Gathering Purple Qi and Returning

Early the next morning, before dawn had fully broken, Chen Lingxi rose.

He changed into a clean indigo short outfit, a leather belt cinched around his waist and black cloth shoes on his feet.

His pack contained the incense burner, several taels of loose silver, and a travel permit.

He pushed open the door, crossed the covered corridor, and left the marquis residence through a side gate.

Yuan River Prefecture was silent in the early morning. Only the breakfast stalls had opened, white steam rising from the steamers over their stoves, mingling with the fragrance of baked flatbread as it drifted through the morning breeze.

Chen Lingxi followed the long street north and left the city through its gates with his travel permit.

Beyond the city stretched vast farmlands, green wheat shoots thriving in the fields.

He followed the official road westward. After walking for more than an hour, he reached the foot of the mountain.

Inlaid Gold Mountain.

From afar, the mountain resembled an inverted sword thrust straight into the clouds.

Only up close did one realize its majesty—its slopes were steep and its rocks bare, with only stunted pines and shrubs growing from the crevices.

Clouds and mist coiled above the mountainside, obscuring the view. Only the glimmer of snow could vaguely be seen flashing through breaks in the clouds.

Chen Lingxi followed the mountain path upward.

He had never taken this road before. He relied solely on his memories from that day's Sight-Roaming, heading west in the direction where the purple qi had fallen.

The mountain path was rugged and littered with loose stones, making the climb arduous.

Fortunately, with his Copper Scarlet Realm cultivation now complete, his stamina was far beyond what it had once been. He did not find the climb particularly tiring.

When he reached the mountainside, he found a flat boulder and sat down to rest.

The mountain wind blew down from above, carrying the chill of snow. It stirred the stray hairs over his brow.

He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath.

The air was crisp, carrying the scents of pine needles and earth, along with a faint, elusive fragrance of flowers.

With the mountain wind around him, he closed his eyes and began to breathe and circulate his qi.

The spiritual qi in his dantian slowly flowed, cycling through his meridians in rhythm with his breathing.

Yet after only a few breaths, he frowned and opened his eyes.

"The spiritual qi on this mountain is too thin."

So thin that it was nearly imperceptible.

When he cultivated in the Baosu Marquis Residence, he had also found the spiritual qi of heaven and earth sparse. Still, he could at least capture wisps of it and gradually accumulate them.

But here on Inlaid Gold Mountain, it was as if something had drained all the spiritual qi away. The place was empty, and he could not seize even a single thread of it.

"Something is wrong."

Chen Lingxi rose to his feet and looked around.

This wilderness should have been a place of spiritual grace, lush with vegetation and brimming with vitality.

Yet its spiritual qi was thin to such an extent. It truly defied reason.

"The spiritual qi here is who knew how much thinner than in the Baosu Marquis Residence."

"What is different about the Baosu Marquis Residence?"

He stood where he was and pondered for a moment.

Then he thought of the incense burner in the pack on his back.

"Perhaps this was why Lin Suri distributed the incense burners."

He took the bronze-bodied incense burner from his pack, cradled it in his hands, and examined it closely.

"He had the entire residence burn incense every day. Perhaps those burners were not merely meant to repel insects or scent the air, but to form some kind of formation, using the smoke as a medium to draw in spiritual qi from all directions for his cultivation."

Once the thought surfaced, it struck him as entirely reasonable.

He did not dwell on it further. He put the incense burner away and continued upward.

The mountain path grew steeper, the trees denser, and the light dimmer.

Chen Lingxi proceeded carefully. After roughly two hours, the sun had reached its zenith.

With Chen Lingxi's current physique, there was naturally no need for rest. He crossed a ridge, and the view before him suddenly opened up.

It was a relatively gentle slope covered in wild azaleas. The flowers were in full bloom, a blaze of crimson as though the entire hillside had caught fire.

Chen Lingxi stood at the crest and gazed into the distance.

The main peak of Inlaid Gold Mountain stood not far ahead, steep and blanketed in snow, reflecting a dazzling white glare under the sun.

At its foot ran a winding mountain road—the same road he had seen carriages traveling along during that day's Sight-Roaming.

He narrowed his eyes and watched for a while before withdrawing his gaze and continuing west.

"According to my memories of that day, after the swordsman cleaved the purple qi apart, its fragments scattered in every direction. One of the larger strands should have fallen toward where I am now."

As he walked, he kept watch on the movements around him.

The mountain was utterly quiet, save for the wind and birdsong.

After another half hour, Chen Lingxi could not help frowning.

"I remember that purple qi being chopped into countless fragments, falling in all directions like rain."

"I have walked for so long now. Why have I not seen a single one?"

He thought briefly. "The strand of purple qi in Lin Suri's incense burner was far from thick. He presumably obtained only one fragment, and not even one of the thickest. So where did the other fragments go?"

Chen Lingxi was filled with doubt, but a few breaths later, he suddenly stopped.

The incense burner in his pack had given a faint tremble.

The tremble was exceedingly slight. Had he not been constantly alert, he would have scarcely noticed it.

He hastily took the incense burner from his pack and held it in his hands.

At the bottom of the burner, the layer of dark-golden viscous liquid was slowly flowing, like a sleeping living creature awakened by someone and writhing uneasily.

Above the burner, milky-white mist gathered and tilted faintly in one direction, as though something were drawing it along.

"This incense burner can actually sense it."

Delighted, Chen Lingxi followed the direction in which the mist leaned.

Passing through a dense forest and crossing a dried-up streambed, he arrived before a cliff face.

The cliff was not high, only two or three zhang, and it was covered in vines and moss.

The mist within the incense burner pointed straight at the cliff face.

Chen Lingxi set the incense burner aside and reached out to pull away the vines covering the cliff.

Behind the vines was a shallow crack in the stone.

The crack was extremely narrow, wide enough for only two fingers.

He slipped his fingers into the crevice and felt around for a while. His fingertips touched something.

It was very small, no larger than a peanut. It was icy to the touch, like a tiny stone.

But the instant his fingertips touched it, an incomparably sharp aura surged into them, stabbing his finger pads with pain.

Chen Lingxi drew a deep breath and removed the object from the crack.

It lay in his palm, radiating a faint purple glow.

It was a fragment.

A fragment of purple qi.

It was no bigger than a peanut and had been wedged within a narrow stone crevice.

Yet the aura it gave off made Chen Lingxi's entire body go rigid.

That sharp, fierce, utterly overbearing aura shared the same origin as the purple qi that had erupted from the young man's precious vase atop Inlaid Gold Mountain.

It was merely far weaker.

Chen Lingxi did not dare delay. He quickly lifted the incense burner and placed the fragment of purple qi inside.

The instant the fragment fell to the bottom of the burner, the layer of dark-golden viscous liquid began to boil, like a starved beast that had finally caught its prey.

Milky-white mist poured from the burner, wrapping layer upon layer around the fragment of purple qi.

The fragment immediately transformed into purple qi and slowly drifted through the mist, crashing left and right, yet never able to break free from its confinement.

"If this fragment of purple qi had been any larger, I fear this incense burner would not have been able to contain it."

He abandoned the thought of searching for other fragments. Carefully, he closed the burner, wrapped it in coarse cloth, and put it back into his pack.

He rose to his feet and let out a long breath.

Dusk had arrived.

The clouds on the horizon had been dyed dark gold by the setting sun, while the outlines of the mountains gradually blurred within the evening haze.

Standing before the cliff face, he looked back once at the path he had come from.

The mountain road wound away, vanishing into the depths of the forest.

Wind blew down from the mountaintop, carrying the chill of snow and making his robes flap loudly.

He turned and started down the mountain.

The incense burner lay quietly in his pack.

At its bottom, a wisp of purple qi slowly drifted through the milky-white mist, like a tiny purple snake trapped with nowhere to flee.

"It went this smoothly?"

Chen Lingxi reached the foot of the mountain. As the sun sank, distant mountains appeared in hazy silhouette, while the Yuan River wound toward him.

At the sight of mountains and flowing water, the desire for freedom that had long been suppressed in his heart suddenly blazed hot.

"Perhaps... I should flee Yuan River Prefecture now!"

Chen Lingxi stood amid the countryside, frozen for a long while.

Only when clarity returned to his eyes did he slowly shake his head.

"Just as Liuzhu said, the realm is in chaos. The imperial court has checkpoints everywhere, and the Baosu Marquis Residence has many powerful experts.

If I flee, and Lin Longyue is determined to kill me, I fear I will not get far."

"Even if I truly escaped the prefectures controlled by the imperial court, where could I go? Beacon fires cover the land—where is there any freedom?"

Chen Lingxi's gaze gradually cleared.

He thought of Lin Longyue and the Yunhe Commandery Princess, who always called him "slave."

He thought of Zhao Yong, who wanted to use him as a medicinal catalyst.

At last, he thought of Consort Chun, who had destroyed his family and left him with no home to return to!

"I have now gained time to catch my breath, and I have obtained purple qi!

With Dragon-Drawing Powder in hand, and the freedom to leave the residence to purchase supplies for medicinal baths, I will certainly break through to the third level of qi circulation within three months.

The third level of qi circulation, silver-bone blood qi cultivation, the Azure Edge Method, and this purple qi that can be called supremely formidable!

By then, I will no longer be meat for others to carve. If I encounter other opportunities, I can become even stronger. Why should I flee in panic?

Why not... stir the winds and clouds in Yuan River Prefecture, Capital Prefecture, even the capital itself, and seek revenge?"

Chen Lingxi took a deep breath.

"Pick flowers, return to the city, return to the residence!"