This strange object, suspected to be the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart, was only discovered within his Sea of Consciousness after Zhang Zhian underwent the Awakening of his past life memories.
He had no idea exactly when this strange object had arrived in his Sea of Consciousness.
Zhang Zhian just had a faint intuition that this Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart seemed to have been inside his body since he was born into this life.
However, that was merely his intuition.
Zhang Zhian was certain... if not for the faint connection he now shared with this strange object suspected to be the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart, he would still be unable to detect its existence within his Sea of Consciousness.
Most of what he currently knew about the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart came from a "manual" it had just transmitted to him.
Aside from that, as a low-level Cultivator with a cultivation of only the second level of Qi Refining, Zhang Zhian easily understood one fact.
That was, he had absolutely no control over this Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart.
Unless he was foolish enough to go outside and shout that he had a strange object of unknown origin inside his body.
As the saying goes, since it's here, make the best of it.
Especially since he had nothing to lose now, he might as well peacefully regard it as a 'Golden Finger' obtained through Transmigration.
If there were real problems, he would let his future self worry about them.
As for his current self, it was better to enjoy it first.
Coming back to the point, according to the 'manual' actively sent by the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart, Zhang Zhian already knew it had two different functions.
First, this strange object lived up to its appearance, which highly resembled the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart.
Zhang Zhian could use it to temporarily elevate his seemingly ethereal attributes, such as his train of thought and Comprehension Ability, to a brand-new Realm.
Simply put, in this state, he would become a true Genius.
However, as a price, the consumption rate of his own energy during this process would be several times faster than usual.
Exactly how much faster the consumption rate would be was something he would have to test slowly for himself later.
Additionally, the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart flickered with seven-colored light... this meant that the triggered enhancement effects also had seven levels.
The higher the level, the greater the consumption.
But for Zhang Zhian, who currently only had a cultivation of the second level of Qi Refining, it seemed he could only trigger the lowest Rank effect, the white light.
Overall, the seven colors of light—white, green, blue, red, orange, gold, and purple—flickering around the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart corresponded exactly to the seven Ranks of its ability's effects.
This rule also applied to its other function.
And the other function of this Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart was... seizing Opportunity!
As the saying goes, in a person's life, thirty percent is destined by heaven, and seventy percent depends on hard work.
The 'destined by heaven' part of this saying is basically equivalent to the word 'Opportunity.'
Certainly, for the vast majority of people, that 'seventy percent hard work' is indeed the foundation upon which they can change their fate.
But if that thirty percent Opportunity is missing, and one fails to grasp the right chance, no matter how hard one works, it will often result in half the result for twice the effort.
Or rather, being able to move forward even a small step would be a blessing from heaven.
This point also held true in this Cultivation World.
One could even say, to an extreme, that if you want to change your fate, you can do without the 'seventy percent hard work,' but you absolutely cannot do without the 'thirty percent destined by heaven.'
In this world, there was no shortage of legends about Cultivators who soared to the sky after obtaining a Heaven-Defying Opportunity.
Countless Cultivators also longed for the day when they too could encounter such an Opportunity.
But since an Opportunity is an Opportunity... it naturally cannot be forced.
However, starting from today, this would no longer apply to Zhang Zhian.
...
Zhang Zhian focused his gaze and 'looked' at the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart residing in the center of his Sea of Consciousness, gently touching it with his Divine Sense.
At the same time, a thought began to echo continuously within his Divine Sense: 'I want wild purple bamboo fungus, I want wild purple bamboo fungus...'
Almost in the next instant.
Among the seven colors of light on the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart, all the other colors dimmed instantly, leaving only a green light that conversely became slightly brighter.
At the same moment, a mysterious sense of realization dawned in Zhang Zhian's heart.
He seemed to have developed a subtle sense for a certain object existing somewhere.
Without any hesitation, he decisively followed the direction of this sensation to find it.
"Creak~"
The crushed bamboo leaves made crisp sounds as a dark-brown figure moved quickly through the Purple Bamboo Forest.
Soon, Zhang Zhian arrived in front of a purple bamboo that looked virtually indistinguishable from the rest of its kind.
However, his gaze did not linger long on this purple bamboo, but instead looked directly at the fallen leaves layered beneath it...
With a slight movement of his fingers, a breeze suddenly appeared, gently blowing away the fallen leaves.
In an instant, a cluster of purple bamboo fungus came into view.
'One, two... there are actually six purple bamboo fungus here!' Seeing this, Zhang Zhian couldn't help but show a look of joy.
One must know that this Sect Mission was only to find two purple bamboo fungus, yet he had now found six.
Two wild purple bamboo fungus could be exchanged for two bottles of spirit gathering pills, and one bottle of spirit gathering pills was worth ten Spirit Stones...
'Great, besides the two bottles of spirit gathering pills, I can earn at least another forty Spirit Stones this time.'
Zhang Zhian wasn't worried at all about whether he could sell the extra four purple bamboo fungus.
Wild purple bamboo fungus had always been in high demand, and there was no need to worry about the market.
If he was lucky, perhaps when he returned to the Mission Hall this time, there would be a few more missions to collect wild purple bamboo fungus...
Zhang Zhian tapped his finger on the Storage Pouch at his waist, and several jade boxes instantly appeared before him.
Since he had accepted this mission, even if his original intention was mainly to try his luck, he had naturally prepared jade boxes capable of storing the purple bamboo fungus.
Besides, such jade boxes were cheap; one Spirit Stone could buy at least ten of them.
Zhang Zhian carefully dug up his 'six bottles of spirit gathering pills/sixty Spirit Stones' and placed them separately into the corresponding jade boxes before quickly putting the boxes back into his Storage Pouch.
Subsequently, a bright smile appeared on his face.
But this smile was not just because he was happy about this harvest, but more so because...
As Zhang Zhian sensed the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart in his Sea of Consciousness, which had once again lit up with seven-colored light, the emotions in his heart couldn't help but be a bit agitated: 'It's actually true!'
'And this is only a green-ranked Opportunity; if it were the highest-ranked purple Opportunity...'
As mentioned before, different colors of light brought different levels of enhancement to Zhang Zhian's Comprehension Ability, and these different colors also had a similar meaning regarding 'Opportunity.'
In this ability to seize Opportunity, among the seven colors—white, green, blue, red, orange, gold, and purple—the white light corresponded to the lowest Rank of Opportunity, and the help it could bring to Zhang Zhian was the smallest.
Correspondingly, the purple light was naturally the highest Rank of 'Opportunity.'
And unlike the Comprehension Ability enhancement function, which was limited by Zhang Zhian's own strength, there was no such restriction on Opportunity.
'Based on the fact that harvesting six purple bamboo fungus counts as a green-light Opportunity, I'm afraid that the legendary kind that can make someone soar to the sky must be at least a gold or even purple Opportunity, right?'
Zhang Zhian thought of some biographies of Cultivators he had read in this life and thought longingly, 'But with the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart in my hand, I might be able to obtain such an Opportunity in the future.'
He suddenly felt full of expectation for his future.
'And... this time I've also initially verified my suspicion; my thoughts should be able to influence the choice of Opportunity within a certain range.'
Barely suppressing the wild joy in his heart, Zhang Zhian pondered the suspicion he had just thought of, 'However, it's only one test; I can't rule out the possibility that this Opportunity just happened to be these few wild purple bamboo fungus.'
'The Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart can trigger an Opportunity once every seven days. I'll have to test it a few more times when I get the chance.'
'If this suspicion is true, then there's a lot more room for manipulation.'
'An Opportunity that can be directed is much more useful than a completely random one.' Zhang Zhian's eyes seemed to deepen at this moment, 'After all, encountering an Opportunity is one thing, but whether you can use it for yourself is another.'
'Just like for the current me...'
'Even if I were to pick up a legendary Spirit Treasure that only a Nascent Soul Great Cultivator could use, it would be nothing more than a useless burden.'
'I have no ability to drive it to improve myself, and even if I wanted to exchange it for other resources... the resources exchanged for such a treasure would also bring me more trouble from the covetousness of others that I would be unable to resolve.'
'Alright, testing the Opportunity function will have to wait at least seven days.'
After thinking for a moment, Zhang Zhian looked around, 'However, the Comprehension Ability enhancement of the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart also needs to be tested.'
'This place is clearly not suitable; I should go and turn in the mission first...'