Epiphany

"Oh, it's nothing. I just knew Xiao Xin was here, so I dropped by to see her.

I'll be going now."

Xu Gang immediately understood what Luo Feng meant. Still smiling broadly, he quickly left the room.

As soon as he stepped outside, Xu Gang's smile vanished.

"Luo Feng doesn't seem simple. He's nothing like the ordinary boy my sister described. I'll have the family look into him. If he really has potential, I wouldn't mind my sister being with him."

Xu Gang's interruption had dampened the mood, and Luo Feng and Xu Xin no longer felt like continuing their conversation. Besides, Luo Feng had just returned from the Wilderness Zone, and it was time for him to go home and see his parents.

After adding Xu Xin's contact information and giving her his bank account number, Luo Feng left.

Xu Xin walked him to the entrance of the HR Alliance building.

Watching Luo Feng's retreating figure, Xu Xin murmured,

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

Even after talking with Luo Feng for so long, Xu Xin still felt that he was shrouded in mystery, as if she couldn't see through him at all. She wanted to get to know him better.

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

"Xiao Feng?"

Hearing that familiar voice on the other end of the phone, Luo Feng felt a warmth in his heart.

It was the first time in his life that he had been away from home for so long.

"Mom, I think I'll be home in about ten minutes. Make dinner for me tonight."

"Home in ten minutes?"

His mother was clearly delighted.

"Good, good! Your dad and I are out with your younger brother right now. We'll go buy some good food and have it ready for you when you get home."

"Okay."

Luo Feng felt warm inside.

This was home—the place he, Luo Feng, would protect.

In the future, whether it's the Nolan Mountain Family or the top leaders of the Human Race, I absolutely won't let anyone harm Earth in this lifetime—not even a little.

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

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

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

That evening, the family enjoyed a lavish dinner together.

A little after seven that evening, beneath a bright moon and a starry sky, the family finished dinner and went into the garden of their villa to walk off the meal.

"Mom, Dad, little bro, I learned a new trick out in the wilderness recently. Let me show you."

Luo Feng pushed his younger brother along and suddenly spoke, as if an idea had just occurred to him.

"Well, well, big brother. I didn't think you'd pick up a talent after a trip to the Wilderness Zone!"

Luo Hua teased him.

"Don't underestimate me."

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

"Watch closely."

With that, Luo Feng walked to the middle of the garden and casually waved his hand. A huge boulder suddenly appeared.

The boulder was nearly two meters tall and four or five meters long.

Luo Hongguo, Gong Xinlan, and Luo Hua were all startled.

Making something appear out of thin air was beyond the comprehension of ordinary people like them.

They all stood there, dumbfounded.

"Don't be surprised. This is a Space Ring. It can store things. I found it at a ruin during my trip to the wilderness."

Luo Feng explained.

Before the three of them could react, a sharp short knife suddenly appeared in Luo Feng's hand.

"Mom, Dad, I taught myself a little stone carving during the month I spent in the wilderness. Since we're all together today, I'll carve a family portrait for us."

Luo Feng had suddenly felt inspired and thought it would be meaningful.

When he went back out into the wilderness, his parents and younger brother would be able to see the family portrait in the garden at a glance, even if they could only talk to him by phone or video now and then.

With that thought, Luo Feng decided to take this seriously and do his best to make the carvings lifelike.

He carefully used his mental power to sense the lines and patterns within the boulder.

The patterns in the stone were incredibly chaotic, but under Luo Feng's powerful mental perception, they seemed to be drawn out and naturally gathered in his mind.

Faintly, the patterns began to form four human figures.

The scene of the family eating together in their old apartment came to Luo Feng's mind.

He couldn't help it. Though they now lived in this villa, his memories of the old home were stronger.

Before long, Luo Feng moved.

He held the short knife in his right hand and began to work. The blade became a blur, and stone chips flew from the boulder.

"Wow... Big brother really does know how to carve stone," Luo Hua thought.

Once Luo Feng began carving, Luo Hongguo and Gong Xinlan soon recovered from their astonishment at the Space Ring and focused on watching their son.

Luo Feng's mental power let him clearly sense the patterns inside the entire boulder. The short knife swept over the stone like a graceful breeze. Every cut seemed precisely measured, not a stroke too many or too few—each one perfect.

The knife sometimes moved swiftly, sometimes touched the stone with slow, careful precision, sometimes left an elegant mark, and sometimes struck away a large chunk of rock...

Unbeknownst to him, Luo Feng's mind gradually merged with the boulder, and with the earth beneath his feet.

The image of the family of four in his mind grew vivid and lifelike, and all the affection he felt for them poured into the short knife.

At once, Earth Elements began to swirl around Luo Feng and continuously flow into his body.

Luo Feng's mind was free of distractions as he poured all his feelings into his work.

Gradually, the rough forms of the stone carvings began to emerge.

Luo Feng was so completely absorbed in the carvings that he didn't realize his current state was unlike anything he had experienced before.

For the past half month, he had treated stone carving as a pastime, a "tool" for improving his mental power. No matter how often he carved, he had never been completely immersed in it.

This time was different. From the very beginning, he had wanted to make the carvings as perfect as possible.

He had long since forgotten that stone carving could improve his mental power, completely immersed in pouring out his feelings and the exhilaration of carving.

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

In this state of perfect unity with nature, Luo Feng's mental power grew at a terrifying pace unlike anything he had experienced before...

More than a thousand times faster than when he usually meditated.

In the sea of spiritual energy, a third ball of water slowly took shape, and the point of light at its center grew brighter and brighter.

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

One hour, two hours, three hours...

Time passed slowly. Luo Feng had lost all sense of it, and in the blink of an eye, it was past three in the morning.

Luo Feng had carved for a full eight hours.

"Boom!"

Several chunks of stone of various sizes tumbled to the ground, revealing a family portrait of four, almost life-sized.

The four stone figures hardly looked like carvings at all. They were as lifelike as four living people, each seeming to possess a soul.