Reflecting the Present World, Second Ascension

"...Sorry."

Chen Xuan was in an excellent mood. He had gained plenty of benefits from Yan Yushu that night, so he did not mind the cold, commanding voice.

He released his grip and stood up, rising from Yan Yushu's back now that she was completely awake. "Rest assured. I won't tell anyone about what happened tonight."

"..."

Yan Yushu stood up. First, she turned her back to Chen Xuan and straightened her clothes. Then, her expression calm, she stared coldly at him.

A look that seemed both ethereal and coolly detached drifted through her eyes, as though she had grown utterly weary of everything in the mortal world and no longer cared about anything...

Twice.

She had actually exposed herself in front of him twice!

That alone would have been bad enough, but the key was that this man named Chen Xuan had remained completely unmoved. The second time, he had even focused wholeheartedly on practicing magic?

Was she really that unattractive? There were so many men outside who liked her that a whole city could not contain them all!

Yan Yushu had no idea how to face this miserable situation, much less how to describe the tangled emotions in her heart.

At the same time, she felt intensely shocked. While she had been thrashing about in a daze, Chen Xuan had actually succeeded in practicing magic—and not just one kind, but two. Such talent was simply unheard-of.

What made Yan Yushu find it even more inconceivable was that he had once used White Qi to beat her senseless. That meant he had mastered at least three different kinds of Immortal Qi.

The Mountains and Seas Twelve Qi were mutually generating and overcoming, and difficult to reconcile. That was common knowledge.

Most Qi Refiners in the world specialized in cultivating only one kind of Immortal Qi. Only a tiny number of geniuses had enough energy left to attempt cultivating two kinds.

But the second Qi would merely serve as an auxiliary, because it required twice the time and effort, making it extremely difficult to achieve anything.

Yet Chen Xuan had directly cultivated a second Qi before her in less than half an hour, as well as a third Qi whose difficulty had doubled again. Such a terrifying cultivation speed left even Yan Yushu slightly dazzled.

"You..."

Yan Yushu opened and closed her mouth as if she wanted to say something. After a pause, she turned her head and murmured, "I'm awake now. Six Desires Heaven is going to disappear."

Chen Xuan followed her gaze and looked upward.

"Rumble..."

The four towering Heavenly King figures slowly rose once more. Their hunched bodies nearly straightened completely as they moved away from the Lotus Platform.

"Crack..."

Suddenly, the air rang with the grinding sound of some enormous object breaking. An arm of one of the massive figures inexplicably snapped off. Boulders flew through the air, fragments raining down as they crashed into the black lake, raising heaven-shaking waves that surged toward the Lotus Platform.

"Boom!"

The raging waves slammed against the shore, and the ground trembled.

Chen Xuan stood firm. He stared at the things in the sky, all steeped in Death Qi and severely faded, and a vague understanding stirred in his heart. He roughly guessed at the meaning hidden in this scene.

Yan Yushu had eaten the monk's cultivation as food, while this Six Desires Heaven had likewise treated her as a delicious snack...

"Every time I use the power of Six Desires Heaven, I sink into the Desire Realm once. In the end, I'll become part of Six Desires Heaven."

Yan Yushu casually explained, then fixed her eyes on Chen Xuan and said calmly, "Tonight, I owe you one. Is there anything I can help you with?"

She was an intelligent and spirited woman who had dared to cross several enormous cities alone and had once toyed with Hanging Temple until it was utterly bewildered. Her heart was strong. Now that she had returned to normal, she rationally and lucidly accepted what had happened with astonishing speed.

He had not taken advantage of her vulnerability. In fact, he had helped her immensely.

Although those intimate experiences made Yan Yushu wish she could find a crack in the ground and hide herself inside, it was impossible for her to develop excessive hostility toward Chen Xuan because of them.

"Hmm, help me..."

Chen Xuan raised his brows. A wildly sinful and offensive thought suddenly surfaced in his heart.

What if we cooperated?

The highly feasible idea was immediately suppressed. He shook his head and said indifferently:

"We merely met by chance and took what we each needed. We'll meet again if fate wills it."

"..."

Yan Yushu pressed her rosy lips together and gazed deeply at him. Quietly, she breathed a sigh of relief.

She was intelligent and blessed by nature, so she had naturally developed a thought similar to Chen Xuan's.

"But beauty is as fierce as a wolf or tiger, and nothing wears down a hero's spirit faster."

Yan Yushu could tell that Chen Xuan's heart was as firm as a rock and that he would not be easily shaken. But she also knew all too well how great a temptation her body posed to a young man in the prime of his vigor:

"He could endure it once, and he could endure it twice, but I don't believe he can keep enduring it forever..."

Fortunately, he was upright within and proper without, walking the broad and righteous path. He had not taken the opportunity to make that excessive request.

After all, she was still young. She did not yet wish to abandon everything she had for the Great Dao of Qi Refinement...

Before dawn.

In the narrow, gloomy room at Hanging Temple's encampment.

Chen Xuan opened his eyes from deep sleep and summoned a streak of Immortal Qi glowing with rich green light. In the next instant, Green Qi surged, crimson firelight welled up, and Red Qi illuminated the entire dark room.

"I'm about to step into my second Ascension."

He murmured to himself as understanding arose in his heart. After cultivating two magic techniques in his spirit soul, the power of Green Qi and Red Qi was now reflecting the Present World body.

"Whoosh!"

Within him, the powers of Green Qi and Red Qi circulated in turns. Bursts of vigorous life force—the Green Deer Power—and streams of boiling, blazing Fire Bird Qi rapidly fed back into and nourished his body.

Green and red radiance flowed across Chen Xuan's skin. His vital energy rapidly accumulated and gathered strength, repeatedly charging against the eight-thousand-jin limit of his body.

At the same time, the energy from the Treasure Tea Soup that had accumulated in his body during the day converged into the flow and joined the battlefield. Though it was not much, it was still a force that could not be underestimated.

"I'm going to break through the limit of my body and begin transforming."

Chen Xuan's body rapidly grew hot. Vast amounts of white mist poured from him, shrouding the entire cold little room in clouds and fog.

"Clang!"

A fine golden-white thread, glinting with metallic luster, emerged from his internal organs. Carrying impurities and turbid air, it pierced through his pores and danced in the mist, improving his frail, wretched old body.

"Whoosh!"

Immediately afterward, a green thread emerged from within. It was crystalline like green jade, dancing through the air. A third thread, scarlet like flame, followed close behind and burst from his body. Then, one after another, dazzling threads of Immortal Qi left his body, weaving and tangling together in the air.

Hundreds and thousands of fine Immortal Qi threads wove a dazzling Ascension Immortal Garment in the air.

At a certain moment.

A flawless Ascension Immortal Garment, chiefly white, green, and scarlet, with the remaining nine colors as accents, slowly descended from the air and covered Chen Xuan's well-proportioned, robust body.

Everything followed as naturally as water flowing into a channel.

"Whoosh..."

Chen Xuan's mind was Kong Ming, as though he were about to ascend to immortality. He sank into sleep.

His body was undergoing an ultimate sublimation, shedding its mortal husk and remolding its bones.

Darkness stretched without limit. No one knew how much time had passed.

Chen Xuan was awakened by faint sounds, and his eyelids twitched lightly.

In this darkest moment before dawn, when all things were silent, the tightly shut wooden door was pushed open.

Two different sets of footsteps crept inside.

"Senior Brother, I saw it clearly during the day. The seal script this man wrote definitely contains profundity. Even the old master who cooks the Treasure Tea Soup said it certainly came from some ancient scripture."

It was the voice of a young monk.

Chen Xuan recognized him. It was the one who had taken a kick from Monk Kong Wen and afterward stared at him for an entire afternoon with a chilling gaze full of deep apology. Chen Xuan had found it strange even then.

But the Ascetic Monks had stiff expressions and acted without the slightest order, each of them seeming like a madman. Although he had sensed something amiss at the time, he had not acted on it immediately.

"Junior Brother, this man underwent his second Ascension tonight!" another monk whispered.

"What are you afraid of? Half the brothers in this place have undergone their second Ascension. Aren't you one of them too?" the young monk sneered.

"But after doing this, we'll have to escape Hanging Temple..."

"Of course we have to escape! Just look at the monks in this temple. How many of them still seem like normal people..."

The young monk spoke resentfully as he felt his way toward the bed and carefully began rummaging through Chen Xuan's luggage.

"Hiss! There's a hairpin. This material... What a good thing!"

"..."

"Of course. I thought so too."

In the darkness, a faintly glowing palm reached out and gently lifted the hairpin from the young monk's hand.