in ancient families with special abilities, such cases are extremely rare.”

As he spoke, Mo Changli couldn’t help but feel a bit proud.

“Moreover, the color of the crystal card only represents a potential level; it doesn’t necessarily mean one can actually grow to that level, as the future is hard to predict. And those who get red or white crystal cards don’t necessarily fail to become strong. For example, in the history of the world of special abilities, there was a ninth-level master named Damangxius who initially had a white crystal card. Also, throughout history, many people have obtained high-ranking ability cards but remained stuck at the first level their whole lives. So the rank of a crystal card only shows your potential and doesn’t limit your growth.”

“I see,” Chen Xiao nodded. “It seems that high-ranking ability cards only prove that someone is smart, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good at studying or can get into a prestigious university, right?”

“…”

“More or less…” Mo Changli was now completely impressed by Chen Xiao’s reasoning.

“Let’s start. Drop your blood on the crystal, and it will form a card based on the potential for special abilities in your blood,” Mo Changli reminded him.

“Okay, I understand.”

Chen Xiao took a deep breath, stepped in front of the crystal, blinked, and asked, “Blood? How do I do that? What if I’m afraid of pain?”

Joke aside, who would deliberately hurt themselves? Those shows where people bite or cut themselves might seem simple, but in reality, how many would actually do it?

“Uh…”

Mo Changli was completely speechless at Chen Xiao’s antics.

“Curse!”
Mo Changli softly shouted, and an almost imperceptible thin blade instantly cut through Chen Xiao’s index finger.
“You…”
Chen Xiao gritted his teeth in pain, tears welling up. It seemed Mo Changli had deliberately injured a tiny meridian in Chen Xiao’s finger out of revenge. Though it wouldn’t cause any serious harm, the pain was excruciating.
“Enough, stop wasting time. Let the blood drip,” Mo Changli said indifferently.
Enduring the pain, Chen Xiao let a drop of bright red blood fall onto the crystal.
Buzz…
After a humming sound, the already dreamlike crystal was instantly enveloped in a hazy light.
It was unclear how much time passed…
Crack!
After a sharp sound, a crystal card the size of a playing card fell to the ground.
But this crystal card was black.