The next morning, Hao Nhien sat cross-legged on the floor of the rear cabin, Nhat Kiem Tieu Dao's pale blue storage ring resting before him.
After nearly a month, he had examined most of what remained inside it. The pills had lost almost all of their medicinal energy, and several smaller objects had long since faded with time. The three books and the Tieu Dao Sword were clearly the most valuable things left behind.
But there were still six spirit stones.
Hao Nhien drew one closer with his spiritual sense but left it inside the storage space for the moment.
Each stone was only slightly larger than the tip of his thumb and almost as transparent as ice. A faint silver-white glow moved slowly within, like mist sealed inside crystal.
Their appearance was not what interested him.
The spiritual qi was.
He had no idea how many years the ring had lain beside Nhat Kiem Tieu Dao's remains. The pills had nearly lost their medicinal energy, and many other objects had decayed or lost whatever spirituality they once possessed.
Yet these six stones still contained an astonishing amount of concentrated spiritual qi.
That alone told him they were anything but ordinary.
From the fragmented memories left by the previous Quan Hao Nhien, he knew that spirit stones came in different grades. The higher the quality, the purer the spiritual qi and the less easily it dispersed over time.
But the former owner of this body had never actually possessed high-grade spirit stones. What remained in his memories was little more than secondhand knowledge.
So Hao Nhien did not rush to decide what grade these six stones belonged to.
He only knew one thing.
They were far beyond what a third-layer Qi Condensation cultivator should absorb carelessly.
The lesson from Tieu Dao Sword Intent was still fresh.
Something left behind by a powerful cultivator did not automatically become an opportunity merely because he could hold it in his hand.
A small stream could water a sapling.
Pour an entire river onto it, and nothing would remain but mud.
Hao Nhien understood that.
But the six spirit stones were still inside the ring, and he would soon have to leave Thanh Van Town.
If they were resources he could use, he needed to know.
If he could not use them at all, he needed to know that too.
So he spent most of the morning thinking before finally calling Tieu Lan over.
The moment she entered the cabin, she saw a prepared bowl of medicine for soothing the meridians, Clearheart Liquid, medicine for external injuries, and even a basin of cold water sitting nearby.
Her expression immediately tightened.
"Young Master, you're going to try something dangerous again, aren't you?"
Hao Nhien had not yet taken the spirit stone out of the ring.
"Not necessarily dangerous. I only want to test contact with a very small amount."
Tieu Lan stared at him.
"You said almost the same thing last time."
Hao Nhien paused.
A moment later, he gave a quiet laugh.
"You're getting harder and harder to fool."
"That's because Young Master keeps trying more and more frightening things."
"It isn't because I like doing them."
Hao Nhien shook his head.
"I need to know what I actually have. These spirit stones may become important after we leave Thanh Van Town. If I don't even know whether I can use them, then keeping them in the ring only means I'm carrying something I don't understand."
Tieu Lan still looked uneasy.
Hao Nhien met her eyes.
"I won't try to draw in a large amount of spiritual qi. I'll open the smallest absorption route I can. If anything exceeds what I can handle, I'll stop immediately."
Tieu Lan pressed her lips together.
"Young Master has to keep your word."
"Mm."
Only then did she reluctantly sit down several steps away and arrange the medicines beside her.
Hao Nhien chose the smallest stone.
The moment it left the storage ring and settled into his palm, there was no blinding light and no grand phenomenon.
Yet the air inside the cabin seemed to become slightly denser.
The stone was clear as ice. A thread of silver-white light turned slowly within it, so calm that it almost looked harmless.
Hao Nhien touched it lightly with his spiritual sense.
He withdrew at once.
Still on the outside.
But within—
it felt like a deep lake compressed into a piece of stone barely larger than his thumb.
Not violent.
Simply too concentrated.
Tieu Lan stared at it.
"It's beautiful…"
"Mm."
Hao Nhien looked at the stone for another moment.
"Things that beautiful tend to make people forget to ask whether they bite."
Tieu Lan immediately looked at him.
"Then why are you still holding it?"
"…It was only an example."
She clearly did not believe him.
Hao Nhien stopped arguing.
He closed his eyes and first settled his breathing. True qi moved slowly out from his Qi Sea and through the familiar meridians, completing a small circulation.
Only after confirming that his condition was stable did he focus on his right palm.
No pulling.
No forceful absorption.
He merely used the breathing cultivation method he already knew to create the smallest possible point of contact between his body and the spiritual qi inside the stone.
A crack.
Just enough for a thread.
The moment that crack formed, Hao Nhien's expression changed.
Boom!
No sound actually exploded inside the cabin.
But within his perception, what burst into his palm was no different from a river breaking through a dam.
Spiritual qi.
Too much.
Too fast.
It rushed inside before his body could refine it into true qi.
His right palm burned. His wrist tightened almost immediately, and pain tore up his arm toward the shoulder.
The meridians, accustomed only to receiving ambient spiritual qi little by little, stretched so violently that Hao Nhien felt as though something blunt were forcing them open from within.
He immediately stopped the absorption method.
The incoming spiritual qi did not stop.
Hao Nhien's eyes snapped open.
The spirit stone still lay in his palm.
Nothing physically stuck it to his skin, but the absorption route he had opened was like a discharge gate that had already been breached.
Once the concentrated spiritual qi found an outlet, the difference between the two sides kept driving it inward.
Hao Nhien tried to close the opening.
Too late.
"Young Master!"
Tieu Lan shot to her feet.
"Don't come closer!"
Hao Nhien forced the words through clenched teeth.
Tieu Lan stopped immediately.
He had no idea whether the surging spiritual qi could affect someone else, but this was not the moment to test that with Tieu Lan's body.
His right arm began trembling violently.
The incoming spiritual qi had not yet been refined, yet more of it continued to force its way in, disrupting the true qi already circulating within his meridians.
His shoulder burned with pain.
His chest tightened.
Even his breath seemed caught in his throat.
Hao Nhien forced his mind to remain steady.
Do not absorb.
Do not refine.
Cut the connection.
Drop the stone.
That was all he needed to do.
But knowing what to do did not mean his body could immediately do it.
His fingers trembled.
He forced his palm open slightly, only for it to contract again reflexively under the pain.
A stream of burning spiritual qi had already reached close to his chest.
This was bad.
If it continued, the first thing to fail would not be his cultivation realm.
It would be his meridians.
Hao Nhien clenched his teeth.
He had thought he was being careful.
Only a thread.
Only the smallest opening.
But some things required only a crack for the flood to break through.
He had still underestimated the difference between them.
Pain exploded through his right arm.
Hao Nhien lost his balance and fell sideways.
Thud!
His shoulder struck the wooden floor.
Instinctively, his right hand came down to catch his weight.
The spirit stone was trapped between his palm and the wooden planks.
At that exact instant, the entire boat trembled.
Barely.
So faintly that under normal circumstances Hao Nhien might have mistaken it for a small wave striking the hull.
But the raging spiritual qi inside his arm suddenly stopped.
Then changed direction.
Hao Nhien's eyes widened.
Beneath his palm, the old grain in the wooden floor rippled.
It did not crack.
It did not burn.
It did not erupt in light.
For a single instant, the wood moved like water.
Then something deep within the boat began to pull.
Quietly.
Almost unnaturally so.
It lacked the violence of the spirit stone.
But compared with Hao Nhien's body, that pull felt so deep and vast that he could not sense its limits.
The spiritual qi forcing its way through his meridians immediately found another path.
A larger one.
The silver-white light inside the spirit stone suddenly flared.
Threads of spiritual qi flowed from beneath Hao Nhien's palm into the wooden floor, sinking into the grain like water soaking into dry earth.
The pain in his right arm dropped sharply.
Hao Nhien lay on his side, breathing hard.
Cold sweat covered his forehead.
Tieu Lan knelt beside him but stopped herself before touching him.
"Young Master…"
"Don't touch the stone."
His voice was hoarse.
But at least he could speak properly again.
Tieu Lan immediately pulled her hand back.
The spirit stone continued to fade.
It did not melt like ice.
It was more like whatever existed within it was being drawn away layer by layer.
One breath.
Two.
Several more.
At last, the silver-white light disappeared completely.
Only a thin trace of transparent dust remained in Hao Nhien's palm, crumbling away as soon as the air touched it.
The wooden floor returned to normal.
Hao Nhien remained still for a long while.
His right arm felt as though it had been torn apart and forced back together. His chest was still tight, and the true qi within his body remained slightly unsettled, but his Qi Sea was stable.
He was alive.
And not because he had handled the situation well.
Only because, at the exact moment he could no longer endure it, he had fallen.
And the hand holding the stone had happened to touch the boat.
If he had fallen another way—
Hao Nhien did not continue the thought.
There was no need.
The conclusion was already clear.
That experiment had been far more foolish than he had believed.
Then something faint reached him from deep within his perception.
Hao Nhien froze.
Distant.
Blurred.
Not words.
It was like something sleeping beneath countless heavy layers had shifted once in its sleep.
Not waking.
Only moving.
Hao Nhien's heart pounded.
The Cosmic Ark.
He was certain of it.
Not because he had called to it.
Certainly not because he could control it.
The Ark had only reacted after the spirit stone directly touched its body.
Perhaps the energy within the stone had brushed against some remaining instinct.
It needed energy.
It recognized something it could absorb.
And in doing so, it had accidentally pulled the raging spiritual qi away from Hao Nhien's body.
Hao Nhien pushed himself upright with his left hand.
Tieu Lan immediately supported his back.
This time he did not stop her.
"Young Master… you scared me to death."
Her voice trembled on the edge of tears.
Hao Nhien looked at his right hand.
The skin was bright red. Several thin bloodlines stood out beneath it, and pain still pulsed along his arm.
He gave a bitter smile.
"I scared myself too."
Tieu Lan looked both angry and frightened.
"You're not allowed to try that again."
"Mm."
He answered immediately.
Tieu Lan stared at him.
"Don't say 'mm' and then try a different version tomorrow."
Hao Nhien paused.
"This time I mean it."
"Really?"
"Really."
She studied him for several breaths before reluctantly believing him.
Hao Nhien lowered his gaze toward the floor.
That spirit stone might be a precious resource.
But for him, direct absorption was currently little more than a way to injure himself.
An opportunity that required gambling his meridians every time he used it was not a cultivation method.
At least not one meant for him now.
Tieu Lan followed his gaze.
"Young Master… the boat just now…"
"Shh."
Hao Nhien raised one finger.
Tieu Lan immediately fell silent.
He could still sense that extremely faint fluctuation.
After a moment, Hao Nhien took a second spirit stone from the ring.
Tieu Lan's eyes widened.
"Young Master!"
"Not for me."
He did not hold it any longer than necessary.
Instead, he placed the stone directly onto the wooden floor and withdrew his hand.
They both watched.
One breath passed.
Nothing happened.
Hao Nhien frowned slightly.
Then the floor beneath the stone rippled.
Slowly.
Faintly.
The silver-white light within the crystal began flowing into the wooden grain.
The Ark was absorbing it.
No guidance from Hao Nhien.
No breathing cultivation.
No true qi used as a bridge.
Only much more slowly than before.
Hao Nhien exhaled.
At least this proved that what had happened earlier was not merely an accident caused by the spiritual qi passing through his body.
The Ark itself could absorb the stones.
The distant fluctuation in Hao Nhien's perception gradually became clearer.
Still not a voice.
Not a complete memory.
Only something strangely familiar.
Like a door somewhere impossibly far away opening by the width of a finger.
Through that gap, for one brief instant, Hao Nhien felt wind.
Not river wind.
Not mountain wind.
Colder.
Farther.
So empty that direction itself seemed meaningless.
The void.
The thought appeared—
and an image flashed before his eyes.
A colossal tree.
Its roots could not be seen in full.
Neither could its crown.
It stood within an endless darkness, branches extending between countless distant rivers of light.
Not growing from earth.
Standing among the stars.
The image vanished almost immediately.
Hao Nhien opened his eyes.
His breathing had quickened slightly.
"Young Master?"
"I'm fine."
Tieu Lan looked doubtful.
"What did you see?"
"I'm not sure."
Hao Nhien answered truthfully.
"Only a very brief image."
"From the boat?"
"Maybe."
He did not claim certainty.
There was no evidence yet.
All he knew was that after the spirit stone was absorbed, the connection between himself and the Cosmic Ark had become slightly clearer.
Tieu Lan placed a hand on the wooden floor.
She remained quiet for a moment.
"It's warmer."
Hao Nhien looked at her.
"You can feel it?"
"Only a little."
Tieu Lan closed her eyes, fingertips still resting on the wood.
"It smells different too."
"Smells?"
"Like wood after rain."
She opened her eyes.
"I don't really know how to explain it. Before, the boat felt like a tree that had been dry for a very long time. Now… it feels like someone finally gave it a little water."
Something stirred in Hao Nhien's thoughts.
Tieu Lan had always been more sensitive than he was to medicinal plants and vitality.
But he did not use one impression from her to suddenly decide that the Ark belonged to some Wood element or anything similar.
He simply remembered it.
By the time the second spirit stone had almost completely lost its light, Hao Nhien took out a third.
This time, Tieu Lan did not object.
"Feeding the boat again?"
Hao Nhien looked at her.
"You call this feeding the boat?"
"It looks like it."
He laughed.
"Then let it eat one more."
The third stone touched the floor.
The Ark began absorbing it.
The wooden grain brightened faintly before fading again, leaving almost no visible change.
But in Hao Nhien's perception, that distant door seemed to open a fraction wider.
Still very little.
The seal remained.
Heavy.
Deep.
Layer upon layer.
Three spirit stones had opened no more than the smallest crack.
Hao Nhien waited for a long time.
No further image came.
No voice.
Nothing awakened.
Only the clearer certainty that somewhere deep within the Ark, something was truly sleeping.
He reached toward the storage ring.
Three stones remained.
His fingers stopped.
After several breaths, Hao Nhien withdrew his hand.
No more.
Tieu Lan asked,
"You're not feeding it again?"
"No."
"Because it's full?"
"Because we're about to become poor."
Tieu Lan blinked, then laughed.
The corner of Hao Nhien's mouth also lifted.
But saving resources was not the only reason.
Those last three stones might matter later.
More importantly, he had already seen the limit.
Pouring more energy into the Ark only opened the seal by tiny degrees.
If it was ever going to truly awaken, spirit stones alone were probably not enough.
Something else was missing.
Perhaps his cultivation realm.
Perhaps the connection between him and the Ark.
Perhaps something he did not yet know existed.
There was no reason to guess further.
Hao Nhien left the final three stones in the ring.
After a moment, his expression turned serious.
"Tieu Lan."
"Yes?"
"Never tell anyone about this boat."
She nodded immediately.
"I know."
"Not just the ring or the Tieu Dao Sword. If anyone learns that this boat can absorb spirit stones like these, or that it isn't an ordinary boat, we won't be strong enough to keep it."
"I won't tell anyone."
Tieu Lan paused, then naturally leaned closer.
She lowered her voice until it was nearly a whisper.
"Secrets have to be spoken this quietly, right?"
The distance between them suddenly became very small.
Hao Nhien caught the faint scent of medicinal herbs in her hair mixed with the old wood of the cabin.
He paused.
Then unconsciously straightened a little.
"Mm. Good that you understand."
Tieu Lan blinked.
"Young Master, are you hot? Your face is a little red."
"The backlash from earlier."
"Really?"
"Really."
She still looked suspicious.
Hao Nhien coughed.
"Go warm up the medicine. My arm still hurts."
Tieu Lan immediately forgot the question.
"Does it hurt badly?"
"Not too badly."
"Young Master, stay still."
She got up and hurried toward the front cabin.
Only then did Hao Nhien breathe out quietly.
He lowered his gaze to his right hand.
The pain remained.
But as he sat there, he began to notice something else.
After the third spirit stone had been absorbed, an extremely faint layer of spiritual qi had spread through the cabin.
It was nothing like the violently concentrated energy inside the stones.
This was gentle.
Slow.
Filled with a clear sense of vitality.
Like moisture rising from the trunk of a tree after a long rain.
Hao Nhien did not rush to call it Wood qi.
He was not even certain whether the Ark was "returning" some of the absorbed energy or whether this was simply a trace diffusing into the surroundings during the process.
He only knew that it was exceptionally mild.
Hao Nhien closed his eyes.
This time, he did not actively pull it toward himself.
He simply adjusted his breathing as he would during ordinary cultivation.
A very small amount of the surrounding spiritual qi gradually entered his body.
Only after passing through his meridians and being refined did it join the true qi already within him.
But the increase in true qi was not what caught his attention.
It was the cooling sensation along his right arm.
The meridians that had just been battered by the spirit stone seemed slightly less tense.
Not a miraculous recovery.
Not an instant healing effect.
More like injured tissue being placed in a gentler environment.
The pain eased little by little.
At that moment, Tieu Lan returned with the medicine.
Seeing Hao Nhien regulating his breathing, she did not call out to him.
She only placed the bowl nearby, then sat a short distance away with her two medicinal books and continued reading.
Inside the small cabin, time passed slowly.
By evening, Hao Nhien finally opened his eyes.
His right arm still ached slightly whenever he exerted force, but the worst of the pain had almost disappeared.
He circulated his true qi once.
When it passed through the meridians that had been struck by the surging spiritual qi, there was still some pressure.
But it was no longer sharp.
Hao Nhien did not push further.
When the circulation reached the area near the hollow at the base of his throat, he once again felt the familiar response.
A point of resistance.
Faint.
But clearer than before.
The fourth layer.
The bottleneck was drawing closer.
Hao Nhien opened his eyes, one hand unconsciously touching the lower part of his throat.
A month ago, perhaps his first thought would have been how to break through it.
After this morning, his first thought was different.
Not yet.
The Cosmic Ark's seal had only opened by a crack.
His own next bottleneck had only just begun to reveal itself.
Not everything that could be opened—
needed to be opened today.
Hao Nhien looked at the three remaining spirit stones inside the ring.
Then at the old wooden floor beneath his hand.
Some doors required strength.
Some required the right time.
And some—
before you knew what waited on the other side—
were better opened only by a crack.