The first thing that Li Xinwen did after entering his room was to lock the door. Knowing that Xue Rui will be spending the night just a few steps away did not make him feel secure. “Why does it seem like Xue Rui is not even bothering to hide his desire for Li Xinwen?” he wondered, bemused. Shaking his head, Li Xinwen sat down on the chair near the bookshelf and examined the box in his hand. It continued to emit a green aura from within.
“What could be inside this box?” Li Xinwen’s heart started to race as he slowly lifted the upper lid of what appeared to be a velvet clamshell box. “I swear, if this is a ring I am going to–“
Li Xinwen’s eyes widened as he saw what was inside. Resting on the silk covered base liner was a jade pendant carved into a crest. The crest looked extremely familiar. Based on the original Li Xinwen’s memories, the crest belonged to the Xue family. Such a gift only indicated one thing. “Ugh… what in the world was that fool thinking? As if I would actually marry into his family! This is just as bad as getting a ring!” Li Xinwen remarked as he closed the box and threw it on his bed. “Such a troublesome fool…” he shook his head with annoyance.
Li Xinwen stood up from the chair and made his way to the terrace. The night was still. He looked up and saw that the sky was littered with stars. He was suddenly overcome with a feeling of sadness as he was reminded of the betrayal by his brother. “Ah… this is no time to be thinking of such things… Perhaps a little rest will lighten this feeling,” he sighed as he turned around and headed towards the bath, leaving the sliding glass doors to his terrace open.
Just as he was making his way, the box emitted an intense green light and Li Xinwen felt as if it was deliberately drawing his attention, as if calling him to open the box once more. As he came nearer, the light started intensifying and the jade’s absorption of spiritual energy became stronger. Even the spiritual energy outside his room was being absorbed by the jade. As if in panic, Li Xinwen opened the box and took out the jade. He held the jade on his right palm as if weighing the stone. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the intricate details of the crest and he could clearly see how spiritual energy was absorbed by the smallest curve and angle carved into the stone.
“Hey! If you continue absorbing all the spiritual energy how am I going to cultivate tonight?” he addressed the stone. “Ah… why am I reprimanding a stone,” he said, shaking his head as he let out a small chuckle. And as if the jade heard his remark, it started to shine brighter than it had initially. His eyes grew wide as he felt a searing heat on his palm which held the jade and by reflex he let go of the box, which rolled to the side of the door, both lids open.
Li Xinwen hissed in pain and wanted to let go of the stone. But alas, the jade seemed to have a different idea. It melted before his eyes and suddenly disappeared into his palm. The searing heat was gone. He examined his palm but found nothing out of the ordinary. “The jade has really disappeared into my palm!”
Spiritual energy started gathering around Li Xinwen and was quickly absorbed by his right hand. And although he was already a 3rd stage Houtian, the amount of spiritual energy that he could absorb was only minimal. And considering the scarcity of spiritual energy in the mortal world, he was amazed at how much he was absorbing at that moment. He could feel the energy spreading throughout his body, enveloping every cell and mixing in with his very essence. Li Xinwen was suddenly reminded of his time in Long Xing. The low-grade heavenly treasure he obtained had also bound itself to him. He surmised that the same happened with the jade pendant.
“Do heavenly treasures possess a sense of self or consciousness?” he mumbled. Li Xinwen closed his eyes and tried to sense the jade’s presence from within. And sure enough, it made its presence felt, his mind’s eye saw a pulsating green orb within him. The jade had integrated itself within his palm and bound itself to his soul. He noticed that the orb was pulsating irregularly, as if it had sustained some form of damage.
“…” Li Xinwen guessed that the damage may have arisen when the jade was crafted into the Xue family crest. “If it was undamaged, it’s possible that it would have had other functions aside from absorbing spiritual energy! Ah…what a waste!”
He sighed at the thought that the heavenly treasure had been damaged. Li Xinwen could only hope that he would be able to find the other pieces of the jade so that he could repair the heavenly treasure. “For now, I shall call you Lan Yu,” Li Xinwen said as he stared at his hand. It was customary for cultivators to name the treasure that was bound to them.
As if sensing that it was given a name, the jade responded by sending out a stream of warm, gentle spiritual energy through Li Xinwen’s body. “En. You like that?” Li Xinwen said, smiling, as if talking to a child who had been given praise. “Then shall we cultivate tonight?” and Lan Yu sent out another stream of warm spiritual energy as if in agreement, which made Li Xinwen let out a small chuckle.
Li Xinwen was now convinced that heavenly treasures indeed possessed some form of consciousness. Perhaps these treasures were bestowed by the heavens with the capacity to respond to a cultivator’s feelings to whom they bound themselves to. This idea filled Li Xinwen with a renewed enthusiasm towards the possibility of furthering his current stage.
Once more he made sure that the door to his room was locked before he began cultivating. Li Xinwen walked to the center of his room and sat down cross-legged facing the terrace outside his room. Li Xinwen closed his eyes and heightened his senses. His mind visualized the traces of spiritual energy around him just as a gentle breeze made its way from outside and brushed his cheeks; and the only light illuminating his room came from the moon.
By the next morning, Li Xinwen had broken through the 3rd stage Houtian and was now at the peak of the 4th stage.
