Adam Brooks originally learned the Iron Bone Technique from Big Chief, and it took him two years just to master the first level of the inner method. The second level took a full three years and six months to cultivate, during which he practiced tirelessly in secret, enduring countless hardships before achieving his current success. Now, after just over a month, he had made such progress—how could he not be delighted?

Adam Brooks found the Supreme Dragon Transformation Formula to be extraordinarily mysterious, which made him even more enthusiastic, practicing with ten times the effort, and soon forgetting to cultivate the spells of the Heshan Dao.

One day, while Adam Brooks was cultivating qi in his own room, he suddenly felt a warmth in his lower abdomen. A stream of warm energy surged from there to his lower back, up his spine, all the way to the back of his head where it paused and turned icy cold, circled over the crown of his head, then descended to his brow, his chest, and finally returned to his dantian. Then a wave of warmth settled in his lower abdomen, as if he were carrying a small furnace, never to dissipate again.

Having gained this true qi, Adam Brooks was overjoyed. He quickly followed the inner method from the golden page, carefully nurturing the energy, and after another half hour of breathing exercises, he finally finished, thinking to himself: “When Big Chief taught us martial arts, he said: Martial arts are divided into internal and external schools, but ultimately, they all lead to the same destination. No matter the technique, it’s all about cultivating a stream of true qi. The internal school starts with meditation and qi cultivation, making it easier to generate true qi, while the external school begins with training the muscles and bones, making it harder to produce true qi. The Iron Bone Technique is an external hard skill, focusing on working from the outside in. To generate true qi, one must reach at least the sixth level of the Iron Bone Technique. The formula on this golden page is truly profound—after just over a month of practice, I’ve already produced true qi. It seems even more miraculous than the legendary, long-lost supreme martial arts of the martial world.”

But Adam Brooks did not know that the formula on the golden page was actually a highly advanced qi cultivation technique, no longer within the realm of martial arts, but a kind of Daoist art—far beyond anything human martial arts could compare to.

Having cultivated true qi, Adam Brooks then remembered the Heshan Scripture. He had become so absorbed in the golden page he had chosen to practice that he had nearly forgotten about this sinister scripture these past days. Adam Brooks thought to himself, “Now I should be able to practice the spells in this book, right?”

He took out the black cloth pouch, opened the Heshan Scripture, and following the talisman on page seventeen, drew three blood talismans as instructed. As soon as he finished, the small cluster of warm true qi he had just cultivated traveled from his dantian to his arm and flowed out through his fingers. With Adam Brooks’s vital blood and true qi, the black cloth pouch suddenly moved, transformed into a black ring, and flew onto Adam Brooks’s arm, imprinting itself firmly.

Before Adam Brooks could even check whether his newly refined magical artifact worked, he felt his dantian empty, exhaustion overwhelming him, and a wave of drowsiness hit. He collapsed at the bedside and fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter Three: The Double-Yin Scholar

While Adam Brooks was fast asleep, the three golden pages he had tucked into the Heshan Scripture began to stir with his every breath, and eventually melted into a pool of golden liquid.

This pool of “golden liquid” surged up Adam Brooks’s arm, first dyeing it gold, then gradually spreading along his arm. Before long, his neck, face, ankles… all the skin exposed outside his clothes turned a brilliant gold, making Adam Brooks look as if he were a person cast from pure gold.

Yet Adam Brooks himself felt nothing, continuing to sleep soundly…

When Adam Brooks awoke, he stretched his limbs and suddenly noticed that the cluster of heat in his dantian seemed to have grown even stronger. Overjoyed, he thought, “It seems my luck has truly turned—I won’t have to be a petty thief all my life. Once I master my martial arts, I’ll become a great bandit, robbing only the wealthy households. Not only will I take their gold and silver, I won’t even spare their young ladies… But where have my three golden pages and the black cloth pouch gone?”

Adam Brooks searched everywhere but couldn’t find them. By now, the golden color on his skin had faded, and Adam Brooks had no idea that the three golden pages had merged into his body. He could only scratch his head and wonder, “Could someone have stolen them while I was asleep? I’ve spent my days as a thief, and now I’ve been robbed myself.”

After searching around, Adam Brooks suddenly raised his hand and noticed a black ring on his wrist, which reminded him of refining the Five-Yin Pouch. He tried channeling his true qi into his wrist, and immediately it was as if a cave opened before his eyes, filled with many items. Overjoyed, he exclaimed, “I was right—this is indeed a magical artifact used by cultivators.”

Adam Brooks also knew that while he could see the contents of the Five-Yin Pouch, others could not. The space inside was about the size of a room, with hundreds of items floating within. In the center of the pouch was a cluster of black light, expanding and contracting, constantly changing. Adam Brooks had long since memorized the Heshan Scripture by heart and knew that this black light was the source of the pouch’s magical power.

He tried to control the Five-Yin Pouch with his true qi, but found it very sluggish and difficult to manipulate at will. He assumed it was simply because he was still a beginner and didn’t pay it much mind.