"What is all of this about?"
Jing Yan felt a little nervous about what was happening. He quickly stimulated the Vital Qi in his body, trying to protect himself from whatever was draining his power. Although his rank was falling constantly, he still had enough cultivation and Vital Qi to classify as a Third Heaven warrior. That was a powerful protection. When Jing Yan tried to drive the Vital Qi to the surface of his body, he noticed that the Vital Qi was swallowed by the milky yellow light.
When Jing Yan noticed this, he was a little disturbed by it. Humans usually fear the unknown more than anything else.
Jing Yan couldn't decipher the nature of the milky yellow halo, but it had wrapped around his whole body by that point. However, even though Jing Yan had been thrown off-kilter, he remained calm. Other than devouring the Vital Qi that he had summoned, the milky yellow halo hadn't caused any harm to his body so far.
Boom!
Just as Jing Yan was pondering what he should do, he sensed a powerful energy suddenly rushing into his mind.
Almost instantly, Jing Yan was soaked with sweat, and his clothes were drenched. The powerful energy surged through Jing Yan's mind at that moment, causing a tearing, piercing pain as if his head was about to rip itself apart. The pain was an excruciating agony that seemed to rise from the very depths of the soul; it wasn't something that just any human could bear.
Jing Yan's teeth were chattering so hard that he accidentally bit his lip, causing it to bleed.
However, the pain slid away as quickly as it had attacked him. In less time than it would take to draw in a full breath, the pain dissipated like a tide and disappeared without any trace.
Jing Yan looked around his room. The milky yellow light from the Ring of the Universe had disappeared along with the pain, as if it had never been there at all.
"Was I just hallucinating?"
Jing Yan couldn't even tell if the things he had just seen and felt were real. However, his doubts disappeared like smoke on the wind when he noticed that something unusual had intruded into his mind.
"What is this? How did it get into my mind?" Jing Yan's eyes widened.
The "intruder" in his mind was like a part of a memory. However, Jing Yan knew that this memory certainly didn't belong to him. Despite that, this foreign memory seemed to have combined with his own memories.
As Jing Yan tried to get a better look at it, his body swayed like he was in a trance. The memory was like something that had happened long ago and grown fuzzy with time.
Although Jing Yan couldn't see the details of the memory, a portion of the memory came to him.
"The ultimate divine power of the Arch of Heaven?"
As Jing Yan focused on the memory, these words rose into his mind.
At that moment, a voice came from behind Jing Yan. "Yes indeed, my boy. You seem to have a good understanding of things if you see and understand a part of it at your present rank."
Hearing the voice, Jing Yan jerked in surprise and his face turned pale.
Jing Yan hadn't realized there was someone else in his room. In fact, he hadn't even noticed when this person had come in.
One thing Jing Yan could be sure of was that the door and window of his room hadn't been opened since he entered himself. If someone wanted to enter his room, they would have had to open either his door or his window. Although Jing Yan's rank had fallen a lot, he would have noticed that kind of movement.
So, how did this guy get into his room?
Swish!
Jing Yan quickly turned around. He took a breath silently, making a great effort to calm himself down.
When Jing Yan spun to face the person who had sneaked into his room, he found an elderly man with white hair standing behind him. The man stared at Jing Yan with a genial smile.
"Who are you?" Jing Yan looked at the elderly man with white hair. He didn't know who this old man was, and he couldn't remember ever seeing this man in his clan.
As he spoke, Jing Yan tried to get a feel for the elderly man's strength, but he couldn't sense anything. The white-haired man might be an ordinary man, or he might be an elite warrior of extremely high rank. Either way, Jing Yan couldn't sense any power coming from him.
Jing Yan had been a Precelestial warrior before his rank fell, and all five of his senses were quite acute. No ordinary warrior could stand right in front of Jing Yan without allowing him to sense anything.
"Heh heh, don't be nervous, little guy! I mean you no harm," the elderly man said with a laugh. "My name is Tian Shui. You can call me Tian Shui or senior. This old man doesn't care much about how you address me."
"As for who I am and where I came from…" Tian Shui pointed to the ring that Jing Yan was wearing on his finger.
"I'm afraid that I'm only a wisp of divine soul now. My soul has rested in the Ring of the Universe for a long time. Thanks to you, little fellow, I'm awake now. If you hadn't broken the seal of the Ring of the Universe, I might have slept for longer than I can imagine. Wow, the air out here is indeed fresh. This old man should come outside more often to take in the clean air," Tian Shui said slowly with a full spirit.
"I've broken the seal of the Ring of the Universe?" Jing Yan was a little stunned.
When he first received the ring from his grandfather, Jing Yan's instincts had told him that there was something extraordinary about this Ring of the Universe. However, he hadn't even considered the possibility that the ring might be sealed.
From what Tian Shui had just said, it seemed that Jing Yan was the reason that the milky yellow halo had appeared on the surface of the Ring of the Universe just a moment ago.
Which meant that...
The foreign memory that popped into his mind must have come from the Ring of the Universe too.
"Yes, it is true that you have broken the seal on the Ring of the Universe. The ring has to spend some time absorbing energy before it can break the seal. You have been feeding the Ring of the Universe with Vital Qi all this while, and it wasn't until today that the ring finally built up enough power to unseal itself," said Tian Shui. He squinted his eyes slightly as he spoke.
"What? Does this mean that my rank was falling because of this ring?" Jing Yan was very intelligent. When he heard the old man's explanation, he instantly drew the connection between his falling rank and the ring. Anger began to rise in his chest as he glared at Tian Shui.
If it hadn't been for the d*mned ring absorbing his Vital Qi, his rank wouldn't have fallen and he wouldn't have been expelled from the Wind God Institute by force. He had suffered so much embarrassment, all because of the ring.
Jing Yan put everything together, immediately understanding the whole situation. His rank had indeed begun to fall after he got the ring from his grandfather, Jing Tian. Jing Yan had never considered the possibility that a ring might absorb someone's Vital Qi, so he hadn't connected his misfortune to the Ring of the Universe.
"Haha, buddy, you have hit the jackpot. However, all of this was destined to happen. Not just any mortal could break the seal on the Ring of the Universe. You must meet extremely complex conditions. But never mind all of that. All you need to know is that you have hit the jackpot!" Tian Shui winked.
"Hit the jackpot?" Jing Yan's chest became tense, and he rolled his eyes. "My cultivation has been reduced to the Third Heaven, and you're telling me that I've hit the jackpot?"