Heaven Above Heaven

Third Realm.

High above, a blue divine bird spread its wings and soared into the sky, graceful as an immortal spirit.

Within the bird's crest, Pang Lin was wrapped in a radiant glow, yet the Azure Vulture's terrifying speed still left her trembling with fear.

Sun Bin and the two brothers, Yin Shan and Yin Hai, sat above the divine bird's neck, gazing down at the world beneath them.

As the Azure Vulture flew higher and higher, beneath the surging clouds, the land of North Qi where Pang Jian lived rapidly shrank, gradually becoming a large floating stone.

There were countless fragmented lands like North Qi in the Fourth Realm below, scattered far and wide.

Compared to the fragmented lands ruled by the Seven Great Families, North Qi was nothing special.

And because it lay right beside the northern boundary wall, it risked being engulfed by the Ghost Mist, so few high-realm cultivators ever ventured there.

Sun Bin's original purpose in coming here had been to see whether the Cenji Mountains in North Qi would be tainted by the Ghost Mist in the near future.

But as soon as he arrived in North Qi, before he had time to survey the Cenji Mountains, he noticed that the sky above Pang Lin was thick with lightning, as if drawn by some powerful magnetic force.

After looking into it, Sun Bin learned that a natural Thunder Vortex existed in Pang Lin's dantian, allowing her to draw in thunder of her own accord during violent storms.

Since Pang Lin had yet to begin cultivating and did not know how to guide the thunder, it had continued to gather in ever greater quantities.

If Sun Bin had not used the Azure Vulture's divine light to shield her, and the terrible weather had continued, the lightning might have lingered until the girl's life was in danger.

Meeting Pang Lin had been pure chance.

"Elder Sun, why did you give him a cultivation art?"

The guard Yin Hai was baffled and could not help asking, "That boy has no real talent and will find it exceedingly difficult to reach the Upper Realm. Why waste a cultivation art on him? By the time the little girl breaks through to the Dongxuan Realm, even if that country boy hasn't met with some mishap, he'll probably have died of old age."

"After all, the lives of beings in the lower realm are limited. He won't live past a hundred years, and he won't be around to wait for Pang Lin to return and bring him up."

Few ordinary people in the lower realm lived past seventy. Only those who knew how to cultivate could hope to live beyond a hundred.

In Yin Hai's view, since Pang Jian had limited talent, even with a cultivation art from Sun Bin, he would find it difficult to reach the Xisui Realm. He would die of old age before Pang Lin returned.

"What if Pang Lin earns her sect's favor and they spare no expense in cultivating her, allowing her to reach the Dongxuan Realm within a hundred years? And what if that boy outlasts the years and manages to wait for her return?" Sun Bin said coldly.

Then he glanced back at the petite figure in the divine bird's crest and continued, "Those two 'what ifs' are enough to make it worth giving him an art. It's a chance to forge a good connection. Besides, that cultivation art I happened upon only contains methods for the first six realms."

Yin Shan and Yin Hai nodded lightly, looking as though they had been humbly taught a lesson.

The divine bird continued climbing, gradually passing beyond the Third Realm.

Below them, the mountains and lakes on the two lands, the hidden sects and lineages, and the ancient yet magnificent cities slowly unfolded beneath the moonlight like a painted scroll.

There were no violent storms in this realm.

As the Azure Vulture soared through the sky and continued upward, powerful figures on the two complete lands below sensed its passage. Some gazed up from the peaks of majestic cities; others silently watched from within ancient temples.

Sun Bin smiled. "The sects of the Third Realm have developed quite well in recent years. Several people have noticed us. It seems I underestimated them."

"The candidates to lead the forces of the Third Realm are still judged and chosen by the great figures of higher realms, aren't they?" Yin Hai said arrogantly.

"Many of the titans in our realm also fought their way up step by step from the worlds below," Sun Bin said solemnly.

Several towering figures immediately appeared in Yin Hai's mind, and the arrogance in his eyes vanished in an instant.

Just then, lightning flashed and thunder roared, and a gale sprang up in a forbidden land of the Third Realm near the Ghost Mist.

Startled, Sun Bin quickly gathered the divine lightning in his eyes and peered down.

He saw countless enormous rocks exploding across that shattered, ruined pocket of a world. They flew off in all directions like dragon scales and tortoise shells, swiftly revealing the gigantic skeleton of a phoenix-shaped bird!

Beneath the moonlight, the phoenix skeleton was incomparably larger than the Azure Vulture they rode. It shone with the crystalline brilliance of white jade.

Suddenly, countless mysterious runes howled out from within the skeleton. Like a vast sea of diamond stars, they seemed to possess minds of their own as they circled the enormous phoenix skeleton.

"Whoosh!"

In the transformed forbidden land, a piece of white bone shot out like lightning, crossing the void in the blink of an eye and hurtling straight toward the Azure Vulture beneath Sun Bin.

The Azure Vulture seemed to know how terrifying the bone was. It first raised its head high and cried out in terror, then its broad wings began to tremble. A moment later, its countless feathers suddenly blazed with dazzling, multicolored divine light as it fought to soar upward with all its might.

"The fallen Heavenly Phoenix!"

Sun Bin's expression changed in horror, and he immediately flew in front of Pang Lin.

He thrust out the large hand he had kept tucked in his sleeve. Blinding bolts of lightning flashed between his fingers as he caught Pang Lin in a vast net and shouted, "Go!"

He knew the Heavenly Phoenix's divine bone was targeting the Azure Vulture. If he and the bird remained together, they would inevitably be caught in the attack. So, ignoring the Azure Vulture's mournful cries, he abandoned it and fled.

"The Heavenly Phoenix has appeared again!"

"The fallen divine phoenix's skeleton has emerged!"

Across the Third Realm, thunderous roars erupted from the peaks of its strongest sects and the depths of the temples in its ancient sacred grounds.

Several cultivators who had reached the Ningshen Realm abandoned whatever they were doing or emerged from seclusion, racing toward the forbidden land where the skeleton had appeared.

Fourth Realm, North Qi.

Watching the divine bird leave, the youth Pang Jian gazed skyward with longing and secretly made up his mind.

But just as the divine bird was about to disappear from sight, he suddenly saw Sun Bin's expression change dramatically. Sun Bin snatched Pang Lin away from the bird's crest in the blink of an eye.

In the next instant, a massive white bone wreathed in Divine Fire runes came hurtling toward them like a spear that could end the world, piercing straight through the divine bird.

The divine bird beat its wings with a shrill cry. Its bronze sinews and golden bones, wings and body alike, burned fiercely in flames like the end of the world.

In almost no time at all, the divine bird, whose overwhelming might had once left Pang Jian breathless, was reduced to ashes in the flames. The two guards who had not managed to escape in time had also been incinerated without a trace,

The last of the lightning's power in Pang Jian's eyes, which had allowed him to watch the divine bird soar, was now completely exhausted.

Pang Jian stood dumbstruck, his entire body turning cold.

Such a wondrous spirit bird had barely left the Third Realm before some unknown fiend struck it down, leaving it to burn to nothing.

The world above was truly terrifying and full of danger.

No one knew how much time passed before the rain gradually stopped.

The Fourth Realm's Sky Canopy was dark and heavy, its unchanging theme since time immemorial.

And above the thick leaden clouds lay another higher world, forever yearned for by all the creatures of the lower realm.

To ascend was the dream of countless people in the Fourth Realm, including Pang Jian at that very moment.

The youth tipped his head back and stared blankly at the dark clouds overhead.

Before the storm had abated, the last remnants of lightning's power in his eyes had already run out. Now, he could only see many small fragments of worlds suspended motionless in the high sky like bricks and pebbles.

The two complete continents, far beyond his reach and buried in the deepest layers of cloud, were no longer visible to him.

Yet he had long known those two continents existed, and he knew their names.

—Gantian and Xuanyou.

These two continents in the Third Realm above were famed throughout the lower realm. Everyone knew of them.

"Xiao Lin, Mingyue, Fanxing, and the worlds on even higher levels."

After a long while, Pang Jian finally lowered his stiff neck and spoke to himself.

He did not know whether Sun Bin and his sister Pang Lin had escaped after leaving the divine bird, nor whether the terrifying bone that had slain it would continue to pursue Sun Bin.

Worried about his sister's safety, the youth stared blankly at the gloomy sky for a while longer, but in the end, he found nothing.

The image of the divine bird soaring into the sky, only to be struck down without warning, replayed in his mind over and over, shaking him to the core.

"Qi refiners. Cultivators."

The youth knew very well that ordinary people in this realm called powerful figures like Sun Bin by those names.

The many fragmented worlds scattered throughout the Fourth Realm were also divided into seven great regions, each firmly controlled by qi-refining lineages.

His lower realm was like that, and so was the Upper Realm.

Qi refiners stood high above, beyond the reach of ordinary people like him. The threshold for cultivation was high, and Pang Jian had never had a chance to encounter it.

That was why he treasured the cultivation art Sun Bin had left behind, seeing it as the key to reuniting with his sister one day.

"Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art."

Pang Jian peeled back the oilpaper, took out the battered old book Sun Bin had left him, and stared at its tiny characters.

Before his father disappeared in the Cenji Mountains, he had taught Pang Jian and Pang Lin to read and write in his spare time. So Pang Jian could understand the words in the book.

From then on, apart from eating, drinking, and taking care of other daily needs, Pang Jian devoted all his energy to studying and pondering the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art. Gradually, he began to understand it.

The art aimed to envision a world within a pot in one's dantian, draw spiritual energy from the outside world into the body, and gather it within the pot to cleanse and refine it.

The youth, whom Sun Bin had judged to lack talent, refused to believe that fate was decreed by Heaven. He studied the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art day after day, hoping to envision a Spirit Pot and thereby step into the ranks of qi refiners.

"The myriad things between Heaven and Earth all require qi to be born. When qi gathers, life begins; when qi vanishes, life ends. To begin cultivating the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art, one must first quiet the mind and focus the spirit, sensing the existence of qi."

He recited the scripture again and again, but even its first step—quieting the mind, focusing the spirit, and sensing the existence of qi—left Pang Jian irritable and restless.

Several days later, Pang Jian finally learned that the so-called process of quieting the mind, focusing the spirit, and sensing the existence of qi was divided into three steps: concentration, relaxation, and awakening.

Concentration meant keeping one's awareness in the present, without letting one's thoughts run wild, until the body was completely relaxed.

Once he truly relaxed, his mind would become clear, allowing him to perceive the subtle workings within his body.

Only then could he awaken and genuinely sense the existence of qi.

It sounded simple, but when Pang Jian actually tried it, he realized it was far from easy.

He sat cross-legged, breathed slowly from his abdomen, and struggled to gather his awareness, but his thoughts kept wandering like a monkey and galloping like a horse.

One thought after another flashed through his mind like ghostly fire and lightning, leaping about without pause.

One moment, he wondered where his sister was. The next, he questioned whether his father was alive or dead. Then he found himself wondering who Sun Bin was and what he should do next.

Thoughts and distractions came flooding in, beyond his control.

"When the mind is unsettled, the spirit will inevitably scatter."

As long as his thoughts could not remain focused, he could not complete the crucial first step of the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art and formally begin cultivating.

When Pang Jian first encountered difficulties, he did not lose heart. Instead, he practiced again and again. Whenever distracting thoughts arose, he immediately gathered his attention and silently repeated the words "Pot-Heaven," drawing his thoughts back once more.

Before long, the distractions would return and his awareness would scatter again. Then Pang Jian would repeat "Pot-Heaven" to rein himself in.

After practicing this way for many days, Pang Jian gradually learned to gather his scattered awareness and calm his mind, keeping it in the present.

Once his far-ranging thoughts no longer affected his state of mind, and he could control his tendency to let his thoughts run wild, Pang Jian finally felt true relaxation as he sat in meditation.