Chapter 152: Chapter 143 Old Feelings
Zhou Leng spent most of the day cleaning out the clutter.
There were very few gold, silver jewelry or treasures; even orange gold was only a little more than a hundred grains, not as much as what he acquired on the Celestial Tier Battlefield.
Most were everyday items.
Things that were intact and useful were scarce.
Six beast hide books, clearly influenced by witchcraft power, remained uncorrupted to this day.
A lavish bone box, like a jewelry box, about the size of a lunch box.
Four high-energy shells, palm-sized, an inch thick, resembling a flattened ordinary conch, in a spiral ring with five shell layers.
The surface shimmered with colorful light, akin to an artwork, making the heart race, more beautiful than the cross-section of an ammonite or nautilus.
Not considered rare collectibles, but more vibrant than ordinary high-energy shells.
With just a glance, Zhou Leng was instinctively attracted, wanting to keep them, not intending to sell.
A large bag of bone powder, emanating an extremely dense aura.
Inside, it exuded a peculiar aura similar to the holy remains aura of the Flower of High Earth.
This bone powder might very well be the holy remains bone powder of a magical beast or fierce beast.
This small bag is worth at least a billion.
Zhou Leng suppressed his joy.
Aside from these, there were various odds and ends, either unrecognizable or not very useful.
There were many blood bones, pills, and magic potions, but eight hundred years had wiped everything away.
Zhou Leng stored all the items, leaving only the thick beast hide books, gazing at the bone jewelry box.
He gently opened it.
Intense blood light erupted, instantly filling the reading room.
Zhou Leng, amidst the blood light, groaned, collapsed on the ground.
The boundless blood light gathered, drilling into Zhou Leng’s body.
Zhou Leng’s skin cracked all over, yet blood didn’t flow, undulating at the fissures.
Faint golden threads emerged among the blood.
A little elf suddenly appeared.
She glanced at the object inside the jewelry box, lightly tapped her foot in the air.
"Kids these days are too daring; you’re just..."
She closed her mouth, looking at the injured Zhou Leng, sighed helplessly. As the manager here, she couldn’t just watch someone who’s passed two tests die in the reading room.
"That beastman child died of old age, this little fellow can’t just die here like this, otherwise... kids these days, truly reckless..."
The little elf shook her head helplessly, waved her magic wand, and a ray of white light descended from the sky, entering Zhou Leng’s body.
His body healed at a visible rate.
After losing consciousness, Zhou Leng felt his body light and floating, continuously ascending.
Flying out of Blue Star, flying out of the Solar System, flying out of the Milky Way Galaxy, flying out of the Local Group, flying out of the Virgo Cluster, flying out of the Laniakea Supercluster, flying out of the Pisces-Cetus Supercluster Complex, flying out of the Observable Universe, flying into the grandiose Endless Celestial Region, finally seeming to reach another completely different universe.
A colossal human torso stood amidst the starry sky.
Countless vast celestial regions converged, like nebulae, orbiting the body.
A drop of divine blood, brilliant as an exploding supernova, dripped from the giant torso.
The divine blood accelerated, piercing through numerous spaces, falling onto an extremely small point.
Divine radiance arose abruptly, illuminating the world, creating heaven and earth.
Like an unparalleled big bang, it stirred an endless mighty force, birthing a new universe.
As the divine blood exploded with divine light, it dispersed into countless tiny blood rain, spread across many celestial regions.
Each fragment of divine blood swelled rapidly, transformed into stars-sized divine spirits and gigantic monsters.
Part of the divine blood constantly tore by boundless power, continually divided, shrinking ever smaller until it couldn’t even be seen by the naked eye.
Scattered into numerous spaces.
A divine blood drop smaller than an atom landed on a continent.
After a long time, the divine blood split in two, transforming into two inch-long blood-red oval shapes.
Like two miniaturized footballs.
The front and back of the blood-red crystal encircled by black wave patterns.
Resembling eyes of a demon.
"Eye of the Ancient God..."
Zhou Leng suddenly recalled the legend of Steel Dwarves.
Moments later, Zhou Leng opened his eyes.
Slowly rose up, everything around unchanged.
His body... felt hot.
The jewelry box opened, inside was a red crystal olive, encircled by black wave patterns identical to what he saw in the dream.
Zhou Leng stared at the Eye of the Ancient God.
Legend has it there are two Eyes of the Ancient God, one held by the dwarves, one by the beastmen.
This one, then, should be the beastman’s ultimate treasure.
No wonder the two beastman journals failed to record what treasure the Flower of High Earth brought in.
"What is the use of this? Just now, the light..."
Zhou Leng closed the jewelry box and placed it in his Magic Spirit Bag.
Then sat cross-legged on the spot, sensing Martial Arts.
In the martial perception, it seemed as if his whole body expanded.
Whether muscles, bones, height, or internal organs and intestines, even the brain, all grew larger.
The body formed a faint feeling of saturation as if soaked in water for a long time.
The whole person seemed swollen.
Yet unlike bloating, the body was filled with power within.
This power wasn’t sudden but was gradually increasing at a slow pace.
Seemed related to one’s realm.
The higher the realm, the faster the release.
The lower the realm, the slower the release, to avoid injuring a fragile body.
In martial perception, it was as if an all-round enhancement, to be precise...
Evolution.
Zhou Leng looked around, lacking a direct method for measuring power, thought for a moment.
Placed both hands on the ground, strained his waist and back, and stood upside down.
Then withdrew his left hand, standing upside down on one hand.
Then, put away the other hands, leaving only one index finger.
Single-finger handstand.
Fingertip pointing to the ground, index finger straight, arm straight, body straight.
From finger to toe, Zhou Leng’s entire body formed a line.
Finger like a sword, arm like a sword, body like a sword.
Like a sword questioning the heavens.
Single-finger handstand, the Body Refining Stage can achieve it, but rarely as straight as a sword.
Like a sword questioning the heavens, it tests not just strength but the body’s overall quality.
Generally, it requires the Vitality Stage, with Qi, blood, body, and power entwined to achieve it.
Subsequently, Zhou Leng used the right index finger as a leg, with the finger joint as the knee, performing a handstand single-finger squat.
Body descending, then slowly rising.
The finger slightly trembles, yet does not fall.
Zhou Leng continuously performs single-finger squats, feeling slightly fatigued only on the 100th one.
Flipping onto the ground, he looked down at his fingertip.
The fingertip was slightly red.
Until now, True Qi had not been utilized.
Zhou Leng began practicing punches in place.
Overlapping Waves Palm, Mountain Charging Fist, Flying Cloud Leg, Eight Trigrams Step, Cloud Wandering Body Technique...
After finishing a set, Zhou Leng pondered the process.
The feeling just now was extremely subtle.
Before, he could only perceive certain fine details of the body.
For example, when pushing a palm forward, you’d first feel the waist and legs exerting force, then the shoulders and arms, and finally the palm, separated rather than simultaneous.
But now, when pushing a palm forward, in Martial Arts perception, the entire person seemed to appear in the mind.
From force in the foot, Qi manipulation from Dantian, to the whole body’s True Qi, and finally the palm strike, all details instantly perceived.
Previous perception was like dividing a "line" into multiple segments.
The actual feeling was one line segment following another.
Seemingly unified, but in reality dispersed.
But now, capable of simultaneously sensing the entire line in an instant.
The body seemed forged into unity by that red light.
Indivisible.
Completely interconnected.
Soul and body as one.
Combat awareness increased significantly.
Already infinitely close to the first level realm of combat awareness, Detect Subtle.
Previously, Dragon Marrow Blood Bone only enhanced the blood.
This time, the illumination of the Eye of the Ancient God increased comprehensively.
In Martial Arts perception, everything about oneself, whether body or consciousness, was "expanded".
All prior training was like refining a glass cup into a steel cup.
But a steel cup, no matter how sturdy, holds the same amount of water.
Now, the body gradually transformed from a cup to a bottle, able to hold more water.
Changes at the level of life essence and genes.
Zhou Leng recalled Dwarven history.
It was after mastering the Eye of the Ancient God in the Mountain Melting Furnace that Steel Dwarves were born with Steel Skin.
Steel Skin is a Clan Divine Power, equivalent to humans’ Seed of True Qi.
The Beastman’s Clan Divine Power translates to Steel Bones in Chinese.
The clan divine powers of both races were born in the same era.
It seems the core power of the Eye of the Ancient God has been absorbed by both races.
But for an individual, even the residual power of the Eye of the Ancient God is unimaginably vast.
Zhou Leng picked up five thick Beast Hide Books, jumped onto the desk, opened the Demonized Watch for scanning translation, and read quickly.
Turns out, these were the notes of the Flower of High Earth.
Part of it recorded her major life events, including her romantic journey and family experiences.
Another part documented major events of ancient Beastmen and Dwarves, some buried by the sands of history.
Some practices and adventures were even linked to various ancient ruins.
The most extensive section was Divine Text notes.
In general, Divine Text notes should be the most important.
But unfortunately, the research results from 800 years ago are far behind today’s standards.
The discoveries she thought were significant, especially in terms of grammar, are merely content for today’s Intermediate Divine Text Researcher exams.
The accuracy of many Divine Texts was less than the Beastman Divine Rune Master Zhou Leng killed.
Within the Divine Text notes, the most valuable were some previously unseen Divine Texts and insights at the Martial Saint level.
After skimming through, Zhou Leng read it again, this time focusing on content related to the Ancient King’s Treasure.
Her notes complemented external guesses.
Some parts aligned with external speculation: the Flower of High Earth and Mountain Melting Furnace inadvertently entered ancient ruins, underwent tests together, researched Divine Texts, and eventually fell in love.
Initially, they even decided to live in seclusion among the ruins, no longer venturing out.
But as their power grew, discovering the effect of the Eye of the Ancient God, both wanted to serve their respective clans.
Eventually, the two agreed to part temporarily, then reunite.
Both successfully triggered their clan divine powers.
But what followed was a war between the two races.
At that time, they were mere Grandmasters, not yet Demigods. Despite their significant achievements, they could not change the situation between the two races.
As their friends and family were continually killed in battle, both were immeasurably pained.
Finally, they decided to withdraw from all clan affairs and live in seclusion in the ruins within a year.
One night, the Flower of High Earth received a secret letter from the Mountain Melting Furnace.
Because at that time, the two races already suspected their relationship, they couldn’t meet, and Mountain Melting Furnace feared exposure, so the entire letter was written in Divine Text.
The Flower of High Earth wrote that Mountain Melting Furnace had agreed to meet at their initial battlefield, then live in seclusion.
The Flower of High Earth went to the appointed place, but after a day passed, Mountain Melting Furnace did not show up.
Instead, came the pursuit of the Dwarven army.