In a forest filled with trees, the sound of someone running echoed. On a road that cut through its middle, a delicate-looking young man, who appeared to be sixteen years old, wearing a green robe and an animal skin pouch, was running at full speed.
Behind him, a black bull, full of muscles, charged forward with force, its lowered head pointing its gray horns ahead.
"Help!" Yu Qing shouted with all the strength of his lungs, while the buzzing sound behind him grew louder and closer. His heart was pounding.
Sweating cold, he pushed his legs even harder to escape the chase. His feet barely touched the ground, leaving no marks, so explosive was his current state.
But, by bad luck, just ahead, he saw a small stone. Because of his speed, Yu Qing couldn't stop. In that instant, he felt true terror.
"No! No!" He couldn't believe it, his eyes were filled with disbelief. It lasted only a second, until his feet struck the stone.
"Trup!"
He tripped and fell straight to the ground, going belly-first. Without support, his body didn't stop.
"Bang!"
Yu Qing smashed his face into the dirt, fracturing his nose and scraping his body from his toes to his chest. At the same time, he felt numbness all over his body. Beneath him, blood stained the ground.
But that wasn't the biggest problem now—it was the beast coming behind him, cutting through the wind. Hearing its approach, Yu Qing became terrified of death.
"I don't want to die!" He pushed himself off the ground, with blood streaming and pain flaring in every part of his body, trying to run again, but he couldn't. His shins hurt too much.
And the bull arrived. Without mercy or hesitation, it attacked.
Seeing the wild creature approach, he no longer thought of fleeing. In the next instant, he kicked the stone that had tripped him toward the bull's legs. He didn't know if it would work—his mind was desperate.
But, to Yu Qing's surprise, his pursuer leapt right at that moment, flying through the air. Watching the animal soar, he blinked, and then threw himself to the ground, letting the bull pass over his head.
The bull was muscular even underneath. Its hind legs were thicker than a human thigh. Yu Qing felt intimidated, but the will to live spoke louder. Before the creature landed, he tossed the stone ahead of its feet, trying his luck one more time.
This time, it worked. As the bull placed its front hooves down and was about to set its rear ones, it stepped on something hard and sharp, opening a huge gash in its sole. In the next instant, it let out a grunt like a pig being slaughtered.
Yu Qing, beneath it, felt a chill and covered his ears, waiting for everything to pass. After a few minutes, he removed his hands. The place was in deep silence.
Rising painfully, he approached the injured bull but didn't get too close, only staying at a distance, trying to gauge its condition. The animal, from afar, had its eyes closed, and beneath it, everything was clean, with no trace of the blood it had lost.
"Strange… I saw this guy bleeding. Why isn't there any blood?" He raised his eyebrows and then cautiously approached the corpse. He soon squatted—or tried to—since his legs still hurt, so his only option was to crawl.
In this ridiculous manner, he looked at the animal's sole. The stone was still there, but strangely: every time blood dripped onto it, it disappeared as if it had never existed.
This strange scene sent Yu Qing's nerves on edge. In the next second, he left, heading far away. Reaching the trees, he took the pouch from his waist and opened it, revealing a pile of herbs inside.
Grabbing one that was used to heal wounds, he applied it to his own injuries. The liquid that flowed from it burned intensely.
Gritting his teeth, he continued applying it. The herb dissolved and soon completely dissipated. This type was called Liquid Healing Herb, used to treat minor wounds. It served to speed up the body's healing and ease symptoms.
After twenty minutes, Yu Qing, who had only suffered minor injuries, was back on his feet. Getting up, he broke a tree branch and went to the bull, where he began poking it from afar to see if there was any reaction.
"Did this guy die so easily? Or is it because of that stone?" He thought about it, frowning. In the next moment, he went around to the back and poked again. This time, it was the black stone, which showed no reaction.
Then, he tried with his fingers, ready to pull back instantly if anything happened. But when he touched it, nothing happened. Gathering all the courage he had, Yu Qing grabbed it and pulled it from the bull's sole. It came out easily.
Holding it in his right hand, he noticed that its surface—the part that had been inside the flesh—was red, while the other half was black.
'What is this?' He wondered internally, completely confused. Soon, he began spinning the stone. When it reached the red part, he felt different.
It was as if he had been exercising non-stop. His muscles were growing stronger with every second. After a while, he felt new skin forming on his epidermis, increasing his resistance.
After this sensation, Yu Qing dropped the stone in shock and stepped back, keeping his eyes on it. The now completely black mineral fell to the ground, causing a "Bang!"
"What the hell is this strange stone? And that earlier feeling… was it real?" This doubt passed through his mind. Soon after, he decided to test it.
Yu Qing walked to a tree on the left. In the next moment, he clenched his fists and, with all his physical strength, punched the trunk. The moment it struck, he destroyed the bark and, stepping back, saw from afar a thirty-centimeter fist mark.
"It's real! I'm not imagining it! I actually got stronger!" He was in disbelief, thinking it was all unreal. 'Could this be a treasure? But why does it look like a stone and was lying in the middle of the road?'
He pondered over this strangeness and, after a while, dashed like an arrow to the road and grabbed the stone off the ground. In the next instant, he wrapped it in the green robe and hid it in his belly.
"This is my chance to embark on cultivation. I can't lose this opportunity. The answers I seek might be revealed when I improve my strength. For now, keep this… and don't let anyone find out."
He made this promise and left, dragging the bull's carcass back to his village.