"You'll understand all this in time. My time is limited, so I can only tell you this much. Just answer me—do you want it or not?" The man's voice was noticeably weaker now. Though Evan Yang didn't know the reason, hearing the man's words, he couldn't wait any longer and nodded eagerly. "I do!"
"Flameblood is a unique bloodline—I've only ever heard of it in my early years. As for your future cultivation, that's all up to you. All I can do is awaken the blood within you, so at least in this realm, you can cultivate like a normal person." The man gave a brief explanation, his tone matter-of-fact yet weary.
Evan Yang didn't care about awakening bloodlines or being unique—right now, all he wanted was to cultivate like everyone else.
Seeing how earnest Evan Yang was, the man smiled. "I buried a box under the rock to my left. Go open it, and swallow the seed inside. As for the road ahead—that depends on your own ability." His instructions were direct, tinged with mystery and urgency.
"Thank you, sir!" Evan Yang, unable to hide his excitement, rushed to the rock the man had mentioned. But when he saw the rock was as tall as himself, he froze, feeling a little embarrassed as he glanced back at the unmoving man.
The man seemed to understand and said, "Let me help you one last time." As soon as he finished, there was a dull boom—the rock rolled aside on its own. Evan Yang stared in shock at the rock moving away, then looked underneath and found a box. Overcome with excitement, he grabbed it and opened it curiously. When a perfectly ordinary seed appeared before him, he felt a chill run through his body.
"Swallow it quickly, or the spiritual energy will dissipate." The man's voice was now extremely weak, sounding like that of an old man.
Evan Yang didn't dare hesitate. He swallowed the seed in one gulp, and just as he tried to see what would happen, he felt it wriggling inside him like something alive, darting around his body. Startled, Evan cried out, "Sir, what's happening to me?"
"Flameblood—I don't know if it can survive in this realm, but with this seed, it should be possible." The man's voice was frail as he finished speaking. Evan Yang suddenly felt a surge of power flow through his body, and then everything calmed down. He felt an incredible sense of comfort.
Feeling fine again, Evan Yang excitedly ran to the block of ice and grinned. "Sir, does this mean I can cultivate like everyone else now?"
"Mm." The man said, his voice barely holding on.
"Sir, what's wrong?" Evan Yang, though excited, felt uneasy at the man's suddenly frail voice.
"I may fall into another deep sleep. The rest is up to you. If one day you have the power to leave this piece of heaven and earth, come back and help me escape." The man, as if remembering something important, left these words before falling silent.
No matter how Evan Yang called out, the man didn't respond, as if he couldn't hear.
Facing this scene, Evan Yang felt as though he'd lost a family member. He said to the man, "Sir, I don't know what it means to leave this place, but I promise—when I am strong enough, I'll come back to help you."
At this moment, Evan Yang felt a stronger goal than ever before. He finally realized he'd had a stroke of fate—could it really be a second chance? Evan didn't know; he only knew he had to try cultivation, leave this place, and find the person who tried to kill him.
"The first layer of the Rising Sun Scripture?" Evan Yang took out the mnemonic he'd kept all this time.
Evan Yang knew this mnemonic by heart—he'd studied it every day for two years, hoping to open his own dantian. But his dantian seemed useless, unable to form qi, and he was said to have no spiritual roots.
The first layer of the Rising Sun Scripture teaches ordinary mortals how to take their first step on the cultivation path—by opening their dantian so it can gather spiritual energy.
Spiritual energy is essential for cultivators. Its concentration varies by location, so cultivators always seek places with abundant spiritual energy to train faster.
This spiritual energy gathers inside a cultivator, becoming their source of power—in other words, the energy they rely on for cultivation.
"I hope the seed really works, just like the elder said." Evan Yang muttered to himself. He'd dreamed of cultivating for two years—now it was finally happening, and he was so excited he hesitated to try right away.
But Evan wasn't one to hesitate. He quickly made up his mind, sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to sense changes in his body. Following the first step of the Rising Sun Scripture, he slowly drew spiritual energy from outside into himself.
Bit by bit, spiritual energy gathered toward Evan's dantian. Each time it approached, he was extra careful: "Success or failure depends on this," he thought. Then, all the energy he'd drawn suddenly converged into his dantian.
At that moment, his dantian was like a machine coming to life, automatically absorbing the gathered energy and forming a cycle—energy flowed through his whole body and returned to the dantian. "Is this a full circulation?" Evan exclaimed, amazed by the changes inside him.
Two years of frustration, two years as a useless body, two years of barely surviving—all overturned in a single moment. Evan jumped up, laughing wildly: "Ha! I finally did it!"
It was like letting out two years of pent-up resentment—the laughter echoed through the secret chamber.
The echoes bounced around, making Evan feel like he was dreaming. He tried several more times, and once he confirmed his dantian worked like a normal person's, he broke into a naive smile.
After a long while, Evan finally calmed down and began to cultivate in earnest. One cycle meant spiritual energy circulated through his body and returned to his dantian. He lost track of how many cycles he'd completed, and his dantian gradually felt warm.
Not only that—his whole body, even his blood, began to heat up. "No way," Evan exclaimed, shocked by the sudden change.
It was like boiling water had been poured into his veins—his blood burned, making Evan sweat and roll on the ground in pain. "Am I really this unlucky? Just as I start cultivating, I go into qi deviation?"
Usually, only someone in qi deviation feels such pain and loses control. But Evan, despite the burning, remained clear-headed—it wasn't true qi deviation.
"Why!" Evan shouted, rolling on the ground, wondering why others could cultivate smoothly while he suffered as soon as he started.
At this moment, Evan was like someone whose blood had been boiled—he rolled on the ground in pain, shouting.