Xu Changtian

"Continue."

"You can start again."

"There isn't much time left."

"Don't just stand there, I'm awake, continue."

"."

There was no sound, no conversation.

In this cramped cave dwelling embedded deep within the mountain, the only noise was the calm reminder from Xu Yuan each time he woke from the brink of death.

And every time Xu Yuan's voice rang out, it grew a fraction weaker.

With Ran Qingmo waking Xu Yuan from his stupor ahead of time, the duration between waking from the brink of death had shrunk from about two hours to less than half an hour.

Transmitting energy to heal wounds allowed one to use another's Qi to mend their own body.

However, the Qi transmitted into one's body by another was, in the end, not one's own.

Every time energy was transmitted for healing, it left behind residues of the other person's Qi within one's own meridians.

Under circumstances where time was abundant, this was a good thing.

As one practiced their own arts, they could slowly refine this residual Qi left by others to use for themselves, thereby increasing their own cultivation.

But, transmitting energy too many times within a short period would cause the residual Qi in the body to undergo a qualitative change, creating a nearly incurable hidden ailment.

Ran Qingmo had explained the pros and cons to Xu Yuan, but Xu Yuan did not care.

Being able to shorten the time to reach the brink of death from two hours to half an hour was already more than enough for him.

This was a good thing; it meant he would have more opportunities to adapt to the state of near-death, making more preparations for the final cultivation of the Blood Origin Heart-Meteor Art.

Time slipped away quietly amidst this repeated lingering on the edge of death.

Five times, Ten times, Twenty times, Thirty times.

With his consciousness constantly cycling before the endless darkness of death, Xu Yuan had already forgotten how many times he had entered this near-death state with her help.

He slowly opened his eyes.

By the faint light emitted from the night-luminescent pearl on the stone wall, what met his eyes was the woman's clear and flawless face, as well as the thin layer of ice radiating a chilling aura covering his own body.

"Master Ran."

His voice was weak and trembling, but this also meant that Xu Yuan was now able to steady his mind, and even speak, while in such a near-death state.

Ran Qingmo silently raised her eyes to look at him, her serene pupils filled with a complex expression:

"Speak."

Covered in ice crystals, Xu Yuan struggled to keep his tone steady:

"How... how much longer until the formation outside disappears?"

Ran Qingmo closed her eyes to sense it, and after a long moment, she said softly:

"About two days left."

"Two days left."

Xu Yuan sighed slightly.

Time was still too tight; even disregarding the hidden ailments in his body and risking his life, it had still taken about three days just to complete the third step.

Although there was little time remaining, being anxious would not serve any purpose; the preparatory work had to be done, even if only once.

Moreover, Xu Yuan believed that since the Prime Minister's eldest son had realized he was cultivating, he likely wouldn't risk breaking through the wall and causing his younger brother to suffer from Qi deviation.

At this point, he could only gamble.

After a long silence, Xu Yuan said tremblingly:

"For the next day, I... I will begin to circulate my cultivation art. If I suffer from Qi deviation, I... I leave it to you."

Ran Qingmo nodded in silence.

Looking at her solemn eyes, Xu Yuan smiled faintly:

"Master Ran, I will officially begin cultivation after one day; remember to remind me."

"Mm, alright."

The first time circulating the art while in a near-death state was far more difficult than Xu Yuan had anticipated.

It was not because his consciousness could not focus, but because there was simply too much of Ran Qingmo's source Qi remaining in his body.

The countless times she had transmitted energy to heal him over these past few days had caused the meridians in Xu Yuan's body to almost take on the shape of Ran Qingmo's own.

His body's natural talent was poor to begin with.

The blockage in every one of his meridians was comparable to a goat path, and now, these narrow paths were further congested by the icy blue origin qi belonging to Ran Qingmo.

Those residual icy blue wisps of origin qi crawled across the inner walls of every meridian within his body.

Under such circumstances, it was an arduous struggle for Xu Yuan to guide his own remaining origin qi along the circulation path of his cultivation technique.

Upon sensing this, Xu Yuan did not experience any significant emotional fluctuation.

He held fast to the motto he had always believed in:

If you encounter a problem, you solve the problem.

If the meridians in his body had become narrower, he would simply be more cautious when guiding the origin qi forward.

If the time required to complete one cycle of the technique had grown longer, he would simply force himself to maintain a clear consciousness for longer while in his near-death state.

A day passed in a flash.

Waking up from his coma once again, the first thing Xu Yuan saw was still her, silently guarding his side.

The only difference from before was that he was now lying on the single jade bed inside the cave dwelling.

Sitting up in silence, Xu Yuan cast a glance at the jade bed.

On the flawless white jade bed, two cultivation manuals were stacked quietly, accompanied by the two bottles of precious medicinal pills required for his cultivation.

Staring in silence, his thoughts were filled with emotion; after more than a month, he had finally reached the final step.

"That... I haven't looked at your manuals."

Perhaps because of Xu Yuan's long, lingering gaze, the big ice block beside him suddenly blurted out this non-sequitur.

Looking over, Xu Yuan smiled:

"I know."

These two secret manuals had no special properties; aside from the recorded content, they were merely ordinary paper. Given Ran Qingmo's cultivation level, if she had wanted to see them, she could have probed them clearly with her soul intent even from dozens of meters away.

Xu Yuan silently adjusted his posture and sat cross-legged on the jade bed.

Opening the two jade bottles, a scent mixed with the smell of blood and medicinal fragrance instantly permeated the small cave dwelling.

Spreading the two pills on his palm, he saw that the pill patterns upon them were ancient and complex.

Xu Yuan glanced at Ran Qingmo beside him one last time, half-joking:

"Master Ran, you should hope that I succeed; otherwise, this cave dwelling will become the burial ground for both of us."

"."

Ran Qingmo stared at him without speaking.

She remained as sparing with her words as when they first met.

Seeing this, Xu Yuan shook his head, feeling a bit bored, and without further ado, he tilted his head back and swallowed both pills in one go.

The pills melted upon contact with his tongue, transforming into two gentle, warm currents that entered his body.

It didn't hurt.

On the contrary, the two warm currents spreading through his body even felt somewhat comfortable.

But the moment this thought crossed Xu Yuan's mind, a sudden change occurred!

One of the warm currents suddenly turned violent, transforming into a rushing torrent of origin qi that surged through Xu Yuan's meridians!

The sudden, intense pain caused Xu Yuan's entire body to uncontrollably curl up like a shrimp.

His blocked and narrow meridians could not withstand such a massive impact of origin qi.

For every inch this origin qi traversed, Xu Yuan's meridians would split an inch further; the heart-wrenching pain of his meridians shattering nearly caused him to lose his grip on his consciousness.

Pain. It was too painful!

This bone-deep agony made it impossible to breathe, and his vision began to blacken in waves.

Fortunately, his countless near-death experiences allowed Xu Yuan to forcibly steady his mind, preventing him from fainting directly from the stimulation of such pain.

A quarter of an hour passed.

The violent medicinal power of the Calamity Meteor Pill had completed one cycle through the one hundred and twenty-seven meridians in Xu Yuan's body.

Accompanied by the bone-deep pain, Xu Yuan could feel that his one hundred and twenty-seven meridians were now in a state of being shattered inch by inch.

His physical body was no longer able to maintain a cross-legged position, and he collapsed limply onto the jade bed.

The true despair of death began to spread bit by bit within his heart.

However, at this moment, the second warm current, belonging to the Blood Spirit Body-Fusion Pill, began to disperse into his shattered meridians.

This warm current was thick and viscous; for every inch it passed, it brought a wave of numbing warmth.

Sensing this, Xu Yuan knew the time had come and immediately began to guide the medicinal power of the Blood Spirit Body-Fusion Pill to circulate according to the path of the Blood Origin Heart-Meteor Art.

As the medicinal power of the Blood Spirit Body-Fusion Pill spread and flowed, the shattered meridians within Xu Yuan's body began to be repaired bit by bit.

Yet, this was only the beginning.

The two medicinal powers, belonging to the Calamity Meteor Pill and the Blood Spirit Body-Fusion Pill respectively, began to circulate one after the other through the meridians within Xu Yuan's body.

The Calamity Meteor Pill took the lead, acting as a demolition crew, while the Blood Spirit Body-Fusion Pill followed closely behind, performing repairs along the way.

The constant interweaving of pain and comfort drove his mind to the brink of madness.

His meridians were shattered and then repaired, only to be repaired and shattered once more.

Time and time again, cycle after cycle.

Cultivation knows no passage of time.

As time flowed by, Xu Yuan discovered that his consciousness was not blurring from this constant state of near-death and intense agony; on the contrary, it was becoming increasingly solid and clear.

After an unknown amount of time, Xu Yuan was even able to divert a portion of his focus to sense the Qi drifting between heaven and earth.

The two or three faint "Qi clusters" he had previously been able to sense within this cave dwelling were now multiplying continuously as the Blood Origin Heart-Meteor Art kept spinning.

His pale complexion gradually turned rosy, his thread-thin breathing grew steady, and everything was moving toward stability.

Beyond that, some strange images began to flow into Xu Yuan's mind like a trickling stream.

It was like watching a stream-of-consciousness film.

Fragmented and complex, yet capable of connecting into a whole.

Upon careful sensing, Xu Yuan quickly realized something was wrong.

These images—were they the memories of Xu Changtian?

As his soul and body achieved a perfect fusion, these memories remaining within the physical vessel began to emerge bit by bit in Xu Yuan's mind.

There were trivialities of daily life, such as washing and bathing, there were instances of bullying men and oppressing women in the streets while relying on his family's status, there were hunting trips on horseback, and there was even the outrageous incident where this Third Young Master had taken drugs to force his way through a "one dragon playing with five phoenixes" at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion.

The images went from blurry to clear, there were so many of them.

However, to Xu Yuan's surprise, there were very few memories of his father among those belonging to Xu Changtian.

Most of the time, the man was only a silhouette—a silhouette that made him feel fear.

Fear?

Xu Yuan realized that when that silhouette flashed through his mind just now, he himself had felt a faint trace of fear.

He was being influenced by these memories.

Thinking this, Xu Yuan hurriedly gathered his focus, refusing to think of that Prime Minister any longer.

But the next moment, those memories surged into his heart uncontrollably.

Compared to that high and mighty father, the person who left the deepest impression in Xu Changtian's memories was his eldest brother.

As the memories flooded in, Xu Yuan discovered that the body's fear of Xu Changge was even greater than its fear of his father.

It was a fear that had seeped into his very marrow.

Just by thinking of the man, Xu Yuan realized his own body was actually trembling slightly.

Just how terrified must one be to have such a reaction?

Soon, Xu Yuan found the answer within those memory fragments.

Scene after scene of memory shards surfaced before his eyes.

"Trash! You can't even do this right!"

"If I see you embarrassing the family outside again, I'll beat you to death on Father's behalf."

"You scoundrel, look at the fine mess you've made in the Imperial Capital!"

"You're no good at cultivation, and you're no good at the imperial examinations. Xu Changtian, can't you learn from your second brother and fourth sister?!"

"Hahahaha. Xu Changtian! Truly, one must look at a man with new eyes after three days apart. I've only been on a diplomatic mission to the Northern Barbarians for three months, and you've caused such a disaster the moment I returned. Very well! Now you even dare to touch the granddaughter of the Marquis of Martial Achievement, do you?! Ying'er, help me fetch the whip—the thickest one!"

"..." Xu Yuan.

As these scenes surfaced in his mind, Xu Yuan remained silent.

Xu Changge was ten years older than Xu Changtian. With their father busy with court affairs, it was essentially his eldest brother, Xu Changge, who had raised him from childhood.

It was just that this eldest brother's method of education was quite simple and brutal.

When he said he would beat him, he really did beat him—and he did so with the intent to kill.

The memories belonging to Xu Changtian continued to surge into his heart, and Xu Yuan clearly felt that his own emotions were being influenced by the other.

He was unwilling for it to be this way, but at this moment, apart from silently accepting it, he had no other choice.

Memories stretched out, and just as the Blood Origin Heart-Meteor Art was nearing completion, Xu Yuan's mind suddenly went blank.

Those lingering memories from just a moment ago seemed to be wiped clean in an instant.

Just as Xu Yuan was feeling puzzled, a sword appeared within his consciousness.

A sword that seemed to pierce through the entirety of Heaven Gate Mountain.

However, this sword appeared as quickly as it vanished, dissipating from his consciousness in the blink of an eye.

The cultivation technique was complete, and Xu Yuan slowly opened his eyes.

The memories remained, but those emotions had already vanished.

Yet, what was that sword that appeared in his mind at the end?

His gaze flickered as Xu Yuan suddenly recalled the sword intent he had sensed while gazing at the Heaven Gate from beside the Hanging Heaven Cliff.

At the time, things were urgent and he hadn't pondered it deeply, but now that he thought about it carefully, there were many inconsistencies.

The appearance of that sword in his mind must have been due to that gaze back then.

But why?

The Heaven Gate on Heaven Gate Mountain had existed for at least ten thousand years, and more than ten thousand people had seen it; why was it that only he could encounter such a fortuitous opportunity?

After thinking it over, the only difference Xu Yuan could find was that he did not belong to this world.

Could it be that only the soul of a transmigrator could sense that sword intent which had remained for ten thousand years?

This reasoning was a bit abstract.

Xu Yuan couldn't figure it out, so he decided to set it aside for now.

Just then, Ran Qingmo's voice drifted softly from his side:

"The formation outside has vanished; they are coming."

Xu Yuan glanced at her, reached out to pick up the copy of the Blood Origin Heart-Meteor Art on the jade bed, and spoke in a flat tone:

"Understood."

As he spoke, he circulated his cultivation technique, and wisps of crimson origin qi emerged from his fingertips, coiling around the book.

The next moment, tendrils of flame ignited, and the sole copy of the Blood Origin Heart-Meteor Art along with its secret techniques vanished from the world.

Just like the Ice Cloud Steps in Ran Qingmo's cultivation technique, the Blood Origin Heart-Meteor Art came with many practical applications, and the flames before him were one of them.

After disposing of the incriminating evidence that might expose his identity, he donned the blood-red Blood Jade Glazed Robe, and Xu Yuan began to methodically strip the cave dwelling of everything useful.

He slipped the Sumeru Ring from the head of the bed onto his index finger and stored the jade bed and that pool of spiritual spring water entirely into the Sumeru Ring.

He paused, glanced at the night-luminescent pearls on the stone wall, and took them into the ring as well.

In an instant, the cave was plunged into total darkness.

With nothing to do in the dark, Xu Yuan sat cross-legged and began to attempt cultivation.

He was somewhat expectant of the cultivation speed of the Innate Dao Body.

And when his soul expanded, he immediately sensed the difference.

Unlike the few "qi clusters" he had sensed before, at this moment, under the perception of his soul, Xu Yuan felt as if his entire body were submerged in a vast sea of qi.

What Xu Yuan did not know was that

Ran Qingmo, beside him, had been silently watching him in the darkness with her clear, quiet eyes, her expression appearing somewhat hesitant.

Time passed quietly, and suddenly, "That..."

Hearing the voice, Xu Yuan slowly opened his eyes and looked toward Ran Qingmo.

"My name is Ran Qingmo."

"."

Xu Yuan found it strange that she would say such a thing.

Although he had always addressed her as Master Ran, Xu Yuan remembered that he had already spoken her name back in that Buddhist hall.

He gave a slight nod:

"I know."

Having said that, he closed his eyes once more.

After a pause of a dozen seconds, Xu Yuan opened his eyes again, and by channeling Origin Qi into his vision, he discovered that the woman beside him was indeed still staring at him without blinking.

He was slightly taken aback, but then he realized she was asking for his name.

Having spent so much time together day and night, she still did not know who he was.

He instinctively wanted to state his own name, but the words stopped at the tip of his tongue.

His gaze flickered for a moment, Xu Yuan slowly lowered his eyes, let out a breath, and a cryptic smile curled the corners of his lips:

"My name is.

"Xu Changtian."