Chapter 16

That piece of beast bone, which he had received at the lottery ceremony on his first birthday, was still with him. Since he obtained the beast bone, his maternal grandfather and elder aunt had always hoped that one day he would be able to resonate with the spiritual power within it. Unfortunately, up to this day, he had failed to cause any change in the beast bone, and he himself had long given up hope. However, he always kept the beast bone with him, and at night, when all was quiet, he would take it out to play with, hoping that one day he could feel the wonder of the beast bone. But over the years, the beast bone had never shown any abnormality. However, today, the beast bone was clearly different from usual. He focused his gaze and saw that the beast bone seemed to emit thin threads of red light. The increasingly intense burning sensation, following the flickering red light, gradually spread from the beast bone, making his waist, which was tightly pressed against it, almost unbearable. "Strange..." Nie Tian's face showed a look of surprise as he placed the beast bone in his palm and tried to sense it with the spiritual power within his body. By probing with his mind, he seemed to see more tiny red lights inside the beast bone. These lights released orange-red flames within the beast bone, as if they were burning. "The orange-red flames, when I fought Yun Song, the flame balls he condensed were this color, weren't they?" His expression changed slightly. At this moment, he temporarily shifted his attention from the beast bone and instead thought about the details of his battle with Yun Song. He suddenly remembered that when he rushed out of those orange-red flame balls, most of the flames inside them splashed out. However, it seemed that some of the flames that flew towards the area of the beast bone did not splash out. It seemed that some of the flames had been left behind... "Could it be that those orange-red flames entered the beast bone?" Nie Tian gradually grasped the pattern. As he pondered, the beast bone became increasingly hot, and the originally dark brown bone turned red and translucent, like a red-hot iron. The unusual high temperature made his palm hurt, and he had to stand up and place the beast bone on the stone table. He stared at it and saw that the beast bone seemed to be forged by flames, with occasional flashes of fire. The strange state of the beast bone did not last long. After a while, the beast bone became dull again, as if the flames left by Nie Hong had burned out. After the high temperature subsided, Nie Tian once again reached out and pressed his fingertips against the beast bone. Closing his eyes, he used his fingertips to sense carefully, as if he could see the occasional flickers of fire inside the beast bone. After a while, the occasional flickers of fire inside the beast bone also disappeared, and the beast bone completely returned to its previous color, showing no special qualities. Nie Tian continued to play with it for a while, trying to find its wonders, but found nothing. After a long time, the beast bone still showed no new changes, and he could only give up in frustration and put it away again. However, this abnormality made him pay extra attention to the beast bone. For a period of time afterward, Nie Tian was strictly forbidden to go out because Nie Donghai discovered that several unknown cultivators were lingering around the Nie family. Nie Donghai was very clear that these unknown cultivators were definitely from the Yun family or the guest elders of the Yuan family, who were under the command of Yuan Qiuying. Even the Yun family and the Yuan family did not dare to openly harm Nie Tian in Black Cloud City. The only thing they could do was to find some new faces, and after the deed was done, sever all ties with them and make them leave Black Cloud City forever. To prevent Nie Tian from being harmed, Nie Qian watched him all day and did not allow him to step out of the Nie family compound. As a result, Nie Tian did not leave the Nie family for three months and focused on cultivating the Qi Condensation Art, hoping to make further progress in a short period. After three months, those outsiders, seeing that they had no opportunity to act, gradually withdrew from the Nie family. "I'm exhausted." Nie Qian, with a tired look on her face, entered Nie Tian's room and casually threw a cloth bag onto the table. "I've been busy for three days, just to count the Fire Cloud Stones mined in the past few months and offer most of them to Lingyun Sect. The remaining Fire Cloud Stones were stored in the family's treasury, and I only have this little bit left." The red light of the evening glow seeped in through the door, and Nie Tian also woke up from his cultivation. "Is that the Fire Cloud Stone?" Nie Tian curiously looked at the few stones that had rolled out of the cloth bag on the table. "Yes, this is the Fire Cloud Stone, a low-grade fourth-rank spiritual material." Nie Qian picked up a fist-sized Fire Cloud Stone and threw it to Nie Tian. "Spiritual materials are special materials used to refine spiritual artifacts and construct spirit arrays. Every cultivator, when they reach the Three Days Realm, will begin to come into contact with them. Take a look." Nie Tian raised his hand and caught the Fire Cloud Stone, lowering his head to examine it carefully. The fist-sized Fire Cloud Stone was dark red, and it seemed to have red clouds inside, which seemed to contain the power of fire. After looking for a while, Nie Tian's mind stirred, and he took out the beast bone. In front of Nie Qian, he gently pressed the Fire Cloud Stone against the beast bone, trying to guide the fire power inside the Fire Cloud Stone into the beast bone. The last time, because of the battle with Yun Song, the residual power of Yun Song's flame balls had caused the beast bone to undergo an abnormal change, which made him pay attention. He wanted to see if the beast bone could absorb fire power again, just like last time. "Sizzle!" Sparks suddenly burst from the point where the beast bone and the Fire Cloud Stone touched, and the dark brown beast bone instantly turned the same color as the Fire Cloud Stone. Nie Tian's eyes widened, and he clearly felt that threads of fire power were rapidly flowing from the Fire Cloud Stone into the beast bone. Small clusters of red clouds inside the Fire Cloud Stone were disappearing at a visible speed. "Hmm!" Nie Qian also noticed the abnormality and hurriedly moved to Nie Tian's side, looking at the beast bone with the same curiosity. She saw that in a short time, the red clouds inside the Fire Cloud Stone had all disappeared. She was very clear that those small, cloud-like red clusters were the fire power contained within the Fire Cloud Stone. "Crack!" The fist-sized Fire Cloud Stone, after all the red clouds inside it disappeared, suddenly shattered. The smaller pieces of Fire Cloud Stone were no longer dark red but had turned into ordinary gray-white stones. On the contrary, the dark brown beast bone gradually turned red and translucent, like a red-hot iron, and Nie Tian quickly let go because it was too hot. "Xiao Tian, you..." Nie Qian was overjoyed, her bright eyes shining with excitement. "Could it be that you are beginning to resonate with the spiritual power of this beast bone? Is your cultivation attribute fire?" She had always been troubled by the fact that Nie Tian had never shown any unique cultivation attributes and had never resonated with the beast bone. Now, seeing the beast bone turn red, she mistakenly thought it was due to Nie Tian and immediately became overjoyed. "It has nothing to do with me," Nie Tian smiled bitterly and shook his head. "If I had caused the change in the beast bone, and my attribute was fire power, I could have held it without letting go." "Then..." Nie Qian, disappointed, asked, "What's going on?" "The Fire Cloud Stone is causing the beast bone to change." Nie Tian explained in detail about the abnormal change in the beast bone after his battle with Yun Song, and then said, "This beast bone seems to be able to absorb fire power. I wasn't sure before, but now that the fire power inside the Fire Cloud Stone has been absorbed by the beast bone, I can be certain." As they spoke, the radiant beast bone gradually turned dark brown again, losing its mysterious qualities. "Why did it change back?" Nie Qian asked in surprise. "After absorbing the fire power, it returns to its original state. To change again, it needs to continue absorbing fire power," Nie Tian said. "Let me try again." Nie Qian became interested. She took the cloth bag containing the Fire Cloud Stones from the table and picked out a larger one, handing it to Nie Tian. "Try again." "Okay." Nie Tian tried again as instructed. "Sizzle!" Sparks burst from the point where the beast bone and the Fire Cloud Stone touched, and the beast bone turned red and translucent again. The larger Fire Cloud Stone, under the watchful eyes of Nie Tian and Nie Qian, was quickly drained of its fire power and soon shattered. The beast bone, with its internal points of fire light, seemed to flicker like tiny red stars. Nie Qian, who was prepared, slowly extended her hand and gently touched the beast bone with her crystal-clear fingertips, wanting to explore its mysteries. "Ah!" As soon as she touched the beast bone, Nie Qian screamed and quickly withdrew her hand. Her fingertips were instantly burned. When she gathered water-attribute spiritual power to try again, the beast bone returned to its normal state, becoming ordinary. "Try again!" She was spurred on by the challenge and took out another Fire Cloud Stone, placing it on the beast bone, which turned red like fire again. This time, she gathered water-attribute spiritual power on her fingertips and reached out again. "Sizzle!" Thin wisps of steam suddenly rose from the point where her fingertips and the beast bone touched, but she could only endure for three seconds before the intense heat forced her to withdraw her hand. "Try again!" Nie Qian tried repeatedly, and each Fire Cloud Stone shattered after the beast bone absorbed all its fire power. Each time she touched the beast bone, she could not hold on for long, and as soon as her spiritual sense penetrated the beast bone, she had to withdraw her hand. After a while, all the remaining Fire Cloud Stones had turned into gray-white fragments. Sweat appeared on Nie Qian's forehead as she looked at the beast bone in frustration, shook her head, and sighed, "This thing is a bit strange." Perhaps because it had absorbed a lot of fire power in a short time, the beast bone did not immediately return to its normal state after the last Fire Cloud Stone shattered. It remained red and hot, like a piece of iron being forged. "Let me try." Nie Tian suddenly pointed at the beast bone. "No! It's too hot, you'll get hurt!" Nie Qian shouted to stop him. She had tried many times and was very sure that the more fire power the beast bone absorbed, the hotter it became. Even with a large amount of water-attribute spiritual power on her fingertips, she could not endure it. Now, after absorbing all the fire power from the Fire Cloud Stones, the beast bone was at its hottest, and Nie Tian's attempt was like courting disaster. However, her warning did not catch up with Nie Tian's speed. As soon as she shouted, his finger was already pressing against the beast bone. "Let go quickly!" she shouted anxiously. But Nie Tian did not react as she expected, screaming and immediately letting go. Surprisingly, Nie Tian's finger, pressing against the beast bone, showed no sign of pain. Instead, his eyes sparkled as if he had made a startling discovery. ...

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