A Fortuitous Opportunity and a Wondrous Art

The Yin-Yang Spirit Wood Heart floated in the air.

Withered yellow and verdant green, two colors in an aesthetic of utter perfection.

One withered, one flourishing, they represented vitality and extinction, with strands of the Dao resonance of withering and flourishing lingering around it.

Heaven and earth in the Qingyu Ruins Realm grieved, and a fine green rain began to fall. The spiritual vitality of the vegetation withered, and the wails of All Things Live in this realm seemed to be mourning. There also remained True Person Qingyu's final unwillingness to accept his fate and his sorrow, the embers of his final Divine Ability.

At that very instant, the presence of every living being in the entire Qingyu Realm came from all directions.

There was greed, longing, and obsession.

Invisible, intangible threads connected every living being and converged here. Within the Ruin Realm's territory of fifty-eight million li were devotion, faith, and all manner of mixed thoughts.

What was this?

Incense offerings, faith, or perhaps fortune!

Ye Jinyu's gaze locked firmly onto the tree heart at that moment.

At the very center of the tree heart were two black-and-white fish. The purest Yin and Yang Qi spread and intertwined like ink in water, bearing a faint Dao resonance that resonated with the origins of heaven and earth.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Ye Jinyu could clearly feel the heart beating in his chest, beyond his control, incomparably fierce, blazing and pure.

As the tree heart shone in midair and its Dao resonance flowed, that unprecedented, intense longing grew ever stronger. It was a stirring deep within the soul, a yearning for a leap to a higher order of life. The Bifeng inside his body grew slightly restless, answering its call.

His heart pounded, and his blood flowed faster.

For an instant, even his mind grew hazy, filled with an almost overwhelming longing, a desire for power, for that primordial power.

Claim it, seize it, refine it.

Withering and flourishing, Yin and Yang, the origin of life.

At the same time, the silent, idle system trembled slightly. Calamity was born amid destruction, yet it also contained the vitality to build anew after breaking down.

The aspect of fate symbolizing [Life] flickered, then grew bright and active, seemingly urging him on, guiding him.

Inside the carriage, Ye Jinyu's breathing grew a little heavier, his mind swaying under that temptation.

He slowly rose, intending to step forward and claim the wood heart. But just as he was about to take that step-

"Hm... interesting..."

A faint, vast voice rang out from above the firmament, as though a stone had been dropped into a lake, sending ripples across it.

Restlessness and unease.

Within this world, the eyes of countless Demon Beasts immediately filled with brutality and greed. Whether cultivators or mortals, the world was like a powder keg, ready to explode at the slightest spark.

It was Zhang Xuan!

[Heaven of Withering, Flourishing, Life and Extinction].

That intrigued exclamation, though it carried only a trace of a True Lord's Dao resonance, seemed to magnify that desire without limit.

Ye Jinyu moved too.

With his Qi Refinement cultivation, he tried to command the wind and seize the wood heart.

Immediately afterward, a cold snort also came down from the ninth heaven.

It exploded like a thunderclap deep within Ye Jinyu's soul.

Clear, lonely autumn: Ye Zhanqiu's sword intent descended upon him, cutting away every distracting thought and greedy desire. Only a chill remained, leaving him in a state like that of a sage.

The burning desire in his heart was extinguished as though doused with ice water.

Cold sweat soaked through Ye Jinyu's robes. His pounding heart calmed, and his mind cleared. His eyes were clear, though a trace of lingering fear remained in his heart.

So this is what it feels like to have my mind enthralled by a Divine Ability, to lose my composure so completely!? This is the power of a Golden Core True Lord!

An even greater longing for the immortal Dao and for power rose in his heart.

"Please don't take offense, young friend Jinyu. This poor Daoist acted rashly."

Zhang Xuan's voice was gentle, and though his words carried an apology, a probing, interested strand of divine sense followed immediately afterward.

It brushed over him so faintly as to be almost imperceptible, lingering for an instant too brief to notice, before it was wiped out by the sword intent of clear, lonely autumn and the Azure Nether descending from the ninth heaven.

Inside the Cloud-Heaven Azure Palace, Zhang Xuan looked at the sword Ye Zhanqiu had drawn. With the sword out, a clear autumn filled heaven and earth, its lonely air open, vast, and distant. Zhang Xuan chuckled softly.

"Fellow Daoist Qiuran, don't be angry. This poor Daoist meant nothing else. I merely felt that young friend Jinyu had some affinity with the great Dao of my Great Peace Temple, so I grew a little interested and tested him a little. I do feel as though we've met too late."

"I'll give this Yin-Yang Spirit Wood Heart to you, young friend... haha..."

"This is already the Ye clan's territory, and this wood heart already belonged to Qingyu. Yet we need Fellow Daoist Zhang to... what a fine show of borrowing a chicken to lay eggs... how generous..."

Ye Zhanqiu's voice was cool, giving the distinct impression that a single word of disagreement would set off a fight.

Ye Qingming, meanwhile, looked at Zhang Xuan with a deeply meaningful gaze.

Zhang Xuan was still smiling, but seemingly under Ye Qingming's gaze,

he transmitted his voice from the heavens into Ye Jinyu's soul: "If you travel to the Central Continent someday, young friend, you might come to my Great Peace Temple... all things of the wood attribute in the world, withering and flourishing, life and death, are encompassed within my Dao."

"To hold the pivot of life and extinction on the Other Shore, to draw upon the Netherworld's power of decay to erode life into withering, and condense withering into life; decay and extinction are the beginning of life, and life and flourishing are also the foundation of decay... this is [Decay of the Other Shore]..."

"Young friend... do you understand?"

As his voice faded, the presence in the firmament abruptly froze.

Amid Yunlan, the Jianmu vanished, and the sky returned to its former state.

It was as though nothing had happened.

The presence of [Heaven of Withering, Flourishing, Life and Extinction] disappeared, and Zhang Xuan left without a sound.

But after hearing him, Ye Jinyu felt not the slightest joy, only a piercing chill. Then another thought occurred to him.

Have I been marked?!

An affinity with the Great Peace Temple? Fate? I just watched how Qingyu died. How could I dare believe you?!

Still, I have an advantage over Qingyu.

My father and grandfather are both Golden Core cultivators. Surely Zhang Xuan wouldn't be that shameless...

All manner of doubts flooded his mind. Even his desire for the Yin-Yang Spirit Wood Heart, so close and within easy reach, was temporarily suppressed as he grew wary.

"Hmph."

Ye Zhanqiu's cold snort rang out again. This time, it was directed at the departed Zhang Xuan, but it also carried a hint of warning for Ye Jinyu.

At this moment, Ye Qingming's calm, indifferent voice slowly sounded, as though explaining to Ye Jinyu, yet also as though stating a fact. "Zhang Xuan is accustomed to scheming, and his conduct often seems... hypocritical. Even so, he is a person of some renown in our Cangxuan All-Heavens."

"He weighs karma and affinity in what he says, and he also honors his promises. He is not narrow-minded... today's affair was most likely a passing impulse, nothing more than following the doctrines and true intentions of the Great Peace Temple."

"At least where the Great Peace Temple is concerned... when its doctrines and the reckoning of karma are at stake, he has never broken his word. He should be open and aboveboard."

Ye Qingming's divine sense swept over the Yin-Yang Spirit Wood Heart and then over Ye Jinyu, as though seeing through the worries in his heart. He said calmly, "Besides, since he has said this, given his status, he would hardly resort to planting some underhanded measure directly on a Qi Refinement junior like you."

"That would be too great a loss of face and dignity, a method too low. Our immortal clans would also have a matter to settle with his Great Peace Temple."

"This thing will benefit you. Have your father properly deal with it for you..."

With that, Ye Zhanqiu seized the floating Yin-Yang Spirit Wood Heart from afar and drew it upward, into Yunlan of the ninth heaven.

A moment later, a sword light as clear and chill as autumn water swept across the tree heart.

It washed clean and cut away every trace of any non-Ye clan imprint that might have remained on its surface, even the last embers of Qingyu's unwilling spirit, leaving only the purest power.

The cleansed Yin-Yang Spirit Wood Heart was then casually tossed down, coming to a steady hover before Ye Jinyu.

Withered yellow and verdant green light flowed softly over it, with no trace of Dao resonance leaking out to exert pressure.

Only a profound, supremely pure attraction from its origin remained, acting directly upon Ye Jinyu's level of life.

Thump! Thump!

His heart pounded fiercely again, even harder than before!

Claim it... swallow it.