Jiang Che watched with his own eyes as Du Yongchang hoisted the last disciple who had failed in his duties with one hand and hurled him into a huge, red-hot urn.
The disciple kept begging for mercy, but his pleas could not stop the pestle, larger than a man, from crashing down.
In an instant, the pleas became a brief, agonized scream. Then the pestle struck again and again, its dull thuds turning crisp.
Boiling blood splashed from the mouth of the urn, only to be drawn back by an invisible force. Within moments, a living man had been devoured down to the last scrap. A thumb-sized Blood Elixir flew from the bottom of the urn into Du Yongchang's palm. The huge urn fell silent, leaving only a few wisps of scorched, foul-smelling smoke spiraling upward.
Du Yongchang turned, swept his sleeve, and tucked the Blood Elixir into his robes. His gaze swept over those remaining in the courtyard.
"A pack of useless fools!"
"An entire day! And you haven't found out a damn thing!"
"If you fail to find it, once the sect's people arrive, even if I'm doomed myself... I'll refine you alive first!"
Jiang Che could not help shuddering at those words.
In his previous life, he had been an ordinary corporate drone. One day, on his way home from work, he had hit the jackpot: when he opened his eyes, he had become a "Probationary Disciple" of the Azure Mystic outer sect, someone who had never even laid hands on a cultivation manual.
"Pending" meant that even his name had yet to be entered into the register. He practiced some punches and kicks and toughened his muscles and bones, perhaps earning a chance to join the sect someday. For most, however, that chance would never come.
This was the Azure Mystic Sect! It was the most renowned sect in the Wu Kingdom, and even the kingdom's ruler had to dance to its tune.
Still, though he occupied the lowest rung of even the outer sect, Jiang Che at least wore the Azure Mystic name. With a saber at his hip, he could stroll through the streets and live fairly well.
Who could have imagined that disaster would strike after just one month?
Two days earlier, a gravely wounded disciple of the main sect had brought over a Purple Sandalwood Casket and said:
"If anything happens to what's inside, everyone in Willow Source will face... a terrible calamity!"
Having delivered his message, he died.
The Azure Mystic Sect's outer sect steward in Willow Source County was named Du Yongchang. After hearing those words, he had not even dared open the box. He immediately summoned everyone and had them surround the inner courtyard, layer upon layer, with a guard every three paces and a sentry every five. On tenterhooks, he waited for the sect's people to hurry over, take the item away, and put the whole affair behind him.
But last night, the item had vanished.
The entire Willow Source outer sect felt as though it had plunged into an ice pit.
Throughout Azure Mystic, the rules were strict, its methods ruthless, and no allowances were made for personal ties.
If this matter were treated as dereliction of duty, every disciple in Willow Source County would, at best, have their future ruined. At worst, their cultivation would be crippled, or they might even be sentenced to death.
Before dying, that disciple of the main sect had said it plainly: "If it is lost, calamity will befall you all."
There was no room for argument.
No wonder Steward Du was furious.
As for his chilling threat to "refine them alive," Jiang Che believed it.
When Du Yongchang normally refined human pills, he mostly used condemned prisoners or slaves who had sold themselves into bondage. He still observed some restraints. But if he went mad and refined every Outer Disciple who had failed in their duties... having done it once before so many witnesses, he could naturally do it again.
Jiang Che did not want to die.
Though he had witnessed this world's cruelty, he had also seen cultivators' extraordinary powers. He, too, wanted to tread the path to immortality. He could not let his journey end here.
As he pondered, Jiang Che's gaze swept once more over a faint glimmer in a corner of the main hall.
On one of the floor bricks, a thread of blue light flowed slowly like rippling water, hugging the ground. An inexplicable pull came from that direction, as though something were calling to him.
He had noticed it as soon as he entered, but had not dared act rashly, assuming it was some special arrangement.
Yet while enduring the scolding, he observed the people around him and soon realized that this rippling blue light seemed... visible only to him.
His heartbeat quickened slightly.
In the month since he had crossed into this world, he had noticed nothing unusual about himself and had already given up hope. But at this moment, he seemed to have discovered something that set him apart.
He had never visited the main hall of the inner courtyard before, and he did not know whether he would ever have another chance.
After a moment's thought, he came up with a plan.
The floor brick was indeed in a corner, but as a newcomer of the lowest standing, Jiang Che was also standing in a corner. The brick was only two or three steps away.
He dared not make any conspicuous move, but his opportunity soon arrived.
Once Du Yongchang had finished cursing and applying pressure, he told them to get out. Jiang Che used the motion of kneeling to bow as cover, pretending to prostrate himself in overwhelming terror while his fingers quietly reached toward the brick.
When his fingertips touched the cold stone surface, the blue light flowed into his body through them.
White light instantly flared before his eyes, and the world spun around him. When he came to his senses, he stood within an endless expanse of pure white.
Looking down, he found that he had become a misty Spiritual Body, floating in the space.
The entire space contained only his Spiritual Body and a single floor brick—the very one he had touched. The rippling blue light still flowed across it.
After a moment's hesitation, Jiang Che drifted forward and lightly touched the brick.
A voice that sounded like a young man's rang out through the space.
"In the seventy-ninth year of Yongzhen, the Azure Mystic Sect besieged Sky Pillar Mountain. The Liu Clan of Willow Source, beneficiaries of Sky Pillar Mountain's kindness for generations, swore a blood-weeping oath and rallied to its aid. Halfway there, they encountered an ambush by the Azure Mystic Sect. In less than a day, they were utterly routed."
"With Willow Source surrounded, the Liu Clan fled en masse. Only their youngest son, Bingyuan, remained in the city..."
Before Jiang Che could fully digest the meaning of those words, he felt a tug, and his Spiritual Body was dragged into the floor brick.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself still inside the main hall of the Willow Source outer sect headquarters.
But the surroundings and layout had changed enormously!
It was late at night, and seven people were in the room.
The man at their head held his hands in a seal. A deep-blue formation rotated slowly on the floor before him. Behind him, six others were preparing to step into it.
Noticing Jiang Che's arrival, the man at their head abruptly turned. With undisguised astonishment and killing intent, he demanded, "Who are you? How did you get in?"
The other six also fixed their gazes on Jiang Che.
Jiang Che felt a flicker of panic, but quickly calmed himself.
One wrong word, and his blood might splatter the floor.
His mind raced, piecing together the scene before him and the voice he had heard in the Pure White Space... suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.
This isn't the present!
This is a fragment of the past-Willow Source in the seventy-ninth year of Yongzhen!
Jiang Che cupped his hands and said solemnly, "The Azure Mystic Sect has breached the county's defensive formation. Their pursuers will be here soon! I, too, admire Heaven Pillar Mountain and refuse to submit to Azure Mystic. I have come seeking a way to survive."
He spoke earnestly, his tone humble and his bearing utterly deferential.
"Is that so?"
Before the words had faded, the man maintaining the formation flipped his left hand. Blue light burst between his fingers, turning into three hair-thin strands of force that tore through the air.
Jiang Che did not even have time to think of dodging before pain struck his brow, chest, and throat. He died on the spot.
Back in the pure-white space, Jiang Che remained stunned for a long while.
The sensation of dying had been all too real. Though this was already his second experience of it, he still struggled to recover.
Once the lingering fear in his heart had eased a little, he noticed the floor brick flashing.
After a moment's hesitation, he floated over again and touched it.
The brick projected several images depicting what he had just experienced: his figure materializing out of unreality, his intrusion into that courtyard, and his death at the hands of three strands of force.
It was very short.
When the images ended, a label appeared: Unrated.
He thought he understood what all this was.
The floor brick seemed to be a Time Fragment, recording a scene that had occurred in the same location at a different time and allowing him to experience it firsthand.
When he died or met some other condition, the Time Fragment would end. He would return to the Consciousness Space, where his performance would be assessed and rated. A high rating might earn a reward. His current rating was "Unrated," so naturally he received nothing.
But... Jiang Che's thoughts shifted as those images replayed over and over in his mind. That formation...
Of course, he knew nothing about formations, but he could draw connections.
Apart from the man maintaining it, the other six had all been preparing to step inside.
What were they about to do?
Before you continue