Eastern Secret, Black Wind Valley.
East Secret Mountain bordered the Wilderness of Witches, standing at the boundary between Red Cloud and Witch South commanderies.
From its summit, looking east, one could see a sea of forest and pools of miasma, dotted here and there with low hills. Altars heaped with stark white bones stood upon them, surrounded by barbarians feasting and reveling-a scene of untamed wilderness.
The Wilderness of Witches occupied a territory of its own, with little contact with either immortals or demons. Neither side encroached upon the other.
The demons of Jade Flow had once unleashed a Demon Calamity that swept across the Great Scenery Plains, yet they had not dared invade the Wilderness of Witches. Occasional rumors claimed that great shamans presided there, their might comparable to Purple Mansion True Persons.
The valley was utterly silent.
The subordinates who had once cultivated and worked here had all vanished somewhere, leaving only Xie Miao's solitary figure.
His spirit and vitality were full, and he looked considerably younger, having regained the appearance of a middle-aged man.
Having successfully broken through to the sixth level of Qi Refining, he had already obtained his [life foundation], though his face was somewhat pale, much like Xie Shu's.
An important figure had arrived in the hall and was plotting something with his nephew. He was not qualified to listen and could only stand in attendance outside.
No one called him the second chief anymore. Stirred by this, he gazed into the distance, his thoughts unknown.
Inside the hall, upon the throne.
Xie Shu waited respectfully below, his pale face displaying utter submission as he awaited the words of the man seated above.
A barbarian sat on the throne, rugged in appearance, the lines tattooed across his forehead lending him an even wilder air.
The man let a trace of his aura seep out, unmistakably revealing his ninth-level Qi Refining cultivation. Deep and imposing as a towering mountain, it far surpassed Xie Shu's.
The barbarian looked down at Xie Shu, who awaited his instructions. A flicker of disgust crossed his eyes as he asked in a low voice:
"Xie Shu, how is the refinement of your demon embryo coming along?"
"My lord, it has begun to take shape. Given a few years, I can reach Foundation Establishment before Zhu Yucheng makes his move."
Xie Shu was exceedingly respectful, with none of his former wanton, sinister behavior. His punctilious manners almost made him resemble a direct-line heir raised by an aristocratic clan.
The barbarian rose and descended from the throne. Agile and powerfully built, he walked slowly to Xie Shu's side and spoke with a warning in his tone:
"The abbot of the Great Red Abbey caught the attention of those higher sects when he broke through to the sixth level of Qi Refining. If he dies too easily now, before his destined fortune can gather, someone will come demanding answers from me."
Xie Shu's gaze was gentle and meek. He coughed several times, as though gravely ill, and replied with an unsteady breath:
"Rest assured, Lord Yuan Zheng. Naturally, I will follow the High Shaman's plan. When he is on the verge of completing Foundation Establishment and his [nature root] manifests, I will go deliver him. Even then, he will not escape our grasp."
Yuan Zheng gave Xie Shu a long, searching look. The tattoos on his forehead manifested the shadow of a vicious beast, yet Xie Shu merely smiled respectfully, not a trace of blood in his pale face.
The barbarian paid him no further heed. Turning back to his throne, he remembered another important matter and instructed:
"You may capture mortals and cultivators to fuel your cultivation. But you must never cross those selected to enter the [Heaven-Bestowed Fortune Spring]. If you hurt any of them, even I cannot protect you."
Xie Shu's expression shifted slightly. He prostrated himself and respectfully assented.
Seated upon the throne, Yuan Zheng lightly stroked its carvings of ferocious ghosts and continued questioning him:
"Have you begun arranging to obtain a drop of Xu Xuan's blood?"
Xie Shu did not rise. With his face pressed to the floor, his expression was hidden as he answered quietly:
"I have already used a secret art to help my uncle break through to the sixth level and bestowed a secret treasure upon him. I will find an opportunity for him to fight Xu Xuan."
"If he cannot bring back even a drop of blood, heh-"
Xie Shu raised his head, only now revealing that sinister smile of his.
Yuan Zheng nodded from the throne, his expression rather cold, as though his thoughts had turned elsewhere.
If the Blood-Burying Demon Sect weren't a pack of useless fools, and this man hadn't happened to refine a demon embryo, why would I need him to handle this?
So what if you have your little schemes, Xie Shu? The Wilderness of Witches is full of cunning beasts and monsters of every kind. Do you think I cannot keep you under my thumb?
Yuan Zheng sat upon the throne, the radiance of his forehead tattoos flickering.
A long time had passed since Xu Xuan's visit to the Liu household. Autumn had arrived.
The opening of the underground palace was drawing ever closer. According to the Chen Household's letter, an auspicious time would be chosen in winter.
The vegetation had withered yellow, and the air was crisp. The trees across the hills and fields carried tidings of death, as though a long-burning wildfire had risen through Green Luo's countryside. From pale yellow to blood red to dark ocher, the colors revealed a fierce, desolate grandeur.
Autumn was the season of ripening and gathering. Xu Xuan had visited Longbright and found a good harvest of spirit herbs. It should be a bountiful year.
Liu Xiaowen had recently been coming often to cultivate on Azure Sky Peak, practicing his sword and cultivating by day, then gazing at the stars and practicing techniques by night.
Perhaps the tempering he had received while slaying demons in the mountains, or the touch of loneliness brought on by his senior brother's marriage, had gradually quieted the youth.
Xu Xuan felt that Liu Xiaowen had grown up a little. He was gradually shedding his childishness and becoming steadier, which put Xu Xuan considerably more at ease.
Liu Xiaowen had already perfected the Middle Fetal Breath stage, but Xu Xuan had not let him take pills to break through. The Chen Household's letter had stated that the lower one's cultivation, the greater the benefits one would gain from the spirit spring.
Xu Xuan silently calculated that Liu Xiaowen should reach Qi Refining earlier than Wang Qiyun had. He ought to succeed at eighteen.
Once he reached Qi Refining and formed his qi sea, he would need to absorb and refine spiritual energy throughout the day. Only then would Liu Xiaowen's nine-inch Spirit Root truly reveal its advantage.
Fetal Breath was still a stage of sensing spiritual energy, absorbing its essence, and widening the meridians. Unless one possessed special spiritual treasures or pills, or had certain meridians open from birth, the length of one's Spirit Root did not have an overwhelming influence at this stage.
At Qi Refining, however, the difference was that between clouds and mud. An extra inch could make one's cultivation speed faster by an unknown amount.
On the road to immortality, falling behind by one step often meant falling behind at every step. Those who cultivated quickly seized every opportunity, creating a situation where the strong only grew stronger.
I still need Xiao Wen to master this sword momentum and [Light of the Upper Heavens] before the spirit spring opens. Only then will he have some means to compete.
From what Liu Qiuqi had said, opportunities to undergo cleansing within were limited. Conflict would probably be unavoidable, and careful planning was still needed.
Although cultivating spells at the Fetal Breath stage could only produce a rudimentary form, practicing them again after reaching Qi Refining would be as natural as water flowing into a channel.
Most sects still prioritized breaking through as early as possible, however. After all, more spells became available after reaching Qi Refining.
If he were not sending Liu Xiaowen into the spirit spring to compete, Xu Xuan would only be teaching him some swordsmanship now, leaving him to devote the rest of his time to diligent practice of his breathing method.
As for Xu Xuan himself, he only sought to cultivate safely to Foundation Establishment. With the Chen Household's [One Origin Harmonious Peak Pill], things ought to go much more smoothly.
This silence from Black Wind Valley is rather unnerving.
Eastern Secret lay far from Green Luo, and Black Wind Valley was at the easternmost edge of Green Peaks. News traveled slowly, but even so, Xu Xuan had heard some rumors.
It was the autumn harvest season, yet no one was gathering the crops in the fields under Eastern Secret's jurisdiction. This strange phenomenon inevitably prompted some private suspicions in Xu Xuan.
He had now mastered the "Starlight Upper-Heavens Illumination." Within his qi sea, purple lightning wound like a roaming dragon, while starlight condensed into a mani jewel as translucent as glass, suspended above the [Mystic Prayer Thunderwood].
"Xiao Wen, how is your cultivation progressing?"
Xu Xuan emerged from the True Abode Hall and saw Liu Xiaowen swinging his sword beneath a pine.
A stubborn look marked the youth's face as he wrestled with the "Congming One-Qi Sword Art." After so much practice without comprehending sword momentum, he refused to admit defeat.
Seeing Xu Xuan emerge and question him, Liu Xiaowen hastily halted his sword moves and replied:
"I have now condensed a thread of starlight with the 'Starlight Upper-Heavens Illumination,' enough to use it, but my sword momentum is still lacking."
"You have cultivated hard all this time. Go down the mountain and have a look.
"The spirit grain is ripe now, and some outer disciples have been sent to harvest it. Patrol the three mountains, so that no demon beasts that have grown powerful can cause trouble."
Seeing that Liu Xiaowen had spent so long cultivating diligently here, Xu Xuan sent him to temper himself in the Great Red Three Mountains. Perhaps he would comprehend sword momentum there.
The disciple accepted his orders and descended the mountain properly, but the moment he left Green Luo, he broke into a run. Clearly, his time on the peak had indeed left him restless.
Elsewhere, on Rosy Dawn Peak, the autumn breeze was cool outside the hall. Two people sat beside a bluestone table.
Wang Qiyun was leafing through the "Record of Cloud Garments and Splendid Regalia," while Shen Shu sat beside him, explaining some of its key intricacies. Occasionally, they exchanged a smile.
The "Record of Cloud Garments and Splendid Regalia" recorded several Formation-Artifact Craft techniques. It contained formations with all manner of functions, but they were all intended for enchanted robes.
The methods for inscribing these small formations differed, and all were of Fetal Breath grade.
To use them elsewhere would require painstaking transcription and adaptation, which was truly taxing on the mind.
After hearing about Liu Xiaowen's situation, Wang Qiyun had mulled it over and, for the first time ever, taken the initiative to discuss it with his father. Together, they had decided to forge a suitable magical artifact.
Its grade would not be high-merely Fetal Breath quality. Liu Xiaowen could not bring out the power of a Qi Refining artifact anyway.
Wang Qiyun wanted to create this magical artifact using formation-artifact methods, and that was precisely where the difficulty lay.
Although he had already asked his wife to weave a middle-grade Fetal Breath enchanted robe to give his junior brother when the time came, it was still not quite enough.
He ought to add a supporting magical artifact as well. Only then would it measure up to the standard of the direct-line descendants of aristocratic clans on the Great Scenery Plains.
This left Wang Qiyun somewhat stumped.
He was confident that the [Fire Tiger Fang] he had forged was no worse than any household's Fetal Breath artifact in the Plainlands. But asking him to inscribe formations on an artifact blank was truly asking too much of him.
Fortunately, Shen Shu was there.
"What if we extract a strand of Earth Baleful Fire from the pill furnace, then carve the [Fire-Gathering Formation] and [Spirit-Burning Formation] onto the artifact blank? Xiao Wen could use it to purify his magical power and imbue it with a fire nature. Would that work?"
As Wang Qiyun leafed through the ancient book, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he looked at Shen Shu.
Shen Shu first served her husband tea, then considered for a moment before saying softly:
"I fear that although it would change the nature of his magical power, it would also consume a great deal of it. He would not be able to sustain it for long."
"That is a problem. Let me look some more."
Wang Qiyun was not discouraged. Instead, his interest grew even stronger. He simply found the path of formation artifacts truly fascinating, and became absorbed in the "Record of Cloud Garments and Splendid Regalia."
The autumn breeze rose again. Beside him, Shen Shu gently tidied her cloudlike hair and gazed at the man before her, becoming just as absorbed.
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