Chapter 145: The Black Stone Anomaly

With no one else around, Yang Ze took off his upper garments and looked down at his chest, where a black pattern on his skin was now emitting a faint, eerie glow.

It was not just the faint glow; there was also a burning sensation, and Yang Ze felt as though the skin on his chest was being scorched open.

As time passed, instead of fading, the excruciating pain grew increasingly burning hot, causing the blood flow inside Yang Ze's body to accelerate.

The intense pain spread throughout his entire body, and Yang Ze felt his vision gradually blurring. He had no idea what was happening.

At that moment, Yang Ze gritted his teeth, channeling the true essence from his lower dantian. The twelve already-tempered lower limb bones simultaneously radiated bone-tempering force, which flowed through his entire body.

Only after releasing his cultivation base did Yang Ze feel the burning pain slightly lessen, though it still could not be entirely resisted. Moreover, the faint glow on his chest flickered faster and grew increasingly intense.

Seeing his cultivation base rapidly depleting, Yang Ze stared fixedly at the black stone pattern on his chest, trying to force his consciousness into the black stone space to see what on earth was happening.

Yet no matter what he tried this time, his consciousness could not enter the black stone space at all, meeting with zero response.

The scorching heat spread across his whole body. Yang Ze felt as though his clothes were about to turn to ashes under this intense heat, so he gave a shudder and stripped off the rest of his upper garments.

The Blood Fiend Saber on his back also fell off, landing beside him. The scabbard of the Blood Fiend Saber was somewhat reddish at the moment, proving that the searing high temperature had likewise affected the weapon.

Anxiety filled his heart, but given the circumstances, Yang Ze could think of no other solution and could only drive his cultivation base to the limit to withstand the scorching sensation.

With his entire cultivation base erupting, Yang Ze no longer dared to hold anything back. A faint golden light radiated from the surfaces of the twelve tempered lower limb bones, granting him a new surge of strength that allowed him to suppress the eerie glow once again.

This time, the faint glow was largely suppressed, buying Yang Ze a moment to catch his breath. However, within a mere few breaths, the glow flickered again, on the verge of erupting once more.

With bloodshot eyes, Yang Ze wondered if this black stone was acting like a crazed ghost, suddenly putting him through such torment.

He could sense that the black stone, which was generating this burning sensation, was currently gathering a massive amount of energy. If he failed to neutralize this energy, he feared he would be directly blown apart from the inside.

Furthermore, because he was already nursing injuries and was now being battered by the black stone in this manner, microscopic cracks had appeared along the meridians inside Yang Ze's body, making them look as though they were on the verge of collapse.

Time slowly slipped away. For a full hour, Yang Ze had been locked in a struggle against the black stone within this room.

After so much time had passed, the faint glow on his chest had once again reached its previous intensity, but this time, the true essence left inside Yang Ze's body was scant.

Once his true essence was completely exhausted, Yang Ze would lose his only remaining means of fighting the glow. He could easily imagine his fate: he would likely be reduced straight to ashes by this scorching energy.

As for recovering his cultivation base, Yang Ze had no way to accomplish that either; while contending with the glow, he was entirely paralyzed and could only rely on his existing cultivation base to resist.

Feeling the true essence within him dwindling further, Yang Ze's eyes gradually filled with despair.

He had never expected that after finally stepping into the First-Grade realm and becoming an outer sect disciple, hoping to carve out a career for himself in the ethereal martial arts academy, he was now going to be killed by his own black stone.

There was no hatred in his heart toward the black stone; he only hated that his own strength was still insufficient. Without the black stone, he doubted he would have ever made it this far today.

Just as the very last thread of true essence inside his body vanished, the burning sensation on Yang Ze's chest suddenly dissipated.

Yang Ze felt a lightness wash over him, and at that moment, he recovered his mobility. However, because his injuries were unhealed and his cultivation base was completely spent, his body went limp, and he fell backward.

The instant he collapsed onto the bed, the eerie glow that had been shining on his chest erupted with an even more intense light. These rays of light twisted together, eventually converging in front of Yang Ze's chest to form a gray vortex.

This gray vortex looked somewhat illusory. When Yang Ze gazed at it, he felt as though he could pierce right through the vortex and see the other side.

The opening of the gray vortex faced upward, while its lower end was connected to the black stone pattern on Yang Ze's chest.

Upon seeing this gray vortex, Yang Ze stirred his willpower, and the gray vortex actually swayed, looking as though it were about to dissipate.

This realization filled Yang Ze with wild elation—he could actually control this gray vortex with his consciousness. Without hesitation, he directed his thought toward it, and with a whoosh, the gray vortex vanished.

After the gray vortex disappeared, Yang Ze sat up and looked again at the black stone pattern on his chest. He saw that a black circle had appeared along the outer perimeter of the original pattern, enclosing the entire design.

"Has the black stone mutated?" Yang Ze muttered, frowning.

Up to now, he understood nothing about the black stone and could only borrow its power. Now that the black stone pattern had undergone such a transformation, mutation was the only plausible explanation.

Just as Yang Ze was wondering what kind of mutation this actually was and wanted to test the black stone's abilities himself, a thought suddenly transmitted itself directly into his mind.

This thought informed him that the vortex now produced by the black stone could directly decompose medicinal pills and spiritual herbs, transforming them into a stream of pure energy to be infused directly into his body, eliminating the need for personal absorption.

This was the entirety of the telepathic message—very concise. Yet Yang Ze's heart experienced a violent tremor. Where had this thought come from? Could it be consciousness originating from within the black stone?

When he first obtained the black stone, Yang Ze had likewise received a similar mental message telling him of the stone's capabilities. Now that he had received another, it proved that there was a very high probability that some living entity was concealed inside the black stone.

With his eyes wide open, Yang Ze's expression turned panicked. The mere thought that a living creature might have been hiding beside him all along stirred a deep sense of dread, especially since this entity had likely learned all his secrets during this time of concealment.

Upon deeper reflection, Yang Ze foresaw severe consequences, yet as he thought further, it seemed he had no choice at all—he could no longer survive without the black stone, especially now that it had integrated into his body.

"Sink or swim, there's no other way out. Since it's come to this, I might as well make use of the black stone's power." Yang Ze's gaze flashed. With no alternative, he could not afford to waste the black stone's strength.

Sitting cross-legged, Yang Ze stirred his thoughts, causing a faint glow to emerge from his chest. The gray vortex immediately formed once more, hovering right before him.

With the somewhat blurry black vortex suspended there, Yang Ze brushed his right hand against his side clothing and pinched a medicinal pill out with two fingers.

This pill had been given to him by Chen Ye. At the time, Yang Ze had chosen not to consume it on the spot precisely because he wanted to use the black stone to convert the pill into energy before absorption, avoiding any failure to fully assimilate the medicinal potency.

Now that the gray vortex had appeared, he could simply use this pill to test whether the vortex possessed that exact capability.

Flicking his right fingers, he sent the pill smoothly tumbling into the center of the vortex, where it was instantly sucked inside.

Barely a breath of time later, a beam of light shot out from the vortex, following which the pill was directly decomposed, transforming into a faint ball of light that floated above the vortex.

The moment this ball of light appeared, it darted out from the vortex and poured straight into Yang Ze's body.

The instant it entered Yang Ze, the light ball immediately turned into a surging warm current that automatically set about repairing the injuries inside his body.

Seeing this, Yang Ze felt a surge of joy. In the future, he would no longer need to actively digest and absorb the energy converted from pills; the vortex would handle everything for him directly.

Especially when he considered that any pill he swallowed in the future to enhance his cultivation base could be broken down by this vortex and directly converted into energy to infuse into his body, allowing him to elevate his cultivation without tedious meditation, Yang Ze was overcome with wild elation.

For now, this mutation of the black stone appeared to bring him tremendous benefits. With this, his cultivation speed would undoubtedly surpass that of others by a wide margin.

While he was lost in these thoughts, the faint ball of energy inside his body had been entirely consumed, and Yang Ze's injuries were already more than half healed.

Daring not to continue testing further at the moment, Yang Ze slowly regulated his breathing through cultivation, intending to first restore his body to its optimal state.

The next day, Yang Ze remained sitting cross-legged in his room, shirtless, with the black stone pattern etched upon his chest, lending him a unique and mysterious aura.

Suddenly, a profound aura emanated from Yang Ze as he meditated. With a flash of faint light, a gray vortex materialized out of thin air.

Yang Ze's eyes snapped open. Two top-grade Qi-Nourishing Pills flickered from his hand, flying straight into the vortex. Without stopping, his left hand flicked once more, sending a Bone-Tempering Pill flying out and landing inside the vortex as well.

As the three pills entered, the very next instant, a surge of energy flew out from the vortex and merged into Yang Ze's body.

The moment this energy entered him, Yang Ze's body shuddered, and the aura surrounding him began to steadily climb.

Yang Ze steadied his mind, letting the energy pour into every corner of his body before gathering entirely in his dantian, causing the true essence stored within his dantian to increase significantly.

As the true essence multiplied, the excess energy radiating to the corners of his body was stimulated, driving a brand-new bone in Yang Ze's lower limbs toward successful tempering.

Golden light radiated—the thirteenth lower limb bone was successfully tempered!

The aura surrounding Yang Ze escalated by another notch. Yet it did not end there; the gray vortex on his chest let out a suction force toward his body, pulling out tiny threads of light from within him and connecting them directly to the vortex.