Mr. Zhou once said, "Luck is neither good nor bad in itself; when many good things happen, good luck naturally follows."
At least, the good fortune for Yu Lian and the others today was not yet over.
They were preparing to pack their belongings and leave, but before they had gone far, they heard a rustling sound from the bamboo forest behind the mountain. Turning back, they saw a black and white Rolling emerge from the mountain forest and squat down on the steps of the public cemetery.
On the head of the plump panda was a furry little animal, about the size of a cat, with magnificent golden fur. It was clear at a glance that it was not a native species of Earth.
The two animals, one large and one small, tilted their heads and stared at the two people for a moment. Then, the large panda, with great intelligence, waved a paw as if greeting someone, and led the small animal on its head towards the cemetery.
They did not damage the cemetery; they still respectfully bowed towards the tombstones, then picked up the pastries from the plate and began to eat them heartily.
Rolling was naturally a Rolling, while the golden-furred small animal was formally named a "Lu Beast," a type of spiritual beast from another planet.
During the period of the Empire's colonial rule over Earth, a nobleman from a prominent family, Earl Salwen, moved to Earth. He was also the most influential Imperial noble to settle on Earth at that time.
This somewhat artistic great noble enjoyed poetry, music, and painting, but he was by no means just a hedonistic fop. He was also an excellent biologist and environmentalist, very fond of playing with various small animals, so he brought some alien creatures to Earth. These Lu Beasts were among them.
Of course, this artistic Earl Salwen was not an irresponsible animal protector; to prevent species invasion, he meticulously carried out environmental work. This allowed the alien animals he brought to comfortably inhabit Earth.
The Lu Beasts became fond of the environment in the Tianfu Basin, and for some unknown reason, they took a liking to the Rollings, directly getting involved with them. Their relationship was even better than that of plovers and crocodiles.
Lu Beasts are also a type of Phantom Beast. They enjoy the fresh scent of bamboo, and the aura they emit can promote plant growth to some extent. However, they are about the size of a cat but are not particularly agile or robust, and their temperament is gentle, making them easily prey for other large predators.
Perhaps because of this, when they came to Earth, they directly found giant pandas to be their bodyguards. This also seemed reasonable.
The public cemetery where Yu Lian’s parents were laid to rest was actually close to the natural park outside the city, and occasionally, intelligent Lu Beasts would bring Rollings into the cemetery to find food. They are protected animals, and the cemetery’s automatic alert system had been adjusted, so it certainly dared not harm them.
However, the exceptionally intelligent Lu Beasts were far more considerate in their actions than most sentient beings. When they brought Rollings into the cemetery to eat the offerings, they would also weed around the tombstones and catch insects.
Over time, almost all the bereaved families accepted their presence.
In the originally somber and sorrowful public cemetery, the presence of these animals suddenly brought a mysterious sense of the cycle of life and endless vitality.
Yu Lian felt that he had been healed. The sorrow and pain that had welled up from the sudden influx of memories were completely gone.
"…I will live this life well, a full and meaningful life. I will not regret wasting my years, nor will I be ashamed of being unproductive. I swear! You can rest assured!" He said to Yu Lian's parents, and also to Yu Lian, and to himself.
He felt as if he had awakened to something new; the Star Ring universe in his consciousness glowed brightly, constantly surging, eager to break through the current limitations.
He felt the comfortable sensation of abundant spiritual energy and embarked on his journey home amidst the enlightenment of the cycle of life.
Feifei was driving, and Yu Lian took this opportunity to sort out his gains from today—in fact, Feifei had been driving on the way here too. It wasn't that Yu Lian was so much of a jerk to let a girl drive; rather, the well-maintained vintage car they were driving was Uncle Wei's "mistress." It was fine for Feifei to drive it, but if Yu Lian were to even touch the steering wheel, there would be serious problems.
Yu Lian, filled with anticipation, opened the candy wrapper Wang Jingyang had given him, revealing a somewhat oddly sized ring.
If worn as an archer's ring on the thumb, it was slightly too small; it seemed a bit small even for a middle finger, so it could only be worn on the index finger. It immediately looked a bit like a thimble.
A thimble is a thimble, it couldn't be worn on the ring finger, could it?
It did indeed look somewhat like a thimble, with no patterns or design, and no gems embedded; it was just a smooth, integrated metal ring, presenting an inconspicuous silver-gray color. However, the moment Yu Lian put it on, the ring instantly brightened, acquiring a bright and cool metallic texture.
Above the ring, faint, almost inaudible inscriptions slowly emerged.
Yu Lian held the metallic ring up into the air. In the sunlight, the faintly raised inscriptions had a thin halo, finally making them a bit clearer to discern.
"Ring of Sono? Parmino? Oh, one of the six Rings of Air!"
Sono was a spiritual energy alchemy master who appeared even before the common era began. He did nothing else in his life but create various rings, earning him the nickname "Lord of the Rings." And this ring in Yu Lian's hand, named "Parmino," was a product crafted by Sono in his middle age.
Of course, Yu Lian was not an encyclopedia, and there couldn't be a search engine in this world that would allow you to quickly look up information on all spiritual energy treasures. The specific functions of this ring would require slow study.
However, it was certain that all Rings of Air had the function of allowing the wearer to breathe under extreme conditions.
Underground, underwater, under ice, in rock crevices, and even in the airless vacuum of space.
Otherwise, why would it be called a "treasure" and not a "weapon"?
This was probably the first spiritual energy treasure he had obtained in this life? More than a decade earlier than in his previous life.
Is this what it feels like to have backing? It doesn't seem bad.
As Yu Lian thought this, he opened an encrypted letter Wang Jingyang had given him, which was a series of chapters written in strange pictographic characters.
This was a script named "Sky Script" by the Virtual Spirit Temple, claimed to contain powerful mystical power. The characters themselves possessed strong spiritual power of words.
The materialist Yu Lian, however, scoffed at this. If this script were used to draw spiritual energy arrays, it would indeed be more efficient, but to decipher its mysteries, shouldn't one approach it from the perspective of the spatial geometric structure of the characters? How incorrigibly absurd!
But the current explanation completely turned science into metaphysics. How incorrigibly absurd!
In any case, this script, supposedly inaccessible to ordinary people, was indeed used to record spiritual energy data. The series of "Spiritual Meridian Circulation Method" that Yu Lian had recited in front of Wang Jingyang earlier was written in Sky Script.
The text was not long, only a little over two thousand characters, but it was all-encompassing, a secret method from Wang Jingyang's master's lineage used to train the breathing rhythm of spiritual energy users.
It certainly wasn't like martial arts novels where practicing would increase all three stats (red, blue, green) and lead to level-ups. To put it plainly, this was a breathing and spiritual cultivation method that adjusted the resonance between the human body and spiritual energy, improving the efficiency of spiritual energy utilization. It's important to know that newly awakened spiritual energy users, whose bodily functions haven't fully transcended mortal limitations, need to adapt to the fluctuations of all extraordinary powers through special training methods.
After all, no matter how strong the spirit, spiritual energy interference with reality still had to pass through the body as a medium.
This set of "Spiritual Meridian Circulation Method" was considered one of the most efficient special training methods in the All-Galaxy, no less effective than the Virtual Spirit Temple's "Spiritual Canon: Body Forging Chapter," and could be used even up to the Five Rings.
In his previous life, when Yu Lian accidentally obtained the complete "Spiritual Meridian Circulation Method," he was already at the Four-Ring.
At that time, he naturally beat his chest and stomped his feet, lamenting that "rogue cultivators" without background or backing were like stepchildren. If he had obtained this "cultivation method" earlier, he might have reached Five Rings a decade sooner.
…Doesn't this mean that in this life, I'm not a "rogue cultivator" like a stepchild? Is that right?
As Yu Lian thought this, he suppressed his excitement and carefully began to read Wang Jingyang's encrypted document. The first line of text was, "Only kept for three days, then it will automatically delete. Memorize it quickly! I have authorization from my teacher to transmit and distribute without liability, but you do not! Therefore, it must not be leaked."
Yu Lian quickly scanned the entire text, which was about three thousand characters long. With his current mental strength and memory, although not at the genius level of photographic memory, it would only take an hour or two, which put his mind at ease.
He looked at the title again, and immediately felt his heart rate seem to accelerate, followed by a surge of ecstasy, like a flash flood, filling him completely.
"Spiritual Vein Circulation"… This was one of the secret spiritual energy cultivation manuals he had never obtained in his previous life, and one of his biggest regrets. When he was young and at lower rings, he was a "rogue cultivator" with little background, and he was busy solving financial freedom issues. However, by the time he truly began to pursue power and "immortality," the best time had already passed.
Yu Lian, after his rebirth, had naturally considered making up for this regret, but he wasn't really sure about the exact date the "Spiritual Vein Circulation" was written. Moreover, the situation wasn't urgent to that extent, so he hadn't planned any trips in that regard.
As a result, he hadn't even gone out to search for treasure, and the treasure had automatically delivered itself to his doorstep? Was this the legendary "when fortune smiles, heaven and earth conspire"?
He was already looking forward to the arrival of the deep night.
Or rather, since his rebirth, he felt his condition had never been as good as it was today. So, tonight would naturally be the best opportunity for advancement.
"Yu'er…" Feifei, who was driving, suddenly said.
"Hmm?"
"Manage your expression. Also, you're about to drool!"