Crimson Dantian

Late at night, in the courtyard house of Yan Kuan's family, the young boy sat alone at the stone table, fiddling with the Trigram Treasure Box he had obtained during the day.

"How strange. I can clearly sense an extremely powerful energy inside this thing, but why can't I activate it? Does a divine artifact conceal itself?"

Yan Kuan tried to move the sliders on the Trigram Box, but no matter what, even when he used all his strength, he couldn't budge them an inch. He knew his strength was far beyond an ordinary person's—he could lift a half-meter stone vat with one hand—yet he couldn't twist the sliders on this box. This was definitely abnormal.

Yan Kuan let his mind wander, trying other approaches. Before his parents went to sleep, he had deliberately used his Battle Qi to relax them; both were now fast asleep. Even if he tore the house down, they wouldn't wake up.

"Could it require blood to recognize its master? Or do I need to infuse it with energy?"

Yan Kuan suddenly thought of common tropes from many novels. In his first life, he had been an avid reader, dabbling in works like Shrouding the Heavens, Coiling Dragon, Battle Through the Heavens, and Douluo Dalu. Such scenarios were frequent in those stories. And in the inheritance of the Flame Emperor he had received, there were similar memories.

"Hiss! That really hurts!"

Yan Kuan reached out and lightly sliced his thumb across his index finger. A drop of blood, like a red agate bead, landed precisely on the Yin-Yang Diagram at the center of the Trigram Box. He quickly stopped the bleeding and immediately looked down at the box, but after staring for a long time, there was no change at all.

"I really want to take you apart."

Yan Kuan's face darkened a bit. Even knowing that this thing in front of him was a treasure, he still felt annoyed. Here he was, a genius clearly cut out to be a 'protagonist,' and this treasure couldn't just obediently recognize its master on its own? Why did he have to go through so much trouble?

Still, having lived several lifetimes, he had developed a mature worldview. Though occasionally influenced by his body into childish behavior, he knew clearly what he should do now. Since blood recognition hadn't worked, he could only try infusing energy.

A faint glimmer of flame light gathered in his palm, held without being released. Yan Kuan slowly channeled his Battle Qi into the Trigram Treasure Box. But to his disappointment, after nearly ten minutes, the Trigram Box showed no reaction at all.

"Could I have guessed wrong? Or does it require some special secret technique? If that's the case, then I'm staring at a treasure mountain with no way to claim it."

Yan Kuan was somewhat frustrated as he prepared to set the box down. Just then, the silver moon on the horizon emerged from behind the clouds, and strands of moonlight spilled into the courtyard. When the moonlight fell upon the box, a sudden change occurred—countless lunar energies rapidly converged toward it.

"This thing has the ability to gather energy."

Yan Kuan's eyes were filled with surprise. He held the box, ready to observe it a bit longer, but the silvery moonlight quietly receded and eventually vanished, as if everything just now had been a dream.

"It needs energy to activate before it can attract energy? Could it be a formation diagram?"

After tinkering for a while, Yan Kuan finally figured out some of the Trigram Treasure Box's functions. When he infused energy into it, it could draw in spiritual energy.

In this nearly magic-less era, only the essence of the sun and moon still contained a small amount of natural spiritual energy.

Yan Kuan had tried cultivating under the blazing sun before, but probably because the sun was too far from Blue Star, the spiritual energy in sunlight was extremely sparse. Only on bright, sunny days did it have some effect—not as good as cultivating over a gas stove.

But the lunar spiritual energy drawn by this Trigram Treasure Box was quite pure, which could speed up Yan Kuan's cultivation considerably.

"Even though I still haven't figured out exactly what this thing is, if it can work like a spirit-gathering array, that's not bad. It would be even better if I didn't have to actively infuse it with energy."

Yan Kuan thought greedily to himself. Then, hugging the Trigram Box, he sat cross-legged in the courtyard and began cultivating. The bright moonlight fell upon him, draping him in a silvery veil.

Time flowed like water, slipping by unnoticed, especially for Yan Kuan, who was utterly absorbed in cultivation.

Back when he was three years old, Mr. Yan and Ms. Xiao had planned to enroll him in kindergarten, but Yan Kuan had used his extraordinary intelligence to convince them otherwise. So, until elementary school, he had always been free.

Ever since obtaining the Trigram Treasure Box, Yan Kuan cultivated day and night, seizing every chance to slip out of his parents' sight to bask in the sun or admire the moonlight. After nearly a year of this sneaky guerrilla-style cultivation, he finally reached the Ninth Stage of Battle Qi and could attempt to form a Battle Qi Cyclone.

Today was a beautiful spring day. Yan Kuan had sent his parents out early to go shopping, and he was alone in the courtyard, soaking up the sun.

Warm, gentle sunlight continuously seeped into Yan Kuan's body. Threads of golden-red energy swirled around him, traveling through the meridians in his body before finally converging at his dantian.

Around Yan Kuan, rings of golden light rippled outward, forming a noticeable vortex centered on him. The Trigram Treasure Box in his arms also emitted a strange, divine glow.

The Battle Qi inside Yan Kuan swelled and compressed, converging to a single point. The white-tinged-red Battle Qi had reached an insurmountable critical threshold, yet he continued to draw in external energy.

Breaking through from the Ninth Stage of Battle Qi to become a Battle Practitioner was a crucial step in cultivation on the Battle Qi Continent. If the breakthrough failed, the energy within would collapse, and most of the Battle Qi would scatter. Many who failed fell back to the Eighth or even Seventh Stage.

Yan Kuan didn't want to start over. He had to take a risk, compressing more energy to increase his chances of success. With limited conditions, this was his only option.

Feeling that the energy in his body had reached its limit, he took a deep breath, adjusted his state, and abruptly changed his hand seal. He joined his index fingers and thumbs, touched his middle fingers together, and formed a strange seal with all ten fingers.

As Yan Kuan's hand seal shifted, the surging Battle Qi in his body, as if pulled by a powerful suction force, rapidly contracted toward his dantian.

The white-tinged-red Battle Qi gradually transformed into a pure white-red hue. His mind and will sank into his dantian, guiding this energy to compress and form a cycle.

This process was naturally not smooth. He could feel the resistance of his Battle Qi, and fine beads of sweat began to appear on Yan Kuan's forehead.

Just then, the Trigram Treasure Box in his arms suddenly flashed. A beam of spiritual light shot into his dantian, and the resistance from his Battle Qi vanished instantly. Yan Kuan felt as if something inside him had been unlocked. A nebula-like, fiery red mass of light appeared at the position of his dantian.

"A red dantian? Is there such a thing as a Battle Qi Cyclone?"

The moment his Battle Qi Cyclone successfully formed, Yan Kuan's mind relaxed. But just before his consciousness faded, he caught a glimpse of his dantian—it was shaped like a blazing red flame. This was nothing like the Battle Qi Cyclone in his inheritance.