Chapter 233

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This was a small, flat space, resembling a large box. However, this box was enormous, about half the size of Zhang Xiaohua’s small room. It was very tidy, with nothing inside except for a three-tiered shelf placed at one end.

The shelf was neatly arranged with numerous porcelain bottles, though a few were crookedly scattered underneath.

At this moment, Zhang Xiaohua was utterly stunned. He had no interest in examining the items on the shelf.

Instead, his attention was entirely focused on the small coin pouch in his hand—this pouch that had once been tucked inside his clothes. With his divine sense, he perceived the space inside the pouch, a space almost larger than the chicken coop in the Zhang family’s small courtyard. Unbelievable!

What on earth is going on here?

Could it be that this pouch contains another world?

When Zhang Xiaohua withdrew his divine sense, the pouch reverted to being an ordinary coin pouch. He turned it over repeatedly but found no flaw or secret. Yet when he directed his divine sense into it again, he could once more “see” that hidden space inside.

After several attempts, it was infallible.

Suddenly, Zhang Xiaohua had a thought: the coin pouch was meant for storing things. Was this mysterious space inside also meant for storage?

With that idea, he withdrew his divine sense and placed a pearl ornament into the pouch.

But when he sent out his divine sense again, he didn’t see the pearl ornament in the hidden space.

Looking with his eyes, however, he could see the ornament lying safely in the pouch.

This realization brought Zhang Xiaohua a new insight. The coin pouch seemed to have two separate storage areas: one visible to the naked eye and another accessible only through the divine sense.

Yet, a new question arose in Zhang Xiaohua’s mind. The visible storage was straightforward—items were placed there by hand. But for the space visible only with divine sense, how were items supposed to be placed inside?

Zhang Xiaohua tried holding the pearl ornament and placing it in different ways within the pouch, but none of his efforts allowed it to enter that hidden space.

If that hidden space had been empty, Zhang Xiaohua might have concluded that it wasn’t possible to store items there. But since there were clearly items already inside, it was evident that there must be a way to place things there. The only problem was: what was the method?

Feeling bored and restless, Zhang Xiaohua let his divine sense sweep over the shelf inside the mysterious space again.

Suddenly, Zhang Xiaohua had an idea. Since he couldn’t figure out how to put items into the space, wouldn’t figuring out how to take items out achieve the same result?

With that in mind, Zhang Xiaohua began experimenting with retrieving items from the space. Since only divine sense could enter the space, it seemed likely that retrieving items would also involve divine sense. Naturally, Zhang Xiaohua recalled the sensation he had when he first awoke from closed-door cultivation, where his divine sense swept over the fields and crops as though he had gained an extra hand capable of touching everything.

However, using divine sense both to perceive the space and to take items from it proved difficult for Zhang Xiaohua. Thinking back to the [Carefree Heart Sutra] and its techniques for manipulating divine sense, Zhang Xiaohua temporarily withdrew his divine sense from the coin pouch. He reviewed the techniques described in the sutra and practiced them carefully outside before once again immersing his divine sense into the pouch. This time, while perceiving the space, Zhang Xiaohua split off a thread of divine sense and wrapped it around one of the porcelain bottles on the shelf, attempting to extract it.

Unfortunately, Zhang Xiaohua’s divine sense was still weak, as it had only recently been developed. How could it possibly move a solid object? Even when he exerted all his effort, gritting his teeth and straining, the porcelain bottle remained completely still. Zhang Xiaohua grew anxious, silently urging in his mind: “Come out already!”

As soon as the thought formed, the porcelain bottle suddenly vanished from the shelf and reappeared in Zhang Xiaohua’s other hand, the one not holding anything. The sudden appearance of the bottle startled Zhang Xiaohua so much that he nearly dropped it. Thankfully, his sharp eyes caught sight of it just in time before he let go.

Curious, Zhang Xiaohua brought the porcelain bottle closer to examine it. It was a small jade bottle, exquisitely crafted, translucent, and warm to the touch. Even an amateur could see it was extraordinary. Yet, it was just a bottle—clearly meant for holding something. The contents, he assumed, would be even more remarkable.

Unfortunately, Zhang Xiaohua could only speculate, as the jade bottle was completely empty.

Now that he understood how to retrieve items from the space, he naturally deduced how to place items inside. Following the same method, Zhang Xiaohua used a thread of divine sense to wrap around the porcelain bottle in his hand while simultaneously immersing his divine sense into the coin pouch. He thought of “storing” the bottle, and sure enough, the jade bottle vanished and reappeared inside the pouch.

“Hahaha!” Zhang Xiaohua burst into laughter. This was truly fun.

From now on, if he hid items inside the coin pouch, no one would be able to find them!

Thinking about it, Zhang Xiaohua took the small stone and the broken jade pendant out from his pocket and placed them into the space within the coin pouch. Then, almost instinctively, he retrieved the ornamental hairpin from the pouch and placed it into the space as well.

At that moment, a thought crossed Zhang Xiaohua’s mind: if someone else could also use divine sense, wouldn’t this coin pouch essentially become a communal item? Anyone capable of sensing it could potentially take items from it. However, as soon as this idea surfaced, Zhang Xiaohua laughed at himself. If the coin pouch were really like that, who would be foolish enough to store anything in it?

To test this, Zhang Xiaohua placed the coin pouch on the ground and attempted to retrieve something from it. However, his divine sense could only detect a faint trace of Yuan Qi fluctuations from the pouch—it couldn’t penetrate the space within. When Zhang Xiaohua picked the pouch back up, only then could he sense the internal space.

So that’s how it works.

Realizing that others wouldn’t be able to casually take items from his pouch, Zhang Xiaohua felt relieved. He carefully inventoried the items in the pouch. Though his divine sense wasn’t strong enough to manipulate the jade bottles, it could still “see” their contents. Zhang Xiaohua inspected one jade bottle after another, hoping to find something useful. However, by the time he had nearly finished examining all the bottles on the shelf, he still hadn’t discovered anything worthwhile.

Feeling a bit disappointed, Zhang Xiaohua eventually noticed several jade bottles placed haphazardly on the lowest shelf. Unlike the others, these bottles had sealed openings. Overjoyed, he thought these might actually contain something and took one out.

This particular jade bottle was noticeably cruder than the earlier ones, and the quality of the jade was far inferior. It was clear that whatever was inside wouldn’t match the contents of the previous bottle.

Holding the coarse jade bottle, Zhang Xiaohua examined it closely. On the surface of the bottle were three roughly written characters: “Qi-Boosting Pill.” The characters were written in ancient script and appeared carelessly scrawled. Zhang Xiaohua curled his lip in disdain, thinking: “It probably isn’t anything good if even the name was written so sloppily.”

Although the bottle was sealed, how could this pose a challenge for Zhang Xiaohua now? A sweep of his divine sense revealed three small, round objects inside, each containing a modest amount of Yuan Qi. If Zhang Xiaohua had encountered this before seeing Yuan Stones, he would have been overjoyed and eager to swallow them whole. However, his perspective had changed; compared to the abundant energy in Yuan Stones, the Yuan Qi in these pills was insignificant and failed to pique his interest.

Just as he was about to put the jade bottle back, a thought struck him—could this “Qi-Boosting Pill” be one of the medicinal pills mentioned in the [Elementary Pill Refining Book]? If that were the case, Zhang Xiaohua began to understand. Medicinal pills were essentially pills infused with Yuan Qi. The manual also mentioned medicinal herbs, so perhaps this Qi-Boosting Pill had been refined from such herbs. No wonder the Piaomiao Sect had a dedicated Medicine Hall for cultivating medicinal plants—it must be for refining pills like these!

However, the books Zhang Xiaohua borrowed from Ou Yan at Huanxi Villa were all about planting and cultivating medicinal herbs—none mentioned alchemy or pill refinement. He suddenly recalled that the Deacon of the Piaomiao Sect once said that books in the Medicine Hall were not available for lending. Presumably, those alchemy books were kept there. Thinking about the Medicine Hall Deacon’s attitude, Zhang Xiaohua lost any interest in going to look at those books. “Forget it, I’ll finish reading the books I have first.”

With that, Zhang Xiaohua placed the jade bottle back into the coin pouch’s space.

He tucked the coin pouch back into his pocket, plucked a stalk of foxtail grass from the ground, bit down on it, and lay on his back, gazing up at the drifting white clouds in the sky. He felt as though he had forgotten something, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t recall what it was—it lingered just at the edges of his mind.

At that moment, a large cluster of white clouds in the southern sky formed the shape of a reclining ox. Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t help but muse: “If only I could lie on those clouds in the sky—that’d be wonderful. Soft and fluffy, it’d surely be much better than riding an ox.”

Reclining ox. Reclining Ox Stone. Suddenly, Zhang Xiaohua had a flash of insight and sprang to his feet with a shout. That enormous Yuan Stone, as large as a reclining ox!

In an instant, Zhang Xiaohua remembered what he had forgotten. That Yuan Stone might be useless to others, but it was a true treasure for him. Having just emerged from meditation, he hadn’t yet considered how to deal with it. The stone was so massive that moving it was out of the question. Even if he could chip off smaller pieces for absorption, how many days’ worth of energy could he extract from them? He couldn’t keep returning to Guo Village every few days. While he wouldn’t mind, Huanxi Villa wouldn’t take too kindly to it.

Moreover, leaving the stone out in the open, exposed to wind and rain, was something Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t tolerate. What if someone took it to use as a hitching post for cows or sheep? He would regret it endlessly.

Now, however, the small coin pouch with its spacious internal dimension was practically a portable warehouse—a perfect solution for carrying the massive Yuan Stone!

The only question was whether such a large and heavy Yuan Stone could fit inside the pouch. Would it tear the pouch apart? Or would the pouch itself become impossibly heavy?

The weight of the pouch wouldn’t matter too much; Zhang Xiaohua was strong enough to carry it. But if it became too heavy, how would he keep it tucked inside his pocket?