Chapter 234

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Thinking of this, Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t suppress the excitement in his heart. Although he knew that the Reclining Ox Stone had been lying in the field for more than two years without anyone paying attention to it, and that there were plenty of rocks like it around Guo Village, making it unlikely that anyone would move it in the short term, he couldn’t help but worry—what if, by some rare chance, someone took a fancy to that seemingly worthless stone while he was away?

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. In a flash, he dashed out from behind the house and sprinted toward the outskirts of the village. Such a treasure must first find its way into his possession.

Just as he reached the front of the Zhang family courtyard, he ran into Zhang Xiaolong, who was beaming with joy, and Liu Qian, whose face was flushed with shyness. Zhang Xiaolong was carrying a load of items, while Liu Qian walked empty-handed behind him. Seeing Zhang Xiaohua rushing by so quickly, Zhang Xiaolong couldn’t help but ask: “Xiaohua, why are you running so fast? Come over here and help me carry these.”

Zhang Xiaohua thought to himself: “What I’m going to get is worth far more than what you’re holding—I don’t have the time.”

Out loud, he said: “Big brother, I’ve got something urgent to do, absolutely pressing. Why don’t you let Sister-in-law carry them?”

Zhang Xiaolong scolded him: “Your sister-in-law is pregnant. How can she carry heavy things?”

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaohua stumbled slightly and nearly fell. He exclaimed: “Big brother, really? It’s only just a little bit—it’s still so early.”

He gestured with the tip of his pinky fingernail to show how small.

Liu Qian, her face red but glowing with happiness, said: “Exactly. I don’t feel anything at all yet. Let me carry them instead.”

But Zhang Xiaolong said in surprise: “So small? How did you see it?”

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaohua immediately realized he had let something slip. Covering his mouth, he said: “I didn’t see anything, didn’t see anything! I just figured it must still be small.”

Then, he quickly changed the subject. “Never mind, forget it. I’m off now—I’ll be back soon.”

With that, he took off running.

Watching his retreating figure, Zhang Xiaolong shook his head and said: “That kid.”

Liu Qian tugged at his sleeve and asked: “What’s wrong with Xiaohua?”

“He’s still so careless. Already in his teens, yet he’s just like he was as a child.”

“Xiaolong, I don’t think so. I find Xiaohua quite mysterious.”

“Mysterious? Why do you think of that word?”

“Think about it—Xiaohua went to Pingyang City with Xiaohu. It was Xiaohu who apprenticed and learned martial arts, right? Didn’t you say that Xiaohua didn’t practice martial arts?”

Zhang Xiaolong fell into thought and nodded slightly.

Liu Qian continued: “But since he came back, I’ve already heard from Mother that when he first arrived at the village entrance, he saw her about to fall and rushed from the roadside to the entrance of the village in an instant. How far is that? How could he get there so quickly? Isn’t that what people call Qinggong? I remember a few years ago when Hero Wen and Heroine Xue displayed their Qinggong, it wasn’t even that fast.”

Zhang Xiaolong asked curiously: “How come Mother didn’t mention this to me?”

Liu Qian chuckled. “Mother was overjoyed at the time and completely forgot about the oddity of it. A few days ago, when Xiaohua was practicing, she felt uneasy and casually brought it up while chatting with me. I even used this story to comfort her. Oh, by the way, have you ever seen anyone practice for nine days and nine nights straight without stopping?”

Zhang Xiaolong gave a wry smile. “I’ve never met anyone from the martial world, nor do I know anyone who practices martial arts. How would I know?”

Liu Qian smiled sweetly. “Dummy, even if you don’t know anyone, haven’t you read about it in books?”

Zhang Xiaolong thought for a moment. “Qianqian, ever since you taught me to read, I’ve gone through a fair number of books—serious ones, entertaining ones, ones about myths and legends, and even tales of the martial world. But I’ve never come across something like this. Oh, wait, maybe in myths. They say that immortals, when cultivating, often close themselves off for months or even years. But in anecdotes of the martial arts world, I’ve never seen such a thing.”

Liu Qian said: “You haven’t read enough. Some autobiographies about the martial world occasionally mention a day or two of seclusion. But I’ve never heard of anyone doing it for nine days and nine nights. That long without food or water would be deadly. But don’t you think it’s strange that when Xiaohua came home and Mother asked him to eat, his appetite wasn’t as good as usual?”

Then, Liu Qian blushed and added: “Also, earlier, when Xiaohua mentioned… mentioned our child, saying it’s just a tiny little bit… Do you think he can really see it?”

Zhang Xiaolong tried to wave his hand dismissively but couldn’t because both hands were full. He could only shake his head. “Come on, how could Xiaohua be that extraordinary…”

But as he spoke, his tone grew weaker, and finally, he added: “Oh, maybe he could be.”

Immediately after, he said with certainty: “If he can see, all the better! Let him check on the child every day and give us updates. Besides, Xiaohua is our younger brother. The more skilled he becomes, the happier we should be, right?”

Liu Qian agreed. “Yes, who would’ve thought that little Xiaohua, who used to be so small, would grow up to be so amazing? Oh, that martial arts manual he gave us for our child—I think when the child grows up, we should make sure they practice it diligently. It might lead to a bright future.”

Zhang Xiaolong laughed. “What? You don’t want the child to study and become a high-ranking official?”

Liu Qian spat playfully: “Dummy, have you heard of the concept of excelling in both literature and martial arts?”

Zhang Xiaolong grinned sheepishly. “I haven’t, I really haven’t. The only dual cultivation I know is of farming and couples.”

Liu Qian blushed, glanced around, and said: “Stop being so improper. Let’s hurry. Look, Mother has come out.”

Fortunately, Zhang Xiaohua wasn’t nearby, or he would have laughed until his stomach hurt. That incident at the village entrance, where he caught his mother, was purely a coincidental move. The distance Guo Sufei mentioned was exaggerated. Although Zhang Xiaohua’s Qinggong had indeed improved, there was still a significant gap compared to Wen Wenhai and Xue Qing.

At this moment, Zhang Xiaohua had already run past the village entrance. After crossing the small bridge, he looked around to make sure no one was around and immediately used his Qinggong to dash toward his field.

Before his body had even landed, his divine sense had already swept toward the area like a streak of silk. Only when he sensed the abundant Yuan Qi within the Yuan Stone did Zhang Xiaohua’s heart settle completely.

Standing before the Yuan Stone, Zhang Xiaohua roughly estimated its size again. Feeling confident that it would easily fit into his coin pouch, he reached into his chest to retrieve the pouch. Just earlier, pulling out a jade bottle from his storage space had taken considerable effort. Now, with such a large and heavy Yuan Stone, he wasn’t sure if he could store it successfully.

First, Zhang Xiaohua infused his divine sense into the coin pouch to perceive the space within. Then he placed his hand on the Yuan Stone, wrapping it with a thread of divine sense. He exerted all his strength to move the stone into the storage space. However, how could Zhang Xiaohua know how to use his divine sense to exert strength?

As expected, the Yuan Stone didn’t move at all.

What was going on? Was the Yuan Stone too large?

But the storage space in the pouch was as big as half a room; there was no way the stone wouldn’t fit.

Hmm, it must be that the stone was too heavy.

But how could divine sense lift something so heavy?

Thinking this, Zhang Xiaohua slapped his forehead. How foolish he was! Earlier, he had used only a thread of divine sense to retrieve the jade bottle. Now he was still using just one thread—how could that possibly work?

So Zhang Xiaohua left a single thread of divine sense connected to the storage space and directed the rest of his divine sense toward the Yuan Stone. His current divine sense was still very weak, just enough to envelop the entire stone. Once it was fully wrapped, Zhang Xiaohua tried to manipulate it into the space. At this point, another thought struck him. It was already so difficult to store the stone in the pouch—how hard would it be to retrieve it later? If he wanted to absorb the Qi from the Yuan Stone in the future, how would he manage?

Surely, he couldn’t keep struggling to move the stone every time.

Retracting his divine sense, Zhang Xiaohua pulled out his small sword from his chest. As he had done before, he easily chipped off two small thumb-sized pieces of the Yuan Stone. Looking at the tiny fragments, Zhang Xiaohua felt a bit helpless. He wasn’t sure how many times he could absorb Yuan Qi from them. After a moment of thought, he chipped off two more pieces and tucked all four into his chest. Only then did Zhang Xiaohua wrap the Yuan Stone with his divine sense again and, imitating the technique he had used earlier to store the jade bottle, finally succeeded in placing the stone into the storage space.

Zhang Xiaohua felt a sharp pain in his head, as if needles were piercing his mind. The massive Yuan Stone before his eyes vanished, leaving behind a large shallow pit in the field as evidence that something had once been there.

Zhang Xiaohua instinctively gritted his teeth and drew a cold breath, rubbing his temples as he muttered to himself: “Truly, windfalls never come easily. There’s always a price to pay.”

How tragic! This enormous Yuan Stone was now in his possession, and all he suffered was a brief headache. And yet here he was, still grumbling about it!

Once the pain subsided a bit, Zhang Xiaohua swept his divine sense out again. The massive Yuan Stone was now quietly resting inside his coin pouch. However, the pouch’s originally neat and tidy space now seemed awkwardly cluttered with such a large, dirt-covered stone.

Still, this was Zhang Xiaohua’s own private storage space—who else could see it?

With everything settled, Zhang Xiaohua hummed a little tune as he descended the hill. Just as he was about to turn a corner, he remembered the spring water at the foot of the slope. He walked over to the well, released his divine sense, and probed it for a moment. Soon, he understood the situation.

The massive Yuan Stone he had just stored had originally been excavated from this very well. Many of the stones in the well had inevitably been infused with Yuan Qi. In fact, those stones could also be considered tiny Yuan Stones. As water seeped into the well and came into contact with these stones, it naturally became rich in Yuan Qi.

Zhang Xiaohua briefly considered fishing some Yuan Stones out of the well. However, his divine sense detected that these stones were extremely tiny, comparable to grains of sand, making them difficult to retrieve. Moreover, he knew that his family drank this well water, and the Yuan Qi in it was undoubtedly beneficial to their health. How could he do something so shortsighted as to deplete their source of well-being?

As he pondered this, Zhang Xiaohua suddenly sensed someone approaching from behind. Turning around, he saw his second brother, Zhang Xiaohu.

Zhang Xiaohu was carrying two water buckets, clearly here to draw water. Upon seeing Zhang Xiaohua, he beamed with joy and said: “Xiaohua, what are you doing here again? Big Brother just came home and said you had something urgent. Is it about this well?”