Du Yan stared at the door of the thatched hut. There was no joy in his voice at seeing an old acquaintance again. If anything, it was ice-cold.
Xia Yunzhao glanced at him. Words like that would sound perfectly normal coming from Brother Xing or Xu Ziyu, but Du Yan never spoke this way. He might look as though he cared about nothing, yet among all of them he actually had one of the mildest tempers. So who exactly was inside this hut, to make him this angry?
The wooden door opened, and someone stepped out.
His hair and beard were white and disheveled, and the clothes on his body were dirty and torn. Only his eyes, visible through the tangled hair, were sharp as a hawk’s. His gaze swept over everyone before finally settling on Du Yan. He gave a cold laugh. “A hundred years have passed, and you’re still at Foundation Establishment. What, waiting to die?”
Before Du Yan could answer, Xia Yunzhao stepped in front of him. “Old sir, that’s a harsh thing to say. There are plenty of Foundation Establishment cultivators under Heaven. They can’t all be waiting to die, can they?”
The old man’s gaze shifted to him. Unexpectedly, there was no hostility in it. “Your surname is Xia? You’re Qingxi City’s current City Lord?”
Xia Yunzhao raised an eyebrow. He had never introduced himself after arriving.
The old man smiled in a way that was difficult to read and opened the wooden door wider. “Come in.”
Everyone exchanged glances. This man’s mood was wildly unstable. A moment ago, he had been cursing cultivators and refusing to see them. Now he was throwing open his door and inviting them inside? Was he trying to trap turtles in a jar… or whatever the saying was?
Chang Haiping hurried over with a frown and lowered her voice. “His surname is Mo. Everyone around here calls him Old Mo, and he claims to be a formation master. I didn’t know he had a rule against seeing cultivators… Xiao Xia, are you going in? Why don’t I go in first and take a look for you?”
Xia Yunzhao laughed. A whole group of cultivators, and they were going to let Sister Chang take the lead? That would be ridiculous. “It’s fine. There are plenty of us. Even if we really end up fighting, we won’t be afraid. Besides, judging from his attitude, I don’t think he means us any harm. You should head back first and tell Granny and the others not to worry.”
The old man’s shout just now had been loud enough. Xia Yunzhao had no idea whether Granny and the others had heard it.
Chang Haiping hesitated for a moment, then stopped arguing and turned away decisively.
Xia Yunzhao watched her leave. Shang Shuangze stepped in front of him and entered the hut first.
The nearby members of the Guard immediately followed.
Once the group entered, they were all startled by what they saw. The courtyard floor was covered in stone slabs of all sizes. Countless patterns had been carved into them, but they did not resemble pictures, and no one could tell what they were.
At the center of the courtyard stood a stone platform about half a person tall. The old man was sitting cross-legged on top of it. He looked at them mockingly. “Such little courage.”
Before Xia Yunzhao could speak, Du Yan snapped back, “That’s right. You’re the brave one, hiding in this broken-down hut and not daring to leave for a hundred years.”
The old man snorted and ignored him. He looked only at Xia Yunzhao. “How many mortals live in Qingxi City now? And how many cultivators?”
Xia Yunzhao narrowed his eyes. “Why are you asking? That’s confidential city information.”
The old man continued, “Don’t tell me you don’t know.”
Xia Yunzhao was speechless. Such an obvious attempt to provoke him. How could he possibly fall for it?
Du Yan suddenly said, “Xiao Xia. Tell him.”
Xia Yunzhao froze. He looked at Du Yan, then at the old man, and seemed to understand something. “Qingxi City has more than four hundred twenty-six thousand mortal residents. Another nine thousand four hundred people came from elsewhere as disaster refugees and have already settled permanently. There are more than three thousand seven hundred cultivators, including over a hundred at Foundation Establishment.”
The numbers came straight out of his mouth. Clearly, he had memorized them long ago.
The old man raised an eyebrow, a faint trace of surprise appearing on his face.
Xia Yunzhao knew what that reaction meant. He smiled and walked closer, carefully avoiding the stone slabs on the ground. “Old Mo, anything else you’d like to ask? Qingxi City keeps extremely detailed household records for mortals. We even know who is sick and which families have just had children.”
Old Mo turned toward him. The young man’s eyes were black and white, clear all the way to the bottom, enough to make anyone instinctively like him. The old man could not help sighing inwardly. No wonder even Du Yan had willingly stepped back into these muddy waters…
He sighed with feeling. “You’re pretty sharp.”
Xia Yunzhao grinned. “Thank you for the compliment. But we can skip the polite talk. We came to ask for your help. Pinglan…”
Old Mo waved a hand. “No need to explain. I’ve lived in Pinglan this long. If I could deal with the earth-qi disorder, I would have done it already. Why would I wait until now? The chaotic earth qi has already risen to the surface. Other than the Qianyuan Sect, no one can solve it.”
Xia Yunzhao’s brows immediately drew together. From Du Yan’s tone, he had already known the matter was troublesome. He had not expected it to be this troublesome.
Did they really have to ask the Qianyuan Sect for help? They happened to be heading that way, but whether the sect would be willing to come was another matter.
At that moment, Du Yan spoke again. “If no one can solve it, then what are all these stone slabs for?”
Xia Yunzhao looked between the two again. Du Yan’s expression remained cold. Old Mo looked both exasperated and stubborn. “None of your damn business!”
Du Yan said flatly, “You’re the one holding in a fart and refusing to let it out. What, waiting for someone to kneel and beg you? Or do you want to see another tragedy like Fushui River?”
The instant the words “Fushui River” were spoken, it was as though someone had flipped a switch. The atmosphere inside the hut changed at once.
Old Mo’s face turned cold. Chaotic spiritual power erupted around him. “The tragedy at Fushui River? Don’t you forget who caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of mortals there!”
Du Yan closed his eyes for a moment. “That’s exactly why Pinglan cannot be allowed to become the same. This time, someone can do what we failed to do back then. Don’t you want to try?”
Old Mo froze. His fury, boiling like water, instantly cooled. “Who?”
Du Yan pointed at Xia Yunzhao. “Him. A born Myriad-Spirit Body.”
Xia Yunzhao instinctively sat up straighter. The two men had been arguing furiously, so how had the conversation suddenly turned to him? He hurriedly put on a textbook smile, showing eight teeth.
Old Mo: “…You’re not pulling my leg, are you? There’s a Myriad-Spirit Body this dumb?”
Xia Yunzhao: “…” You’re dumb! Your whole family is dumb!
Old Mo looked at him, then at the handsome and extremely reliable-looking Shang Shuangze beside him. “And this one…”
Du Yan said coldly, “That one has a Spirit-Severed Body.”
Old Mo: “…”
He lowered his head and thought. After a moment, he said quietly, “If you really are a Myriad-Spirit Body, then perhaps this can be tried. You, boy. Come here.”
Xia Yunzhao hurried closer. “My Myriad-Spirit Body isn’t exactly reliable. An enemy said it once during a fight. I’ve never actually had it tested myself, so I don’t know whether it’s true.”
Old Mo waved a hand. “That Du fellow never makes a claim without basis. If he says you are, then you are.”
Not far away, Du Yan gave a cold snort. No matter how he looked at Old Mo, he found the man irritating.
Old Mo did not bother arguing with him. He continued speaking to Xia Yunzhao. “I have a method that might save Pinglan, but I was missing something before and couldn’t use it. Now that you’re here, there may be a chance… Right. When we try it, have your senior brother stand farther away.”
“Senior brother?” Xia Yunzhao froze, then suddenly realized whom he meant. Laughing, he pulled Shang Shuangze over. “You mean him? He’s not my senior brother. He’s my Dao companion.”
Shang Shuangze turned his head and smiled softly at him. The sweetness between them nearly overflowed.
Old Mo almost jumped. “You have a Myriad-Spirit Body and you chose someone with a Spirit-Severed Body as your Dao companion? Y-you two… did both of you fall from Nascent Soul back to Golden Core?”
Xia Yunzhao looked confused. “How could that happen? We both advanced from Foundation Establishment.”
Old Mo: “Wh-what? You can still cultivate like this? Don’t tell me the two of you have never been intimate? Are you together just to live like monks…” The rest dissolved into muttering too quiet to hear.
Xia Yunzhao eyed him suspiciously. “What are you saying? You aren’t secretly cursing us, are you?”
Old Mo coughed lightly. “N-no. Nothing. In any case, when we set up the formation, your Dao companion must stay far away. His constitution is unusual. If he gets too close, the formation will fail.”
Xia Yunzhao looked at Shang Shuangze. Shang Shuangze nodded. “I’ll wait outside the city.”
Xia Yunzhao immediately felt a little sorry for him. Everyone else would be bustling around together while Shang Shuangze had to hide outside the city alone. “Then take Xianchan and Xianbao with you, and two people from the Guard too. There are fields outside the city. If the formation succeeds and the earth veins recover, the farmland might react. You can help out if anything happens. But protect yourself first, of course.”
Shang Shuangze nodded again, committing every word to memory.
Everyone else was used to it by now. These two always treated the other as though he were made of glass. Only Old Mo looked as if his teeth hurt. Protect himself? What could a little disturbance from recovering earth veins possibly do to a Golden Core sword cultivator? Are they trying to make me laugh?
The young couple ignored him and continued saying goodbye. Afterward, Shang Shuangze left with two members of the Guard, Xianchan, Xianbao, and Yun Yi. Crimson-Cloud Brocadefish, however, refused to go and stayed beside Xia Yunzhao.
Yes, the two of them had brought Crimson-Cloud Brocadefish along on this trip too. Every living thing in the valley had left, after all. Leaving one fish behind to guard the place would have been terribly lonely. Their wealthy City Lord had taken a huge chunk of raw spirit jade, hollowed it into an enormous fish tank, filled it with spiritual water, and turned it into a portable pond. He had even built a dedicated pool aboard Cloudwater Ferry so the fish could travel in comfort the entire way.
Because Xia Yunzhao had gone to such lengths for it, even Crimson-Cloud Brocadefish’s little streak of aloof pride had vanished. It wanted to cling to its master every day. Xia Yunzhao had finally discovered that this supposedly cold and distant fish was actually quite attached to people. If he did not speak to it a few times each day, it would blow a bubble around itself and float out to find him.
Now that it was being asked to go outside the city and separate from Xia Yunzhao, it naturally refused. Following Shang Shuangze was no good either.
The method they were about to use to restore the earth veins required a bit of luck, so Xia Yunzhao decided to keep the fish with him.
And thus a bright-red fish floated in midair above the thatched hut.
Old Mo: “…”
He looked at the fish, then Xia Yunzhao, then Du Yan. He gave a dry laugh. “Looks like your life has been pretty lively lately.”
Du Yan said nothing, but his expression eased a little, looking more like his usual self.
Xia Yunzhao chose the perfect moment to walk over and offer Old Mo a dazzling smile. “Old Mo, what do we do first?”
Old Mo looked at the child’s smile and instantly felt sweetness bloom in his heart, as if half a lifetime of gloom had suddenly brightened. Stroking his beard, he pointed at the stone slabs on the ground. “Do you know what these are?”
Naturally, Xia Yunzhao did not. He was just about to answer when Du Yan tugged him back. “Ignore him. Xiao Xia, look carefully at these stone slabs. They’re different from ordinary formations, but there’s still a pattern to them. This is a formation used to repair earth veins. It’s called the Earth-Stabilizing Spirit Formation.”
Old Mo hurriedly cut in. “Exactly. The Earth-Stabilizing Spirit Formation can repair earth veins and smooth out disordered earth qi. It’s an excellent formation. The problem is that it requires a huge amount of formation materials. Most importantly, its formation eye requires five Myriad-Phenomena Spirit Stones, one each of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Not a single one can be missing.”
Xia Yunzhao frowned. “Myriad-Phenomena Spirit Stones? I’ve never even heard of them. Where am I supposed to find those?”
Du Yan said gently, “That’s why we need you. If the Myriad-Spirit Body serves as the formation eye, there’s naturally no need for Myriad-Phenomena Spirit Stones.”
Old Mo snorted. “Not only would we not need Myriad-Phenomena Spirit Stones, we wouldn’t need any other spirit stones either. A Myriad-Spirit Body is naturally close to the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth. However long you remain inside the formation is however long you’ll be bathed in spiritual energy from the earth veins. Other people would beg for an opportunity like this.”
Du Yan jabbed back immediately. “Xiao Xia is already a Myriad-Spirit Body and has had plenty of fortuitous encounters. You think he lacks that little bit of spiritual energy? You, on the other hand, don’t have a single Myriad-Phenomena Spirit Stone, do you? Without him, go ahead and show me how you’d set up an Earth-Stabilizing Spirit Formation.”
Old Mo’s mouth fell open beneath his beard. His face was full of shock. This is obviously a win-win situation. Why does he make it sound as though I’m taking advantage of the boy?
Xia Yunzhao could not hold back a laugh. He could tell now that Du Yan and this old man must once have been quite close. He only did not know why they had eventually become estranged. Fushui River? What exactly had happened there…?
Du Yan could not be bothered arguing with Old Mo any further. He continued instructing Xia Yunzhao. “If the Earth-Stabilizing Spirit Formation succeeds, naturally everyone will be happy. But if something goes wrong, it may instead draw spiritual energy out of you. Before you enter the formation, make sure your own spiritual energy is at full capacity. Don’t be afraid. If anything happens, I’ll tear the formation open and pull you out.” He thought for a moment, then added, “That unusual Art of yours can draw spiritual energy from spirit pearls and spirit stones, can’t it? Do you have enough spirit pearls on you?” As he spoke, he reached for his own storage pouch.
Xia Yunzhao stopped him with a smile. “Brother Du, did you forget I’m a City Lord now? An entire city supports me. How could I not have enough?”
In Du Yan’s mind, Xia Yunzhao was still that Qi Refining child who needed him to hunt in the mountains for him. Then he blinked, and hardly any time seemed to have passed, yet the child was already at Golden Core, with cultivation even higher than his own.
Old Mo grew impatient listening to them. The Earth-Stabilizing Spirit Formation was dangerous? The Earth-Vein Office had been using the formation for over a thousand years, and the number of failures could be counted on one hand. Even those had involved outside interference. With this tiny stretch of earth vein, what danger could there possibly be? Besides, if something truly went wrong, the injured people would be the ones setting up the formation. Since when did a formation eye get hurt because a formation malfunctioned?
A shout suddenly came from outside. Old Mo snapped impatiently, “I don’t receive cultivators!”
Jing Ruyun looked out for him. “They aren’t cultivators. It’s a mortal father and son.”
Old Mo’s expression darkened as he went outside. A father stood there holding a drowsy child in his arms. Both were sallow and thin, and the child’s face looked lifeless enough to make it obvious that something was wrong. The moment the father saw Old Mo, he dropped to his knees and said nervously, “Old Mo, my child is sick. Please treat him.” He did not dare say anything more.
Xia Yunzhao followed curiously. He often treated mortals and could tell the child probably had painful obstruction syndrome. But Old Mo treated children too? It was rare to see a cultivator do such things.
Old Mo looked at the child and frowned, then beckoned to Xia Yunzhao. “That lowest-grade pill of yours. Can you give him one? Count it as me buying it.”
Xia Yunzhao smiled. “What are you saying? Who needs payment for one lowest-grade pill? But you really do know quite a lot about me.”
He said it lightly and did not wait for Old Mo to answer. He went straight to the father and son, took out a Lingwei Pill, split off a quarter, and put it into the child’s mouth. Then he pressed several acupoints on the child’s body. The child immediately made a few little kitten-like sounds, woke up, and regained a normal complexion.
Xia Yunzhao smoothly caught the father before he could kowtow. With just a few words, he had the man thanking him profusely and heading home. When Xia Yunzhao turned back, everyone was staring at him. He asked in confusion, “Why are you all looking at me?”
Zhong Yundu, who had stayed silent until now, gave a short laugh. “Wondering how you got so practiced at that.”
Xia Yunzhao did not care. “Mortals eat ordinary grain. Getting sick is normal. If you opened a clinic, you’d get practiced at it soon enough too.”
With that, he hopped back over to Brother Du. “Let’s keep going. I’m ready. What’s the first step?”
Du Yan glanced at Old Mo, then said to Xia Yunzhao, “First, I’ll use the Heaven-Measuring Ruler to select the best place to lay the formation.”
Xia Yunzhao nodded in understanding. So this was how the Heaven-Measuring Ruler was used…
Off to the side, Zhong Yundu looked at the dazed Old Mo and sneered. “First time I’ve ever seen someone inferior to another person in every respect still have the nerve to test them.”
Su Meng suddenly chimed in. “Brother, Elder Zhong means Old Mo has been testing whether the City Lord really treats mortals well, but then discovered the City Lord has done even more than he has. Is that right?”
Su Ying nodded seriously. “He didn’t even notice the places where the City Lord truly helps mortals.”
Su Meng thought about it. “You mean mortals in Qingxi City not only have somewhere to get treated when they’re sick and enough food to eat, but places to work too? I heard the City Lord talking to Sister Wei and the others before. Whenever a job can be done by mortals, they try to hire mortals, so the mortals can earn money. With money, they can buy clothes and food.”
Su Ying nodded again. “Exactly.”
The two brothers sounded as though they were deliberately taking turns mocking Old Mo, but anyone who knew them understood that neither had the scheming mind for it. They simply said whatever occurred to them.
Jing Ruyun held back a laugh and beckoned to the Guard members, who promptly surrounded the brothers. Better to keep them protected in case the old man became embarrassed and lashed out.
Old Mo did not attack. Instead, he remained lost in thought for a while longer, then smiled. One by one, he packed the stone slabs on the ground into his storage pouch. “Let’s go.”
Du Yan walked out first. He raised a hand and summoned the Heaven-Measuring Ruler, formed a hand seal, and the ruler expanded with the wind until it was longer than the entire city of Pinglan. Then it began to turn slowly.
This was not the first time Xia Yunzhao had seen Brother Du use the Heaven-Measuring Ruler, but it was the first time he had seen anything on this scale. Spiritual power poured out of Du Yan as though a floodgate had opened. Xia Yunzhao could not help wondering whether he could withstand the drain.
Only after completing nine full rotations did the Heaven-Measuring Ruler stop and reveal a reading.
Du Yan panted several times and pointed. “There.”
A pillar of light suddenly rose from the place he indicated, echoing the Heaven-Measuring Ruler overhead. Apparently, that was where the formation should be placed.
Xia Yunzhao heard Old Mo sigh softly. “As expected, the Earth-Vein Office really does it best.”
Xia Yunzhao was just about to offer a few words of comfort when the old man sprang into motion and charged off with the vigor of someone half his age. Xia Yunzhao had no choice but to hurry after him.
When everyone reached the chosen site, Old Mo began taking out the stone slabs one by one and pressing them into the ground.
Then came all kinds of formation materials. Everyone clicked their tongues. The old man really had not been boasting. He had clearly started preparing a very long time ago. The materials were so precious that even Xia Yunzhao could not have produced a complete set all at once.
If the formation eye required anything less unusual, Old Mo really might have been able to repair the earth veins all by himself.
Once the final formation material was placed, the formation began to pulse. But the fluctuations were erratic, like duckweed without roots. It was missing its formation eye.
Old Mo pointed toward the formation eye, gesturing to Xia Yunzhao: Get in already.
Xia Yunzhao nodded and stepped into the formation. Crimson-Cloud Brocadefish flicked its tail at him in encouragement.
The instant he entered, the entire formation abruptly began to turn. There came a thunderous boom, not from the formation exploding, but from an immense surge of spiritual energy forcing its way outward.
The powerful current of spiritual energy avoided every living creature on the ground and rushed skyward instead. It slammed into the enormous Heaven-Measuring Ruler and sent it spinning rapidly. The rotating ruler scattered the spiritual energy outward again, breaking it into fine threads of spirit rain that drifted back down.
The wounds in the earth veins slowly smoothed over. The earth qi that had been rampaging without direction finally found an outlet and was gradually brought back into order.
The entire earth seemed like an injured beast beginning to recover. Its presence suddenly grew gentle. Tiny cracks slowly closed, and withered plants gradually regained their green.
The earth-vein spiritual energy in the area formed a small cycle.
After a while, Du Yan asked, “You changed the position of the formation eye?”
Old Mo said nothing and merely raised an eyebrow.
Du Yan shook his head. His anger had completely subsided, and there was even a hint of a smile in his eyes. What else could he say? That was Xiao Xia for you. It had barely been any time at all, yet he had already convinced this Mo fellow to alter the formation for his sake.
Old Mo had only changed the position of the formation eye. It made little difference to the repair of the earth veins, but for Xia Yunzhao himself, the change was enormous. The new formation-eye position gathered the escaping spiritual energy more gently and concentrated it around him. He would gain far more from it with almost no risk. It was practically a free gift.
The formation continued to turn. Across all of Pinglan, not only the plants and animals but even the mortals sensed that something was changing. People emerged from their homes one after another, staring blankly at the enormous ruler in the sky and at the changes around them.
The strange phenomena frightened them instinctively, yet the deep hum coming from the earth somehow made them feel safe.
At that moment, the gate of the large compound in eastern Pinglan opened and the people inside came out.
The residents of that compound were rather unusual. They clearly came from all over, yet lived together like a single family. The local people of Pinglan were not close to them and had only dealt with them occasionally when buying or selling goods. Still, everyone knew the compound had its own merchant caravan and several skilled hunters who often brought back worthwhile merchandise.
Now every person in the compound came outside. They looked up at the enormous ruler in the sky, then helped the elderly and guided the children as they started up the mountain.
The local residents had no idea what was happening, so they followed the group and headed up the mountain too.
Standing inside the Earth-Stabilizing Spirit Formation, Xia Yunzhao felt gentle spiritual energy carrying a trace of warmth wrap around him. It was so dense it seemed almost tangible, flowing around his body like water until he relaxed without even realizing it.
Then he thought about it. He was only serving as a formation eye. He did not actually have to do anything. He might as well close his eyes and enjoy it.
Something moved inside his Hundred-Compartment Pouch. He slapped the pouch, silver light flashed, and Cloudwater Ferry flew out on its own.
“Huh?” Xia Yunzhao’s eyes, which had only just closed, flew open. “Where are you going?”
Cloudwater Ferry was linked to him through divine sense, so naturally it would not run far. It floated only a short distance in front of him, exactly where it could catch the earth qi rising from below. Then another tremendous rumble shook the air.
The phantom of an enormous tree erupted from the ground, countless times larger than even the Heaven-Measuring Ruler above them.
Xia Yunzhao’s pupils contracted. Of everyone present, only he knew what it was: the Heaven-Reaching Tree.
It was only a phantom, yet the Heaven-Reaching Tree still possessed the overwhelming majesty of something capable of supporting the dwellings of immortals. Its roots drove firmly into the earth, while its branches and leaves seemed to uphold the blue sky and white clouds. Earth-vein qi flowed into the tree, was carried upward, and connected with the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth. A far greater cycle formed before their eyes: a Heaven-and-Earth cycle.
The world held countless magical treasures and innumerable high-level cultivators. Even among those mighty figures at the Mahayana and Tribulation-Transcending stages who could roam heaven and earth at will, who would dare claim they could casually connect a Heaven-and-Earth cycle at will?
Everyone who had watched the entire process, including Old Mo: “…”
The old man’s voice turned strange. “Has this kid’s luck always been this good?”
Elio’s Notes:
- Painful obstruction syndrome (痹症). A traditional Chinese medical diagnosis associated with blocked circulation and symptoms such as pain, numbness, stiffness, or heaviness. The raw uses the broad diagnosis without specifying a modern biomedical condition.