Universalization's Thunder, Blood Essence Connects Heaven and Earth Bridge

The seventh day of the night march.

The group set up camp on a desolate mountain path.

Ji Ye wasn't sleeping.

He climbed alone to a solitary cliff outside the camp. The cliff wasn't high, but it offered a view of the undulating black mountain ranges to the north – the direction of Luoyan Pass.

The sky was filled with cold stars, and the surroundings were silent.

He sat cross-legged on the cold rock, the Bushou sword resting across his knees.

He closed his eyes.

His breathing gradually slowed.

The eight characters of the Supreme Induction Chapter flowed slowly in his mind.

[Misfortune and fortune have no fixed abode; they are summoned by man.]

At first, there was nothing.

Only the mournful cry of the cold wind blowing past the cliff rocks and the occasional snort of a horse from the distant camp.

Ji Ye's consciousness sank to the deepest part of his body.

Inside him, the blood essence that had been accumulating for two years, infused with the fires of a hundred schools, and further refined by the Heavenly Dao's qi in Tianlu Pavilion, began to surge slowly with his will.

It flowed along the resilient meridians forged by the Myriad Forms Furnace Body, initially like an underground current, sluggish and heavy.

Gradually, its speed increased.

The sound of the surging blood essence transformed into continuous muffled thunder in his ears.

Warmth rose from his dantian, traveling up the great dragon of his spine.

It grew hotter and hotter.

Ji Ye's skin began to turn red, and wisps of white steam rose from his head, condensing into frost mist in the cold night.

He was like a red-hot iron statue sitting on the cold rock. Where he touched the rock, the accumulated snow melted silently, revealing the dark stone surface beneath.

Extreme stillness.

All thoughts, all senses, including the scorching heat, were compressed into the last point of his consciousness.

That point was his own sense of existence, and those eight characters – "summoned by man."

Summon what?

How to "summon"?

There were no answers.

Nor were answers needed.

At the very moment the warm, hot sensation reached its peak—

"Boom!!!"

There was no sound.

But Ji Ye "heard" it.

It was a thunderclap that exploded from the deepest part of his soul, from the very origin of his life.

A silent thunderclap.

Yet it split the chaos and severed the shackles.

The scorching torrent within his body, with this "thunderclap," suddenly solidified.

Like molten iron heated to its extreme, tempered into fine steel in an instant.

Like water vapor that had reached its boiling point, condensing into the first drop of rain in the clouds.

The heat vanished.

In its place, a cool, moist "water flow" gurgled out from the invisible node in his dantian.

This was not internal strength, nor blood essence.

It was qi.

Innate qi.

It was like a clear spring, like a stream, warm and cool, flowing slowly up the great dragon of his spine.

Carrying the breath of nascent life, born from nothingness, it flowed along a path he had never perceived, yet which seemed to have existed there since birth.

Wherever it passed, the scorching meridians, like parched land receiving sweet rain, vibrated with joy.

The minor hidden injuries left by years of martial arts practice and combat began to slowly heal and mend under the nourishment of this cool qi.

Ji Ye's eyes remained closed.

The qi continued to circulate.

It flowed through his limbs and bones, seeped into his internal organs, and even penetrated the deepest marrow of his bones.

His muscle fibers grew denser, his bones took on a jade luster, and his internal organs resonated harmoniously.

Every cell, baptized by this cool and moist vital energy, was radiating an unprecedented vitality.

This was a leap in life's tier, the first step from a mortal shell towards the extraordinary.

Just then--

The wind stirred.

Centered on Ji Ye, the air within a ten-zhang radius began to flow silently.

A gentle breeze softly circled him, rustling his robes and stirring his hair.

His robes fluttered, his long hair flew, yet he himself remained as unmoving as a pine on a cliff.

Eight winds do not move him.

Vital energy connected within and without.

Ji Ye could feel the innate vital energy within him generating a subtle resonance with the vast, boundless "qi" that permeated the world outside.

It was like a drop of water falling into the ocean, minuscule yet of the same origin.

Then--

The Baihui acupoint on the crown of his head gave a gentle leap.

It was as if some invisible barrier had been quietly broken through by this internal and external connection.

"Hiss--"

An incomparably vast, pure, and immense surge of vital energy descended from the nine heavens, from the depths of the starry sky, from all things in this world!

Like the Milky Way pouring down!

Like a waterfall drenching the crown of his head!

"Boom!!!"

This time, there was sound.

It was the roar produced within Ji Ye's skull as the vital energy of heaven and earth poured into his Baihui acupoint.

Like a rushing river, it flowed down from the Baihui acupoint, across his brow, through his throat, moistening his internal organs, and flowing through his limbs and bones.

Pure.

Vast.

Yet imbued with the vigorous life force of the world's creation.

Ji Ye's entire being was instantly submerged in this torrent of vital energy.

Every cell was cheering.

His body began to glow.

Not a light visible to the naked eye, but an extreme manifestation of his "presence."

On this desolate cliff under a sky full of cold stars, he seemed to peel away from the background, becoming the sole true existence in the world.

After an unknown amount of time.

The roaring sound of the descending energy faded.

The cool sensation of his body being refined also became indistinct.

In its place was an unprecedented "lightness."

So light.

So light, as if he had shed shackles he had carried for three lifetimes, as if he had ascended to immortality.

Though his eyes were closed, he seemed to see the desolate cliff beneath him shrinking, becoming an insignificant pebble on the earth.

He saw the distant mountains like slumbering dragons, their undulating ridges gradually aligning with the rhythm of his spine.

The mountains are my bones, the rivers are my blood.

A sense of grandeur and tranquility he had never known before washed over him like a tide.

The "self" was, under the scouring of this vast vital energy, gradually becoming transparent.

Even the name "Ji Ye" was becoming blurred.

The bloody scenes from his memory--the fires of Black Stone County, the mud of the mass grave, the cries of the mute child, the blood on Qin Wuji's face, the wine in Xiao Hongxiu's hand... began to ripple like reflections in water, gradually spreading out.

Whose story was that?

It no longer seemed important.

Why hate? Why compete? Why grasp the sword so strenuously?

The world was so vast, so quiet, so encompassing.

Just let go, just close your eyes, and you could melt into this boundless starry sky forever.

Like a water droplet that had traveled thousands of miles, finally merging into the sea.

It no longer needed to maintain its shape, nor resist the obstruction of rocks. It only needed to disperse, to merge into one with the boundless azure.

No pain, no obsessions, no torment of Reincarnation.

Only eternal tranquility.

This feeling was too wonderful, ten thousand times more deadly than any power or beauty in the world.

He wanted to fall asleep like this.

To become a wisp of wind in these mountains, blowing forever, neither joyful nor sorrowful, neither born nor dead.

A faint, serene, yet utterly hollow smile involuntarily curved on Ji Ye's lips.

His aura began to dissipate, no longer condensing into form, but spreading towards the mountains, rivers, grass, and trees around him.

This was true unity of man and nature.

To sacrifice oneself for the Dao, the Dao is me.

"Buzz--"

On his lap, the Bushou sword lying horizontally suddenly trembled.

It was an extremely faint, extremely thin, yet soul-piercingly sharp wail.

That was Bushou's malevolence.

It was the unwillingness to "seize the day."

This surge of malevolence was like a red-hot needle, fiercely stabbing into Ji Ye's dissipating consciousness.

Agony.

Ji Ye jolted awake.

I cannot become wind.

Wind does not bleed, wind does not rage, wind... cannot kill!

I am Ji Ye.

I am the Ji Ye who will overturn this chessboard!

I want to win!

I will slaughter my way through this world, and I will smash all those lofty idols!

One thought arises, ten thousand thoughts follow.

This is selfishness.

This is the obsession that makes a person human.

The moment this "selfishness" arose--

"Boom!"

The heavenly and earthly Qi energy pouring down from above like a waterfall abruptly ceased.

It was like a grand gate to the heavenly court slamming shut before him.

That profound connection of breathing and sharing destiny with heaven and earth instantly collapsed.

The coldness returned.

The heaviness of his body returned.

Wind was still wind, rocks were still rocks, stars were still stars.

And he was still the mortal sitting on the cliff's edge, stained with blood.

The bridge between heaven and earth was broken.

Mortals have selfishness, the Heavenly Dao is impartial.

Having a selfish heart, one cannot contain the vastness of heaven and earth.

Ji Ye gasped for air.

Cold sweat instantly soaked his heavy robes.

The sense of weightlessness, like falling from the clouds into a quagmire, made him dizzy, even nauseous.

But he smiled.

His smile was somewhat ferocious, tinged with lingering fear.

"That was close..."

He looked down at his hands, the palm lines clear, his flesh warm.

In that fleeting moment, if not for the malevolence of the Bushou sword startling him awake, he would probably have become a lifeless stone on this desolate cliff by now.

This was the truth of the path to Grandmaster.

Countless astonishingly talented geniuses believed the Grandmaster realm was "unity of man and nature," borrowing the power of heaven and earth for their own use.

Thus, they opened their minds and bodies, attempting to contain the vastness of heaven and earth.

What was the result?

A drop of water merges into the sea, and the drop is gone.

A person enters the world, and the person is gone.

Heaven and Earth are impartial, without emotion, without desire.

But humans have selfishness, emotions, and desires.

To try to merge one's selfish heart with the impartial Heavenly Dao is no different than a mayfly trying to shake a tree or a moth flying into a fire.

You will either go mad, your consciousness shattered by the overwhelming information of Heaven and Earth, or you will die, your physical body assimilated by the vast energies of Heaven and Earth.

"No wonder that old eunuch from Tianlu Pavilion said that understanding it brings fortune, while failing to understand it brings disaster."

Ji Ye slowly clenched his fists.

As the connection with the energies of Heaven and Earth was severed, the cool, gentle innate energy within him began to recede like a tide, attempting to return to Heaven and Earth through his eighty-four thousand pores.

It was borrowed, and it had to be returned eventually.

"Return?"

Ji Ye's gaze suddenly turned as cold as iron.

"What enters my body is mine."

"Want to leave?"

"Did you even ask me!"

The Myriad Forms Furnace Body roared to life.

Ji Ye abruptly sealed all the pores on his body, like closing off a volcano on the verge of eruption.

He mobilized all the essence, energy, and spirit within him, stirred up the killing intent in his heart, and channeled the death energy from the Bushou sword, transforming them into an invisible furnace to fiercely trap the strand of innate energy that was about to dissipate within his dantian!

Since he could not follow the Heavenly Dao.

He would plunder the Heavenly Dao!

"Refine... for me!!"

Ji Ye roared in his heart.

That strand of pure, untainted innate energy struggled and thrashed within his dantian, like a trapped young dragon trying to break free from the confines of this mortal shell.

It was arrogant, indifferent, and disdained coexisting with the common flesh and blood.

But Ji Ye was more ruthless than it.

He used his killing intent to pollute it, his obsession to erode it, and his own blood to water it.

You want purity? I will deliberately stain you with color!

You want impartiality? I will deliberately engrave selfishness onto you!

Even as his meridians cracked under the strain of the conflict, even as his dantian felt like it was about to explode from the pain.

Ji Ye did not retreat a single step.

Finally.

The strand of innate energy stopped struggling.

It was completely dyed by Ji Ye's will, transforming from its original clear and transparent state into a deep, dark, blood-red hue.

It no longer belonged to Heaven and Earth.

It belonged only to Ji Ye.

"Hoo—"

Ji Ye exhaled a long breath of stale air.

This breath was no longer white mist, but carried a faint trace of blood, and when it landed on the rocks before him, it emitted a "hissing" corrosive sound, leaving a shallow pit in the stone.

Internal Strength transformed into True Qi.

Though it was only a trace, though it was impure and mixed.

This was the mark of approaching a Grandmaster—True Qi.

Ji Ye stood up.

His clothes were soaked with cold sweat, then frozen stiff by the biting wind, clinging to him like a layer of iron.

But he felt better than ever before.

The black night before his eyes seemed to have been washed clean.

A hundred paces away, a cold crow shook the snow from its wings, and the trajectory of the snowflakes as they swirled in the wind was as clear as silver threads.

Beneath his feet, the grass roots buried deep in the frozen soil were breathing faintly, their subtle warmth as bright as candlelight in his perception.

The wind was no longer just wind, but flowing energy.

The mountains were no longer just mountains, but solidified forms.

The world peeled away its skin, revealing its truest skeleton to him.

He drew the Bushou sword.

The blade was still broken, the cracks still hideous.

But when Ji Ye injected the trace of "blood-colored True Qi" he had just refined in his dantian into the sword.

The Bushou sword did not wail.

It lit up.

From the depths of those dense cracks, a wisp of demonic red light ignited, like lava flowing beneath a dry riverbed.

Ji Ye swung his hand casually.

No force, no technique.

Just the sword's edge cutting through the night sky.

Ten feet away.

A protruding rock, half a person's height, slid off silently.

The cut was smooth as a mirror, covered with a faint layer of red frost.

Sword Qi projection.

Killing from a distance.

The night wind was like a knife, scraping past Ji Ye's cheek, but it could no longer take away a trace of his body heat.

He sheathed his sword and leaped from the lonely cliff.

No leverage, no deceleration.

He was like a black eagle, lightly tapping the vertical cliff face several times, covering a hundred-foot height, and landing silently at the edge of the camp.

When he landed, the snow under his feet didn't even splash, only sinking slightly by half an inch.

Lifting the heavy as if it were light, treading on snow without a trace.

This was the control over his body that came with the True Qi.

"Who?!"

Wang Meng, on night patrol, drew his saber sharply, his muscles tensing.

Only when he saw that it was Ji Ye did he relax, sheathing his saber, but a hint of surprise flickered in his eyes.

It had only been a few hours, and Mister seemed... changed.

The former Ji Ye was like a drawn sword, his edge sharp and revealing, making people afraid to look directly at him.

But the current Ji Ye, standing there, was like a bottomless pool of black water.

You couldn't feel his sharpness, or even his presence, but as long as he stood there, the surrounding air became thick and oppressive.

That feeling was something Wang Meng had only experienced once when he saw the North Guard Army's General from afar.

"Mister, you..." Wang Meng ventured.

"I've figured some things out."

Ji Ye didn't explain much, walking towards the main command tent as he asked, "Have the scouts returned?"

"They have."

Wang Meng's expression turned serious, and he quickly followed. "The Barbarian vanguard, three thousand wolf riders, led by Hulei's adopted son, 'Chi Lang,' are still thirty miles from Luoyan Pass. At their speed, they'll arrive by noon tomorrow."

"Three thousand wolf riders..."

Ji Ye paused, a cold smile curving his lips.

"Hulei is getting clever, sending a dog to scout the way first."

"Mister, how should we fight?" Wang Meng asked gravely. "The city walls of Luoyan Pass are in disrepair, and we only have eight hundred men. If we try to hold it, we probably won't last two days."

"Hold?"

Ji Ye lifted the tent flap and strode to the worn sheepskin map.

The candlelight flickered, illuminating his unnervingly calm face.

"Who said we're going to hold Luoyan Pass?"

He extended his hand, his finger tracing a line across the map, past the broken pass of Luoyan Pass, and stopping at a narrow gorge.

"Hui Feng Valley."