Chapter 152: Stone

”I’m sorry, alright?” Hui Yue said as his arm was around Sha Yun’s shoulders, his face truly apologetic. “I ended my bath early and decided to check out the marketplaces, I’m sorry I didn’t leave behind a note.”

That was all there was to say about the problem. It was obvious that everyone was on edge and they knew that Zhou Long was scheming. That coupled with the fact that the white-haired boy had vanished was enough to cause all his friends to panic and the young man knew this, causing him to show a sheepish smile not sure how to make up to everyone.

Just as he was about to offer to pay for the damage, Xie Lan stood up and activated her wood element, using her spiritual energy to return everything to the way it had been before. This was an ability that only certain people could cultivate, and it was something which Hui Yue used once before when he thoroughly smashed his courtyard back at the academy.

To think that Xie Lan specialized in this sort of restoring of items caught the entire group off guard, as they previously a.s.sumed her specialty lay in healing.

“Don’t gape like that,” Xu Piao said with a laugh as he looked at the group of people with widened eyes and confused expressions. “Xie Lan is not great at fighting,” He continued, “But she is the best specialist when it comes to restoring or healing.”

“Restoring and healing are almost the same,” Xie Lan’s melodious voice flooded through the air as her eyes were on w.a.n.g Ju Long clearly ready to start explaining some profound secrets of her craft to the younger girl. The relations.h.i.+p between the two had definitely improved greatly since they first met.

Seeing that Xie Lan was ready to teach her, w.a.n.g Ju Long quickly bowed respectfully to Xu Piao and nodded to her friends before she followed behind her departing teacher.

Seeing w.a.n.g Ju Long following eagerly, Hui Yue could not help but smile as he recognized the eagerness to learn from himself, the girl showing utmost attention to improve herself something which he could perfectly understand. This was also the feature that had made him acknowledge her those many years back when they dueled at the academy.

Even now, Hui Yue felt strangely attracted to the girl in front of him. The girl who constantly did her very best to improve.

Without noticing, a smile adorned the young man’s lips as he looked at the woman who just vanished, his thoughts swirling around her and the memories they shared together.

Having someone invading his thoughts in this way was something which Hui Yue had not tried before. Whether he wished to think about her or not, w.a.n.g Ju Long was a part of his life and she had already turned into a part of his everyday thoughts. In a way different to that of Deng Wu and Sha Yun.

Even Li Fen had never appeared in his thoughts the way that w.a.n.g Ju Long kept reappearing. Her every move caught his attention, her facial expressions always bringing great entertainment to the young man. The entire situation caused Hui Yue to feel rather perplexed and confused.  

Seeing Hui Yue watching w.a.n.g Ju Long depart was something which did not escape Sha Yuh’s eyes and she had a sad expression on her face as she nestled in the warm embrace of her first human friend. Her eyes were filled with confusion which slowly changed to determination.

“Oh right!” Bustling around and finding the right storage stone, Hui Yue took out the items he bought at the marketplace, and the everyone either furrowed their brows or wrinkled their noses as all items looked old and useless.

“This one here, I don’t know what it does,” Hui Yue said as he tossed the round metal item on the bed, leaving it for later.

“I think these books might have some information about the Great Sin or the Dark Age,” Hui Yue explained, as he gently laid down the items on a table next to him, and finally the stone within his hand was the only item left.

“This one should increase cultivation,” He said with a smile as he turned and twisted it in his hands, confused about how or why the item would help him, yet never did he question Lan Feng’s words. He might have been slightly annoyed with the bird, but this treasure was something which Hui Yue would not let go of.

Seeing that the young man was staring at the stone in his hands, everyone was curious about what exactly was so astonis.h.i.+ng about it, but nothing was said and no one dared to ask. The smile his handsome face gradually increased and the white-haired man was completely focused on studying this stone, no longer noticing the many people who were standing around him.

Seeing the focus he exerted everyone sighed heavily in unison. They knew him very well and he was the kind of person who would not pay attention to his friends until he had finished understanding what was in his hands.

This caused Deng Wu and Xu Piao to shake their heads as they both made their way out of the room closing the door behind them as they too decided to sit down and cultivate for a bit.

Sha Yun had not followed the two men, instead, she sat down next Hui Yue and started meditating. Now that her master was back, there was no chance that she would leave his side when he had just vanished for a long period of time; she was seated still like a statue, working her best to improve her own cultivation base.

Although she was sitting in the room her presence was in no way an annoyance as the young man was used to having her around. Not noticing what was happening around him, he was standing still his eyes never once leaving the stone in his hands.

A small silvery light shone on his hands as a drop of spiritual energy entered the stone, but no matter how much he searched the spiritual energy felt as though it had just touched an ordinary stone.

Twisting and turning the stone over no inscription patterns were visible either, and no matter how much he searched nothing was visible. Nothing showed up, nothing stood out.

Mumbling to himself with furrowed brows, Hui Yue felt at a loss as he stood with the item alone, staring at the stone moment after moment. The sun went from high in the sky to almost setting before he made a move.

Lan Feng told him that the way to activate the stone was to keep it within his hands when he was cultivating so he sat down on the bed without even a look towards Sha Yun, his eyes only looking at the stone.

Entering meditation, Hui Yue was seated on the bed with his legs crossed and in his hands was the stone, calmly lying between his fingers.

He did not have to wait for long before it felt as though a wind sprung to life within the small room, and after a short while the wind was drawn to Hui Yue and rich air filled with the essence of the heavens and the earth surrounded the young man on the bed. The shock from this caused him to stop meditating.

As soon as he stopped the wind which was brewing in the room instantly died and the dense essence vanished within moments.

It was not only Hui Yue who stopped cultivating, Sha Yun also stopped and that all the essence within the room had vanished, making her cultivation impossible to continue, only to suddenly feel it return after a short moment.

Looking at the young man on the bed she noticed that his eyebrows had a deep frown as he once more inspected the stone with his spiritual energy and Qi, but no matter what he did nothing happened and the stone was the same as before.

Pausing for a moment Hui Yue once more entered meditation. This time, Sha Yun managed to see what was occurring and her eyes widened in surprise. She too felt how the room now contained a gentle breeze which quickly evolved into a strong wind then turned into a hurricane, surrounding the bed and the boy on top of it.

The hurricane did not grow in size, nor did it lessen, instead, it simply surrounded Hui Yue as he was seated in meditation. Upon closer inspection Sha Yun found that the hurricane was not created from the wind at all, instead the wind was a byproduct of the essence of the heavens and the earth rus.h.i.+ng towards Hui Yue and the stone, surrounding him and providing him with all the essence he was able to refine.

Though this was the only effect visible on the outside, the stone was truly worthy of being called a treasure because it also affected one’s cultivation technique; as soon as the essence of the heavens and the earth entered the body the essence would latch onto a Qi thread. Latching onto the Qi thread, the essence would start refining itself as it rushed through the body until it had the same size and purity as the qi thread it first encountered within the body. After being refined, the Qi would rush through the meridians having fully merged with the rest of the Qi.

Creating so much Qi was beneficial, not only for one’s Qi swirl but also for the spiritual energy and the spiritual energy sea where the Qi was sucked in and further refined into spiritual energy. These silvery drops of sheer power were being refined very rapidly, at a speed much quicker than Hui Yue had ever seen before.

Hui Yue’s cultivation technique created a copy of him within each of his dantians, and this copy was constantly seated in meditation never once stopping its refinement of Qi and spiritual energy, however, it did have times where it would slow down and speed up.

No matter how quick the technique had been before, it had never been as quickly as it was now. He was shocked by the speed, but at the same time very alert. His strength was increasing so rapidly that it was something which could be considered dangerous if his cultivation base became unstable. After having absorbed enough essence, he once more exited meditation, and just like last time the wind instantly died releasing the essence of the heavens and the earth back across the room.

Hui Yue was now at the peak nine star of the Master rank. During their travels, he was not the only one who improved his strength. w.a.n.g Ju Long and Sha Yun were both seven star Master ranked cultivators while Deng Wu broke into the Grandmaster rank, a first star Grandmaster. He also happened to merge with his element at the same time.

Opening his eyes, Hui Yue noticed that Sha Yun had fallen asleep next to him and a gentle smile appeared on his face as the snake-woman was one of his very best friends. She was the one who would follow him anywhere, asking no questions and always be on his side. This was something which made the young white-haired boy feel a great amount of grat.i.tude though the feelings he had for her were very different from the ones he had for w.a.n.g Ju Long. A blush crept onto his face as he was unable to stop thoughts of how he would feel had she been sleeping next to him.

Shaking his head, the young man sighed deeply before he quietly left the bed and slipped out of the door walking towards Deng Wu’s room. Although Sha Yun was his first follower there was one person who Hui Yue always felt an odd friends.h.i.+p with, and right now the young white-haired boy felt as though he needed to speak with this particular friend.

He did not need to talk about anything important, but he just wanted to speak with him about their everyday life. He was perfectly well aware that those friends that were following him were doing so out of their own will, and while they were traveling with him they followed all of Hui Yue’s orders and ideas, something which he felt much grat.i.tude for.