262: Chapter 262 Preparing to Leave!

Without hesitation, he swallowed the "rejuvenation pill."

The pill melted upon entering his mouth, turning into a warm and surging current of medicinal power that quickly flowed to his limbs and bones, nourishing his parched meridians, repairing his damaged internal organs and muscles, and soothing the pain of his wounds.

Although it was impossible to recover instantly, Qin Yan could feel that the sense of weakness bordering on collapse was being rapidly suppressed.

After a brief moment of meditation to allow a significant portion of the medicinal power to be absorbed, Qin Yan redirected his attention to the "playing dead" black seed on the ground.

He gripped his long spear tightly and approached cautiously, step by step.

As the distance closed, he used the tip of his spear to point at the seed extremely slowly and tentatively.

A surprising scene unfolded.

When the spear tip was still a foot away from the seed, the seed seemed to be startled.

It suddenly rolled backward once, maintaining its distance from the spear tip.

Qin Yan's brow twitched, and he poked the spear tip forward a bit more.

The seed immediately rolled backward again.

Point again, roll again.

It was as if they were playing a silent game of cat and mouse.

Qin Yan stopped his movements and looked at the black seed, waves of emotion rising in his heart.

"This seed... has Spirituality!"

In the common knowledge of the martial world, Heaven And Earth Treasure are divided into ranks.

Below the seventh rank, no matter how majestic the medicinal power, they are merely dead objects, resources.

But once they cross the threshold of the eighth rank, a qualitative change occurs!

They are no longer simple "objects" but begin to give birth to a hazy Spirituality!

This Spirituality grows and becomes clearer with the accumulation of time and energy.

Furthermore, legend has it that the Spirituality of some ninth-rank or even beyond-ninth-rank spirit medicines is already no less than that of intelligent beings.

They can even actively cultivate, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth, and their cultivation talent is sometimes more terrifying than the geniuses of many races!

Qin Yan had seen fragmentary records in ancient academy texts describing those "Spirit Objects" that had achieved success in cultivation: a blade of grass with sword intent piercing the sky, capable of slashing down the sun, moon, and stars;

A stone that has weathered ten thousand tribulations, containing a universe within it;

A drop of water that evolves into ten thousand laws, capable of flooding the heavens and the universe...

Although these descriptions might be exaggerated, they also illustrated from another perspective how amazing the potential of a high-level Spirit Object is once it gains intelligence and embarks on the path of cultivation!

The black seed before him might not necessarily reach that legendary "bug" level.

But the "seeking benefit and avoiding harm" and "curious interaction" behaviors it displayed undoubtedly proved that it already possessed preliminary Spirituality!

This in itself was a precious thing!

Thinking of this, Qin Yan's heartbeat couldn't help but quicken a bit.

He stopped his pace and slowly returned his long spear to his back.

He forced what he thought was his most kind and harmless smile onto his face.

Softening his voice as much as possible, he said to the seed stopped several meters away:

"Little Black? Little guy? Come here to me, okay?"

He believed that with this seed's Spirituality, it should be able to understand his meaning, or at least feel the goodwill he was projecting.

However...

Hearing his words, the seed just "lay" there quietly.

The dark gold patterns on its surface flickered slightly, as if it were thinking or observing.

And then... there was no then.

It remained motionless, with no intention of approaching.

The smile on Qin Yan's face stiffened slightly, and he felt a hint of embarrassment.

It seemed that just talking wouldn't work.

He pondered for a moment and decided to try another way.

He put away his long spear, no longer using a weapon to intimidate it.

Then, he slowly extended his right hand, spreading his palm, relaxing his fingers, and facing his palm toward the seed.

"I mean no harm, look."

He spoke in a low voice, his fingertips "inching" bit by bit toward the seed's location.

As for danger?

It wasn't that Qin Yan hadn't considered it, but he quickly dismissed the concern.

If this seed truly harbored ill will toward him, it had countless ways to easily put him to death during the time he was heavily injured, unconscious, and completely defenseless.

But it didn't; it just "played" with his nose, then "played dead" when he woke up, and only "rolled away" when he pointed his spear at it.

These behaviors were more like curiosity, testing, or even... playfulness?

In any case, this didn't seem like something an entity full of malice would do.

It seemed to feel the warmth from Qin Yan's palm and that cautious "goodwill."

The faint light on the surface of the black seed flickered a few more times.

It hesitated for a moment, then, slowly and hop by hop, it finally leaped onto Qin Yan's open palm.

The touch was slightly cool, carrying a strange rhythm.

Qin Yan was overjoyed, but he didn't dare to be the least bit careless.

He didn't even dare to grip it firmly, for fear of scaring away this rare little thing.

He carefully leveled his palm, as if holding a rare treasure.

Just like that, Qin Yan carried the strange black seed to a relatively clean spot nearby and sat down.

He took out compressed food and water from his pack, ate simply to replenish his strength, and repaired his injuries.

The black seed was quiet for a while at first.

But soon, it seemed to adapt to the environment, or rather, to Qin Yan, this "stranger."

It began to hop around cheerfully on its own on a vine protrusion next to Qin Yan.

One moment it hopped onto Qin Yan's knee, the next it rolled to his feet, and once it even tried to climb up his pant leg.

Its movements were agile and full of vitality, a far cry from its previous "playing dead" and "wary" state.

A day passed.

The time came to May 8th.

After more than a day of meditation and medicinal repair,

combined with his own powerful recovery ability as a martial artist, the injuries on Qin Yan's body had recovered by seventy to eighty percent.

His blood and qi became full again, and his spirit was also brimming with energy.

He looked down at his palm; the black seed also seemed to have gotten used to his presence and was no longer as timid as at the beginning.

Instead, it would hop cheerfully in his palm from time to time, and even occasionally "roll" between his fingers to play, appearing much more lively.

Qin Yan smiled and gently tapped the smooth surface of the seed with his finger, drawing a dissatisfied "shiver" from it.

"Alright, little guy, we should find a way to leave this place."

Qin Yan muttered to himself in a low voice.

He had already taken a rough look yesterday; the surroundings were all thick, slowly writhing vine walls.

The only special feature was those four deep, dark cave entrances.

He had fallen down from one of them.

Clearly, the exit passage was most likely within one of these four cave entrances.

Qin Yan stood up, one hand gripping his long spear and the other holding the black seed.

He came to the cave entrance he had fallen from and looked inside.

The depths of the cave entrance were pitch black, and the top was not visible at all.

Endless darkness extended downward, like a giant mouth waiting to devour someone.