Yu Ziqing walked along the path outside the village and stood amid the snowstorm. He tipped his head up slightly, watching the precious fireworks blooming across the distant sky. At that moment, he rather wanted to smoke a cigarette. It was purely because the atmosphere was right.
Old Yang had said more than once that cultivators had a high-risk profession, with a death rate far higher than that of mortals. Now, Yu Ziqing had seen it with his own eyes.
Cultivators capable of using escape arts and soaring across the Wasteland these days were at least Third Tier Qi Refiners. Second Tier cultivators could fly with the aid of certain special magical artifacts, but the expenditure was too great. They would not use them without need, and they certainly would not burn through their strength flying back and forth during a fight.
Cultivators who followed other paths were not much different.
Well, except Body Refiners—more precisely, pure Body Refiners.
Body Refiners who also practiced Qi Refining were similar to Qi Refiners, but pure Body Refiners had to reach at least the Fourth Tier before they could fly with the aid of certain Dharma Treasures. Even then, they were slower than sprinting across the ground themselves. To truly fly at a speed comparable to an escape art, they had to reach the Sixth Tier, and even that was only a possibility...
The reason the path of Body Refining was unpopular had something to do with it being comprehensive in every aspect.
Yu Ziqing had never been particularly obsessed with flying. He had always felt that when the strong flew, it was because they had the confidence to do so. When weaklings hopped around in the sky, they were more or less moving targets, which made people feel terribly insecure.
After watching outside for a while, until the fireworks show in the distance ended, Yu Ziqing silently estimated that at most, forty-eight Qi Refiners of at least the Third Tier had fallen in that clash.
Adding in the fact that the fireworks could still be seen shining through the heavy snow, and considering that his eyesight had improved considerably since he began Body Refining, the place where those people had fought was probably within two hundred miles of the mine.
That was very close.
Now that he had chosen Body Refining instead of continuing to be a weakling, it seemed somewhat wise in hindsight.
He could not gamble that the fight between those people would not affect the village. Still less could he gamble that, with things growing increasingly chaotic, no one would fish in troubled waters and target the village.
He turned and walked through the Abyss of Despair. Just as a new cycle began, when he brushed past that bait woman and the several cannibals, an inexplicable irritation welled up in his heart.
His body moved with his heart. He threw a punch, and the Blood Essence in his body began to surge on its own. The thick Yang energy mingled with the thread of restlessness that had risen in Yu Ziqing's heart, and the punch pierced straight through one of the cannibals.
In the past, they had always been illusory phantoms, completely untouchable. He could only watch them.
But today, Yu Ziqing clearly felt that when he threw that punch, he had truly touched something.
The cannibal he struck began to twist, as though it had failed to load properly. It stood frozen there, flickering nonstop, and the operation of the entire Abyss of Despair ground to a halt at that moment.
All the phantoms froze in place, utterly motionless.
Yu Ziqing was slightly stunned. He tried throwing a punch at another cannibal, but this time he felt nothing. His body passed through the phantom without affecting it in the slightest.
Yu Ziqing lowered his head and looked at his hands. He recalled the sensation of that casual punch and tried several more times, but there was still no reaction. He could no longer reproduce the feeling of that punch.
He turned and glanced at Cècè on the hillside. She stood where she was, yet unlike the phantoms, she had not frozen. She bowed to Yu Ziqing, as though she wanted to say something, but could not get the words out.
"Don't mention it. To be honest, I don't know how I did it either."
Yu Ziqing was in excellent spirits and waved from afar.
"Since there was a first time when I could affect how this place operates, there'll definitely be a next time—an even greater and stronger effect. Maybe once I get a little stronger, I'll be able to punch straight through this place and save you."
After he had said only a few words, the frozen phantoms began moving again. Everything returned to how it had been, and Cècè was dragged back in once more.
Yu Ziqing walked out of the Abyss of Despair, yet his mood had inexplicably improved quite a bit.
Even though he knew clearly that his ability to affect the Abyss of Despair probably had little to do with his Body Refining, Yu Ziqing still consoled himself.
Other cultivators definitely could not have done this at the Second Tier.
Three days later, a hundred miles east of the village, Great Li's Flame Cavalry stopped to rest in a sheltered spot.
The burly man leading them gulped down great mouthfuls of fiery liquor and glanced toward the west.
"If I remember correctly, this place isn't far from Jinlan Mine, is it?"
A young soldier beside him took a scroll from his sleeve and flicked his hand lightly. The scroll unfurled and floated in midair. On the map, a point of light was flashing. It marked their current location.
"My lord, head west by southwest for another hundred miles, and we'll reach Jinlan Mine. Should we make a detour there?"
The burly man shot his aide a sidelong glance.
"Have you people from the Shadow Division figured out what Great Qian needs Jinlan Ore for?"
The young soldier's identity had been exposed, but his expression did not change. He answered calmly, "No. We secretly acquired some of Great Qian's newly made magical artifacts, talismans, formation disks, formation flags, and even some pills.
"But the people from Lihuo Academy only discovered small amounts of Jinlan Ore in some low-grade magical artifacts. In the higher-grade items, they found not the slightest trace of Jinlan Ore.
"They reached the conclusion long ago that although Jinlan Ore was rare, its properties made it suitable only as a Third Tier metal material. Moreover, only certain flying-sword Dharma Treasures could receive a slight enhancement from it."
The Shadow Division was clearly Great Li's equivalent of Great Qian's Imperial Guard, while Lihuo Academy was likewise the counterpart to Great Qian's Langya Academy.
This Shadow Division spy had been planted beside the burly man. Everyone knew it perfectly well. Now that he had been questioned, the spy simply shifted the blame to Lihuo Academy. After all, the people of the Shadow Division were not responsible for researching things.
The burly man understood perfectly. He curled his lips, looking rather disdainful.
Everyone knew that Lihuo Academy was inferior to Great Qian's Langya Academy, and everyone admitted it. But most of the time, the Shadow Division was on par with Great Qian's Imperial Guard.
What he had asked was whether the Shadow Division had discovered anything while investigating Great Qian. If they had not, then they had not. Why was the man both flaunting his achievements and shirking responsibility here?
Places like Jinlan Mine were not unique. This one merely occupied a special geographical position.
Great Qian was wealthy and extravagant. Whenever they discovered any material or anything else, they would take it back for study. If they could not find a use for it right away, or if there was a better, cheaper, and more abundant substitute, they would still keep it in reserve. Who knew whether they might make a new discovery in the future?
Great Li, however, did not have that kind of wealth. Trapped between Great Zhen and Great Qian, it was already suffering enough. With various internal and external factors intertwined over the years, the national treasury had grown increasingly empty. It could no longer withstand spending money recklessly.
The idea of not following behind Great Qian and letting it lead them around by the nose had more or less become mainstream throughout Great Li.
The burly man generally agreed with that idea, but he did not quite agree that Jinlan Mine should be included in it. The mine sat in a relatively rare semi-Blessed Land, with one part connected to the Wasteland and another existing independently.
Strange Power also bred within it. It could be considered a worthless Blessed Land unsuitable for cultivation and development. Places like this could not be utilized, but the materials they produced were usually rather rare.
Even if the price was now higher, the output scarce, and it could only be used in some low-grade magical artifacts, who knew whether a new discovery might be made in the future?
To abandon it just like that—the person who made such a decision was truly an idiot.
The burly man was indignant, but he also knew that he had little say in such matters. The higher-ups trusted him to lead troops into battle, but when it came to anything else, he had no authority. Speaking up would only make people laugh, and he could not beat to death everyone who laughed at him.
He glanced at the Shadow Division spy beside him and pointed toward Jinlan Mine.
"We're passing right by it. Judging by the timing, people from Great Qian may well be active nearby too. Go scout the road and see whether you find anything."
It was only a scouting mission, so the spy had no way to refuse. He had been planted here, and everyone knew it, but his public identity was merely that of an ordinary attendant. If the general leading the troops gave him an order and he refused to obey, being beaten to death would be his own fault.
The spy had no choice but to accept the order. His body shrank, and he slowly transformed into a phantom before sinking into the ground and vanishing.
The burly man furrowed his brows slightly. He truly could not bring himself to like these fellows who walked in the shadows.
"We'll keep moving. Let's see whether we can earn the troops a little military merit."
A moment later, the squad had gone far away. Wisps of phantoms emerged where they had been and formed the shape of the spy. He crawled out of the ground, took out a pen, and began writing in a small notebook he carried with him.
"General Gongze is particularly concerned with the Wasteland's Jinlan Mine and, just as rumored, has an extremely poor opinion of our Shadow Division..."
After finishing his entry, the spy marked the time and place, put away the notebook, transformed into a phantom once more, and headed toward Jinlan Mine.
He could record one complaint against the general, but orders still had to be carried out...
After traveling all the way to the vicinity of Jinlan Mine, the spy suddenly stopped in the distance. From within a patch of shadow, he revealed a pair of eyes and looked toward the southeast.
A deathly silent procession was trekking across the snow, treading over the snow like ghosts without making a sound. Everyone wore white robes with hoods obscuring their faces. At the front, one person held a white lantern that floated three inches above the ground, leading the procession onward.
Suddenly, the procession came to a halt. With a whoosh, the white lantern in the leader's hand flared with a ball of white fire. The lantern slowly rotated, and the large character "Condolences" upon it turned to face the spy's hiding place.
The deathly silent procession seemed to come alive in that instant. Frenzied roars exploded through the icy wind.
"When the Red Sun's tribulation ends, the White Yang shall rise."
The howling wind and snow seemed to be suppressed. The white radiance blooming from the lantern rapidly illuminated everything around it, causing the gloomy world to brighten abruptly.
At the same time, the shadow concealing the spy was illuminated as well, exposing his body.
That group of ghostlike figures strode through the wind and snow and swiftly surrounded him.
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