The Lord of Heaven: A Road to Eternity

Chapter 04: The Strange Sphere

Whoosh!

Splash!

A tremendous impact, like a hammer descending from great height, struck the calm water. Waves surged outward, sweeping toward the shore.

The wolves looked down, but none dared to jump after Han Nian. Their survival instincts told them clearly—there was no life awaiting anyone who leaped.

After that, the pack of young wolves ran off.

Meanwhile, Han Nian was hanging onto a massive root midway down the cliff. He had managed to grab it and stop his fall. What had plunged earlier was merely the rock that had briefly served as his foothold.

“Am I really going to die?” He felt regret—not regret for leaving, but regret that he would not be able to see his parents and his older brother again.

His hands were already aching terribly; his grip on the root was nearly slipping. No hope remained in his heart. The shadow of death was drawing near, as if a giant hand were pulling him downward. It was as though ghostly voices whispered that his life was useless and that he might as well die.

But suddenly, the face of his mother, Qin An, appeared in his mind, smiling at him. A spark of determination ignited within his soul. “I must not give up. I promised Mother that I would become the Number One person on the Sky Continent.” His hands suddenly found new strength, and he swung toward the side. He saw a protruding rock and grabbed it for support.

However, the rock suddenly shifted, causing his body to sway violently, nearly falling. Now he was dangling helplessly. What he did not realize was that after the rock had moved, a large stone door of a cave had opened.

Just as he was about to surrender, his eyes caught sight of a light emerging from within. But the distance from him to the cave entrance was about five meters. He was unsure whether he could make the jump. Yet it was his only hope.

With firm resolve, he leaped while still gripping the long root tightly. The root was long enough that it did not hold him back.

“Huft.” At last, he managed to reach the small cave entrance with great difficulty.

Standing at the mouth of the cave, he paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before exhaling roughly. The view from up there was quite beautiful, but looking down meant certain death.

Han Nian began walking into the cave. The deeper he went, the wider the passage became. Once fully inside, he was astonished by the beauty of the place. It was completely beyond his imagination. He had thought the cave would be dark and damp. Instead, it was filled with light—not from torches, but from priceless stones known as Spiritual Stones. The energy gathered within the chamber overflowed tremendously, making Han Nian forget the pain in his body caused by the wolves’ claws.

He continued stepping deeper, and the farther he went, the more amazed and awed he became. “I never expected that here, in this hidden place, I would find so many Spiritual Stones. If outsiders knew, there would surely be a bloody disaster,” he muttered.

Han Nian dearly wanted to take them, but a sense of fear crept into his heart, causing him to hold back.

At that moment, Han Nian was truly careless. Suddenly, from the southern side of the cave, something shot forward at incredible speed—so fast that the eye could not follow it. It struck directly into his forehead, entered his head, and roamed within his body as if doing something. It was a sphere the size of a baby’s fist.

Then the red object emerged, floating in the air and circling Han Nian’s body as though he were something worth examining. Han Nian could not move; he stood like a statue, resigned to whatever might happen to him.

Moments later, the strange sphere stopped circling him. Even stranger, every open wound on his body closed instantly without leaving a scar. His energy was also astonishingly restored to full.

Han Nian’s eyes widened. A thin layer of something enveloped his body. At that moment, he realized he could move his hand. He slowly raised it—and indeed, there was no pain at all. His vitality had even increased.

Han Nian looked at the sphere still floating before him. Then he bowed respectfully, clasping his fists in front of him. Even though it was just a strange red sphere, Han Nian felt he had to do so. If not for this sphere, who knew what would have happened?

The small sphere moved up and down as if it understood Han Nian’s gesture. Then, at a speed the eye could not follow, it shot straight through Han Nian’s abdomen and headed toward his sealed Dantian. Han Nian screamed—this pain was far worse than anything he had ever experienced. His body burned intensely, so much so that he thought the sphere was trying to devour him.

But what he did not realize was that the small sphere was slowly breaking the seal that had locked his Dantian. He reflexively leaped into a seated position, gritting his teeth, sitting cross-legged, and channeling the overflowing energy from his Dantian.

Like a massive barrel that had long been sealed under pouring water, its lid had finally been opened. The barrel quickly filled to the brim.

At this moment, he could already use his divine consciousness, and he used it to examine his Dantian to understand what was truly happening. The shockwaves from within made him curious.

Within his divine consciousness, he saw that his Dantian had expanded. It had once been no larger than a grape, but now it was like a large guava.

An immense flow of pure energy surged through all his meridians. Countless pores opened across his body. It was as if every cell within him had been starving, for they all began absorbing the pure energy.