Chen Xu scratched at his tangled hair, frowning at the golden relic in his hands. His mind raced, piecing together fragments of logic, memory, and raw instinct.
Were the aliens trying to organize these apes for management? To study evolution? Or… were they running something like a zoo, as in my previous life?
He toyed with the familiar button on the black chain, furrowing his brow. "No… this isn't simple," he muttered. "It feels more like… poaching from a wildlife preserve. Is Earth some kind of protected area? And they're sneaking in for… something?"
He glanced at the ape chief still bowing in obedience, then back at the relic. A thought struck him. "Maybe this explains why apes could stand upright… why they could evolve into Homo erectus. Perhaps it's all genetically engineered. Otherwise, how could such a primitive species maintain any semblance of civilization over millions of years? They were supposed to be just food… and yet here they are."
Chen Xu's fingers traced the chain again. He sighed, a small, incredulous laugh escaping. "Small interventions… maybe that's all it is."
He raised the golden oval to his lips, daring to bite into it.
Immediately, his eyes widened in shock. A deafening crack resonated through his jaw. Pain shot into his teeth as one of his canines splintered.
The metal wasn't gold in any conventional sense. It was impossibly hard.
Worse, it reflected force. The moment he bit down, his own strength was sent back in a violent recoil, tearing free his tooth. Chen Xu gritted his remaining teeth, muttering a curse.
Before he could pull it away, the relic pulsed with a strange, powerful vibration. His inner energy, dormant for a moment, suddenly surged. A sucking force emanated from the broken socket, plunging directly into the golden oval.
Even without entering the state of inner vision, Chen Xu could feel it: a dense, radiant golden aura flowed into him, carried along by his inner qi. It spiraled directly into his mind.
There, it awakened something he had never seen before: his spiritual body. A diamond-shaped consciousness, suspended and slowly spinning.
The golden aura poured into it, fueling the crystal. As it rotated, it released a fraction of its energy back into Chen Xu, fusing with his inner qi. For the first time, the formless pale essence of his internal energy glowed gold, coursing through every muscle and bone.
A wave of warmth surged through him. His muscles tensed, his bones tingled with an almost electric sensation, and crackling sounds echoed through his body. Chen Xu's cultivation leapt forward in a staggering burst: three levels in one instant, landing him at the early stage of the Second Realm. His physical strength surged along with it.
But as he reveled in the power, he noticed something strange: the diamond consciousness had absorbed most of the aura. Only one-third had been released; the rest had been consumed, integrated into the core of his spiritual body.
At the same time, his perception sharpened. Every detail around him became hyper-real—dust motes floated in sunlight like tiny birds, each branch and leaf etched with precision. Even the faintest movement in the distance registered in his awareness. He could sense the world around him as if it were laid bare before him.
He flexed a finger, and the nearest speck of dust trembled. With a thought, the diamond consciousness manifested tangible spiritual force, nudging the particle across the air.
Chen Xu's eyes widened. Telekinesis…?
But before he could experiment further, a violent surge ripped through his mind. The world spun violently, stars exploding behind his eyelids, his face pale as he vomited a mouthful of blood—along with the relic itself.
When he finally steadied himself, his subordinates were hovering nearby, wide-eyed and fearful. He waved them back. "I'm fine. Stay back!"
He pressed a hand to his mouth, tasting blood, and muttered under his breath.
This must be… the legendary telekinesis? The manifestation of spiritual power into the material realm?
To influence the physical world with thought alone… the essence of refining the spirit into nothingness.
Chen Xu swallowed hard. "I've reached the so-called innate Dao embryo—but it's weak. Fragile. So weak that even moving a speck of dust nearly killed me. But with something like this relic… things would be far easier."
He searched frantically for the golden oval—but it had vanished. Not stolen, not hidden maliciously—the ape's simple minds left no trickery. He finally found it in a nearby fissure, and now, under closer inspection, it was no longer glowing gold.
It looked… like a pale yellow stone.
Chen Xu stared in disbelief. The shape was identical. The chain and pendant were unmistakable. This was the same golden relic—but somehow faded, muted, as if stripped of its brilliance.
Neither human nor gold…
He clenched it tightly. Power thrummed under his fingers, waiting. Waiting to awaken.