Here, as in countless places in the world, there was nothing but endless darkness and death.
Overlooking this mountainside valley veiled by dense rainforest foliage, thick, viscous peach-red mist had gathered year after year. This was Luofu's unique poisonous miasma; humans and beasts alike would rot and die from inhaling even a wisp of it. Yet now, within this valley shrouded in dense miasma, stood a man dressed in red, tall and slender. Beside him crouched a strange beast with a deer's body, a sparrow-like head, a single horn, and blackish-yellow markings across its back.
His entire face and even his hair were hidden beneath a silver mask engraved with dense, intricate incantations. The only things exposed were a pair of exceptionally profound eyes, brimming with arrogance.
Fiery! Wild!
It was as though anyone who so much as met his gaze would be burned to ashes.
Snakes, insects, rats, and ants had originally gathered outside the valley filled with thick miasma, but aside from the strange beast crouching at his side, every other creature seemed made restless by the arrogance radiating from him and scrambled to flee.
It was difficult to imagine that one person's arrogance could reach such a terrifying extent!
It formed an unforgettable contrast with the cold mask upon his face, its complicated incantations misting across it like frost flowers.
Yet an even sharper contrast appeared suddenly. The thick yellow-green miasma above his head silently split apart, and a graceful figure rode the wind down, descending lightly in an embrace of moonlight.
As if unwilling for others to see her face clearly, she wore not only a pale-violet palace gown flowing like clouds, but also a thin veil over her face. Yet the aura unique to her alone already made one feel that behind that veil must lie a figure and countenance capable of toppling all living beings.
Clear and cool, radiating a sacred aura, she seemed like a Moon Palace Fairy who did not belong to this world.
One hot, one cold—two utterly different mysterious figures stood silently within the valley.
The Silver-masked Man withdrew his gaze from the distant mountains, reached out to stroke the head of the strange beast beside him, then suddenly smiled. "The power of his Empty Life Extinguishing Sea Glazed Art truly can slaughter gods and destroy immortals."
"Thirty years ago, Yuan Tianyi had already attained the realm of Unity of Heaven and Man, Pure and Immaculate. His cultivation is naturally beyond all comparison." There was a trace of admiration in the Mysterious Woman's voice, sacred as that of a Moon Palace Fairy. "I simply do not understand why he wants us to become enemies with Yuan Tianyi."
"Even if he had not sent us, I would have come." The Silver-masked Man narrowed his eyes.
A look of surprise flashed through the eyes of the woman, so utterly different from him. "Why?"
"Because I want to know which of us is stronger!"
"You are too arrogant!" the Mysterious Woman said coldly. "Do not forget Shuli's Primordial Spirit was completely destroyed thirty years ago."
"I know that." The arrogant Silver-masked Man burst into wild laughter. "But do not forget that his Empty Life Extinguishing Sea Glazed Art also has weaknesses. What is more, he has an even deadlier weakness." Amid his wild laughter, the strange beast beside him let out a low roar and bared its claws and fangs.
"What weakness?"
"He is even more arrogant than I am. Someone in Luofu is cultivating the Twelve Heavens God Fiend Method and is already close to forming a Demonic Fiend Nascent Soul, yet he killed that person outright without even asking a question. Therefore, Luofu will surely be erased from this world!"
***
The High Priest, wrapped from head to toe in animal hides and prostrated on the ground, discovered that their "god" was walking toward him and his clansmen.
Did gods truly exist in this world?
To these native Miao Yi of Luofu, Yuan Tianyi, who blessed and sheltered them, was their god.
Yet what astonished the devout Miao Yi Elder was that whenever disaster struck in the past, Yuan Tianyi would quietly depart after appearing and removing it. But now, Yuan Tianyi walked all the way up to him. "Gazha Abu, there is something I need your help with."
Within the dark stilt house reeking of pungent odors, the deeply reverent Miao Yi Elder took out a stack of yellowed leather, folded into squares, from a wooden chest that appeared even older than he was. He carefully brushed away the fine dust and cautiously unfolded it.
It was said that among certain ancient Miao Yi tribes, there was a kind of witchcraft that could use shamanic medicine to bring about Rebirth and Metamorphosis, remaking one's meridians. This witchcraft was said to have been passed down by Chi You, the ancestor of the Miao Li people. Warriors transformed by it were all peerlessly valiant, their bodies harder than diamond. The ancient legends of Chi You might not have been true, but just as the Miao Li secret medicine, Flower Changing Grass, could reverse Heaven's power and alter a child's gender even three months into pregnancy, this witchcraft truly existed.
The Miao Yi Elder did not ask how Yuan Tianyi knew that such witchcraft had been passed down through generations of his tribe's priests. In his heart, Yuan Tianyi was almost a godlike being who knew all things. This was fanatical worship of a god, but it was also this simple, primitive faith and reverence that had allowed this barbarian tribe of scarcely more than a hundred people to survive for a thousand years in such a harsh environment. This respected elder of the tribe, gaunt as a stick of firewood and looking as though he might run dry and collapse at any moment, yet still living tenaciously, did not ask why Yuan Tianyi wanted to use such witchcraft either. He merely said in the tribe's distinctive dialect, "The other medicinal ingredients should all be ready within ten days, but the Sea King Blood Jade and Shangyang Horn..."
"I will bring the Sea King Blood Jade and Shangyang Horn in ten days. You need only prepare the other medicinal ingredients." Yuan Tianyi nodded.
"It is only..." The Miao Yi Elder nodded, then hesitated to speak.
"Only what?"
"Other than the Shangyang Horn being elusive and difficult to find, this Rebirth and Metamorphosis, this remaking of meridians... the immense pain involved is not something ordinary people can endure. Our tribe has not used this heaven-defying secret art for a thousand years."
"Every path of cultivation seeks, with the scant strength of mortals, to transcend birth, aging, sickness, and death—an act that defies Heaven. What does the pain of the flesh amount to?" A fleeting warmth and pride appeared at the corner of Yuan Tianyi's eyes. "Besides, how could my Luofu disciples be ordinary people?"
The Miao Yi Elder first felt relieved, then delighted. What sort of person could make even him reveal such a trace of admiration and pride?
"Gazha Abu." As Yuan Tianyi reached the doorway, he suddenly turned back and looked at the gaunt old man. After a moment of silence, he said, "Once this is done, take your entire clan away from Luofu for the time being."
"Leave Luofu for the time being?" The old man, kneeling on the ground as he saw Yuan Tianyi off, was abruptly startled.
Yuan Tianyi nodded. "It will not be for long. You may return after two months."
The stunned old man could not help raising his head, but the first thing that entered his sight was the few tortoise shells Yuan Tianyi had tossed on the ground and had yet to put away.
The old man's heart shuddered violently again!
The bloody glow in the divination had yet to fade.
Could this ominous sign of bloodshed actually be connected to Yuan Tianyi?
By the time the old man recovered from his shock, that spotless white figure had already vanished from his doorway.
Looking out through the wooden door swaying in the cold night wind, he saw only a bright, clear moon.
***
Crash! A torrential rain suddenly began to fall.
Luofu itself lay in a hot, humid region and was surrounded by rolling mountains. Such a downpour beneath what had been clear skies arrived without the slightest warning.
Luo Bei sat cross-legged upon a rock beneath a tree, his hands crossed before his lower abdomen. As the sky darkened and before the threads of rain could fall, his hands suddenly moved. One pointed toward the ground while the other turned palm-up toward the heavens. His fingers shifted as he changed through several hand seals with subtle differences, then he abruptly let out a long breath.
The moment he exhaled, Luo Bei opened his eyes and rose from the rock shaped like a green ox.
Unlike other cultivation arts, the Mahākāla Secret Method absorbed the spiritual aura of True Sun Fire. Now that the weather had changed from sunshine to rain, Luo Bei had no choice but to stop cultivating.
Once he stood firm, Luo Bei gave off an impression of health and strength. He himself felt thoroughly refreshed, especially as a faint stream of heat flowed from the back of his head through to his hands, ceaseless as a running brook. Drawing a deep breath, Luo Bei focused and threw a punch into the air before him. With a soft pop, the air ahead actually burst lightly. The transparent air rippled like fish-scale patterns, while a faint layer of golden light appeared over his fist.
Luo Bei jumped down from the rock, focused again, and punched the stone. Pfft! Tiny chips of stone scattered down. His blow smashed a deep pit into the hard mountain rock, yet Luo Bei felt only a tremor in his arm. Apart from a few pale marks on the face of his fist, not even a thread of skin had been scraped away.
"I never thought I would possess such strength now." By then, the rain was pouring down in sheets, but Luo Bei was filled with delight. Without bothering to shelter from it, he ran almost by hopping and skipping all the way to the foot of that nameless peak soaring into the clouds.
That iron chain which had once been harder to cross than climbing to heaven no longer posed much difficulty to Luo Bei. Without taking any rest, he swiftly climbed to the cave halfway up the mountain where he had encountered the Two-headed Mountain Salamander.
I have already learned all the hand seals from the first and second volumes. I wonder what stage I have reached after cultivating today. As Luo Bei thought this, he unconsciously curled his tongue and pressed it against his upper palate, calming his mind for Internal observation. At that moment, Luo Bei felt even more keenly the wonder of cultivation arts. In his calm Internal observation, it was as though he were looking through someone else into his own Sea of Consciousness and meridians. Luo Bei saw a small golden sphere floating quietly within his Sea of Consciousness. That golden sphere was no longer the faintly golden red it had been on the first day; it now seemed like viscous golden liquid. Strands of golden radiance emitted by the liquid-like sphere flowed through his meridians all the way to his hands.
"It has already reached Golden Liquid Condensing Pill!"
Luo Bei was so delighted that he nearly cried out loud.
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