Mysterious Item

On the way home, Zhang Tie's heart hammered with a mix of tension and excitement. His right hand was clamped firmly inside his trouser pocket, as if he were terrified that the object might escape. In that fleeting moment when he had picked it up, Zhang Tie had seen a perfectly shaped object, a size smaller than an egg, nestled in the center of a piece of Fool's Gold that had shattered into two. The object seemed to bear beautiful patterns; had the Fool's Gold not been smashed against the ground with such force, no one would have ever discovered it contained something within. It was clearly not a natural formation, yet the geological time required for Fool's Gold to form—Zhang Tie estimated at least several hundred million years—meant that this object had been inside for an eternity...

Several hundred million years...

A non-naturally occurring item...

Those beautiful patterns...

As these pieces of information surfaced in his mind, Zhang Tie felt his heart skip a beat.

On the walk home, Zhang Tie managed to maintain a normal pace at first, but as he drew closer, he could no longer suppress the agitation in his heart. His steps grew faster and faster until he was sprinting. Even while running, one hand remained buried in his pocket, gripping the Fool's Gold tightly for fear it might fall out. Whether it was due to his nerves or something else, Zhang Tie felt the temperature of the Fool's Gold in his hand growing increasingly hot.

When he arrived home, his mother was in the kitchen steaming Rice Brew. Hearing his hurried footsteps, she didn't turn around, simply calling out, "I've saved your dinner, it's still warm. Eat slowly!"

"Mom, I already ate outside!"

With that, Zhang Tie rushed upstairs without a bite. His brother wasn't home today, so the house was much quieter. He pulled down the ladder, entered his small attic nest, retracted the ladder, bolted the floor hatch, lit the lamp, and lowered the curtains and the double-layered wooden shutters. Only when he was alone in the cramped space, with no fear of being seen, did Zhang Tie collapse onto his bed, gasping for air.

Between heavy breaths, he impatiently pulled the half-piece of Fool's Gold from his pocket and held it under the lamplight. Once he looked, he could never look away again...

The object encased within the Fool's Gold resembled a slightly smaller, oval-shaped Crystal Egg. Its surface was engraved with complex, beautiful patterns and motifs that vaguely formed the shape of an archway. Inside the egg, one could faintly discern a miniature sapling, so exquisite it didn't seem man-made.

Two-thirds of the Crystal Egg was already exposed, while the remaining third was still fused to the Fool's Gold. Zhang Tie tested it with his hand, and with a slight tug, he pried the Crystal Egg from the fractured ore, revealing it in its entirety. There was no yolk inside; the "yolk" was the tiny sapling, while the "egg white" flowed with a substance like quicksilver. Upon closer inspection, the "quicksilver" appeared to be a seven-colored light mist, exceptionally beautiful. This mist swirled around the sapling, filled with an indescribable mystery. It was the faint shimmer of this seven-colored mist under the lamp that had caught Zhang Tie's eye earlier.

The afternoon's spear training had left Zhang Tie's hands blistered. Perhaps because he had been rushing home and gripping the ore so tightly, the sharp edges of the Fool's Gold had broken the skin where his blisters were. Consequently, both the ore and the Crystal Egg were now stained with a bit of his blood. The blood-stained egg looked somewhat unsightly, and as Zhang Tie used his sleeve to wipe away the crimson smear, he noticed something strange: the blood didn't wipe off. Instead, it seemed to be absorbed, slowly seeping from the surface into the interior of the crystal. Not only that, but as the thin layer of blood sank in, its surface area shrank while its volume seemed to grow, slowly condensing into a single drop of blood at the apex of the Crystal Egg. As the blood coalesced, the Crystal Egg began to glow...

"Ah..." His hand was suddenly scorched, and Zhang Tie cried out, instinctively releasing the Crystal Egg. He was left dumbfounded. After he let go, the Crystal Egg remained suspended in mid-air, hovering steadily before the oil lamp and emitting a faint, eerie radiance. Zhang Tie stared with wide, terrified eyes, having no idea what was happening. Then, before his horrified gaze, the drop of blood at the top of the egg finally took shape and, like a grain of sand in an hourglass, fell toward the tiny sapling in the center.

The moment the blood landed, Zhang Tie felt a buzz in his brain. He felt as if the ground had vanished beneath his feet, like falling from a great height. Then, he saw the glowing Crystal Egg transform into a beam of light and fly toward his head. A sharp pain pierced the center of his brow, as if something were drilling into his mind. Everything went black, and Zhang Tie fainted on the spot...

This blackout left Zhang Tie completely unconscious...

He didn't know how much time had passed before he finally drifted back to awareness.

When Zhang Tie regained consciousness, the first thing he felt was a biting cold against his face. Still shaken, he felt a flicker of terror, unsure of his current situation. After his brain resumed functioning for a few seconds, he opened his eyes and realized the source of the cold: his face was pressed flat against the floorboards.

Rolling his eyes, Zhang Tie struggled to sit up on his bed. The single, flickering light in the room was still burning, though the oil had dipped slightly—perhaps three or four hours had passed. He stood up to pull back the shutters; outside, it was pitch black, and the distant sound of dogs barking confirmed his suspicion: it was the middle of the night.

Wait... what about the Crystal Egg?

Zhang Tie was startled. He checked his hands, then the room. Aside from the piece of Fool's Gold lying on the floor, there wasn't a trace of anything else. He picked up the ore, and only the smooth, rounded indentation—still clearly visible—reminded him that everything he had just experienced was real.

Could it have... flown away?

Thinking back to the sight of the Crystal Egg hovering in the air, Zhang Tie couldn't help but wonder. Yet, after checking the walls, doors, and windows, he found everything intact; there wasn't even a crack large enough for a fly to pass through. How could an egg-sized object have flown away? If it had, it would have left a hole.

He found a mirror in his bedside drawer and checked himself. Aside from a slightly pale complexion, there was no mark on his forehead. He sat on the bed in a daze for a long time until his stomach let out a thunderous roar. Only then did he remember he hadn't eaten dinner. Thinking of food, he suddenly realized he was hungrier than he had ever been in his life. He felt that if a cow were placed in front of him, he could devour it in one sitting.

He decided to set aside the mystery of the Crystal Egg for now; the immediate problem was to fill his stomach, or he might starve to death before figuring anything out.

Not daring to make too much noise, Zhang Tie crept down the attic ladder, oil lamp in hand, and snuck into the kitchen like a thief to forage for food. Fortunately, the main course from last night had been boiled sweet potatoes, which were just as good cold. There was a large platter left, seven or eight of them. Without a second thought, he wolfed them all down. Only after finishing did he realize with horror how absurd his appetite had become. Those seven or eight sweet potatoes weighed over a pound; usually, he could only manage half that even when starving. What was wrong with him today? And that wasn't all—even after eating so much, he felt only half-full. He grew thirsty, downed two large ladles of water, and polished off three bowls of the Rice Brew his mother had prepared. Only then did his stomach warm up, and a feeling of indescribable comfort washed over him—an experience he had never known before.

After washing up, he quietly returned to his nest, stripped, and lay in bed. He tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Finally, he steeled his resolve: if he couldn't sleep, he would cultivate. He sat up, adjusted his breathing, and prepared to close his eyes and visualize the abacus as required by the Abacus Mental Calculation. Suddenly, Zhang Tie realized there was something extra in his consciousness, or rather, his Sea of Consciousness. When he focused his spirit and attention on that extra point, it became rapidly clear. When he saw what it was, Zhang Tie nearly burst into tears. Deep within his consciousness, the object was the very same ancient, ornate archway he had seen on the shell of the Crystal Egg. It hovered silently in the depths of his Sea of Consciousness. As Zhang Tie focused his awareness upon it, it rapidly grew larger and clearer...

It seemed... it seemed he could enter—a vague voice in his heart reminded him. Zhang Tie didn't know why he had such a thought, but he stared at the ancient, ornate archway and whispered, "Enter!"

The fifteen-year-old boy, still green and naive, did not realize that because of this single word, his life would never be ordinary again.