Chapter 161: Chapter 161: Space Ring and Tao Te Ching_1
A miraculous thing happened. As soon as the blood touched the ring carved with a little dragon, the ring emitted a faint white glow.
Moreover, the blood on the surface was rapidly disappearing, as if it were being devoured by the ring.
Zhang Bin even felt a magical connection with the ring, as if it had become a part of his body.
"How is this possible?"
A look of surprise appeared on Zhang Bin’s face. He couldn’t help but take the ring from the Little Fox’s hand to look at it more closely. Then he put it on his middle finger, and it fit perfectly, neither too big nor too small.
"SQUEAK, SQUEAK, SQUEAK..."
Xiao Qian kept squeaking, pointing to her own head and then to the ring with another finger.
Is she suggesting that I use my spiritual power to probe the ring?
Muttering to himself, Zhang Bin immediately released his spiritual power, enveloping the ring.
Then, a look of wild joy spread across his face. He found that his spiritual power could easily enter the ring. Inside was a space about five meters long, five meters wide, and three meters high—the size of a large room.
Inside was a wardrobe with clothes in it, most of which were Taoist Robes.
Opposite the wardrobe stood a bookshelf filled with books.
Perhaps the space had special properties, as neither the books nor the clothes were damaged.
On the side, there was a rosewood table with several Jade Vials on it, seemingly elixirs crafted by Daoist Sanqing.
"Good heavens, a Space Ring! One of the legendary treasures, and it now belongs to me?"
Zhang Bin was so excited he nearly fainted, his heart brimming with ecstasy.
Of course, he knew about Spatial Containers like Space Rings. If he could cultivate to the Small Tree Realm, he would be able to cultivate True Fire and could then craft treasures like Space Rings. However, it required many special ores, and collecting them was harder than reaching the heavens. Therefore, he had never hoped to possess a Space Ring.
But now, he had acquired one.
"It turns out Earth Cultivators can also be mysterious and powerful. Someone was able to make a Space Ring. I just don’t know who made it. They must have reached the Nascent Soul Stage to craft it," Zhang Bin murmured. "Could it be a treasure made by Bodhidharma or Laozi? Or perhaps after them, there were other experts who reached the Nascent Soul Stage?"
But he immediately cast this unanswerable question aside, tentatively wrapping the Jade Vials on the table with his spiritual power to try and take them out.
Unsurprisingly, the Jade Vials appeared in Zhang Bin’s hands. However, only one of them contained an elixir; the rest were empty.
Impatiently, Zhang Bin opened the Jade Vial, took out an elixir to look at it closely, and shouted, "Haha, they’re True Essence Pills! Daoist Sanqing was too good to me."
How could he not be excited? This single Jade Vial contained one hundred True Essence Pills, equivalent to the yield of six furnaces’ worth of pills.
With these one hundred pills, while he still might not be able to cultivate to the Liquid State, they would certainly allow the True Qi in his Dantian to increase severalfold.
I might even be able to cultivate to the Mid Stage of the Qi Sea Realm.
He knew that he was still only in the Initial Stage of the Qi Sea Realm. At a normal cultivation speed, it would take him at least a year to reach the Mid Stage. That rapid pace was only possible because he had Gathering Qi Pills and Spiritual Water; other cultivators might need more than ten years.
Then, he excitedly took inventory of the items inside.
The books were all ancient texts related to cultivation. The Tao Te Ching, in particular, was densely packed with annotations that seemed to be from different authors. Each character was like a pearl, full of profound mystery.
Zhang Bin was thrilled. This was a peerless treasure, countless times more valuable than the Three Purities Secret Technique. This was the true legacy of Daoist Sanqing. It would be immensely enlightening and helpful to his cultivation.
After reaching the Liquid State, to advance to the Seed Condensing Realm, he would need to comprehend Heaven and Earth, possess deep life experience, taste the sweet and sour of life, and have a unique understanding of the world.
This Tao Te Ching, with its many annotations... if I can fully understand them, it will definitely help me enter the Seed Condensing Realm quickly. Of course, that’s assuming I first cultivate to the Liquidization Stage Peak.
On the bookshelf, Zhang Bin also found a Jade Box. Inside was a ring carved with a lifelike phoenix.
This too was a Space Ring. Its interior space was about as spacious as the Dragon Ring’s, clearly making it a matched pair. It contained some women’s clothing and various exquisite pieces of jewelry.
In particular, a Luminous Pearl as big as a lychee emitted a crystal-clear light that almost dazzled Zhang Bin’s eyes.
"So beautiful, it’s truly magnificent. From now on, this will be a Zhang family heirloom."
A look of extreme fondness appeared on Zhang Bin’s face.
Even the most extravagant spendthrift would become obsessed with such a treasure, let alone a miser like Zhang Bin.
However, the Little Fox suddenly leaped up, seized the Luminous Pearl with both hands, and clutched it tightly to her chest, her eyes brimming with tears.
Zhang Bin was stunned and asked in surprise, "Could this Luminous Pearl have belonged to your mother?"
The Little Fox slowly nodded, her face growing even more sorrowful.
Zhang Bin was suddenly filled with questions. If the Luminous Pearl belonged to the Little Fox’s mother, then did the women’s clothes belong to her too? Could it be that Xiao Qian’s mother was a thousand-year-old fox who had cultivated into a stunning beauty? And Daoist Sanqing was her husband, and together they had Xiao Qian? Wait, the child of Daoist Sanqing and a fox-turned-beauty is still a fox? Not a human?
He soon stopped his wild speculations and carefully questioned Xiao Qian.
Xiao Qian couldn’t speak, so he couldn’t get a clear answer. Nevertheless, he concluded that Daoist Sanqing was, in all likelihood, Xiao Qian’s father.
When Xiao Qian has cultivated into a beauty, I must not let her get pregnant. I can’t accept my child being a cute little fox, Zhang Bin muttered wickedly to himself.
What would Xiao Qian think if she knew what was on his mind?
"Xiao Qian, let me keep the Luminous Pearl in my Space Ring," Zhang Bin said. "What, you’re reluctant? Don’t worry. In the future, I will cultivate to a very profound Realm and possess an infinite lifespan. Naturally, I can wait for you to cultivate into a ravishing woman. By then, I will be your husband, so won’t your treasures be mine too? Thus, it’s better for me to look after it. If it gets lost, the loss would be tremendous."
Convinced by Zhang Bin’s reasoning, the Little Fox bashfully handed the Luminous Pearl over to him.
Zhang Bin placed it back into the Phoenix Ring, then put the Phoenix Ring on the bookshelf inside the Dragon Ring. Finally, his gaze fell upon Daoist Sanqing’s body as he pondered what to do with it...