Aftermath

"Chi, chi, chi..."

After the time it took to burn half an incense stick, the Soul Searching was over.

Xie Xuanyi opened his eyes.

He lowered his head and looked at the wisp of soul clenched in his palm.

The wandering soul shattered into ashes, drifting slowly away on the wind.

In the end, only a wisp of soul like tattered cotton remained in Xie Xuanyi's hand.

With only a remnant soul left, it meant Xu You had utterly perished, body and soul alike. Even if some mighty ghost cultivator capable of "refining corpses to restore souls" intervened, they could not revive him with this lone shred of soul.

"Great Sage Bai Ze..."

Xie Xuanyi lowered his head and stared at the dry Finger Bone, sinking into thought.

He had indeed heard this Demon Sage's name before. A thousand years ago, Great Sage Bai Ze had been a towering figure who stirred the winds and clouds. Yet at that time, the conflict between the human race and the Demon Race seemed nowhere near as fierce as it was now. The Great Grain Sword Palace's archives had once mentioned that Great Sage Bai Ze roamed the world, formed good ties far and wide, and counted many great cultivators among his friends.

Thus, Great Sage Bai Ze's cave abodes were scattered throughout the four realms, with more than one in existence.

But after his natural lifespan ended, those cave abodes seemed to have vanished... Not a single one had appeared in the world over the past thousand years.

Was this Finger Bone a relic left behind by Great Sage Bai Ze?

The information contained in Xu You's divine soul was immense. Xie Xuanyi briefly sorted through it.

The Qi in Carp Tide City was abnormal. A hidden realm of sages and worthies was suspected to be on the verge of appearing.

This news should have been tightly sealed, yet the Demon Kingdom had learned of it—

There had to be a traitor among Azure Prefecture's upper ranks.

The truth behind the "Eight Hundred Li Forbidden Zone" now surfaced: the Imperial City Bureau monitored the four realms, while the Primal Chaos Monitor captured the secrets of heaven. Though the Demon Kingdom had obtained the intelligence, the imperial city had also detected the anomaly in Azure Prefecture. Thus came this order for a strict investigation, sealing off Azure Prefecture's borders completely.

Xie Xuanyi chuckled softly and tucked the Finger Bone into his robes.

"Interesting."

He murmured, "Ten years have passed. Those old fellows in the imperial city should have stepped down by now... Is that person the one controlling the Primal Chaos Monitor now?"

Great Sage Bai Ze's Finger Bone was a good thing.

Though the Demon Cultivators had received intelligence from Azure Prefecture, they did not dare trust it lightly.

Before acting, they wanted to determine whether this hidden realm had truly been left behind by the Demon Sage Bai Ze... Thus came this urgent mission to deliver the bone.

But now—

The most crucial token had fallen into his hands.

And most interestingly, due to the pressure Great Chu had exerted, the Demon Race's spies apparently needed to use "identity credentials" to make contact.

That meant—

As long as Xie Xuanyi could prove that he was "Rank Three," then he truly was.

Xie Xuanyi crouched before Xu You and looked at the hollow shell that had lost its soul. He said indifferently, "Xu You, Xu You... Dying by my hand, you can at least be said to have died with some value."

If it were anyone else, the first thing they would do would surely be to hand over the token.

The Imperial City Bureau's rules were strict, its rewards and punishments clear.

Handing over the token would certainly earn a great reward!

But... Xie Xuanyi was not anyone else. He had never liked doing things by the rules.

"What exactly is Rank Three's identity credential?"

Xie Xuanyi narrowed his eyes and stared at Xu You for a moment.

He recalled the fragments of memory from the earlier Soul Searching. That Black Shirt Venerable had summoned Xu You within the spiritual world, and Xu You had knelt in reverence. Separated by thousands upon thousands of li, such communication between souls was not easy. There had to be some special object serving as a "bridge" linking their spirits.

Xie Xuanyi snapped his fingers.

The Azure Origin Pill Qi scattered through heaven and earth ignited with a hiss and swept toward Xu You's remains.

In an instant, the body burst into flames!

Several dozen breaths later—

Xu You had been reduced completely to ashes. This time, not only his soul, but even his fleshly body was gone.

His robes became powder.

His corpse became ash.

Yet faintly, a tiny object could be seen glimmering with a dim light.

"This thumb ring is also a treasure artifact... but it is not a bound artifact."

Xie Xuanyi had found what he wanted.

He put on the thumb ring and tried to activate it.

But the moment he sent in even a faint thread of divine sense, the ring flared with scarlet light!

There were no fewer than ten formations inscribed within it!

When the Demon Kingdom had given out this "treasure artifact," they had already anticipated this possibility. Should Rank Three meet with misfortune and die, this thumb ring would absolutely not leak any secrets!

For once a "strange divine sense" invaded and attempted to open the spiritual space inside the treasure artifact, the thumb ring would immediately destroy itself!

But unfortunately—

Xie Xuanyi had seen this exact same trick years ago.

"So this is Rank Three's credential. The Demon Kingdom branded Xu You's divine soul with a mark."

Xie Xuanyi raised his brows.

When he had crushed Xu You's divine soul earlier, he had deliberately held something back... At that moment, the wisp of remnant soul coiled around Xie Xuanyi's palm was injected into the thumb ring!

The strange glow flickering over the thumb ring gradually calmed.

"Now then, who is Rank Three, and who does Rank Three belong to?"

After doing all this, Xie Xuanyi let out a mocking laugh.

The unease weighing on his heart finally dissipated.

The Primal Chaos Monitor in Great Chu Imperial City could seize the secrets of heaven and detect karmic ties.

The Demon Kingdom had similar methods as well.

Relying on heavenly calculations, the Black Shirt Venerable who had designated the bone-delivery plan had found the "safest" route into the pass... But he surely had not expected that choosing this method of entry would bring a complete turnabout to the mission. Great Sage Bai Ze's Finger Bone had been delivered safely into Rank Three's hands, but Rank Three had changed!

He killed Xu You and obtained the token.

From this moment onward, Xie Xuanyi had changed from prey into hunter.

The Spirit Severing Array, torn open at one corner by the Finger Bone, was continuously leaking Qi... To kill Xu You, Xie Xuanyi had crushed two Azure Origin Pills. Some Qi still remained within those pills.

Every thread and wisp was hard-won.

This Qi could not be wasted.

Xie Xuanyi sat cross-legged in meditation and absorbed every last bit of residual Qi from the two Azure Origin Pills. Due to the losses during battle, the two pills had lit only nine acupoints.

He had now lit a total of forty-three acupoints.

Sixty-five acupoints remained unlit.

While meditating and breathing, Xie Xuanyi vaguely sensed an "abnormality" arising within his body... Forty-five acupoints had been lit. Golden Qi occupied those acupoints, burning like blazing torches, and this Qi flowed along his meridians toward his dantian.

This was the most important place for a cultivator!

When Qi gathered there and reached a certain quantity, it would undergo a qualitative transformation.

Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Qi Wielding... and then came the Grotto-Heaven.

The seemingly frail human body, once it drew in Qi, became an inexhaustible treasure trove.

Light acupoints, elevate sinews and bones, command Qi.

Then, the cultivator would carve out a "Grotto-Heaven" within the body.

Upon reaching this step, a cultivator had already cast off the mortal world. If willing, they could completely abstain from grain, feeding solely upon heaven and earth's spiritual energy while storing Qi within the dantian Grotto-Heaven.

If they did not involve themselves in worldly strife, their lifespan could extend to three cycles of sixty years.

Ordinarily—

A Qi Refiner's cultivation consisted only of lighting acupoints; the dantian would undergo no change...

But Xie Xuanyi felt that the Golden Qi was all dividing off portions of its power and sending them toward his dantian!

The "Grotto-Heaven" he had condensed in the past had already vanished.

Yet within his empty dantian, threads of golden aura were now gathering!

This Qi was cottony and extremely thin, but he vaguely sensed that it was about to form into the shape of a "water droplet."

"There is still too little Qi."

Xie Xuanyi shook his head and cast aside the distracting thoughts.

He did not dwell on what this Golden Qi might eventually condense into...

There were still some "aftermath" matters that needed handling.

Xie Xuanyi raised his head and glanced at the sky.

The moon was dark, the wind was high, and the night was deep—just the perfect time to kill and silence witnesses.

Xu You was dead...

But Shen Yan was still alive.

"Tsk."