Forty years old, awakening attribute panel

Chapter 298 Extra 022
Wu Yanni's voice pierced the silence of the living room sharply, her eyes full of worry and dissatisfaction. "Zhou Laoer, I'm saying this for your own good." She continued, with a tone of unquestionable firmness, "Look at your son, he is so rude to his elders. If he is not disciplined in the future, I'm afraid he will really go astray. You know, society is not as tolerant as at home. Once you make a mistake, the consequences will be disastrous."

Zhou Weiping's face darkened and his brows furrowed. "Wu Yanni, you don't have to worry about my family's affairs." He responded coldly, obviously dissatisfied with Wu Yanni's bluntness. "We know our own limits and know how to educate our children."

Just as the two sides were on the verge of a fight, Zhou Tongtong suddenly looked up, her eyes flashing with impatience. "Are you guys going to finish or not?" Her voice was high-pitched and harsh. "If you want to eat, eat quickly. Otherwise, please leave and stop making noise here. You are almost killing me!"

Zhou Tongtong's academic performance was excellent and her appearance was also quite outstanding, which made Zhou Weishan and his wife dote on her. Faced with her daughter's outburst, Wu Yanni could only swallow the blame that was about to come out of her mouth, glared at Jiang Sheng fiercely, then sat down silently and started to eat. The tense atmosphere in the air made the meal tasteless and it ended quickly.

After the meal, Zhou Weiping and Zhou Weishan briefly discussed the specific arrangements and time for the next day's sacrifice, and then the four members of the Zhou family quickly left the scene. Zhou Junhao and Zhou Tongtong never gave Jiang Sheng a straight look, as if he was not worth their attention at all. In their eyes, Jiang Sheng was just a nerd who lacked wisdom. What's worse, his emotional intelligence seemed to be problematic and he could not fit into their circle at all. Therefore, communicating with him was a waste of time.

Jiang Sheng was dismissive of their comments, thinking that the two children's opinions were not worth mentioning. At night, he came alone to the holiday villa area in the east of the city and meditated in a quiet forest. However, when the first ray of sunlight in the morning penetrated the treetops and shone on his face, Jiang Sheng looked a little sad.

In the past few days, his cultivation has stagnated, and the Qi in his body seems to be swallowed by an invisible black hole, becoming increasingly exhausted, and he may fall to the post-natal realm at any time. Jiang Sheng guessed that the culprit of all this might be the mysterious purple stone in his sea of ​​consciousness. In order to verify this conjecture, he immersed his consciousness in the sea of ​​consciousness.

As usual, the sea of ​​consciousness was silent, and the colorful world disappeared at this moment. The purple stone was still quietly suspended above the sea. However, after careful observation, Jiang Sheng was surprised to find that the size of the stone seemed to have increased, from the original size of a pigeon egg to the current size of a quail egg. This change undoubtedly confirmed his guess that this stone was the culprit that devoured his true energy. Faced with this reality, Jiang Sheng felt mixed emotions, with both curiosity about the unknown power and worry about his future path of cultivation. He knew that in order to solve this problem, he must find a way to control the purple stone, otherwise, his hard-earned cultivation would come to nothing, and the road ahead would be full of thorns.

"I worked so hard to cultivate the true qi, but you absorbed it without even a word of thanks. How can you be so ashamed?" Jiang Sheng complained to the purple stone, his tone full of helplessness and depression. However, the stone seemed to not understand human language, and it still quietly floated above the sea of ​​consciousness, slowly absorbing the mist around it, as if it turned a deaf ear to Jiang Sheng's protest.

After exiting the sea of ​​consciousness, Jiang Sheng fell into deep thought. The spiritual energy on Earth was extremely thin, almost negligible, and now, this mysterious purple stone was still absorbing the true energy he had cultivated with great difficulty, which was simply adding insult to injury. At this moment, the biggest challenge he faced was no longer how to improve his realm, but how to refine a batch of Qi-restoring pills as soon as possible to stabilize his current cultivation. After all, once he fell to the acquired realm, it would be a catastrophic blow to him.

On the way back to his rental house, Jiang Sheng called the manager of Baozhitang Pharmacy to ask if the herbs he had ordered had arrived. The manager told him that the herbs had already been delivered and he only needed to go to the store to pick them up at noon. After hanging up the phone, Jiang Sheng began to seriously think about another urgent problem - how to earn enough money in a short period of time.

The herbs needed to refine the Qi-restoring pills may seem like insignificant materials to Jiang Sheng, but on Earth, they are extremely precious Chinese medicinal herbs. It's still affordable to buy some occasionally, but if you consume them for a long time, it will be a huge expense, and Jiang Sheng obviously doesn't have the financial strength to do so. Asking for help from the nominal father is out of the question. Even if the other party is financially strong, Jiang Sheng is unwilling to ask for help again.

After some thought, Jiang Sheng gradually came up with a bold idea - the casino in Haojiang. He realized that although he could not see through playing cards at present, it was almost easy for him to manipulate a few dice. This idea made Jiang Sheng's gloomy mood in the past few days a little relieved, but he also understood that this matter should not be rushed, at least wait until the college entrance examination is over before making plans.

After returning home and washing up, Jiang Sheng went to a steamed bun shop outside the community and ate three trays of steamed buns and a bowl of tofu pudding in one go. Then he took the bus to school slowly. He had already reviewed his homework, and according to his current state, it should not be a problem to win the provincial champion. In his spare time, he began to practice calligraphy to kill time and also to relax his mind.

In the world of calligraphy, Jiang Sheng found inner peace. Every stroke condensed his thoughts and emotions. He immersed himself in the fragrance of ink and forgot about the outside world. Calligraphy is not only a skill, but also an important way for him to regulate his emotions and balance his heart. As the pen tip jumped on the rice paper, Jiang Sheng's mood gradually became peaceful, and those worries about cultivation and the future seemed to be no longer so heavy at this moment.

However, he knew that the real test was still ahead. After the college entrance examination, whether he chose to continue his studies or enter the society, it would be a new starting point in his life. The secret of the mysterious purple stone and how to find a way to improve his cultivation on Earth were still lingering questions in his mind. But at least, at this moment, Jiang Sheng had found the courage to face the unknown and the determination to find a way out in difficult situations.

(End of this chapter)