Looking Up

The Lower Realm.

The sun, moon, and stars never appeared.

In a shattered world called North Qi, torrential rain poured down, thunder roared, and the sky was a murky chaos.

North Qi lay in the extreme north of the Fourth Realm. Its edge abutted the Boundary Wall, where the "Ghost Mist" appeared from time to time.

Closest to the Boundary Wall and the "Ghost Mist" stood the sprawling Cenji Mountains. Seen from above, they resembled a giant serpent coiled in slumber, its body winding as it desperately crawled outward, trying to escape the Boundary Wall and the "Ghost Mist."

At the direction of the "serpent's mouth," a precipitous gorge opened, its winds howling like the wails of ghosts.

Yet ten li away, three stone houses stood on the barren plain, an odd sight indeed.

In such wretched weather, the fences around the stone houses rattled and swayed, as if they might collapse with a crash at any moment.

Above the stone houses hovered a gigantic Azure Vulture. It spread its broad wings and hung motionless in the sky without so much as a flap.

The pair of spread wings, though perfectly still, covered several mu of sky. Each feather was like divine jade and fine steel, gleaming with a brilliant azure radiance that lit the courtyard below as bright as day.

Streams of divine light solidified into substance and hung down like an azure curtain, covering the stone houses and the surrounding area and making the courtyard as warm as spring.

In the courtyard, a young girl in the bloom of youth pinched the hem of her fine dress. Uneasy and reserved, she kept glancing into the distance, as if anxiously waiting for someone.

At the same time, Sun Bin gazed at the girl in her new clothes with the burning look of a man beholding a rare treasure. The more he looked, the more pleased he became.

The little girl had washed her face and changed out of her coarse hemp clothes. Her delicate, pretty features were unexpectedly striking, making Sun Bin's eyes light up.

He had never imagined that the little girl would prove to be the greatest prize of his trip to the Lower Realm.

"Elder Sun, we still have important business to attend to. We can't linger much longer."

Also in the courtyard, a short, stout middle-aged man in a yellow robe had waited so long without the person they were expecting arriving that he could only steel himself and offer a reminder.

The girl's lashes fluttered anxiously. In a clear, pleading voice, she said, "My brother will be back soon!"

"Fine, we'll wait a little longer." Sun Bin nodded with a smile.

Turning slightly, he cast an indifferent glance at the two men behind him. The pair, who had been full of complaints, fell silent at once and dared not say another word.

After an unknown length of time, Sun Bin's expression shifted. He looked toward the muddy path ahead and spotted a blurred figure in a straw rain cape slowly emerging through the torrential rain.

Beneath the gray, murky sky, the newcomer was tall and broad-shouldered, with a longbow and a bamboo basket on his back and a long saber at his waist. He strode through the downpour.

Squinting to get a better look, Sun Bin couldn't help exclaiming, "Girl, your brother really is only two years older than you? He's just fifteen?"

"Yes."

The rain obscured her sight, preventing Pang Lin from seeing as far as Sun Bin. She answered in a small voice.

Sun Bin gave a soft, low laugh, a strange light in his eyes. He nodded. "Well, perhaps there really is another surprise in store."

He had personally tested Pang Lin and found a naturally formed Thunder Vortex in her dantian Spirit Sea. With a little guidance, she could gather vast amounts of spiritual energy from heaven and earth in this unusual weather and condense it into thunder and lightning within her Thunder Vortex.

Cultivation prodigies like Pang Lin were rare even in the Upper Realm. Sun Bin had never expected to encounter one in the spiritually barren Lower Realm, so he was naturally delighted.

If Pang Lin was already so exceptional, and her brother looked so extraordinary from afar, Sun Bin couldn't help feeling a surge of anticipation.

"Rumble!"

A sudden clap of thunder burst from the depths of the gray sky, like a deity's wrath, making the beasts deep in the Cenji Mountains tremble with unease.

Pang Jian had hunted in the Cenji Mountains for years. Much taller and more powerfully built than boys his age, he frowned as he gazed toward the distant mountains battered by the gale and downpour.

Beneath the murky, dim Sky Canopy, the boy's face was sculpted, his features sharply defined and his eyes clear and bright.

"Strange." Pang Jian wondered to himself.

In his memory, no weather this bad had struck the Cenji Mountains or the surrounding lands in several years.

He had left the mountains early this time and headed to Linshan Town to trade his game for grain, oil, rice, and flour because the strange weather had triggered flash floods. The downpour had made it difficult even to travel through the Cenji Mountains.

The thought that if he couldn't hunt in the mountains for long, he wouldn't earn enough silver, and his plans to send his younger sister to school would be delayed, left Pang Jian growing more and more irritable.

Thinking as he walked, Pang Jian strode through the rain, drawing ever closer to home.

A moment later, the boy stopped abruptly, eyes wide as he stared in disbelief at the sky above his home.

A gigantic, extraordinary Azure Bird was hovering above his house, just like the divine fowl that flew through the skies in legends.

The enormous wings shone with brilliant rays of light, their bones gleaming like gold and jade. Its imposing presence was beyond compare.

Strands of radiant azure light slowly descended from the edges of its divine feathers like a curtain, enveloping the house and courtyard and shielding them from the rain.

Ever since childhood, the boy had ventured throughout the Cenji Mountains with his father. Yet he had never seen anything so wondrous.

The sight of the divine bird hovering in the sky, its dazzling radiance both majestic and sacred, shook him to the core.

He stared blankly for a long while before gradually coming back to his senses. Then he suddenly remembered his sister, who had stayed home.

"Pang Lin!"

His heart quivering, the boy shot forward like a hunting leopard, racing through the rain toward his house as fast as he could, terrified that something might have happened to his sister.

Thunder roared as the downpour continued to ravage the world. The boy raced along, frantic with worry, his face drenched and his vision growing blurry.

The barren plain was already uneven. The pounding rain turned its puddles into natural traps, sending him tumbling again and again.

Ignoring his disheveled state and the mud coating his body, the boy scrambled up and ran on with all his might.

At last, as he neared the Suspended Divine Bird, the boy suddenly shouted, "Pang Lin!"

When no answer came, he didn't hesitate to nock an arrow and shoot straight at the divine bird's forehead.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

The divine bird didn't move. The arrows struck its forehead and sparked a few flecks of lightning, but didn't leave a single wound.

Sun Bin and the two guards behind him, Yin Shan and Yin Hai, watched the boy draw his bow and shoot. They couldn't help laughing in astonishment.

The Azure Vulture hovering in midair grew annoyed by the boy's arrows. Its cold eyes narrowed, and the thunder deep in the sky was suddenly stirred.

"Boom! Boom, boom!"

Bolts of savage lightning fell from the sky, striking the muddy ground around the boy's house and blasting out enormous craters. Their insides were charred black, and lightning-fire flashed and scattered everywhere.

At the same time, a mighty divine pressure suddenly descended.

Pang Jian's heart shuddered. He felt surrounded by lightning powerful enough to reduce him to ash. If he dared move even the slightest bit, he would die on the spot, body and soul destroyed.

"Brother!"

Beneath the radiant azure curtain, Pang Lin had already called out anxiously, but her voice couldn't pass beyond the divine light.

"That's enough."

Sun Bin barked a command. The curtain, which had seemed slightly murky from outside, suddenly turned crystal clear.

Only then could Pang Jian see his sister shouting in alarm. He could tell what she meant from the shape of her mouth, but he couldn't hear her.

The boy immediately grew wary. He finally understood that the divine bird in the sky, the strange curtain of light around his house, and the strangers who had suddenly appeared were no ordinary people or things.

Through the transparent curtain, bright with azure radiance, the boy saw Pang Lin safe and sound. Her coarse hemp clothes, which she had worn for years, had been replaced by a colorful, elegant dress.

His sister's delicate, charming face went perfectly with her brand-new dress. Her whole demeanor had changed. She no longer looked like a country girl from the mountains; she seemed like a young lady from a wealthy, noble family.

Standing beside her were a thin, elderly man in green whose status was plainly extraordinary, and two middle-aged men, one tall and one short.

The old man's gaze was as sharp as lightning, more dazzling even than the azure divine light separating Pang Jian from his home. His hands hung naturally inside his loose sleeves, as if a terrifying storm was brewing within them.

Pang Jian looked bewildered. He had no idea what had happened at home, but seeing that his sister was unharmed, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief and lowered his raised bow.

Then Pang Jian fixed Sun Bin with a cold stare and asked without the slightest fear, "Who are you?"

Sun Bin sized up the boy before him. Seeing that he wasn't afraid, he smiled and said, "A benefactor who can change the fate of you and your sister."

Despite his young age, Pang Jian was unusually tall. Years of hunting alone in the mountains had filled his build, gaze, and bearing with a fierce, wild air. He was like a ferocious beast in the forest, which made Sun Bin secretly marvel.

Pang Jian had a remarkable presence and temperament, but the distance between them kept Sun Bin from judging his cultivation aptitude.

"Let that wild boy in."

Without looking up, Sun Bin quietly informed the Azure Vulture above.

Hearing him, the divine bird raised its head and gave a melodious, low cry. The thunder immediately died away.

Pang Jian felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. His body grew light and free, and at last he could hear the voices from inside the radiant curtain.

After taking another look at the three strangers, Pang Jian gripped his long saber tightly and advanced with the caution of someone walking into a pack of beasts.

When his body touched the curtain and passed through it, Pang Jian felt a wave of warmth. Then he stepped into his home.

Outside, the rain poured down and the cold cut to the bone. Beneath the curtain, the courtyard was as warm as spring, without a single drop of rain. It was like another world, and Pang Jian was all the more amazed.

"Boy, to us, Pang Lin is a peerless treasure. If she keeps living with you in the Lower Realm, her talent will only be buried. So whether you or she wants it or not, I'm taking her away this time, to cultivate in the Upper Realm."

Sun Bin explained his purpose plainly and without hesitation. He continued, "Neither you nor Pang Lin can change what's already been decided. From today onward, she will rise to the heavens in a single bound and leave this spiritually barren, filthy Lower Realm behind for good."

"As for you..."

Sun Bin drew out his words, his brows twitching.

From deep within his shadowed eye sockets, bolts of azure lightning suddenly shot out and vanished into Pang Jian's body.

Pain stabbed through the boy's whole body, and cold sweat sprang across his forehead. He could clearly feel strands of ghostly azure lightning, thin as blades, roaming through his limbs and bones and weaving through his organs.

The lightning was like an extension of Sun Bin's eyes, controlled with exquisite precision as it examined every part of Pang Jian's body.

The boy suffered unbearably beneath this "torture," but clenched his teeth and refused to cry out.

Tension covered Pang Lin's pretty face. She could see how much her brother was suffering, yet she didn't even dare breathe too loudly, afraid she might ruin his good fortune.

She understood perfectly. This was the moment that would decide whether Sun Bin favored her brother as he had favored her.

"His willpower really is impressive."

Sun Bin praised him without reserve. Behind him, Yin Hai and Yin Shan were just as astonished.

Ordinary people who had yet to set foot on the path of cultivation rarely endured such a brutal "probing of bone and marrow." Most couldn't bear the intense pain and would soon pass out. Only a rare few could hold on while howling like ghosts.

None of the three had ever seen anyone like the boy before them, standing firm without uttering a sound.

"Elder Sun, we've really struck it rich this time!"

Short, stout Yin Hai was beside himself with joy. Before the strands of ghostly azure Spirit-Seeking Nether Lightning had even finished their examination, he was already congratulating him. "This trip was worth it, worth every bit!"

"We almost missed another flawless jade!" Yin Shan, tall and thin, glared at his younger brother, blaming him for rushing them earlier.

Sun Bin grinned broadly, in high spirits. Waving a hand, he said, "I knew it. If the younger sister was this exceptional, her brother couldn't be bad either. All that waiting was worth it."

"Return to the Sea!"

At Sun Bin's sharp cry, the many restless strands of Spirit-Seeking Nether Lightning suddenly poured into the boy's dantian Spirit Sea.

Yet just as the strands of lightning began dissipating through the boy's dantian, Sun Bin, who had been full of anticipation, suddenly knitted his brows.

"That's not right. It shouldn't be!"

Sun Bin first scratched his head, then stared hard at the boy's dantian, carefully sensing the path the Spirit-Seeking Nether Lightning was taking.

After a long while, Sun Bin tested him again and again before letting out a long sigh toward the sky. Stamping his foot, he lamented, "Though they're siblings, their cultivation aptitudes are worlds apart. What a pity. Such a pity to waste a fine temperament like his!"

He had originally thought that even if the boy's talent fell short of his sister's, he would still take him to the Upper Realm as long as the difference wasn't too great.

But not only was there no naturally formed Thunder Vortex in the boy's dantian Spirit Sea, it was also murky and impure.

Even if he embarked on the path of cultivation, his progress would be painfully slow, and he was destined never to achieve much.

"That can't be right, can it?"

The brothers Yin Hai and Yin Shan found it hard to understand and wanted Sun Bin to examine him again.

Pang Lin, who had been confident, felt as if she'd been struck a heavy blow. She cried out, "How could that be? Sir, why don't you take another careful look?"

In her eyes, her brother was the strongest and most extraordinary person in the world. If she had exceptional talent for cultivation, then her brother had to be even more gifted.

She couldn't accept Sun Bin's verdict about her brother.

"The matter's settled. There's no need to look again."

Sun Bin shook his head helplessly. Strands of ghostly lightning flew from the boy's body and vanished back into his eye sockets.

"Boy, I regret to inform you that we can't take you away from here. Your cultivation aptitude is too poor, and I wouldn't know how to explain bringing you along to my superiors." Sun Bin had weathered countless storms and quickly regained his composure. He spoke indifferently. "A place like the one we're going won't accommodate someone like you. There'd be no benefit in going, anyway."

"If my brother can't go, then I won't go either!" Pang Lin shouted.

"I told you, this isn't up to you and your brother," Sun Bin snorted.

"Xiao Lin, go with them. Go to a better, broader world. One day, I'll come find you."

Unexpectedly, the boy Sun Bin had openly rejected took a deep breath and, despite the pain still stabbing through him, tried to persuade her. "Don't worry. I'll make it to the higher worlds above and find you."

As he spoke, the boy's expression was firm. A captivating light seemed to shine from his face and clear eyes.

Sun Bin gazed at the boy, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

The brothers Yin Shan and Yin Hai were also drawn to the light in the boy's eyes. Remembering their own hardships, they swallowed the mocking words that had been on the tips of their tongues.

"No, I don't want to go!"

Knowing that after today they might never see each other again, Pang Lin shook her head again and again, tears welling in her eyes.

The two siblings had depended on each other since childhood and shared a deep bond. Naturally, she didn't want to leave alone.

"Girl, it may not be realistic for him to come find you in the Upper Realm later."

Sun Bin cleared his throat and offered another solution. "But once you've proven yourself in the sect, you'll be able to return and find him as soon as you break through to the Dongxuan Realm. You can arrange for him to have a place in the Upper Realm."

He glanced at the Cenji Mountains and added with no small amount of concern, "That way, he won't have to stay here in the Fourth Realm, where spiritual energy is scarce and which is bound to suffer a calamity at some point in the future."

"The Dongxuan Realm?" Pang Lin exclaimed, as if she'd grabbed a lifeline.

"Mm. In this realm, there are many cultivators in the Qi Refining, Meridian Opening, and Marrow Cleansing realms. In the realm above, cultivators in the Xiantian, Dongxuan, and Ningshen realms become more common." Sun Bin patiently coaxed her. "Girl, your talent is exceptional. As long as you work hard, reaching the Dongxuan Realm within a hundred years won't be difficult."

After hesitating for a moment, he took out a battered, yellowed old book wrapped in oilpaper and tossed it into the boy's arms.

"This is the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art, which I happened to find in a forbidden zone. I hope it helps you set foot on the path of cultivation and stay alive until Pang Lin comes back for you."

"Whoosh!"

Before the siblings could say goodbye, the radiant azure curtain around them slowly drew inward, from the outside in. In the end, it wrapped around Pang Lin alone, forming a shimmering column of light that pulled her up toward the divine bird first.

Before the curtain rose into the sky, the three men had already released their spiritual energy and used it to block out the rain.

"Boy, until we meet again."

Leaving those words behind, the three men shot into the sky and landed in succession along the Azure Vulture's long neck.

The divine bird gave a low cry and flew through the downpour toward the gray, gloomy Sky Canopy.

Pang Jian lifted his head to watch. A few strands of ghostly azure lightning still flickered in his eyes, multiplying his vision beyond measure.

It was as if a hidden thread connected him and Sun Bin, allowing his gaze to follow Sun Bin's movements.

He could feel that some of the strange lightning that had examined his cultivation potential remained inside him, deliberately letting him see Sun Bin and the others receding into the distance.

So his gaze followed the ascending divine bird as he looked up at the sky.

The boy didn't feel disheartened because they hadn't taken him along. He couldn't accomplish what his sister had set out to do for him, but since she could achieve it with her own talent, he felt even more comforted and proud.

Beneath the gray Sky Canopy, the divine bird spread its wings and soared through the gale and downpour, flying higher and higher.

After it reached a certain height, the light shining from the divine bird let Pang Jian glimpse the leaden clouds overhead. Countless shattered worlds like North Qi were scattered throughout the Upper Realm, like islands in the sea.

And deep within the dense clouds, two incomparably vast continents lay hidden, like mansions carved into the void by deities who held up the sky, naturally drawing in the spiritual energy of the surrounding world.

Those two legendary lands were sacred realms that the people of their world dreamed of reaching.

He knew it was another world.

There, mighty sects stood high above the rest, life was rich and comfortable, and powerful cultivators enjoyed extraordinarily long lifespans.

Pang Jian unconsciously tightened his grip on the ancient book in his hand. Deep in his eyes, a flame called longing blazed, growing fiercer by the moment.

For his younger sister, Pang Lin, and for himself, he swore to climb to those two higher worlds.

The divine bird continued flying higher. Pang Jian's gaze flickered as he strained to follow the Azure Vulture, trying to determine where it would finally land and learn what had become of his sister.

Before long, he saw the divine bird pass over the two continents of the Third Realm. As it continued soaring into the heights, he glimpsed three even more imposing and wondrous lands high in the sky.

So there was an Upper Realm above the world over his head—and above that, an even more magnificent, higher world.

"The Second Realm!"

Pang Jian's body jolted. He suddenly realized that his sister's ultimate destination might be even more unreachable than he had imagined.

It was then that he saw a bright full moon hanging high in the heavens, with fragments of stars circling and glittering around it, casting light over the worlds below.

Beneath the bright moon and stars, besides the Third Realm he had heard about, there were indeed two higher worlds.

The so-called Upper Realm was actually made up of three worlds, each one higher than the last.

This was a magnificent sight unlike anything he had ever seen in his life—or even dreamed of.

The deeply shaken, still-young boy gazed up at the heavens from the lower world, where the sun, moon, and stars had vanished forever, his heart filling with boundless imaginings.

To scale the highest peaks and stand atop the Upper Realm's loftiest world became a dream that would never burn out.

Old Ni's new book is underway. Please add it to your collection and read along, and cast a few more recommendation tickets. Um, just a small reminder: I've also written Spirit Realm, God Slayer, Infinite Demonic Path, Great Demon King, and Ten Directions Heavenly Scholar.