Code Above You

"Clang!"

The sky was clear and the air crisp. Someone was ringing a bell in the mountains, and the distant, desolate sound of the Bronze Bell and Great Chime brought an indescribable peace to the mind.

"Within the Yellow Millet Dream..."

Chen Xuan looked out. His vision was filled with golden fields. Ripe crops stretched endlessly, reaching all the way to the edge of his sight.

The ridges between the fields were neat and orderly. From roots and stems to leaves and ears of grain, the crops all glowed with a golden sheen, like exquisite golden ornaments. Their brilliant radiance dyed the heavens gold...

Heartfast!

When Wang Chan had used Yellow Millet Qi, Chen Xuan had seen the Yellow Millet Dream!

After the Immortal Binding Sun Diagram atop the vault of heaven and Mystic Cat Goddess's Small Underworld, this was the third time he had seen something beyond imagination.

But this time, he had not merely seen it. He had even entered it!

"This isn't a real physical body. It's more like a manifestation of consciousness—a concretization of the soul."

Chen Xuan extended both hands and looked them over. In the Small Underworld, he could only possess someone and spy through them; he could do nothing else.

But in this Yellow Millet Dream, he had actually "spiritually wandered" inside. He could speak and even act of his own accord.

"What secret is hidden within the Yellow Millet Dream?"

Chen Xuan walked along the field ridges, looking around. Suddenly, he stopped and heard the sound of someone sleeping deeply.

"Someone's sleeping in the Yellow Millet Dream? Are there other people here?"

Chen Xuan frowned and cautiously advanced toward the sound. Before long, he saw the sleeping person in a field heavy with full ears of grain.

It was a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old boy with refined features, dressed in a short shirt and straw sandals. He used the sky as his blanket, the golden crops as his mat, and a hoe as his pillow, looking utterly at ease.

"Wang Chan!"

Chen Xuan's expression instantly turned cold. Just as he was about to clench his fists and rush forward, his eyes suddenly grew hot. Heartfast activated again, and immediately, he saw a string of "bubbles" rise from young Wang Chan's head.

Countless golden scriptures as tiny as tadpoles churned inside the bubbles, accompanied by one scene of light after another.

Chen Xuan saw himself within those scenes.

They showed a segment of Chen Xuan's life from Wang Chan's perspective, a life that should have "reflected the present world."

Within a bubble of light and shadow.

"Shen Lingfeng, you're going to die!"

In a river channel, Chen Xuan, who had been lying in wait for days, sprang out like a crocodile and abruptly dragged Shen Lingfeng, who had come to fetch water, into the river.

Red Qi boiled the icy river water, churning up great swaths of crimson.

"Senior Brother Chen... has caught up."

Wang Chan was scared out of his wits in the distance. The other Green Deer Mountain Disciples roared and plunged into the water, while he alone scrambled backward and fled.

Another scene of light and shadow.

"Junior Brother Wang, Master Qing Yazi has descended upon the Southern Wilderness..."

"Peach Blossom Garden has fallen. Chen Xuan fled inside. Keep pursuing him!"

"Chen Xuan is skilled in spell combat. We've lost many people."

"He's made the acquaintance of a Great Figure..."

Wang Chan listened to the countless messages reaching him. His heart trembled at these matters filled with blood and fire, and his hands and feet turned cold. Yet in the end, he still summoned his courage.

"Senior Brothers, it was I who slandered him and caused all these disasters. Use me as bait..."

Not long after.

Chen Xuan indeed fell into the trap and was ambushed by a great cultivator of Green Deer Mountain. Though he forcibly broke through the encirclement, he suffered grievous wounds and his life force dwindled. In the end, he vanished without a trace.

Wang Chan was wounded in that battle.

But from then on, there was no longer anyone named Chen Xuan in the territory of Red Crow City. The nightmare had passed.

Many years later.

Qing Yazi grew old, and Green Deer Mountain gradually declined.

A passing great cultivator who had reached the Heavens-Through realm casually wiped that once-renowned power from the face of the earth.

Wang Chan had not been at the mountain gate at the time and survived by sheer luck.

Green Deer Mountain had a poor reputation. He could only be forced to leave the territory of Red Crow City, where he had spent half his life. He began wandering the world, and many years later, saw Chen Xuan again in the capital of the Ancient Chu Kingdom.

It was a banquet of the highest order. Many Aristocratic Clans of Qi Refiners and ancient daoist sanctums had gathered, including many figures who appeared only in the legends of the Ancient Chu Kingdom.

Chen Xuan was at the banquet. Though he was not seated at the very center, people had gathered around him nonetheless, treating him like the moon surrounded by stars as they chatted and laughed.

"Dao brother, I heard that after returning to Chu this time, you went to Red Crow City to visit old friends?"

"Time is merciless. Most of my old friends have withered away and are no longer here..."

"Haha, we share the same lifespan as Heaven, fellow daoist. Don't grieve. My grandson's grandson grew old and died just last night. Though you're young, you should gradually grow accustomed to old acquaintances in the mortal world departing one after another..."

"..."

Wang Chan passed the entrance to the banquet and heard this conversation. He was utterly horrified and hurriedly fled. In his heart, he immediately decided to leave Chu and never return for the rest of his life.

It was as though a man's sigh drifted from behind him, like autumn wind sweeping up fallen leaves.

Many more years later.

Wang Chan, now bent with age, wandered to an even larger ancient dynasty, where he once again heard news about Chen Xuan.

News of his death.

The white-haired, elderly Wang Chan looked dazed as he watched the passing Qi Refiners excitedly discussing the matter.

"Have you heard? Chen Xuan—the Qi Refiner who came from that little place called Chu and recently made quite a name for himself—has died and his Dao has vanished!" someone said excitedly.

"He had only a mortal's bones, yet relied on his own efforts to reach the step of Hidden in the Mortal World. Truly incredible. He deserved to be called a genius... What a pity he encountered a Heaven's Mandate Bearer who rose suddenly from nowhere." Someone sighed endlessly.

"This era ultimately belongs to those Heaven's Mandate Bearers..." This Qi Refiner's eyes were filled with helplessness.

"..."

Wang Chan thought, The nightmare that has circled above my head for so many years has finally vanished completely.

But immediately afterward, an enormous sense of emptiness filled his heart. He had lived his whole life beneath that person's shadow. In his youth, he had still been able to contend with him, but later, he had been swiftly left behind, able only to hide in a dark corner and secretly look up at him.

A Heaven's Mandate Bearer...

A being even more powerful than Chen Xuan...

If I could live my life over, how wonderful would it be if I, too, became a Heaven's Mandate Bearer favored by destiny?

This was the segment of Chen Xuan's life that Wang Chan had experienced in his dream—the life that should have happened.

"Looks like my future development isn't bad. I even enjoyed a period of glory."

After watching several scenes of light and shadow, Chen Xuan laughed inwardly.

What a pity that Wang Chan of the dream had too little interaction with him. Most of what he had done had still been learned from other people's mouths, so Chen Xuan could not obtain any more information.

He had enough faith, but he had never expected to go so far in the future—to truly become a famed great cultivator of Chu... Though later, the moment he left Chu, he learned that there was always someone beyond the best and a sky beyond the sky, and was directly done in by someone.

"The Yellow Millet True Scripture..."

Chen Xuan immediately fixed his gaze on the golden scriptures flowing within the bubbles and stared blankly, because he saw the Twelve Spiritual Qi Breathing Method among them.

Although Chen Xuan had not cultivated the breathing method Wang Chan had left in Willow Town, he had once studied it carefully. He had praised it highly, believing it to be incomparably subtle and full of brilliance.

Now that he saw the complete version, he immediately sank into it. It was obscure and difficult to understand, and an ancient, vast aura surged toward him. This was an unparalleled immortal scripture!

"The essence of the Yellow Millet Dream is all contained in this scripture!"

"The Yellow Millet True Scripture can transform and elevate Green Qi, nurturing the rare Yellow Millet Qi..."

"This is an unparalleled method belonging to one person alone."

"A true immortal scripture allows only one person to learn it in an entire era."

Chen Xuan was shocked. A strange tremor seized him. "All other cultivators are but bubbles and phantoms of a dream. As soon as something happens to that one person, the others' cultivation of the Great Dao will instantly turn to nothing—like flowers reflected in a mirror and the moon reflected in water, empty in the end."

Was this true only of the Yellow Millet True Scripture, or did other ancient orthodox scriptures work the same way?

At the same time, Chen Xuan realized the thick malice carried by the breathing method Wang Chan had left behind.

"If I cultivate the Twelve Spiritual Qi Breathing Method and kill Wang Chan today, wouldn't I suffer the bitter consequences as well? Would my cultivation be destroyed, reducing me instantly to an ordinary person?"

After cultivating the method within the Yellow Millet True Scripture, he would have no other path in this life except to follow Wang Chan loyally and bind himself completely to him!

Moreover, this binding, resembling a master-servant relationship, would become increasingly unbreakable with time.

Shen Lingfeng of Green Deer Mountain had a profound background and had opportunities to learn certain secrets. Thus, although he was intoxicated by Wang Chan's tricks, he had not dared to learn them at all, precisely because he feared being dragged along by Wang Chan in the future.

"The Yellow Millet True Scripture carries a sinister quality..."

Chen Xuan was horrified. Yet immediately afterward, he still eagerly committed this unparalleled immortal scripture to memory. Whether he could cultivate it was a matter for later; for now, securing something of such value was the most important thing.

Just then.

"Hiss!"

A stabbing pain suddenly appeared in his chest, as though something had truly drawn close to his heart. His eyes trembled, and Heartfast issued a warning at lightning speed.

"Wang Chan!"

Chen Xuan immediately ended Heartfast and exited the Yellow Millet Dream.

"Chen Xuan, I thought that someone as strong-willed as you could resist the power of even a wisp of Yellow Millet Qi."

Wang Chan's hair hung loose, making him look like a malicious ghost. Green Qi leaped from his fingertips like sharp blades as he thrust them toward Chen Xuan's chest. "I didn't expect that even in your youth, you would be so useless."

"Hahaha! Though I couldn't subdue you, killing someone like you means that my life will still have been magnificent and without regret!"

Even though he had been unable to bind a figure like Chen Xuan, who would one day rank among the foremost experts of the Ancient Chu Kingdom, at the very beginning, Wang Chan showed only the slightest regret. After all, with the foundation of a lifetime of memories, a grand future immortal path still awaited him ahead!

What exceptional genius Chen Xuan? He was nothing more than frost and wind encountered along Wang Chan's road in this life, something he could extinguish with a snap of his fingers...

He was a Heaven's Mandate Bearer!

His finger did not advance any farther.

A hand radiating golden-white light extended and gently brushed Wang Chan's arm aside.

Wang Chan froze in astonishment for an instant. Then that familiar voice rang out, drilling into his mind like the nightmare from his memories.

"Wang Chan..."

Chen Xuan instantly seized his throat. His other hand rose, five fingers clenching into a fist. White Qi surged and gathered, and an enormous White Ape phantom, huge as a mountain, appeared. Its face was crimson, its fangs bared, its appearance savage and terrifying. A vortex of air spun rapidly around the bucket-sized fist mark—

Wang Chan was struck as if by lightning. He muttered, "Impossible. This is impossible. You were clearly..."

"Bang!"

With a thunderous punch, Chen Xuan scattered the Yellow Millet Qi and Green Qi coiling around Wang Chan's body.

If a few scraps of past events could shake Chen Xuan's mind, then he could never have spent three bitter years willingly staying in a martial arts school and practicing basic martial arts. Someone capable of doing that possessed a will so firm that nothing could shake it!

Had Heartfast not suddenly activated and sent him wandering spiritually into the Yellow Millet Dream, Wang Chan would never even have had the chance to reach him.

"Bang!"

The second punch knocked Wang Chan's head back, caving in his entire face.

"You can't kill me. You learned..."

Wang Chan's mind was a muddle. He unconsciously stretched out a hand, as if trying to grasp something in the air. Blood foam welled from his mouth, and his tongue moved indistinctly inside it. "My... great... undertaking..."

He could grasp nothing.

"Wang Chan..."

Chen Xuan spoke without expression. "If you're useless, then even if you are reborn and given another chance, you'll still be useless..."

His voice fell.

"Bang!"

The third punch blasted Wang Chan's head apart, spraying scarlet blood and bone fragments in all directions.

The Yellow Millet Dream became empty at that moment.

"..."

Mystic Cat Goddess's heart trembled. The Yellow Millet Dream had died, right before her eyes. "He actually killed a Heaven's Mandate Bearer with a mortal's body..."

She had known that the Yellow Millet Dream would certainly die tonight, but she had never expected Chen Xuan to be the one to do it—to be killed by Chen Xuan, whom she had believed incapable of standing alongside a Heaven's Mandate Bearer!

"I misjudged him..."

The elderly White Tortoise stared in astonishment at the sudden reversal before him and sank into a long silence. Could I truly be old? Have my old eyes grown dim?

The petty thief who stole fish had not only avoided being lured into the mortal world by Yellow Millet Qi, but had instead relied on an unyielding temperament to forcibly see through the confusion and beat the Yellow Millet Dream to death. Such a temperament was rare in the world.

"Hiss, the little thief possesses a heart of utmost sincerity toward martial arts. He's a seedling for the ancient martial path..."

Under the night sky in the distance.

Shen Lingfeng lowered his head and ran wildly, finally escaping the Southern Wilderness.

He immediately threw back his head and laughed, wild with joy.

"Hahaha! I've escaped!!"

The next moment, his voice abruptly stopped. His body froze, and he trembled as he was forced to kneel, his terrified gaze lifting toward the figure of a middle-aged daoist standing with his hands behind his back.

"Master... I..."

The middle-aged daoist lowered his head. His great sleeves billowed, and profound majesty poured down along his overlooking gaze. Within his pair of dark green pupils, a thousand kinds of brilliant Green Light seemed to surge, supporting an ancient three-legged pill-refining cauldron...

"Your junior brother, the Yellow Millet Dream, has died... Do you know that? The Cauldron Immortal Pill I chose is gone."

Pill Cauldron Dao, Qing Yazi!