Across the dim cosmos, twelve beams of starlight swept through the expanse, illuminating the firmament as they traveled slowly along their fixed orbits, as if they would never burn out.
Yet the moment Wang Ping slew You Xuexin,
one of those stellar beams suddenly stirred with a ripple. Like a pebble disturbing a calm lake, faint ripples spread and sank into the deepest depths of the starlight.
There, an imposing continent came into view.
Surrounded by open sea on all sides, it was a land of soaring mountain ranges, crisscrossing rivers, and countless celebrated relics and wonders. Streaks of escaping light flitted back and forth across the skies, marking it as a veritable holy ground of the immortal sects.
Yet at that very moment, in the continent’s northwestern corner under a clear blue sky, thunder suddenly cracked. There was no sign of clouds or rain, yet the booming rolls of thunder swept across the heavens, growing fiercer with every passing second. Beasts bolted across the earth in panic, flocks of birds took flight across the sky, mortals fell to their knees in worship, and cultivators looked around in bewilderment.
"What is going on?"
Young cultivators traded glances, baffled by what was happening.
Only a few senior cultivators looked on with wistful realization.
"Thunder rings across the heavens without cause or storm. It can only mean a Qi Refiner has been disturbed, his heart stirred by wrath, and heaven and earth are echoing his will. That alone explains thunder from a clear sky."
"Looking at where the thunder originated... is it Sun and Moon Lake?"
In the midst of the chatter, a young cultivator clapped his hands in realization.
"I remember now! Uncle-Master Mingyou of Sun and Moon Lake is approaching the end of his lifespan. He must have sensed during meditation that his days are numbered, and so a sudden fit of rage overtook him..."
"Hush! Watch your tongue!"
Before he could finish, a senior brother beside him clamped a hand over his mouth, squeezing so hard he nearly tore his lips apart.
"Have you lost your mind?!"
The senior brother hissed furiously, "The qi Uncle-Master Mingyou refined back in the day was Insight into Truth and Delusion Enlightened Qi! If you run your mouth, a single thought from him is enough to perceive you!"
Fear crept onto the young cultivator's face. "Is... is he really that terrifying?"
"Nonsense! Whose lineage are you under that you don't even know this?"
"Uh, I haven't taken a master yet. I'm still an inner sect disciple..."
"Oh, just an inner sect disciple. No wonder."
With that, the senior brother stepped back in disgust, washed the hand he had just used to cover the junior's mouth with dharmic power, and turned to walk away, leaving the young cultivator thoroughly baffled in the wind.
Similar turmoil unfolded in other corners of the continent as countless people raised their heads, gazing toward the distant source of the thunderous roar.
Sun and Moon Lake.
Though named a lake, it was colossal in scale—an inland sea divided into black and white waters, resembling a classical ink painting.
At the center of those black and white waters, right where the Yin and Yang met, stood a small island. On the island was a thatched hut, and someone was currently emerging from it. Dressed in black-and-white robes, wearing a fishtail crown, and holding a whisk, he wore formal Daoist attire, yet bore the appearance of a youth.
He stood there, lifting his gaze to the sky.
With the thatched hut as its center, lightning serpents coiled across ten thousand li, thunder rolled through the heavens, and radiant evening clouds rippled, mirroring the water and sky in uniform hues.
The youth stared directly at the vibrant clouds above, a brilliant glow flickering in the depths of his eyes. After a moment, he lowered his head and let out a slow sigh:
"Xuexin is dead."
His voice was the complete opposite of his youthful visage—ancient, filled with decrepitude and decay.
"She died while escorting the Five Thieves Heaven-Stealing Myriad Transformations Divine Talisman. Delivering it to me intentionally was a gesture of filial piety, but in the end, she abandoned her post without leave."
The colored clouds drifted slightly, shifting shades.
The youth's brow furrowed, his tone hardening. "Regardless, she cannot die just yet. I need her to keep watching the Eight Trigrams Furnace for me."
As the words fell, the clouds ceased their shift and stilled. Only then did the youth give a slight nod. "Good."
Immediately after, he shifted his gaze toward the other side of the sky, locking onto one of the stars, and gently nudged his fishtail crown.
Rumble!
In an instant, an expanse of auspicious clouds interlaced in three colors rose like a towering mountain. It shot straight into the heavens, spreading wide to form a magnificent canopy.
The canopy reached up to the sun and moon and hovered over rivers and mountains below. Thunderbolts coiled along its perimeter, occasionally echoing like heavenly war drums. Straddling the vault of heaven and anchoring itself at the center of the cosmos, a single breath from the canopy stirred the spiritual qi of the four cardinal directions, drawing it in as radiant mists and clouds gathered all around.
Then, the auspicious cloud canopy surged upward.
In the blink of an eye, it shattered the thirty-three heavens and plunged into the starry void. Wherever it passed, stars flickered in alternating rhythms, heaven and earth shook, and in a flash, it vanished into the boundless distance.
Almost simultaneously, the youth vanished without a trace.
As the saying goes: Bearing fire to shift starry continents, raising clouds to emerge from Ding Lake!
***
Space fractured, Universe in a Pot collapsed, and the flying ship tumbled out of the void, crashing heavily atop a mountain peak.
"No, no, this is bad!"
On the battered ship, the man surnamed Lin was pale with dread. The jade pendant in his robes had suddenly shattered. It was a secret treasure he had procured before setting out.
It could sense fluctuations in the qi of heaven and earth. If any of the Twenty-Four Solar Term Qi experienced an upheaval, the pendant would alert him.
And just moments ago, Insight into Truth and Delusion Enlightened Qi had fluctuated with such violence that it shattered the pendant. He had been the catalyst of that very upheaval, and when he thought of You Xuexin's master—the one who had long resided at Sun and Moon Lake—the terror in his chest surged out of control.
"He... he's coming!"
"How is this possible... Did he already discover You Xuexin's death?! With a Qi Refiner's divine ability to travel upon the qi of heaven and earth, he will be here in no time!"
The more Lin thought, the more terrified he became.
For a moment, he could not even care about the Five Thieves Heaven-Stealing Myriad Transformations Divine Talisman right before him. He pulled a talisman from his robes and ignited it with dharmic power.
"No, I have to run..."
The next instant, flames erupted. It was a divine ability talisman inscribed with the divine ability of Fire Escape, which enveloped Lin in blazing light.
His figure vanished within the blaze, escaping to another realm and leaving behind only a group of frenzied predatory cultivators.
Three breaths later.
All the predatory cultivators froze in place. In their midst, the youth materialized out of thin air, holding the Five Thieves Heaven-Stealing Myriad Transformations Divine Talisman in his hand.
The magnificent canopy of auspicious clouds had also appeared above the firmament alongside the youth.
Looking up, three colors intertwined within the clouds, harmonizing water and fire. To the countless living beings enveloped beneath it, it was none other than "Heaven" itself!
"Heaven above..."
With a synchronized thud, all the predatory cultivators fell to their knees, gazing up at the canopy with devout reverence, only to crumble into drifting ash in the midst of their kowtows.
"Escaped?"
The youth glanced around, quickly spotting the firmly planted Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag, as well as You Xuexin's soul drifting helplessly in the air.
Yet calling it You Xuexin's soul was a stretch. Her cultivation had been insufficient; stripped of its physical vessel and exposed to heaven and earth, her true spirit had already dissolved into the ambient spiritual qi, entering the natural cycle of the cosmos. As such, it lacked all consciousness, serving merely as a wandering ghost of yin qi.
In other words, he had arrived too late.
"Interesting."
The youth let out a cold chuckle. He reached into the empty air before him, as if grasping something invisible, and gently made a winding motion.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The sound of surging rivers suddenly echoed across heaven and earth. The vivid, tangible surroundings blurred and grew hazy.
Then, all the predatory cultivators who had just turned to ash came back to life within the hazy scene. Everything began flowing backward into the past. Moments later, a flash of fire burst forth, and the man surnamed Lin, who had escaped to safety, was dragged back, reappearing right where he had stood!
Yet that was still not the end.
Time continued to reverse. Finally, a change stirred in You Xuexin's soul. The true spirit that had dissolved into the spiritual qi cycle was forcibly extracted.
Her soul regained its spiritual clarity.
Then it sank downward.
Simultaneously, the body that had crumbled to ash reconstructed itself at astonishing speed, her full, shapely form manifesting once more. The soul merged back inside, and her halted breathing sparked back to life.
"Hah... ah!"
The next second, You Xuexin bolted upright, her eyes wide with bewilderment. The hazy, illusory world around her sharpened once more.
"This is..." You Xuexin turned her head, quickly spotting the youth. Her delicate face froze in shock, then went deathly pale as she realized what had happened. She immediately turned and prostrated herself on the ground. "Your disciple has troubled Master to descend into the mortal realm in person. I beg Master for punishment."
Her trembling voice carried both dread and excitement.
Dread, because her life and death had disturbed her master, and she feared his wrath; excitement, because she was awestruck by the divine ability he had just displayed.
'The Sundial of Reversing Heaven and Turning the Sun!'
'That's it, it must be that great divine ability! Otherwise, it would have been impossible to pull me back after I died and my true spirit dissolved into the spiritual qi cycle.'
Mortals often said time could not flow backward, that years never returned.
Yet to the Qi Refiners of the immortal sects, even precious time had to bow before their will and yield to their supreme power!
"Rise," the youth said faintly.
"It matters little. This place is not particularly close to the mortal realm, and your master holds some connections within the Divine Weapon Courtyard. They will not pursue it too strictly."
With that, the youth glanced at the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag beside You Xuexin. Under his gaze, the fiends and the Six Desires Heavenly Demon King within had nowhere to hide, exposed entirely to his scrutiny. After a brief pause, the youth said softly, "The cause of your death was this artifact."
"You forged this yourself, didn't you?"
"Your forging technique was crude, which caused the primary soul to run wild and lose control when you invoked it. It already harbored resentment toward you, so a backlash was only natural."
"Ah? That..."
You Xuexin paused in confusion, but recalling that her master could never be wrong, a look of chagrin quickly settled onto her face.
Soon, however, her brow furrowed.
"Please forgive your disciple's presumption... but how exactly did I die?"
She could not remember.
That shouldn't be possible. Time had clearly been rewound; she should have possessed a clear memory of her own death. Yet when she tried to recall it, her memory was hazy and indistinct.
She only remembered that her death had felt rather abstract.
Why was this happening?!
A chill ran through You Xuexin. Looking up, she saw the youth's brow lightly furrowed as well. He shook his head and said, "It was likely that little thief's doing."
"His Five Thieves Heaven-Stealing Method possesses supreme profundity. If you were killed by that method, it is only natural that you don't remember. It is also understandable why I could not detect any clues even after rewinding time. After all, that little thief enjoys erasing cause and effect above all else. Catching this small fry was already an unexpected harvest."
With that, the youth looked toward the man surnamed Lin, who had been dragged back.
Lin gaped. "Ah?"
Even now, he had not fully regained his senses. His mind was still trapped in the joy of escaping via his Fire Escape talisman, his face a portrait of dazed disbelief.
To him, only an instant had passed, yet it also felt as if thousands of years had drifted by.
The next instant, as the youth's gaze settled upon him, Lin finally regained the capacity to think. Shaking off his stupor, he looked at the youth.
Yet in his eyes, the youth's figure was enveloped entirely in an irresistible aura as vast as mountains and seas. A single glance was enough to shatter his gall.
'I... I didn't get away after all...'
Thud!
Lin dropped to his knees on the spot, kowtowing heavily against the ground. He dared not use dharmic power to protect himself, intentionally cracking his own skin until blood poured from his forehead.
"I beg Master for mercy!"
"An inner sect disciple who never attained true disciple status dares call me Master?"
The youth spoke indifferently. He saw straight through Lin's soul with a single glance, but finding no useful information, he waved his sleeve in annoyance.
The next second, the man surnamed Lin, along with the predatory cultivators who had been revived by the reversal of time, collapsed to the ground once more, their physical bodies disintegrating into nothingness.
You Xuexin could not help but swallow hard at the sight.
"Master..."
Her eyes narrowed slightly, spotting the Five Thieves Heaven-Stealing Myriad Transformations Divine Talisman in his hand. Remembering something, she quickly offered in a low voice:
"Congratulations to Master on obtaining this treasure. Your disciple inquired beforehand; recorded within is the Life-Stealing Thief, which can usurp vital essence. As long as Master cultivates this method, you can use it to replenish your lifespan, freeing you from walking on eggshells and being constrained by the Divine Weapon Courtyard and the Elixir Courtyard."
"The Life-Stealing Thief..."
The youth looked down at the jade slip in his hand once more. The eerie demonic nature capable of driving ordinary cultivators mad could not sway his Dao heart in the slightest.
"...A mere chicken rib."
"That little thief was a calculating one. Everything circulating outside the sect consists of incomplete fragments possessing only the power of mundane spells—far inferior to divine abilities, and not even worth mentioning alongside the qi of heaven and earth."
"This object is useless to me."
With that, the youth crushed the jade slip into dust. He looked at You Xuexin and said, "You should never have accepted this task. While your filial piety was commendable, it only ended in folly."
"Return. Harbour no further distractions. You have only one duty right now: watch the Eight Trigrams Furnace for me in the Divine Weapon Courtyard. Forge the longevity treasure as quickly as possible and bring it back to me. Once the deed is done, your opportunity to master a great divine ability will naturally follow."
You Xuexin kowtowed frantically. "Your disciple obeys!"
The youth gave a nod and casually added, "As for your Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag, crude as its forging may be, it is not beyond salvation."
"Guarding the Eight Trigrams Furnace this time is an opportunity."
"Find a suitable moment to cast it into the Eight Trigrams Furnace, refining it patiently for a decade or two. It may well undergo a complete transformation and advance into a true treasure."
"Thank you for your guidance, Master!"
***
Inside the Classic of Great Peace space.
Sitting atop the high platform with lingering dread, Wang Ping stared at the towering tome before him, watching its light rise and fall in an erratic flicker. Only after a long silence did he exhale a deep breath.
At this moment, despite having a belly full of words, all of it condensed into a single cry of bewilderment:
"What the hell... This is Qi Refining?"
Is there something seriously wrong with this cultivation system?!
Chapter 41