eurekapd Chapter 12 Heavenly Plate
Chapter 12 Heavenly Plate
A gentle breeze swept through a secluded paradise bathed in golden light and shrouded in mist. An elderly man in white robes sat cross-legged before a stone table. On the table lay a chessboard where a game of chess was being played, with the white and black pieces placed to his right. Clearly, the old man was playing chess alone, against himself.
The surrounding environment was peaceful and natural, with the distant stream gently gurgling and birdsong echoing from time to time. Everything seemed tranquil and serene. But just then, a black piece that the old man had placed long ago suddenly vibrated and then exploded, turning into black fragments that scattered all over the chessboard.
"Hehehe." Seeing this, the old man remained calm and composed. He took out another chess piece from the stone bowl that held the black pieces and placed it on the spot where the black piece had broken. "Although it was within my expectations, it was indeed a bit too sudden. To get so deeply mired in this quagmire after encountering such a small setback shows that your Dao heart is unstable. If this is all you have, you probably won't even be qualified to see me in the future."
The old man sighed softly, shook his head, stared at the black chess piece on the board, pondered for a long time, and finally took out another black piece and placed it next to him.
......
Dao Tian Continent is an extremely vast continent inhabited by countless mortals and cultivators. Besides Dao Tian Continent, there are four other relatively smaller continents, which, together forming five major regions, are the lower realms under the jurisdiction of the Nine Heavens. Within these five regions, an ordinary mortal, carrying the memories of his previous thirty years, is reborn into the world.
Beihe Town, Zhangjia.
"Why isn't this baby crying..." In the Zhang family mansion, a baby was born, but instead of the usual crying of a newborn, the baby was unusually quiet, with its eyes slightly open, seemingly looking around in a daze.
"What's going on? What's wrong with me..." In the baby's brain, a consciousness suddenly awakened, controlling the baby's body, constantly looking around, trying to figure out its current situation.
*Smack!* A large slap landed squarely on the baby's tender, white bottom, still wet with amniotic fluid. "Cry! Cry!"
"Waaaaah! Waaaaahh ...
The midwife, Wang Po, quickly picked up the cleaned baby and brought her to Yun Wei'er, the second wife of the Zhang family, who was lying on the bed. This young and beautiful woman had just become a mother, and Zhang Zhicheng, the head of the Zhang family, was also overjoyed, asking Wang Po, "Is it a boy or a girl?"
Even though Granny Wang's wrinkled old face broke into a smile, and this was the fourth child she had delivered for the Zhang family, her gaze towards the infant was still full of kindness. "Congratulations, sir, it's a boy."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhicheng's joy deepened. Looking at Yun Weier, who was so close to the child, the heavy weight in his heart finally lifted.
The infant stared at the young woman who was holding it tightly, thinking to itself, "Looks like I didn't die, and I really did get reincarnated? Hahahaha! But why do I still have my memories? That's strange..."
Yun Weier was Zhang Zhicheng's wife, whom he married only a few years ago. His original wife had been with him for over ten years and had given birth to three children for the Zhang family: one daughter and two sons. However, Zhang Zhicheng fell in love with Yun Weier and eventually married her. Because Yun Weier was new, she was targeted by the old mistress, who had long held a stable position. She was given the cold shoulder and made things difficult for her, as the old mistress feared that this young and beautiful woman would steal Zhang Zhicheng away from her.
Yun Weier seemed unfazed by this. Although Zhang Zhicheng sometimes couldn't resist the gossip and would occasionally come to her to ask questions, she knew that what she did was what she did, and what she didn't do was what she didn't do. All she needed to do was tell the truth. If you have a clear conscience, you have nothing to fear.
The boy's name was derived from Zhang Zhicheng's surname Zhang, and his mother's surname Yun was added to his given name. Finally, the last character was chosen to represent his lofty ambitions, forming the boy's full name – Zhang Yunling.
Several years passed in the blink of an eye, and Zhang Yunling had grown to be eight years old. As the youngest in the Zhang family, the fourth child, and the son of the second wife born out of wedlock, his status was relatively low compared to his three older brothers and sisters. Not only did no one want to play with him, but he was also often bullied. However, Zhang Yunling didn't care about this. Although this body was that of an eight-year-old child, his soul was actually that of a Qi Refining stage cultivator who had experienced thirty years of life.
"How boring. That old geezer is always interfering with everything. When will I ever be able to leave this place?" Zhang Yunling sat in the courtyard, looking at Steward Li, who was in charge of looking after the three eldest sons of the Zhang family, and sighed repeatedly. "Forget it, I'll just sneak off to the backyard to continue my cultivation."
It turns out that Zhang Yunling had already prepared to start cultivating again when he was six years old. In his memory, that damned woman had said that as long as he meditated and practiced breathing exercises in a place with abundant spiritual energy, he could open his spiritual meridians in a miraculous moment, thereby condensing the spiritual energy he absorbed into his dantian, opening his spiritual root, clearing his meridians, and finally becoming a Qi Refining stage cultivator.
What the woman he deeply resented said was indeed true; he had indeed embarked on the path of cultivation again, becoming a cultivator at the young age of six. However, for some reason, two years later, his cultivation level was only at the fifth level of the Qi Refining stage. This contradicted what Chu Yanbing had said about cultivating faster in places with abundant spiritual energy. Perhaps it was because he was too young, or perhaps his body simply lacked the talent to reach the speed of reaching the third level in just half a month back then.
He didn't know how his current body's talent compared to his previous life, but he estimated it didn't possess four of the five-colored spiritual roots the woman had mentioned. However, that wasn't the point. The point was why he had been reborn here the instant after being killed, and why he had been given the name Zhang Yunling, the exact same name as in his previous life? Perhaps fate was just that coincidental, or perhaps… Zhang Yunling harbored deep doubts about this, but he didn't want to think about it now. For now, becoming stronger was his primary goal.
As usual, Zhang Yunling fooled the child-caretaker, Steward Li, and quietly slipped into the large garden behind the mansion. Finding his hiding place, where he had spent two years, Zhang Yunling looked around to make sure no one was watching, then began meditating and cultivating in his eight-year-old body. The Zhang family's back garden was vast and expansive. Because the First Madam loved all kinds of flowers, Zhang Zhicheng had specially arranged for this garden to be built for her. Zhang Yunling's spot was usually very secluded, rarely visited, which allowed him to secretly cultivate for two years without being discovered.
"Damn it, once my cultivation reaches the Great Perfection of Qi Refining again, I'll leave this so-called Zhang family! Sigh, so many years have passed, and I still don't know how my father is doing. Even if he was harmed by Chu Yanbing, I couldn't even collect his body... Sigh..." Zhang Yunling sighed incessantly. His affection for his adoptive father, Zhang He, was much deeper than his affection for his biological father, Zhang Zhicheng, in this life. He thought that after quickly recovering his cultivation, he should leave as soon as possible and go to that thatched hut to see how his father was doing.
Suddenly, a plant with bright blue petals caught Zhang Yunling's attention. "Hmm? This is... a Blue Crystal Flower?" This startled him. There had never been such a plant here before. How did one suddenly appear today?
If he remembered correctly, this flower was a medicinal herb that could be used to refine a first-grade Qi Condensation Pill. Zhang Yunling had long since mastered the basic alchemy methods that Liao Daozi had taught him. Although he had been reborn, the knowledge of plants and trees that had been etched into his mind would never be forgotten.
A bold idea popped into Zhang Yunling's mind. He rubbed his fair and delicate little hands together, a look of joy on his face. "I can't leave the Zhang family for the time being, and I'm just idling around anyway. Why don't I look for other medicinal herbs and find another alchemy cauldron, and start refining pills from now on!"