At thirteen, Evan Yang faced agonizing cultivation pain with no choice but to endure. Gradually, his senses began to fade.
Just as Evan was about to lose consciousness, a wave of coolness swept over him, instantly calming his boiling blood. It felt as if a block of ice had been dropped into scalding water—deeply soothing.
Evan felt indescribable comfort from the cold energy. He let out a long breath: "Whew."
Curious, Evan sat cross-legged again, closed his eyes, and tried to sense the source of the cold. "Here?" When he probed inward, he discovered the chill was coming from his dantian.
"Dantian? There's something here." Evan sensed something rotating in his dantian, and the cold aura was coming from it.
Evan hadn't learned any inner-viewing techniques yet, so he couldn't see the changes in his dantian or understand what was releasing the cold.
"I need to ask Tiger Sun if he knows any inner-viewing techniques when I get back," Evan thought. He stood up, walked over to the rock, and picked up the box that had held the seed. "That seed let me cultivate, but what's the story behind this box?" Evan examined the box, glanced at the sleeping white-browed man, and put the box away. As he did, he noticed something carved underneath.
"Huh?" Evan muttered, turning the box over to inspect the back. He saw four large characters: "Herbal Heart Codex." What was this? Evan wondered aloud, then tried to probe the wooden back the same way he read the Rising Sun Scripture.
Sure enough, Evan found a secret. The wooden backing labeled "Herbal Heart Codex" contained detailed records of herbs. Curious, Evan browsed through it and saw that the codex was vast, listing countless herbs—some familiar, some unknown. Each entry described their properties, effects, and typical habitats.
"I wonder what the seed I swallowed really was." Thinking of the seed, Evan kept searching until he found an illustration matching the one he'd eaten. He read the entry carefully.
"Heaven‑Cold Seed, a divine seed with many miraculous effects." Evan was curious about its powers but found the entry abruptly ended, with no details. Why? This seed was left out—Evan was shocked.
It was as if the Herbal Heart Codex deliberately hid the details about the Heaven‑Cold Seed, leaving Evan unable to find any explanation.
"It's already amazing that the codex records so many herbs." Evan now regarded the Herbal Heart Codex as a medicinal scripture and treasure, but he felt a bit disappointed that there was no detailed entry for the Heaven‑Cold Seed.
Evan was now eager to return and find an inner-viewing technique to check his body's abnormalities. He walked to the ice block and gently touched it, speaking to the sealed white-browed man as if to a family elder: "Senior, I will cultivate diligently and live up to your expectations. One day, I'll help you see the sky again."
After calming himself, Evan began searching for a way out. By the faint light, he explored every corner until he found a narrow fissure leading upwards.
"This is it." Evan looked up, grabbed a sturdy rock with his left hand, braced his left foot, then his right hand and foot, carefully climbing using the uneven rock surface. He encouraged himself: "Evan, you can do this." He climbed step by step, not daring to relax for a moment.
Finally, Evan managed to poke his head out, looked around, grabbed the edge, and hauled himself up. Exhausted, he lay beside the crack, gazing at the sky and smiling: "Evan, from now on, the world is yours to explore. You must become a true expert."
At that moment, a thirteen-year-old boy began a cultivation path unlike any other.