A Glimpse to the End

The next morning, at dawn.

The great sun rose from the distant horizon, sending forth ten thousand zhang of golden light that melted the chill clinging to the endless mountain ranges.

"Rumble..."

A faint, indistinct ape's roar came from within the human-shaped figure sitting cross-legged in the small room, deep and mighty.

Chen Xuan was wholly focused, cultivating the Little White Ape Trick.

A snow-white strand of Immortal Qi coursed through his body, racing along a special trajectory. Occasionally, sharp golden-white radiance shimmered from within the Immortal Qi, stirring a trace of mysterious power, only to quickly die out again...

"This trick is actually so difficult to learn?"

Chen Xuan abruptly opened his eyes and knitted his brows tightly. It was his first time coming into contact with something like this, so he had spent half the night pondering it with all his heart. Only after feeling that he had completely grasped it did he begin cultivating with full confidence.

He had thought it would be a matter of water flowing into a channel.

Reality, however, had struck him hard. His progress with the trick was extremely slow, barely reaching the threshold of entry.

"No wonder the Great Monk bitterly cultivated for years and still failed to enter the threshold, ultimately meeting the tragic fate of weeping in the rain."

Chen Xuan muttered to himself. After pondering for a moment, he murmured, "The problem lies with this body's aptitude... Its talent isn't quite enough."

He had always firmly believed himself a genius, but at this moment, doubt arose in his mind.

He had clearly comprehended the trick thoroughly and knew how the Immortal Qi should circulate through his body's meridians. However, his body could not react in time or produce resonance promptly, causing the trick's progress to crawl along.

"If this body's aptitude could keep up, I'd only need to run the Little White Ape Trick once to cultivate it successfully..."

Chen Xuan faintly sensed the limit of this body's aptitude. "Ten days. At least ten days before I can initially master this trick."

Without a doubt, he was still a genius far superior to the Great Monk and Fat Yellow Man. Mastering a trick in ten days would be an astonishing feat no matter where it was placed, enough to make people's jaws drop.

Yet he had come to a halt here, unable to advance any further.

If his Root Bone aptitude were not dragging him down, he could have done much better!

Chen Xuan pushed open the door and stepped outside. Gazing up at the sky, he felt a melancholy he had never experienced before.

"Is this the peak of my talent...?"

He had practiced martial arts in Willow Town for three years, and everyone believed him to be a genius. Any fist technique only needed to be seen once before he could master it and perform it flawlessly.

But now, even the Root Bone aptitude he had once taken pride in was gradually proving insufficient when faced with tricks in the Qi Refining World...

A sense of disparity arose in Chen Xuan's heart. It was not dejection, but the product of an utterly clear understanding...

Qi refinement was a road far longer than martial arts cultivation. With his aptitude, however, he feared he might never reach the end, and would one day come to a complete stop, unable to take another step forward.

"Wang, Immortal Wang... I picked up everything from the four Qi Refiners. See if any of it is useful."

In the courtyard, a one-legged middle-aged man named Chen Ganshui approached with some fear, both hands holding a pile of objects.

Chen Xuan swept his gaze over them. There were the Pu Daos belonging to the three Zheng brothers, the jade Buddhist beads that had been in the Great Monk's hands, and even the silk-woven kasaya had been stripped off...

"What about the four corpses?" Chen Xuan asked.

"They've been moved outside the courtyard. Some of the bodies... couldn't be pieced back together..."

Chen Ganshui answered in a low voice. Then he secretly glanced at the young Qi Refiner's face. It looked faintly familiar, and even his voice sounded similar.

But he was not the same person. This Qi Refiner before him claimed to be surnamed Wang.

That callow youth who had voluntarily left the village three years ago and resolutely walked into the hundreds of miles of wilderness had probably died in some forgotten corner long ago...

Yesterday, this Immortal surnamed Wang had slaughtered his way through the place, practically like the Ghosts and Gods. He could not possibly have been that sunny, radiant youth from the past.

"Oh."

Chen Xuan nodded. Then he drank in one gulp the breakfast meat porridge brought over by a young married woman, stood up, and said, "Move them to the village entrance and hang their corpses beneath the tree. Don't bury them."

"Ah..."

Chen Ganshui was dumbfounded.

Chen Xuan had already begun walking outside. When he reached the entrance, he seemed to think of something and suddenly turned back.

"If anyone has an objection, tell him to come find me."

A moment later.

Chen Xuan entered the home of a wealthy family and found Chu Huo Gun. Coming straight to the point, he asked:

"How long did it take you to cultivate a trick back then?"

The three members of the Chu Family were eating breakfast. Chewing coarse grain, Chu Huo Gun cast Chen Xuan a sidelong glance and said proudly:

"After I underwent Feather Transformation back then, I learned the ancestral Little Firebird Trick. I achieved something in barely half a year, shocking half of Red Crow City. Who didn't call this old man a young genius?"

"That counts as a genius?"

"...Xiao Wang, you're being rude!"

Chu Huo Gun immediately flew into a rage, blowing his beard and glaring as he said, "In my era, aside from the handful of geniuses who could Feather Transform six thousand jin, who could compare to me? Even that scheming, slippery old man from the Li Family was beaten up by me when he was young!"

He had intended to boast about his glorious youth, but this arrogant young man had rudely interrupted him, leaving the old man deeply displeased.

Chen Xuan pulled over a little bamboo chair less than knee-high, sat down, leaned toward the dining table, and asked again:

"What about those few geniuses? How long did it take them to cultivate a trick?"

Chu Huo Gun recalled for a moment before replying irritably, "Only a few short months, that's all. Hmph! Xiao Wang, although I admit that your talent is a notch above mine when I was young, you may not necessarily compare to those people!"

Those people had been the favored sons of Heaven of their era. Chu Huo Gun had been a notch behind them in his youth, but because of that single notch, he had been left far behind for the rest of his life...

"Even that..."

Chen Xuan scratched the back of his head. He wanted to say that it was nothing special, but seeing Chu Huo Gun's angry expression, he thought better of it.

The gap between geniuses could sometimes be far more exaggerated than the gap between ordinary people and geniuses.

At this moment, he had already understood clearly that although his Root Bone aptitude had a limit, within the region of Red Crow City, he was still far ahead for now and inferior to no one.

"There may not be no way to increase one's aptitude... When the feather robes first cover the body, the physique undergoes a complete cleansing and marrow-washing, and one's aptitude increases greatly as a result."

Chen Xuan grumbled inwardly, his confidence surging. Then he stared at Chu Huo Gun and said in a low voice:

"Old Chu, I have a treasure. I'll trade it for something of yours."

Chu Huo Gun rolled over from the dining table and pricked up both ears.

"What treasure?"

"A trick..."

Chen Xuan whispered a few words. Chu Huo Gun's eyes immediately lit up, and he turned to the Maiden beside him.

"Qing Ling, go get paper and a brush from the pack. Your Xiao Wang Grandpa has something good for me."

"Ah? Xiao Wang, Grandpa?"

Chu Qing Ling blinked her peach-blossom eyes, dumbfounded. How had Xiao Wang Brother suddenly become her grandpa?

This seniority was far too chaotic!

Chu Huo Gun urged her repeatedly. "Go, go! Xiao Wang is my good brother, and his strength is extraordinary. Yesterday, he displayed his might and suppressed a crowd of petty villains. A true man and genuine hero like this naturally ought to associate with me as an equal!"

A moment later, Chen Xuan's brush flew like a dragon and snake, drawing half of the Qi-circulation diagram for the Little White Ape Trick.

"Deal or not?"

Chu Huo Gun asked in a low voice, "Where did you get this trick?"

Chen Xuan explained, "Several years ago, I met a monk in the mountains, who passed down a Qi refinement method to me... I'm merely a wild cultivator from the mountains and marshes, with shallow knowledge. I didn't know whether it was good or bad. After spending these days with you and broadening my horizons, I remembered that this was probably the legendary trick..."

Chu Huo Gun froze. "Last time, you said it was a Daoist priest..."

"...Are you trading or not?"

"...Deal!"

Chu Huo Gun had no reason to refuse. A small household had struggled for generations before obtaining a single trick, hiding it away like a treasure every day. But now, someone had delivered another trick to his door. Unless he was a fool, there was no way he would give it up.

Before long, Chen Xuan had traded for Chu Huo Gun's Little Firebird Trick, which cultivated Fire Virtue Red Qi.

"Xiao Wang, you really are my lucky star. Every time I see you, something good is sure to happen!"

Chu Huo Gun was in high spirits. The first time they met, he had roasted by the fire and eaten meat on a snowy day. The second time, Xiao Wang had saved his life. Now, at their third meeting, he had delivered such a grand gift. How could anyone not feel delighted!

Afterward, he took the initiative to tell Chen Xuan some cultivation experience. "The five elements overcome and generate one another. Refining true gold with fire involves enormous conflict. If you want to cultivate White Qi and Red Qi together, you must be prepared to retreat in the face of difficulties..."

Fire Virtue Red Qi sought "burning mountains and boiling seas, grinding away the three thoughts."

Metal Virtue White Qi, on the other hand, sought "the Great Dao like the heavens, ten thousand techniques in a single sword." Some Buddhist sects, Sword Officials, and certain martial artists liked to follow this Qi Refining Path.

Those who cultivated Red Qi were mostly hot-tempered, taking revenge for every grievance and refusing to suffer even the slightest loss. Those who cultivated White Qi, meanwhile, had cold personalities, to the point of seeming obsessive. Once they decided on something, they never turned back.

The former thought the latter wore a dead man's face all day and had no humanity. The latter did not have so many emotions, but if provoked, they would immediately attack and strike to kill.

From this, it was clear that Red Qi and White Qi were difficult to reconcile.

"I know what I'm doing."

Chen Xuan nodded. He already possessed a clear understanding of his aptitude and believed that what the various 'geniuses' of Red Crow City had balked at, he could certainly take a step further into... He had been able to spend three years bitterly practicing the basic fist techniques of the mortal world. Surely he was not afraid of these difficulties?

Afterward, he returned the favor by taking the initiative to tell Chu Huo Gun some of his shallow insights into the Little White Ape Trick.

He soon left and returned to his residence, seriously studying the two tricks of different paths. In the end, he still decided to practice the Little White Ape Trick first and began secluded, bitter cultivation.

But that very night, the small courtyard suddenly descended into chaos.

"Roar, roar!"

In the night, a crooked-mouthed, lopsided-faced Bronze Horse barged into the tranquil courtyard, leaping about anxiously and calling loudly for Chen Xuan.

Chen Xuan pushed open the door and first told the awakened Chen Ganshui family next door not to leave their house. Then he asked the Bronze Horse, "I told you to hide outside the village. Why did you come out in the open? The Qi Refiners have all seen you."

"Roar, roar!"

The Bronze Horse could not worry about that much. She raised both hooves and urgently told Chen Xuan that something major had happened outside!!!