Inside the sandalwood case, Shawn Young found a mysterious Obsidian Box—a weird, angular thing made from a horn-like substance that was jet-black, glossy, and definitely not metal or wood. It looked like some kind of ancient relic. For a second, Shawn, shy college kid extraordinaire, had no clue what he was staring at. (Obsidian Box: A legendary artifact said to possess magical properties.)
Next to the black box was a chunky old tome. Shawn’s heart did a double backflip, and he grinned to himself: "Holy crap! Did I just strike gold? Is this one of those legendary secret manuals? If I train with this, maybe I’ll be able to fly around like Superman—or dig tunnels like a mole! Ha, ha, ha... This is too awesome!"
Unable to contain his joy, Shawn ignored the black box for now and impatiently reached out to grab the ancient book.
He quickly picked up the ancient book. To his surprise, it felt as light as air, almost weightless in his hands. Even stranger, the cover bore no title—just a plain, yellow-brown, antique look.
Naturally, Shawn thought this was super odd. He flipped open the ancient book, dying to see what juicy secrets were inside. But—bam!—every single page was blank. He rifled through them again and again, but nope, not a single word. This was a Blank Grimoire—one of the legendary treasures left behind by Elder Thomas, the mysterious master of the Clear Sky Order. (Blank Grimoire: A magical book said to reveal its secrets only to the worthy.)
"Uh... Maybe the contents of this book need some kind of secret trick to appear!?" Shawn wondered, still unwilling to give up.
He tried everything he could think of—even those TV tricks where you spit on the pages to reveal hidden writing—but the Blank Grimoire still didn’t show a single word.
"Come on... Is Elder Thomas—some ancient grandmaster—just trolling me here? He left me a Blank Grimoire with zero words? How am I supposed to inherit his badass legacy at this rate..." Shawn muttered, totally bummed out.
After fiddling with it a bit more and still getting nowhere, Shawn reluctantly set the Blank Grimoire aside and turned his attention to the black box.
He was itching to crack open the black box and see what kind of treasure was stashed inside. His mind wandered to naughty thoughts: "If there’s some ancient bling or a priceless gem in here, I could pawn it off at the antique market and roll in cash..."
Thinking about this, Shawn’s eyes sparkled as he picked up the Obsidian Box for a closer look. Unlike the Blank Grimoire, the Obsidian Box was surprisingly heavy in his hands. Shawn’s heart raced—if it was this heavy, there had to be something valuable inside! Maybe a massive piece of jade or even gold...
But then Shawn felt a headache coming on. The design of the black box was so bizarre—no matter how much he fiddled with it, he couldn’t find any opening or seam. He had no idea how Elder Thomas managed to create such a box.
He gripped the black box tightly by its corners, trying to pry it open with all his strength. But no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn’t budge. Shawn was dumbfounded. Who would have thought that the treasures Elder Thomas left behind would be so strange—he couldn’t even figure out what they were.
With that thought, Shawn quickly got up, grabbed the black box, and tried to put it back into the sandalwood case. But as he picked up the box with his right hand, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his index finger. He looked down and saw that the corner of the black box had sliced his finger, drawing blood.
"Damn it! Seriously? Only I could manage to bleed from just picking up a box! Ugh..." Shawn groaned, feeling totally unlucky.
He gritted his teeth and kept trying to shove the black box back into the sandalwood case, totally missing the fact that a few drops of his blood had splattered onto the box. The Obsidian Box sucked up the blood in an instant, like a hungry beast!
A couple drops also splashed onto the Blank Grimoire lying on the ground. Just like the box, the book slurped up the blood right away. (Blank Grimoire: A mystical book that responds to blood, hinting at hidden powers.)
Suddenly, a weird vibe wrapped around Shawn. His body started to shiver with restless energy, his heart thumping like crazy, and it felt like the air itself was buzzing with some wild, magical force that was slamming into his brain...
It felt like his brain had split in two—one half was calmly observing everything happening, while the other was out of control, generating weird thoughts. Right now, it was the strange side that had seized control of his body...
Out of nowhere, the impossible-to-open black box popped open with a crisp click. Shawn peeked inside and found an Azure Vessel Pendant—a thumb-sized, pale blue jade pendant shaped like a tiny bottle, covered in ancient patterns and shimmering with mystical light. (Azure Vessel Pendant: A magical jade artifact believed to hold spiritual power.)
At the same time, wisps of bluish smoke began curling up from the ground. Shawn gawked—the Blank Grimoire was dissolving into smoky tendrils, snaking straight for his eyes, like a flood of secret knowledge was being force-fed into his brain!
Right then, five ancient Chinese characters flared into view on the book’s cover—Codex of Ascension. The words glowed with a mystical light, as if some invisible hand had written them, marking the start of a brand-new mystery. (Codex of Ascension: The ultimate manual of supernatural cultivation, said to grant its bearer limitless power.)