Lin Dong forced himself to swim deeper, guided by the intense energy flow. The small cave pool wasn't deep, and his hand soon scraped against something rough and cold at the very bottom.
He pulled it out. Next moment, a surprise flashed through his pupils looking at the faintly ash-colored stone piece that was about as big as two fingers put together.
Embedded within an extremely clear palm impression in such a dark place atop the mountain. If one were to take a closer look at the impression, he would find that it was so well imprinted that even the lines on the palm could be clearly seen.
Cryptic patterns which looked like some sort of mystical characters were faintly discernible. These mystical characters covered every inch of the stone piece, causing it to resemble a mysterious stone talisman.
As he held it, the surrounding heaven and earth energy poured directly into him, bypassing his skin and flooding his Dantian.
"This… this is a treasure!" Lin Dong whispered, his eyes wide with awe.
The Yuan Power Seed, which had been slowly forming, spun violently and condensed, shattering the bottleneck of the Seventh Layer, Tempered Body Stage.
Boom!
A powerful, controlled wave of Yuan Power radiated from Lin Dong. He had successfully formed his Yuan Power Seed and entered the Seventh Layer Tempered Body Stage, in less than a single night.
Clutching the gray stone talisman, his heart pounded with excitement and immense gratitude. He knew this single, unassuming stone was his destiny.
…
Meanwhile, back in the Lin Clan's main courtyard, Lin Yi was sitting with Qing Tan under a large, blooming tree, meticulously crafting a small wooden bird for her.
While he had been quietly waiting for Lin Dong's movements and knew his brother was now secluded in the cave with the special pool.
Qing Tan, now slightly older and just as adorable, was chattering about the new dress her mother had made for her.
"Brother Yi, do you think I can learn martial arts soon?" she asked, tilting her head.
Lin Yi smiled, reaching out to gently touch her white hair. "Soon, Qing Tan. But you have a unique body. You must wait for the perfect time and the perfect technique, or it will be dangerous."
At that exact moment, a familiar, high-frequency spiritual tremor, infinitely more intense than any before, ripped through Lin Yi's consciousness. It was the 'Unlimited Return' talent, operating at a level that threatened to disrupt his Force Camouflage entirely.
[Target Character, Lin Dong has successfully acquired the Ancestral Stone Talisman]
[10,00,000x achievement return Initiated.]
The notification was immediate, Lin Yi was shocked by the astronomical return multiplier.
A cosmic explosion of power, transcending the Yuan Power of the world, erupted in Lin Yi's Dantian and soul. The raw, unrefined Stone Talisman from the future main character was instantly transformed into its ultimate, primordial form within him.
[You have gained the Primordial Chaos Stone Talisman (Origin Level)]
The sheer, incomprehensible power of a true 'Origin Level' treasure... one that existed before the universe's beginning... flooded Lin Yi's entire being.
The Primordial Chaos Stone Talisman was not a static object; it was a boundless wellspring of pure, chaotic, and refined spiritual energy, far superior to the Origin Qi of the lower realms.
The sudden, unimaginable influx of power shattered all his current bottlenecks like glass.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The energy violently erupted through his cultivation stages.
Heavenly Yuan, Late Stage was instantly bypassed.
Yuan Dan, Early Stage… Mid Stage!
The colossal force continued its relentless surge, forcing the Nine Sun Art and the Nine Turn Pure Yin Physique to merge and cycle at an insane, near-fatal speed. The combined Yin-Yang power solidified and began to coalesce into a single core in his Dantian.
Yuan Dan, Late Stage!
The breakthrough to the Yuan Dan Stage... the realm of true masters in the Great Yan Empire... was completed in a matter of heartbeats. The Yuan Dan was not a simple core but a perfect, shimmering Yin-Yang pearl, radiating absolute starlike chaotic power.
Qing Tan, unaware of the cosmic event occurring right beside her, suddenly shuddered, feeling a profound, inexplicable coldness radiating from Lin Yi.
"Brother Yi? Are you cold?" she asked, looking at his utterly serene, almost frighteningly still face.
Lin Yi opened his eyes. The gray was gone. His pupils were now a mesmerizing, swirling vortex of silver-blue lightning and glacial gold... a brief, terrifying flash that instantly snapped back to the mundane gray before Qing Tan could register it.
'A perfect Yuan Dan! And a jump of three realms! The Primordial Chaos Stone Talisman is infinitely more potent than the Ancestral Talisman!'
He took a slow, deep breath, the subtle hum of his Force Camouflage working overtime to compress the power of a Yuan Dan master into the body of a fourteen-year-old boy.
"No, Qing Tan, I am not cold." Lin Yi replied, his voice calm, suppressing the seismic energy tremor in his chest. "I just… had a strong whim. Let me finish your little bird."
He picked up the unfinished carving, his heart pounding not from effort, but from the immense power now sealed within.
'The plotline will begin and I will work on the symbol master field or such a huge amount of mental energy will become useless.'
As he carved the bird, a thought flashed through his mind, while sensing the whole mountain range around him using his mental energy.
After a while,
He stood up, stretching his small frame. The subtle tremor from his colossal power disappeared entirely, leaving him looking like any average, slightly gifted fourteen-year-old boy.
"Qing Tan, let's go. It's getting late. Brother Dong is likely still deep in his cultivation," Lin Yi said, offering her the finished wooden bird.
Qing Tan startled and then nodded happily, grabbing the wooden bird in her hand and stood up saying, "Okay, Brother Yi. I hope Brother Dong breaks through soon. Father says he is working very hard."
…
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