The Past

No wonder women were such a vengeful lot.

Cao Ying knew Song Qing admired her. She had brought him here to give Ling Xi a hard time.

"Ying'er..."

Seeing Cao Ying act this way, Song Qing's heart burned with passion. He was just about to say something when a sudden tremor shook the ground beneath his feet, making him stagger.

"Did that come from inside this room?"

Cao Ying looked just as astonished.

With her keen soul power, she could clearly sense a violent surge of energy coming from inside the room.

The next moment, thick layers of dark clouds suddenly gathered across the blue sky above the Pill Tower.

Gales swept through everything around them, filling the air with a terrifying wail.

The changes in the world had happened in the blink of an eye, and every powerful figure in the Pill Tower sensed them at once.

"What are you two doing here?"

Just as Song Qing and Cao Ying stood at a loss, Xuan Kongzi suddenly appeared beside them.

"Teacher!"

"President!"

Cao Ying and Song Qing jolted and bowed to Xuan Kongzi almost simultaneously.

Xuan Kongzi gave a slight nod, but his attention was fixed entirely on Ling Xi's room. His eyes held astonishment, curiosity, and even disbelief.

"Teacher, what exactly is...?"

Noticing his expression, Cao Ying's eyes shifted as she asked in confusion.

"A heavenly phenomenon... I haven't seen one in a long time."

Xuan Kongzi fell silent for a moment, then couldn't help sighing.

"A heavenly phenomenon?"

Cao Ying and Song Qing exchanged a glance, both seeing an incredulous look in the other's eyes.

As everyone knew, heavenly phenomena on the Dou Qi Continent usually arose under one of three circumstances.

The first was the birth of a high-grade pill, though such phenomena were often accompanied by pill lightning.

The second was when someone reached an extraordinarily high level of strength, and their every move naturally stirred up a heavenly phenomenon.

The third was the creation of a Heavenly Rank cultivation method or Dou Technique.

"Teacher, are you sure this is a heavenly phenomenon?"

Cao Ying couldn't help asking.

"I saw one when I was young. This is indeed a heavenly phenomenon."

Xuan Kongzi nodded slightly. He understood how Cao Ying and Song Qing felt at that moment.

Truthfully, even he found it hard to believe.

"But... but Ling Xi in that room is only a Da Dou Shi."

Song Qing murmured as he stared at the closed door.

"How could a Da Dou Shi stir up a heavenly phenomenon? What a joke!"

Song Qing would sooner die than believe that a Da Dou Shi could provoke a heavenly phenomenon.

Then what did that make him, a Dou Emperor? Had all his years of cultivation amounted to nothing?

"Though it's hard to believe, this is indeed a heavenly phenomenon."

Xuan Kongzi gave a wry smile.

"In my judgment, this sort of heavenly phenomenon appears when a Heavenly Rank cultivation method or Dou Technique is created."

As one of the Pill Tower's three giants and an Eighth-grade Alchemist, Xuan Kongzi's knowledge and experience far surpassed that of youngsters like Song Qing and Cao Ying.

"Normally, the reappearance of a Heavenly Rank cultivation method or Dou Technique wouldn't cause any kind of phenomenon."

"Unless... unless someone created a Heavenly Rank cultivation method or Dou Technique themselves. Only then could it possibly stir up a heavenly phenomenon."

Xuan Kongzi's expression was extraordinarily complicated.

He knew Ling You and Ling Xi's backgrounds. They came from the Ling Clan, one of the Ancient Races.

The foundations of an Ancient Race were far beyond what an ordinary faction could match.

Xuan Kongzi could accept it if Ling You had truly given Ling Xi one or two Heavenly Rank cultivation methods or Dou Techniques to study.

But the situation before them clearly indicated that someone had created a Heavenly Rank cultivation method or Dou Technique. Otherwise, it would never have stirred up such a heavenly phenomenon.

"W-wait... someone created a Heavenly Rank cultivation method or Dou Technique?"

Song Qing's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He looked as though he'd seen a ghost.

Cao Ying bit her red lip, equally unable to believe it.

"Boom!"

Just then, lightning flashed and thunder roared across the sky, which had been shrouded in dark clouds.

At the same time, the starry sky above the Pill Tower blazed with light.

Xuan Kongzi could clearly sense the vast amount of Spiritual Qi drifting through the Pill Tower Starry Sky being forcibly drawn into the room before them by a terrifying Devouring Power.

"To stir up such a phenomenon as a Da Dou Shi, Ling Xi's future achievements will certainly be extraordinary."

Xuan Kongzi gazed at the room, his eyes shifting as he wondered what to make of it all.

Many powerful figures in Sacred Pill City noticed the phenomenon above the Pill Tower, but after a few glances, they couldn't be bothered to pay it any more attention.

After all, this was the Pill Tower. There were plenty of Eighth-grade Alchemists, and even Ninth-grade Alchemists.

Besides, the phenomenon looked much like one caused by refining a high-grade pill, so it didn't attract much attention.

An invisible ripple of soul power suddenly spread out from the room.

As the ripple expanded, the thick black clouds overhead stopped churning and slowly dispersed.

The starry sky above the Pill Tower also dimmed.

When the last of the black clouds had cleared, sunlight once again fell upon the Pill Tower.

"Is it over?"

Looking at the clear sky outside, Cao Ying asked uncertainly.

"Probably... right?"

Song Qing opened his mouth, his tone just as uncertain.

Xuan Kongzi, however, said nothing. Instead, he watched the door to Ling Xi's room with a look of anticipation.

"Creak."

A moment later, the doorframe let out a crisp sound.

As the three of them watched, the door slowly swung open, and a powerful ripple of soul energy surged out from the room.

Under the impact of that soul energy, Cao Ying and Song Qing's expressions changed drastically, and they both ducked behind Xuan Kongzi.

Xuan Kongzi's brow twitched. He immediately swept his sleeve outward.

"Bang!"

Their soul powers collided violently in midair. Even space shuddered, and a thin, pitch-black crack quietly spread through it.

"Your soul power has reached..."

Xuan Kongzi's pupils contracted slightly, but before he could finish speaking, Ling Xi walked out of the room and cut him off.

"Senior Xuan Kongzi, some things are best kept to yourself. Saying them aloud would be rather discouraging."

Ling Xi stepped out of the room. After more than a month in seclusion, he looked no different from before.

Only his eyes had become exceptionally bright, and deep within his pupils, something seemed to float.

"Senior Xuan Kongzi, what did you need me for?"

Ling Xi paid no attention to Cao Ying and Song Qing. His gaze rested solely on Xuan Kongzi.

Their eyes met, and Xuan Kongzi felt as though Ling Xi's eyes had completely captivated his gaze.

Even at his level of cultivation, he lost focus for a brief moment.