Zhang Chen had many things to consider, he had to think about how to sustain his own hornets during the year of disaster. It seemed that the hornets couldn’t survive the year of disaster either. He also had to think about the chickens and ducks at home, and his stepmother and little sister.
"This world is really driving people crazy." Zhang Chen muttered, returning home and feeding the deer with bundles of grass, then began preparing food for dinner.
Zhang Chen didn’t eat meat for dinner, it was claypot rice.
The claypot rice was first invented by Zhang Chen, and later when the Fox Spirit came, it was learned by the neighboring Fox Spirit.
Feeding the leftover rice to the wild chickens and ducks, Zhang Chen lay in bed and began to nourish the spirit: "It has been some days since I last visited my stepmother and little sister. I don’t know how they have been living. Tomorrow I should find time to visit."
Zhang Chen lay on the bed, feeling drowsy. Recently, he had felt a burning sensation inside him, struggling to sleep through the night. With the pain gradually easing, it seemed the transformation was nearing its end, and Zhang Chen was able to take brief naps each day.
Zhang Chen drifted off to sleep, the Crystal Core within his bloodstream constantly flickering. Suddenly, at a certain moment, the movement of the Crystal Core stopped, quietly suspended within Zhang Chen’s body. Then, the void around the Crystal Core began to distort, as if it transformed into a bottomless pit, swallowing all the blood in Zhang Chen’s body within moments, leaving not a drop behind. Yet, Zhang Chen’s breathing remained steady, seemingly unaware of the changes in his body.
After three breaths, the Crystal Core trembled slightly and began expelling Zhang Chen’s blood back out. Before long, the blood flowed back, circulating throughout Zhang Chen’s body.
The cycle repeated nine times, and nine peculiar runes appeared upon the Crystal Core. The strange symbols shattered, transforming into a series of mystical illusions. Within these, winds and rains, thunder and lightning swirled, and terrifying figures clashed within the blood-red river. Countless streams of information surged into Zhang Chen’s soul.
Zhang Chen had a dream; he dreamt of himself transforming into a figure enveloped in a blood-red aura, engaged in battle with an indistinct opponent. A blood-red river flowed around him, and as it passed, countless beings turned into dried corpses, their blood plundered by the Blood River.
The man across from him had an indistinct appearance, but continuously formed Dharma Seals with his hands, suppressing Zhang Chen’s Blood River.
Their battle lasted for an unknown duration, and Zhang Chen felt as if he had died, his body turned to dust, leaving only a severed hand, buried deep in a wilderness.
Over countless years and the changes of ages, the hand underwent an inexplicable transformation, evolving into a jade-like material where true blood gathered anew, birthing intelligence.
Then, one day, a tall man arrived. The man was a blur, appearing through time and space, his visage unclear to Zhang Chen. He only felt that the man was deeply sorrowful, to the extent that even Heaven and Earth were infected by the man’s emotions, emitting mournful cries.
Then Zhang Chen was taken to a cemetery, where the man clapped his hands, causing Zhang Chen’s jade-like dust to continuously fall and transform into the shape of a tombstone, pressed against a massive grave.
In a daze, Zhang Chen seemed to see a strangely shaped dragon and a woman dressed in simple coarse fabric.
The woman lay inside a giant round wooden coffin, hollowed out to perfectly accommodate a person lying within.
The woman’s face was serene and very quiet, as if she were asleep, her beauty causing the world to lose its color.
The dragon was even stranger, its body covered in countless wounds as if it had suffered countless cuts, with its scales plucked numerous times, leaving blood-soaked wounds that were ghastly. Its Dragon Horn was broken, two claws lost, and the remaining two dragon claws were covered in countless ghastly cracks.
The man gazed at the woman lying in the round wood and the Divine Dragon for a long time without words. After an unknown amount of time, the man began pinching Spell gestures to set up the tomb, while the dragon of strange shape was buried in front of the woman’s coffin, seemingly guarding her safety.
"Bang~" Suddenly came the sound of a washbasin falling to the ground from the neighbor, startling Zhang Chen from the Dream Realm.
"Such a vivid dream! Just that it is somewhat strange, did I dream of the origin of the stone monument?"
Zhang Chen abruptly sat up, his eyes turning to the window. By this time, the sky was already completely dark, and from the neighbor came the sounds of pots and pans clashing, previously it was the cutting board falling that startled Zhang Chen awake.
The neighbor was working on rice, the noisy clashing noise much louder than usual.
Zhang Chen sat alone in the dark for a moment, from next door came more sounds of pots and pans clashing. Zhang Chen feeling annoyed, then walked over to the wall. He suddenly realized he hadn’t been to the wall to peer over for quite a while, not knowing how much the Fox Spirit had recovered...
Gently opening the gap in the wall, a glimpse of the white-haired fox cooking was seen, with scholar Zhang Chen nowhere in sight, evidently not yet returned.
Zhang Chen’s eyes fell on the stunning girl, her soul seemed to have further condensed, now appearing like a real person, with no hint of being soul transformed.