Sunlight spilled down from the heavens, renewing the world.
As the yang energy grew stronger, Yuan Tianzong opened his eyes. He awoke and sat up, feeling refreshed all over. His powerful body's self-repair had pleased him. With this as a foundation, perhaps practicing the breathing technique could truly let him become a Great Sage of the flesh one day.
Yuan Tianzong took out his phone to check the time. He had slept for three days.
Crackle.
As he awoke, his spirit stirred from its peaceful slumber, and wisps of lightning appeared around him.
He still hadn't fully mastered the spiritual power that had surged after refining the divine smoke. Yuan Tianzong immediately sat cross-legged and entered a state of meditation.
He had yet to learn a method of spiritual cultivation, so he could only rely on the simplest training to master his newfound spiritual power.
As it happened, he was already training in the fine control of his true qi, imitating the white marks in the Nameless Scripture. Controlling true qi centered on the spirit; drawing a circle with his left hand and a square with his right required him to divide his attention. The two had something in common, so he could practice them together.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
With a thought, over a thousand pebbles rose into the air inside the wooden cabin.
Compared with his first attempt to imitate the white marks, when he divided his attention to control true qi around more than four hundred pebbles, the number had now grown to over a thousand.
After adapting for a moment, Yuan Tianzong found his control had improved tremendously. He could handle over a thousand pebbles with ease. That was the benefit of his surging spiritual power.
His spirit expanded beyond the wooden cabin.
Bone lifted his head in the courtyard. Within a radius of three hundred meters, countless pebbles rose into the air, making quite a spectacular sight.
A smile lifted the corners of Yuan Tianzong's mouth. Fifteen thousand pebbles. Not bad!
Under his control, the fifteen thousand pebbles flew along all kinds of paths within range.
A sharp crack rang out, and his smile faded.
More pebbles collided with one another and burst into powder.
He sighed softly. All the pebbles fell to the ground. His control was still lacking; he couldn't guide more than ten thousand pebbles along their separate paths with perfect precision.
"Not good enough."
If anyone else had heard him say that, they would have had complicated feelings.
That was not good enough?
After stretching, Yuan Tianzong walked out of the wooden cabin.
Bone immediately rushed over, clutching the Jade box and looking excited.
Seeing this, Yuan Tianzong immediately realized what had happened and asked tentatively, "The seed reacted?"
Bone nodded.
"Ha, let me see!" Yuan Tianzong hadn't expected the incense ash to make a withered, exotic seed react. Its origins were mysterious. If it could truly come back to life, sprout, and bloom, who knew what it might produce?
He lifted the lid and peered intently into the incense ash.
The Dao seed was buried deep inside.
He gathered true qi at his fingertip and gently brushed away the incense ash covering it, revealing the Dao seed.
A glint appeared in his eyes.
Sure enough, the Dao seed had changed. Bone hadn't been mistaken.
Before, the Dao seed had been completely withered, surrounded by an aura of death. Its surface was covered in cracked seed casing, and it had looked shriveled and ugly.
Now, after just three days buried in incense ash, it had changed. A faint spark of life was taking shape, its shriveled parts beginning to plump up, and new skin had grown beneath the cracked casing.
Looking closely, he saw a few unusual patterns forming on the surface around the embryo. They were far too small and short—only a few millimeters long—to tell what the complete design might look like.
"Good, good, good!"
Yuan Tianzong covered it with incense ash again.
"Bone, you've done well this time. I'll look for some powerful Molting Beasts in Wangwu Mountain and hunt down a few to make you a pelvis."
"Rattle!" Bone beamed with joy, expressing its gratitude.
"Senior Yuan."
A voice came from outside the wall. It was Xue Ding.
"Come in."
Xue Ding walked in carrying a box. The scent of meat wafted from it. He hadn't forgotten his earlier promise—to cook for Yuan Tianzong.
Though Yuan Tianzong hadn't said how long he expected him to do it, Xue Ding felt that Yuan Tianzong had helped him enormously. Even cooking for him every day wouldn't repay the debt. He had come by every day over the past few days, and when he learned Yuan Tianzong was asleep, he had left on his own.
"Senior Yuan, these steamed buns are from the Celestial Master Temple cafeteria. They taste pretty good. Please try some."
The vegetarian buns were indeed delicious, and Yuan Tianzong ate several in a row.
During the meal, he noticed that Xue Ding had also obtained divine smoke. His spirit had awakened, and his bearing had changed considerably.
"How many wisps of divine smoke did you withstand?" Yuan Tianzong asked.
"Twelve wisps."
"Only twelve?"
Xue Ding smiled wryly. "Naturally, I can't compare to you, Senior Yuan."
Nobody knew exactly how many wisps of divine smoke Yuan Tianzong had obtained. Before anyone had even discovered some of the incense ash and strange soil containing divine smoke, he had already arrived and taken an unknown number of wisps.
However, according to information released by certain people, Yuan Tianzong had obtained at least forty wisps.
That was already an astonishing number. Compared with the prodigies and old monsters reported online from all over the world, he was among the leaders. It was terrifying.
"Twelve wisps is already quite a lot. You condensed an incense cauldron."
Speaking of this, Yuan Tianzong asked the question that had been on his mind. The divine smoke had given rise to four divine platforms in his spiritual realm. Such a special situation had to mean something.
"What does an incense cauldron do?"
Xue Ding looked startled. "You don't know, Senior Yuan?"
"I don't."
Xue Ding nodded. He had assumed that Yuan Tianzong, who had worked so hard to gather divine smoke, knew what it was for.
"Senior Yuan, not long ago, one of the ancient Great Sects announced that these secret treasures condensed from divine smoke possess the power to perceive traces of immortality. That's why factions, prodigies, and old monsters everywhere are fighting so hard for divine smoke, struggling to withstand more of its impact."
"Traces of immortality?" Yuan Tianzong looked up, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
He had seen that term in an ancient book.
According to the book, traces of immortality were the indestructible traces left behind by certain powerful beings in a distant era. Though those beings had died, their traces never faded.
It was like the lasting achievements left behind by certain emperors. Though the emperors had passed away, their traces remained for generations, revered by those who came after.
"I heard that a prodigy from a Noble Family has already comprehended some mysterious traces through his condensed incense cauldron. Phantom beasts often appear outside the courtyard where he's in seclusion, and their might is immense!"
"Is that really true?"
"Of course. There's no proof, but news like this doesn't just appear out of thin air."
"Divine smoke, divine incense, divine cauldrons, divine platforms. I hear the more divine smoke you have, the more powerful the traces of immortality you can perceive."
Yuan Tianzong was delighted, though his expression remained calm.
He had four divine platforms in his spiritual realm. Perhaps he could perceive traces of immortality too.
"That freak has to be in that courtyard!"
"We've searched day and night for days, and we've finally found a clue!"
"I've been studying the tortures used throughout history for days. Today, I'll teach that freak a lesson!"
"I'm so excited! I'll finally get my revenge!"
"The lump on my head still hurts. I want to see what weapon he uses—how does he make hitting people hurt so much?"
The noisy voices came from beyond the wooden wall.
Yuan Tianzong and Xue Ding both turned to look.
Just then, someone kicked the gate open.
"Bone Demon, I've been looking all over for you. Today, I'll tear your bones apart—"
The speaker's voice had been loud and excited, but it quickly dwindled to a weak mumble, devoid of confidence.
Everyone crowding at the gate fell silent as if their tongues had been cut out. They stared at Yuan Tianzong in shock.
A refiner?!
Why was he here?!
We're done for. We've made a huge mistake!
Sweat beaded on everyone's foreheads and ran down their faces in exaggerated rivulets. Someone was so frightened he wet himself. His legs trembled violently, and his vision went black as he nearly fainted.
Yuan Tianzong's brow gradually furrowed. He was about to speak.
Thump!
Someone dropped to his knees with a thump, pulled out a square jade box, and said in a trembling voice, "Lord White Bone, seeing how you've been digging up incense ash day after day, you must really love it. I brought you some, hoping you'll like it!"
The others, who had already seen the "road to the underworld," brightened and hurriedly took out their own incense ash, offering it with aching reluctance.
Yuan Tianzong looked at Bone with an amused glint in his eyes. Bone, you sure have a lot of friends. So many people are bringing you such priceless treasures.
Bone tilted its head, a little confused, but still hurried forward to collect all the incense ash. Seeing the still-swollen lumps on everyone's heads, it thought they were wonderful people. They were returning good for evil. It regretted having hit them before.
"Lord White Bone, Lord Refiner, if there's nothing else, we won't disturb you. Goodbye! Goodbye!"
Seeing that Yuan Tianzong said nothing, the group felt as though they'd been pardoned. They hurriedly turned and fled in a sorry state.
Once they were far from this "land of death," everyone gasped for breath as if they had returned from the brink of death. They felt like they'd just walked past King Yama.
"Damn it! Can anyone tell me why that Bone Demon and the refiner are on the same side? We basically showed up and handed them our heads. What idiots!"
"With a bandit king backing him, no wonder he's so skilled at hitting people!"
Someone spread his hands, plopped down on the ground, and wailed, "We didn't get our incense ash back, and we even gave away the little we had left. Aaaah!"
"Come on, at least we're alive. Chen Liang, we owe you one. If you hadn't thought so quickly and knelt down to offer the incense ash, we'd probably all have been refined!"
"Yeah, we have Chen Liang to thank!"
"Who knew you'd think so fast under pressure? You've got a bright future!"
"Exactly. Good thing you reacted quickly!"
Chen Liang could only smile wryly as everyone praised him.
It wasn't that he'd reacted quickly. His legs had simply given out and gone weak. Ahem.
Someone struck an optimistic note. "Come to think of it, we actually survived an encounter with the refiner. That's worth bragging about, right?"
"Brag about what? Don't tell anyone. It's humiliating. We looked like a bunch of morons."
"Exactly, let's keep it to ourselves. It's embarrassing."
"That lump on my head really hurts. Sigh."
"That lump might've been infected by yin energy. I should get Master to exorcise it when I get back."
Before you continue