Hey, NovelUpdatians; I am currently writing a novel called Primordial Majesty. It's a try towards the Xuanhuan genre; martial arts, demons, gods, etc. It's my first time attempting this genre, so be gentle.. T^T You may view more chapters at ninedream.wordpress.com Synopsis: Among the countless stars, at the highest level of nirvana, there was mystical place known as the Jade Heaven Land. As the grand Imperial Commander of Heaven, Shen Qin was worshiped for his cultivation talent and tremendous achievements in the paths of Dao; being one of the guardians who maintained order in the immortal plane. However, on a certain fateful night, in order to chase down and eradicate an ancient god who had heavily sinned, Shen Qin had to pay an immense price and was thus, godly wounded. With his life hovering between immortality and eternity, the will of life inside his tranquil heart, which had been tamed through millenniums, began to once again burn fiercely… Genre: Xuanhuan, action, adventure, fantasy, martial arts, mature, romance supernatural, drama, fast-paced Author Note: Hey guys, just giving you a heads up that updates for this novel will be mainly posted at WordPress & RRL. Chapters in NU will occasionally be updated, since it's vexing for me to update everywhere each time lol. Table of Contents: Spoiler: Chapters Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18
Chapter 1: A God’s Heartbeat Under the starry twilight sky, a grand auric palace stood proudly among a field of shadowy forests. The air is now slightly chilly after a fiery summer day, spreading along with it a pervading silence; a halcyon night it is, as usual. It is now the Era of Qigong, a glorious period of time when martial arts and cultivators roamed en masse around the world. As more and more people began on the lonely path of cultivation, the world itself began to change accordingly. Wars erupted, power struggles arose in prominent families, and great strength became the best source of logic, as well as the quickest road to fame --and death.... At this moment, inside the room at the apex of the brilliant palace, an elderly man sat calmly in a lotus position. Wearing a majestic, black robe decorated with gold-colored dragons and smooth white linings, the man gave off an impressive atmosphere. Sitting atop an elevated red bedding carved from gold, the elder looked to be scholarly with a long white beard and a head full of snow. Even with his matured age and skin plagued with faint lines of wrinkles, the elder still retained some of his once handsome features indicating his probable popularity with the ladies when he was much, much younger… The elder had his eyes shut at this time, seeming to be sleeping. But there was a faint rippling of Qi aura coming from his body, as the pressure became stronger and stronger around him. At the same time, beads of sweat began to pour from the elder’s forehead, his closed eyes slowly curving into a nervous frown. “I must not fail. This is my third and last chance...if I do not breakthrough into the Godly Martial Realm this time, my soul will be destroyed into pieces! I cannot afford to fail...must not fail...must not fail…” The white-haired elder repeatedly thought in his mind as he gathered all the Qi inside his body and directed them towards his Dantian, the source of his life energy. After cultivating for several hundreds of years, he was finally able to touch upon the door to the legendary Godly Martial Realm. But, no matter how hard he had tried the first two-time to break through into that realm, he was pushed back again and again. It was as if something was blocking his progress. And that was when the elder knew he had a hit upon the bane of his cultivation journey: a bottleneck. Only after cultivating a hundred more years, did the black-robed elder once again regain his confidence to attempt his third, and last, try at breaking through. Both his life and soul was now at stake here. As the elder began to transform the Qi inside his dantian, a new feeling of power started to well up in him. Feeling the new type of power beginning to well up in his body, the old man’s tense face slightly relaxed as a smile silently creeped up on his face. “Th-this feeling…! It’s...it’s working! I have a chance to breakthrough! Ahahaha! The heaven has eyes! The heaven has eyes! After cultivating for nearly a thousand-year, I can finally ascend!” The elder madly shouted with delight in his mind, as excitement began to bubble up in his previously tranquil heart. But he did not dare lose focus, even amidst his joy. He had not fully broken through after all. Only after entering the Godly Martial Realm, would the elder be able to transform his mortal flesh into a god’s body. By then, he would be able to set foot onto a whole new, higher plane known as the “Heavenly Jade Land”. It was a mythical land that all mortal cultivators dreamed of entering one day. The aura around the elderly man became stronger and fiercer until the air around him seemed to tremble, almost as if it was bowing down to him. The ancient senior’s heart started to palpitate with anticipation and elation… *** *Whoosh!* A dark armored youth whisked across the night sky at an extreme speed. Blood dripped from his armor and forehead as he flew unsteadily over a sea of dark forests. *Bzzt!* From the west, a strong undulation of pressure suddenly rippled through the silent sky. Startled, the black armored young man slightly paused for a moment before he transformed into a black ball of fire and shot towards the direction where the fluctuation had appeared. Soon, a golden palace lined with crimson tiles for rooftops appeared in the distance. Locating the source of energy, the black fire blazed hovered in the air, as if it was contemplating something. *Bzzt!* A fluncation, that was much, much powerful than the one that the obsidian fireball had felt earlier appeared from the direction, in which it had just came from. Feeling the new energy, the raven orb seemed fearful as it visibly trembled for a second, before flickering brightly and bursting straight towards the top of the palace. *** A tyrannical aura surge out from the elderly man’s body, as chairs and tables in his room were instantly smashed into pieces just by the pressure. By now, a rare silly grin was plastered across the man’s face. His fateful moment was finally here… As the elder’s Qi fluctuation reached its peak, he felt the bottleneck that he had painstakingly fought against for many years slowly begin to crumble away. However, just as he was about to complete his breakthrough, the elder suddenly felt something shock his body, as his inner soul shook unsteadily. His Qi aura began to slowly decrease. The old man was immediately alarmed by this. Something unknown had actually entered his body while he was in his weakest state! Before the elder could try to attempt to purge the intruder, a wave of pain suddenly attacked his heart and mind at the same time. The feeling was excruciating, as if someone was ripping him apart from inside out! It was as if...his was soul was being destroyed! Attempting to focus his mind, the elder quickly entered his own Soul Quarter, the inner domain where a cultivator’s soul was hidden away in. By now, he was sure that this was the doing of someone else, an enemy even perhaps. He was able to feel a different Qi aura coming from inside his body. With the thought of eliminating the person from his body, the elder had to painfully stop his breakthrough for the moment. With despair and rage, the old man directed his conscious inside his body. Upon entering his own soul quarter, the elder immediately saw a pale youth in jet black armor, which had a faint blood hue to it, standing next to a white, floating ball of fire the size of a boulder. The youth’s armor was strangely designed, with various parts having strange sharp curves sticking out of it. Coupled with the youth’s green snake-like eyes, the black-robed senior felt a dreadful feeling looking at the other individual. He could even feel a distinct pressure emanating from the youth...and just the little aura’s strength had already vastly surpassed even himself! This was the first time a junior had caused an elder such as himself to feel so...powerless. And trepidation. At this time, the youth broke the silence in a surprisingly deep voice: “I’ll be taking your body. After I recover my injuries and ascend back to Jade Heaven Land, I will be sure remember your good service to this Great Lord.” The elder stared dumbfounded at the thorny, black armored youth before him. He had a bit difficulty processing the other party’s blunt words. Before he could respond, the dark armored youth spoke again, this time with a touch of coldness to his tone: “Alright, you may die now.” At the same time, the pale youth flicked his right hand towards white ball of flame as a horrifying Qi energy burst forth. The elder’s eyes widened in fear and shock. “NO!” But it was too late. A large gap was now plainly visible in the glowing ball of fire, as the eerie flames began to slowly die before bursting apart. His soul was now scattered into pieces, utterly destroyed. A sudden sense of dizziness came over the elder as he felt his vision blurring. “Eh? Am I dying? Like this? H-how can this be...why...WHY! I was so close! I can’t die like this! No! No! NO!” The elder screamed in his mind, as fury and anguish hugged his fading conscious. Right before his breakthrough to the Godly Martial Realm, he had his body taken over and his soul destroyed, making him unable to reincarnate anymore… Was all his years of hard work merely for naught in the end...? The black armored youth stared coldly at the elder as the latter’s body began to dissipate away. Then, spreading out his soul to encompass the soul quarter he was in, the pale youth began to wordlessly take control of the elder’s dying body... “Hmph, did you think you could really hide from me?!” A booming voice suddenly shook the soul quarter as the pale youth suddenly took a step backward in shock. A look of panic and fear slowly emerged within his green eyes. Right after the voice faded away, a flashing light entered the soul quarter and transformed into imperial armored youth. This person had a healthy complexion and handsome look, exuding a heroic aura that was much different from the negative atmosphere that surrounded the black armored youth. Wearing an amethyst armor that had a strange jade hue to it, the young man stood in front of the other pale youth, choosing to float above instead of landing down. “You...how did you know I was inside this body?!” The snake-eyed young man growled, a feeling of fear rising in his heart. However, the purple armored youth did not immediately answer the other individual’s question. Instead, he said in a booming voice: “God of Nineteen Hell, Zhao Wang Lei. You are criminally charged for massacring over three septillion common mortals and ten billion gods, disrespecting the heavenly laws set in the Jade Heaven Land, and attacking the Imperials Officers while they were on duty. These are all accounts of your offense over the course of seven nonillion God Years. As for how I found you, with you making a ruckus inside this human’s body, did you really think I would not notice the odd aura that was coming from his body?!” The pale youth’s eyes narrowed as he gritted his teeth. “Hmph! What is wrong about crushing a few ants that get in your way? And what laws? Those are just some bullshit the imperial clan made up just to restrict us gods! I am a guardian of Hell itself; is it not right that I should be able to kill those pitiable mortals? As for those so-called royal officers, with their low godly realm cultivation, they dared to act so presumptuous around me! And even if what you had said were true, I do not see why it would warrant you, Shen Qin, the God of Dao, to personally come and take care of me! Having the great Commander of the Imperial Hall himself trifle with a someone like me, do you not fear others conjuring up rumors about you in the future? For a newcomer like you, don’t you think you are a bit too outrageous?!” The violet armored god called ‘Shen Qin’ looked at latter emotionlessly, and then said in a tone filled with cold calmness: “A great god like yourself is more than enough reason for me to take action. While you are my senior...as they say, in the end only one’s power shall dictate our roles...and unfortunately, you are unable to compete with me by now. And you are correct, as one of the great lords of the Purgatory Land, dead mortals are for you to do as you please. However! The number of mortals I listed were still alive when you killed them. Just that in itself is a huge sin for a god. What’s more, one of the Imperial Officers you crippled...was my sworn brother! Are these not enough reasons to condemn you to death? Ah, and seeing how you have refused to repent, I have now decided to change your punishment from the destruction of your godly body...to the complete elimination of your soul!” Zhang Wang Lei felt his immortal heart skip a beat for the first time in years, when he heard Shen Qin’s words. It was at this moment that he felt a subtle pang of regret for acting rash in his previous God years. His unruly conducts had finally come back to bite him. Even after avoiding the divine punishments for so long, he had still ended up like this… Only now, did the realization that he may not live out today finally dawn on him. Gnashing his teeth, Zhang Wang Lei’s eyes turned scarlet red as he roared madly, a hint of despair in his tone: “Shen...Qin...even if I were to die, I’ll take you down with me…!” Now that he knew there was no way out for him, Zhang Wang Lei did not continue to converse nor attempt to escape. He knew that after being weakened by the divine laws and by the pursuing Shen Qin earlier, he had no chance to escape now. Thus, Zhang Wang Lei had chosen to end himself together with his enemy rather than submit! Without hesitation, Zhang Wang Lei gathered up all his energy inside his spiritual form as his body began to glow with a haunting crimson. “You…!’ Seeing this, Shen Qin narrowed his eyes as he hurriedly condensed his Qi energy and lashed out towards the latter. Even though She Qin was considered an extremely powerful god in the Jade Heaven Land, it was still not wise for him to take on a suicide attack initiated by an ancient mighty god like Zhang Wang Lei! That fellow was, after all, a senior god who ruled over the 19th level of Hell itself, commanding strength and authority that was nearly equivalent to the True God of Purgatory himself. Shen Qin was barely able to heavily injure the latter earlier before their game of pursuit occurred, so naturally he did not dare estimate an all out attack from the black armored youth. *BOOM!* The two souls crashed into each other, generating a blinding light, as the Soul Quarter shook from the impact, lines appearing on the white surroundings. Because both sides’ attack was nearly on equal power, the resulting shockwave fortunately did not destroy the soul quarter itself. Otherwise, the lifeless elder’s body would’ve exploded apart as a consequence. Once the light died down, it revealed a battered Shen Qin hovering weakly in the air. His black hair was disheveled as blood trickled down his head and arms. Even his originally pristine armor was now severely cracked, with his entire right arm and upper torso pieces missing. Slowly floating down, the Shen Qin coughed up a mouth of flood as he clutched his chest. “Not good...I’ve used up too much power to block that last attack. And that Zhang Wang Lei, to think his full powered strength was this great...I’ve truly underestimated a cornered deity, huh…*cough* *cough*” Because the two gods had fought in their soul phase, the damages they took would directly affect them in a more permanent way; as such, Zhang Wang Lei had paid with his life in this exchange while Shen Qin had received heavy injuries to his soul. In order for Zhang Wang Lei to overtake the elder’s body, he had to transform his body into his spiritual form to do that. Thus, after dying in the Soul Quarter, Zhang Wang Lei could be said to have truly died. Shen Qin took a few deep breaths as he pacified his excited blood that was still boiling after his power exchange. He did not even have the power now to contact his comrades, who were millions of distances away, for assistance with his current level of power. After calming down, Shen Qin was prepared to leave this soul quarter and recover a bit of his soul when he noticed a small flickering from the corner of his eyes. Turning his head slightly, Shen Qin was surprised to find that there was small flame wavering in a corner. Floating closer to the fiery fragment, Shen Qin saw that it was actually a person’s soul, albeit a tiny fraction of it. “This must be the soul of the mortal who was killed by Zhang Wang Lei. To think he was this lucky and resilient...with this small piece of his soul, while he would not be able to use his flesh body anymore, he would now at least be able to go through to the reincarnation cycle.” Shen Qin thought as he stared at the soul. However, for this small fragment of a soul to be able to go to through the reincarnation cycle, it would have to be sent there by someone. After all, it was forcefully destroyed by Zhang Wang Lei and thus, was simply too weak right now move on its own. And to some extent, Shen Qin felt responsible for this man’s death since it was him who had forced Zhang Wang Lei to seize this innocent person’s soul, in the latter’s desperate attempt to escape. It was the first time an uninvolved mortal was dragged into his own affairs... Shen Qin stood silently before the tiny flickering flame, as he contemplated silently what to do inside his mind. After a while, he let out a soft sigh as he reached out and drew a golden, Chinese character “皇” (Imperial), gently imprinting it onto the small soul fragment. “With this imperial decree symbol, you should definitely be able to get reincarnated into a much better life. And don’t worry, I will make sure to send you safely into the Reincarnation Cycle. I, Shen Qin, at least owe you this much for involving you in my problem.” Shen Qin solemnly said, as he gathered up his remaining strength. Focusing all his power at the tip of his index finger, Shen Qin gave the fragmented a light push, sending it out of the Soul Quarter towards the underworld Reincarnation Cycle. At this push, however, Shen Qin could feel his body instantly become weaker, . This was the last remaining amount of strength he had left, that he was planning to use to leave the soul quarter. But it looks like it was not possible now. Shen Qin’s conscious became cloudy, as he felt the world around him blacken. His body transformed into a dwarf-sized soul, hovering gently in the soul quarter and breaking bits by bits apart. At the same time, unbeknownst to Shen Qin, while his soul was dissipating it was slowly fusing with the surrounding domain. On the originally pale, lifeless elder’s body, a faint pink color had returned to his skin. And in the elder’s room, which had previously been filled with deathly silence, an extremely faint rhythm could not be heard: *Ba-dum* *Ba-dum* *Ba-dum!!* Spoiler: Chapters Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12
Chapter 2: The Earthly Land Outside a golden palace, the sun was slowly rising into the sky, signifying the start of the day. The once shadowy trees were now being illuminated with a beautiful amber shade. Inside a dimly lit room, an elder sat peacefully atop a red bedding. He has been sitting in a lotus position for the past several hours. Suddenly, the black-robed elder’s eyes flashed open as a divine lights shot out, brightening up the room for a second, before fading away. The man’s eyes looked dazed for a moment, before the light of awareness was finally registered within his pupils. Feeling that something was out of place, the man raised his hands in front of him. Seeing the slightly wrinkled hands, he frowned as a look of confusion slowly appeared on his face. Suddenly, a pang of aching struck his mind out of nowhere. Memories of names and places flooded his mind as the elder clutched the side of his head with one hand. “What…is happening? Why have my hands aged like this?...Song Huang Xue…? Who is that?” The elderly man thought as the pain in his head subsided. Regaining his calm, he turned and surveyed the familiar room. This elder is naturally Shen Qin, or at least, spiritually he is. After using up his last remaining strength to send the elder’s soul into the reincarnation cycle rather than escape himself, Shen Qin had lost conscious within the elder’s crumbling soul quarter. But when he woke up again,Shen Qin had surprisingly found that he was not inside the elder’s body anymore, but instead, he was the mortal elder himself! “This body...is Song Huang Xue’s? How could this have happened? Did my soul merge with this body when I was unconscious?” Shen Qin had several questions but very few answers, as he contemplated in his mind. After a while, he had come to the conclusion that his soul may have been merged together with this mortal’s body, in order to sustain itself. His strength had extremely weak at that time, and there had been a large chance that if nothing was done, Shen Qin’s soul would have shattered right then and there. But he did not want to die. Thus, most likely his desire to live on may have forced his soul to subconsciously draw strength from its surrounding, or rather, to merge with the mortal body in this case, for recovery. Thinking up to this point, Shen Qin let out a sigh. To think that his pursuit of a criminal, would actually lead him, a heavenly commander, to resort to taking over a dying mortal’s body in order to survive… To the current him, Shen Qin knew he had weakened severely due to his damaged soul. “Wait, this is…?!” Shen Qin furrowed his brow as he suddenly detected a foreign aura within his soul. Upon probing it further, Shen Qin was able to see that while the energy had no conscious, it was still slowly eating away at his soul. No, it would be better said that this strange aura was actually...trying to take over him! A grave expression washed over Shen Qin’s pale countenance. “This is...a poison yet not a poison...could this be a curse left behind by that evil god??” After carefully observing the foreign energy, a realization dawn on Shen Qin. However, it did relieve him of his worry, but rather severely intensified it. “The Sealing Heart Hex…”Shen Win murmured gravely to himself. This was originally an ancient curse lost during the Era of Origin, the very first period of history of the living world. It was said that this curse possessed the ability to slowly corrode the victim's soul, causing the soul to turn a blackish hue. Upon the victim's soul turning completely black, it would signify the completion of the curse. At that time, the victim would lose his entire sense of self, having his personality altered and gaining an immense desire to seek out chaos and death! Moreover, there were no known “external” cures for this curse. Unless one was at God Martial Realm, the person would definitely be taken over by the hex. But even then, they would only be able to suppress it; expelling it would not be possible through normal methods. After understanding the evil aura within his soul, Shen Qin slowly regained his calm. “Even if I’m afflicted with this ancient curse, in this world there is always the law of cause and effect. Since this curse is a product of creation, there would likewise be something out there which can dispel it! If it the method of cure has not been found, then...I would do so myself!” A fierce light appeared within Shen Qin’s eyes. However as of now, in his current body, he was left with limited options. Seek help from those within the Jade Heaven Land ? Impossible; his soul simply did not possess the required amount of strength to transmit his divine thoughts anymore. Use the mortal body he is in possession of right now to return to the Jade Heaven Land? That’s merely a floating dream. Because Shen Qin knew that this body he was in was merely at the borderline of the God Martial Realm. But after being interrupted during his ascension, for the third time, the elder’s body had paid a very heavy price. He would not be able to ascend to the God Martial Realm anymore in this lifetime, or at least, not through any normal means. “It seems that I am now stuck in this body while my soul is being corrode by a curse...how laughable.” Shen QIn thought wryly. He had not desired to take over this mortal’s body at all. But what has been done is already done. He could only try his best to adapt to it at this point. After all, according to the memories of the mortal ‘Song Huang Xue’, Shen Qin was currently in the Continent of Feng Shui, a familiar place where the previous mortal him was from! It is the only continent in this world, a colossal landscape that stretched for nearly a two hundred million square miles. The rest was made up large bodies of water. However, when Shen Qin was still a mortal cultivator, he was in the early era where martial arts and qigong were just beginning to be getting popular. After training for a few hundred years, he was able to easily ascend into the God Martial Realm, entering into the Jade Heaven Land. But his martial road did not end there. He found out that even the gods in this legendary land still had to continue cultivating in order to protect themselves. However, although Shen QIn was a new god back then, with his tyrannical talent, his cultivation progressed at an incredible rate. In just over three million years, Shen Qin had transformed into a formidable god among gods. To put it into perspective, there were gods who have trained for nearly trillions, or even quadrillions, of years would be hard pressed to advance a single stage in their cultivation. They were often considered minor gods because their rate of breakthroughs would begin to slow down as they tried to ascend into higher godly realms. Since in the Jade Heaven Land, it is a place where only true immortals live. Unless one has their soul extinguished by another god, these beings could practically live on for eternity if they wish! Time and age to them, were merely just a number. Some of those long-living deities, if one were to talk about power, would even pale in comparison to Shen Qin’s at that time! It was because of this, that Shen Qin was able to attract the attention of the Great Jade Emperor, ruler of the Jade Heaven Land! He was immediately awarded with the high position of an Imperial General of the Jade Emperor’s Imperial Dynasty. And from then on, he was actually able to have frequent meetings with the Jade Emperor himself, resulting in a brotherly bond forming between the two. This was mainly possible due to the “young” age of the Jade Emperor. While such a position is rarely ever changed, it does indeed happen after countless aeons; and Shen Qin had just happened to enter the Jade Heaven Land at such a time! Furthermore, after securing innumerable benefits for the Imperial Dynasty and having his cultivation once again go through a level within two million years, Shen Qin was finally promoted to an Imperial Commander --the highest order of military authority, barely comparable to the words of the Jade Emperor himself! Their brotherly relationship with one another likewise deepened like such. In the Jade Heaven Land, time also flows differently compared to the Earthly Land. A hundred years in the former only equates to merely a single year in the mortal’s world! After just 5,000,000 God Years, or 50000 Mortal Years, of cultivation, Shen Qin’s astonishing talent had propelled him to unimaginable heights. But alas, in the end, he was still reduced to this pitiable state today! “How hateful! Not only am I unable to seek out help, I cannot even free myself of this body and curse! However, though this body is incomparable to a god’s, in this world, it should be considered a peak level existence…” Shen Qin angrily thought. In the higher planes, a type of absolute law known as ‘Karma’ guards over the entire Three Worldly Lands: the Hades Purgatory Land, the Earthly Land, and the Jade Heaven Land! If Shen QIn was to kill himself just to free his soul from this mortal body, he would be punished by the divine law. For a deity to overtake or control a mortal to kill themselves was considered a serious crime --and the stronger the god was, the heavier and more severe the punishment would be! Shen Qin was afraid that with his level of strength before, his soul would be heavily damaged once again when he escaped the mortal body. At that time, adding on that his soul was already cursed and greatly weakened, forget about being possessed by the curse, he would practically be extinguished first! Moreover, there were legends where previous courageous victims had tried committing suicide in order to escape the curse; however, not only did it not stop the curse, it was said to have allowed the Sealing Heart Hex to grow from one's self-destruction! If Shen Qin's soul died and gave birth to such a virus, without at least setting up some sort of defense for the Earthly Land, it was bound to lead to utter chaos throughout the realms in the future. Zhang Wang Lei’s soul was also previously damaged by the Karmic Law due to his sins, which was why Shen QIn was able to injure that ancient deity. Otherwise, perhaps Shen Qin would have to battle the latter over a course of nearly millions of God years before a victory could be decided! On the other hand, if he were to kill other cultivators, or even evil commoners, Shen Qin was exempt from the heavenly punishment. After all, cultivators were already beings who are going against Heaven itself --their lives have already long detached from the normal laws of the world. However, if Shen Qin could trust the memories of the mortal Song Huang Xue...then in this entire world, just how many individuals could possess a body that could match his own? Not even considering this elder’s body, with just Shen Qin’s vast 5 million God Years worth of experiences, it would still be difficult to defeat him in a regular mortal’s body, much less in stronger one’s! Shen Qin felt a bit dizzy as he thought about all the complications in the future. Fortunately, since he was the Imperial Commander back in the Jade Heaven Land, he was one of the few gods who had complete freedom over their life. There was no one to keep tabs on them at all times, and even if they were to disappear for several thousands of years, no gods would find it out the ordinary. But what Shen Qin was most worried about was the Sealing Heart Hex within his soul. Likely, with his current strength, he would not last no more than ten years before he would be consumed completely by the curse! And if he is still within the Earthly Lands at that time, it would be safe to assume that no in this Land will be safe from his transformed self. There would even be a possibility that his evil soul then would seek to wreak havoc across the rest of the Worldly Lands and minor planes! And it may lead to a great disaster for the Jade Emperor; the only being whom he does not want to harm. After all, through the many God Years, Shen Qin has come to view the emperor as someone extremely close to him, almost akin to a blood brother! An audacious thought, but one that someone of his position and talent was qualified to express! With these thoughts, Shen Qin knew that he must quickly get rid of his poison and return! Only then, would the Heaven Jade Land remain safe and the Earthly Land would continue on thriving. But should he fail to accomplish this within ten years... Taking a deep breath, Shen Qin evened out his worries as he focused on his current situation. In order for him to recover as soon as possible, it was crucial for him to thoroughly understand his situation and conditions of this body. Over-thinking, panicking, rushing --these things are useless at this point. What he must do now is to adapt to whatever may occur in the future! Circulating the Qi inside his body, Shen Qin entered a meditative state as he recalled Song Huang Xue’s memories... Chapter 3
Nice bTW are you taking nirvana as a place name? cause nirvana means the highest state of enlightenment. Anyway, good job hopefully we will see the updates frequently
Chapter 3: Godly Supreme Hall Circulating the Qi inside his body, Shen Qin entered a meditative state as he recalled Song Huang Xue’s memories. It was now the Era of Qigong, approximately 50,000 Mortal Years have passed since Shen Qin had returned to this Earthly Land. After two grand eras, this was the second era to have come to birth. This world, one of many created aeons ago by Pangu, was currently giving birth to innumerable amounts of martial art experts known as ‘cultivators.’ They are "defyers" of Heaven who practice Qigong, which is the arts of manipulating a type of energy in the human body called ‘Qi’, or ‘life energy’. With Qi energy, a cultivator was able to strength beyond that of a common mortal and their body was much resilient as well. To train in the way of martial arts were essentially the same as purging the body of impurities and strengthening one’s core. In the Earthly Land, which was only three billion years old, practitioners were broken down into categories based on the cultivation realms they have reached. These Qigong realms were as follows, from the lowest to highest: Temporal Di (Earth), Jie Hai (Unlocking Ocean), Tian (Sky), Profound He (Fusion), Dao Ascent, Heavenly Wang (King), Empyrean Hun (Soul), Divine Zhu (Monarch), Saint Overlord, Immortal Sovereign, and the Godly Martial Realm They were then further separated into 9 stages, with each higher level becoming harder to break through. Peak experts even possessed the power to fly across skies and split apart large mountains! They were the true sons of Heaven, wielding strength that was impossible for normal people to fathom. And this man, Song Huang Xue was one of such apex cultivators. A mortal who had painstaking trained for nine thousand years to reach the pinnacle of the Immortal Sovereign realm, and another nine hundred years to dissolve the bottleneck in his cultivation, Song Huang Xue was bona fide peerless expert of the Earthly Land. His name was very well-known across martial arts world, and his influence was equally extraordinary. In fact, part of Song Huang Xue’s great influence was due to a Sect that he had personally constructed a few thousands years back. To say the least, Song Huang Xue could be considered an Ancestral figure in the Godly Supreme Hall, which was a part of the Three Absolute Grand Sects within the Earthly Land! His grand sect has reigned strong over the entire world for at least ninety-eight million years! Along with the Sacred Demon Sect, and the Eternal Sword Spirit Palace, these three were considered the ruling powers not only within their respective country, but across the entire cultivation world as well! Situated among the sole Continent of Feng Shui on a massive piece of land known as the Jin Han Empire, the ancient sect was considered an overlord entity in the vast country. Even though the Godly Supreme Hall was located in a rather desolate area filled with forests, being not a part of a given province, all nineteen provinces within the Jin Han Empire all willingly bow down to this absolute hegemony. The royal clan of the Empire itself was no exception. Moreover, as one of the three grand sects, there were relatively few struggles between the Godly Supreme Hall and other powers across the continent. If anything, it was only the three ancient sects that were competing with one another. They were considered the sole top-level existences among this mortal domain after all. However, there was a pact between the Three Absolute Grand Sects that forbid any fighting among themselves. It was said to be a way for the three powers to enjoy their influence without needlessly harming each other. A kind of cease-fire proposal, if you will. As such, the Godly Supreme Hall have not encounter any truly big problems for the last several hundred years from its initial creation! It was simply living the life of a king, and this was even more so for the Song Huang Xue. Over the years, with the deaths of the other ancestors, Song Huang Xue soon became the only living ancestor alive. There are very few who had the qualification to speak with him. This could be discerned through the peaceful palace, called the Song Palace, in which he stayed in being void of any other person. It was also because of this, that last night’s turmoil within the Song Palace had gone unnoticed. The palace itself was in a discreet location, several miles away from his Sect after all. “Song Huang Xue…”Shen Qin murmured as an aged, deep voice echoed from his flesh body. “Although I did not intend to take over your dying body, I will bear this responsibility. However, I still need to deal with this curse and return to where I came from...so, I will have to apologize in advance for the burden that may come onto this body in the future, For now, I shall be using your identity...I pray for your safe reincarnation.” Shen Qin then lifted up and placed both his palms together in a praying gesture. Even though he was god, Shen Qin had not trained to such a degree as to lose his emotions or even forget his own origin as a mortal himself. “I guess I shall see the current situation outside and then decide on the steps to take…I do not believe that in a worldly population of over fifteen billion mortals and myriads of possibilities, that I cannot find a way to dispel this curse and return back!” Song Huang Xue (Shen Qin) muttered as he got up from his bed. A resolute glow flickered within his aged, black eyes. Walking up to an open window, Song Huang Xue’s body blurred for a moment before his body disappeared from view. Only the declining strong wind in the room that was being sucked towards the window showed that the elder had indeed been present a second before… *** Several miles east from Song Palace, there was a vast patch of land with forests and mountains decorating around its border. Mountain ranges stood tall, while there were large mists rolling out from nearby waterfalls, creating a surreal scene On that same impressive ground, there were numerous grand brick buildings were situated next to one another. These were known as cultivation halls, areas where disciples of a sect would go to when they are in need of training resources. Each hall had their own specialized field of expertise, such as pills, weapons, martial arts techniques among many others. This spacious and splendid land was home to one of this world’s most powerful sect: The Godly Supreme Hall! At the center of the Sect ground, was a particularly eye-catching tower in the vague shape of a dragon ascending towards the sky. This massive construction was named the “Head Martial Tower”, a place where only elders and high-ranking members of the Godly Supreme Hall could enter. It was one of the ninety-nine halls within the Sect ground, and the sole one that disciples were forbidden to enter. It was also the tallest and largest, in terms of physical appearance, out of all the other towers. There were a total of six floors, with the bottom three floors reserved as dorms for the elders, fourth for honored visitors, and the fifth for grand guests, such as emperors of other countries or particularly great cultivators. The sixth floor is only reserved for the Sect Master, Grand Elders, and Ancestors of the Godly Supreme Hall. Aside from the several imposing buildings, there were also several specks of moving dots roaming the land. Upon a closer look, one could see that these ‘dots’ were in fact people. Every person seemed to be wearing a different kind of outfit. Some wore pink dresses, some went with dark blue robes, while others donned on expensive silk paos. But, no matter how one dressed, on each person’s chest there was an identical Bagua crest, with a faint outline of a dragon head, attached to their clothes. This symbolised one’s identity as a disciple of the Godly Supreme Hall! (‘Pao’ (Hanfu) = traditional chinese robe. Ex: http://www.finechineseclothing.com/BACKEND/Resource/ProductPic/420_680/mhf-6022-new.jpg ) Most of them looked youthful, seeming to be no older than twenty of years old, while there were some who looked to be around twenty-two to twenty-four years old. Excluding the scarce number of elders patrolling the ground, there were no disciples older than twenty-six within the Godly Supreme Hall. The entire school population itself was no greater than nine million elders and disciples. The reason is simply because the ones who were able to enter this legendary sect were all geniuses in their own rights. Their natural talent and aptitude towards a specific area were several times higher than normal cultivators, and even a few times greater than those geniuses from other sects! It was said that even the weakest disciple of the Godly Supreme Hall, if placed in another sect, would easily be able to become one of that faction’s strongest core disciples. Moreover, while every level in one’s martial cultivation is like an unreachable gap, each Godly Supreme Hall disciple, at minimum, possessed the ability to battle against those of a single level higher. As for the core disciples? Even fighting cultivators two or three levels above themselves was not an impossible feat! This was the superiority and quality of disciples from the Godly Supreme Hall! It was practically a den of monsters, in one sense or another, out a world population of nearly fifteen billion mortals...
Chapter 4: Sect Master It was said that even the weakest disciple of the Godly Supreme Hall, if placed in another sect, would easily be able to become one of that faction’s strongest core disciples. Moreover, while every level in one’s Qigong cultivation is like an unreachable gap, each Godly Supreme Hall disciple, at minimum, possessed the ability to battle against those of a single level higher. As for the core disciples? Even fighting cultivators two or three levels above themselves was not an impossible feat! This was the superiority and quality of disciples from the Godly Supreme Hall! It was practically a den of monsters, in one sense or another, out a world population of nearly fifteen billion mortals. Today, the disciples were going about their usual trainings and routines as everyone hurried towards their destination. Each person was eager to get stronger, as they were surrounded by fellow top geniuses after all. The competition is very fierce within sects like these. While everyone was busying moving from one cultivation hall to another, a golden light could be seen shooting across the clear blue sky before disappearing into the sixth floor of the Head Martial Tower. However, there were no reactions or cries of shock from the disciples below, as there were many powerful individuals residing within the Godly Supreme Hall. Seeing beings who could streak across skies with their Qigong were more or less a norm in this sect. Many of Sect residents most likely thought it was one of the elders who were streaming across the sky, so therefore neither the elders nor the disciples paid much attention to it. Moreover, there was a powerful formation set up around the sect that would identify the crest that was placed on the clothe of each disciple and elder. Therefore, only those who are a part of the sect would enter, be it sky or land, without worry. Otherwise, a sealing formation would be activated to capture the intruder and all elders would be notified immediately… *Whoosh* The window to the sixth floor of the Head Martial Tower abruptly fluttered open, and an old man dressed in silk black robe floated lightly down into the room. Landing on the red carpet that covered every corner of this room, whose size was closer to that of a wide dining hall, Song Huang Xue raised his head and examined his surrounding. While the room was spacious, each corner of it was filled with shelves after shelves of what looked like scrolls and blue, paper covered manuals. Huang Xue could even vaguely feel a strange Qi aura emanating from some of the pamphlets. “Oh? It seems there are truly a few Spiritual and Astral grade techniques present on this floor…” Huang Xue mused to himself. Just as a person’s Qigong cultivation could be ranked, the level of martial arts technique can be similarly categorized based on their output power, complexity, and use. They are separated into what are known as ‘Grades’, from lowest to highest: Common-grade, Earth-grade, Sea-grade, Heaven-grade, King-grade, Spiritual-grade, Astral-grade, Timeless-grade, Legendary-grade, and Fate-grade Each grade is further broken down into Lower or Upper to differentiate its quality, with the amount of power every grade could exhibit coinciding with the level of cultivation starting at the Earth-grade. Common artifacts are normal items that low-leveled cultivators and normal cultivators would use. In other words, an Earth-grade artifact possessed the strength of a Temporal Di practitioner, while a Sea-grade item would have the power of a Jie Hai cultivator, and so on. In regards to solely martial arts techniques, only practitioners who are in the Divine Zhu realm or higher would possess the necessary insights and Qi amount to create skills on their level or lower! On the other hand, artifacts also follow the same categorization as skills. Though, techniques are often viewed with greater value than artifacts of the same grade. This is due to the fact that techniques tend to have an innate capability to evolve or to possess the possibility of being improved on, while artifacts are often set in how much power they can exhibit at most. Skills often possess greater power compared to weapons as well. But this is merely taking into account that the artifacts do not possess sentiments, as the value of such artifacts would then be equivalent to, or even higher than, a Legendary-grade skill book itself! Yet, according to Song Huang Xue’s original memories, these kind of artifacts are exceedingly rare and even more so random. It is unclear how an item would be able to attain sentiment, but it was said that even Common-grade artifacts may gain spiritual thoughts, which would then enable them to evolve into higher grades in the future. Hence, the randomness part. Even when Huang Xue had roamed the land when he was still a mortal, artifacts with sentiments were similarly rare to find. However, it was often guaranteed a Legendary-grade technique book or artifact would possess sentiment! After all, those level of peerless items were personally created by domineering Immortal Sovereign practitioners. The amount of energy, soul, and sweat that was put into those artifacts were simply too difficult to fathom. Because of that, even a Common-grade weapon that possesses sentiment would be valued as world treasures, as they reserve the nearly guaranteed potential to one day ascend into the deeply yearned Legendary-grade... “Time really has changed...to think that now even a trashy Heaven-grade was considered world shaking…” Huang Xue thought to himself. “Back when I was still a mortal, only items that were Spiritual-grade or higher could be considered precious. *Sigh* The world in which I once lived in has truly become weaker over the years.” From Huang Xue’s original memories, he came to understood that in an overview of the entire continent, Common- and Earth-grade items were a norm, Sea-grade can be considered quite rare, while treasures that were Heaven-grade was already the best that even strong organizations could procure. As for Heaven-grade or higher? Aside from a few individuals, a small portion of truly powerful factions, and the Three Absolute Grand Sects that Huang Xue had in his memory, there could be said to be no one would possess such items. But Huang Xue did care much about things such as this. After all, in a world of ancient martial arts, only the strong ones could take their pick on things, while the weak could only stand on the sideline and watch. It was place where blood flowed at the slightest provocation, and where with only great power could one stand above all others! Huang Xue continued to reminiscent the changes in the Earthly Land when he suddenly felt another presence enter the room. It was a familiar presence. Turning around, Huang Xue saw several pieces of purple lights combining together in the middle of the room. When the light shards completely fused, it took on the shape of a human before fully revealing a middle-aged woman in white, silk dress. The person looked no older than fifty years of age, with small spots of gray on her flowing dark hair. However, judging from how deep this person’s foundation was, Huang Xue could tell that she was possibly at least a few thousands years old in actuality! The woman’s face was shapely outlined, with few wrinkles on her face. There were Bagua symbols all over her snowy dress, and the middle-aged woman exuded an air of importance and elegance. Huang Xue watched as the middle-aged woman materialized and kneeled down in front of him. Bowing her head down and cupping her hands towards Huang Xue as a sign of respect, the elderly woman greeted in a tone filled with deep respect and reverence: “Your disciple pays respect to honorable Master! Please forgive your worthless disciple for coming here so late to greet you! Yue’er did not expect master to go out of his seclusion so early on...If Master is displeased, I am willing to accept your punishment!” Then, the white dressed woman paused for a moment as she a strange aura in the air, before a dazzling smile grew on her face. In an excited voice, she continued: “Congratulations to Master for successfully breaking through to the Immortal Sovereign realm! Disciple formally greets Sovereign Song!” Huang Xue stood silent as he observed the familiar person kneeling before him. Looking closely, Huang Xue realized that he “recognized” the woman. Her name was Yue Jing, and she was one of the only four disciples whom the previous host had taken in for nurturing. At the moment, she occupied the position...as the current exalted Sect Master of the Godly Supreme Hall!
Chapter 5: Light Upon reaching the pinnacle of the Saint Overlord realm, the previous Huang Xue had passed on his position as the Sect Master to his most trusted disciple, Yue Jing, and then went on into a seclusion. That was nearly a thousand years ago. Yue Jing was only 206 years old then. But besides the few patches of new gray on Yue Jing’s hair and her slightly aged skin, the woman looked to be just the same as she was years ago. In fact, her aura had even broken through to a new realm since then; giving her a slightly more authoritative aura in front of Huang Xue. But Huang Xue was not surprised as the higher cultivation one achieves, the more they would be able to retain their youthfulness and the longer they would be able to live. With each realm breakthrough there was a large increase in lifespan, with even leveling between stages in a realm possessing the ability to help slightly increase one’s life! This was one of the many benefits and allure of being a cultivator. When Huang Xue had reached the Immortal Sovereign realm, his lifespan was increased by three thousand years, with each sub-stage allowing another thousand years additional to his lifespan. At the very least, the godly being who was now Huang Xue knew that the previous host was indeed quite the peerless genius. The speed of his cultivation was extraordinary, seeing how it takes tens of years to several hundreds of years to break through a single stage as one goes higher. Once one enters the Divine Zhu realm, taking a few hundred years just to ascend one stage was normal. And for Sovereign Immortals? Even for some who had trained for more than ten thousand years would be hard pressed to ascend a single stage, being powerless to change their impending end as they waited for their peaceful death or be left with consuming longevity pills for the rest of their life until the effects wear off. Even trying to break through to this realm is like trying to ascend Heaven in one step! This, at least, still hold true even now... “Master?” Yue Jing’s clear voice cut through Huang Xue’s thoughts as he woke up from his daze. He realized that he had not said anything for over some time now. Clearing his throat, Huang Xue asked, a deep voice echoing from his body: “Ahem, you may rise. I will not punish you this time.” “Thank you for your benevolence, Master.” Yue Jing said as she lightly stood up. Looking at her master, she asked with a subtle curiosity: “Master, to think you would come out earlier than expected from your training...I assume everything went smoothly as you’ve predicted?” ” “Uh, you could think of it that way, I suppose.” Huang Xue replied. “Anyways, you must tell me what has been happening for the past several years that I was away.” Yue Jing nodded without questioning further as she gestured Huang Xue over to a lofty, wooden chair. It was decorated lavishly, with the wood seemingly to be made out of quite expensive materials and the bottom seat covered in comfortable looking gold-colored cushion. If anything, the chair looked closer to a throne than a mere seat. “As you wish. Please take a seat, Master. It must’ve taken you quite some time to get here on foot, even through air. Let me serve some tea first and then I will tell you about the events that had occurred in the last thousand of years that you were in secluded training.” Huang Xue smiled as he nodded his head and went over to take his seat. From his previous host’s memories, Huang Xue had a very favorable impression of this thoughtful and honest disciple of his. As for the other three, the last memories that Huang Xue had of them were when they had parted ways to adventure out across the martial lands... Placing a flagrant cup of tea on the small black table next to where Huang Xue was sitting at, Yue Jing then proceeded to sit down on the other side of the table. Looking at her master, with adoration glowering in her eyes, Yue Jing began to speak: “Master, after you have left the Sect for training, our Godly Supreme Hall has been flourishing well as usual. We have nourished several hundreds of renowned top experts with a few of them already being hailed as legends across this mainland. However, although our foundation has increased over the last thousand of years, there...has been a few problems as of lately…” Hearing this, Huang Xue’s eyebrows perked up with a vague interest. “Carry on.” Yue Jing hesitated for a moment before she continued: “To tell Master the complete truth, your disciple was actually planning to seek you out soon. As of late, I am beginning to feel a vague sense of danger approaching our sect...and your disciple suspects it has all to do with the two other Absolute Grand Sects…” “The two Absolute Grand Sects?” Huang Xue asked, a light of curiosity and even hope suddenly shone within his black pupils. From Huang Xue’s memories, the other two ancient sects were just a bit weaker in overall power to his Godly Supreme Hall, due to the disparity in population. However, the two Ancestors of those sects were comparable to the previous Huang Xue’s strength, being at the peak of the Saint Overlord realm, before the former went into seclusion. “Yes, as Master already knows, while us three Absolute Grand Sects may maintain a peaceful facade on the surface, we are in actuality constantly in struggle with one another. And after Master went into seclusion, the power struggle had increasingly been getting worse. Right now, our Godly Supreme Hall is being suppressed by both the Sacred Demon Sect and the Eternal Sword Spirit Palace! Although they had attempted to do individually so before, because the number of talents in our Sect was greater than theirs, we managed to still hold the advantage. But now, those two Sects had actually banded together, along with a few great sects, to prevent our disciples and elders from safely training in the outside world! We even had several casualties that resulted from this a few years back. Those two grand sects were absolutely despicable!” Yue Jing seethed in anger when she thought back to the death of those disciples and elders. She had managed to contain her rage for the past ten years because while her level of influence was great, her personal cultivation was still lacking. She was unable to deal with two of the other sect masters at the time, much less the ancestral figures who were backing them. She did not know if the Ancestors of those Sects were still present or if they had went into seclusion like her Master, so she had been extremely cautious over the years.This had taken a great toll of stress on her, causing faint lines of wrinkles to appear on her smooth face...ones that should not have appeared for at least another few hundred years. However, just when she was nearing her breaking point and wanted to find her Master for help, the latter had appeared in front of her, as if in sync with her thoughts. Joy was merely an understatement if one wanted to describe the emotions that flitted across Yue Jing’s heart when she felt the familiar aura, and had hurriedly arrived at the top of the Head Martial Tower to see her Master waiting. It was as if she had finally found hope amidst this complex mess. Thinking up to that point, Yue Jing’s anger subsided a bit as a light of determination was lit vividly in her eyes. Now that her revered Master has returned, the two Absolute Grand Sects would no longer be able to be as wild as before, especially now that former had entered the preeminent Immortal Sovereign realm! “Even if those other two old monsters had entered the same realm, compared to my Master, even if they had fought together my Master would not be worse off than them!” Yue Jing thought with a sense of pride. In reality, while many people believed that the Three Absolute Grand Sects were equal in strength, it was not exactly so. While the Godly Supreme Hall did have a slight edge when to came to large numbers, the true advantage they held was the fact that their Ancestor was a domineering tyrant when it came to cultivation. Out of the ancestors of all Three Absolute Grand Sects, the Godly Supreme Hall’s ancestor could be considered the one with the greatest talent in cultivation and martial arts. He was even able to barely contend against the other two ancestors of the same level for several breaths, and just that alone was already an impressive feat considering the level of strength these ancients were at! At least, neither ancestor of the Sacred Demon Sect or Eternal Sword Spirit Palace had been able to achieve such a battle prowess...
Chapter 6: The Three Absolute Grand Sects Out of the ancestors of all Three Absolute Grand Sects, the Godly Supreme Hall’s ancestor could be considered the one with the greatest talent in cultivation and martial arts. He was even able to barely contend against the other two ancestors of the same level for several breaths, and just that alone was already an impressive feat considering the level of strength these elders were at! At least, neither ancestor of the Sacred Demon Sect or Eternal Sword Spirit Palace could achieve the same thing... This was why the Sacred Demon Sect and the Eternal Sword Spirit Palace had worked over the years to suppress the Godly Supreme Hall. The latter’s power was a danger to the other two Grand Sects. Huang Xue nodded his head as he contemplated in his mind. Then, in a relaxed manner, he said: “Continue.” Yue Jing, seeing that her master was so calm even knowing he would be up against the other two Absolute Grand Sects, had her hopes once again lifted another notch. Her conviction and reverence towards her master had shot up as well. With the Sect’s problems settled first, Yue Jing was able to speak about the other affairs with more ease. All the while, Huang Xue continued to listen as he absorbed all the information into his head. And as a high level cultivator, it was more than simple for him to recall these in his mind in the future. As Huang Xue listened to Yue Jing narrate, he learned that over the one thousand years that he was absent, many things had remained the same while few gave into the change of time. With the influx of cultivators, new powers rose and old ones fell at an astonishingly rate all across the continent. The overall political situation in the world was much more complicated now. Moreover, while the Three Absolute Grand Sects were the most well-known and powerful sect in the continent, there has recently been rumors over the years about hidden factions and individuals appearing, whose power may not lose out the former trios! One has to know that due to the Feng Shui Continent’s enormous size, not every single region within has been explored yet. New powers were continuously emerging at a frightening rate. It was already impressive for the three grand sects to maintain their position in the world even amidst such violent changes, further testifying to their profound foundation. Thus, besides dealing with the other two Grand sects behind the scene, Yue Jing had been eager to help increase the Godly Supreme Hall’s strength. The time has become much more turbulent after all. However, for Huang Xue, this news only served to brighten his mood. The stronger the opponents, the greater the reassurances he would have in the scenario that should he be consumed by the Sealing Heart Hex a thousand years from now, this world would not be left completely crippled... After detailing about a few more minor things, Yue Jing sat silently as she waited for master to speak. Deep orange sun lights were streaming in through the window. The sun was slowly setting in the distance by now. Huang Xue stood up from his throne as he leisurely pranced around the room, his head lowered in deep thought. But his attention was on somewhere else. “This Godly Supreme Hall seems quite stable for now. However, that is not what I need to care about at this moment. I need to find the method to cure my curse and return back to the Jade Heaven Land as soon as possible...What exactly should I do? Attempt to ascend into the God Martial Realm again? But now that this body’s cultivation path has changed, it would require stimulating external influences to breakthrough from henceforth…the rarity and expense would be quite extraordinary...” Huang Xue gave a sigh as he thought. “Even after mastering countless of Dao, I still could not completely grasp the Dao of Cultivation. If I did, something like this wouldn’t even be a problem, and I wouldn’t still be here!” As the once mighty God of Dao, Huang Xue was adept in understanding many of the profound laws and energy that surround the world, collectively known as ‘Dao’. This was a concept that was most relevant towards cultivators of Profound He realm and higher, where energy is drawn from the world itself rather than from one’s body. However, there were naturally numerous other Daos that he could had not mastered. He was still considered a young deity in the Jade Heaven Land, after all. And the Dao of Cultivation was one of such paths that he had only partially comprehended. This dao pertained to the secrets of growth in power and the ascension of powers. If completely mastered, even transforming the most broken cripple into a heaven-domineering celestial was all but a simple task! As the profoundness of each Dao was different, they are classified into three types: Zhen Dao, Sheng Dao, and Mo Dao. Although it was difficult to compare a Dao’s strength to another, it was generally assented that laws from the Sheng Dao are considered to be the hardest to comprehend. But if one succeeds to understand even a bit from a Sheng Dao, one could expect a massive surge in power! There are relatively few Daos that could be considered of the Sheng level. The dao of cultivation was one of such paths. It was because Huang Xue had understood a decent part of such mystery that his cultivation could rise so rapidly even after becoming a god. Aside from him, there were almost no one else who had comprehended the Dao of Cultivation as much as Huang Xue did! This was one of the reasons that the Jade Emperor had valued Huang Xue so much and even personally wanted to befriend him as brothers… Strolling around the room, Huang Xue was contemplating what to do in his mind when he suddenly thought of something. Pausing in his steps, with his back facing Yue Jing, Huang Xue suddenly asked his student: “Yue’er, where have your senior brothers gone to?” The middle-aged woman respectfully replied: “This disciple does not know exactly where my senior brothers are at. After they departed from master and ventured out into the world, Yue’er was only able determine a rough estimate of where they might be from the recent scout reports I’ve been receiving.” “Then, tell me, do you think your senior brothers would have a chance...to surpass me by now?” Yue Jing widened her eyes in surprise before she quickly gathered herself. In a slightly flustered voice, she replied: “Surely you are making fun of us, master. How could you expect us to exceed someone as powerful as you…” Huang Xue frowned as he said in a slightly irritated tone: “Then why did I bother taking in you disciples? If not for desiring the four of you to surpass me in the future, tell me, what use is having you lots around then?” Yue Jing froze as she felt a subtle oppressive aura leaking from her master. Even without Huang Xue facing Yue Jing, just a little pressure from his Qi was already enough to cause her to feel as if she was suffocating. Her master had never revealed his emotions this easily before... Calling out in a shaky voice, Yue Jing quickly said: “I...I was wrong, Master. Please forgive your foolish disciple. While second and third senior brother and I are unfilial and could not make master’s wishes come true, I believe…I believe eldest senior brother may have progressed greatly…” “Your eldest senior brother? You are talking about Wu Xie?” Huang Xue said as he furrowed his eyebrows, as an image of a young handsome man looking to be twenty-five to twenty-six years old appeared in his mind. This person was his first disciple, and was the most mysterious one out of all Huang Xue’s four disciples. His talent in Qigong was the best out of his peers as well, with the previous Huang Xue focusing the most on him. If he was not mistaken, the last time Huang Xue had seen Wu Xie was four thousand years ago --nearly a thousand-year earlier before he entered reclusive training. His other two disciples had also ventured out eight hundred years later, after Wu Xie’s initial departure. At that time, Wu Xie’s cultivation was at the peak of the Empyrean Hun realm...
Chapter 7: Collect These Ingredients Being Huang Xue’s first disciple, Wu Xie was naturally a being of world shaking identity and talent. His cultivation speed was much faster and his foundation was even more solid than his two junior brothers and his junior sister, whom were all considered monstrous geniuses of the old generation. If not for Wu Xie being uninterested in being the Sect Master of the Godly Supreme Sect, the previous Huang Xue would have long given his seat to his first disciple. However, it was unknown where this genius was exactly right now… Huang Xue pondered for a moment and asked: “Did you not attempt to seek out your senior brothers for help when our Godly Supreme Hall was being suppressed? How come you still haven’t pinpointed their whereabouts even now?” Yue Jing looked down, and then helplessly replied: “I have indeed tried to look for my senior brothers, master. But these brothers of mine were simply too powerful. With me being the youngest and having the weakest talent out of the four, I could only at best find out where they had been, and not where they exactly were at the time. I am powerless to keep watch on every single one of their moves...” “Then do you have any idea where they might be now?” Huang Xue asked. Yue Jing hesitated for a second, then replied: “Third senior brother should still be somewhere in the Deathly Flames Wasteland, while second brother was last seen entering the Draconic Twilight Ruins two years ago. As for eldest brother…” There was a slight pause before Yue Jing continued: “...As for eldest brother, I haven’t heard from him for one hundred and eighty-seven years already. The last time place the scouts reported seeing him enter was...the Xun Empire.” Huang Xue thought for a moment and found that in his memories, the Xun Empire was located east of the Jin Han Empire, a neighboring country. It was considered a bit larger in land size compared to the Empire he was currently in. But land size was the only near similarity between the two. When it came to military strength and wealth, the Xun Empire was all above the Jin Han Empire. It was a place filled with greater opportunities, but equally greater dangers as well. Given Wu Xie’s stubborn personality in Huang Xie’s mind, it was not hard to imagine his disciple wanting to explores such an opportunistic place. “Damn, to think you wouldn’t even give your disciples a way to contact you..” Huang Xue cursed in frustration at the previous host in his mind. Because the previous Huang Xue was extremely confident in his disciples abilities, he did not bother giving them a special talisman or item that would allow them to contact him, nor for him to find them. This was based on his reasoning of “letting his disciples experience the dangers of the world without relying on an ounce of his help.” He even opted to not place anything on his disciples that would allow him to keep track of them either, as the previous Huang Xue feared that he himself may be unable to contain himself and go help his disciples at every turn of danger… “What kind of logic did this old mortal even have. This is simply too frustrating!” Huang Xue thought as he closed his eyes. Perhaps only relying on his four disciples to help him was not a wise decision. It was unclear if these four devoted individuals would even want to hurt him when the time comes, regardless if Huang Xue chose to fight them to the death or not. The situation and possibilities were becoming more and more complicated in Huang Xue’s mind. Huang Xue sighed as he said: “Alright. I have understood the gist of everything now. You may leave for now. I will call you back when I have made my decision on what steps to take.” “Yes!” Yue Jing bowed as she transformed into a streak of violet light and left the room. Only Huang Xue was left alone now. Walking somewhat wearily back to his throne, Huang Xue sat down as he propped his left elbow on the black table next to him, resting the side of his head on top of his left fist. “Huuu…” Huang Xue took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Let’s not make this more complicated than it already is. I must keep my calm and not rush things. One of the Sheng Dao of Fate’s teaching is ‘what tribulation that’s bound to befall shall befall no matter what.’ If I’m destined to be unable to make it back or if the Imperial Dynasty was truly unable to avoid a disaster, then there nothing I could have done! I must rethink my plans…” After several long moments of silence, Huang Xue’s eyes suddenly opened as a clear radiance was present in them now. Slowly standing up from his seat, Huang Xue walked over and stood near an open window, looking out. “Mmn. I should follow the flow for now. If I could find the materials that will allow me to try for another breakthrough into the God Martial Realm, then I will do so. If not, then I will continue to stay in my current realm while trying to suppress this curse inside of me. In the meantime, perhaps training my four disciples a bit more until they’re able to compete or even surpass this body’s owner should be my goal as well. Finding new ones may not sound like a bad idea either. This way, even if I am consumed there should be some people here who may be able to stop me…” A solemn light glowed eerily within Huang Xue’s eyes when he thought towards the end. While he did not like considering his own demise, it was inevitable. The ancient curse was simply too powerful, and even though Huang Xue was confident in his own ability, he was unable to guarantee he could dispel the poison. Even now, he had no methods to suppress the curse within his mortal body. As it is going now, in about a thousand years, Huang Xue would be completely devoured by the curse... As for reaching the God Martial Realm? That would require many precious ingredients and special methods for his ‘damaged’ body. And even then, it was not guaranteed that the curse could be removed. At best, it’ll only serve to extend his life time until he finds a method of cure! Turning around, Huang Xue strode over to a shelf and pulled out two blank scrolls. Walking back to the black desk, picking up a brush that was placed nearby, Huang Xue began to write down two separate long list of words. Several long moments passed. When he was finished, Huang Xue lifted up his head and called out for Yue Jing in a semi-loud voice, just enough for the sound to fill the entire spacious room he was in. This time, a violet light almost immediately shot in front of Huang Xue as it materialized to reveal Yue Jing. “Your disciple is here, master!” Yue Jing respectfully bowed as she waited on Huang Xue’s instructions. “I have decided for the time being to stay my hand, meaning you should not tell anyone else that I’ve returned yet.” Huang Xue said. He was not worry about informants or spies from other Sects already knowing about his emergence from seclusion. Being an ancestral level figure in this world, just how many people could ‘keep watch’ on him? It was because the other two grand Sects knew this, that they did not send anyone to keep station near Huang Xue’s Song Palace to keep tabs on him. If the Huang Xue had wanted to leave without being detected, it was, but a simple task for someone like him! “Eh? Then...how should the other matters be…” Yue Jing asked with uncertainty. She did not expect her master to have this response, and wanting to keep a low profile at this time. Huang Xue walked over to Yue Jing and gently patted her head, as would a father to his daughter. “Do not be impatient, Yue’er. If what you have told me all correct, then it is only the elders and disciples of the other two grand sects who are causing trouble. As long as the Sect Masters and Ancestors of their factions don’t personally make a move, then it’s merely a struggle between the younger generations.” “But…” Yue Jing murmured as a light pink color surfaced on her face. Even now her master was still kind and doted on her, but her desire to avenge the school’s elders and disciples was still stubbornly burning. It has to be known that the ones who had died in the power struggle were ones of her closer friends and students. It was not easy to forgive those who have hurt what’s important to you after all. “...Is what an elder like me should say, however the other parties have crossed the line this time around.” Huang Xue’s voice suddenly rang out coldly. “If our disciple had died by the hands of another sect’s disciple, then that could only be blamed on their powerlessness. But if an older generation had interfered and led to the death of our disciple...then I cannot sit idly by. Yue’er, you are certain that it was this Great Elder Fang De from the Sacred Demon Sect and that Elder Gan Long of the Eternal Sword Spirit Palace, who killed our elders and disciples?” Yue Jing, who was extremely delighted that her hope may now possibly be achieved, immediately responded: “It is certainly true, master! It was those two seniors who had interfered in the battle between our core disciples and their own. Just when our students were winning, the other sides interrupted the battle and even injured several of our people. In the end, a fight erupted resulting in the deaths of three elders and two core disciples on our side. We have several surviving disciples, elders, and even a few present bystanders, who could testify to this!” Huang Xue nodded slowly as he stroked his white beard. From his host’s memories, Huang Xue knew about these two executives from the grand sects. Although Huang Xue had never talked to them personally, or even cared to, he had seen them a few times during important gatherings and heard several ill rumors about those two in reports. There should be nothing wrong with taking care of a few trashes…
Chapter 8: Qiao Sui “Alright, I understand now. Just leave this matter to me. At the end of day, they’re merely elders of a big sect. Without the two old fogies interfering, those people are basically worthless.” Huang Xue said in a calm voice. “Thank you, honored master!” Yue Jing smiled and bowed in respect. Happiness was dancing wildly in her heart. “Mmn. In the meantime, I’ll have you dispatch people to look for these two lists of ingredients.” Huang Xue said as he passed Yue Jing the two scrolls. Receiving the scrolls, Yue Jing opened them and read through the contents. “Master, these are…?” “Ingredients for two special things that would help with my cultivation. After reaching the Immortal Sovereign realm, I’ve been met with a bottleneck, so I am attempting to create two items that could allow me to break through.” Huang Xue explained. With half being lies and the other half being truths, Huang Xue did not want to reveal his entire agenda --he had to take his current host’s situation into perspective. Even if he wanted to run amok and do things as he wished, Huang Xue had to taken his body and its surrounding current situations into consideration as to avoid racking up negative Karmas. “I understand now, master. For the first list, while the thirty ingredients master listed are rare, they are not impossible for our Hall to procure. I can immediately arrange some trusted people to get them within two days.” Yue Jing said as she turned to read the second list, a frown slowly surfacing on her face. “As for master’s other request, the twelve ingredients you listed are exceedingly priceless...especially the mythical ‘Immortal Phoenix Feather’, For these materials, it may very well take up to several hundreds or even thousands of years, depending on their availability and our luck…” Huang Xue smiled and said: “That is fine. I do not expect that ingredients such as the Heavenly Blood Lotus flower or the Drunken Dragon Heart, that I wrote on the second scroll would be that easily obtained. I have several thousand years of lifespan left, so a little wait is not an issue. I will also be in search of those ingredients as well. It is the first list of materials that I deem most important right now.” Yue Jing bowed and said: “I will definitely strive to fulfill master’s wish!” Huang Xue stroked his long beard as he walked over to an open window. “I will await for your good news then...after I return from a small ‘trip’.” With a flicker of his body, Huang Xue’s body instantly transformed into a streak of golden light and shot off into the distant dying, orange sky. After a while, Yue Jing slowly straighten her body as she looked lovingly at the outside sky. Thinking back, Yue Jing felt that there was a strange feeling of familiarity, yet unfamiliarity, when she met her master. The same face, aura, and even actions; however there was slight deviation in personality… She was sure that her master was not the type to show his excited emotions frequently, as it was rare for Yue Jing to see her master being serious or even angry at anything. Song Huang Xue was always gentle and seemingly uncaring of the world. That the type of man her master was, but Yue Jing felt like this was not the case anymore. “Did something happen to master while he was training that could have changed his worldly perspective and even his personality?” Yue Jing thought to herself as she prepared to leave. However, she was not that against this new aspect to her master’s personality --she liked this determined and ‘lively’ master, if Yue Jing were to have described Huang Xue now. A violet light flashed for a brief moment, before the room once again descended into complete silence, void of life and presence… *** Seven days after Huang Xue left the Head Martial Tower, in a distant neighboring country west of the Jin Han Empire, a small province laid peacefully among its seventeen counterparts. This province was called the ‘Cao Province’, being apart of the large Yuan Empire, a country that was only slightly smaller than the Jin Han Empire. The Yuan Empire was also home to one of the Three Absolute Grand Sects, the Eternal Sword Spirit Palace. The Cao Province was littered with many small cities. At this moment, in one of such cities named ‘Small Leaf City’, at a particularly large backyard of a house situated in the upper parts of Cao Province, a group of ten youths had their bodies bent low in a horse stance. (Author: Horse stance = https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a4/ee/8c/a4ee8c12749f7d8d09bdf639fb4aabf3.jpg ) There were six boys and four girls, each looking to be fourteen or fifteen years old. The perfect age to be considered an adult in this world, where fourteen years olds were already being married off in rural villages across the continent. In front of the youths, a middle-aged man with graying hair wearing a silk cyan robe was patiently instructing them. The man looked ordinary, with no unique points to his appearance of beady eyes and wrinkled face. He watched over the youths’ training with his hands behind his back. On the chest of his clothes, there was a crest showing three golden swords side-by-side pointing downward. The middle sword was the longest, and behind all three sword symbols, a wing was spread wide open; this gave the crest a majestic feeling to those who saw the crest. Each youth who was training, lashed out a fist in a monotonous rhythm, left fist, right fist, left fist, then right fist again. Over and over, they continued this exercise until sweats were pouring from their pores, while the sun beamed down hotly upon them. Soon, one by one the youths began to drop out as they either fell on the ground or stood up in resignation. This continued until only a single girl was left. The long black-haired young girl had a shapely porcelain face, and wore a light pink dress. Her budding body was slim, toned and refined after years of training and healthy nourishment. It could easily be said that this girl, if given enough time to fully grow, would blossom into a mesmerizing flower that could topple great cities. Beads of sweat rolled down the side of her head, as she tried to maintain her posture. In the end, giving in to the strains of her knees, the girl fell backward on her bottom. Seeing that all the students had finished, the middle-aged man smiled and walked over to the pink dressed girl, who had stood up and was patting the dust off her back. Reaching out with his wrinkled hands, the middle-aged man stroked the young girl’s hair back as he said in a gentle voice: “Qiao’er, are you alright? You have done an excellent job hanging on so long.” The girl named ‘Qiao’er’, whose full name was Qiao Sui, smiled like a blooming flower at the elder’s gesture and replied: “Thank you for worrying about me, Elder Gan! I am fine, just a little sore now.” The middle-aged man called ‘Elder Gan’ nodded his head as he said: “Mmn, But remember not to overwork yourself continuously. Otherwise, you may do more harm to your body than not.” When the elder said this, Qiao Sui did not notice Elder Gan looking over her body, as if he was appraising her like an item. When she looked up to acknowledge the latter’s guidance, the elder was already looking back at her with gentle eyes like river. The elder turned to face the other youths lying around before he said in a sudden stern voice: “Alright, everyone quickly get up and gather in front of me. Today, I will be teaching you all about how to breakthrough to the next stage of your cultivation!” Hearing this, the youths hurriedly gathered themselves as they went to sit down in front of Elder Gan. Excitement was plastered on their face as they looked at the elder in anticipation. Qiao Sui also promptly sat down, though with less enthusiasm as the other youths. A faint smirk surfaced on Elder Gan’s face for a brief second before disappearing. In a gruff voice, he observed the youths around and began: “All of you must strive to be like Qiao Sui. Even though ten years old is the best age to start training, take a look at Qiao Sui, after only four years of training, she is already now in the 6th stage of the Temporal Di realm while you all are still giving off the aura of merely that of the 4th stage! The first realm is the easiest to overcome, as it only requires one to train one’s body to surpass its limit. You are simply tempering the body itself!” Some of the students lowered their head in shame while others looked over at Qiao Sui in envy. On the martial arts road, the Temporal Di realm is truly nothing. Everyone was considered to beat this level, even most commoners, as this could be said to the be realm of the "slightly better" ordinary people. And as long as there was not a huge gap in cultivation, one would be able to sense other's cultivation level through the aura they emanate. To become acknowledged as cultivator, they had to first reach the Jie Hai realm, where their body would have become strong enough to start learning martial arts techniques and Qi condensation!
Chapter 9: Who Dares? To become acknowledged as cultivator, they had to first reach the Jie Hai realm, where their body would have become strong enough to start learning martial arts techniques and Qi condensation! Elder Gan paused to looked around before he continued: “However, I will be teaching you all some more methods to help train your body so that you can quickly break through to the Jie Hai realm in the future! While Temporal Di realm is merely training the body, there are many methods of going about this. Since at this stage, the amount of earthly energies you can absorb is little, I will pass on a body refinement manual for everyone to use. If you diligently practice it, then even after you have broken through to Jie Hai realm and open a ‘sea’ in your Dantian, you could continue using it to help you develop further! In the Jie Hai realm, the goals would be for you to start comprehending profound arts, absorbing even more earthly energies, known formally as Earthly Qi, around you and assimilating your ‘sea of life force’ called the ‘Dantian’. Once you’re in the Jie Hai realm, your dantian should host something similar to a body of water, and by assimilating more Earthly Qi into it, you can expand that water and turn it truly into a sea. The next step would be to completely stabilize your dantian and harmonize it with your body. Only by doing so, could you hope to grow stronger and possess a stable foundation, enabling you to use the Qi inside your body without having it be used up so easily. Breakthroughs then, would also be much easier! As for the Tian realm, unless you are as talented as Qiao Sui, you better either hope for a fortuitous opportunity in the future or train like a madman for the rest of your life!” A few of the youths who heard this unconsciously clenched their fists tightly as unwillingness flashed in their eyes. With fourteen years old already being considered an adult, it was natural that these children had grew up much faster. At ages fourteen or fifteen, they already understood the value of greater strength with some even dabbling in the arts of scheme and tricks… “But there is no harm in telling you juniors the mystic of the Tian realm.” Elder Gan continued, a faint sneer now evident on his face. “Tian realm practitioners rely on absorbing the Heaven Qi, rather than Earth Qi, to cultivate their Qigong and body. While Earth Qi comes from the soil and earth beneath us, Heaven Qi is the product of the sky and vast heaven itself. Only those who’ve entered the Tian realm could detect this special Qi, just like how only those who’ve reached the Jie Hai realm could feel the Earth Qi around them! Upon breaking through into the Tian realm, one would create a “sky” inside one’s Dantian. With a sky and sea, the amount of power that person could wield than would naturally be much greater, in both power and Qi volume! As one ascends higher and higher on the path of cultivation, the harder it is for them to breakthrough. Hehe, for you people, if you could reach the Jie Hai realm by the age of sixteen, that could already be considered pretty good!” The youths all continued to patiently listen to Elder Gan lecture on about cultivation. Only Qiao Sui seemed a bit restless as her eyes wandered from the elder’s face to her surrounding… At the end of the lecture, Elder Gan dismissed the youths and had them return to their room. As Qiao Sui was getting up from the ground, an aged voice suddenly ran out from behind her. “Qiao’er, you stay behind and come with me for a brief walk.” Qiao Sui froze and slowly turned to face Elder Gan. “Elder, you wish to talk to me about something? Can we not talk about it here, since everyone else have left…?” There was a subtle tone of reluctance and alarm in her voice. Elder Gan had on a smile that was not quite a smile on his face, as he replied: “No, this place will not do. I wish to be completely alone with you to discuss some matters about your future. Come, less talking and follow me.” When he finished saying this, the elder suddenly reached out and took hold of Qiao Sui’s slender wrist. Before Qiao Sui could say anything further, Elder Gan leaped into the air while holding her, and flew towards the forest area north of his current location. Qiao Sui, who experienced this feeling of flying in the sky for the first time, could only hang on tight to Elder Gan’s hand as the city grew more and more distant. An uneasy feeling was now beginning to be born in Qiao Sui’s heart. After an unknown amount of time, Elder Gan suddenly began to descend towards the patches of thick forests below. Landing on a rough, open ground, Elder Gan let go Qiao Sui’s wrists as the latter timidly retreated backwards several steps, until there was a large distance between the two. A moment of silence ensued. Without around to face Qiao Sui, the elder broke the silence and asked in a rather deep, low voice: “Qiao’er, do you know why I’ve brought you here and what I wanted to speak to you about?” There not a shred of gentleness in the elder’s tone now, only coldness without emotions. Qiao Sui hesitated for a while, before she replied: “I do not know, Elder Gan. Were we...not just going for a brief walk?” Ever since Qiao Sui was picked off the streets as an orphan by this middle-aged man who only called himself Elder Gan, the girl had always felt something was wrong. Four years ago, she was just a commoner wandering the streets of Tao City of the Yellow Province, one of the eighteen provinces in the Yuan Empire. Qiao Sui had never met her parents as she was already in the streets when she was just a baby. However, strangely she had no memories of her time since young. She only knew she was an orphan at the age of six. Other than that, everything else was fuzzy... But one day, she was taken in by Elder Gan who had told her that she was a ‘perfect material’ for practicing martial arts and that he would help her if she wanted him to. Naturally, given Qiao Sui’s tender age and desire to be free of hunger, she accepted the elder’s offer and became a student under him. After being taken to the elder’s residence in another province, Qiao Sui came to meet fourteen other orphans who were also taken in by Elder Gan. And upon getting to know them, Qiao Sui found out that they were all from a different province and city. While this was nothing at first, Qiao Sui began to slowly pick up on the elder’s strange habits. With her experiences of living on the dangerous streets since she was very young, Qiao Sui had quickly gain the ability to read other people’s facial expressions and words to determine if the other party had any malicious intentions. She had to be quick-witted. As such, Qiao Sui had noticed the changes in the elder’s attitudes over the years. At first, Elder Gan had treated everyone equally and did not play favorites. However, as some of the youths began to show greater talent in cultivation, he began to pay more attention to those students. His attitude would be extremely gentle and he would spend more time assisting those talented students. For the others, he would often ignore them or give them less guidance. Even more strangely, the elder would not allow the children to call him ‘master’ or say that they were his ‘disciples’. Instead, everyone was to call him ‘Elder Gan’, and was instructed to only say that they were his ‘trial students.’ While Qiao Sui could tell that the elder was faking his emotions most of the time, she was not that worried as Elder Gan had been treating the orphans relatively well compared to her past living conditions. However, soon, students began to disappear one after another. The ones who disappeared were the most talented ones whom Elder Gan had directly nourished. And each time one disappeared, Elder Gan would say that he had sent the student off to a cultivation sect for further training, and then encourage the other youths to work harder. But when Qiao Sui secretly investigated the house, she found that many of the clothes and items that the other youths previously had were not taken with them. There was even a presumed family heirloom of a student who supposedly ‘left for a sect’, that was left behind. When Qiao Sui came to realize that something was wrong since that day, she had began to desperately find a way to escape the residence. However, it was as if Elder Gan had eyes behind his back, every movement that Qiao Sui made outside at night was known to the elder. She could not escape. Thus, she resorted to slowing down her training in order to not catch the elder’s eyes. But unfortunately, in the end Elder Gan had still set his eyes on her. And now, after a series of futile attempt for two years, Qiao Sui was now brought to an unfamiliar place by the very person she had wanted to avoid… “Go for a walk? Hahaha…” Elder Gan chuckled as he finally turned around to face Qiao Sui. There was a mocking look in his eyes as the elder’s face was distorted in a hideous grin. Looking at him now, Qiao Sui could feel a biting shiver down her back. “Qiao’er, ah, Qiao’er. You are quite the clever girl, but it is unfortunate that you were born in this era where the strong ones are the favored children of heaven. You are the fourth person to catch on…” Elder Gan said in a calm, low voice. “E-Eh? What are you speaking about Elder Gan? I really do not understand…” Qiao Sui stammered as her face turned pale. The uneasy feeling in her heart had now blossomed into full-on panic and fear. Elder Gan shook his head as he said: “It does not matter whether you are pretending or not at this point. Although I wanted to wait a little while longer, I simply cannot hold on any longer.” When Elder Gan lifted his head to look at Qiao Sui again, there was now a pair of bloodshot eyes glaring at the latter. An expression of madness replaced the elder’s original gentle appearance. “Once I kill you and eat your entire flesh body and drink your blood, I will be able to further refine my own body. Ke ke ke, and to think you had a Divine Lotus Constitution, too! If not for the signs of your innate potential appearing this late, I would’ve longed refined your body first!” Elder Gan growled lowly as a malicious grin stretched back his face. An evil and oppressive aura burst forth from Elder Gan’s body, causing Qiao Sui to fall forward to the ground and spit out a mouthful of blood. Although Qiao Sui did not know what level of cultivation Elder Gan had reached, she had always known that the other party was extremely powerful. And in front of such being, Qiao Sui was utterly helpless. She could not even speak a single word under the tremendous strain. “Ke ke ke! Ke ke ke! Finally! Once I refine you, I can finally attempt to breakthrough to the Empyrean Hun realm! Ke ke ke! Come here now!” Elder Gan crazily laughed as he reached out and grabbed the air. A suction force appeared and propelled Qiao Sui’s powerless body towards the elder’s right hand. “Am I really going to die..?” Qiao Sui could not help but feel a sense of regret and unwillingness in her heart. To think she had jumped from the frying pan and right into the fire, thinking that her life would finally turn around...in the end, it was just another fool’s dream. However, she refused to let despair show on her face. She did not wish to back down until everything was truly over... Qiao Sui stubbornly glared at the elder, weakly straining and willing her entire body to stop, as she was pulled closer and closer to Elder Gan... Just as Qiao Sui was about to land into the elder’s clutches, a sudden aura descended from the sky. The power was different from Elder Gan’s and was able to easily sever the elder’s suction force. At this, Qiao Sui’s body stopped moving forward abruptly as she fell to the floor, while Elder Gan quickly retreated a few steps back. Rage and shock colored his face as he surveyed the sky and shouted: “Who is it?! Who dares to interrupt me?!” In response, a slit appeared in the clear blue sky as it slowly opened inward. An ancient and profound aura suddenly seeped out from the gap in the sky as an echoing voice sounded out from within. “I’ve finally found you, the one surnamed Gan. To dare practice a taboo art and act so impudent in front of me, you are very good -- very good indeed!” Chapter 10
Chapter 10: The White-Haired Youth Seeing the abnormal scene and feeling the enormous presence that was coming from within the gap in the sky, Elder Gan’s originally angered mind cleared as he realized the hidden danger. And upon hearing the speaker talk about ‘taboo arts’, Elder Gan’s face became pale as he glared at the sky. Adjusting his attitude, Elder Gan gave a bow and cupped his hands towards the sky as he said: “This little one apologizes for I had offended senior! I was too rash in my actions, and I hope a great senior like you would spare a minor character like me. As for taboo arts, senior is correct. I am practicing this, but can you blame me for wanting more strength to last in this cruel world? I am sure this senior can relate. If great senior could kindly overlook this matter, as an elder of the Eternal Sword Spirit Palace, I will be forever be indebted to you!” Elder Gan said the last line with greater emphasis, as he understood the deterrence strength of being in one of the Three Absolute Grand Sects. Even experts who were much stronger than him would not so much as dare touch a single hair on his body once they found out that he was from the Eternal Sword Spirit Palace! In front of the mammoth-like power behind him, even peerless geniuses would have to tone themselves down before him! Seeing that there was no further response from the other senior, Elder Gan quickly went forward and took out a cyan bag from his sleeve. The bag looked rather expensive,with several symbols drawn on it. This was known as a Cosmic bag, a dimensional tool used to store a plethora of items. They were often categorized into colors, differentiating the amount of space they had. Brown had 1 cubic meters of space, silver had 10 cubic meters, blue had 50 cubic meters, cyan had 100 cubic meters, and gold had 300 cubic meters of space! There were even ring versions of this artifact, and other variations to it. These cosmic bags were collectively considered Common-grade treasures due to it being widely distributed. After all, cultivators were always carrying large amount of items with them on their dangerous journeys, therefore they naturally require something that could store equally large amount of items to conveniently carry with them. Pulling out a long sword from his cosmic bag, Elder Gan held the sword flatly using both of his hands as he raised it above his head in an offering stance. “If wise senior is willingly to look the other way this one time, this one is willingly to gift this King-grade Sky Destruction Sword to you,” Elder Gan felt his heart ache as he said this. Even for a sect elder like him, the King-grade weapon could already be considered his entire fortune and heirloom. He had kept this artifact a secret from others, as the allure of such treasure was quite large. Even in the Three Absolute Grand Sects, a King-grade item was still considered an extremely decent treasure! But there was no other choice. Faced with a possible mean to breakthrough and to keep his secrets, Elder Gan decided to give up this secret on his own. While he could not retrieve his sword back on his own, if he were to curry a few favors from some of the stronger elders or even a Great Elder of his Sect and manipulate some information around then… As Elder Gan’s thoughts trailed off in this direction, he felt much better as he smiled darkly with his head lowered. He had both an extreme confidence and fear toward the upper echelon of the Eternal Sword Spirit Palace, knowing that their power was unfathomable. He believed those elders would definitely be comparable to the mysterious senior before him, thus Elder Gan trusted he could definitely retrieve what was originally his one day… However, his thought stopped there when suddenly, a golden light shot out from the rift in the sky and streaked straight towards him! With no time to avoid, the light landed on the Sky Destruction Sword that Elder Gan used to defend himself with...and easily shattered apart the sword after a brief moment of friction! *Poof!* Elder Gan spat out a mouthful of blood as his body flew backward from the impact. Although the Sky Destruction Sword absorbed most of the attack and shattered as a result, it would not completely block the power behind it. The remaining energy in the attack was still enough to heavily injure Elder Gan. Landing on the ground, his hair disheveled and his face pale, Elder Gan flipped to his side and coughed up another mouthful of blood. He could feel that several bones inside his body had already been fractured by that initial attack. A cold feeling began to creep up Elder Gan’s back as slowly turned to look at the gap in the sky. Rather than getting angry, Elder Gan could only feel endless fear as he watched someone emerge from within the rift. From that last attack, Elder Gan knew his opponent this time was simply of another league. To be able to effortlessly break a tough King-grade weapon and still severely injure him like this...even in his Eternal Sword Spirit Palace, perhaps only the Sect Master could wield such might! Before Elder Gan watched in trepidation as a white-haired youth stepped out from within the rift. Wearing a silky black robe with faint golden dragon outlines on it, the youth stood silently in the sky as the dimensional gap closed behind him. The youth had an exceptionally attractive facial appearance, with thick eyebrows, straight nose, and sharp clear eyes; his long snow-white hair flowed in the air, weightless. The white-haired young man looked down at Elder Gan in disdain as he spoke, his tone sounding youthful yet imbued with a sort of unspoken charisma: “Gan Long, to dare act unlawfully in front of me, you are simply seeking your death! With this, there is truly no more reasons to spare you anymore. Breaking laws and killing young juniors, I will personally send you on your way soon!” ‘Elder Gan’, or to be more precisely named, Gan Long, felt his heart go cold at the black-robed youth’s words. This person had actually recognized him...it seems that the other party had no intention to let him off! Gan Long slowly gathered the Dao of Light towards his body as he attempted to heal himself. At the same time, he was revolved the energy from the Wind Dao in his legs. Upon reaching a certain realm, cultivators would start to assimilate into the energy of Dao --to not only absorb and mimic the elements, but to be able to control them. While Gan Long’s mind raced with several ideas to escape this tribulation, the white-haired youth turned and slowly floated down, landing in front of Qiao Sui who was still in shock on the ground. Qiao Sui looked at the handsome youth in front of her as she felt her heart tremble. The young man simply seemed unreal, as if he was from a painting...a painting of Celestials. She could not take her eyes off of him. “Little girl,are you alright?” The white-haired youth smiled and asked. He had caught a brief excerpt of the scene where Qiao Sui had bravely struggled against her overwhelming opponent. For people like that, regardless male or female, young or old, strong or weak --they are worthy of his attention and respect! The girl had given him a positive impression. Hearing the youth’s question, Qiao Sui quickly snapped out of her dazed thoughts as she replied hastily: “Eh? Uh, I, I am fine! It’s n-nothing…” Qiao Sui’s voice start to fade as she felt a burning sensation welling up in her cheeks. Having the white-haired youth look directly at her, Qiao Sui could not help but lower her head in embarrassment. “Just what is wrong with me…” Qiao Sui thought as she felt her heart beating in eccentric rhythms. This has never happened before. To think she’ll act like this even after narrowly escaping death… The white-haired youth did not seem to mind as he said in a gentle voice: “Be at ease. You are safe now.” Safe…. Qiao Sui began to recall her past struggles and near-death experiences as a sort of mixed emotions floated up in her heart. No one has ever told her that she is ‘safe’ now. No one had the confidence to say so in this kind of world anymore. “Take this. You should escape far away from here as soon as possible. If you have family then you must quickly return to get them.” The white-haired youth said. “I...I don’t have any family members. I’m only an o-orphan..” Qiao Sui felt her face burn even more when she said this. She knew how orphans were often looked down upon by the general masses, but she felt a strangely compelled to tell this youth in front of her… “Mmn. If that is so, then you should leave now, then. Unfortunately, I will be unable to accompany you, as I have...some things to take care of.” The white-haired youth said calmly, without a change in his expression. Seeing that the other youth did not seem to mind her status, Qiao Sui felt a small burst of happiness out of nowhere. “Here, take this Million Miles Teleportation Talisman. Place it on your forehead and think of location name. It will then teleport you to that place if it’s within a million miles of distance. Use this to travel far away from the Yuan Empire and start a new life. Even if you’re an orphan, the world’s laws are mysterious. You may never know if one day you’ll end up at a height you could not have imagined. You just need to dream and continue to train hard.” The white-haired youth continued in a soothing voice, while he handed Qiao Sui a yellow, rectangular shaped paper decorated with red symbol markings and a light blue cosmic bag. A Million Miles Talisman was exceedingly precious, and very few would be able to procure such item. Out of all the normal teleportation talismans, the Million Miles Talismans were ranked within the very top due to its vast outreach and convenience! “I...I…” Qiao Sui wanted to tell the other youth that she wanted to go with him. However, when she made eye contact with him, she recognized the determined glow in the white-haired youth’s eyes. The other party really did not want her to stay. In the end, Qiao Sui could only keep the words to herself and obediently place the talisman to her head. But she found that she could not think of a place outside of the Yuan Empire. All of her life was spent living in a small province in the Empire, and being an orphan meant she did not possess the proper education about the world as other children her age. As Qiao Sui struggled to think of something, the white-haired youth seemed to realize this as he made a suggestion: “How about you go to SunFlower City for the time being? It’s located in the Chu Province of the Zhao Country. The power there is pretty stable, so it should be relatively safe to live there without much trouble. Inside the bag I’ve given you, there should around a million Qi Stones. With that much, you do not have to worry about resources or living somewhere for quite some time. Even going to a Sect for study should be possible as well; with your Divine Lotus Constitution, I’m sure many factions would be more than happy to take you in.” Qi Stones are materials that were not only used as the standard currency for trade in this world, but also as a source of training resource for cultivators. Especially when one reaches the Jie Hai realm, where absorbing the Earthly Qi around oneself becomes a crucial method of strength enhancement. A single Qi Stone contained a densely clustered volume of a different kind of energy, called Natural Qi. This was a universal energy that could help with one’s cultivation, regardless what type of energy they cultivated, as long as one was below the Immortal Sovereign Realm! Moreover, absorbing Natural Qi from the air was possible. However, the process was much slower compared to if a cultivator was to focus on absorbing the type of required energy for their realm, such as how a Jie Hai practitioner would need to take in Earthly QI to level up. The reason was due to the extra stress of having to pinpoint this subtle type of universal energy in the air, which causes the cultivators to continuously drain their own Qi reserve while ending up with little benefits. But having Qi Stones that naturally gathered the Natural Qi inside it, and that could easily be mined from the veins of the earth while at the same time serve as a currency --the benefits would obviously be greater! The average annual,12 months, income for normal households were 63,000 Qi Stones, or 5,250 Qi stones per lunar month. And now, Qiao Sui had actually received a sum that was several times that of others' earning! After being numbed for a while, Qiao Sui quickly snapped back to reality as she thought of something. “What...is this Divine Lotus Constitution exactly?” Qiao Sui suddenly asked with curiosity. She had heard Elder Gan mention it previously, but while she knew it was something rare, she did not possess enough knowledge to understand what exactly it was. Chapter 11