After quietly lying unconscious on the ground for more than an hour, Yang Kai finally woke up, having exhausted every last ounce of his strength.
A faint golden light flickered across his vision before swiftly fading away.
Lying on the hard wooden bed in his small hut, he remained completely still for a moment, savoring the strange new sensation coursing through his body.
Unlike before, his entire being felt fundamentally renewed. His limbs were brimming with newfound strength, and his bones were filled with an indescribable, surging vitality.
He slowly clenched his fist.
Crack!
A crisp, crystal-clear sound echoed from his knuckles, almost as if his very bones had transformed into something far beyond fragile mortal flesh.
This...
Yang Kai sat up swiftly, rolling up his tattered sleeves to examine himself. His once frail, scar-riddled arms now looked entirely different... his skin was smooth and pristine, his muscles lean yet noticeably firm. He pressed his fingers against his forearm, feeling the dense, compact strength hidden just beneath the surface.
Gone were the dark bruises, the accumulated scars, and the severe, malnourished weakness that had plagued this body for years.
He took a deep breath.
A comforting warmth surged within his body, a gentle current of energy circulating freely through his previously blocked meridians. It was still his body, yet something about it felt... different. Denser. Unbreakable. Infinitely more refined.
He focused his senses inward.
And there, embedded deep within his marrow, was something entirely new.
The Proud Golden Skeleton.
This supreme golden skeleton had flawlessly fused into his very foundation, reinforcing his physical body beyond recognition.
Yang Kai exhaled sharply, his heart pounding with raw excitement.
Although his cultivation realm was still technically stuck at the Tempered Body Third Stage, his physical endurance, recovery speed, and baseline resilience had grown to an unimaginable degree. This meant that even against opponents several minor realms above him, he wouldn't break so easily ever again.
He stood up.
His movements were incredibly smooth and effortless... far beyond what this vessel had been capable of just a single day ago. Even the lingering aches and phantom pains from past injuries had completely vanished.
It was real.
This was his body now.
But... what about the black book?
Yang Kai immediately began searching his surroundings. This book had fundamentally changed his destiny, yet now, after the agonizing fusion, he wasn't sure where it had gone.
That black book obviously possessed some heaven-defying background, and the Golden Skeleton was undeniably extraordinary. This could be considered his ultimate good fortune. It could also be called fate.
He recalled the four lines of text from the black book's first page: Proud golden body, rules the heavens, indomitable spirit, will it descend!
He subconsciously focused his thoughts on the artifact.
In an instant, the heavy black book appeared right before him, materializing out of thin air and falling onto his bed with a soft thud.
"I can summon it... with just a thought?" he muttered.
Shff!
The book instantly vanished back into his body.
Yang Kai blinked in surprise. Then, summoning his will again, the book reappeared directly in his palm.
It was like a magic trick.
"This black book... could it possibly be made from a Soulstone?!" The moment he spoke the words out loud, he nearly gave himself a fright.
Soulstone! This was considered a truly legendary material.
According to the ancient records Yang Kai had read it, a Soulstone could only begin to form when hundreds of millions of vengeful ghosts gathered in an abyssal slaughterground, nourished by vast amounts of human vitality.
Inside the black stone lay the condensed misery of a hundred million lives; the living could not enter, and not even a single blade of grass could ever hope to grow near it!
Those old legends might have been somewhat exaggerated, but for a Soulstone a mere cubic inch in size to form, how many lives must have been slaughtered?
The creation of this mythical rock was unspeakably cruel and bloody. Any living being unfortunate enough to wander near it during its gestation would have their soul instantly extinguished.
Furthermore, the formation time was unimaginable; it could take anywhere from a single millennium to tens of thousands of years.
Putting its horrifying origins aside, a Soulstone was considered a supreme, heaven-defying treasure for one very unique ability: it could meld perfectly with a cultivator's body and open up an independent spatial dimension.
This internal space was incredibly flexible, meaning storing items within it would be absolutely effortless and completely undetectable.
Even though Yang Kai was only a lowly experimental disciple, his knowledge was not lacking. The bloody legends of the Soulstone had been circulating the martial world for countless generations; anyone who paid attention to ancient myths would know the stories.
The moment the thought fully crossed his mind, he felt his chest tighten.
A Soulstone... a mythical treasure, said to be long extinct in this world. Even the smallest fragment was considered beyond priceless to top-tier experts.
Yet the black book currently resting in his hands...
It was a full foot long and several inches thick.
If this entire book was truly forged from a single, massive piece of Soulstone...
His breath hitched.
Its value was simply immeasurable!
If news of this were to spread, let alone a mere sect like High Heaven Pavilion, even the entire Great Han Dynasty would probably be massacred overnight by supreme experts rushing to obtain it.
Yang Kai couldn't help but feel his palms grow sweaty. His heart pounded with a lingering trace of fear, but he also felt immense relief that he could safely store the book inside his body. If he had to carry it around in the open, he would be in mortal danger.
Securing the treasure back into his body with a thought, he remained seated on his bed, glancing nervously around his sparse hut. He dared not be careless while his heart beat so wildly.
But... what exactly is the origin of this book? he wondered.
He recalled the Proud Golden Skeleton, the tyrannical words on the first page, and the devastating power that had fundamentally transformed his body. Everything about this artifact was far beyond his current level of understanding.
One thing, however, was absolutely clear.
The black book was no ordinary treasure.
It wasn't just blind luck that had brought it to him.
It was destiny.