Chen Mo had brought back three items. Aside from the green jade Transmission Jade Talisman and the White Jade Bead, the palm-sized cloth bag was a Storage Bag once used by True Person Xuan Ling.
This Storage Bag had been a gift from a friend in his youth. Back then, he had merely been a minor cultivator in the Qi Refining Realm, so he had always treasured it and covered it with numerous protective runes and Restrictions. That was why it had not been damaged during the teleportation process. However, when he removed his own storage ring from the teleportation array, a Restriction within the Secret Realm erupted and triggered a spatial collapse, destroying the storage ring. Otherwise, a grand Nascent Soul Realm cultivator using a Storage Bag would only invite ridicule. He hoped that whoever was fated to receive it would cherish and use this Storage Bag well.
Finally, True Person Xuan Ling hoped that if the fated person succeeded in cultivation, they would return to Ye Hui Star and inform the Ye Family of the cause of his death, thereby fulfilling his final wish.
As for the remaining items, he had placed them all inside the Storage Bag. Once the fated person possessed Spiritual Sense, they would naturally understand. The Restrictions and protective runes on the Storage Bag were all meant to protect the bag itself. It could be opened upon reaching Qi Refining Layer One.
Looking at the Storage Bag in his hand, Chen Mo could not help but mock it in his heart. This Storage Bag had to be a token of love, or it would not have been preserved so carefully. Only now did Chen Mo realize just how lucky he was. He had encountered an incredible opportunity. Although he still had no idea what the White Jade Bead was, he felt as though a stone had fallen from the sky and struck him with good fortune. He had never expected something from legends to happen to him.
In all his more than ten years of life, he had never even heard of Cultivation of Immortality. He had only gained a vague idea of it from novels. Yet today, he had personally encountered it and become one of them. A one-in-ten-thousand chance—no! A one-in-a-hundred-million chance had found him. How fortunate was that? It also made him keenly aware that he absolutely could not reveal this matter to anyone, not even his parents. Otherwise, it would no longer be fortune, but a calamity at his doorstep.
"If a ruler is not discreet, he loses his ministers; if a minister is not discreet, he loses himself; if secrets are not kept, they become disasters!" The old saying was right. He had to remember it firmly.
Without Spiritual Sense, he could not open the Storage Bag. At this stage, whenever he wanted to read the Transmission Jade Talisman, he could only use blood to authenticate it. Fine! Authentication was the term he had come up with. In truth, once the Transmission Jade Talisman had been refined with blood, it belonged to him. But because he lacked Spiritual Sense, every time he wanted to read the information within it, he had to smear it with his blood again before he could access a limited amount of information. The Transmission Jade Talisman itself had told him this.
Giving himself a cut every time he read it—wasn't that self-harm? If his parents or anyone else saw it, they would definitely send him to a mental hospital! Chen Mo shuddered all over and made up his mind that he had to be extremely, extremely careful in the future. He absolutely could not let anyone see him harming himself. Oh! It was not self-harm. He was studying the knowledge within the Transmission Jade Talisman!
The next day, while the sun was shining brightly, Chen Mo gathered some rope and a piece of wood, intending to make a gravestone for True Person Xuan Ling. Then he headed toward the place where the bones had been buried the day before.
Ye Shang, also known as True Person Xuan Ling, could be considered his Master. He had given Chen Mo an immense opportunity and passed down the seed of cultivation to him. That was an enormous kindness! Therefore, Chen Mo had to properly arrange the place where he would rest after death. He also used tools to seal up the cave so that no other living creatures would disturb his Master.
As for returning to inform the Ye Family after succeeding in cultivation... Master, you were making things difficult for me!
What level counted as succeeding in cultivation? Chen Mo was not sure either. His Master had reached the Nascent Soul Realm and still been killed, so it was better to be cautious and wait until his strength was sufficient. As for the Ye Family, they probably would not care about waiting a few hundred years. Cultivators, after all, could extend their lifespan by three hundred years once they reached the Foundation Establishment Realm. They probably would not care about time. Hehe!
Besides, he had not even begun cultivating yet. He still had a long road ahead! So he muttered all his thoughts aloud before his Master's grave. It was not that this disciple refused to agree, but that the outside world was simply too frightening. And most importantly, Blue Sea Star had no teleportation array that could take him away!
Once he had said and done everything necessary, he not only sealed the earthen cave but also tidied up the area. He transplanted two pine trees in front of the now-sealed cave. In a few years, there would be no trace of the place left to find. After everything was finished, he followed the local custom and kowtowed nine times before the grave, repaying Ye Shang for the inheritance he had given him.
That day, Chen Mo had traveled from home to the mountain ravine, dug earth to bury the gravestone, sealed the earthen cave in the ravine, dug up trees, and gone back and forth countless times. He had also climbed up and down the ravine many times before he truly realized how abnormal his body had become. Not only could he lift several hundred jin of stone with ease, but the five-meter ravine that had been an impassable chasm yesterday had become an easy path today. He could climb up and down effortlessly. Without even using rope, he could scramble up in a few movements by using the protrusions on the ravine walls. Going down was even simpler—he could just jump.
Moreover, the more he did, the smoother his movements became. The discomfort caused by the improvements in every aspect of his body gradually disappeared, and he slowly adapted to the changes.
Because of this, after Chen Mo returned home, he went to the County Town and quietly borrowed a classmate's gym membership card to test his physical condition at the gym.
He discovered that the force of both his left and right punches had surpassed two hundred kilograms. His speed, reactions, and everything else far exceeded those of an ordinary person. Two hundred kilograms of force was already inhuman strength, aside from professional boxing champions and the like. Ordinary People could only manage several dozen to a little over one hundred kilograms. It could be said that Chen Mo was no longer an ordinary person.
Chen Mo also discovered that his memory had improved tremendously. Not only was his memory exceptional, but he could remember many books after reading them once or twice. Even memories from his childhood gradually resurfaced. This was extremely good news for him. He would be able to save a great deal of effort in his studies from now on.
Over a full four years, from graduating high school until his fourth year of university, Chen Mo had cultivated the Qi Refining Chapter, the first chapter of the Profound Heaven True Art, for more than four years. Yet he still had not entered Qi Refining Layer One. The main reason was that Blue Sea Star had far too little Spiritual Energy. Every day, when he practiced Qi Induction, his True Essence seemed not to increase at all.
Chen Mo had actually tested this himself. The results of cultivating at home, in the mountains, and in the urban area were different. The mountains were best, where there was relatively more Spiritual Energy. At home, it was weaker, though not by much; at least he could still feel traces of Spiritual Energy entering his body. But in Shangshi, it was pitifully scarce. Every day, it felt as though his True Essence had not grown at all.
This also made Chen Mo realize that Blue Sea Star had entered a desolate age for cultivation, with very little Spiritual Energy left. If he wanted to cultivate better, he could only return home and live near the mountains, where there was at least less pollution and more Spiritual Energy. In truth, he had come to study only because he had no choice. His parents wanted him to have a better future. For a child from the countryside to rise above his circumstances, he had to study hard. So he could only choose biology, which suited him, but he could not skip university. Sometimes, he truly wanted to return home, quit school, and cultivate there. But when he thought of his parents' hopes and his family's difficulties, he had no choice but to continue. A cultivator defeated by reality—there was something truly sad about that.
If cultivation had not kept his mind exceptionally clear and allowed his True Essence to increase slowly no matter what, he would have given up this torturous practice long ago. Four years! Every night, he had to meditate for more than two hours. At first, he could not even sit cross-legged for long. By the end, he could sit cross-legged for two or three hours. That was all thanks to time.
And because he could not cultivate in the dormitory while attending university, he got up before dawn every morning and went to a secluded corner of campus to meditate and cultivate. Who knew about those four years of persistence?
More than a year earlier, he had used money earned from working as a migrant worker to rent a rental room in a rural area on the outskirts of the city. Although it was farther from the urban area, the air was much better. While the effect was not dramatic, it was at least better than staying in the city! It also caused him to be late for class every day. If he had not been a good student with a sharp mind and excellent memory, he would have been tortured into failing his courses long ago.
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