Within the ancient bowl dimension, Huan Qing Yan held the Ink Jade Lingzi and examined it.
The exterior was a layer of ink colored jade so she used a hammer-like tool that she found on the fields behind the house to break it open.
Very quickly, a fleshy substance was revealed underneath the jade. The thing looked alive while Spirit Energy was also being released from it, just a whiff of it and Huan Qing Yan felt alert and refreshed.
This piece of jade was not large, about the size of an adult’s fist.
The thing within it was even smaller, around the size of an infant’s fist.
Huan Qing Yan was afraid she was unable to absorb it entirely after factoring in her Two-Star Spirit Master cultivation; if she overdid it, her body might explode from the excess energy.
Therefore, she used a small knife and cut a piece that was the size of a fingernail. She want to gauge and test its effects by consuming this smaller piece.
Yet unexpectedly, after cutting it and before she could place it in her mouth...
The fingernail size Lingzi flew away, dug into the ground and disappeared.
This frustrated Huan Qing Yan greatly. Dammit, it was only a small piece, yet this damn thing still ran, how could a duck about to be eaten fly away*? Huan Qing Yan took up a hoe nearby and tried to dig at the place the Lingzi disappeared into...
(Cuppa: It was supposed to mean ‘A sure thing was missed right in front of the person’s eyes’ but it was used in a literal sense this time)
Yet unexpectedly, before the hoe could strike the ground, a green sprout emerged from that spot!
Huan Qing Yan was dumbstruck, “Does this mean that it had sprout and could not be eaten now?”
“Isn’t this supposed to grow from rocks? How could it sprout? Is it trying to trick this sister?”
Huan Qing Yan dropped the tool and thought about these plots of land in front of her. Leaving them as they were seemed to be a great waste; as a certified glutton, if she did not plant some food, it would tarnish her title of Glutton Star.
Let’s talk about it next time.
To prevent another piece from escaping, Huan Qing Yan decide to take the risk and stuffed the whole piece into her mouth and swallowed it.
In an instant, Huan Qing Yan felt her mind turning cloudy, a large and powerful surge of Spirit Energy began to well up within her body. The energy was strong and fierce, making her efforts to guide it useless, the energy eventually rushed into her head causing her to go unconscious nearly immediately.
Before she that instant she went unconscious, a thought crossed Huan Qing Yan’s mind: dammit, so this was the feeling of eating oneself to death...
Little did Huan Qing Yan know that there were consequences for falling unconscious. That when she woke up, she would have missed many things.
The fate that she managed to barely change had turned back to its original course.
***
Within the Huan Estate, a gloomy and ominous cloud began to circle the place.
Madam Huan visited the training room three times a day but all she saw was the door to the room being tightly shut.
Huan Bei Ming’s illness had turned for the worst. This illness came without warning, despite getting the best doctor of the capital to diagnose and treat, there was no signs of recovery. The Royal Family had also granted countless medical herbs and delivered them to the Huan Estate.
However in the end, they also began to slowly give up on him.
Huan Bei Ming’s illness came like an avalanche and went unconscious shortly after a few days it struck. The reason he still lives and holding on to his last breath was because he wished to see Huan Qing Yan’s results after she finished her training.
Within the deep recesses of the royal palace.
The Emperor and the Great Augur was seating facing each other, their gazes were on a crystal ball that was on the table between them...
Placed on top of the crystal ball was a strand of black silky hair, one look and people would know that it belonged to a woman.
“The divination spell is not working? How come you could not divine the location of Huan Qing Yan when you are already using her hair?” the Emperor said in surprise.