Across the Chaos Stone Wasteland, a foul wind swept through as blood mist filled the air.
The scarlet fire-element energy around Qin Yu had long since surged to its limit. His clothes had been torn in several places by the Gale Wolves' claws, and his body bore several wounds of varying depth. Blood seeped from claw marks deep enough to expose bone, trickling down his skin and dripping onto the barren rocks, where it spread into small crimson stains. Yet his eyes only grew brighter as the battle continued, his fighting spirit blazing like a wildfire, not diminished in the slightest by his injuries.
Just then, a sudden burst of pain shot through Qin Yu's shoulder. A cunning Gale Wolf had seized the moment while he was locked in battle with another wolf, pouncing from behind and to the side. Its sharp fangs sank into his shoulder with such force that they nearly crushed his shoulder blade.
"Ugh!" Qin Yu grunted and swung a fist back, sending the Gale Wolf flying. But the wound in his shoulder had been torn wider, and blood gushed out. Even the fire-element energy around him fell into slight disarray. He felt his strength draining rapidly, while waves of pain from the wound slowed his movements.
As Qin Yu gritted his teeth and prepared to force himself to keep fighting, a pale blue, teardrop-shaped crystal hidden beneath his clothes suddenly began to glow faintly against his chest. Then, streams of warm, jade-like liquid quietly seeped from the Meteor Tear and flowed across his skin to the wounds scattered over his body.
The liquid was astonishingly wondrous. The moment it touched a wound, the torn flesh began to heal at a visible pace. Bleeding wounds quickly scabbed over, then the scabs fell away. Even the claw marks deep enough to expose bone began to sprout new flesh under the liquid's nourishment. Most of the pain vanished in an instant. The disordered fire-element energy also steadied under the liquid's influence, becoming even more refined than before.
Qin Yu's heart skipped a beat. He instinctively reached for the Meteor Tear on his chest, his eyes full of astonishment. This Meteor Tear really did possess an incredible power!
"Such a miraculous effect from the Meteor Tear?" Qin Yu marveled inwardly. Warmth welled in his heart, and the fatigue brought on by his injuries quietly faded under the Meteor Tear's nourishment. He clenched his fist, feeling strength flood back into his body—more than he'd had before he was wounded. His past training had been like a flower in a greenhouse, without pain or hardship...
Hundreds, even thousands, of Gale Wolves continued to charge forward in wave after wave. Their dense blue shadows nearly swallowed Qin Yu whole. Every Gale Wolf was incredibly fast. With wind-element spiritual energy swirling around them, they lunged, bit, and launched surprise attacks at astonishing speed. An ordinary Xiantian expert would likely have been unable to hold out by now.
At first, Qin Yu had relied on brute force, crushing them with his blazing flames. But there were simply too many Gale Wolves, and they were too fast. No matter how fiercely his flames burned, some wolves always slipped through and attacked. Now that the Meteor Tear could heal his injuries, he no longer needed to worry about getting hurt. His reservations vanished completely, and his master Yun Ce's words came unbidden to mind—fast and slow combined: the ultimate essence of the Heaven-Reaching Chart lay within this desperate struggle for survival.
He instinctively reined in some of his raging flames and stopped relying on all-out attacks. Instead, he circulated the Heaven-Reaching Chart's cultivation method, and his body suddenly grew light.
He took a step that seemed slow but was actually fast, appearing sluggish even as he narrowly evaded a Gale Wolf's lethal claw.
He threw a punch that seemed fast but was actually slow. The blow looked fierce, yet at the instant it touched the wolf's body, it deflected the wind's force at a strange angle before erupting with power.
Fast within slow, slow concealed within fast.
Moving like thunder, still as the depths of an abyss.
The aura around Qin Yu quietly underwent a complete transformation.
His once-raging, scorching fire-element energy gained a touch of graceful fluidity and profound mystery. He wove through the wolf pack, now moving as fast as an afterimage and leaving no trace to follow, now standing motionless amid howling winds, as steady as a mountain.
He toyed with the Gale Wolves with ease, then struck them down with precise blows.
In the distance, Yun Ce stood with his hands behind his back. His gaze fell on the faintly glowing Meteor Tear at Qin Yu's chest, and a trace of understanding flashed through his eyes. Then his expression returned to calm, though a hint of approval touched his lips.
"The Meteor Tear left behind by God King Zuo Qiumei truly lives up to its reputation. It saves me quite a bit of trouble," Yun Ce thought. "Good. With it protecting him, Qin Yu can fight for his life without holding back and comprehend the Way of Fast and Slow."
"Xiao Hei, go help Yu'er." Yun Ce had seen the worry in Xiao Hei's eyes.
At those words, Xiao Hei could no longer hold back. He spread his wings and shot into the fray like a streak of black light. His iron claws were sharp, and wind blades slashed through the air. With every dive, a Gale Wolf fell howling to the ground. The wolf pack, already thrown into disarray by Qin Yu's mastery of fast and slow, collapsed in an instant.
A Gale Wolf far larger than the others, with deep blue-green fur and an incredibly savage aura, let out an unwilling howl toward the sky. It was a demon king, comparable to a Xiantian Great Perfection expert, and the soul of the pack. Seeing its kin slaughtered, madness flashed in its eyes. It charged at Qin Yu without regard for its own life, gathering wind-element spiritual energy around itself into an incredibly sharp blade, intent on taking him down with it.
"Leave the leader to me."
Qin Yu's gaze sharpened. He stepped forward, bringing the Way of Fast and Slow to its utmost, and vanished from where he stood.
In the next instant, he appeared behind the Gale Wolf leader. His scarlet fire-element energy fused perfectly with the Heaven-Reaching Chart's aura. The punch he threw looked plain and simple, yet held peerless force honed through life-and-death struggles. It smashed into the wolf leader's skull.
Crack—
The sound of breaking bone rang clear.
The Gale Wolf leader's massive body crashed to the ground, utterly lifeless.
Seeing their leader dead, the pack lost the last of its fighting spirit. They whimpered and scattered in every direction, disappearing among the rocks of the wasteland in the blink of an eye.
At last, the battlefield fell silent, leaving only wolf carcasses scattered across the ground and a faint smell of blood.
Qin Yu panted heavily, drenched in blood—some from the wolves, some his own, though his old wounds had already scabbed over. Yet as he stood there, his aura was several times stronger than before, his gaze deeper and his bearing transformed. He reached for the Meteor Tear on his chest again. The pendant had returned to stillness, as if the miraculous scene had never happened, but his injuries had truly healed.
Yun Ce walked over and looked Qin Yu over, nodding slightly.
"Well done. In this battle, you've touched upon the truth of fast and slow. With the aid of a treasure as well, you've gained quite the opportunity."
Qin Yu bowed, gratitude filling his eyes. "It's all thanks to your guidance, Master—and the Meteor Tear's help. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to hold out, much less grasp the essence of the Heaven-Reaching Chart."
"This place isn't safe to linger. Though the wolf pack has retreated, it might attract even stronger demon beasts."
Yun Ce raised a hand and swept it through the air. A beam of pale golden spiritual light spilled from his fingertips, becoming an invisible barrier that covered an area dozens of yards across. A sturdy ward took shape, completely cutting off the outside world's aura.
"This place will be safe for now. Next, I'll teach you the Heaven-Reaching Chart's final mystery and help you cultivate this art to perfection."
Qin Yu's heart stirred. He immediately sat cross-legged, composed himself, and focused without the slightest distraction.
"The Heaven-Reaching Chart divides yin and yang, holds fast and slow, and conceals life and death.
"Fast is the speed of attack, the swiftness of evasion, and the sharpness of tearing through space.
"Slow is the steadiness of defense, the depth of stored power, and the stillness of comprehending the Dao.
"Fast without slow is like duckweed with no roots, scattered by a single surge.
"Slow without fast is like rotten wood and stubborn stone, without the slightest edge."
Yun Ce's voice was calm, yet every word was profound, sinking straight into the depths of Qin Yu's mind.
"In your cultivation before, you focused only on strength and speed, neglecting how fast and slow give rise to each other. Now, follow my method and open the 108 energy channels in your body one by one. Let them take shape on the surface of your body."
Qin Yu followed the instructions and circulated the cultivation method. His spiritual energy surged through him like a great river, following a route unlike any he had taken before. Each circulation opened another energy channel, and an incomparably profound power awakened deep within his body. The warm liquid left behind by the Meteor Tear also flowed slowly through him, helping open the channels and making the entire process much smoother.
Gradually, slender pillars of energy appeared around his body.
One, two, ten, a hundred...
The 108 pillars of energy slowly flowed over the surface of his body, weaving together, winding around one another, and merging. At last, they formed a simple yet profound pale golden armor, brimming with power and encasing him completely.
The armor's patterns seemed to have formed naturally. Each one corresponded to a mystery of the Heaven-Reaching Chart, radiating an aura that made the heart tremble.
The instant the 108 pillars of energy coalesced into armor—
Hum—
A vast, ancient aura descended, surpassing even the Great Wilderness.
The ground beneath Qin Yu silently split open. A complex teleportation array, shimmering with seven-colored spiritual light, slowly emerged. Its patterns swirled as divine light shot into the sky. It locked onto Qin Yu, clad in energy armor, while Yun Ce and Black Eagle beside him were also enveloped by the vast aura. Faint spiritual light rose around them, subtly answering the teleportation array's glow.
The array's patterns swirled, divine light shot into the sky, and it locked directly onto Qin Yu, clad in energy armor.
"It worked."
Yun Ce's heart leaped with joy, but he forced himself to remain calm. He glanced at Xiao Hei beside him, then at Qin Yu, and said, "This teleportation array leads to one of Lei Wei's hidden abodes. It's a rare opportunity, so Xiao Hei and I will go with you."
The Heaven-Reaching Chart was complete, the energy armor had appeared, and the teleportation array had opened. Even he and Black Eagle could enter it. Everything was going more smoothly than expected.
It was all unfolding exactly as he knew it would.
Qin Yu felt an irresistible force envelop him. He saw Yun Ce calmly step into the teleportation array, and Black Eagle follow close behind on beating wings. He quickly steadied himself and let the force draw him into place within the array.
"Master!" Qin Yu looked at Yun Ce beside him, his voice carrying excitement and anticipation of the unknown.
He instinctively tried to speak, only to discover that no sound came out.
"Don't be alarmed. Just come with me," Yun Ce's warm yet powerful voice reached Qin Yu clearly through the array's spiritual light. "There's an enormous opportunity waiting for you in the hidden abode..."
The seven-colored light flared, enveloping Qin Yu, Yun Ce, and Black Eagle. As the light swirled, the three of them were swallowed by the teleportation array and vanished without a trace.
Only the teleportation array remained on the Chaos Stone Wasteland, fading little by little. A moment later, it disappeared completely, and the ground returned to normal, as though the array had never appeared.
Amid the teleportation array's spiritual light, Yun Ce remained calm, already making plans in his mind. At Thunder Mountain Residence, he would obtain the incomplete Stellar Transformations cultivation method. With only a little guidance, he could help Qin Yu break through the limits of the technique.
Lei Wei's Thunder Mountain Residence. It would automatically draw blood to recognize its master, and the Stellar Transformations cultivation method would soon fall into Qin Yu's hands. Though incomplete, its so-called limits were no more than a thin sheet of paper to someone like Yun Ce, who knew the entire cultivation method from beginning to end.
And once Qin Yu embarked on the path of Stellar Transformations, his system would be triggered again.
Once Qin Yu formed his Golden Core, Yun Ce could use the system's power to break straight into the Void-Piercing Realm!
The Nascent Soul barrier could be shattered in a single day.
Yun Ce took a deep breath, suppressing his excitement, and gazed into the deeper reaches of the Great Wilderness, his eyes distant.
"The Hidden Dragon Continent can no longer hold us back."
"Qin Yu, once you obtain the inheritance and cultivate the art, I'll take you and Xiao Hei on a true journey through this world. Step by step, we'll climb to the supreme Dao."
Before you continue