Five days later, Shang Shuangze emerged from seclusion. With the aid of a time formation, he too had advanced to mid-Nascent Soul.
The two returned to the City Lord’s residence and resumed their overtime.
Xia Yunzhao noticed that not only Shang Shuangze but everyone at the residence had begun cultivating harder.
It wasn’t that they hadn’t worked hard before. They simply hadn’t been racing against every passing moment as they were now.
Brother Xing, for instance, would enter a time formation to cultivate even if he had only a quarter of an hour to spare.
One night, Xia Yunzhao woke midway through his sleep. When he felt beside him, Shang Shuangze was gone, leaving only a trace of warmth.
He threw on some clothes and went outside along a familiar path. Sure enough, Shang Shuangze was practicing his swordsmanship. Xia Yunzhao sat down to watch.
Shang Shuangze rarely practiced sword forms anymore. At his level, comprehending sword intent mattered more than rehearsing techniques. If he was practicing with his sword, he must have made another breakthrough.
As expected, his movements changed abruptly. One moment they resembled surging waves striking the shore, the next billowing white clouds. His sword intent soared toward the Nine Heavens, then plunged into utter stillness, silent and artlessly simple…
The Fuli Annihilation Sword was Baiyujing’s inherited sword art. A founding ancestor of Baiyujing had used it to ascend to the Nine Heavens; its subtleties were beyond words.
And tonight, Shang Shuangze had broken through to the next level of sword intent and entered a deeper realm.
Resting his chin on his hand, Xia Yunzhao thought Shang Shuangze was much more ambitious than he was. Xia Yunzhao enjoyed refining pills whether they were Level-Four pills or the lowest grade. So he was in no hurry to advance to the next level of pill cultivation, even though reaching Level Five was no longer especially difficult for him.
Shang Shuangze was different. When it came to the sword, he always wanted to advance. He honed his sword intent at every moment, exploring sharpness, solitude, and the boundary between life and death. Had he never met Xia Yunzhao, he might have roamed the world collecting sword manuals and become a generation’s sword immortal.
Shang Shuangze sheathed his sword, and the sword intent around him dissipated. Turning, he found Xia Yunzhao watching in a daze. He walked over and asked softly, “Why are you up?”
Xia Yunzhao studied him. “You seem to have been under a lot of pressure lately.”
Unexpectedly, Shang Shuangze nodded. “Indeed. Keeping up with you is no easy task.”
Xia Yunzhao smiled and leaned toward him. “But you’ve already caught up!”
Shang Shuangze welcomed his kiss with a smile and pulled Xia Yunzhao’s clothing more snugly around him.
Leaning against Shang Shuangze’s broad chest, Xia Yunzhao said, “Brother Xing and the others have been under so much pressure too. Am I rushing things? Should I go more slowly?”
Shang Shuangze’s voice was gentle. “This isn’t something you can slow down just because you want to. Once you take the first step, that day will come eventually. Think of it another way: everyone is cultivating harder, but no one has objected to your plan. Doesn’t that mean they believe you’re doing the right thing?”
Xia Yunzhao considered that and grew a little smug. “They’re my friends. Of course they’ll support me!”
Shang Shuangze replied, “Mm. So will I.”
* * *
A few more days passed, and another piece of good news came to the City Lord’s residence.
Jiang Hanchuan, their most recently acquired fellow Daoist, had invented another marvelous object: the Soul-Illuminating Mirror.
It was a palm-sized magical device, its front polished jade and its back engraved with talismanic patterns. An ordinary person would see a normal reflection. Someone controlled by puppet arts or spirit-controlling techniques would see a red skeleton instead.
This solved an urgent problem for Qingxi City.
After all, those found to possess spirit roots included far more than the several hundred children. There were plenty of adults too. Xia Yunzhao had been reluctant to admit them to the Heaven-and-Earth Secret Realm for fear other powers might be controlling some of them.
Now that they had the Soul-Illuminating Mirror, his last concern was gone!
Xia Yunzhao made up his mind on the spot. “Get every artifact refiner working at once! Make a hundred to start with!”
Then he fussed over Jiang Hanchuan. “Fellow Daoist Jiang, are you cold? Hot? Thirsty? Hungry? Don’t tire yourself out! And please, please invent a few more things like this!”
So this was kindness rewarded! Xia Yunzhao hadn’t expected anything when he saved Jiang Hanchuan. Who could have guessed the man was so capable? Everyone had talents they had yet to discover. So what if his cultivation aptitude wasn’t great? His talent for research certainly was!
Jiang Hanchuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He assured Xia Yunzhao he was fine. “When I tried to control He Ping from the Method-Appraisal Office, I studied puppet techniques for a while. This Soul-Illuminating Mirror merely reverses their principles. It’s nothing special. But I only understand puppet arts and spirit-controlling techniques, so it can detect just those two forms of control. Others might slip through.”
Xia Yunzhao immediately looked at Xing Wenyu, who replied, “It’s enough. We already have the Heart-Discernment Dharma Seal, so those harboring evil intentions can’t infiltrate us. The people we still need to screen are those who don’t know they’re being controlled. Puppet arts and spirit-controlling techniques are the most common methods. This should cover them.”
With the Soul-Illuminating Mirror, Qingxi City’s secret cultivation school welcomed a large group of older students.
It wasn’t just Qingxi City. Spirit-Testing Stones had reached the other cities too. Anyone found to possess spirit roots could enroll, provided they and their families agreed.
Group after group departed for the school. Those found to have spirit roots rejoiced, and even those who did not were happy for them, without a single complaint.
They might not have that good fortune themselves, but they had children and grandchildren. Surely one of their descendants might possess the aptitude! Their City Lord had opened a road to the heavens for them. It was such an extraordinary gift that they would not allow anyone to speak ill of it.
Yet while the mortals throughout the territory celebrated, everyone in the City Lord’s residence quietly grew tense.
Spirit-root testing had originally been secret. Now too many people had been tested and too many students taken away. Concealing the program was becoming nearly impossible.
The townspeople would not spread rumors carelessly, but other powers were not fools. A little observation would reveal the truth.
No one knew when enemies might attack from every direction.
Just then, perhaps through their City Lord’s famous luck, the information shop brought timely news from ten thousand li away: Lingxiao Palace and Yunmeng Marsh had gone to war!
Since Qianyuan Sect and Wentian Sect had shut their mountain gates one after another, Lingxiao Palace had become insufferably arrogant. With the tigers gone from the mountain, this monkey had crowned itself king. It went around kicking old folks’ homes and punching nurseries, expanding recklessly and devouring who knew how many smaller powers!
Yunmeng Marsh was the nearest great power. The sides had already clashed several times, and now they had finally mustered their forces for an all-out battle!
The fighting was said to have been so fierce that heaven and earth darkened. Nascent Soul and Soul Transformation cultivators fought on both sides, leaving countless dead. No one gathered the bodies scattered across the battlefield. Cold winds blew, and mournful weeping could still be heard days afterward.
As for the mortals and low-level cultivators killed in the fighting, even fewer people cared.
The person delivering the news was the information shop’s manager. Xia Yunzhao had met him several times, yet still found him strangely unfamiliar. “What was the outcome?”
The manager bowed. “Yunmeng Marsh suffered a crushing defeat and withdrew deep into the marsh. Lingxiao Palace has resumed expanding eastward.”
Xia Yunzhao drew in a breath. “Yunmeng Marsh actually lost?!”
“Not surprising,” Zhong Yundu said. “Yunmeng Marsh is an alliance of independent cultivators. Everyone fights for themselves. Of course they’re no match for Lingxiao Palace.”
Xia Yunzhao frowned. “Lingxiao Palace will be even more outrageous now.” Then he asked, “What about Shuixi Pavilion?”
The manager replied, “We received word this morning that Shuixi Pavilion has closed its mountain gates too. Evernight River and the Liuli Pure Land Sect announced their own closures several days ago, and their affiliated minor powers have dispersed.”
Xia Yunzhao stared. “…Why?”
The manager shook his head. “There are many theories about why the great powers are closing their gates. We’ve sent agents to investigate, but still don’t know the reason.”
Xia Yunzhao frowned in silence.
Shang Shuangze asked, “What of the great clans?”
The manager hurriedly answered, “The Su clan has shown no unusual activity. The Pei clan has been declining for a hundred years, steadily contracting its influence, and its members keep a low profile. Nothing unusual has happened there either. The other clans have followed their affiliated powers.”
The great clans were weaker than the sects and usually acted together with their patrons. There was nothing especially notable there.
After a long silence, Xia Yunzhao asked, “And your master? Any news?”
The manager paused and bowed. “No news from my master either.”
Xia Yunzhao sighed. Since Xiang Moyue had left, there had been no word. He didn’t know whether nothing had happened or Xiang Moyue had forbidden the shop to tell him.
While the world outside descended into chaos, Qingxi City held its position and used the opportunity to develop.
Having absorbed Puppet City and Yunjiangguan, Qingxi City now controlled rich territory. The entire Liancui Mountain Range was effectively in Xia Yunzhao’s hands.
They had previously lacked the manpower to exploit its resources. Now that they had more people, supplies flowed into the City Lord’s residence in great quantities.
Some went toward training the school’s cultivators. The rest were turned into pills, artifacts, and talismans, stockpiled for future use.
Three new treasure vaults quietly appeared at the residence, each equipped with a spatial formation. Each contained over a thousand meters of space, with countless treasures neatly sorted inside. Only one access token existed, held personally by Xia Yunzhao. It could scarcely have been safer.
Unbeknownst to the world, Qingxi City, outwardly a mere Nascent Soul-level power, was gathering a terrifying reserve of strength.
* * *
Midsummer came again, bringing constant cicadas and waves of heat.
For Qingxi City’s people, this summer was easier than most. Some young cultivators at the Hall of Ten Thousand Affairs were learning ice-element spells and giving away the ice they made. There were no particular rules. They offered it to whomever they liked.
Children took after those who raised them. These youngsters studied at Xia Yunzhao’s school, used his resources, and occasionally attended his lessons. Naturally, they had acquired his habits. They gave ice first to the elderly, children, and those who were sick or frail. Fewer people suffered heatstroke that year.
Meanwhile, their City Lord was scratching his head over another problem.
Studying the submitted list, Xia Yunzhao said, “Why do so many want to learn pill refinement? There are only five hundred students in the new group, and over three hundred chose the pill-cultivation path. Why?”
Everyone suppressed smiles. Why do you think? Take a look in the mirror!
Xia Yunzhao considered it. “Maybe they don’t know the other paths? Why don’t you go demonstrate them?”
He looked around. “Brother Zhong? Brother Du? Who’ll try first?”
“Would demonstrations help?” Zhong Yundu asked lazily. “Maybe they just want to make money refining pills. You’re the richest man in Qingxi City, aren’t you?”
“I won’t deny that, but most of my money didn’t come from making pills!” Xia Yunzhao said. “If they really want to get rich, they should become City Lords.” He had several vaults now!
They were still joking when a Guard hurried over. “City Lord, Mount Bulao has sent an urgent distress message. Senior Jing and Senior Wei have already led people there and sent me to inform you.”
Xia Yunzhao froze. “Mount Bulao asked for help? Was it ambushed, or surrounded by slaughter beasts?”
Mount Bulao was a minor power near Qingxi City, formerly affiliated with Yunjiangguan. After Qingxi City took over Yunjiangguan, its allegiance had transferred automatically.
Mount Bulao specialized in medical cultivation. Several medical cultivators who had treated Jiang Hanchuan came from there. Its disciples were earnest people who thought only of healing the sick and had committed no evil deeds even when subordinate to Yunjiangguan. Xia Yunzhao liked them.
The Guard replied, “We don’t know. The request arrived so urgently that we couldn’t establish what happened.”
Xia Yunzhao nodded. “No wonder Fellow Daoists Jing and Wei went together… Mount Bulao is just a little medical sect. They have no resources worth stealing. Why would anyone attack them? Could it really be slaughter beasts?”
He looked at the others. “What do you think?”
Zhong Yundu and the others shook their heads. Even Shang Shuangze had no idea. Qingxi City had so many affiliated groups that there were thirty or fifty minor sects like Mount Bulao. They couldn’t follow all of them closely.
Another Guard stirred. “City Lord, I know a little about this.”
Xia Yunzhao turned. “Oh? Li Xiu? Have your injuries healed?”
Li Xiu had once been stationed in Puppet City. When Yunjiangguan attacked, he had rushed to warn Xia Yunzhao and been chased for days by charred-corpse monsters. They had almost gnawed him down to bone. Xia Yunzhao saved him with a Minor Return-to-Heaven Pill.
By now, even the grass on Yunjiangguan’s metaphorical grave had grown as tall as a man. Li Xiu had recovered and returned to work.
Delighted that Xia Yunzhao remembered him, Li Xiu smiled. “Thank you for your concern, City Lord. I’ve fully recovered.”
Xia Yunzhao was happy too. The last time he saw Li Xiu, his body had been torn open, white bone showing. “What did you say you knew?”
Li Xiu replied, “It’s about Mount Bulao. My Dao companion and I once lived nearby.”
“Oh?”
Everyone motioned for him to explain.
Li Xiu continued, “There were many little sects around there because of Yunjiangguan. They used to coexist peacefully. All were affiliated with Yunjiangguan, which forbade them from wasting their strength fighting one another. But then everything changed.”
“There was a sect called the Illusory Moon Gate. One day its master suddenly began practicing an evil technique. He trapped his disciples in illusions and used them as fuel for his own cultivation, then tried to absorb neighboring sects to feed himself.”
“Naturally, the others resisted, and a battle broke out. But the Illusory Moon Gate’s master, who had only been a Golden Core cultivator, showed an unnatural level of strength. None could defeat him! Fortunately, a sect with close ties to Yunjiangguan brought in reinforcements, which finally drove him back.”
“My wife was injured in that battle and still hasn’t recovered… Afterward, the Illusory Moon Gate settled down, but I felt its master hadn’t abandoned his ambitions. That’s why we moved to Qingxi City.” He considered it, then said, “His evil technique is strange. Even slight contact makes the flesh rot, and not even Mount Bulao’s healers could treat it.”
At the familiar tale, Xia Yunzhao rubbed his forehead. “Don’t tell me the evil technique is called the Blood Refining Scripture.”
Li Xiu was stunned. “How did you know?”
Xia Yunzhao: “…” You again!