A Greater World, Hope for Longevity

Night deepened.

Chen Lingxi's consciousness sank into the Divine Chamber.

Within the void, the musk-deerskin pouch hung amid thick mist. A faint azure glow shimmered from its surface, dyeing the surrounding fog a deep, shadowy green.

With a thought from Chen Lingxi, the tiny musk-deerskin pouch vanished from the Divine Chamber and appeared in his hand.

The pouch was no larger than his palm, warm and smooth to the touch like jade. Azure light flowed endlessly across its leather surface, like a pool of spring water confined within a tiny space.

Chen Lingxi turned it over in his hand for a few breaths. With another thought, the pouch vanished from his palm and returned to its place in the void of the Divine Chamber.

Sure enough, I can store and retrieve things at will. He was delighted. This will leave far fewer openings.

Once the delight faded, he began taking stock of his gains.

The first thing he took out was Qiu Chihu's Gold-Slaughtering Saber.

The saber weighed heavily in his hand. It was more than a foot longer than an ordinary goose-feather saber, with an exceptionally thick spine but a blade as thin as a cicada's wing.

Moonlight fell across the blade. Its silver patterns had all turned pale gold, spreading from the hilt to the tip like a golden snake coiled upon it, flicking out a dim, chilling gleam.

This treasured saber was truly extraordinary—razor-sharp, far more formidable than when he had seen it in Qiu Chihu's hands.

Chen Lingxi infused it with spiritual qi and examined it closely.

The instant his spiritual qi entered the blade, he clearly sensed two utterly different powers lying dormant within it, one to the left and one to the right. Like ice and charcoal in the same furnace, they did not interfere with each other, yet faintly repelled one another.

These two powers must have been bestowed by the Cauldron Venerable of the Beast-Fighting Palace.

Chen Lingxi tried activating the first power.

The moment the thought arose, the blade changed.

Tiny sparks drifted from the pale gold patterns, as fine as fireflies, floating slowly down through the night. They landed on his shoulders, cuffs, and hem without burning him, only setting off his indigo short robe with a faint, lustrous radiance.

More and more sparks gathered, enveloping his whole body in a hazy halo. From afar, he looked like an immortal descending into the mortal world, stars circling his body, his bearing overwhelmingly imposing.

Chen Lingxi lowered his head to look at the halo of sparks surrounding him, and understanding dawned in his heart.

This seems to be an ability of majesty. He withdrew his spiritual qi, and the sparks slowly scattered back into the saber. It grants this effect, shaping an imposing presence. It has no real killing power, but it can greatly amplify one's aura and lend one dignity and majesty.

It could be useful for intimidating others.

Thinking this, Chen Lingxi shifted his spiritual qi and activated the second power.

This time, the blade's reaction was completely different.

The pale gold patterns flared brilliantly. Starting from the hilt, threads of lightning as thin as hairs burst from the patterns with sizzling crackles, spiraling and coiling around the blade.

In an instant, the entire saber was wrapped in leaping electric light. The blade hummed incessantly, like a thunder beast awakened in his hand and roaring in his grasp.

Chen Lingxi's hand holding the saber went slightly numb. The power within the blade was wild and violent, as though it might burst free from his grip at any moment.

He took a deep breath and gave the saber a light shake.

Several arcs of lightning leaped forth, and Chen Lingxi clearly sensed their destructive force.

Such power... if it struck a person... The Cauldron Venerable's bestowal is indeed profound. He murmured to himself, already forming a guess. Qiu Chihu likely entered the Beast-Fighting Palace to use the opportunity of the cauldron artifact to strengthen this treasured saber.

But Qiu Chihu had died by his hand, and this treasured saber had become his spoil of war.

He lowered his head to look at the saber in his hand. The lightning on its blade had completely dispersed, and the pale gold patterns had returned to normal, glimmering only with a cold, shadowy light beneath the moon.

With this treasured saber, if I can master some kind of qi-and-blood saber art and supplement it with this spiritual-qi lightning, my combat strength will surely rise greatly. He laid the saber across his knees, his fingers slowly tracing the patterns on its blade. By then, I will be able to defeat those at Silver Bone Perfection... perhaps even fight someone newly entered into the Golden Body Realm!

But he had never cultivated a saber art.

I still need to find a saber art. Chen Lingxi thought of Zhao Yong, a smile flashing in his eyes as he put the treasured saber into his storage pouch.

He then took out the stack of silver notes.

The notes formed a thick stack, in denominations ranging from fifty taels to one hundred taels. He counted them one by one by moonlight. There were a full twelve hundred taels.

Twelve hundred taels.

The number left him silent for several breaths.

Liu Que, the steward of the western courtyard of the Baosu Marquis Residence, earned only one hundred and fifty taels a year.

For an ordinary family of five, a year's food and clothing expenses amounted to only twenty or thirty taels.

Yet the stack of paper in his hand was worth eight years of Liu Que's salary, or half a lifetime of expenses for an ordinary family.

Qiu Chihu truly was worthy of being the son of the Commander of the Capital Guard. Chen Lingxi put away the notes, already making plans. These silver taels may not buy the finest things, but they are enough to ensure I never lack medicinal baths or qi-and-blood pills.

He returned the silver notes to his storage pouch, then took a silvery-white pill from the pouch.

The pill was round as a pearl, with faint silver patterns flowing across its surface and a dim, cold gleam beneath the moonlight.

He had seen the five silvery-white pills taken from Qiu Chihu in Total Perception's simulation, but had not had time to inspect them closely.

Now that the pill was in his hand, a rich medicinal fragrance rushed into his nose. It was not overbearing, but exceptionally lingering. Once it entered his nostrils, it was like a fine thread seeping through his nasal passage into his chest and abdomen, reaching his five viscera and six bowels.

The strand of azure qi in his dantian was stirred by the fragrance and began circulating on its own, trembling faintly like a hunting dog that had caught the scent of blood.

This silvery-white qi-and-blood pill also contains abundant spiritual qi.

Chen Lingxi no longer hesitated. He put one pill into his mouth and swallowed it with warm water.

The instant the pill entered his stomach, a torrent of qi and blood exploded within his abdomen!

That qi and blood was too fierce—so fierce that Chen Lingxi felt as though a red-hot iron ball had been stuffed into his lower belly.

The scorching heat spread from his lower abdomen through all four limbs and his entire body. Everywhere it passed, the qi and blood in his meridians was drawn by this foreign force and began surging madly.

He hurriedly circulated the qi-and-blood moving method from the Seven Forms of Ceasing War, gathering and refining that violent qi-and-blood essence strand by strand, drawing it into his own qi-and-blood circulation.

Half an hour passed silently.

When Chen Lingxi opened his eyes again, the bones throughout his body crackled, and the silvery gleam beneath his skin had grown several degrees brighter.

The thin silver marrow of his Silver Bone Realm now faintly gave him a sense of being "filled to overflowing," flowing slowly in the depths of his bones. Wherever it passed, a faint layer of silver light coated the bone.

This pill... can directly increase silver marrow.

Chen Lingxi was delighted. After a rough calculation, if he could refine all five silvery-white pills, he would reach minor completion in the Silver Bone Realm and cultivate the Silver Marrow Finger.

At that time, his ten fingers would be like silver, capable of easily piercing iron and stone.

Chen Lingxi tucked the remaining silvery-white pills close to his body, then sat down cross-legged again, calmed his mind, and began cultivating the Dragon Roar Technique.

The Dragon Roar Technique was immensely complex, progressing layer by layer from the most basic method of directing breath through the throat to the profound level where one's rebuke was like thunder.

The initial perception stage emphasized that "qi rises from the dantian, and sound emerges from the throat." One infused the throat with spiritual qi, vibrated the vocal cords, and released a rebuking cry.

That cry sounded ordinary, but in truth contained the unique rhythm of spiritual-qi vibrations. It could shake the hearts of men and shatter an enemy's qi and blood.

Following the method's instructions, Chen Lingxi slowly activated the strand of azure qi in his dantian, guiding it up along the Governing Vessel and into his throat.

His throat grew hot, as though glowing coals were burning within it.

He held his breath. Once the burning sensation had accumulated to its peak, he opened his mouth.

"Roar!"

A light shout burst from his throat.

At the same time, using the profound method of Dragon Roar, he confined the sound within a radius of three zhang around himself.

The sound was not loud, yet it was exceptionally low and deep, like a sleeping young dragon being startled awake and letting out a disgruntled rumble from deep in its throat.

As the sound passed, the air trembled faintly. Several loose flakes of plaster fell from the courtyard wall, while the branches and leaves of the old locust tree in the corner rustled as though brushed by an invisible wind.

Chen Lingxi frowned slightly, dissatisfied.

He tried several more times, each attempt smoother than the last.

After many attempts, that cry finally acquired the faint beginnings of a "dragon's roar." Though still quiet, it carried an indescribable penetrating force.

Chen Lingxi stopped and exhaled a breath of turbid air, but a measure of understanding had appeared in his eyes.

This was only the surface of the initial perception stage.

The true extraordinariness of the Dragon Roar Technique lay in how it could not only shake an enemy's qi and blood, muscles and bones, and internal organs, but also use the cry as a medium to wrap spiritual qi within sound waves and directly attack the enemy's mind, will, and spirit.

Chen Lingxi practiced for another half hour. Only when his throat began to ache faintly did he stop to rest.

The mysteries of the Dragon Roar Technique surpass even the Azure Edge Method. I have only just glimpsed its entrance; I still have a long road ahead.

The more Chen Lingxi practiced, the more profound he found the Dragon Roar Technique, and the more curious he became about the Southern Heaven Domain mentioned by Crown Prince Ying Chi.

He sat resting in the courtyard, gathering the many clues beneath the moonlight.

First, when Lin Suri traded with the Candle of Time, the Cauldron Venerable mentioned the words "greater world." Sitting cross-legged beneath the locust tree, he drew the first shallow horizontal line in the dirt with his finger.

Second, Lin Suri spoke with that black-clad cultivator surnamed Chao. The cultivator had come to the Baosu Marquis Residence, yet told Lin Suri, "I do not know your origins." He drew a second horizontal line in the dirt.

Third, the saber wielder who assassinated Crown Prince Ying Chi once said, "There are extraterrestrial demons in the palace as well."

Fourth, Ying Chi said that his memories had yet to awaken. In his words, he mentioned Golden Core and Nascent Soul, the Calamity Sea, the Southern Heaven Domain, the Dao Masters of Dao-Below Academy, and the Heaven-Marrying True Lord of the Calamity Sea.

Fifth, Golden Core, Nascent Soul.

The Heaven-Determining Brush can determine a person's heavenly fate.

The Heaven-Marrying Ladder can transfer one's own karmic calamities and karmic debt onto others.

Five horizontal lines lay side by side on the ground. He stared down at them for a long while, then heavily added a vertical line, linking them all together.

"Greater world," "beyond the domain"... they are likely where immortals gather.

Dao-Below Academy, the Calamity Sea, the Southern Heaven Domain... these names were like tightly shut doors. What scenes lay behind those doors, he had no way of knowing.

But he knew that the people behind those doors could determine heavenly fate, marry off karmic debt, rebuke with cries like dragon roars, and hover in the air like immortals and gods.

Chen Lingxi felt as though a brand-new world was slowly dispersing its mist before him.

He guessed that the so-called greater world was filled with spiritual qi, where cultivation never lacked for spiritual qi and countless opportunities for longevity existed.

If I can go to such a place, ascending the tower through qi will no longer be difficult, and longevity will be within greater reach.

He murmured to himself. The flame in his eyes danced silently, burning ever brighter, nearly overflowing from the depths of his pupils.

In his previous life, he had died young. In this life, he wanted longevity.