Can It Still Set the Prairie Ablaze?

"You must be wondering what realm of cultivation I'm in?"

Xie Xuanyi's smiling remark directly exposed Deng Baiyi's thoughts.

Deng Baiyi's face reddened slightly.

"To sense the primordial energy of heaven and earth, and then 'use' it, is the Qi Refining Realm—the most basic and simplest first realm."

Xie Xuanyi said, "Qi Refiners of the first realm can make talismans and carve formation patterns to fight, but they still cannot store primordial energy within their bodies... This is fatal. In a real fight, an enemy will not give you time to draw talismans or inscribe formation patterns. A duel between Qi Refiners is rather like rich men comparing their estates: whoever has more treasures, and stronger treasures, gains the initiative."

Deng Baiyi quickly held her breath and listened intently.

"The Qi Refining Realm is the realm of sensing the flow of 'primordial energy' through all things in the world."

Xie Xuanyi explained patiently, "The process of a cultivator sensing primordial energy is like a newborn opening their eyes. Some people are highly gifted; before long, they can draw the primordial energy between heaven and earth into their own bodies... At that point, they enter the second realm."

"The second realm?"

"The cultivation methods of different sects differ. The Daoist sects call this so-called second realm 'Foundation Establishment.'"

Xie Xuanyi smiled. "Different schools of cultivation also have different names for each realm. The Great Grain Sword Palace walks a different path from the Daoist sects; there, this second realm is called the 'Divine Sense Realm.' Demon Cultivators and Buddhist body refiners have yet other names for it. You needn't remember all those messy names. You only need to know that cultivators in this realm can store primordial energy within their bodies. The demon spirits I slew earlier were all second-realm beings."

Deng Baiyi nodded forcefully, indicating that she had remembered.

She asked curiously, "You just said that people with good talent can enter the second realm before long... What about those without much talent?"

"Ten years, twenty years, perhaps even a lifetime."

Xie Xuanyi said calmly, "Those without talent may reach the end of their lives and still be nothing more than Qi Refiners."

Deng Baiyi froze.

"Cultivation is a path walked against fate. Any realm can become a heavenly chasm."

Xie Xuanyi said indifferently, "The gifted may need only a year, a month, or even a few days to step into the second realm. This world is simply that unfair. Besides... cultivation itself was never fair."

For a moment, Deng Baiyi had no response.

That was right.

Cultivation had never been fair.

For the vast majority of ordinary people, becoming a Qi Refiner was already a fortune grand enough to ascend to heaven.

Deng Baiyi sighed. "Do those geniuses need only seven days to enter the second realm?"

"Seven days is already a long time."

Xie Xuanyi shook his head. "Some peerless geniuses need only one day, from sensing primordial energy to absorbing it..."

Deng Baiyi was stunned once more. This time, she was completely speechless.

A brief silence fell over the carriage.

Xie Xuanyi folded his arms and closed his eyes to rest, giving Deng Baiyi ample time to digest what she had heard.

After a while, Deng Baiyi asked, "You just mentioned the second realm... What comes after that?"

Xie Xuanyi opened his eyes and slowly said, "The third realm is called the Qi Guiding Realm. The 'qi' cultivated by different schools is also different. The Daoist sects' Qi Guiding controls 'primordial energy,' while the Sword Palace's Qi Guiding controls 'Sword Qi.' Reaching this realm means one has truly entered the hall. Cultivators in the Qi Guiding Realm generally refine a Lifebound artifact. Sword cultivators can ride their swords through the air at this realm, though not for very long. If they wish, Qi Guiding Realm cultivators can establish their own households in some remote, uninhabited wilderness and found a sect—of course, the sort of sect that does not even make the grade."

Deng Baiyi's eyes lit up. "Then Reverend Heavy Mist from before?"

"Correct. He was in the Qi Guiding Realm."

Xie Xuanyi smiled with faint mockery. "This realm alone stops ninety percent of cultivators dead in their tracks. Beyond it... are the pillars of the major sects, as well as young geniuses."

"I see... Then your realm must be very high, far beyond the Qi Guiding Realm..."

Deng Baiyi sighed unconsciously.

The moment those words left her mouth, Xie Xuanyi's expression changed ever so slightly.

He opened his mouth, then stopped himself.

Poor Deng Baiyi, engrossed in listening, noticed nothing at all. She continued to hold her breath in concentration, ready to listen with rapt attention.

Yet after waiting for quite some time, Xie Xuanyi said nothing further.

He seemed to have remembered something and fell silent.

After holding it in for ages, Deng Baiyi finally could not resist breaking the silence. "What comes after that? What lies beyond the Qi Guiding Realm?"

"Beyond that..."

Coming back to himself, Xie Xuanyi smiled and asked, "What does the realm beyond that have to do with you?"

Deng Baiyi: "???"

That one sentence left her utterly speechless.

"Focus on refining qi. Stop thinking about all that nonsense... When the time comes, you'll naturally know."

Xie Xuanyi waved a hand, his interest waning.

Back when they had first set out, he had already taught Deng Baiyi the simplest and most basic cultivation method.

In the Qi Refining Realm, sensing primordial energy was not actually difficult.

Every major sect had breathing methods. At their root, the principles were all the same.

Still the breath, focus the mind, let the qi sink into the dantian.

Any cultivator who was meant to sense primordial energy could sense it using any breathing method. The only difference was how long it took.

Before long, silence returned to the carriage.

Deng Baiyi sighed, suppressed her curiosity, and stopped "disturbing" Xie Xuanyi. Closing her eyes, she began cultivating, striving to sense the "primordial energy" that existed between heaven and earth.

On the other side, Jiang Huang turned over and changed her sleeping position.

Within the carriage, only Xie Xuanyi still had his eyes open.

He leaned against the window, one hand holding up the curtain, silently gazing at the scenery behind them. Like a wooden man, he stared into the distance, lost in thought.

The darkness broke apart. Layer upon layer of mountains was swallowed by mist, while sunlight surged like a tide in pursuit behind them.

No one knew.

At that moment, Xie Xuanyi's eyes held a trace of confusion, a trace of desolation.

Back then, countless disciples of the Great Grain Sword Palace had wanted to hear him preach the Dao and impart his insights into the sword path.

No one knew how many cultivators across the four regions of Great Chu had wished to kowtow for an audience and become his disciples.

Nothing in cultivation had ever stumped him.

But this time.

Xie Xuanyi had been stumped by himself.

After throwing himself into the North Sea and reviving from death... he had lost all his cultivation.

Strictly speaking, he was now merely the most ordinary Qi Refiner. Though he could draw upon the primordial energy of heaven and earth through memories of his "previous life," his own body was utterly empty.

He had lost everything he once possessed.

After thinking for a long time, Xie Xuanyi realized that he truly had nothing left now.

Even the Lifebound Flying Sword he had cherished most was gone.

"So it turns out that, apart from this one life, I really have nothing left..."

He smiled, shook his head, and murmured, his words carrying a faint note of self-mockery.

Fallen leaves filled the mountains, drifting past overhead.

The horses' hooves trampled through puddles and mud, crushing them—and crushing countless crimson maple leaves that had fallen in late autumn—

Xie Xuanyi watched the countless reflections shattered in the puddles and suddenly extended his palm.

After the hoofbeats had passed, the countless shattered silhouettes settled back into stillness, reflecting a sky as clear and blue as freshly washed jade.

Xie Xuanyi slowly unclenched his hand.

A whole fallen maple leaf lay in his palm.

Xie Xuanyi gazed at the leaf, dead yet not entirely dead, his eyes calmer than ever before.

Deng Baiyi, who had been sitting in bitter stillness and cultivating with all her strength, suddenly frowned.

Following the method Xie Xuanyi had taught her, she regulated her breathing... Then, slowly, she sensed the true face of this world. With every breath she took, she faintly detected an additional fragrance, fresh and sweet. After several hundred breaths, that sensation gradually intensified. It was as if she had opened another pair of eyes and "saw" that thread of fragrance, like smoke and mist, filling the space around her.

This should be the so-called "primordial energy of heaven and earth."

Deng Baiyi had no time to rejoice at all.

Within the widest range she could sense, countless strands of primordial energy churned like boiling water, converging toward a single target...

The next moment, a very soft sound rang out inside the carriage.

"Hiss!"

Jiang Huang, deep in sleep, wrinkled her nose. She had caught a familiar scent.

Deng Baiyi opened her eyes in confusion and saw a tiny, feeble flame ignite in Xie Xuanyi's palm.

And within the flame lay a fallen leaf, burning silently.

She stared blankly at the white-clad youth, unable to understand.

Xie Xuanyi gently closed his hand around the firelight and extinguished it. When he opened his palm again, the maple leaf had miraculously retained a complete outline, with faint sparks still flickering upon it.

Xie Xuanyi spoke softly.

"Tell me..."

"This withered leaf has only this little ember left. Can it still set the prairie ablaze?"

The new book is currently updated at noon, twelve o'clock. I wonder whether everyone is used to that time. Would moving it to the morning or evening be better?