Chapter 23

This sentence made everyone fall silent at once.

After a while, the big man managed to laugh, "Hahaha, that was last year's matter. From last year to this year, I prepared for a whole year! At this time last year, I had just advanced to the Dawn Realm. Now I have two Dawn Apertures, I will definitely pass this time!"

The others thought the same.

The preliminary exam for the Sunlight Order this year would be held in half a month, on the first day of April, in the nearby River County of Luming Town. They had agreed to meet at the Half-Moon Market after the exam.

After making the agreement, they dispersed, their faces still showing some doubt.

It turned out that obtaining a Sunlight Token was so difficult...

For some reason, although this matter had little to do with Jiang Feng, he still felt a faint unease.

He decided that next time at the Half-Moon Market, he would come earlier and listen carefully to the results of their preliminary exams. He had a vague feeling that this matter was not just about the exam!

...

...

Chong Fan had not finished his business. After exchanging the goods in his hands, he started buying things again. The originally half-empty bamboo basket was once again filled with the junk that Jiang Feng saw.

At this moment, Chong Fan was completely different.

It was as if some kind of vitality had been injected into his body. His voice was loud, and his face was full of confidence and composure.

He might be physically weak and plagued by illness, but there was no doubt that this was his world!

Jiang Feng did not disturb him and walked away again. This time, he walked to a tree, sat down cross-legged, and took out the "Guiding Technique" to read.

The "Guiding Technique" lived up to its name, explaining the use of Bright Force in the fingers and palms.

Jiang Feng still could not directly use Bright Force, but it was already stored in every part of his body, every muscle, every blood vessel, and every heartbeat.

Perhaps the "Guiding Technique" could not help him control Bright Force, but it could let him understand how Bright Force "should" work and "can" work.

Moreover, the main reason he could not use Bright Force was due to his bloodline. The golden bloodline was still being refined. In the future, perhaps not long from now, Bright Force would be at his command!

The language used in the "Guiding Technique" was completely different from normal language, quite obscure and very difficult to understand.

Jiang Feng frowned as he read, finding many places incomprehensible.

As he read, he completely forgot where he was, and the surrounding noise gradually faded away. He was fully immersed in the "Guiding Technique"!

Suddenly, his heart gave a heavy thump, and a strange phenomenon occurred!

The vortex in the Heart Seed suddenly began to spin faster, generating a powerful suction.

In the past, this situation only occurred when Jiang Feng was cultivating, absorbing Bright Force and integrating it into the Primordial Branch.

But it was not a cultivation moment now, and Jiang Feng did not feel any Bright Force entering.

A moment later, he widened his eyes.

The words on the "Guiding Technique" seemed to come to life, wriggling and twisting, as if a force was pulling them off the paper and toward Jiang Feng.

In an instant, they rushed into Jiang Feng's body and disappeared.

Jiang Feng felt a current of air extending upward from the direction the words entered, rushing into his heart.

His consciousness was also pulled in, projected into the space where the Heart Seed was.

He saw the golden Heart Seed and the vortex inside it!

Jiang Feng saw something moving slowly inside the vortex.

His consciousness focused, and he found it was a cube like a Rubik's Cube. It had six faces, each with nine squares, and each square could rotate freely.

Words fell from the sky, merging into the small squares. The small squares seemed to be driven by it, moving continuously, causing the large cube to change constantly.

What is this? Jiang Feng was sure he had never heard of it before!

The cube seemed to have a life of its own. It "noticed" Jiang Feng's attention and suddenly changed. At the same time, a message entered Jiang Feng's mind, just two words—

"Divine Mechanism."

...

...

"Divine Mechanism? The Divine Mechanism in the Heart Seed?"

These two words lasted about ten seconds, then scattered like sand, returning to the shape of a "cube."

A thought entered Jiang Feng's mind, like a question: "Optimize?"

Optimize? What does that mean?

Optimize what?

Jiang Feng was completely puzzled.

But from the literal meaning, this word did not seem to be a bad thing.

Moreover, since he obtained the Heart Seed, every change it brought was not a bad thing.

He gritted his teeth and gave the command— "Yes!"

Suddenly, a torrent swept through his body!

The Heart Seed seemed to turn into a black hole, generating an extremely powerful suction!

All the Bright Force in the Primordial Branch flowed back, injected into the Heart Seed. At the same time, the subtle Bright Force spread throughout Jiang Feng's body was also sucked back!

The Bright Force took away all of Jiang Feng's strength, leaving him almost unable to sit.

In the three seconds after he gave the command, all the Bright Force Jiang Feng had absorbed over this period was completely consumed, leaving not a drop.

What is this?

The Heart Seed's rotation speed was astonishing, and it seemed unsatisfied even after sucking all the Bright Force from Jiang Feng's body.

Then, Jiang Feng felt as if needles were pricking his entire body, and a small amount of external Bright Force was forcibly sucked in!

Every day, except for the three cultivation moments, there was a steady presence of Bright Force in the world, naturally absorbed by martial artists. This absorption was very stable, with no unusual sensation.

But at this moment, the Heart Seed forcibly absorbed this stable Bright Force, creating a powerful pressure on Jiang Feng's surface, as if trying to compress him into a ball.

A cool breeze always blew by the Changchuan River, making people feel very comfortable.

Suddenly, a powerful current of air entered, and a strong wind suddenly arose.

The wind blew up the sand on the ground and rustled the leaves. Several stalls in the Half-Moon Market were almost overturned by the strong wind!

This wind was very strange, with no fixed direction, sometimes east, sometimes south, sometimes strong, sometimes weak. When it was strong, it almost swept people away, and when it was weak, it felt like a gentle breeze.

The martial artists in the Half-Moon Market did not understand what was happening. They all steadied their stances and looked around in confusion.

The strong wind lasted about the time of a cup of tea, and then it suddenly stopped, just as it had suddenly appeared.

The martial artists looked at each other, about to ask each other, when someone suddenly shouted, "Noon!"

Noon meant something everyone knew.

Everyone stopped their actions and sat down cross-legged on the spot.

For a moment, it seemed as if a beam of golden light shone on the Changchuan River, and a strong Bright Force converged and rushed over.

As soon as noon arrived, everyone began to cultivate simultaneously.

The Bright Force was suddenly strengthened by the midday sun, perfectly assisting Jiang Feng.

The Heart Seed's rotation speed suddenly increased, and the suction became stronger, drawing a large amount of Bright Force into Jiang Feng's body, causing the surrounding air to fluctuate.

Jiang Feng could only barely maintain the balance within his body and had no strength to pay attention to the surroundings.

If this continued, the unusual fluctuations and strange winds might expose his secret, but fortunately, the noon hour arrived, and a huge amount of Bright Force from the sky poured into the Heart Seed.

Jiang Feng finally "caught his breath" and began to pay attention to the Heart Seed's condition.

It was clear that the Heart Seed was absorbing this Bright Force to supply the operation of the "cube" in the middle.

This cube, called the Divine Mechanism, was working in a wondrous rhythm.

Bright Force entered the gaps between the small squares, making them dance. Streams of golden light flowed between the small squares, like lightning in the clouds.

Each face had only nine squares, a total of twenty-six squares. The movement of these twenty-six squares required an enormous amount of Bright Force!

Time passed bit by bit, and the Bright Force in the sky continued to flow.

Under the continuous supply of Bright Force, the Divine Mechanism cube worked, finally seeming to tire and slowly calm down.

Finally, at the moment the noon Bright Force disappeared, the Heart Seed returned to normal, and the Divine Mechanism cube stopped operating.

A bolt of lightning appeared from deep within the cube, shooting into Jiang Feng's brain.

A piece of information accompanied the lightning, and Jiang Feng was slightly startled.

There was no title, but the moment the information entered, Jiang Feng understood what it was—

The Guiding Technique, an improved version!

This Divine Mechanism cube could actually improve Bright Heart martial techniques?!

...

...

"Strange..."

Whispers came from around.

The martial artists frowned and whispered to each other, "Did you feel that the Bright Force absorbed during cultivation was less than usual?"

"What? You felt that too?"

"Yes, I thought I was mistaken, but you felt it too?"

After some discussion, they found that everyone felt the same. If the Bright Force absorbed during midday cultivation was usually one hundred, today it was less than ten.

If their abilities were stronger, they might have noticed the unusual convergence of Bright Force. But the martial artists who came to the Half-Moon Market were mostly weak, with few even reaching the Realm, so they could not perceive the Bright Force so clearly.

If the old man who sold the Guiding Technique to Jiang Feng were here, he might have noticed something was wrong. But his rash probing had angered Chong Fan, and he, along with a few other shadowy subordinates, had been driven away by Chong Fan, missing a chance to discover something.

Jiang Feng sat under the tree, the unusual Bright Force fluctuations in his body had completely disappeared, but he had not yet surfaced from his deep consciousness.

His face was pale, his eyelashes trembled slightly, and his breathing was shallow and irregular.

"Jiang Feng, Jiang Feng? Hmm? What's wrong with you?"

Continuous calls came from in front of him. Jiang Feng's vision went black, and he barely opened his eyes, feeling as if he were drunk, seeing five or six overlapping images of Chong Fan, unable to make out his face clearly.

He shook his head hard but still could not clear his mind.

Chong Fan, having finished all his business, came to find him and noticed something was wrong, immediately trying to call out to him.

Jiang Feng seemed to hear, but also seemed to feel nothing, looking at him in a daze.

Chong Fan looked down and saw the "Guiding Technique" neatly placed on Jiang Feng's knees, immediately showing a worried expression.

Jiang Feng, who was just starting to learn Bright Force martial techniques, had lost control of the Bright Force?