Manna Zhen had left. No matter how much Joe Di tried to pull himself together, whenever he thought of Manna Zhen’s beautiful face and the words "I’m sorry" she uttered when she left, all his fighting spirit vanished.
If it weren’t for Trevor Qu, perhaps Joe Di would have remained in this state of despair forever.
After becoming known as the wastrel of Pearl City, Trevor Qu was Joe Di’s only friend. Trevor Qu had a martial root, but he disliked martial training, so he spent his days wandering Pearl City with Joe Di, who lacked a martial root. Although Joe Di never intended to become a bully, in truth, no one in Pearl City dared provoke him. Usually, whenever people saw Joe Di and Trevor Qu approaching, they would make way as quickly as possible.
It wasn’t until two years later, when eighteen-year-old Joe Di and Trevor Qu were tipsy in a restaurant, that he saw Manna Zhen, who had returned to Pearl City to visit her family. By Manna Zhen’s side stood a handsome young man in white, carrying a long sword on his back.
At eighteen, Manna Zhen was even more ethereal and beautiful than she had been two years before. Standing on the streets of Pearl City, her otherworldly elegance made the whole city pale in comparison. From her clear, unaffected gaze, Joe Di knew that he no longer held any place in her heart.
She and the young man in white looked like a perfect couple. All of this made Joe Di feel a pang of bitterness. Even though he knew he and Manna Zhen would never be together again, seeing this scene made him realize he had never truly let go.
"Heh, what’s so great about that... Ah Di... If you had a martial root, not even a hundred Manna Zhens could keep up with you... Come on, let’s drink..."
Half-squinting in his drunkenness, Trevor Qu downed another cup of wine and spoke with a slurred tongue.
Joe Di did not drink. He remembered why he had studied medicine in the first place. Back then, he had worried that he wouldn’t have a martial root when tested at sixteen, so he planned to seek a martial root through the path of medicine. Why, after learning he had no martial root, did he forget all his original resolve?
Not only that, he had wasted two years idling away in Pearl City. Even though his father had never said a word to him, how could he not know the disappointment in his father’s heart?
Since that was the case, what had he spent those four years studying medicine for? Trevor was right—if he had a martial root, Joe Di wouldn’t be any less than Manna Zhen.
Watching Manna Zhen gradually disappear into the distance, Joe Di stood up, drained his cup of wine, and hurled it against the wall.
From today onward, that sentimental youth would be gone forever.
"What’s wrong?" Trevor Qu mumbled, raising his head in a daze. As for the restaurant staff outside, even if Joe Di tore the place apart, none of them would dare come in and say a word.
Joe Di took a deep breath. "Trevor, I won’t be coming out to drink anymore. I’m going to get back to my own work."
Trevor Qu was already snoring, having completely missed what Joe Di had said.
......
Joe Di meant what he said. He plunged once more into endless medical research.
In Jade Nation, there was no one left who could be his teacher, but that didn’t matter to Joe Di.
Another three years passed. During those three years, Joe Di experimented with countless herbs and formulas. Although he hadn’t found a way to unlock the martial root, he did discover three recipes that could help martial artists cultivate.
Any one of these recipes would drive martial artists mad with desire, but Joe Di kept them all to himself.
These days, Joe Di was frantically digging for herbs on Northridge Mountain, because he had found a new formula that might unlock the martial root. The main ingredient for this new formula was Veilweed.
A stone? Joe Di bent down and picked up the grayish stone from the soil he’d just turned over.
He had been digging along the root of the Veilweed, but instead of finding the herb, he ended up uncovering a stone.
He was about to throw the stone away, but the icy sensation in his hand made Joe Di feel it was different from ordinary stones.
Maybe it was an Ice Jade Stone. Joe Di didn’t really care about its value—though everyone in Pearl City thought he was useless, at least he was never short of money.
His father, Shawn Di, was a founding hero of Jade Nation and the brother of King Marcus. Of his five older brothers, four died for the nation, and one died protecting the Third Prince. Both his sisters married into the royal family. In all of Jade Nation, the Di family was the epitome of wealth and honor.
With such a background, how could Joe Di ever lack for money?
"If it really is an Ice Jade Stone, then today wasn’t wasted after all..." Joe Di chuckled at himself, wiping the dirt off the stone in his hand. It wasn’t about the money—at least he hadn’t come away empty-handed.
Before Joe Di could put the stone in his pocket, a terrifying rift-splitting sound echoed overhead. Joe Di looked up in shock and saw a black crack appear in the blue sky.
A pale golden bolt of lightning shot down from that black rift, striking directly above his head. It was over. Joe Di instinctively closed his eyes, his face turning pale.
It felt as if a bucket of electrified ice water had been poured over his head—Joe Di’s whole body was cold and tingling.
Was he alright? Joe Di looked up; the black rift was still in the distant sky. Instinctively, he glanced at the gray stone in his hand and was stunned to find a pale golden thread running through its center.
Wasn’t this the same pale golden lightning he’d just seen? The shape was identical—how had it shrunk and ended up inside the stone? He clearly remembered that when he first found the stone, there was no golden thread. Wait, there was also something strange about his hand...
Black filth seeped from his wrist and arm, and suddenly he felt a change throughout his body—something he couldn’t quite describe. His mind became astonishingly clear. Joe Di had always known he was smart, but his brain had never felt this sharp before.
This gray stone was definitely something special, and the pale golden thread inside it was no ordinary thing either. It seemed the golden lightning hadn’t struck him directly, but had been absorbed by the stone instead.
Joe Di no longer had any interest in digging for herbs. He couldn’t wait to take the gray stone home and show it to his father, to find out what it really was. At the same time, he wanted to report the appearance of the black rift to King Marcus. He couldn’t contribute on the battlefield like his brothers, but reporting this void rift was at least a way to serve his country.
If King Marcus allowed him to make a request, what should he ask for? Yes, he should leave Jade Nation and visit the Luyuan Empire as well.
"Ah Di, run!" Joe Di was still lost in thought when a panicked voice rang in his ear.
"Trevor, what’s going on? Why do I need to run?" Joe Di looked in surprise at his friend Trevor Qu, who was rushing over, completely bewildered. His father, Shawn Di, was the highest-ranking general in Jade Nation—what could possibly make Joe Di need to flee?