Chapter 20: Xiao Shiye

Nearly three months later, the Earth-Fire Furnace Chamber.

Lu Yang's body trembled as he slowly stood up.

No — rather than "stood," "drifted" might be more fitting, because at this moment he no longer had flesh, skin, sinews, or bone, but was a blood-red shadow!

"I've done it!"

The blood shadow had no face; only amid swirling radiance did it tremble and emit a slightly distorted voice: "Eighty-one days, and at last I've refined it to completion!"

The next instant, the blood shadow gradually contracted. The skin that had been stripped off on the ground flew over of its own accord and was "worn" onto the shadow by it. The pallid flesh was gradually filled with the color of blood, and the shriveled skin and muscle slowly plumped back up. In a short while, an unscathed Lu Yang appeared within the furnace chamber.

At a glance, he was no different from an ordinary person.

Even compared to three months ago, Lu Yang's aura was now even vaster; his whole body's vigorous true qi had faintly condensed into a single qi seed.

Qi Refining, Seventh Layer! Late Stage!

Perhaps the process of cultivating the divine ability had been too agonizing — a unimaginable tempering of essence, qi, and spirit — and that was what had allowed him to unexpectedly break through the cultivation bottleneck.

Even more fortunate was that this happened before he had formally mastered the divine ability.

If it had been after he mastered the divine ability, then even breaking through the bottleneck would have been useless. For example, right now, his cultivation had permanently halted at Qi Refining, Seventh Layer.

"But it's enough."

Lu Yang murmured softly. Possessing the 【Hundred Worlds Tome】, he had never been fixated on the achievements of a single life; how to put them to use in the next life was his true aim.

"Let's test its power!"

The moment Lu Yang's thought stirred, a resplendent sword pellet appeared at his brow, and then his figure transformed into a streak of blood-light that merged with the sword pellet.

"Boom—!"

Outside Ten Thousand Treasures Peak, as the ground violently shook, the bustling crowd suddenly tilted; several people toppled straight to the ground.

"What's going on?"

"An earth-dragon turning over… impossible. With the various True Persons suppressing the ley lines, how could there be an earth-dragon turning over?"

The disciples exchanged uncertain glances. Among them, the higher-cultivation disciples suddenly sensed something and instinctively looked toward a certain direction, their eyes gradually filling with astonishment.

"Look!"

"That is—"

The crowd's gaze shifted at the cry.

Immediately after, everyone saw a sun-piercing long rainbow shoot out from a furnace chamber, leap into the vault of heaven in the blink of an eye, and churn the sea of clouds wherever it passed.

Clang-clang!

The crisp sound of sword-chime spread throughout the nine heavens. The intense red light dyed even Ten Thousand Treasures Peak the color of blood, stirring the world's spiritual qi until it became a heaven-rising tide!

Immersed in such a great tide of spiritual qi, most disciples could not even draw breath, nearly suffocating!

"Such a display — Qi Refining Late Stage?"

Some disciples showed envious expressions: "He's already condensed a qi seed. He only needs the final step of gestation, and he'll achieve perfection; from then on, Foundation Establishment will be within sight."

"I wonder which senior brother has broken through?"

"I've seen Qi Refining Late Stage senior brothers before, but none had such spiritual pressure. That rainbow-like sword-light is probably no ordinary magic treasure either."

At the same time, above the sea of clouds.

Lu Yang's body became a blood shadow, his qi merged with sword-light, and his spiritual sense spread in all directions. Within a radius of more than ten li, every hair-thin detail was revealed, as clear as reading the lines on one's palm.

"Qi Refining Late Stage — true qi sinks into the dantian, transforms into a qi seed, and triggers a metamorphosis of essence, qi, and spirit. If I still had a body, then at this moment my physique should have undergone a qualitative leap; blades and spears not piercing would be trivial, and true qi should have multiplied by dozens of times. But sadly, all that remains now is spiritual sense."

Lu Yang was sighing in emotion when suddenly his brows rose.

"Who's there?"

Before Lu Yang's words had finished, in an instant the sword followed his heart, and the blood-rainbow-like sword-light directly tore open the sea of clouds, revealing a young, handsome figure.

"Senior brother, please don't attack! Please don't attack!"

That person shouted loudly, but Lu Yang paid no heed at all. The sword-light pounced forward, and seeing this, the person hurriedly produced a small banner and planted it in the air.

The next instant, the banner-flag unfurled and transformed into a pair of banner-gates.

That person fled into one of the banner-gates. After the sword-light Lu Yang had split off also pursued inside, he emerged from the other banner-gate, and then with a beckoning gesture of his hand—

The banner-gates vanished, transforming back into a small banner.

Lu Yang, however, raised a brow and discovered that the sword-light he had split off had somehow been trapped in some unknown place, allowing the other party to evade it.

"Interesting."

Lu Yang grinned. The sword pellet at his brow trembled violently, like muffled thunder rolling across the sky, and in an instant split into dozens or hundreds of sword-lights, like a peacock spreading its tail.

Seeing this scene, the young man, who had been feeling somewhat pleased with himself, instantly changed expression drastically. He hurriedly produced the small-banner magic treasure again to protect himself, and at the same time said loudly: "This senior brother, I am Xiao Shiye. I've come this time only wishing to make your acquaintance, with absolutely no ill intent. I beg you, senior brother, recall your divine ability."

"Xiao Shiye?"

Lu Yang was startled at the words, and the sword-lights that had been on the verge of erupting suddenly stalled, hanging in midair and illuminating a face drenched in cold sweat.

The prearranged shill?

The next instant, Lu Yang withdrew the sword-lights, transformed back into human form, and landed before Xiao Shiye, laughing heartily: "Junior brother, don't misunderstand — I was merely playing with you just now!"

Xiao Shiye, hearing this, wiped the sweat from his brow. Inwardly he grumbled, feeling that Lu Yang had clearly been about to get serious, yet on his face he likewise put on a brilliant smile and said eagerly: "Senior brother's divine abilities are vast, your magic power boundless; Xiao greatly admires you. A small gift — please, senior brother, do not refuse."

Having said that, he casually handed over the small banner in his hand.

"How could I possibly accept this…"

Lu Yang shook his head as he took the small banner, and only then saw two characters embroidered on the banner's surface in gold thread: "Dunkong."

"This treasure is called the Dunkong Banner."

Xiao Shiye took the initiative to introduce it: "Before entering the sect, I bought it at a curio shop. At first it showed nothing remarkable; only after entering the sect did I discover it was a wondrous treasure."

"The banner has two faces. Once activated, it can transform into two banner-gates — one of life, one of death."

"Within the same realm, as long as one enters through the death-gate and exits through the life-gate, no matter how great the danger, one can walk out alive, untouched by calamity."

Hearing this, Lu Yang could not help but twitch his facial skin.

Such a wondrous treasure, could it really have been casually bought by this Xiao Shiye from a mundane antique shop before he even entered the Holy Sect to cultivate?

At this thought, Lu Yang suddenly shifted his mind, gathering his spiritual sense into his eyes.

In the late Qi Refinement stage, after a great surge in spiritual sense, many wondrous uses naturally arise; what Lu Yang employed at this moment was a wondrous technique named the "Gaze of Qi Art."

The result was that not looking would have been fine, but upon looking, Lu Yang nearly bulged his eyes wide.

For in his eyes, from head to toe on Xiao Shiye, the crane-feather cloak, boots, robe, head crown, and even the belt binding his waist, all radiated treasure light!

In terms of quality, they would probably not be inferior to his sword pill!

Even with Lu Yang's current state of mind, he could not help but feel a touch of imbalance.

After all, the treasure he had spent several months and a vast fortune to refine was, on Xiao Shiye's side, as common as if it cost nothing, which inevitably made people envious.

"This person has immense fortune."

If before Lu Yang still thought Xiao Shiye winning the grand prize in the Merit Pool was due to some dark rigging, now he had changed his mind.

Could it truly be that he is just lucky?

At this thought, Lu Yang's expression gradually turned strange again.

With such high fortune, one could say that simply following him would surely allow one to snag many opportunities; yet his cultivation is not yet high, making him especially easy to prey upon.

This Xiao Shiye seems to be a talent!

(End of this chapter)