Xia Yunzhao was genuinely not short of money anymore. After drifting across Wangjin Sea for several months, they had collected who knew how many spirit items, and even obtained an undeveloped Heaven-and-Earth Secret Realm. Add in more than half a year of Qingxi City taxes, Qingming Pavilion’s income… and, of course, the meeting gifts from Baiyujing’s elders. Those were all spirit stones!
By that calculation, the money in his hands was enough to buy three Qingxi Cities. In the past, he had needed to reserve spirit pearls and spirit stones for cultivation, but now they had gained an additional spirit vein. Its grade was not especially high, but its spiritual energy was extremely pure. At the very least, it was enough to carry both him and Shang Shuangze to Nascent Soul.
Which meant all the money in his hands was available to spend!
Xia Yunzhao narrowed his eyes. “What do you think? Should we do a hundred pulls?”
Shang Shuangze raised an eyebrow. “You want to pull the final section of Myriad Phenomena Return to Origin directly?”
Xia Yunzhao nodded with a sigh. “You saw what this trip was like. We did get the Qian-Kun Qi-Control Treatise, but the process was way too much trouble. I do not want to go through that again. We have enough spirit stones now, so let’s test our luck!”
Shang Shuangze considered it briefly, then nodded. “Worth trying.”
Xia Yunzhao grinned and spread both hands. The Hundred-Compartment Pouches rose into the air, pouring out a continuous stream of spirit stones and spirit pearls until a mountain of spirit stones quickly piled up inside the meditation chamber.
Xiao Qing was so excited its lid rattled nonstop. This many? They’re all for me?!
Xia Yunzhao waved grandly. “Go, little jar! Pull out lots of good stuff!”
Xiao Qing was so excited it nearly squealed like a pig. It discarded even its lid, flew high into the air, turned its can downward, and with a clang plunged straight into the pile of spirit stones.
Large chunks of spirit stone vanished one after another, and the pile shrank at astonishing speed.
Xia Yunzhao clicked his tongue twice. “I’m never calling our jar greedy again. With an appetite like this, it was holding back before.”
Shang Shuangze smiled and rubbed his lower back for him.
The two watched with great interest as Xiao Qing devoured a mountain of spirit stones many times larger than itself with the heroic momentum of one who could uproot mountains.
It began expanding rapidly until it filled the entire meditation chamber. Streams of light swept across its body, large flakes of bronze rust peeled away, inscriptions flickered in and out of sight, and the image beneath them gradually became clear.
Above a boundless starry sky stood a young immortal. His facial features were indistinct, but the faint curve of a smile could still be seen, and even through that blur he radiated incomparable elegance. Standing in the void, he held a brush and painted a picture with sweeping strokes.
Xia Yunzhao studied it carefully and exclaimed, “Is that… a map?”
Shang Shuangze examined it for a moment and nodded. “It is. Look here.” His long finger tapped one point. “This is a map of the entire cultivation continent. This place is Wangjin Sea.”
Xia Yunzhao hurriedly followed his finger. The enormous Wangjin Sea had been reduced to a patch no bigger than a fingertip, which showed just how extreme the scale of the map was. At the east, west, south, north, and central regions of the map, five points had been marked.
“Is it telling us to go to these five places?” Xia Yunzhao wondered. “Could there be something in those locations?”
There was no point guessing blindly. Shang Shuangze shook his head, indicating that he did not know either. Xia Yunzhao turned to Xiao Qing. “Jar, do you know?”
Xiao Qing wobbled happily. It had eaten its fill and did not care about any map. It did not even realize a map had appeared on its belly.
Xia Yunzhao shook his head speechlessly. “Forget it. There are plenty of things we don’t know. One more won’t hurt.” Then he grinned and held out a hand. “Now for the important part. Xiao Qing, where are the things you pulled?”
Xiao Qing had been holding back impatiently. Its lid popped open. Rustle-rustle-rustle! Like a printing press, it began spewing pages of paper without end!
“Quick, quick! Spiritual-power blobs, move!” Xia Yunzhao’s eyes gleamed as he watched pages fill the air.
Shang Shuangze smiled and formed a hand seal. Countless little blobs of spiritual power descended, bounced once, then rose again. Each carried a sheet of paper to Xia Yunzhao’s palm, rubbed against his fingers, then slipped into his body.
Their spiritual power had mingled so many times that it no longer guarded against the other at all.
Only after every sheet had been gathered into Xia Yunzhao’s hands did the stack finally stop growing. It reached halfway up his body.
“Pill recipes, artifact blueprints, spirit-cuisine recipes, spirit-beast recipes… Huh? Why is there even a secret manual for running away? Forget it, later…”
Xia Yunzhao sat straight down in Shang Shuangze’s lap and began flipping through them on the spot. One sheet after another passed through his hands until suddenly his eyes went round. “Got it! Look, the final section of Myriad Phenomena Return to Origin: Creation Returns to Truth Chapter!”
Then he froze at his own words. “Creation?”
The text box appeared at exactly the right moment. This time there was none of its usual teasing, only a straightforward question: [All sections of Myriad Phenomena Return to Origin have been collected. Reassess?]
Xia Yunzhao answered without hesitation. “Reassess.”
The text box paused. The blank space flickered for a moment before new words appeared: [Immortal-Grade Cultivation Method: Myriad Phenomena Return to Origin. Myriad methods scatter, yet all return to one; comprehend creation, and ultimately attain the true chapter.]
Xia Yunzhao slowly drew in a breath. Immortal-grade cultivation method… So this was what an Immortal-grade cultivation method truly was!
Myriad Phenomena Return to Origin did not seek to comprehend Dao techniques, but creation itself. The power of creation…
Xia Yunzhao blinked and looked up. “I have a feeling my Nascent Soul tribulation probably isn’t going to be pleasant.”
His Golden Core tribulation had been as easy as walking on level ground, but at that time he had not possessed the complete cultivation method. Now… surely the Heavenly Dao would not keep favoring him that shamelessly?
Xia Yunzhao looked up at the sky and suddenly regretted pulling the final section. Maybe you could pretend you didn’t see it? He could not cultivate it yet anyway. Please keep favoring him a few more times!
Shang Shuangze rubbed his forehead. “Don’t be afraid. The Nascent Soul tribulation focuses mainly on the heart-demon tribulation. You have always been open and straightforward. There is no need to worry.”
Xia Yunzhao was still uneasy, but worrying before the problem arrived would only become a burden. He quickly let it go and continued flipping through the pages.
The two soon finished reviewing the hundred-plus sheets and sorted them by category.
This time Shang Shuangze spoke first. “Quite a harvest.”
Xia Yunzhao had to nod. It really was quite a harvest.
Among the hundred-plus sheets, aside from a few low-tier and dispensable pill recipes, artifact formulas, and talismans, there were many genuinely useful items: the pill recipe for the Minor Return-to-Heaven Pill, Myriad Spirits Pharmacopoeia (Volume Two), Ten Level-Four Pill Recipes, Artifact-Refining Notes, Travel Map, the Earth-Grade Spell Five-Element Heavenly Escape Art, The Way of Formation Inheritance… Most importantly, they had even pulled a copy of Insights on Forming the Nascent Soul. When they opened it, they discovered it had actually been written by a senior who cultivated Myriad Phenomena Return to Origin!
What kind of luck was this?!
Even Xia Yunzhao was shocked. Was this the power of the lucky koi? This was beyond getting a pillow when sleepy. It was getting a pillow, a blanket, a hot-water bottle, and calming soup… plus someone had stuffed a cat under the covers for good measure!
And that was not all. The remaining items were extremely useful too. There was the Minor Return-to-Heaven Pill, known as the budget version of the Level-Eight Return-to-Heaven Pill; Artifact-Refining Notes, the advanced version of Miscellaneous Notes on Artifact Refining; the Five-Element Heavenly Escape Art for running away; Formation Inheritance, aimed directly at Qingxi City’s weakest point… In comparison, even the Level-Four pill recipes and Myriad Spirits Pharmacopoeia suddenly seemed almost ordinary!
Oh right, and there was the Travel Map. At first, Xia Yunzhao had thought little of it. A map was useful, sure, but certainly not as useful as the other rewards… It was only after Shang Shuangze pointed it out that he realized it was not merely a map. It was also a magical artifact!
The bronze pill furnace rarely produced magical artifacts. The last one had been the Hundred-Refinement Landscape Scroll. This map’s level seemed lower and its spiritual-power fluctuations weaker, but it was rare nonetheless… Then Xia Yunzhao acknowledged it with his divine sense and felt as though a whole new world had opened. Its spiritual fluctuations might be weak, but its level was not low at all. It was a Level-Six magical artifact! After acknowledging a master, it continuously updated the surrounding terrain, with the owner’s position appearing on the map. It was a live-position map!
Shang Shuangze smiled and supported Xia Yunzhao’s chin, gently closing his hanging mouth. “Next time we travel far, we won’t need to buy maps from Xiang Moyue.”
Xia Yunzhao’s eyes shone. “Not just that! This map has no restrictions. We can even use it inside secret realms! And look, it marks spirit-item resources too! The next time we enter a secret realm, we can use this map to sweep the whole place clean!”
Shang Shuangze watched his little miser calculating profits with such delight that affection overflowed. He leaned in and exchanged a gentle kiss with him.
Xia Yunzhao cleared his throat, cheeks flushed. “N-next one.”
Besides those extremely useful rewards, there were also things that were difficult to classify as useful or useless. Casual Notes on Yufa Sect, for example, had been written ten thousand years ago by a talkative cultivator visiting the sect. Judging from the notes, Yufa Sect had been in its prime back then, vast and magnificent, bearing no resemblance to present-day Yunjiangguan.
Then there was the artifact blueprint for the Karma-Illuminating Jade Tally. When they had dealt with Master Fang, Brother Du had once used a Karma-Illuminating Jade Tally, which could reveal a cultivator’s blood debts and karmic burden.
What made Xia Yunzhao unsure whether to laugh or cry was that he had even pulled an artifact blueprint for the Heaven-Measuring Ruler. Fine. He could not exactly call it useless. At least if Brother Du ever broke his Heaven-Measuring Ruler, Xia could refine a new one directly instead of making him go back to Qianyuan Sect.
…
The two spent the entire afternoon discussing and sorting every sheet.
After returning the Crimson-Cloud Brocadefish to the pond, the two sat at opposite ends of the meditation chamber and finally began seclusion.
* * *
Puppet City.
The city’s residents had been living quite well lately. After the Puppet Gate’s destruction, Puppet City had been left with everything to rebuild. Although the residents had been rescued, everyone had been anxious and uncertain about what life would become. They had been incorporated under Qingxi City, but Puppet City was far away. The young City Lord had seemed decent, but the emperor was far away and the mountains were high. Who knew what kind of people he would send?
After some time, the people of Puppet City relaxed. Qingxi City’s guards looked fierce, but they never killed people without reason. They even paid for what they bought! When slaughter beasts attacked the city, the guards helped drive them away. These people were practically saints among cultivators!
Moreover, the Guard never interfered in the city’s internal administration. Puppet City was still managed by the same several representatives as before.
Those representatives had been selected by the residents themselves when Xia Yunzhao was still there. Each person oversaw one district, and all of them managed their areas quite well.
They also understood propriety. Once they saw that life in Puppet City had returned to normal, they began submitting taxes on their own without Qingxi City needing to remind them.
At the time, Xia Yunzhao had still been traveling toward Duxu City. Xing Wenyu received the report, sent people to inspect the situation, and after confirming that life in the city was stable, gladly accepted the taxes. In return, Qingxi City doubled the number of guards stationed there, and Brother Xing personally made a trip to Puppet City to set up a formation. From then on, slaughter beasts could not even approach the city gates.
Once taxes were being paid and a formation protected the city, the people of Puppet City finally felt secure. Their relationship with Qingxi City now had both substance and name.
That afternoon, Old Lu, one of Puppet City’s administrators, had just finished dealing with official matters when someone reported from outside, “Elder Lu, a group of disaster refugees has arrived. They want to take shelter in Puppet City.”
Old Lu froze. “It hasn’t been raining or droughting. What disaster made refugees? Was it caused by cultivator lords?”
The messenger hurriedly said, “We didn’t have time to ask! They look terrible. Several of the guard lords said their vitality is extremely weak and they probably won’t live much longer. The other administrators asked you to come quickly.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Old Lu threw his beard back and ran. “Lead the way!”
The man immediately jogged ahead. When Old Lu reached the city gate, he saw a group of refugees who looked almost like walking skeletons being brought inside one after another.
Old Lu was panting heavily. “Th-they’re already inside?”
“Don’t get worked up.” A woman in her forties said, “We haven’t decided whether to accept them yet. They looked like they were about to collapse, so we let them in to drink some water.”
Nearby residents were already pouring water for the refugees. Seeing Old Lu gasping, someone handed him a bowl too. He drank while listening to the others discuss. “They say they came from Tingmapo. Some are from Beita too…”
“Tingmapo and Beita? Those are far away. How did they make it here?”
“Find out what disaster happened. Don’t bring trouble down on us.”
Old Lu listened and suddenly felt something was wrong. Why were these refugees doing nothing but drinking water? None of them were speaking. Even if they were desperately thirsty, after drinking they should at least ask for food.
He frowned, walked over, and bent down to inspect them. A woman was holding a little girl. Her long hair hung over her face, dry and yellow like straw, hiding her expression.
Old Lu asked, “Little one, are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?”
The woman did not answer.
Old Lu’s brows twitched. “Is that your child? You didn’t pick her up along the road, did you…”
The woman’s hair moved. A small gray-white hand reached out and pushed it aside, revealing the girl’s dark gray face. The child grabbed his beard, opened her mouth, and weakly forced out a few words. “Grandpa… run… quickly…”
Old Lu startled, but age had slowed his reflexes. Before he could move, the woman’s head fell off. Thick black liquid sprayed from the open neck, turning into black smoke before it even hit the ground and engulfing his face!
At once, the other refugees collapsed one after another. Their bodies split apart, black liquid and black mist pouring everywhere. In moments, visibility at Puppet City’s gate dropped to nothing.
The black mist kept spreading. Mortals who touched it had already lost consciousness, impossible to tell whether they were alive or dead. The Qingxi City guards stationed there fared little better. They screamed in pain as the black mist actually pierced their protective spiritual energy and burrowed into their meridians and flesh!
Li Xiu was among them. His cultivation was not high, but he was honest and reliable, and Wei Xuening and the others trusted him. Although he had only recently joined the Guard, he was already allowed to go on patrols.
This time, he had come to Puppet City with a team captain at Great Completion of Foundation Establishment. None of them had expected something like this.
The team captain had the highest cultivation, but in order to protect several mortals he was already surrounded by black mist. His face had turned gray-green, and he forced out one final sentence. “Go… report to the City Lord!”
Li Xiu did not dare delay for even a moment. Enduring the agony of his meridians being corroded, he activated his movement technique. Faster! He had to go faster! Puppet City had been attacked!
And ahead of him, one skeletal figure after another began to emerge.
* * *
As Qingxi City continued to grow, more and more cultivators came to the Liancui Mountains to search for treasures. After several waves of people coming and going, the camp at the foot of the mountain had also expanded.
The difference was that the camp was now occupied entirely by cultivators. Most were naturally at Qi Refining, but there were also many Foundation Establishment cultivators, and Golden Core cultivators could occasionally be seen passing through. Mortals, on the other hand, were no longer present in the camp.
In truth, that was a good thing. Precisely because Qingxi City could now keep mortals alive, they no longer needed to make a living with their heads tied to their belts.
Treasure-seeking cultivators lived by fortune. As long as no one robbed anyone outright, however much or little they gained was their own business. Because of that, the atmosphere in the camp was usually decent.
But the past few days had been different. Whether inside the camp or in the Liancui Mountains, the atmosphere had grown much more tense.
For no other reason than this: the Liancui Mountains had produced yet another abnormal phenomenon!
Over the past few days, cultivators searching the mountains had repeatedly sensed abnormal surges of spiritual energy, inexplicable pressure from heaven and earth, and even hallucinations.
Some particularly sensitive cultivators claimed to have sensed tribulation clouds!
Every one of them was a cultivator, so how could they not know what that meant? Some great expert was undergoing tribulation!
The legend that a hidden expert lived in the Liancui Mountains had circulated for a long time. Cultivators who had been coming there for a while still remembered how vivid the old rumors had been. One senior supposedly liked picking up trash, while another was a sword cultivator. Some people even claimed they had seen sword light filling the heavens with frost…
Other cultivators had always scoffed. Picking up trash? A sword cultivator? They had been coming here for half a year, so why had they never seen anyone?
Now that the tribulation clouds had appeared, however, they began to wonder. Could there really be someone undergoing tribulation in the Liancui Mountains?
Watching someone undergo tribulation was a valuable opportunity, but getting struck by the tribulation lightning along with them was not.
So over the past few days, the cultivators in the mountains had all behaved themselves and returned to camp early.
Then one evening, when the sky was filled with sunset clouds, the daylight abruptly darkened and tribulation clouds appeared!
Heavy black clouds pressed downward. Every cultivator in the Liancui Mountains felt their heart pound. This was not cowardice. It was the effect of pressure from heaven and earth.
“Such enormous tribulation clouds! What cultivation does this senior have?”
“Could it be a Soul Transformation expert? Surely not Integration… What kind of existence would that even be?”
“Urgh… this pressure is making me want to vomit…”
“Why are you so useless?… I kind of want to vomit too…”
The cultivators whispered among themselves, their gazes occasionally sweeping toward one person at the edge of camp.
The man looked around thirty. He wore a simple single-layer robe and did not have so much as one magical artifact on him. He was one of the few Golden Core cultivators staying in the camp. He said his surname was Bu. He had arrived at the camp a month earlier. Unlike the other Golden Core cultivators, who only visited occasionally, he had taken up residence in the camp.
Everyone in camp knew this senior had a good temper and was generous. When lower-level cultivators ran into danger, he was even willing to lend a hand. That alone was exceedingly rare.
Seeing him looking up at the tribulation clouds as well, someone asked, “Senior Bu, can you tell what cultivation the person undergoing tribulation has? Why are the tribulation clouds so heavy?”
Bu Yao shook his head slightly. “Extraordinary.”
Everyone froze. “You mean the person’s cultivation is extraordinary? Could it truly be an Integration expert?”
Bu Yao said, “The cultivation itself is not especially rare. They are only forming Nascent Souls. What is remarkable is that these tribulation clouds are far stronger than an ordinary Nascent Soul tribulation. Do you know why?”
Everyone shook their heads blankly. How were they supposed to know?
Bu Yao smiled faintly. “Because this is a two-person Nascent Soul formation.”
Everyone stared. “Two people? Forming Nascent Souls together? Isn’t it said that heavenly tribulations cannot be shared with outsiders?”
Bu Yao smiled. “Of course a heavenly tribulation cannot be shared with an outsider. But what if the other person is not an outsider? If two people’s hearts and intentions are connected, their spiritual power mingles, and their minds and souls are shared, then what difference is there between one person and two? More importantly, the two can even keep their cultivation synchronized. Rare. Truly rare.”
And besides that, both of their constitutions were extremely unusual. They generated and restrained one another, yet their fates were bound together.
Bu Yao smiled again. Unless the Star Pavilion reappeared, there was probably no one left who could see clearly what kind of future awaited these two.
Crack!
The first bolt of heavenly lightning struck. Its light reflected in his eyes, illuminating a trace of contemplation and wonder. “Young people these days truly are extraordinary.”