Zhang Haoyang patted his head with his right hand, trying to make himself more awake, but to his surprise, at the moment his right hand patted his head, his right palm felt a little pain. He reached out and saw blood seeping from his hand.
Last night, Zhang Haoyang, in his sleep, dreamed of his parents and elder brother being killed again, making him extremely nervous. He clenched his fists tightly, and his fingernails pierced his skin, embedding deeply into his flesh, causing blood to flow out.
Before going to bed, Zhang Haoyang held the red stone in his hand, but now, where was the red stone? Zhang Haoyang shook his head and patted it again, thinking he might have remembered incorrectly. He then quickly checked his chest, looking down, and the red stone was not hanging there either. He was greatly alarmed and immediately searched everywhere. That red stone was the only memento his parents left him; how could he lose it?
Just then, a knock came from the door. Zhang Haoyang said, “Please come in!” and saw Bai Shaoyang push the door open.
After Bai Shaoyang entered, he was about to ask Zhang Haoyang how he rested, but he noticed Zhang Haoyang’s hands were covered in blood, and he was searching around with an anxious expression. He immediately asked with concern, “Young Lord, what’s wrong? Why are your hands covered in blood?”
Before Zhang Haoyang could answer, he had already taken out some hemostatic medicine from his person, gently picked up Zhang Haoyang’s hand, and poured the medicine onto it.
Zhang Haoyang, fearing Bai Shaoyang’s worry, said, “Grandpa Bai, it’s nothing, I just pricked my hand.”
Zhang Haoyang did not tell Bai Shaoyang about yesterday’s dream. He only asked Bai Shaoyang if he had noticed anyone entering his room last night.
Bai Shaoyang told him, “The Shangguan Family Head has moved all non-essential personnel from the East Hall, leaving only trusted aides to guard it. He stayed in the next room last night and didn’t hear any movement, so no one should have entered the room.” Bai Shaoyang looked at Zhang Haoyang with some confusion, asking if he had something on his mind. Zhang Haoyang simply said, “Nothing, I just asked because I was uneasy.”
Three full days had passed since Zhang Haoyang had that strange dream. Besides finding the profound iron and golden thread that wrapped the red stone on the bed, the red stone itself had not been found.
For these three days, Zhang Haoyang pondered deeply but simply couldn’t remember where he had put the red stone. Yet, the dream at the time was so clear! That magnificent and towering Immortal Tower was so vivid! That White-Robed, White-Haired, White-Bearded Old Man was so real! He couldn’t distinguish whether it was a dream or reality?
First, the Immortal Tower appeared, and then the White-Robed, White-Haired, White-Bearded Old Man. The next day, the red stone disappeared. Could the red stone be related to the Immortal Tower and the White-Robed Old Man? Could the red stone be the Immortal Tower? Could the red stone be inside his body? This bizarre idea couldn’t help but surface in Zhang Haoyang’s mind. Although the idea was somewhat strange and absurd, he had searched every corner of the room for days and still hadn’t found the red stone, nor had any outsiders entered the room. So, where did this red stone go? He pondered deeply and found that only this bizarre idea could explain it. When Zhang Haoyang understood these things, he seemed to grasp it all at once.
That night, Zhang Haoyang sat cross-legged on the bed, attempting to use his Divine Sense to introspect his body and search for the red stone’s whereabouts.
As soon as he used his Divine Sense, the Forty-Character Scripture immediately appeared in his mind: “The Great Dao is formless, nurturing Heaven And Earth; the Great Dao is emotionless, operating the sun and moon; the Great Dao is nameless, fostering all creation; clarity and turbidity, motion and stillness, Heaven And Earth are mine alone; Chaos creates, the Dao follows nature!” It was as if it was a Cultivation Technique he had been reciting continuously since childhood, deeply imprinted in his mind.
Zhang Haoyang temporarily ignored the scripture that appeared in his mind and instead continuously used his Divine Sense to introspect various parts of his body.
Several hours later, Zhang Haoyang truly made a discovery. He found an object on the back of his Dantian. This object was red, oval, and smooth-surfaced—what else could it be but the red stone? The red stone had actually appeared in his Dantian, closely nestled against his Dantian.
The Dantian is the foundation of a Martial Artist. A red stone had inexplicably appeared in his Dantian, tightly connected to it without any gap, as if they had grown together. This discovery made Zhang Haoyang extremely nervous.
Currently, his parents’ great revenge has not been avenged, and his Dantian has developed an abnormality. If his Dantian were damaged, his cultivation would be lost, and how then would he avenge his parents?
At this moment, Zhang Haoyang was incredibly nervous. He immediately checked his Realm. His cultivation was still Qi Refining Fourth Stage and had not been affected in any way.
Zhang Haoyang was still uneasy, so he carefully examined his body again. He found that the red stone had not affected his cultivation nor caused any discomfort to his body, which slightly eased the extremely nervous Zhang Haoyang.
After his nervous emotions stabilized, he began to try and observe the red stone with his Divine Sense. It was fine when he didn’t observe it with his Divine Sense, but as soon as he did, the red stone seemed to sense Zhang Haoyang’s curiosity. It trembled slightly, as if showing off to him.
As the red stone trembled, his Dantian also trembled simultaneously, which terrified Zhang Haoyang. The terrifying events continued; after the red stone trembled once, it did not continue to tremble but suddenly began to rapidly absorb the True Qi within Zhang Haoyang’s body. This change caused Zhang Haoyang’s expression to change dramatically. He immediately stopped the circulation of True Qi, attempting to prevent the red stone from absorbing it. However, it was useless; he could not stop the loss of True Qi within his body. He watched helplessly as his True Qi was rapidly absorbed by the red stone.
In less than a quarter of an hour, all the True Qi in Zhang Haoyang’s body was absorbed by the red stone. Zhang Haoyang, devoid of True Qi, slumped onto the bed.
After a short while, he recovered. Although his body was still weak and exhausted, his brain could function normally. He was thinking, analyzing, and the answer to why his cultivation couldn’t advance was about to emerge!
Ever since his parents gave him this red stone, his True Qi had always been unable to remain in his Dantian for long. As soon as there was any True Qi, it would mysteriously disappear.
For the past three years, no matter how Zhang Haoyang absorbed external Spiritual Qi and transformed it into his own True Qi, it couldn’t remain in his body; the same was true no matter what Heaven And Earth Treasure he consumed. The True Qi transformed from Spiritual Qi would disappear for no reason after entering his body, which was precisely why his cultivation couldn’t Breakthrough.
Now he finally knew that it was this red stone causing the trouble. The True Qi transformed from the Spiritual Qi absorbed over the past three years, and the True Qi generated from the Spiritual Qi produced after consuming Heaven And Earth Treasure, had all been absorbed by this red stone.