[Nine Heavens Profound Mirror]

Chusheng Market, Refining Lake.

The lake spanned ten thousand mu, an immense expanse of water.

A natural fire vein ran beneath the lakebed. Thirty years ago, the Chen Clan had taken possession of it and turned it into a prime location for artifact refining.

Shen Yue used his spiritual power to propel a small, flat boat, slowly steering it toward a little island wreathed in heat haze.

The island was no ordinary one. It was a hill made from countless piles of discarded artifact-refining materials.

Shen Yue chanted an incantation. A golden hand appeared out of thin air, reached into the scrap heap, and, amid waves of searing heat, lifted a hundred jin of scrap onto the boat.

This was the "Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand." It condensed spiritual power into the phantom of a giant hand. It looked impressive, but in truth, it was only used to grab scraps and haul them aboard.

His job was to collect and sort through these scraps.

"The spiritual energy is chaotic, the heat is violent, and the fire poison in my body keeps getting worse."

These scraps were intensely hot. Some even retained the spiritual power of the artifact refiners who had worked on them, hiding all sorts of dangers within.

Shen Yue had been here for two years. His cultivation had reached the third level of Qi Refining, yet he still couldn't keep the heat from seeping into his body.

"Every day, I'm battered by this heat, and the fire poison keeps building up inside me. My cultivation is getting slower and slower. Forget about the great path to Foundation Establishment—just making it to thirty would be a problem."

I'd have been better off not crossing over!

Back on Blue Star, before he crossed over, ordinary people could easily live to fifty or sixty if they avoided accidents.

But unfortunately, Shen Yue had an accident.

He'd struck it lucky, died, and been reborn in this world.

He'd landed in a pretty good family: the eldest son of a military family in a mortal kingdom, with astonishing martial talent. At seventeen, he'd passed the martial imperial examination and stood before the imperial throne.

When Shen Yue was twenty-three, his father took part in the struggle among the nine princes for the throne. With an iron hand, he'd nearly helped his faction seize the crown.

But at the final moment, a woman had suddenly appeared, floating in midair. With one casual sentence, she'd crushed his father's faction, and Shen Yue had been caught in the backlash as well.

Still, that was how he learned that cultivators existed in this world.

Shen Yue filled the little boat, steered it back to shore, then used the Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand to haul the scraps back to his lodgings for sorting.

These scraps were the discarded leftovers of the Chen Clan's lofty artifact refiners. Throwing them away would be a waste.

But the artifact refiners thought themselves too noble to spend time sorting them, so they hired a bunch of drudges to collect and sort them, paying one or two spirit stones a month.

The Chen Clan, meanwhile, was a renowned cultivation clan under the jurisdiction of the Taixu Sword Sect. It had not only a Foundation Establishment Ancestor among its ranks, but, rumor had it, a False Core expert as well.

The entire Chusheng Market was run by the Chen Clan.

"A hundred years to Qi Refining, two hundred years to Foundation Establishment..."

Immortality seemed so close, yet so far away.

One spirit stone a month wasn't nearly enough for cultivation.

Never mind that he had to spend most of every day sorting scraps. Just suppressing the fire poison consumed more than half a spirit stone.

Whenever Shen Yue thought of that, he couldn't help but laugh.

He collected scraps to earn spirit stones, then spent those spirit stones buying medicine to treat the fire poison.

Wasn't that just like working to earn money, getting sick, then spending the money on treatment?

If nothing changed, his future looked bleak.

Fortunately, Shen Yue had a cheat.

He sat before the scraps and reached out with his right hand. A golden hand appeared in midair, sorting the materials one by one.

Deep in his consciousness, a treasure mirror floated. It had nine pages, and the first had already unfolded. Golden characters shimmered across it.

[Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand +1]...[Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand +1]...

The mirror was called the Nine Heavens Profound Mirror. It had nine profound pages in all.

He had successfully unlocked the first page. Its main function was to record and permanently preserve his progress in cultivating techniques.

In simple terms, his cultivation could only advance—it would never regress.

The second page was also close to unlocking, though he didn't yet know what it did.

Suddenly, golden light burst from the page.

[Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand (First Layer → Second Layer)]

A flash of insight surged into Shen Yue's mind. The phantom golden hand before him split into two, and his sorting speed instantly doubled!

"General Shen!"

Just then, a young man strode into the room.

His name was Changqin Wuming, the prince his father had supported in ascending the throne.

"The Chen Clan has clearly increased its artifact production recently. If we keep going like this, we won't last half a year."

Changqin Wuming looked grave. "I talked to the people in charge of recycling the spent qi. Two spirit stones will get us in, and we won't have to come into contact with the fire poison anymore. Are you going?"

"Two spirit stones? Fine, give them the money." Shen Yue focused on sorting the materials, not even lifting his head.

"You have spirit stones?" The Seventh Prince was startled. He hadn't managed to get any himself.

"I thought Your Majesty was paying," Shen Yue said, giving him a puzzled look.

"Me? Why would I... Nonsense! I'm the true Son of Heaven! You're the great general I personally appointed, the first martial imperial scholar of the new dynasty. A mere few spirit stones are nothing to me!"

The Seventh Prince's old face flushed red. He made his grand pronouncement, then walked out without looking back.

Shen Yue shook his head, sighing at how unpredictable the world was. The prince who had once been a single step away from the throne now had to find ways to make a living.

"Compared to cultivators, mortal kings and nobles are nothing at all."

"But the cultivation world is even more hypocritical and cruel."

"The Seventh Prince was right. The Chen Clan has increased its artifact production, and the fire poison is spreading faster. I need to unlock the second profound page as soon as possible!"

The Nine Heavens Profound Mirror unlocked its pages by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Later, Shen Yue had discovered that scraps could speed up the process too.

But he'd been using scrap residue before, so he wouldn't fall short of the Chen Clan's required quota.

Now that the Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand had advanced to the second layer, his sorting speed had increased. From now on, he'd only have more recyclable materials.

So he planned to have the Nine Heavens Profound Mirror devour the scraps directly.

Shen Yue opened his mind. A vortex suddenly appeared above the scraps.

The vortex was like a black hole, greedily devouring the heap.

In just a moment, the entire pile of scraps had vanished.

At the same time, the second profound page of the Nine Heavens Profound Mirror blazed with dazzling golden light.

In an instant, it suddenly contracted and sank into chaos.

Just as Shen Yue was about to take a closer look, the space around him grew muddled and indistinct as well.

The vast heavens stretched over Azure Green Ridge, where the earth was rich and fertile.

Shen Yue stood on a branch as thick as a barrel, his mind on guard.

"Did I cross over again?"

But it seemed he'd crossed over to a pretty good place?

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth carried a cool, moist quality, while the vitality of the earth and trees flowed without end.

Refining Lake was dominated by water and fire spiritual energy. But Shen Yue had a metal spiritual root, and fire overcame metal, so even with an above-average spiritual root, his cultivation had been slow.

This place was different. Earth and wood spiritual energy were abundant. Earth nourished metal, so if he practiced metal techniques here, his cultivation speed would definitely surpass what it had been at Refining Lake.

Shen Yue thrust out his right hand. Two Heaven Origin Golden Light Hands appeared before him, and the towering trees on either side trembled.

"Earth nourishes metal, and metal overcomes wood. Even the Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand is much stronger here..."

This place was practically a paradise for someone with a metal spiritual root.

After checking his surroundings, Shen Yue sent a wisp of his consciousness into the Nine Heavens Profound Mirror deep within his mind.

The profound ability unlocked on the second page was none other than [Crossing Worlds].

After sensing the information in the mirror, Shen Yue breathed a sigh of relief.

He could cross over here, and he could return whenever he wanted.

Shen Yue gazed at this new world, his eyes gleaming as curiosity stirred within him.

First, he checked his own condition.

Third-level Qi Refining cultivation, the Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand at the second layer, two low-grade Separating Fire Talismans, and two Essence Recovery Pills that restored spiritual power...

"That'll do."

Shen Yue leaped up. A light breeze seemed to cradle his feet as he headed toward a place rich in earth spiritual energy.

Azure Green Ridge was terrifyingly vast. He traveled for a full half day before finally spotting a winding trail that cut through the forest.

Yellow sand filled the trail, forming a natural barrier that kept him from seeing what lay ahead.

Shen Yue tested it several times and found that the sand wasn't aggressive and offered little resistance. After thinking it over, he stepped onto the trail.

The moment he did, he saw twenty or thirty people fleeing in a panic.

"Brother, run! The Wu Family is after us!" A red-faced young man swept past him like the wind.