Ye Hao was going to wash his clothes as well; he never wanted to wear these dirty clothes again.
Taking off his clothes, Ye Hao realized that this body was truly thin, like a dried corpse, with no extra flesh whatsoever.
"Huh, what's this? Where did this jade token come from?" Ye Hao muttered to himself.
Recalling the original owner's memories, the jade token on Ye Hao's neck had been with him since he was a child. His adoptive father, Ye Da Shan, said that when he found him, it was inside the quilt wrapping Xiao Ye. It was a late autumn evening when Ye Da Shan, on his way home from Town, heard a cry. Following the sound, he found Ye Hao, then about one year old, in the roadside grass.
Ye Da Shan was startled to see such a small child, wondering whose child it was, abandoned so young. He opened the quilt and saw it was a boy, with a jade token beside him. The front of the jade token had a landscape painting, and the back had the character 'Ye'. Ye Da Shan thought this child probably wasn't from a poor family, as poor families wouldn't have such a fine jade token. He waited there for the child's parents, and he waited all night.
The next day, when the sun was high, Ye Da Shan still hadn't waited for anyone to come back for the child, so he took the child back to his home in Ye Family Gully. Ye Da Shan originally had a wife, but she had committed suicide by crashing into a wall rather than suffer humiliation during a Japanese raid. Since then, Ye Da Shan had not remarried.
Looking at the child in his arms, and thinking that he had no children of his own, and that the jade token with the child also had the character 'Ye', Ye Da Shan felt this was a son bestowed upon him by Heaven, so he named the child Ye Hao.
From then on, Ye Hao lived in Ye Family Gully.
Ye Da Shan told Ye Hao from a young age that he must never lose this jade token, as it was the only clue to his origins.
Just as Ye Hao was staring at the jade token, lost in thought, he didn't notice a drop of blood from his left thumb touching the jade token, and the blood was instantly absorbed by the jade token.
His vision went black, then bright again, and Ye Hao found himself in an unfamiliar place.
In front of him was a spring eye, continuously bubbling out water. The spring water was clear, flowing into a small pond beside it. The pond was about the size of a basketball court's center circle, with a diameter of over three meters.
Beside the spring eye was a stone tablet, with several characters carved on it that looked like oracle bone script or bronzeware script; in any case, Ye Hao couldn't recognize them.
Above the stone tablet was a fist-sized object, like a seed, yet also like a stone. Other than that, looking around, there was nothing but black soil.
Ye Hao was ecstatic, "Here it comes! My cheat is here! I knew transmigration couldn't be without a cheat. It seems my cheat is this space."
Ye Hao thought "exit" and with a whoosh, Ye Hao indeed returned to the stream bank.
"Enter" Ye Hao entered the space again.
With no issues entering or exiting, Ye Hao decided to explore this space.
Ye Hao measured the space with his feet and found that it was probably a hundred meters long and wide.
The outside of the space was blocked by an invisible wall. Ye Hao returned to the stone tablet, preparing to lean on it and ponder his development with a cheat.
Just as Ye Hao's hand touched the stone tablet, a surge of information entered Ye Hao's mind. It turned out this space was called Qinglian Xuan Jade. It was formed from a piece of lotus root, the rhizome of the Primordial Green Lotus, when Pangu created the heavens and earth, and had the ability to evolve a world.
Because its function was too overbearing, it was not tolerated by the Heavenly Dao, which sent down thunder punishment, splitting it into its current damaged state. Furthermore, without cultivation by a cultivator, Qinglian Xuan Jade was on the verge of disappearing. Fortunately, at this moment, Ye Hao recognized it as his master through a drop of blood.
Ye Hao understood the origin of this space through the stone tablet, and he was greatly shocked, never expecting this space to be related to Pangu's creation of the heavens.
Because Ye Hao was not a cultivator and had no energy to nurture this soon-to-be-destroyed space, he needed to plant and raise various crops within the space, using the spiritual energy of the crops to maintain the space's existence and prevent its destruction.
Ye Hao also learned about the other functions of this space. First, the space's black soil could accelerate the growth of plants and animals. The current ratio was approximately 1:10. This meant that ten days passed inside the space for every one day outside.
As for whether this ratio could be increased, the space's feedback to Ye Hao was yes. As long as energy was supplied to the space, it could be upgraded. After upgrading, the area would expand, and the growth ratio would also increase. As for how to upgrade the space, for now, high-quality jade could be used for upgrading, but future upgrades would require a lot of energy, and jade would no longer suffice. As for what to use for future upgrades, Ye Hao did not know.
The stone tablet in the middle of the space was the foundation of this space. If the stone tablet was damaged, the space would also disappear.
As for the spring water, it was originally the spring eye of the Three Light Divine Water, but because the space had been continuously damaged, the Three Light Divine Water had also continuously degraded in quality. Now, it could only help plants and animals grow faster. Ordinary humans who drank it would have their injuries healed, and long-term consumption had the effects of cleansing the marrow and prolonging life.
Finally, the object on the stone tablet that resembled both a seed and a stone was an immature seed of the Primordial Green Lotus. This seed, protected by Qinglian Xuan Jade, had not experienced the ravages of the Heavenly Dao. Although it was somewhat deficient innately, as long as there was enough energy, it could still grow into the Primordial Green Lotus.
After understanding the functions of the space, Ye Hao eagerly went to the spring eye and cupped the spring water to drink. With one gulp, due to Qinglian Xuan Jade's recognition of him as its master, this mouthful of spring water was Qinglian Xuan Jade's feedback. Ye Hao only felt a warm current surge from his abdomen throughout his limbs and bones, and the wound on his left hand, caused by a crab, healed at a visible speed.
Subsequent sips of the spring water did not have such obvious effects.
Before long, the wound had healed completely, without a single scar, and other injuries on his body from being beaten while begging also disappeared.
Although his whole body still lacked flesh, he looked much better than before.
Ye Hao also picked up the Qinglian seed, thought for a moment, and then planted it in the small pond.
Only then did Ye Hao realize he was stark naked; his clothes were still outside. He quickly exited the space.
Exiting the space, Ye Hao looked at his jade token and found that it was gone. His heart immediately panicked. He thought about the jade token and realized it hadn't disappeared but had entered the depths of his mind.
Ye Hao thought this was quite good, as he wouldn't have to worry about losing the jade token.
Ye Hao picked up the clothes he had just thrown on the ground, walked to the middle of the stream, first washed his body clean, and then began to wash his clothes.
The clothes were quite dirty. Ye Hao scrubbed vigorously, and in doing so, he tore off half of one of the sleeves.
Only then did Ye Hao remember that he had drunk the space spring water, and his body had been transformed by it, making his strength greater. Ye Hao looked at the stones in the stream, thinking of testing how strong he was now, and walked towards a stone that looked to be about a hundred catties.
With a forceful pull of both hands, he easily lifted the stone that looked to be about a hundred catties. He felt it was still very easy to lift.
He then switched to a stone weighing around 300 catties. With a burst of strength from both hands, although it was a bit strenuous, the stone was still lifted steadily.
Ye Hao now knew his strength; both his hands combined could lift about 300 catties, which was much stronger than before, especially since this body was still in a depleted state.
Ye Hao quickly washed his clothes, shook them vigorously a few times to dry them, and without waiting for them to fully dry, he put them on. Although one sleeve was half torn, there was nothing he could do; Ye Hao had no needle and thread, so he just had to make do.
Since the space had a small pond and could accelerate the growth of plants and animals, Ye Hao planned to catch some fish, shrimp, and crabs to raise in the pond, so he would have a continuous source of food in this famine-stricken era to sustain himself.
Ye Hao first entered the space to plan it out. He divided the space into five parts: one for planting grain in the future, one for fruits and vegetables, one for raising aquatic creatures like fish, shrimp, and crabs, one for poultry and livestock like chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, cattle, and sheep, and the last part for the stone tablet, the space spring water, and the pond. Ye Hao planned to build a house there later as his residence in the space.
Within the space, Ye Hao was like a god; a single thought could achieve anything he desired. He first opened up a fish pond, 50 meters long and 40 meters wide, in the northeast corner. As for other areas, he ignored them for now as he had no seeds or livestock.
Exiting the space, Ye Hao reached his hand into the stream. With a thought, all the fish, shrimp, and crabs in this section of the stream were transported into the space.
Ye Hao also wanted to collect more, but thinking of the natural disasters of recent years, he gave up on continuing to collect from the stream.
Ye Hao then entered the space again and diverted all the water from the space's inherent pond into the fish pond. Anyway, the spring eye would continuously gush out space spring water, so this little bit didn't matter.
The small fish and shrimp in the fish pond were very active. Seeing this, Ye Hao was relieved, as he had been worried they wouldn't adapt.
Returning to the dilapidated temple where he lived, Ye Hao lay on his straw-covered bed and began to recall the day's experiences. First, he woke up to find he had been reborn, then he almost starved to death after being reborn, and then he discovered his cheat space. It truly felt like a dream.
It was now the 1960s, the height of the natural disasters. Even if he had a household registration in the City at this time, he wouldn't have a job and wouldn't receive much grain.
Even with the space, eating would have to be done secretly. Moreover, in a few years, all young City residents without jobs would be sent to the countryside to contribute to national construction.
It would be better to apply for going to the countryside now; he could collect various plants and animals in the mountains.
There were too many restrictions in the City. Going to the sparsely populated countryside would allow him to find excuses for the output from his space.
It was decided then; he would go to the Street Office tomorrow.
First, he would get his identification, then pack and prepare to apply for going to the countryside.
The joy of acquiring the space kept Ye Hao's body and mind in a state of excitement until late into the night, when he finally drifted off to sleep.