First Glimpse of the Way

"Pot-Heaven, Lake-Heaven."

One day, as Pang Jian remained calm and relaxed, a sudden resonance stirred within him, and he clearly realized something.

The human mind was like a tranquil, crystal-clear lake.

Its waters were unfathomably deep, but because they were so clear, one ought to be able to see the things at the bottom.

Yet whenever stray thoughts arose and wild fancies took flight, the clear, placid surface of the lake was like a place where stones had been thrown in one after another, setting ripples spreading across it.

As the ripples met and mingled, they churned the surface, making it impossible to see anything at the bottom.

Only by casting aside the many distracting thoughts in his mind, keeping his heart calm, and focusing on himself could he keep his mind-lake from rippling endlessly and clearly examine his own being.

After grasping this, Pang Jian focused on cultivating for a long while. He felt increasingly calm, and his mind gradually grew clear.

In this state, Pang Jian could feel his abdominal cavity gently rise and fall as he took long, deep breaths, as though his organs were being massaged with care. His viscera grew lively and filled with strength.

He understood at once: the ability to see through the mysteries within oneself was what they called awakening.

At last, he had gained his first glimpse into the way of the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art.

This single step alone brought Pang Jian immense benefits. Whenever he awoke from sitting in meditation, he felt refreshed and clearheaded.

His hearing and vision had also improved slightly, while his anxiety and irritability had eased considerably.

"Hm?"

One day, as Pang Jian settled his mind and entered meditation to sense the presence of qi, he noticed warmth in his chest.

His brow twitched. He lifted the front of his robe and looked at the Bronze Pendant resting against his skin.

The pendant was ancient and simple. Its back, pressed against his skin, was smooth as warm jade.

On the front was the shape of a bronze door, filled with unknown patterns and fitted with two ring handles, as if he could open the door by pulling them.

This was the only thing his father had left him before departing that day, pulling it from around his own neck and giving it to him.

Pang Jian had worn the Bronze Pendant for years, and it had never shown anything unusual. But in recent days, as he cultivated with the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art, the Bronze Plate grew too warm whenever he sensed the movements of qi.

Holding the Bronze Plate against his chest, Pang Jian rubbed its front with his fingertip, feeling the rough patterns, then gave one of the ring handles a gentle tug.

The door-shaped pendant did not open, nor did his actions cause anything else strange or unusual to happen.

The object's unusual warmth quickly faded as his clear state of mind was disrupted.

Pang Jian paid it no mind. He got up, washed, and ate, then began another round of calming his mind to comprehend qi.

During the process, the Bronze Plate against his chest grew warm once more, but Pang Jian no longer paid it any attention.

That day.

Pang Jian was quietly observing himself and focusing on his cultivation when the sounds from outside disturbed him.

He stepped out of the stone hut and saw several sections of dry bone suddenly appear in the murky sky overhead. Like meteors, they plummeted northward into the Fourth Realm.

They vanished deep in the Cenji Mountains, sending tremors and thunderous rumbles across ten thousand li of land and violently shaking the stone hut behind Pang Jian.

Though he was so far away, Pang Jian could still hear the beasts in the mountains roaring in fear and excitement.

He naturally thought of the scene in which a crystalline divine bone had pierced the divine bird Azure Vulture. He vaguely suspected that the dry bones falling from the sky might have come from the same source as that divine bone.

The bone that had slain Azure Vulture had been bright as jade, radiating divine light.

But the dry bones falling toward the Cenji Mountains were ashen and dull. The mysterious power they held seemed to have been exhausted, leaving them dim and lifeless.

Roused by the strange phenomenon in the sky, Pang Jian temporarily stopped cultivating the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art and watched the changes above with rapt attention.

Half a day later.

Pang Jian saw a Golden Chariot bathed in divine light emerge from the depths of the thick clouds. It plunged straight into the depths of the Cenji Mountains.

When the chariot landed, a thunderous boom erupted from the mountains. A dazzling golden pillar of light shot skyward before slowly sinking back down long afterward.

A day passed.

Another enormous sailboat descended from the sky. Black brocade flags fluttered aboard, each bearing a blood-red crescent moon at its center, which seemed to drift and sink as it released a captivating, eerie glow.

Not long afterward, a gleaming five-story White Tower slowly descended from the Upper Realm, turning as it fell.

The chariot, the sailboat, and the White Tower were all things beyond the mortal world, leaving Pang Jian yearning for more.

Gradually, Pang Jian understood that some kind of upheaval must have taken place deep in the Cenji Mountains.

Those exalted figures from the Upper Realm had either come searching for the dry bones or been drawn by the Ghost Mist's abnormal behavior.

Having hunted in the Cenji Mountains for years, Pang Jian knew most of the range intimately. He knew which depths of its mountains and lakes were dangerous, and which areas his father had forbidden him to enter.

Though his curiosity was boundless, he knew that a major upheaval had occurred in the Cenji Mountains. Out of caution, he decided to suspend his hunting there and focus on the rare cultivation art in his hands.

He kept watch for a while longer. When no other strange objects from the Upper Realm fell, he returned to his hut and continued cultivating.

The "qi" described in the Pot-Heaven Qi Cultivation Art was unlike the air he breathed. It did not need to be breathed into his abdominal cavity, but had to sink into the Spirit Sea in his dantian.

This qi was called spiritual energy. It possessed miraculous power and was the very foundation of a qi refiner's strength.

Though he restrained his curiosity and suppressed his desire to explore, Pang Jian could often hear thunderous booms, people's roars and screams, and beasts' cries and snarls coming from deep within the Cenji Mountains as he sensed the presence of spiritual energy.

He was certain that fierce battles were raging deep in the mountains, which only made him restrain his urge to explore even more.

"This is the place."

That day, Pang Jian was startled from his diligent cultivation by voices outside his courtyard. He hurried out to see what was happening.

Beyond the fence stood a group of seven, mounted on tall, armored warhorses. No one knew when they had arrived at his home.

Perhaps because he had been so engrossed in cultivation, intently examining the subtleties within his abdominal cavity, Pang Jian had not heard the horses' hooves.

"Clatter!"

The newcomers rode forward without the slightest courtesy. Their heavy hooves kicked apart the fence and charged straight into the courtyard.

"The people in Linshan Town say you've hunted in the Cenji Mountains for years and know the range better than anyone. Is that true?"

A gloomy old man with a goatee rode his armored warhorse up to Pang Jian. He had no intention of dismounting. Looking down at him from his saddle, he said in a tone that brooked no refusal, "We're heading into the Cenji Mountains and need someone who knows the terrain to guide us. That'll be you, boy."

"I'm not going." Knowing that the mountains had been dangerous lately, Pang Jian forced himself to refuse.

"That's not up to you."

The old man bared his teeth in a sinister grin, untied a thick black rope from his saddle, and looked ready to abduct Pang Jian by force.

"Let me talk to him!"

A girl called out from behind the old man, urging a magnificent white horse forward.

She stopped beside the old man without dismounting, and casually tossed Pang Jian a cloth pouch, her expression cold and charitable, as if granting alms. "It's not that we're unreasonable. We're paying you."

The girl on the white horse wore a practical outfit. She was quite beautiful, with a graceful figure and a spirited air.

Compared to her, the young women of Linshan Town were like a grain of light beside the bright moon.

Pang Jian had grown up doing little but roaming near the Cenji Mountains, and rarely even visited Linshan Town. His gaze lingered on the girl for a moment, and he lost himself.

"Look at me again, and I'll dig your eyes out."

Before Pang Jian could get more than a few glances, a thin young man in white robes on a black horse farther back snapped at him, his narrow eyes full of menace.

Pang Jian said nothing. He quietly looked away, then picked up the cloth pouch from the ground.

When he opened it, he found it full of large silver ingots, enough to buy several years' worth of rice, flour, oil, and salt—enough to cover his daily needs.

Clutching the pouch, Pang Jian reconsidered. The mountains had been quiet for some time. Perhaps the earlier turmoil and conflict had already subsided.

He also wanted to know what had happened inside, so he said, "Fine."

"Heh. So the boy's greedy after all." The gloomy old man chuckled and pointed toward the Cenji Mountains. "Take the lead."

Pang Jian looked at the snow-white horse the girl was riding. "Walking is too slow. I want to ride."

"Ride?"

The white-robed young man on the black horse had been looking at Pang Jian with cold eyes from the start. His anger flared again. "Do as you're told. If you say one more word, I'll cut out your tongue."

First the threat to gouge out his eyes, now the threat to cut out his tongue. Pang Jian glanced at the young man glaring at him, then at the spirited beauty. He guessed the young man was infatuated with her.

"Can you ride?" the girl asked coolly.

"I'm a hunter from the mountains. What do you think?" Pang Jian asked instead of answering.

The girl looked surprised that Pang Jian dared to answer her with a question. A strange glint flashed in her bright eyes. She nodded lightly and ordered, "Liu Qi, you and Zhang Heng can share a horse. Give him yours to ride."

"Oh."

One of them unwillingly leaped down from his horse and led it to Pang Jian. He patted the head of his beloved chestnut horse and murmured a couple of words to it before saying, "It's wild. If it hurts you, don't come crying to me."

Then he grinned and turned to look at the white-robed young man.

The young man's eyes held a hint of approval.

Pang Jian said nothing. He returned to his room to gather his bow, arrows, and long saber, then strapped on his Bamboo Basket. Only then did he take the reins, step into the stirrup, and mount. With a flick of the whip, he drove the horse toward the Cenji Mountains.

"Clip-clop, clip-clop!"

The chestnut warhorse suddenly broke into a wild gallop, bucking and swerving madly along the way like a savage beast that had never been tamed.

Pang Jian's upper body rocked violently with the horse, but his lower body remained pressed to its back, rooted in place. No matter how the horse thrashed, it could not throw him off.

The warhorse raced toward the Cenji Mountains in a frenzy, using every trick it could to shake Pang Jian off, but in the end, it failed.

A short while later, the exhausted warhorse seemed to accept its fate and gradually calmed down.

"This boy's got something," the old man murmured thoughtfully, stroking his beard.

"I hope this trip goes smoothly."

The spirited girl sighed softly, her face full of worry. Her gaze did not linger on Pang Jian or the agitated horse; it stayed fixed on the depths of the Cenji Mountains. "The Blood Moon, the Yin Spirit Temple, and the Blazing Sun Sect have all entered the mountains. Their fates are unknown, and not a single one of them has come back out."

The girl paused briefly, then continued, "The northernmost part of the Cenji Mountains is partly shrouded in Ghost Mist. It's probably become a forbidden zone, and who knows how many unknown horrors have spawned there?"

"You shouldn't go in there. You're destined to reach the Upper Realm. How can you risk your life in there?" the white-robed young man cried.

"From the moment we set out on this path of cultivation, neither you nor I could ever live a peaceful life again." The girl slowly shook her head. Her fair, flawless face was filled with resolve. Calmly, she said, "The upheaval has already subsided. It's much safer now."

"If I die while exploring the Cenji Mountains, it'll prove my ability and luck are lacking. Even if I made it to the Upper Realm, I wouldn't survive long."

"Let's go."

At her command, she urged her horse forward. The others had no choice but to hurry after her.

This is a new book, and I'll post two chapters every day, both in the morning. I'm glad to see some familiar faces again, whether quietly voting or leaving tips and comments. I never thought that years later, you'd still remember Old Ni.

Finally, special thanks to this book's first Alliance Leader, "Immortal Qi Tian." I clasp my hands in salute.