When he thought of how careful his father had been when giving him the energy stones, Henry Shaw let out a sigh.

Looking around at this small mountain village hidden deep in the mountains, Henry Shaw began to understand—very few people would ever come here, no wonder this place had never been developed.

Now, Henry Shaw could use the energy stones to cultivate. Although his dantian was still leaking, as long as he used the energy stones, the true qi he gained would dissipate more slowly, allowing him to accumulate at least a little.

It took four hours to walk from the township to this mountain village. If he had some energy stones to supplement him, he could use a family movement technique called Wind Drift Step and reach the township in just one hour. This was truly a treasure that could save a lot of time.

Placing the two energy stones on the shore, Henry Shaw stood with his feet on the riverbed, constantly probing the stones beneath the water.

There’s more!

Just after taking a step, Henry Shaw realized he had stepped on another energy stone.

How could there be so many?

Now Henry Shaw was truly excited. If he could have a large number of energy stones, even if they couldn’t compare to spirit stones, they would be extremely beneficial for his cultivation.

Seeing the pair of pants on the shore, Henry Shaw simply tied two knots in the pant legs to make a pouch for holding stones, then dove underwater.

As soon as he touched that stone, Henry Shaw found his hand had landed on yet another energy stone.

Just like that, he would come up for air from time to time, then dive back down to feel around for stones at the bottom.

Henry Shaw was genuinely thrilled now; he had never expected there would be so many energy stones in this little river.

He didn’t even know where he was when, reaching out, Henry Shaw suddenly touched a smooth spot.

When he squeezed it, Henry Shaw was startled and shot up to the surface.

“Ah!”

Just as he surfaced, Henry Shaw was frightened by a sharp, piercing scream.

Looking again, he realized he had ended up in the section of the river where Diana Brooks was.

Now the two of them stared at each other, wide-eyed.

Diana Brooks’s scream was so loud that some of the men and women who had been playing in the river were badly startled.

Immediately, the sound of splashing water came from all around, and chaos broke out. In what had been a quiet place, quite a few young people suddenly appeared, some of them naked.

“What happened?”

“What’s going on?”

“Who screamed?”

“It was Diana!”

The shore was crowded with people. Diana Brooks had already recovered by now. Seeing Henry Shaw looking a bit dazed, she gave him a push and said, “Hurry, go.”

Henry Shaw snapped out of it, quickly rushed to the shore, found his clothes and pants, put them on, and joined the others in asking questions.

At this point, Diana Brooks knew everyone could recognize her voice, so she had no choice but to say, “It’s nothing, it was me who screamed just now. I saw a banded krait.”

Oh!

Hearing that it was Diana Brooks who screamed, a woman said, “Diana, what’s up with you tonight? All we hear is you screaming. Did your man make you that happy?”

“Yeah, Diana, come on, fess up.”

Everyone was familiar with each other, so they immediately started joking around.

Henry Shaw felt a bit embarrassed and just smiled at everyone without saying anything.

Diana Brooks whispered to Henry Shaw, “Ignore them, let’s go.”

Carrying the bag of stones, Henry Shaw left together with Diana Brooks.

At this moment, Diana Brooks seemed very quiet, just silently following behind Henry Shaw.

“Are these kinds of stones common around here?” Right now, what Henry Shaw cared about most was the energy stones, so he simply asked.

Taking the energy stone from Henry Shaw and examining it for a while, Diana Brooks said, “It’s hard to see clearly. Let’s look at it under the oil lamp when we get back.”

Henry Shaw nodded, “Alright.”

After that, the two of them fell silent again.

Soon, they returned home.

By then, the members of the Chi family were already asleep.

Henry Shaw thought for a moment, then said to Diana Brooks, “Go to bed early. There’s still a lot to do tomorrow.”

With a soft “mm,” Diana Brooks still went to help Henry Shaw make the bed, then said to him, “Brother Shaw, you should get some rest too.”

Lying in bed, Henry Shaw couldn’t calm down for a long time, holding an energy stone in his hand and feeling the cool aura emanating from it.

Not everyone could sense the energy within an energy stone; only cultivators could feel the immense power inside. If Henry Shaw hadn’t stepped on it today, he would never have discovered its existence.

After thinking for a while, Henry Shaw instinctively looked inward at his dantian.

After this look, Henry Shaw was a bit surprised to find that a few more cracks in his dantian had healed.

It seemed that the human trafficking incident was still having lingering effects!

Time to try cultivating!

Henry Shaw sat cross-legged on the bed and began to practice the family’s basic technique, Foundation Qi Condensation.

This time, Henry Shaw held an energy stone in each hand.

The greatest function of Foundation Qi Condensation was to absorb the energy from energy stones.

As the technique unfolded, Henry Shaw could feel the energy flowing in from both hands—abundant and rich.