After lying quietly on the ground for more than an hour, Yang Kai finally stood up. The struggle just now had drained all his strength.
Recalling the events of the past hour, Yang Kai felt as if he were in a dream, hardly daring to believe that it was all real.
He pinched himself quietly, feeling a bit of pain.
"What's going on? What's the origin of that black book?" Yang Kai muttered to himself, feeling a bit lost.
When he finally calmed down, Yang Kai realized that he was somewhat different. He had always been malnourished and suffered a severe beating every five days, leaving his body weak. But now, Yang Kai clearly felt a vibrant vitality within his bones, a warm energy slowly spreading from the inside out, giving him an indescribable sense of comfort.
He moved slightly, and his bones made a crisp, pleasant cracking sound, as if they could play a beautiful melody. Moreover, the pain in his body was gone, and the injuries inflicted by Zhou Dingjun today seemed to have healed.
Noticing this, Yang Kai quickly rolled up his sleeves and lifted his shirt to examine himself carefully. He found that the bruises and injuries on his body, which had been black and blue, had all disappeared, and even the old scars showed signs of healing.
But he was still as thin as a rail!
He rubbed the areas where the injuries had been, and dead skin flaked off, revealing new, healthy skin underneath, though not as fresh as a newborn's, it was much healthier than before.
"Whoa..." Yang Kai drew in a sharp breath, never expecting that the skeletal golden body that had merged with his own would have such a powerful recovery ability!
He then assessed his strength again and found that he was still at the third level of Body Tempering, with no change. This discovery made Yang Kai a bit disappointed.
Since childhood, Yang Kai had heard many stories about the great deeds of the past and the secrets of the elders. He knew that there were many people with great fortune who, by chance, gained extraordinary encounters, thus rising from rags to riches and achieving unparalleled fame.
But those were just stories. How many people in the world truly gained such encounters and changed their mediocre lives? The more powerful the elders, the more they were unwilling to let their lifetimes of cultivation be buried with them. They would always find a successor before their death. So, the idea of jumping off a cliff or entering a cave and encountering such a fortune was almost impossible.
But now, this had happened to him. The mysterious black book must have a significant origin, and the skeletal golden body was extraordinary, like the land god's fart.
This could be considered his extraordinary encounter, or it could be the inevitable result.
The last four sentences on the first page of the black book clearly stated: "Skeletal Golden Body, the barrier of the tyrant, the indomitable soul, can subdue it!"
If the black book had been obtained by someone else, they would not have been able to uncover its secrets and would have treated it as trash. It was only because he had picked it up, used it as a pillow for a year, and felt the indomitable and resilient spirit within him that the secrets of the black book were revealed today.
In other words, this was indeed his extraordinary encounter, but it was an encounter gained through his own abilities. Thinking of this, Yang Kai felt a wave of comfort. As the saying goes, a fine horse deserves a good saddle, and a beautiful woman should be given to a hero...
"Where's the black book?" Yang Kai suddenly remembered the treasure he had used as a pillow for a year and hurriedly searched for it, but he couldn't find it anywhere.
Just as he was getting anxious, he felt a faint movement within his body. The next moment, the black book suddenly appeared before his eyes and fell to the ground with a thud.
Yang Kai was taken aback, picked it up, and furrowed his brow in thought. A moment later, the black book vanished from his hand. He moved again, and the black book reappeared.
This scene was like a magic trick, but Yang Kai's expression was extremely serious because he truly felt that the black book could be stored within his body according to his will.
"Could the material of this wordless black book... be a Soul-Stabilizing Stone!" Yang Kai's words almost frightened himself.
A Soul-Stabilizing Stone! That was a legendary treasure.
It could only form in a place where countless spirits gathered, in the depths of the nine yin, where the sun never shone, absorbing the power of countless living beings.
There was an ancient saying about this kind of thing:
"A small black stone, a vast expanse of destruction, no living being can approach, not even a blade of grass can grow!"
This was a bit exaggerated. A small Soul-Stabilizing Stone couldn't possibly cause destruction over a vast area. But the formation process of this strange stone was indeed cruel and bloody. Any life that approached it would die instantly.
The formation process was also extremely long, ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands of years.
The formation process aside, once a Soul-Stabilizing Stone was formed, it became an unparalleled treasure. This thing had a very special ability: it could be stored within a person's body, and a unique space could be created inside the stone. This space could be large or small and was perfect for storing things.
Although Yang Kai was just a probationary disciple of the Lingxiao Pavilion, his knowledge was not lacking. Moreover, the legend of the Soul-Stabilizing Stone had been passed down for so many years that everyone had heard of it.
When he first obtained the black book, Yang Kai hadn't thought of this. But now, seeing that it could be stored within his body and recalling how the skeletal golden body emerged from the pages, how could he not recognize the material of the black book?
Yang Kai was drenched in sweat on the spot.
The Soul-Stabilizing Stone was a thing of legend, long extinct. He never thought he would encounter one, and such a large one at that!
The ancient saying referred to a Soul-Stabilizing Stone the size of a square inch, which, even at that size, was invaluable. But the one before him had been made into a wordless black book, a foot long and three fingers thick!
Its value... was immeasurable!
If this news spread, not just the Lingxiao Pavilion, but the entire Han Dynasty would be trampled to the ground in a single night.
Yang Kai felt his hands burning, and he wiped the sweat from his forehead, grateful that the thing could be stored within his body, otherwise, it would have caused a lot of trouble.
Possessing such a legendary treasure, Yang Kai couldn't help but be cautious. He quickly closed the door like a thief and hid inside, his heart pounding.
Yang Kai was both excited and uneasy.
With his current low strength, how could he protect such a valuable treasure? Although the wordless black book could be stored within his body, reducing the risk of exposure, he still felt uneasy.
Only through cultivation and becoming stronger could he protect his own things! Recalling his encounter three years ago, Yang Kai's frightened eyes gradually calmed down.
He had traveled a thousand miles, enduring hardships, to come to the Lingxiao Pavilion, wasn't it for cultivation?
Since he had obtained the wordless black book, he might as well start with it. The first page of the black book gave him the skeletal golden body, and although he didn't know what it was for, it must be good. And the black book had many more pages; could it be that there was only one golden body?
*****
Let me talk about the updates. For now, I will update twice a day, one chapter in the morning and one in the evening. I will increase the updates when I push for the rankings in a few days.
The new book is still short, so you can take your time reading it.