5 Opened Path

As the chest opened, shining inside with a red light, was a strange red rock. It's size as big as 7 centimeters in diameter. While sitting in the treasure chest, it gave the impression it was scorching to the touch.

The soft cushion it sat on in the chest, even had small signs of burns but very faint. From its perfect sphere shape, it looked like a spirit stone but a different color.

Although Jie Heijun had heard of spirit stones, he had never seen one in reality. Furthermore, those spirit stones were low in quality and its color a whitish blue. Did this mean the rock before him, was a high-quality spirit stone?

He once overheard, its purity was based off the energy store inside, and how much and vibrant the color blue appeared. The higher its purity and quality, the higher its blue color would show.

There was nothing about red spirit stones. It had to be a mysterious rock that has never been revealed to others before. This sort of thing wasn't surprising, given the fact that it came from a Dungeon Zone.

All dungeon artifacts were usually unique objects that generally would be one of its kind type of items. The good thing about artifacts in a dungeon, compare to artifacts outside Dungeon Zones, was that these items came with vague instructions on how to use them.

There was no great detailing, but more like what was needed to make it useful. Jie Heijun also knew this about items from a dungeon, so he wasn't too disappointed when he became confused about what it was.

His only worry being, could he even pick it up? He was still recovering from the Sound Bat's last attack, and it was also one of the reasons he didn't confront the Bai Family people. There was no need to injure himself more.

Deciding to use a single finger to test how hot it came across as being, Jie Heijun tapped it with his index finger. There was no heat or burning sensation to the touch.

Wanting to be sure, he tapped it a few times, adding more fingers each try. Satisfied, he grabbed it in his hand before bringing it closer to get a better view of it.

It was at this moment when the Exp stones he still had, shook a few times, before shooting toward the small mysterious rock. In their flight toward it, they shrunk as the energy store inside each stone, left them while being absorbed into the strange rock.

"What?! I need those! Stop and give'em back!" He exclaimed. Getting Exp stones wasn't simple at all; if he lost them now, he really wouldn't be turning his situation around. It would be the opposite in fact.

There was no response to his outburst as each one finally disappeared. Nothing remained of them to show there was any before. The mysterious rock, however, now had a radiant light to it, showing off its uniqueness from other similar stones.

Still holding it with great disappointment and regret, it finally started to gain a fiery feel to its temperature. It even grew to the point; it was like placing one's hand in a pot of boiling water. The burning pain didn't stop there.

With a quick rush, he had no time to let go as it shot into his body while spreading the pain throughout him. It was so painful, staying conscious was no different than willingly agreeing to be tortured.

At first only his hand felt to be in boiling water, now it was his whole body. Clenching his teeth to endure it, he promised he would found that fake dungeon, and destroy it, inside and out. Because there was no way, a rare treasure from a real Dungeon Zone would try to take the cultivator's life.

If things were like that, nobody would find interest in dungeons. And yet, he had managed to get such a treasure. Soon the veins in him began to bulge and squirm like worms wiggling around. His breathing took on a new change as each air coming out gave light thunder sounds.

Even an uncomfortable pressure in his throat increased as time passed. Not knowing how long the pain continued, Jie Heijun found himself relieving himself of the discomfort as black blood hit the floor he curled on.

With his knees and head on the ground and his back facing up, he forcefully changed his position into a mediation one. Vague information on a breathing technique crossed his mind before slipping away.

Still, in that short time, he was able to gain a small understanding to use its basics. With the new breathing technique, strong pulses filled his body. The pain no longer troubled him as he became used to it.

*thump*

*thump* *thump*

It was his heartbeat which matched the rhythm of his breathing. Black sticky substance washed out his body as he continued performing the technique. He could feel it now; this had been a blessing in disguise again. His parents wanted their unfilial son to avenge them.

With the information he had, he pushed the mysterious rock to the center inside him, in the location of his Qi source. His goal was to connect it to his main talent vein point.

Before he got the treasure item, he had always thought there were only three major talent vein points and six minor talent vein points. Each of the vein points would need to be nurtured by experience energy.

When nurtured, major vein points would be able to form talents, and the minor vein points would act as a strengthener and upgrade their performance. This actions, in turn, would raise the body level each time with the excess experience energy. As for the main vein point, it was new.

It would form an overall talent for the current body realm, and then be strengthened by the other nine vein points. Because of the difficulty in nurturing the main vein point, there was no excess experience energy left to raise the body level.

This process was just the way to rank up the body, as for raising the cultivation, it was a process of opening a path to the vein points and forming talent seeds which would hold talents, to be placed in and nurtured. With spirit stones being at its core.

Although the whole information he got was vague, Jie Heijun understood all this. By perform his earlier steps, he would be able to step into the hidden layer, Half-Step Martial Body. When he pulled this off, his prospects would be bright and endless.

After all, who could claim they also had such a solid foundation? He still didn't understand why the rock absorbed the Exp Stones' energy, but by doing so, he was sure, he was going to gain a new talent similar to the Residents he fought.

The reason for this belief, it's often said, whichever Resident experience energy a person absorbed, would bring a higher chance of gaining a similar hidden talent to that Resident.

Hopefully, it was a good talent. Feeling the effects slowly die down and the pain lessened, he knew the ending touches was near. Making sure to follow the instruction, he took all of the energy that was absorbed by the mysterious rock and spread it throughout his main vein point.

It's finished!

He could already tell the difference between his previous strength. Power was coursing through him, unreserved. Just by gripping his hand into a fist, he felt the tension his muscles and bones gave. As for the previous layers and stages in the Mortal Body realm, they couldn't compare to his current strength at all.

Even if he was to give a measuring to it, he was confident; the power was at least five times stronger than when he was just in the Mortal Expert layer. If he was to fight with the Suicidal Sound Bat now, a single blow was all he needed to end the fight.

Once more, he didn't need an Identity Status stone to check his current status. Just with the small Form Qi running inside his body was enough. Deciding to confirm his new changes, he wasted no time bring the status screen up.

There before him was the information to his new strength. It was no wonder he felt so powerful now, compared to before he had benefited from the mysterious rock, when at the Mortal Expert Late Stage. He had truly changed his destiny.

"Mother, Father, I completely understand your wishes. Your unfilial son will definitely, avenge the Jie Clan's shame and deaths. My path has completely opened." Jie Heijun spoke.

After all, he now knew this was their exact wish. How else could he receive such unbelievable luck which greeted his eyes and stood before him?