"Ow, stop shouting! You'll deafen me! Isn't this Old Master Fu? Why didn't those eleven damned brothers of yours come along? Oh, tsk, tsk, where did you trick another little brother into following you? Not to criticize, but isn't it just a Heavenly Tribulation you have to get through?! Why find so many scapegoats to die for you?" The seductive, bewitching voice drew closer.
A great cloud of peach-pink mist came swiftly drifting from the distance and stopped not far from where Fu Shan stood, bobbing eerily up and down.
Fu Shan's face turned livid, with a trace of helplessness. "Hua Meiniang, why is it you again? After all these years, why are you still making trouble everywhere? I haven't settled accounts with you over last time, yet you dare show your face?"
The peach-pink mist spread to either side, and a ravishing beauty stepped out with a graceful sway. Li Qiang could not help cheering loudly. "Wow... a super beauty!"
Hua Meiniang smiled faintly at him, as though hundreds upon thousands of peach blossoms had bloomed together, leaving Li Qiang dumbstruck. But Li Qiang had just suffered a heavy emotional blow and felt a little apprehensive about women. Looking at Hua Meiniang's astonishing beauty, he could not resist wanting to annoy her.
"Little brother, is your big sister pretty? Come over here to me. Be good." With a cloying voice and a soul-snatching gesture, Hua Meiniang laughed without restraint.
"Enough! Hua Meiniang, I'm warning you. If you dare seduce my brother, don't blame me if I leave you forever beyond reincarnation."
"Oh, Old Master Fu is angry! If he comes to little old me of his own accord, you can't call that seduction."
"Heh, heh, Hua Meiniang, don't be so sure of yourself. Men don't like women who act so bewitching all day long. You may be the prettiest woman I've ever seen, but I'm not interested!" Li Qiang sat in the teleportation array with a look that said, What can you do to me?
Li Qiang was actually only speaking offhand, but he did not know he had struck Hua Meiniang's sore spot. Fu Shan could not help laughing aloud. "Hua Meiniang, this brother of mine isn't interested in you. All those pretty, flirtatious glances were wasted! Ha ha!"
Shrill, ear-piercing curses poured incongruously from the lovely Hua Meiniang's mouth. "You little bastard! Since when have I liked filthy men? You little son of a bitch who deserves a thousand cuts! You'd better never fall into my hands! If I don't suck you dry of essence until you die, I-I... won't call myself Hua Meiniang!" Fu Shan found her reaction rather strange.
"Ooh, I'm scared... fine... don't call yourself Hua Meiniang. Just call yourself a lovesick fool instead." When Li Qiang wanted to annoy someone, he could infuriate even a bodhisattva into ascending to heaven.
"Drop dead!"
A cloud broke away from the mist floating around Hua Meiniang and rushed toward Li Qiang like a surging tide. Almost simultaneously, a brilliant white light flashed from Fu Shan's hand. The peach-pink mist dodged as though alive, but the white light moved so fast that it had already slashed into the cloud. A thunderous crash mingled with a dense series of metallic chimes as the cloud was shredded.
Li Qiang clapped and laughed. "Wonderful! Vanished like smoke and scattered like clouds!" He had no idea how dangerous that had been. At his present level, without battle armor to protect him, he could never have resisted the countless tiny essence-sucking needles mixed into that mist if it had engulfed him. Hua Meiniang's Peach Blossom Screen was a vicious weapon that many cultivators regarded as a nest of snakes and scorpions.
Fu Shan chuckled. "I've always shown you some courtesy before. Everyone in the Cultivation Realm knows that I, Fu Shan, am unwilling to fight women." In truth, Fu Shan had not used his full strength. Probably only a very few cultivation experts could make him go all out.
Hua Meiniang was mad with rage. "Peach Blossom Battle Armor!" she cried. The mist around her swiftly flowed into her body, and a suit of peach-pink armor appeared on her.
Li Qiang could not help marveling. "Everything these people make is so beautiful. This really opens my eyes." He did not know that in the world of cultivators, artifact crafting was a discipline essential to survival and had to be perfected in every detail.
"Exquisite Battle Armor!" With a sweep of his hand, Fu Shan donned his armor too.
Li Qiang could no longer stay seated and stood up inside the teleportation array.
Hua Meiniang's weapon was a sprig of peach blossoms that looked freshly broken from a tree, vividly fresh and seemingly still beaded with morning dew. She held it in her hand, waving it lightly and carelessly. Li Qiang had to admit that Hua Meiniang was extraordinarily dazzling. Her manner, figure, and enchanting face truly inspired such tenderness that one could hardly bring oneself to strike her hard.
Petals filled the sky. Pink petals suddenly appeared in the air like blossoms scattered by heavenly maidens. Barren Mars seemed transformed into another world, brimming with the breath of spring. Hua Meiniang laughed sweetly. "Old Master Fu, try my newly mastered Myriad Flowers Tribulation. Go!"
"Oh?" Fu Shan nodded, a gleam of excitement flashing through his eyes. "After all these years, you've finally mastered it. Good, good."
Li Qiang's astonishment was beyond words. This shower of blossoms filling the sky-could it be an illusion? What a joke, fighting with flower petals!
Fu Shan found nothing strange about it. He knew that every petal dancing across the sky was a sharp weapon condensed from energy.
The sky-filling shower of the Myriad Flowers Tribulation moved. The petals drifting slowly through the air began spinning rapidly, giving off a faint hum. As Hua Meiniang drove them with all her strength, the petals gathered in groups of five or six and spun even faster. As their speed increased, the sound changed too. Deafening shrieks of air being torn apart resounded between heaven and earth.
Brimming with excitement, Li Qiang watched to see how Fu Shan would handle it.
"Heh, quite a spectacle. Watch mine..." Fu Shan raised his hand, and a tiny golden butterfly flew out.
Li Qiang dropped onto his backside with a thump, thinking, Brother Fu is too funny. Now even butterflies are flying around.
Li Qiang could hardly be blamed for his ignorance; he had only just encountered the Cultivation Realm. That tiny golden butterfly was famous there. It was a supreme-grade blade crafted by Ye Anhun, a master artifact crafter of Sealed Fate Planet, and was called the Golden Butterfly Blade. No one short of an expert could use it, and after Fu Shan refined it anew, its power had become even greater.
With every wave of Fu Shan's hand, another golden butterfly flew out, each dividing into more than a dozen. In an instant, golden butterflies danced all across the sky, each flying off to gather flowers.
Flowers and butterflies met. Violent explosions shook the heavens, and turbulent currents surged in every direction. The petals and golden butterflies formed from energy collided and shattered, pink and gold whirling wildly through the air. Gradually, more and more petals dispersed, while the golden butterflies danced with ever greater vigor.
At last, all the petals in the sky dispersed. The golden butterflies fluttering everywhere merged from thousands into hundreds, from hundreds into tens, and finally into one, which danced around Hua Meiniang.
Li Qiang knew Fu Shan had won. In all his life, he had never seen fighting like this. There were no martial moves at all; it was entirely a contest of Law Treasures and energy. But it certainly looked wonderful. "Absolutely spectacular," was Li Qiang's verdict.
Hua Meiniang was in a sorry state. The peach branch in her hand had snapped, and its blossoms had withered and fallen. Waves of helplessness welled up inside her. Against an expert like Fu Shan, she simply had no opening. She had spent seven full years refining this peach branch, pouring countless efforts into it, and now it was completely ruined.
A sinister smile suddenly appeared on her face. "Myriad Flowers Cover!" Countless multicolored flowers abruptly burst from Hua Meiniang's body and spun rapidly around her. Caught off guard, the Golden Butterfly Blade struck empty air. With a wave of her hand, she sent a mass of something like mist, yet not mist, flying toward Fu Shan.
"Oh, still not convinced? Fine, again!" Fu Shan had grown a little careless.
"Ah... what are you doing?" Hua Meiniang's sudden appearance before him frightened Li Qiang out of his wits.
Hua Meiniang did not attack Li Qiang, because she knew that if she destroyed him, Fu Shan would hate her to death. Fu Shan ranked among the top big shots of the Cultivation Realm, and few dared provoke him. But he had a rule: he never utterly exterminated women. That was why she dared attack him and had even spoiled his affairs several times. Though she dared not harm Li Qiang, making trouble and wreaking havoc were her specialties.
She activated the teleportation array.
Only heaven knew where an uncalibrated teleportation array would send Li Qiang!
Fu Shan flew into a towering rage. Putting away the Golden Butterfly Blade, he opened his mouth and spat out the weapon that had made his name, the Cold Jade Sword.
The experts of the Cultivation Realm all knew that if Old Master Fu brought out the Cold Jade Sword, matters had become serious. Fu Shan held an extremely high standing in the Cultivation Realm. On Sealed Fate Planet and certain other planets, he was worshipped like a god. Very few dared provoke him.
As the Cold Jade Sword flew out, the air temperature plunged. Fu Shan roared, "Bastard!"
Hua Meiniang's blood ran cold. She knew the Cold Jade Sword's nature only too well: it would never return without tasting blood. At her present level, she had not the slightest chance of victory. But she had plenty of experience fleeing. She spat a mouthful of blood onto the Myriad Flowers Cover, and her true body escaped through the ground. She was gambling that Fu Shan would have no time to pursue her and would certainly check the teleportation array's destination. Given just a quarter of an hour, she would be very hard for him to find.
With a ringing sound, the Cold Jade Sword pierced the Myriad Flowers Cover and flew back into Fu Shan's hand. Seeing the blood on the blade, Fu Shan stamped his foot in fury, knowing she had escaped again. Sure enough, a flower the size of a bowl lay on the ground, with one or two fallen petals and a little blood on it. Hua Meiniang was nowhere to be found.
Picking up the flower and examining it, Fu Shan knew Hua Meiniang must have been heartbroken as she fled. Her Myriad Flowers Cover had been knocked away. Anyone would find it unbearable to have two Law Treasures ruined in a single day. Fu Shan flew to the teleportation array, and one look sent him groaning inwardly.
The array's indicated destination was actually Sealed Fate Planet. Fu Shan knew this was impossible; it had not pointed in this direction when it first activated. Drawing on his wealth of experience, he examined it carefully and calculated for a long time, listing seven planets Li Qiang might have gone to.
"Damn it, I'll skin you, you little temptress! Ah, I'll have to return to Sealed Fate Planet first and find a few brothers to split up and search." Reluctantly, Fu Shan stepped onto the teleportation array. White light flashed, and Mars returned to its former silence.
The night wind brushed gently over the treetops, its sobbing like the weeping of ghosts. Unknown beasts gave strange, bizarre howls. Li Qiang stood in an ancient teleportation array, chills running through his heart. He had been standing there for a long time, thinking about everything that had happened these past few days. Gradually, dawn broke.
A melodious birdcall roused Li Qiang from his thoughts. "Birdsong? Where could this be?"
Blue skies, white clouds, dense primeval forest, weeds all around him, and countless enormous rocks scattered about-for an instant, Li Qiang thought he had returned to Earth. Looking at his silver armor flickering with purple flames, he shook his head and rejected the thought.
Stepping out of the teleportation array, Li Qiang hesitated. Should he wait for Fu Shan, or leave the forest first? After a moment's indecision, he decided to wait a few days. If Fu Shan still had not arrived, he would explore then.
Once he had decided, Li Qiang immediately began preparing, thinking, Luckily I bought plenty of supplies. Now they'll come in handy.
He cleared a patch beneath a huge rock and, humming a tune, took a camping tent from his bracelet and assembled it. Then he crawled inside, spread out a blanket, and sat cross-legged.
Hmm, I should eat something, Li Qiang thought. In fact, from the moment the Purple Flame Heart activated, he had entered the grain avoidance realm. The Purple Flame Heart could now fully supply all the energy his body needed, so eating was optional.
He opened a vacuum-sealed bag of pork jerky and ate two pieces. Suddenly, a sorrowful thought rose uncontrollably within him. To shake off his sadness, Li Qiang crawled out of the tent and drew a deep breath. His gaze happened to sweep across the rock face, and his whole body jolted. He stared in disbelief at two Chinese characters as large as grain measures.
Li Qiang did not recognize the two characters, but he knew they were in China's ancient Stone Drum script.
He immediately searched the surroundings. Sure enough, a huge rock nearby was also densely covered in writing: Stone Drum script, seal script, clerical script, regular script, running script, wild cursive, and other strange scripts he could not understand.
Li Qiang carefully read all the writing he recognized, astonishment showing on his face.
This planet was called "Heavenly Court."
It turned out that some ancient Chinese people, after cultivating, had been brought to this planet in batches by four cultivators calling themselves the Emissaries of the Jade Emperor. Each group had believed they had attained immortality and the Dao, ascending after a hundred days. But once they arrived here, they could never find those Emissaries of the Jade Emperor again, and this place was nothing like the beautiful world they had imagined.
The suffering, sorrow, helplessness, and anger expressed in the inscriptions made Li Qiang shudder. Carefully checking the dates on each inscription, he discovered that, apart from himself, the last people to reach this planet had arrived in the third year of the Qing dynasty's Jiaqing reign. There had been 756 people in all, men and women, old and young, arriving successively in four groups. For some unknown reason, no one had been teleported here afterward, and the place had gradually fallen into disuse.
Li Qiang felt a little comforted, knowing he was not alone on this planet. Whether or not those who had come from Earth were still alive, their descendants must still be living here.
With a foolish chuckle, Li Qiang decided to leave some calligraphy of his own.
Extending a finger, he carved a line of words into the huge rock, then tilted his head to admire it and laughed in satisfaction.
On the rock face, crooked characters leaned every which way as though blown by southeast and northwest winds, proclaiming: "Li Qiang was here." Beneath them was the inscription: "Stranded on Heavenly Court Star in September of the first year of the two-thousands AD after being set up by Hua Meiniang."
Back in the tent, Li Qiang decided to begin studying the information in the Jade Pupil Slip.
After experiencing his helplessness when the Purple Flame Heart activated and witnessing Fu Shan's breathtaking battle with Hua Meiniang, Li Qiang knew that to survive in such a world, he had to grow stronger. Holding the Jade Pupil Slip, he entered meditation without sleeping or resting.
Countless pieces of information surged from the Jade Pupil Slip into Li Qiang's mind like a tide. The "Cultivation Realm" referred to the world in which cultivators lived, distinct from the ordinary secular world.
Cultivators were people who could absorb, master, and use essence force energy. Essence force energy was found mainly in ores, though certain rare plants and animals contained it too. This energy existed in great abundance on some planets, in small amounts on others, and not at all on still others.
What came from ore was called crystal stone or cultivation stone, commonly known as immortal stone or foundation establishment stone.
Beginning cultivators generally started with low-grade cultivation stones, switching to better ones as their power increased, until they formed their own Nascent Soul. Once their Nascent Soul formed, cultivators no longer needed to rely on the energy of cultivation stones.
The Cold Soul Pearl Fu Shan used and the Purple Flame Heart Li Qiang used were both peerless rarities. They could not occur naturally but were made through refinement, and could be described as Nascent Souls without souls. Such rare treasures were not usable by ordinary cultivators; only an extremely few people with special qualities could use them.
Cultivation was divided into eleven realms: Revolving Illumination, Enlightenment, Fusion, Heart Stirring, Spiritual Stillness, Nascent Soul, Out-of-Body, Spirit Division, Body Integration, Tribulation Transcendence, and Mahayana. Each had higher and lower levels.
Upon entering the sixth level, the Nascent Soul realm, cultivators could condense essence force energy to cultivate their own Purple Mansion Nascent Soul, thereby achieving what was called an undying soul.
If they reached the tenth level, Tribulation Transcendence, they could attain an undying physical body. But the Tribulation Transcendence realm was the most dangerous.
Cultivators had a saying: "Nascent Soul is easy to cultivate; Tribulation Transcendence easily brings destruction."
Given time, immortal stones, and the correct cultivation method, cultivators could always reach the Nascent Soul realm. The Tribulation Transcendence realm was different. One mistake in cultivation could destroy both body and soul, erasing them completely.
Artifact crafting was another profound discipline in the Cultivation Realm, a skill every cultivator had to master. It had many branches, and the Cultivation Realm had various sects, each with its own specialized secret crafting methods. The Jade Pupil Slip recorded many such secret methods, along with array formations, which were inseparable from artifact crafting. Many formations could only be given form through crafted artifacts...
When Li Qiang opened his eyes, he discovered to his delighted surprise that the Sky-Full-of-Stars Inner Armor had withdrawn into his body. He now knew he had reached the Nascent Soul early stage, the beginning of the sixth level of cultivation.
He found it strange that such thick dust had gathered inside the tent. He did not know that this first meditation had taken seven months and had remade him down to his very bones.
Finding a small pool nearby, he happily bathed and changed his clothes. Li Qiang thought, If Brother Fu comes, he'll definitely see the words I carved on the rock. With all his abilities, why worry he won't find me? I might as well start exploring Heavenly Court Star. I'll count it as a free vacation.
After packing his things, Li Qiang's heroic spirit soared to the heavens, and he shouted, "Here I come!"
Taking great strides, Li Qiang began his journey across Heavenly Court Star.