Jiang Lingsu naturally did not believe in any Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.
If her senior brother had truly achieved Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, an auspicious phenomenon should have manifested the moment he succeeded—something like hundreds of birds chirping in homage, or ten thousand flowers blossoming in unison amidst the dead of winter.
Yet over the past few days, there had been no auspicious phenomenon whatsoever. Instead, snow fell without end, and thunder roared constantly across the heavens.
Rather than Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, Jiang Lingsu felt more like some unnatural monster had been born into the world.
Of course, incessant thunder could hardly be considered a wondrous phenomenon.
Still, with her senior brother's successful Foundation Establishment, Jiang Lingsu was naturally happy for him.
At that moment, however, Qi Yuan wore a troubled expression. "Junior Sister, you're well-traveled and knowledgeable. Could there be any side effects after achieving Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment? For some reason, I've been feeling groggy lately, and I've even had auditory hallucinations from time to time."
"Huh?" Jiang Lingsu knitted her brows. "Such symptoms shouldn't occur after completing Foundation Establishment. Senior Brother, I think you should consult a physician, or perhaps have one of the elders take a look."
Hearing this, Qi Yuan hesitated.
Just then, those bizarre murmurs invaded his ears once more.
"Finally at the third level of Qi Refinement! Senior Sister will definitely think more highly of me now, right?"
"Ugh, stop! It stinks!"
"The Profound Origin Art has seven levels in total. Reaching the seventh level allows one to step into the realm of an Origin Core True Person!"
These voices buzzed endlessly in Qi Yuan's ears like a swarm of mosquitoes.
As he listened, Qi Yuan's eyes suddenly lit up.
"I get it!"
Jiang Lingsu blinked, her mind flooded with question marks.
"My golden finger has arrived!" Qi Yuan declared solemnly.
Back when he stepped into Qi Refinement, his eyes had gained the ability to see hidden information invisible to ordinary people.
Now that he had reached Foundation Establishment, wasn't it only natural that his ears could pick up strange voices?
His golden finger had finally been delivered.
Hearing his words, Jiang Lingsu felt that even though her senior brother had established his foundation, the issue with his head remained completely uncured.
Remembering something, however, Jiang Lingsu said, "Senior Brother, didn't you want to join the Divine Flower Society? Now that you've reached Foundation Establishment, how about I recommend you for membership?"
Qi Yuan nodded, a smile breaking across his face. "Great. Thank you, Junior Sister."
After all, he and his junior sister had killed Zhu Lianhua of the Palace of Light. That day, his generous junior sister had taken the fall for him, but Qi Yuan still felt uneasy deep down. Joining the Divine Flower Society would stack another layer of buffs onto himself. That was Qi Yuan's line of thought. Besides, as a humble country-school cultivator, rubbing shoulders early on with someone from the university tier gave him bragging rights.
"Your application will take a little time to process." Having said this, Jiang Lingsu looked at Qi Yuan with an expectant gaze. "I've done you such a huge favor, Senior Brother. How are you going to repay me?"
Qi Yuan glanced down toward Jiang Lingsu's chest.
Well, Jiang Lingsu wasn't tall and had a petite, cute build. Today she wore a thin emerald-green gown that seemed rather loose, yet it still failed to hide her two full, snowy peaks, with a glimpse of smooth, milky-white cleavage faintly visible beneath the sheer gauze.
To put it rather impolitely, she was exceptionally well-endowed.
Qi Yuan suddenly recalled the voice he had overheard earlier: *My brassiere is small again. So annoying.*
Giving charcoal in a snowstorm and solving his junior sister's immediate problem—wasn't that the perfect repayment?
Without thinking, he blurted out, "I'll buy you a bigger brassiere."
Jiang Lingsu looked down at once, her hands instantly flying up to cover her chest.
Just moments ago, she had been changing clothes in her hut. The moment she heard her senior brother had exited seclusion, she had been so thrilled and hurried that she casually slipped on the undersized brassiere and tossed the sheer gown on over it. With a little of her springtime charms inadvertently exposed, her face instantly flushed crimson. "Shameless!"
Leaving behind that single word, she turned and bolted into her room.
Watching Jiang Lingsu's retreating figure, Qi Yuan wore a baffled expression before reflecting on himself. *Too blunt.* He realized his emotional intelligence in conversation had been far too low; he would have to display higher EQ from now on.
Seeing his junior sister retreat into her thatched hut, Qi Yuan returned to his own room as well.
Sitting inside, the hollow feeling left by clearing the game had not yet dissipated. The heavy snow blanketing Seven Colors Peak stirred his emotions all the more, reminding him of the great snowfall over July Lake in the game. He had sat alone on the bluestone, with only Yue Nü by his side.
Qi Yuan extended his arm.
The crescent moon mark upon it had already vanished.
"A fleeting life, like a dream."
Qi Yuan brought out the game jade slip and sank his consciousness inside.
However, all he saw was a vast expanse of white.
He could no longer enter the Wangyue Continent as easily as before.
"Once the game is cleared, I can't go back in?" Qi Yuan walked out of his thatched hut and gazed up at the sky.
The stars were densely clustered, identical to those he had seen from the Wangyue Continent.
"The stars in the heavens are all projections. Which means that the Wangyue Continent and the Canglan Realm look upon the very same starry sky."
This brought a sliver of comfort to Qi Yuan's heart.
He returned to the room.
"Now that one game is cleared, will a second one open up?"
Qi Yuan let his consciousness drift through the boundless white void within the game jade slip.
Suddenly, he spotted a speck of light. That glow looked remarkably like a game app icon.
"A new game?" Delight surfaced on Qi Yuan's face.
His consciousness pressed steadily toward that app icon.
Yet the icon seemed intensely resistant, preventing Qi Yuan's consciousness from drawing near.
"Damn game, won't even let me play!" Qi Yuan fumed.
He pushed harder, but still could not close the distance.
Qi Yuan's face went slightly pale. *Could it be insufficient storage, so it won't download? Or is the game's level requirement too high for me to run right now?*
Qi Yuan recalled that when he first started playing in the Wangyue Continent as an ordinary mortal, he could only stay inside for less than an hour before being forced to exit. The mental strain had been overwhelming. Only as his strength increased and his divine soul grew sturdier could he play for extended periods.
"So my divine soul is too weak to enter the second game?"
Qi Yuan felt thoroughly disgruntled.
He had achieved Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment and could already project divine sense outward. His divine soul had expanded by a massive margin, yet it was still too weak to enter the second game.
"Either this game is too massive, or it blacklisted me."
Thinking this, Qi Yuan ceased trying to force his consciousness forward.
Suddenly, a faint murmur drifted into his ears.
"When I, Ning Tao, grow up, I'll surely be the prettiest girl in the world."
Qi Yuan froze.
"My ears are that incredible? I can even hear voices coming from inside the game icon?"
The voice was unmistakably coming from within the icon.
It sounded crisp, tinged with a delicate childish lisp, suggesting the speaker was quite young. By the sound of it, she seemed to live a happy, sheltered life.
Qi Yuan couldn't help saying, "Little Ning Tao, I believe in you."
He then wore a helpless look, unsure whether the NPC inside the game could even hear his voice.
***
In the Liufeng Realm.
Amidst forests steeped in autumn hues, where the wind rustled through the pines, a bluestone lay carpeted in lush green moss.
Long black hair veiled half of Ning Tao's face. Her dark irises gleamed, and a sweet smile played upon her lips.
A black dress clung tightly to her frame in the blowing wind. Perhaps due to malnutrition, her body was rather slender, yet the exposed skin on the back of her hands was unnaturally pale—a sickly, fragile beauty that revealed the faint blue veins beneath.
The girl possessed exquisite features. Though she had not yet blossomed into adulthood, the makings of a great beauty were already clear.
The only flaw was a scar across her cheek, carved with a bizarre character that lent an air of fractured sorrow to her face.
Sitting upon the moss-covered bluestone, the girl gazed at her reflection in the water, her eyes crinkling into a sweet smile. "When I, Ning Tao, grow up, I'll surely be the prettiest girl in the world."
As the words fell from her lips, the dagger in her hand plunged straight into the throat of the man lying beside her.
Blood sprayed, spattering Ning Tao's black dress and speckling her face.
Around her stood six men clad in black, staring down at Ning Tao with grim expressions, brandishing various weapons.
A sword-wielding man in black said in a low voice, "Vicious demoness! So ruthless at such a tender age—who knows what a scourge you'll become once you grow up?"
Beside him, an axe-wielding man missing teeth sneered, "With the mark of a demoness carved into your face, you're hideous beyond redemption!"
"A demoness is meant to be slain by all, vile as a demonic monstrosity! Even the purest, kindest saintess under heaven wouldn't consider you beautiful! Who in this world would dare think so?"
"It's been ages since I tasted a woman. Even if we chop off her head, wouldn't she still... heheh..."
Hearing this, Ning Tao suddenly froze in place.
She remembered her mother.
Her mother had once been a saintess too, and she had once told her that when Ning Tao grew up, she would be the most beautiful girl in the world.
And yet...
The young Ning Tao gripped her dagger tightly, narrowing her eyes as she watched the six men steadily closing in on her.
Her injuries were too severe; she had no way out of this predicament.
Right at that moment, an abrupt rumble of thunder seemed to echo from high above the firmament.
A profound, ethereal voice drifted into the ears of everyone present.
"Little Ning Tao, I believe in you."
The vast, resonant voice struck everyone's hearts like the toll of a great bell.
Yet when it reached Ning Tao's ears, it felt like a gentle breeze brushing past her face.
"Who is it?"
"Who's there?"
"Which senior is this? We are executing a demoness here—we humbly request senior not to interfere!"
"Any demoness encountered must be slain!"
Clutching their weapons, the six men turned pale. They surveyed their surroundings with heightened vigilance, panic seizing their hearts.
Such a boundless voice could only belong to an immortal master. If the speaker chose to strike against them, the consequences were unimaginable.
Right then, Ning Tao moved. Like a blooming black datura, her dagger plunged straight into the chest of one of the men in black.
Blood erupted, soaking her black dress, its crimson shade shockingly vivid against her deathly pale hands.
"Not good!"
"Watch out for the demoness!"
Only then did the burly men snap out of their stupor.
Yet the thunderous voice had left their ears ringing, drastically dulling their reflexes.
Furthermore, thoroughly shaken by the voice, their attention had remained locked on the unseen speaker, paying no heed to Ning Tao.
Ning Tao's sudden strike dealt them a devastating blow.
"No!"
"Aaargh!"
Wails of agony rang out as Ning Tao moved like a wraith, slaughtering her way through the group.
Within half a quarter of an hour, all six men lay motionless on the ground, stripped of life.
Ning Tao stood amidst the corpses, drenched in blood. Droplets trickled down her arms and pattered onto the earth.
She had suffered severe wounds of her own.
Bending over with dagger in hand, she approached the corpses. Even though they were dead, she delivered finishing blows, severing each of their heads.
Having done all this, Ning Tao walked slowly toward the pool where she had sat before.
The water was crystal clear, yet devoid of fish or any other living creatures.
As the water rose past her knees, she suddenly tilted her head up and asked in a sweet, childish voice, "Uncle, are you still there?"
Ning Tao stood quietly, waiting.
Yet no one answered her.
"Uncle, if you're still there, please say something. I'm getting ready to... take a bath."
Ning Tao continued to wait, but the clearing remained utterly silent. Aside from the fragrance of flowers mixed with the reek of blood, not even an insect chirped.
"Uncle, Ning Tao is going to take a bath now, so don't peek."
"If you peek, you'll have to marry me when I grow up. If you don't, I'll..."
The black dress slipped slowly away, and Ning Tao slid into the water, leaving only her small head exposed. A harmless, innocent look appeared on her face, though the vigilance in her eyes had not entirely faded.
At long last, after an unknown amount of time had passed, Ning Tao emerged from the water.
She looked up at the sky, her pitch-black pupils void of emotion, yet her voice deliberately maintained that babyish lilt: "Uncle, I'll remember you."
Faced with that unknown voice, her heart had known only terror. Her earlier antics had been nothing more than an effort to survive.
Her mother had once told her that if you told a man you wanted to marry him, he would almost certainly freeze in hesitation.
***
"Achoo!" Qi Yuan sneezed as a bitter gust of wind blew into the dilapidated thatched hut, chilling him to the bone.
Currently perusing cultivation techniques, Qi Yuan stood up. "I'm someone who achieved Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, a supreme powerhouse among Foundation Establishment cultivators! Living in a thatched hut completely ruins my style. Tomorrow, I'm definitely upgrading to a wooden cabin."
Qi Yuan felt that as his strength advanced, his status ought to keep pace.
Continuing to dwell in a thatched hut was simply being frugal to a fault.
"Sigh, even upgrading to a wooden house won't save me from a life of toil," Qi Yuan lamented.
In the past, though he trained hard and studied techniques by day, he could still play games at night. It was just like being a working stiff on Blue Star: grinding through a grueling 996 work schedule, then relaxing after hours with games and short video clips for cheap entertainment and mindless dopamine hits.
Now, the game was gone, and the mindless entertainment was gone too. Studying bitterly every single day was truly miserable.
"Should I just resign from my post as the Eldest Disciple of Seven Colors Peak and go become a wealthy local landlord in the mortal realm to throw my weight around?" Qi Yuan's eyes lit up at the thought.
Yet a moment later, he dismissed the notion.
"Without the Divine Light Sect shielding me out front, if Old Demon Black Chicken discovers I wiped out the Black Mountain Sect, he'll come looking for trouble, and I won't be able to run."
"If I became a wealthy landlord, I'd definitely have to take a dozen concubines, and then I'd end up with a whole houseful of money-draining brats. If they stirred up trouble, I'd have to wipe their asses! If they offended cultivators, it'd be even worse. Wouldn't that make me nothing more than a glorified babysitter?"
"Mortals have their own troubles. Better stick to cultivating properly."
Qi Yuan tossed aside the spontaneous whim.
He began focusing on his cultivation techniques in earnest.
Right now, he had three important tasks ahead of him.
The first was to flesh out the subsequent stages of the *Qi Yuan Scripture*.
At present, the *Qi Yuan Scripture* only went up to Foundation Establishment; the portion transitioning from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core remained incomplete. That would take time for Qi Yuan to develop.
The second task was to strengthen his divine soul.
Only with a powerful divine soul could he enter the game and break free from the rut of doing nothing but daily cultivation.
The third task was to acquire more high-grade cultivation techniques.
Reading ordinary techniques was simply too slow. Even ten thousand mundane arts wouldn't benefit Qi Yuan as much as a single high-grade method.
Yet where could high-grade techniques be easily found?
"Day one hundred of missing Zhu Lianhua. Alas, when will I ever meet another man as radiant as Zhu Lianhua, my white moonlight?"
Qi Yuan sorely missed Zhu Lianhua's Mystic-grade art.
Night deepened, and outside the thatched hut lay a blanket of pure white.
"My gaming itch is acting up again."
Qi Yuan pulled out the game jade slip, but he still couldn't access the app icon. Furthermore, no matter how hard he listened, no sound came from within the game.
"I want to game so badly. I just want to hack and slash."
Qi Yuan sighed helplessly.
Just then, his hand brushed against another jade slip.
"The game jade slip Dong Xian gave me—the icy, aloof female sword immortal? That sword immortal must be pretty strong. I wonder how many of my sword strikes she can take."
With that in mind, Qi Yuan sank his consciousness into the jade slip.
Instantly, the phantom of an aloof, icy female sword immortal appeared before him.
"Defeat me!"
Seeing this, Qi Yuan waved his hand.
A flash of sword light flared, and the sword in the female immortal's hand snapped in two.
"So weak. Boring." Qi Yuan wanted to leave a bad review.
Just then, a tear rolled down the cold, gorgeous face of the aloof female sword immortal.
"I have lost to you. Do with me as you will!" the female sword immortal said, removing her clothes in humiliation. "Even if you claim my body, you will never possess my heart! My heart will forever belong to my senior brother!"
Her robes slipped down, and wearing a humiliated expression, she crawled toward Qi Yuan like a dog.
"Hey! No sportsmanship at all—resorting to seduction?" Qi Yuan cleft the female sword immortal in two with a single slash and exited the game while cursing colorfully.
"My own game is way more fun," Qi Yuan marveled.
***
The morning sun climbed above the clouds, and the snow gradually melted away.
Seven Colors Peak grew colder still.
"Eldest Senior Brother Qi Yuan, Dong Xian requests an audience!"
Outside the wooden cabin, Dong Xian stood dressed in black, a respectful expression on his face.
Before long, Qi Yuan emerged from the cabin.
Looking at Dong Xian, he said proudly, "Junior Brother, how do you like my new home? Impressive, isn't it? Does it have the makings of a luxury mansion? Does it match my current status and standing?"
Following repairs yesterday, Qi Yuan's thatched hut had been transformed into a wooden cabin.
Dong Xian glanced at the cabin, his smile freezing slightly.
This battered, rickety wooden hut...
"Senior Brother's immortal abode is truly an otherworldly sanctuary, a spiritual paradise among mortals," Dong Xian flattered nonetheless.
Qi Yuan was thoroughly pleased.
It felt just like buying a bicycle, posting a photo on social media to show it off, and receiving a flood of praise from old classmates—a delightfully intoxicating feeling.
"Junior Sister mentioned that while I was in seclusion, you were looking for me repeatedly. What was that about?" Qi Yuan asked.
Ever since he mentioned the brassiere to his junior sister, she had refused to speak to him for days. However, a couple of days ago, she had come to the outside of his cabin to inform him that Dong Xian had been seeking him out.
"Senior Brother, are you aware of the Dragon Contention?" Dong Xian asked, standing respectfully outside the wooden cabin with sincere deference.
"I've heard a bit about it." Qi Yuan was indeed somewhat familiar with the Dragon Contention.
Last time, Junior Sister Jiang Lingsu had mentioned that Zhu Lianhua of the Palace of Light intended to meddle in the Great Shang's Dragon Contention in order to gain control over the realm. It went without saying that the Palace of Light harbored massive ambitions.
"Senior Brother Qi Yuan, the truth is, I hold another identity. I am... the seventeenth prince of the Great Shang Kingdom."
Chapter 81