Treasures of a Past Life

Night.

Chen Guan crossed thirty miles of mountain road, looking slightly weary as he arrived at the forest where he had once buried the vines.

A single glance.

The forest in the moonlight was cold and desolate, showing no changes.

It being autumn, the buzzing of insects had also diminished.

Only the occasional roar of a beast drifted in from afar.

"Wolves, and leopards..."

After a moment of assessment, Chen Guan confirmed there were no large predators like tigers nearby and stepped out from behind a large tree.

With his current martial strength.

Dealing with ordinary wild beasts was simple for Chen Guan.

But if the beast possessed intelligence, and its strength and explosive speed were far beyond that of a normal animal.

Like himself, a Black Bear Spirit.

Then he would be done for.

He was not yet at his peak.

Find the manual, visit my sister, and leave this place as soon as possible...

Chen Guan moved forward with great caution.

If he encountered a spirit monster, he would run if he could.

At the same time, thinking of spirit monsters and his own cautious behavior.

Chen Guan suddenly recalled a remark once made by that Tiger Immortal.

It went roughly like this:

"Some creatures are born powerful.

Others seem to have exceptional talent and spend their entire lives striving, yet in the end, they are nothing."

He and the Tiger Immortal were a realistic embodiment of this.

Perhaps to outsiders, he was a "prodigy" Black Bear Spirit who had gained intelligence in just over a decade.

He could have lorded over the mountains and forests, only to be swallowed in one bite by a tiger demon with centuries of cultivation.

No plot twist, no nothing.

Just a blunt reality.

Because of this.

Chen Guan searched for his past-life treasure even more carefully, so as not to run into other spirit monsters.

"Whew... finally found it!"

In the forest under the moonlight.

Chen Guan rummaged through many spots until he finally dug up the "vines" from his past life.

By now, they had rotted away and vanished.

Only the intact sachet, the rotted remains of a cloth amulet, and a complete bottle of golden sore medicine proved that this was the burial site of the vines.

"Seven years, it's been far too long... so much has changed..."

Rustle—

He took the treasure out and tucked it into his clothes.

After a sigh of lament, Chen Guan continued toward the dilapidated temple.

This time, the older brother could speak.

He would be able to chat with his sister for a long time.

Tap—

Under the starry night, he arrived at the dilapidated temple.

Chen Guan took a deep breath, filled with great anticipation and trepidation.

Yet, by the bright moonlight, when he saw the spiderwebs and the thick layer of dust inside the temple.

Chen Guan's anticipation vanished.

Because Xiao Qing was fastidious and would often use ghostly winds to clear away dust and cobwebs.

"Xiao Qing, it's your brother Chen Guan."

Chen Guan thought for a moment before calling out to reveal his identity.

Although the scroll of reincarnation cannot be spoken of, in a world of gods and ghosts, "reincarnation" and "awakening the wisdom of past lives" should not be considered strange.

At the very least, when Chen Guan was with the Zhao Family, he had heard "Auntie Hua" tell many folk tales.

There were stories of immortals reincarnating, and ordinary people in later generations awakening the wisdom of their past lives.

Although it sounded a bit fake and could not possibly be common.

It could serve as a kind of excuse for when his identity was exposed in the future.

As for the specifics, he would handle them relatively appropriately based on the situation as it unfolded.

Chen Guan thought about it very clearly.

The reason he wanted to give his sister now was the awakening of past wisdom.

However, after calling out once, there was no response.

Chen Guan walked a few more steps toward the corner behind the idol.

His sister's corpse was no longer there either.

Could it be... that my sister has left...?

Chen Guan pondered as he quickly arrived at the backyard.

Fortunately, it had rained yesterday, and the locust tree was still there.

In the shallow pool of water, there was still some slime.

Swish-swish-

The next moment, Chen Guan crouched by the pool and smeared the slime onto his eyes.

At the same time.

The Yin energy in the surroundings gradually appeared within his field of vision.

With his normal human body, Chen Guan had once again activated his Yin-Yang Eyes.

Using his Yin-Yang vision.

Chen Guan returned to the temple, only to find that his sister was truly gone.

Perhaps she achieved success in her cultivation... shed the shackles of her corpse, and went out to travel the world...

Chen Guan sat under the idol for a while before heading to the former side room, intending to get a fur bag to carry some of the slime back.

Upon entering the room.

Chen Guan saw a dusty rag on the bed.

He stepped forward to lift it, revealing a Hundred Beast Garment that had already been sewn.

At this moment, it was not folded but spread out to cover the entire stone bed, about two meters long.

Chen Guan stroked it with his palm, feeling the fine needlework and the soft seams, and he paused for a few seconds.

He could almost imagine his sister, after growing up and gaining better control, dismantling the Hundred Beast Garment in the empty, moonlit ruined temple and modifying it once again.

Thinking of this, Chen Guan suddenly felt dejected for a few seconds before folding up the wide Hundred Beast Garment.

The next day, early morning.

Accompanied by the damp, cold air in the forest.

Chen Guan, carrying the somewhat heavy Hundred Beast Garment, arrived at the location of the former crevice in the mountain rocks.

This was the last spot.

But the shape of the mountain rocks had changed.

"What happened to this crevice?"

Chen Guan looked at the rock formation, which now resembled a throne, wondering what had happened here.

But he also had a few guesses.

For instance, perhaps Constable Yan and the others had smashed this rock.

Or perhaps the Tiger Immortal had come here and reshaped the stone.

After pondering for a few breaths.

Chen Guan circled the throne to search, seeing if Constable Yan and the others had left anything behind.

During this search.

He noticed a clear protrusion in the soil at the bottom left of the rock.

Seeing this, Chen Guan set the Hundred Beast Garment aside and carefully dug away the soil with his broken blade.

As the soil was dug away bit by bit.

Inside the earth lay a large tiger-skin vest, its surface coated with anti-corrosive grease.

This vest seemed to have been left for "his black bear self."

Inside the tiger-skin vest were twenty-seven secret manuals.

Chen Guan flipped through them roughly and discovered the fire-attribute cultivation technique he needed most!

Its name was Yang Evolution Technique.

This is a perfect match.

Seeing this, Chen Guan felt a surge of warmth in his heart, which dispelled the slight disappointment of not having seen his younger sister.

Afterward.

Chen Guan first steadied his mind and opened the first page.

He read through the introduction and annotations one by one, finding that the descriptions were very detailed, specifically describing what fire spiritual energy should look like and what it should feel like.

It was designed to help beginners better perceive the fire attributes in the air through these sensations.

It was similar to vocal training in singing, where one first finds the resonance in emotions and the chest cavity before being able to sing notes better and feel the fluctuations of the melody.

At the same time, based on the sensations described in the manual.

Chen Guan quickly entered a state of meditation and, following the descriptions in the book, began to sense the fire spiritual attributes in the air.

Because he already had the foundation of cultivating yin energy from the Qi Swallowing Technique.

Although he hadn't "sensed" the yin energy with his dantian back then.

But this time.

As Chen Guan contemplated and meditated, he did not know how much time had passed, but he clearly felt a warm sensation in the air.

He felt this warmth beginning to burrow into his body.

It seemed that the moment he sensed the fire attribute, a strange suction force was formed.

But the very next second.

Chen Guan felt hungry.

He opened his eyes to find that it was already late at night.

He had unknowingly been in meditation for over ten hours.

"Although I'm a bit hungry, I feel very energetic..."

Chen Guan stood up; there was no soreness or numbness from sitting for so long, and instead, his body felt very light.

His lower dantian also felt warm, as if there was a "thread" a hundred times thinner than a hair.

For now, his lower dantian could only hold this much; any more would require further development.

And this thread was the fire-attribute energy he had already refined.

With it present.

Chen Guan felt as if he had gained an extra burst of strength for no reason.

Regarding this situation.

Chen Guan knew that he had already stepped into the most basic stage of [Qi Sensing].

After cultivating for a few more days, once this strength stabilized and he could control it with ease, he would reach [Refining Essence into Qi].

At that time, he would be able to use this elemental energy to circulate throughout his body, warding off illnesses and disasters, and prolonging his life.

This was also the most basic health-preserving technique within [Refining Essence into Qi].

If he were to use the spiritual energy now, it would at most grant him a temporary burst of strength of thirty or forty jin.

But even so, Chen Guan thought it was quite impressive.

Because his current strength was only about two hundred jin.

This was an increase of nearly ten to twenty percent.

"No wonder the physiques of cultivators and martial arts experts are so formidable; it turns out it's because they utilize spiritual energy.

So, I can now be considered a cultivator.

Or rather, a 'post-celestial expert' who possesses internal energy."

Internal energy was just spiritual energy, merely referred to by a different name.

Moreover, in the absence of technique manuals, martial arts experts were more accustomed to using spiritual energy as a basic means of strengthening the body.

Of course, more importantly, their spiritual roots were even lower than Chen Guan's, so it was very likely they would need to contemplate for years or even decades before they could sense spiritual energy.

With such late realization and minimal absorption, their personal limits were naturally low.

Chen Guan learned these basic facts through the secret manual.

But today, he had succeeded on his first attempt.

"I suppose I have half a day's worth of cultivation now..."

To say Chen Guan wasn't excited about his first contact with cultivation would be a lie.

Yet, faced with the protest of a hungry stomach.

Chen Guan still took out the dried meat chunks from his bundle to stave off the hunger.

Crunch, crunch...

His firm baby teeth tore into the dried meat, which felt like tree bark.

Chen Guan couldn't be bothered to heat it up; he ate it straight out of the bag.

Gulp, gulp...

After a few more mouthfuls, the hunger subsided.

Chen Guan then turned his attention to the remaining secret manuals.

Among the rest of the manuals, besides those for unarmed combat and weaponry, there was one for a water-attribute technique: Water Forest Technique.

Chen Guan flipped through it a few times and noticed a wooden bamboo slip at the very bottom of the tiger skin.

He took the bamboo slip out and held it up against the moonlight.

A line of text was carved upon it.

(Senior Black Bear, we juniors have come as promised, and now we depart in accordance with our word.)