The stone statue opened all seven apertures on its head and slowly drew in Zhang Xiaohua's true qi. Zhang Xiaohua himself was unaware of it; just as when refining the stone stele, he poured in his true qi in one great rush. Before long, in merely the time it took an incense stick to burn, the entire head of the statue had turned a faint gold... And at that moment, the stone statue instinctively resisted, trying to expel Zhang Xiaohua's true qi. But with all seven apertures already refined, where could it find any chance? Zhang Xiaohua was only slightly surprised before following Huan Wuxin's instructions and increasing the force of his true qi. The pale gold spread down from the head toward the rest of the statue!
The lower portion accounted for more than eighty percent of the entire statue, yet refining that eighty percent was several times harder than refining the head just now. It took a full half day before the entire statue was refined into faint gold. Likewise, at the final step involving natal True Essence, Zhang Xiaohua still could not spit it out.
However, natal True Essence was no longer important at this point. Something stirred in Zhang Xiaohua's heart. Though he still did not know the origin of this stone statue, he vaguely sensed that it contained a trace of vitality. That vitality was exceedingly weak; if he had not gained considerable insight into the Way of Life and Death, even after refining the stone statue, he might not have noticed it.
Zhang Xiaohua took out his money pouch and released his divine sense, intending to store the stone statue inside it. Yet although the statue could now move under the urging of his divine sense, swaying as it floated in the air, it