"It really is a Heaven-Mending Stone!"
Looking at the words deduced by the Yellow River Chart and Lo Shu at the center of her Sea of Consciousness, Luo Yue could hardly calm herself.
Just then, a powerful, searing divine sense swept across Luo Yue's courtyard like an invisible ripple. The instant it touched the five-colored fragment, it paused slightly, carrying a clear trace of astonishment.
Then that divine sense abruptly intensified. Like an invisible barrier, it enveloped the entire courtyard in an instant, completely sealing off and concealing the unique, serene, ancient aura emanating from the five-colored fragment, allowing not even a trace to escape.
It was the mighty cultivator from the Jiang Family watching from the shadows.
Apparently, the sudden appearance of this fragment of the Five-Colored Stone had startled him as well. He had immediately acted to obscure its heavenly secrets and block any prying eyes it might attract.
Luo Yue understood. This Dao Protector from the Jiang Family had indeed been watching over her all along.
She swiftly gathered her thoughts and tightly gripped the broken fragment shimmering with five-colored radiance. It felt warm and smooth in her hand, yet unimaginably heavy, as though she were holding a stretch of forgotten eternity.
She could distinctly feel the cracks on its surface. Clearly, it had once endured a world-shaking catastrophe.
If Luo Yue remembered correctly, the Shrouding the Heavens World did contain records of Great Emperor Fuxi and Empress Nuwa, but the accounts were sparse and incomplete, amounting to only a few hundred words in total.
Yet both had indeed become emperors. When Heavenly Emperor Ye had defied the natural order in Severing the Dao, phantoms of the [Fuxi Dragon Stele] and [Nuwa Dao Stone] had appeared.
Great Emperor Fuxi had even taken advantage of the chaos to smack Heavenly Emperor Ye a few times with the Dragon Stele, as though wielding a brick...
"The Heaven-Mending Remnant Stone has fallen into my hands."
Luo Yue found it somewhat hard to believe.
The Five-Colored Stone could also be called the Heaven-Mending Stone, or the Nuwa Dao Stone! This was the object through which Empress Nuwa had attained her Dao in the Mythological Era-a damaged Emperor Weapon.
As she watched the Heaven-Mending Stone fragment quietly shedding five-colored radiance in the air, irrepressible excitement and curiosity flickered in Luo Yue's ice-blue eyes.
This was a fragment of the Emperor Weapon through which Empress Nuwa had attained her Dao in the Mythological Era. It contained supreme Dao laws, and its value far exceeded all the variant source she had obtained through stone gambling. It might even be the most precious treasure she currently possessed.
"Let's see whether I can activate it..."
Luo Yue drew a deep breath, suppressed her surging emotions, and cautiously extended the icy divine power of her Divine King Body toward the Five-Colored Stone in her palm.
Yet the resonance of divine power or manifestation of Dao laws she had anticipated never appeared.
The five-colored radiance continued flowing slowly to its own rhythm, peaceful and tranquil. It showed no response to her divine power, neither rejecting nor absorbing it, as though it were an ordinary stone.
Luo Yue's divine power seemed to have touched a bottomless pool. Once cast inside, it vanished without a trace, failing to stir even a single ripple.
"Hm? I can't activate it?"
Luo Yue frowned slightly, a trace of confusion appearing on her small face.
She tried increasing the flow of divine power. Ice-blue cold nearly condensed into frost on the fragment's surface, but the stone remained unchanged. Its five-colored halo stayed warm and gentle, utterly ignoring her power.
It felt as futile as stirring a huge vat with a toothpick...
"As expected, a fragment of an Emperor Weapon is no trivial thing. Even damaged, its essence is far beyond what my current cultivation can affect." Luo Yue understood, and she was not particularly disappointed.
It would have been strange if a divine object like this could easily be wielded by a minor cultivator in the Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm.
She guessed that she might need a specific method, a powerful bloodline resonance, or at least a higher cultivation realm before she could activate even a sliver of its might.
Having confirmed that she could not actively wield it for the moment, Luo Yue intended to put it away carefully and study it later.
With a slight shift of intent, she prepared to store the precious fragment deep within her Sea of Consciousness, alongside the Yellow River Chart, Lo Shu, and Hengyu Scripture.
Yet the instant she relaxed her mind and prepared to put the fragment away, something unexpected happened.
The Heaven-Mending Stone fragment, which had been docilely shimmering with five-colored radiance in her palm, seemed to be pulled by an invisible force. It abruptly transformed into a hazy streak of five-colored light, moving too quickly for her divine sense to track!
Rather than flying toward her Sea of Consciousness, it ignored Luo Yue's will as though it possessed a life of its own, shooting straight toward the dantian beneath her navel-the location of her Bitter Sea Secret Realm.
"What's happening?"
Luo Yue's heart jolted, and her ice-blue pupils abruptly contracted. Instinctively, she tried to circulate her divine power to stop it, but her efforts were utterly futile.
The streak of five-colored light passed through her flesh without the slightest resistance, instantly sinking into the glacier she had only recently opened up, which was gradually expanding and stabilizing under the nourishment of her Life Spring.
"Hum-!"
The instant the fragment entered her Bitter Sea, Luo Yue's entire Bitter Sea Secret Realm shuddered violently.
It was not a savage impact, but a strange pulse carrying an ancient rhythm, as though a heart that had lain silent for endless ages had been gently struck.
Her Bitter Sea, originally a ten-thousand-year glacier radiating an utterly frigid aura, strangely became much gentler and calmer the instant that pulse spread through it.
Its waves still rose and fell, but the bone-piercing cold, which seemed capable of freezing even a divine soul, appeared to have been infused with a hint of indescribable warmth and vitality.
Immediately afterward, Luo Yue clearly saw that the Five-Colored Stone fragment neither sank to the bottom of her Bitter Sea nor was swallowed by the vortex of divine power. Instead, it passed straight through the turbulent waters and, like something returning to its nest, landed with perfect precision in the [Life Spring] at the center of her Bitter Sea, which was continuously gushing icy divine power.
A faint sound, like something dropping into a deep pool, echoed in the depths of Luo Yue's divine soul.
The five-colored fragment floated quietly inside the eye of the ice-blue Life Spring, like a five-colored star submerged beneath the water. It rotated slowly, its soft, subdued radiance shining out from the spring's eye and interweaving with the icy divine fluid.
As it sank within, the divine power gushing from the Life Spring seemed to undergo an exceedingly subtle change.
Within that utterly pure, icy divine power, there was now a faint, almost imperceptible wisp of warm Dao resonance originating from the chaos origin.
This Dao resonance was extremely weak, yet like the most exquisite carving blade, it quietly merged into the core of Luo Yue's divine power. It seemed to be repairing and perfecting the foundation of her Divine King Body's Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm in some indescribable way.
As Luo Yue examined this strange scene within her Bitter Sea's Life Spring, her face was filled with astonishment and bewilderment.
"Hm... it went in by itself and settled in my Life Spring?" Luo Yue tried to communicate with the Heaven-Mending Stone inside her Life Spring through her intent and draw it out.
Yet just as before, the fragment did not respond. Like a truly stubborn stone, it lay quietly there, letting the icy power gush around it. Its five-colored radiance continued flowing gently, as though it belonged there to begin with and had become part of her Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm.
Activate it? No response whatsoever.
Move it? It did not budge.
Rejection? There was none at all.
In a manner Luo Yue could not understand at all,
and could not control, it had actively chosen her Life Spring as its dwelling place.
This sudden turn of events stirred a strange feeling in Luo Yue's heart-this Heaven-Mending Stone fragment seemed to have more of "a mind of its own" than she had imagined.
What is this supposed to mean? It won't let me use it, but now it's squatting in my Life Spring and refusing to leave? Luo Yue muttered inwardly.
She once again tried directing her divine power toward the fragment in the spring's eye, but it was still like a stone sinking into the sea.
"Looks like I can only leave it this way for now..."
In the end, Luo Yue gave up trying.
She vaguely sensed that although the Heaven-Mending Stone settling into her Life Spring had introduced an unknown variable, it seemed to bear no ill will. On the contrary, the wisp of warm Dao resonance merging into her divine power appeared to offer subtle benefits in stabilizing and strengthening her Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm.
This scene bore a curious resemblance to the time green copper had lodged itself inside Heavenly Emperor Ye's body and refused to leave.
"These world-shaking secret treasures seem to like choosing people with special constitutions as their hosts."
Luo Yue grew thoughtful.
"Fine. Since you've chosen to make your home here, do as you please." Luo Yue gathered her thoughts and turned her attention away from the Five-Colored Stone fragment in her Life Spring.
She knew full well that divine objects like this were unfathomably mysterious, far beyond her current ability to comprehend. Forcing an investigation would only be counterproductive.
Instead, Luo Yue turned her gaze toward the other variant source she had obtained that day, especially the piece of ice soul jade marrow.
Cultivating the Divine King Body, particularly forging a perfected Sea of Bitterness realm, required immense quantities of resources.
Since she could not make sense of the mysterious Heaven-Mending Stone for now, she might as well make some tangible improvements first.
"I should refine that piece of [ice soul jade marrow] first and completely stabilize and perfect my [Life Spring]. Perhaps I can even seize the chance to break through to the [Divine Bridge] realm."
Luo Yue settled into a cross-legged position and beckoned with her small hand.
The piece of ice soul jade marrow, which radiated an icy aura and seemed to contain flowing clouds of icy silver mist, gently floated before her.