Pang Jian had a nightmare.
In the dream, the agony of waking to feel countless ants devouring his bones seemed to become real.
The only difference was that, instead of millions of ants, his dream was filled with countless divine phoenixes, dancing gracefully.
Countless divine phoenixes, each tiny as dust, soared through his breastbone and both arms, displaying their wondrous forms within his bone marrow and subjecting him to indescribable torment.
Compared with this excruciating pain, the agony of Sun Bin sending lightning coursing through his body to test his aptitude was nothing.
Perhaps that was why he had managed to grit his teeth and endure it last time, but this time he had fainted on the spot.
He did not know how much time had passed. At last, Pang Jian's high fever subsided, and he slowly awoke.
"Why did you suddenly get sick?"
As soon as Pang Jian opened his eyes, he saw Zhou Qingchen sitting cross-legged on the ground nearby, keeping watch over him. A blade of grass between his teeth, Zhou Qingchen grinned at him. "How are you feeling now?"
Pang Jian tried moving his neck and arms. His neck crackled, as if it had been stiff for a long time.
"Mm!"
His eyebrows twitched. It felt as though he had been imbued with some unknown divine power, leaving him with strength to spare. The bones in his chest even seemed as hard as iron.
As he swung both arms, he also felt as if the bones in them had been tempered, making them noticeably different from before.
His whole body felt strange, but it was awkward to say much to Zhou Qingchen, so he asked indirectly, "Young Master Zhou, I heard the third realm of cultivation is called the Xisui Realm?"
As he spoke, he recalled the bizarre scene from his dream: countless divine phoenixes soaring through his arm bones and bone marrow.
"Why are you asking about that? I haven't even succeeded in cleansing my marrow yet. You shouldn't even think about it."
Zhou Qingchen laughed, then explained in detail. "The first realm on everyone's path of cultivation is Qi Refining. You have to guide the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth into the Spirit Sea in your dantian. The Qi Refining Realm is a process of accumulation. Your overall strength doesn't improve qualitatively, and you're not much stronger than an ordinary person who knows nothing about cultivation."
After a brief pause, he said solemnly, "The Pulse-Opening Realm is different."
"Once you reach the Pulse-Opening Realm, you can channel the spiritual power in your dantian into the meridians in your limbs. When your meridians are filled with spiritual power, you become immensely strong. You can even release that power through your body, unleashing astonishing might."
He held out one hand, rolled up his sleeve to reveal half his forearm, and quietly summoned his power.
Pang Jian clearly saw a dark red glow flowing through the meridians in Zhou Qingchen's forearm, all the way to his palm.
"Whoosh!"
A mass of deep red spiritual light suddenly rose from his palm. With deft control, he slowly shaped it into a miniature crimson mountain.
With a casual swing, he hurled the illusory "Red Mountain" hovering over his palm at a massive boulder nearby.
"Boom!"
The boulder exploded.
"This is the power of the Pulse-Opening Realm."
Zhou Qingchen demonstrated it with unruffled composure.
The noise drew the attention of the Zhou and Ning families farther away. Even Shangguan Qin could not help looking over.
"As for the Xisui Realm, it's known as the realm of bone-cleansing and marrow-washing. It focuses on tempering your bones, flesh, and internal organs. Those who reach its pinnacle are said to have been reborn, cleansed of their mortal bodies."
A trace of pride showed in Zhou Qingchen's eyes. He lifted his chin and said, "Once I reach the Xisui Realm, I'll be able to cleanse the impurities hidden in my flesh, bones, and meridians. That way, they won't hinder my cultivation at Red Mountain."
He told Pang Jian that the spiritual energy in the Fourth Realm was not pure enough, so Qi Refiners who cultivated there naturally accumulated impurities in their bodies.
When he officially entered Red Mountain in the future, he would first break through to the Xisui Realm and complete his rebirth.
"Bone-cleansing and marrow-washing..."
Pang Jian murmured thoughtfully. He felt that while he was unconscious, some mysterious power of unknown origin had tempered the bones in his chest and hands.
He suspected it was the wisp of Amber Glimmer that had vanished, but he had no proof and could hardly ask Zhou Qingchen about it.
It was already evening, and the sky was growing darker. Night seemed close.
Only after talking at length with Zhou Qingchen did Pang Jian take in his surroundings. He spotted the Ning Family's warhorses resting together nearby.
The Zhou Family's servants were preparing a meal over a fire. Ning Yao and Ning Yuanshan were not far from the flames, but they still kept their distance from the Zhou Family.
The rift had already formed. The Zhou and Ning families were no longer on friendly terms, and both sides had begun to keep an eye on each other.
Han Duping, who was skilled at breaking formations, was busy pestering Shangguan Qin with a cheeky grin, as if he could not see the irritation on her face.
Pang Jian rose slowly and inspected the mountain behind him, looking toward the sound of running water.
He saw a small waterfall pouring down from the mountain behind him and gathering in a large pool of pitch-black water.
The water cascading down the falls was clear and transparent, but as soon as it landed in the pool, it turned black. It looked strange.
Near the cliff beside the pool, part of a massive skeleton jutted out... It gave off not the slightest gleam, yet Pang Jian was shocked. "The Remains of the Heavenly Phoenix?"
Zhou Qingchen nodded with a smile. "Most of the bones extend beneath the pool. Only this section is visible."
"While you were unconscious with a high fever, I examined it carefully. There's nothing mysterious about this bone. It isn't the divine bone everyone's been searching for—the one supposedly imbued with an inherited gift."
Zhou Qingchen had long since concluded that a bone with the power of an inherited gift could never appear in the Fourth Realm.
Pang Jian recalled the withered bone that had held the mysterious glimmer. Even without the Heavenly Phoenix's inheritance, every withered bone that falls from the sky might conceal something wondrous.
"You don't need to worry. We've been very cautious this time. If there's another earthquake, we'll retreat at once."
Zhou Qingchen was relaxed. He assumed that any strange changes surrounding the withered bone would still be accompanied by the rumble of an earthquake.
"Black water? Blackwater Pool!"
Pang Jian stared at the pool behind him. He froze, then his expression turned grave. Suddenly, he shouted, "This place isn't safe! You shouldn't have camped here!"
He remembered now!
His father had marked this area with the Blackwater Pool as one of the forbidden zones in the Cenji Mountains and had clearly warned him not to enter.
He had obeyed his father's instructions. All these years, he had stayed away from every place his father had designated as forbidden.
He had a younger sister to care for and did not want to take risks. He was afraid he might disappear just like his father, leaving Pang Lin to face the darkest days of her life.
Pang Lin had not yet come of age. She had lost her father while she was still so young; she absolutely could not lose him, too.
"This place is dangerous?"
As Zhou Qingchen questioned Pang Jian, he waved to Han Duping, telling him to stop clinging to Shangguan Qin.
When Han Duping looked over, Zhou Qingchen immediately called out, "Old Han, tell everyone to get ready. We need to leave as soon as possible."
After what had happened last time, he trusted Pang Jian without question—and acted on his words at once.
He and Pang Jian immediately headed toward the warhorses.
Ning Yao and Ning Yuanshan were still quietly discussing whether to go to the Extreme North. Their sudden movements made the two of them tense.
Shangguan Qin also felt uneasy. Before Pang Jian could reach her, she left Han Duping behind and hurried toward the chestnut warhorse.
But before she could reach it, every horse—including the chestnut one—began foaming at the mouth and collapsed, one after another.
In the blink of an eye, every warhorse lay motionless on the ground, dead from poison.
"Zhang Heng!"
Ning Yuanshan flew into a rage and roared toward the trees. "I told you to feed the horses! What did you give them?!"
"The man you recruited may have deliberately poisoned all the horses," Han Duping said, his expression darkening. He sensed that something was wrong and shouted, "He said the water in the Blackwater Pool wasn't clean, so he went elsewhere to find water. I think he went to look for someone!"
"He poisoned the horses to keep us from leaving at our leisure," Zhou Qingchen added in a low voice.
The Zhou Family's young master showed little fear. He and Pang Jian came before the others, looked toward the direction Zhang Heng had gone, then glanced at the Blackwater Pool behind them and the towering, smooth cliff.
There was clearly no way out behind them.
Though trees and tangled dead grass stood before them, the ground was fairly open, and they could flee in any direction.
"Before some rare treasure worth envying appears, the Seven Great Families rarely go so far as to tear off all pretense," Zhou Qingchen said coldly. As a genius of the Zhou Family, he had both the status and the confidence to fear no one. "I'd like to see which family dares to make a move against me, Zhou Qingchen!"
"No wonder Red Mountain chose you as a seed genius."
A hoarse voice suddenly rang out. A man rode into view from deep in the dead grass, atop a giant python, unhurriedly.
The python was as thick as a barrel, its body patterned in black and white. Its forked tongue flicked in and out, and its eyes gleamed with a vicious green light.
The man riding it wore loose clothes patterned like the python's scales. He had tucked both hands into his sleeves and was as thin as a bamboo pole.
"This old man is Hong Tai. I was once a member of the Blood Moon, but I was expelled a hundred years ago. Alas, I could no longer stay in the Upper Realm, so I had no choice but to scrape by in the lower realm." The man on the python introduced himself with a laugh.
"Rustle! Rustle, rustle!"
After he appeared, a number of people in mismatched clothes emerged one after another from the waist-high weeds.
Zhang Heng was among them.
"Hong Tai?"
"Hong Tai!"
The younger generation, including Zhou Qingchen and Ning Yao, had never heard the name. They looked puzzled.
Han Duping's expression shifted slightly. He looked at Hong Tai riding the python and quietly said to Zhou Qingchen, "He's one of the Dark Ghost."
"The Dark Ghost?"
Pang Jian was at a loss.
When Zhou Qingchen, Ning Yao, and Ning Yuanshan heard that the newcomers were from the Dark Ghost, their expressions immediately darkened.
In the Fourth Realm, the strongest sects and powers were naturally the Seven Great Families.
The Seven Great Families all had some ties to the sects of the Upper Realm. They were the established authorities and orthodox powers of this realm, controlling its seven richest regions in terms of cultivation resources.
The Seven Great Families maintained close ties with each other. On the surface, their relations were fairly harmonious, and they rarely fought to the death.
The Dark Ghost, on the other hand, was a cultivation force beyond the Seven Great Families, wandering the shadows and the scattered lands along the fringes.
The name Dark Ghost referred to the lonely spirits and wild ghosts lurking in the deepest darkness.
The Seven Great Families often joined forces to hunt them down, but the organization was skilled at hiding and escaping. It had never been wiped out and still operated in the shadows.
Even now, the Seven Great Families had no idea who led the Dark Ghost or what realm its leader had reached.
They only knew that the Dark Ghost's leader had recruited a number of wicked cultivators who could no longer get by in the Upper Realm, giving them a place to hide in the lower realm.
"Since we of the Dark Ghost have heard that the Heavenly Phoenix's divine remains were scattered, with bones falling across the realms, naturally we want to try our luck, too."
Hong Tai pointed at Zhang Heng and introduced him openly. "He's one of us. He's been lying low in the Ning Family for a long time. There are many more Dark Ghost members like him in your Seven Great Families; you simply don't know it."
"Only at certain critical moments do they reveal themselves and help us carry out major operations."
Hearing him admit without hesitation that there were many more people like Zhang Heng among them, Zhou Qingchen and the others felt their hearts sink.
"Enough. Let's stop the idle chatter and get down to business."
Hong Tai clapped his hands, wasting no more time. With a smile, he ordered, "Kill everyone except the two women. Don't leave any survivors."
Before you continue