TBIP: Chapter 28 Part 3

Lou Xingyao could be regarded as understanding things now. “So from beginning to end, there has never been a problem with your spiritual root?”

“Yes.” Wen Hanshan nodded.

Such a statement might fool others, but as the person involved, how could he not understand what was involved?

If it was really damage to the spiritual root, why wasn’t there the slightest sense of stagnation when communicating with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth?

However, most people at that time, even the elders of the Zhou family and his family, accepted the statement of the alchemists.

Wen Hanshan tried to refute it, but in the eyes of those people, such behavior was just a dying struggle not to lose the title of ‘number one genius on the mainland’ and his status in the Zhou family.

In the end, Wen Hanshan simply remained silent.

This type of performance was interpreted as resignation after the trick was discovered.

At one time, Wen Hanshan even wondered if he wasn’t good enough. Why else would his casual and ordinary actions be interpreted as having ulterior motives?

“It isn’t your problem. It is those people who look at you that way. Even if you do a thousand good things, in the eyes of those people, it will become a thousand mistakes.” Lou Xingyao couldn’t help comforting him in a low voice.

He seemed to understand a bit why Wen Hanshan was so cold in the original novel.

It wasn’t that he had undergone a drastic change in the three years from the ages of 19 to 22.

From the age of 14, he had endured great malice from his closest family members.

At that time, Wen Maoyin had already passed away and Wen Hanshan had lost the person who believed in him unconditionally.

Lou Xingyao didn’t even dare to think about how the Wen Hanshan at that time survived this extremely gloomy period.

It was no wonder he was so suspicious at the beginning of their acquaintance.

All the doubts that Lou Xingyao used to have seemed to have answers at this moment.

But Wen Hanshan was able to grow into the appearance he had when Lou Xingyao first saw him. Obviously, Wen Hanshan wasn’t trapped by the malice for too long. Wen Hanshan couldn’t help smiling for a moment. “Yes, I also understood this later.”

Lou Xingyao immediately understood the meaning of these words.

This was why Wen Hanshan acted so unscrupulously later.

It was why Wen Hanshan made so many ‘jokes’ in the Zhou family.

It was why Wen Hanshan found some excuses to torment the Zhou family now and then, making a spectacle so that the Zhou family would lose face in front of everyone.

If he wasn’t happy, then everyone else shouldn’t be happy.

This mental state could be called far ahead.

But Lou Xingyao didn’t think there was anything wrong with such an idea. Instead of consuming himself internally, it was better to go crazy and consume others externally.

Therefore, when he heard Wen Hanshan mention his ‘brilliant achievements’ in the Zhou family, Lou Xingyao didn’t accuse him but even praised him.

The smile on Wen Hanshan’s face widened.

For Wen Hanshan today, the Zhou family was just one episode. The most important thing was his physical condition at that time.

After the alchemists came to the conclusion that his spiritual root was damaged, the Zhou family stopped all treatment for him.

In their words, ‘damage to the spiritual root has always been incomprehensible. Rather than wasting resources on a useless person, it is better to make a plan early and find another person to cultivate.’

Wen Hanshan was sad for a while due to these words. Then he soon found that even without treatment from the alchemists, his body was gradually improving.

The specific manifestation of this was that he could use a small amount of spiritual power.

The newly cultivated spiritual power still sank into the sea as usual after entering the dantian, but being able to mobilize his original spiritual power was a great improvement.

This news once caused a stir in the Zhou family.

There were even people who started to doubt the claim that Wen Hanshan’s spiritual root was damaged.

Later, there were repeated inquiries from alchemists but still no results.

“You should’ve heard about what happened later. My realm regressed.” Speaking of this, Wen Hanshan couldn’t help chuckling.

It was when his realm regressed that the alchemists seemed to have made a breakthrough. They had an explanation for Wen Hanshan’s situation.

The original words of the alchemists were like reciting scriptures. Wen Hanshan didn’t listen carefully, and he couldn’t remember it clearly.

But he also knew that the final conclusion was that his spiritual root was indeed damaged. The fact that he was able to mobilize spiritual power was only due to this original solid foundation.

In the long run, sooner or later, he would soon reach the first level of qi condensation and become an ordinary mortal.

Wen Hanshan felt that this was nonsense, but the people of the Zhou family were very convinced by this result. Wen Hanshan’s status in the Zhou family returned to what it was before.

No.

It should be said to be even worse.

However, at that time, Wen Hanshan could already accept this greater malice.

In comparison, he wasn’t too sad.

Wen Hanshan was already relieved, so Lou Xingyao was naturally unwilling to hold onto the Zhou family, adding to his worries in vain. He pulled the topic back.

“Then how did you later detect the existence of that refining material?”

“Once my cultivation regressed, it came out on its own…” Speaking of this, even Wen Hanshan didn’t know how to evaluate it.

On the contrary, Lou Xingyao seemed to understand a bit.

From the fact that the little sword knew to apologize for injuring him, he knew that this thing might not know restraint but could distinguish right from wrong.

Probably after Wen Hanshan’s cultivation regression, it finally realized it had made a big mistake and turned itself in.

Wen Hanshan thought of the sneaky appearance of that thing when it first appeared in his dantian. “Describing it like that… is appropriate.”

In any case, since then, Wen Hanshan knew why he was unable to mobilize his spiritual power and why the spiritual power he cultivated sank directly into the sea after entering his dantian. It wasn’t due to his dantian or spiritual root being damaged. It was because there was something more in his dantian.

However, Wen Hanshan didn’t know the heart refining method at that time, and he didn’t know the use of this thing. He once wanted to take it out of his dantian.

Who knew that this thing seemed to have taken root in his dantian? No matter how hard Wen Hanshan tried, all his efforts were in vain.

Fortunately, it still had a vague consciousness. If he communicated with it in his heart, some things made sense.

The person and object could be regarded as reaching a consensus.

Wen Hanshan put up with the thing temporarily taking root in his dantian, but it could no longer directly intercept all the spiritual power that Wen Hanshan had cultivated without Wen Hanshan’s consent.

For example, the situation of draining the spiritual power in Wen Hanshan’s body for a long time, causing his cultivation to regress, was even more prohibited.

After this covenant, a brief peace was reached.

Wen Hanshan’s body finally returned to normal.

Nevertheless, he was still completely disappointed in the Zhou family and simply concealed the news.

Wen Hanshan didn’t need to say what happened later. Lou Xingyao already knew.

Regarding the matter of the Zhou family, Lou Xingyao didn’t want to make too many comments. He only focused on the refining material. “Then Brother Wen, do you now know what this refining material is?”

Originally, Lou Xingyao thought that since Wen Hanshan must have a certain understanding of its origins if he could refine it with the heart refining method.

Unexpectedly, he looked up and saw the other person shaking his head.

“I don’t know.” Wen Hanshan didn’t mean to hide it, but he really didn’t know. However, if he had to talk about its origins… “I can only vaguely feel that it is a thunder attribute sword stone.”

“Huh?” Lou Xingyao raised his eyebrow. He found it a bit strange why Wen Hanshan made this judgment.

“In the past, before I polished it, I could faintly perceive that it contained a very profound sword Dao within. Even now, I can only slightly read the surface. Fortunately, the sword Dao might be vast and deep, but it remained pure and untainted. It bore no traces of any predecessors.

In other words, even if Wen Hanshan learned from this experience, his own Dao of the sword wouldn’t be affected in any way. This could be described as a hundred benefits with no harm.

From the beginning of his cultivation, in just ten years, he was able to get a glimpse of sword intent. Now he could use sword intent freely, and the help of this refining material was indispensable.

If it wasn’t for this, Wen Hanshan wouldn’t have put up with the other thing staying in his dantian.

Wen Hanshan might not know the origin of this refining material, but Lou Xingyao found a description from the original novel. The moment he found it fit, he immediately exclaimed, “A Sword Dao Stone!”

“Huh? Could it be that there is information related to this thing in your inheritance?” Wen Hanshan raised an eyebrow slightly and became interested.

“…Yes.” Lou Xingyao had long become accustomed to using his inheritance as an excuse and didn’t deny it.

He just explained the origin of this Sword Dao Stone clearly to Wen Hanshan.

This thing was also a heavenly treasure.

Even among the heavenly treasures, it could be regarded as an extremely special existence.

The origin of this Sword Dao Stone itself was just a transformation of a highly adaptable heavenly treasure.

The highly adaptable substance was called the Dao Essence Stone, and its properties were often determined by the environment.

It appeared in the place where sword Dao was born. Under the influence of the surrounding environment for many years, it became the Sword Dao Stone.

In the big worlds, there were almost all types of Dao Essence stones such as Magic Dao Stones and Alchemy Dao Stones. They were all transformed from the Dao Essence Stones.

In addition, one of the characteristics of this stone was that it was only affected by the environment it first came into contact with.

In other words, if the Dao of alchemy and the Dao of swordsmanship were to touch the same Dao Essence stone, the stone would ultimately retain only the first Dao it came into contact with.

Wen Hanshan’s Sword Dao Stone was rare. Not only was it a Sword Dao Stone, but it also had the thunder attribute. It should’ve been subject to some type of mutation.

“From this perspective, this Sword Dao Stone should be Brother Wen’s opportunity!” Speaking of this, the smile on Lou Xingyao’s face could no longer be suppressed.

After Wen Hanshan heard about the heart refining method, he knew that the stone in his dantian was probably very consistent with his Dao.

He couldn’t tell its origin, but he could see the extraordinary origin from the sword Dao contained in it.

Now he had a clear understanding after learning its specific identity from Lou Xingyao.

Wen Hanshan even felt that the torture he suffered when he was young due to this Sword Dao Stone seemed to have paid off.

Then soon, he thought of the ‘great achievements’ of the Sword Dao Stone and couldn’t help saying, “Junior Brother Yao, do you know if there is any explanation for the consciousness within this Sword Dao Stone?”

If Wen Hanshan asked about other things, Lou Xingyao might not know.

After all, his understanding of this world wasn’t really from an inheritance, but the novel he read when he was young.

But if it was the consciousness in the Sword Dao Stone, he really could say a few things.