70. Vitality Rules, Secret Realm and Immortal Family

Rain sat in deep meditation, focusing inward to sense the vitality flowing within each cell of his body. In his mind's eye, he saw a calm, clear pond of energy within each cell—a quiet, untapped reservoir of life force. This was his body's vitality, the very essence that determined his lifespan and resilience.

He directed a thread of his true energy toward the vitality in one cell, hoping to touch it, to feel its essence directly. But each time he tried, his energy slipped past, moving to the next cell without ever quite connecting. He attempted over and over, yet each effort yielded the same result; the vitality existed as if in a separate space, not fully within his physical form.

Frustrated but intrigued, Rain paused, realizing that this hidden vitality was not accessible through simple means. It was as if his true energy and his body's life force occupied two different dimensions, coexisting but separated.The enigma of the untouchable vitality in his cells compelled Rain to explore deeper. He first tried to sense any trace of the vitality rule directly from his body's energy, hoping to draw some understanding from it—but it was like grasping at smoke; there was nothing to hold onto. Frustrated yet undeterred, he acknowledged this first attempt as a failure.

Rain then shifted to his second method, centering himself just as the ship lurched into motion. He looked out as the town receded, growing smaller until it disappeared completely into the night. He refocused, clearing his thoughts and closing his eyes, plunging his mind into a deep, dark stillness.

In this darkness, he summoned the seed of his spring rain rule. From the seed, he could feel faint pulses of vitality and hear the soft, familiar sound of rain—comforting, yet powerful. As he concentrated, he dispersed the seed and it seperated into 76 tiny points of light. He wondered how many of these scattered light spots it would take to reconstitute the seed form.

As Rain combined the light spots one by one, he discovered that bringing together exactly 64 of them re-formed the seed in its entirety. He dispersed them once more, focusing intently to see if any single light spot might carry a fragment of the vitality rule. He thought: if he could fully understand a rule, he could tell precisely how many fragments needed to be combined to recreate it. Each light spot, after all, was only a sliver—perhaps one-millionth—of the complete rule.

However, his thoughts drifted, and concentration faltered, so he paused to meditate, calming his mind until his thoughts settled into focus. Centered once more, he conjured the spring rain seed and dispersed it again, sensing for any fragment that contained vitality. Yet, none held even a hint of it. Only when the light spots combined into the seed did he feel the unmistakable pulse of vitality, only to watch it vanish again as he scattered them apart.

Rain realized, then, that none of the individual light spots held the vitality rule. The vitality he felt was merely a result of the spring rain rule, a fragment containing perhaps less than 1% of its true essence of spring rain rule. He understood that the vitality wasn't an independent fragment but a quality that emerged only when the rule coalesced.

Determined, Rain refocused on the seed, allowing the other aspects of the spring rain rule to fade from his awareness as he honed in exclusively on the elusive vitality within. In the captain's quarters, Gou Fan stood with Xiaoting, the woman who had brought Rain his dinner earlier.

"Brother," Xiaoting began, a hint of frustration in her voice, "the boy turned down my advances."

Gou Fan's expression remained composed. "Xiaoting, he's a grandmaster. You need to show him the proper respect. Besides, our family needs his help."

He paused, glancing out the window before continuing. "In a month, the Blue Moon Lake Secret Realm will open, and our family has to send members inside. As per the agreement with the other five families, only those under 20 years of age who are family members can enter. The other five families have members in the refining energy realm under 20, but we don't. So the family elders have informed every available member out to seek young refining energy practitioners or even grandmasters to invite into the family."

Gou Xiaoting looked at her brother sharply. "Then why not just invite him directly? Why tell me to seduce him?"

Gou Fan shook his head. "You're missing the bigger picture. The family elders and head didn't simply ask us to invite talented young practitioners. Think about it."

Xiaoting paused, and after a moment of thought, realization dawned on her face. "It's for the secret realm, isn't it? Only family members can enter."

Gou Fan nodded. "Exactly. Marrying into our family would make them eligible, and with the boy's talent, he'd almost certainly secure one of the ten slots allotted to our family. If you were to successfully win his favor, the family might even choose you to marry him. It'd be a significant rise in status for both of us."

Gou Xiaoting crossed her arms, visibly irritated. "So if you'd pushed me a bit harder, I might have succeeded in seducing him after all. But how can you be sure he's under 20?" She eyed Rain with skepticism, aware that grandmasters often looked much younger than their years due to their increased lifespan and vitality.

Gou Fan held up a necklace with a locket that pulsed with a soft blue light every few seconds. "This locket was given to me by the family; it allows even mortals to sense the vitality of others. When I checked the boy, his vitality readings indicated he's under 20."

Gou Xiaoting glanced at the locket thoughtfully. "So, what's our next step?"

"Before he leaves our ship, I'll speak with him directly about the secret realm," Gou Fan replied. "I'll make the invitation to visit our family myself."