C7 The Birth of the Mechanical Incarnation

Chu Xing had had enough. It seemed that with power came arrogance. Wang Feiqiang used to exercise some restraint, but now his true colors were showing through his brash behavior.

With a flick of his wrist, Chu Xing sent an iron nail from the windowsill darting into Wang Feiqiang's rear end. He was a classmate, after all, so serious harm was out of the question. To avoid detection, he quickly disposed of the nail in the trash can.

"Ah!" Wang Feiqiang yelped, clutching his backside and hopping around in pain.

The other students watched in confusion, many struggling to stifle their laughter.

"Karma," whispered Li Fei, silently cheering on her fellow female student.

Wang Feiqiang hurled insults, trying to identify his stealthy assailant, but to no avail. He even cast a suspicious glance at Chu Xing.

Chu Xing feigned sleep, and eventually, with his bleeding backside, Wang Feiqiang had no choice but to excuse himself and head home. At last, the classroom was peaceful.

"Do I look like an unsung hero?" Chu Xing mused with a self-deprecating smile.

Despite practicing his cultivation all night, Chu Xing felt wide awake after just a short rest, attributing his alertness to the wonders of his training.

He slumped over his desk, pretending to sleep, while his consciousness delved into the depths of his dantian.

He recalled Elder Hsu's words, pondering, "Teacher mentioned he used divine power to seal a Cosmic Oddity within my dantian. I should be able to see it once I reach the Qi Training Stage, but I haven't found anything yet."

Chu Xing meticulously scanned his dantian with his mental energy. When he reached just below the cyclone, he encountered what seemed to be a thin, transparent membrane that his mental energy effortlessly penetrated.

There it was—the Cosmic Oddity, a black object that shimmered faintly as it hovered in silence. Its darkness appeared to absorb everything, drawing one's gaze into its depths.

Carefully, Chu Xing directed his mental energy closer to it. Suddenly, he shivered as the vortex seemed to accelerate its absorption of spiritual energy.

He envisioned himself on a planet half the size of the moon, its black surface etched with patterns resembling deep grooves that crisscrossed the sphere. It was as if he stood upon a colossal black stone intricately carved with an enigmatic design.

"How should I use this Cosmic Oddity? You're so dark, I think I'll call you Black Ball!" Chu Xing mused, his eyes scanning his surroundings.

He began channeling his mental energy into the Black Ball. Despite its size, his energy swiftly reached its center—a spherical space ten meters in diameter, illuminated by a mesmerizing blue orb that seemed to be the heart of the Black Ball.

Chu Xing instinctively felt that this blue orb was the core. As his mental energy merged with it, a flood of information was instantly downloaded into his mind. He now had a complete understanding of the Black Ball, even from the outside.

To Chu Xing's amazement, the Black Ball could nurture five clones—two more than Elder Hsu had known. This realization brought him a sense of ease. "If only Elder Hsu had experienced this. It's incredible to think that I have the power to create clones, a feat of the gods! And I can have five," he exclaimed with a mix of wonder and excitement.

After indulging in his fantasies, Chu Xing delved back into the information from the Black Ball. "The blue orb is the core, the birthplace of the clones, all created for the Black Ball." The rest of the message was cryptic to him.

"Are the clones meant to protect the Black Ball? To help it evolve? Or is it something else?" Chu Xing pondered, but the answer eluded him, so he let the thought go.

What truly thrilled him was the message that he could create a significant clone upon reaching the Qi Training Stage. This would dramatically boost his strength and his chances of survival.

While Chu Xing didn't fully grasp the main purpose of the clones being created for the Black Ball, he knew that the Mechanical Heart was another Cosmic Oddity, born with the universe, intelligent, and a powerful treasure. There was no reason not to use the Mechanical Heart to create a clone.

Without a second thought, Chu Xing transferred the Mechanical Heart from his ring into the core of the Black Ball.

Once Chu Xing had taken control of the black sphere, he realized it could serve as a storage space, allowing him to effortlessly transfer objects between the ring's space and the sphere.

Upon the Mechanical Heart's entry into the black sphere's core, a blue glow sprang to life, enveloping the Heart in a brilliant radiance. It began to move, with the blue light steadily permeating it, causing the Heart's surface to take on a silvery hue.

The transformation was a slow process, one that wouldn't be completed quickly. After observing for a time, Chu Xing redirected his focus to the swirling vortex.

Chu Xing had noticed that upon mastering the black sphere, the rotation of his Qi had quickened, with some spiritual energy being drawn into the sphere.

He attempted to practice the Profound Heaven and Earth Technique, intently watching the vortex. At last, it made sense to him.

Typically, the vortex spun faster during cultivation and slowed when he wasn't cultivating. However, with the black sphere in his possession, the vortex's idle rotation sped up, and it accelerated even more during cultivation.

The black sphere siphoned spiritual energy through the vortex, claiming over half of what the vortex absorbed into the dantian, with the remainder being consumed by the vortex itself.

"Could the black sphere also require spiritual energy to evolve? It looks like my cultivation pace will slow down, but if the sphere can evolve, it'll be even more crucial for me," Chu Xing pondered.

In truth, while the black sphere had absorbed a significant amount of spiritual energy, it had also increased the vortex's rotation speed, leading to greater absorption of spiritual energy. His body was becoming stronger than that of an average person, promising immense future benefits.

With this newfound understanding, Chu Xing's consciousness exited his dantian.

In the classroom, where no teacher was present, students were engrossed in their phones, engaged in conversation, or catching up on sleep. Lee Xiaoran had calmed down from her earlier alarm and was chatting with classmates.

"Chu Xing, someone has unearthed an ancient site of cultivation," Luo Xiaoyun exclaimed upon noticing Chu Xing's return to awareness.

"What? A treasure trove of cultivation? Does such a thing truly exist on Earth?" Chu Xing jolted to attention, his expression turning to one of urgency.

Cultivation could be the key to surviving in the cosmos. If Earth were to uncover cultivation relics, we might even find a way off the planet.

"People online claim they've found relics just two days ago, and again today. It's hard to say whether it's fact or fiction," Luo Xiaoyun remarked earnestly.

"That's definitely a hoax. Cultivation exists only in fantasy; it's not possible in reality. The internet is rife with false information," Li Fei responded dismissively, skeptical of the whole idea.

Chu Xing, however, wasn't convinced it was a hoax. He had begun his own cultivation journey, puzzled by Earth's apparent lack of spiritual energy.

Given the resurgence of spiritual energy, it seemed plausible that Earth had been imbued with it in the past, making the existence of relics quite probable.

"The web also suggests that sects like Shaolin, Wudang, and Emei stumbled upon cultivation relics in the past, but dismissed them due to the absence of spiritual energy. Now, those relics are not only credible but also viable for cultivation," Luo Xiaoyun added.

"You're always chasing after rumors," Li Fei scoffed.

"Better to believe and be prepared than to dismiss and regret," Chu Xing muttered, his thoughts wholly consumed by the relics.

"You're all bewitched!"

"Who would have guessed a while back that people could possess unique abilities? Anything's possible."

Chu Xing's mind was adrift, preoccupied with thoughts of the relics, until he found himself in the park after school.

"Real or not, I need to dedicate myself to cultivation. No more distractions," Chu Xing resolved, centering his attention on his dantian.

Within the black ball's core, the transformation continued.

Realizing the black ball served as a storage space, Chu Xing decided to transfer everything from his storage ring into it for greater security and to take advantage of its vast capacity.

He then meticulously organized the items Elder Hsu had bequeathed to him.