Slaughter Through the Universe!

"Essence Cleansing Pills, First Qi Lower Grade. Effect: cleanse the meridians and nourish and strengthen the foundation. Eleven in total."

"Spirit Dispelling Pills, First Qi Middle Grade. Effect: dispel miasma and soothe the soul. Three in total."

"The sword is named Rosy Flame, First Qi Upper Grade. Worth a thousand taels of gold or ten divine stones."

Xiao Ling'er and Lan Ming's void rings contained a great many possessions they had left behind.

Of them, Qi Lin considered the three types of items above especially useful and valuable.

He placed them in his own void ring one by one.

"Besides those, there are fifteen divine stones, over a thousand taels of gold, and eight Ice Mystic Pills."

Both divine stones and gold were hard currency.

But Qi Lin had heard that martial experts preferred divine stones. After all, they contained Spiritual Qi that aided cultivation, and were also used in pill and artifact refinement.

"Xiao Ling'er was actually an alchemist, while Lan Ming was an artifact refiner."

For that reason, Qi Lin had also found some texts on the arts of pill and artifact refinement in their void rings.

"I've always heard that the arts of pill and artifact refinement are monopolized by the children of powerful clans and nobles. Ordinary people have neither the money nor the connections to learn them. Yet I casually slaughtered two people, and they both practiced those arts."

This showed that, as the world stood, the arts of pill and artifact refinement were the refined pursuits of great clans.

"The Universal Salvation Chamber of Commerce, the Green Jade Hall, the Essence Artifact Pavilion... The great clans and nobles hold the mines and shops in their hands, along with pills and artifacts. They squeeze the people dry with excessive levies, so naturally the strong clans stay strong while the weak grow weaker."

Qi Lin's gaze fell on the introductory texts to pill and artifact refinement on the stone table.

"Tonight, I have to learn these arts of pill and artifact refinement for the wealthy and noble!"

And so, he studied them painstakingly by moonlight.

Some time later.

Looking utterly bewildered, Qi Lin called to the little black beast catching sparrows in the tree, "Pangpang, come down."

"Shut up!" The little black beast landed on the stone table and glared at him. "Stop smearing this venerable one's name."

Ignoring its protest, Qi Lin asked, "Why can't I understand these pill and artifact texts? They talk about guiding soul power into True Essence and controlling pill furnaces, but I don't have any soul power at all."

"Can't you sense the presence of soul power when you close your eyes? No sense of touch through your soul?" The little black beast circled him, clicking its tongue.

"No." Qi Lin shook his head.

"Then don't waste your effort." The little black beast spoke with glee at his misfortune. "You can't even sense soul power, which means your soul talent is the lowest grade. You'll never make it through the door of pill and artifact refinement in this lifetime."

"The lowest grade... Surely it can't be that bad?" Qi Lin found that a little hard to accept.

"Oh, it absolutely can!" The little black beast showed no mercy. "This venerable one saw it long ago. You're not cut out for it, so stick to chopping people up. Your Life Soul is missing a corner, kid. You can't do delicate work."

"My Life Soul is missing a corner? Doesn't feel like anything's missing." Qi Lin was somewhat puzzled.

"If you weren't missing a bit of your brain, how would you dare smear this venerable one's name?" the little black beast said disdainfully.

"Because your name's already dirty."

"Spicy damn eggs! This venerable one will spit a faceful of sparrow feathers at you!"

After a while of laughing and bickering, Qi Lin suddenly fell silent, his gaze growing much deeper.

"Pangpang, I've actually realized something very serious."

"What is it?" The little black beast pricked up its ears.

"It's... I've realized I might not be a genius?"

"All this venerable one can say is, you've discovered the truth!" The little black beast chuckled.

Qi Lin wasn't angry at its words.

He looked in the direction of the other students' residences in the Divine Strategy Manor. "Beyond every person is someone better, beyond every heaven another heaven. A so-called genius is only a champion in one place! I did all right in Mystic City, but in the Divine Capital I'm somewhat unremarkable. I've heard the Divine Scion Continent is vast and boundless. I suppose my talent and foundation are really no more than a leaf in the mortal world, able to cover only an inch of ground... And in this world, there must also be monsters whose talent can blot out the heavens."

"You've already obtained the Symbol Divine Vein, yet you still approach the martial path with awe and humility. That's reasonably wise of you. To put it plainly, genius is a false concept. Anyone who goes around showing off every day because they think they're a monstrous genius doesn't have enough brains to go around."

As it spoke, the little black beast couldn't help putting on the air of an old sage. Shaking its head, it continued, "Since that's the case, this venerable one will teach you a universal truth. Remember it well, and you'll benefit for the rest of your life."

"Oh?" Qi Lin hastily cupped his hands. "Great ancestor of all beasts, this junior is all ears."

"Ahem!"

The little black beast was delighted. It rose onto its hind legs, held its head high, and waved a claw. "Cultivation is a path of seizing from the heavens! Talent is like a person's looks. Great talent is like being born breathtakingly beautiful, and it does make life's road a little easier to travel... But! The Heaven-Connecting path holds danger at every step. No matter how good the road, one wrong step is all it takes to plunge into the abyss. Take Xiao Ling'er. What good was her exceptional talent for alchemy? Didn't her fragrance still fade and her jade perish?"

"So what lesson are you giving me?" Qi Lin asked.

The little black beast spoke earnestly. "Poor talent is the same as being ugly, but it doesn't stop you from seizing the fortune of heaven and earth and slaughtering your way through the universe!"

Qi Lin stared at it. "I made fun of myself for not being a genius, and you're saying I'm ugly?"

"Obviously. You don't even have soul power. If you're not ugly, who is?"

"Damn!"

Qi Lin looked disgruntled and poked the little black beast. "Pangpang, you're exposed again!"

He had meant to tease it with the poke, but when he extended his finger, his face darkened.

He could clearly see that his hand had turned black and red.

All five fingers were covered in blood spots, and fire rose from his palm.

"Again!"

Five Decays of the Heavenly Dao, fire burning disease.

Another acute attack!

When it struck, it was like a gigantic beast of flame charging from his left little finger into his internal organs, muscles, bones, blood vessels, meridians, and dantian. It gnawed at him wildly, and in an instant the pain left Qi Lin unable to breathe.

He plunged straight into a sea of fire within his flesh, and his youthful face burned until shreds of flesh streamed down it.

That pain was beyond nightmarish.

Fortunately, he had eight Ice Mystic Pills among the spoils in his void ring!

Qi Lin fed himself the pills as fast as he could, his movements practiced.

Eight streams of ice swept down from his throat, freezing the flames of illness throughout his body once more and driving the flow of burning fire back into his left little finger.

"After taking the pills, the burned flesh actually recovered again, and... it has more of a sheen?"

Qi Lin stared blankly at his arm.

To his shock, he discovered that the process of the attack and recovery was no illusion. His flesh really had been damaged and scorched, then reforged with miraculous speed.

Although his True Essence seemed largely unchanged, when he moved his muscles and bones, his flesh felt lighter and stronger. At the same time, he felt hungry.

"What exactly are you?"

Qi Lin narrowed his eyes at the little mouth of flesh on his left little finger, flames flickering within it.

Crunch! Crunch!

The little mouth of flesh was grinding its sharp fangs. It even let out a burp... as though savoring the taste of the Ice Mystic Pills.

"So you were the one who ate my Frost Formation Pills and Ice Mystic Pills?" Qi Lin said.

"Five Decays of the Heavenly Dao! Five Decays of the Heavenly Dao!"

The little bloody mouth was shouting again.

"Lord Pang, what on earth is this?" Qi Lin was utterly speechless.

"Let this venerable one think it over." The little black beast came closer and inspected it for a while, then came to a sudden realization. "It's definitely your hemorrhoid!"

Qi Lin wanted nothing more than to strangle it.

"The good news is that my life is safe again, and my little finger has stored up some more fire to spray at people."

"The bad news is that the Ice Mystic Pills are gone. If it strikes again, I'll really die."

Wasn't this forcing him to go rob someone for Ice Mystic Pills?

Unbelievable!

That night, Qi Lin had both come to terms with his lack of soul power and the end of his path in pill and artifact refinement, and suffered another bout of torment from the fire burning disease. It really was bad luck.

"First Qi Upper Grade, Lesser Star and Moon Sword Technique."

Qi Lin put away the other items, leaving only this killing technique.

This was what Qi Lin had looked forward to most.

"If my Life Soul is missing a corner, I'm probably much slower than others when it comes to learning sword techniques too."

He poked fun at himself, but he wasn't discouraged.

He had to admit, the little black beast's words had stayed with Qi Lin.

Cultivation was a path of seizing from the heavens, and talent was like one's looks... Even an ugly person could slaughter their way through the heavens!

"The key lies in one word: seize!"

"Wasn't the Divine Vein of Symbol God One in my body also seized by an ancestor and given to me to refine?"

With that as his creed, thirteen-year-old Qi Lin steadied his heart.

He opened the sword manual and studied it quietly by moonlight.

"Though there are only two sword moves, Point at the Star and Seal the Throat and Moon Shadow Sweeps the Heavens, each one has more than ten pages detailing its variations."

"Clearly, what Pavilion Master Jiang gave me is something of the highest quality."

"But..."

Qi Lin casually picked up a three-inch twig from the stone table and thrust it at the tabletop.

A point of starlight ignited at the twig's tip, splitting into thousands of specks in an instant, like a starry sky suddenly scattered across the stone table.

Ding!

When the twig finally struck the stone table, there was a clash of metal.

The twig had actually pierced half an inch into the stone table without breaking.

"No way..."

Qi Lin pulled out the twig, looking bewildered. "A First Qi Upper Grade sword technique is this easy?"