Epiphany

"Oh, it's nothing, nothing at all. I just knew Xiao Xin was here and thought I'd drop by to see her.

I'll be heading out now."

Xu Gang understood Luo Feng's meaning in a heartbeat. He kept a beaming smile on his face as he quickly left the room.

Once outside, the smile on Xu Gang's face vanished instantly.

"This Luo Feng doesn't seem simple at all. He's definitely not the commoner boy my sister described. I need to have the family look into him. If he truly has the strength, I wouldn't mind my sister being with him."

With Xu Gang butting in, the mood for Luo Feng and Xu Xin to continue chatting was gone. Besides, having returned from the Wilderness Zone, it was time for Luo Feng to go home and see his parents.

After Luo Feng added Xu Xin on his communication account and gave her his bank account number, he left directly.

Xu Xin saw Luo Feng off at the entrance of the HR Alliance building.

Watching Luo Feng's retreating figure, Xu Xin murmured to herself.

"Luo Feng, what kind of person are you, really?"

Even after chatting for so long, Xu Xin still felt that Luo Feng was shrouded in mystery, giving her a feeling that she couldn't see through him at all. She really wanted to understand him on a deeper level.

Not long after leaving the HR Alliance, Luo Feng dialed home.

"Xiao Feng?"

Hearing that familiar voice on the other end of the line, Luo Feng couldn't help but feel a warmth in his heart.

This was the longest Luo Feng had been away from home since he was born.

"Mom, I estimate I'll be home in ten minutes. Have dinner ready for me tonight."

"Home in ten minutes?"

His mother was clearly pleasantly surprised.

"Good, good. Your father and I are out with your younger brother right now. We'll go buy some good food immediately and wait for you to come home."

"Alright."

Luo Feng felt a warmth deep in his heart.

This was home, the place that he, Luo Feng, was sworn to protect.

"In the future, whether it's the Nolan Mountain Family or those top-tier elites of the human race, in this lifetime, I absolutely will not let anyone wreak havoc on Earth, not even a little bit."

Having absorbed the memories, Luo Feng knew that Earth would face many catastrophes in the future.

Of course, with Luo Feng's current strength, the threat of the infant Golden Horned Beast to Earth had been completely eliminated.

When he returned home, his parents and younger brother were already waiting at the door.

That night, the family enjoyed a sumptuous dinner.

Past seven in the evening, with the moon bright and stars sparse, the family finished their meal and went to the garden of their villa to digest.

"Mom, Dad, little brother, I learned a new talent while out in the wild recently. Let me perform it for you."

Luo Feng, who had been pushing his brother's wheelchair, suddenly thought of something and spoke up.

"Yo, big brother, I didn't expect you to pick up a talent after a trip to the Wilderness Zone?"

Luo Hua teased.

"Don't underestimate your brother."

Luo Feng quickly handed Luo Hua over to his father, Luo Hongguo.

"Watch closely."

As he spoke, Luo Feng walked to the center of the garden and waved his hand, and a massive boulder suddenly appeared.

This boulder was two meters high and four or five meters long.

This sight gave Luo Hongguo, Gong Xinlan, and Luo Hua quite a shock.

Conjuring items out of thin air was something beyond the comprehension of ordinary people like them.

The three of them stood there, completely stunned.

"Don't be surprised. This is a Space Ring; it can store items. I found it at some ruins while I was out in the wild this time."

Luo Feng explained.

Then, without waiting for the three of them to react, a sharp short blade suddenly appeared in Luo Feng's hand.

"Mom, Dad, during the month I was bored in the wild, I taught myself stone carving. Since the whole family is here today, I'm going to carve a family portrait for us."

Luo Feng was suddenly struck by the inspiration, feeling that this would be very meaningful.

When he went out into the wild in the future, aside from the occasional video call, his parents and brother would be able to see the family portrait the moment they walked into this garden.

Thinking of this, Luo Feng decided he had to be serious this time and try his best to make the carving look realistic.

Luo Feng began to carefully sense the lines and patterns of the boulder itself using his spiritual force.

The stone patterns on the boulder were chaotic, yet under the induction of Luo Feng's powerful spiritual force, all the patterns seemed to be extracted, naturally gathering in his mind.

Vaguely, these patterns formed the shapes of four people.

The scene of his family eating together in their old apartment building back home surfaced in Luo Feng's mind.

He couldn't help it; although they had moved into this villa, the memories of that old house were etched much deeper in Luo Feng's mind.

Soon, Luo Feng moved.

He held a short blade in his right hand, his entire body springing into action. The blade transformed into a flurry of shadows, and stone debris immediately began to fly off the boulder.

This... brother really seems to know how to do stone carving.

Luo Hua thought to himself.

After Luo Feng began the carving, Luo Hongguo and Gong Xinlan quickly shook off the shock caused by the Space Ring and focused their attention on their son.

Luo Feng's spiritual force could clearly sense the internal grain of the entire boulder. His swinging blade moved like a graceful breeze, shaving away at the stone. Every strike seemed to have been strictly measured, neither too much nor too little, precise to the peak.

The short blade moved rapidly at times, slowly and carefully tapped at others, left elegant grooves, or heavily cleaved away chunks of stone...

Unknowingly, Luo Feng's mind slowly merged with the boulder, and simultaneously, with the earth beneath his feet.

The images of the four family members in his mind became three-dimensional, and the deep affection in his heart was poured entirely into the short blade.

Suddenly, the surrounding Earth Elements began to swirl around Luo Feng, continuously surging into his body.

With no distracting thoughts, Luo Feng poured out his emotions completely.

Gradually, the rough outline of the sculpture emerged from the boulder.

Having completely immersed his emotions into the sculpture, Luo Feng did not realize that his current state was one he had never experienced before.

For the past half month, he had only treated stone carving as a pastime, a "tool" to enhance his spiritual force. No matter how many times he carved, Luo Feng had never been one hundred percent immersed in it.

However, this time was different; from the very beginning, he wanted to achieve perfection.

He had long since cast aside the idea of using stone carving to boost his spiritual force, becoming completely absorbed in the passion of expressing his emotions through the craft.

This allowed Luo Feng to merge with nature as never before.

In this state of absolute fusion with nature, Luo Feng's spiritual force was growing at a terrifying speed, unlike anything he had ever seen...

It was over a thousand times faster than the growth rate of his spiritual force during normal meditation.

Within his sea of consciousness, a third water droplet was slowly taking shape, and the point of light at its center was growing brighter and brighter.

Luo Feng had reached a state of total self-forgetfulness.

One hour, two hours, three hours...

Time flowed by slowly. Luo Feng had forgotten the time, and in the blink of an eye, it was past three in the morning.

Luo Feng had been carving for a full eight hours.

"Boom!"

Several stone fragments of varying sizes fell away, revealing a life-sized family portrait of the four of them.

These four stone statues didn't look like carvings at all; they appeared as four vivid, lifelike people—people who possessed a soul.