As Dongfang Bo spoke endlessly, more than an hour quickly passed, yet Jiang Yun still only half-understood, so he interrupted, "Senior Brother, what is the use of that Dao Intent? Can it be absorbed?"
"Absorbed?" Dongfang Bo was stunned, then frowned and said, "Logically speaking, it should be absorbable, but I've never heard of anyone absorbing Dao Intent, because it's not very useful. Otherwise, how could the sect afford to let you all challenge the Dao Seeking Mirror!"
Jiang Yun thought about it and realized that if Dao Intent was truly useful, then he wouldn't have received that Bigu Pill.
So Jiang Yun continued to ask, "Since Dao Intent randomly exists in all things, is there any pattern to follow, or rather, how can one distinguish which items possess Dao Intent?"
"As for patterns, perhaps there are, but I don't know them. However, there is a way to distinguish Dao Intent. Speaking of this, we have to mention the Three Treasures of Dao—Essence, Qi, and Spirit!"
"Wait!" Jiang Yun couldn't help but interrupt again, "Didn't Senior Sister Xiang Xuan say earlier that the Three Treasures of Dao are Dao Heart, Dao Body, and Dao Spirit?"
"Haha!" Dongfang Bo clapped his hands and laughed, "That's a good question! And this is a question I've always been researching, because there are indeed many different theories about the Three Treasures of Dao. Besides Essence, Qi, and Spirit, and Heart, Body, and Spirit, there are also Compassion, Frugality, and Humility, as well as Dao Scripture Master, and even Learning Dao, Cultivating Dao, and Practicing Dao, all can be called Three Treasures!"
Jiang Yun was already half-understanding, but now with Dongfang Bo's explanation, his mind became even more chaotic. He quickly shook his head and said, "Senior Brother, regarding the Three Treasures, I will ask you for guidance later. For now, please tell me how to distinguish which items possess Dao Intent!"
"Alright, then let's talk about Essence, Qi, and Spirit! In fact, when we Cultivate Dao, what we Cultivate is Essence, Qi, and Spirit!"
"Essence refers to skin, flesh, tendons, bones, and blood, and even includes Meridians. In short, it can be seen as everything that makes up our body. Qi naturally refers to the Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth. And Spirit refers to a person's will and Mental Energy, which we call Divine Sense."
"As long as you possess sufficiently powerful Divine Sense, you can distinguish which items possess Dao Intent! Of course, besides that, some small Magical Artifacts can also sense Dao Intent."
...
When Jiang Yun returned to his courtyard, he already had an extra compass on him. This was a small Magical Artifact given to him by Dongfang Bo, which could sense Dao Intent.
Because only by Cultivating to the Seventh Level of Tongmai Realm can Divine Sense be born, and to explore objects with Divine Sense, one needs at least the Nine Levels of Vein Opening!, or even reach the Blessed Land Realm, which was still a bit far for Jiang Yun. So he could only shamelessly accept this compass.
With the compass, what Jiang Yun had to do next was naturally to verify his idea: whether only things containing Dao Intent would cause the black stone to react.
After he experimented with the stone stools, stone tables, and even the ground, he finally confirmed his Senior Brother's words: items related to Cultivation were more likely to contain Dao Intent.
However, Jiang Yun didn't have many Cultivation items left on him now. Apart from those few Medicinal Pills, the only things that could be related to Dao Intent were those few Cultivation Technique Secret Manuals, the Storage Ring, and that iron sword.
Jiang Yun tested them one by one, and there was no reaction. But when he brought the compass close to the iron sword, he heard a "buzz," and the needle on the compass suddenly trembled. This made Jiang Yun overjoyed, indicating that this iron sword contained Dao Intent!
Next, Jiang Yun took the stone off his neck, took a deep breath, and then carefully placed it next to the iron sword.
"Bang!"
A faint light immediately flashed on the black stone, and the iron sword also exploded.
This time, Jiang Yun watched carefully. Indeed, there was a glimmer of light the size of a sesame seed in the exploded iron sword, which rushed into the black stone.
"I guessed correctly!"
Just as Jiang Yun was overjoyed, another anomaly occurred!
The black stone, after absorbing this wisp of Dao Intent, suddenly glowed brightly and transformed into a luminous Vortex, completely enveloping the stone. Through the Vortex, one could clearly see the faint light shimmering and water ripples undulating within. This stone had actually turned into water!
This sudden change left Jiang Yun dumbfounded and greatly puzzled. He stared intently at the luminous Vortex, observing it closely.
The black stone had indeed turned into water, as the shape of this water was also triangular, narrower at the top and wider at the bottom. And faintly visible, it seemed that this water also had distinct layers.
It was strange to say, the amount of this water was not much, only about half a palm's size, but looking at this water, Jiang Yun actually felt a surging, unfathomable power, as if even the hundreds of miles wide Mang Lake in Mang Mountain seemed insignificant compared to this handful of water.
Of course, this was just a feeling. After all, if one moved their gaze away from the Vortex, looking at it, the Vortex was still only half a palm's size.
"What kind of water is this? And what is its use?"
Jiang Yun's mind raced, but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't figure out what use this layered water could possibly have.
As if by a ghost's whim, Jiang Yun suddenly picked up a Bigu Pill and threw it into the water.
"Puff!"
The Medicinal Pill entered the water, splashing a small ripple, and sank into the water. However, it only sank into the first layer of water and did not continue downwards.
Jiang Yun waited quietly for a moment. The Bigu Pill remained motionless in the water, and no other unusual phenomena appeared.
Frowning, Jiang Yun carefully extended two fingers, wanting to retrieve the Bigu Pill and taste the water.
But as soon as his fingers entered the Vortex and touched the first layer of water, the originally calm water surface suddenly became violently agitated, instantly forming a water arrow that directly pricked the tip of Jiang Yun's index finger.
The speed was so fast that Jiang Yun didn't even have time to react. And by the time he came to his senses, a drop of fresh blood had already dripped from his fingertip into the water.
The fresh blood entered the water, creating a ripple that spread outwards and deeper into the water at an astonishing speed.
At the same time, Jiang Yun's body trembled heavily, and he stood there motionless, as if he had lost his soul.
Because at this moment, the luminous Vortex in front of him suddenly disappeared and appeared—in his Dantian!
And it had transformed back into the black stone.
His two fingers were suspended in the air, with the Bigu Pill he had just thrown into the water folder between their tips.
After a long while, Jiang Yun let out a long breath, and his entire being finally regained clarity. He muttered to himself, "Recognized me as its master?"
He had heard Dongfang Bo say that good Magical Artifacts and Magic Treasures would usually have fresh blood dripped onto them to make them recognize their owner.
This way, not only could the Magical Artifacts and Magic Treasures be in sync with their owner, but they also wouldn't be easily snatched away by others.
With that drop of his fresh blood falling into the water, Jiang Yun could vaguely feel that there was already some unknown connection between himself and the black stone.
With a thought, the black stone transformed into a ray of light, directly shooting out from within Jiang Yun's body and appearing in his palm.
Jiang Yun looked at the stone, which had returned to its inanimate state, and nodded, "This is good too, I don't have to worry about others discovering it!"
After trying a few more times, Jiang Yun let the stone remain hidden in his Dantian, then held up the Bigu Pill and brought it before his eyes.
Upon seeing it, Jiang Yun was immediately stunned again!
Because this Bigu Pill had clearly changed. Not only had its original rough surface become incredibly smooth, but the fragrance it emitted was also much more potent.
So much so that Jiang Yun could immediately conclude that the Medicinal Pill's efficacy had improved compared to before!
More importantly, on the surface of the pill, there was a square imprint almost invisible to the naked eye, and this imprint was slowly fading, clearly about to disappear.
Jiang Yun quickly focused his vision and finally, before the imprint completely vanished, he saw that it seemed to contain a symbol like a character, emitting a Cang Mang aura.
Under his grandfather's tutelage, Jiang Yun dared not claim to be well-read, but he could at least read and write. However, he did not recognize the symbol within the imprint.
Staring at the Bigu Pill, Jiang Yun thoughtfully said, "After the Medicinal Pill was thrown into the water formed by that stone, an imprint containing a character-like symbol appeared, which greatly enhanced the Medicinal Pill's effect. Is this the stone's purpose?"
"Then if I put in other items, will they also gain an imprint and thus experience a change that enhances their effect?"