Chapter 184: Schemes of All Parties

Deep night, within the simulated Great Yan Imperial Capital of Fangcun Mountain.

A man in red hung upside down from the city tower, his face covered by red cloth, his wide eyes filled with bloodshot veins.

At a glance, that terrifying killing intent rushed toward one's face, warning the living to keep their distance.

If anyone approached to check, they would discover the youth's blood had stopped flowing, his neck bruised purple from strangulation, and a section of his entire spine dragged out.

The man's body was cold, numb, and stiff; clearly, he had been dead for some time.

Under the cold night temperature of Great Yan, faint corpse spots even began to appear on the man's skin.

Suddenly, a cold, eerie deathly qi slowly rose from the corpse, followed by the hanging index finger trembling slightly.

That tremble seemed like an illusion, but then new changes began to appear.

One saw the body, originally suspended by rocks, begin to sway slightly without wind.

Once, twice, thrice...

As time passed, this swaying grew more violent, and the hundreds of jin of rock were lifted and shaken by the youth's body.

After this shaking continued for the duration of an incense stick.

Swish!

The youth's tightly shut eyes suddenly snapped open, revealing cloudy eyeballs that were entirely white.

'This Young Lady is exhausted.' Inside the confinement room, Xiang Ziyu squatted nearby, complaining in her heart.

Ordered around all day long, and to prevent her persona from collapsing, she had to diligently obey the enemy; there was simply no Wang Fa.

Now that night has fallen, she can finally rest for a while.

Squatting in the corner, the girl narrowed her eyes, curiously stealing glances at the youth beside her.

Regarding Fang Can, she was far too curious.

For instance, how did this fellow cultivate, and what method allowed him to reach the legendary tenth level of the Profound Gate in just two months?

Right now, it was a perfect opportunity to peek and try to steal a bit of knowledge.

Under her curious gaze, the youth remained motionless, facing the wall like a golden Buddha statue, his expression solemn.

Beside Fang Can, a pile of food gathered by the girl was currently stacked up, and he occasionally picked one up to swallow.

'Boring...'

After watching for a little over half an hour and seeing no results, the girl abandoned her idea of spying and instead began her cultivation for the Road to Heaven.

The so-called Road to Heaven is the realm after shedding the mortal body; the entire realm is divided into one to nine transformations.

At the same time, the gap between each transformation is huge; the further along one goes, the more terrifying the difficulty of crossing becomes, as hard as ascending to heaven.

Hence it is called the Road to Heaven, but once crossed, the amplification gained is also obvious.

Although the difficulty of crossing each transformation is harder than all previous realms combined, there is no overly clear division between each transformation.

Because of the nature of the Will-based Martial Dao, every system is completely different, and there are many different names for each transformation.

However, the universally recognized stages between each transformation are the Feather Transformation Stage and the Maturation Stage.

The Feather Transformation Stage is the period where power grows rapidly after a breakthrough.

As long as your power grows for a day, you remain in the Feather Transformation Stage of that transformation for that day.

For example, the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment is clearly a Feather Transformation Stage phase.

And when your power stagnates, that is when you move from the Feather Transformation Stage into the Maturation Stage.

A Maturation Stage old timer whose power has stagnated, if they wish to become strong again, can only attempt a breakthrough, aside from special methods.

Once entering the Feather Transformation Stage of the next transformation, one can continue to become strong again.

However, since the gap between each transformation is huge, the vast majority of Maturation Stage old timers are stuck in the Maturation Stage of a certain transformation, watching helplessly as they walk step by step toward death.

Of course, it is not said that only Maturation Stage old timers can break through to the next realm.

As long as you feel you are qualified, breaking through directly during the Feather Transformation Stage is completely fine.

Xiang Ziyu sat with her back against the wall not far from Fang Can, beginning to nurture literary qi with poems in her heart.

This literary qi is gathered from the light of the heart and can be used to speak words that turn into reality.

Although in the Feather Transformation Stage, even if one does nothing, one's own power and literary qi will grow drop by drop.

But this growth process is artificially accelerated.

For most people, the acceleration process is to follow one's heart, walking according to the inheritance one belongs to.

If you are a scholar, compose poetry; if you are a martial artist, temper your bones and muscles; if you are a singing girl, chant.

As long as you persist in following your own system all the way, you will continuously progress.

The girl murmured words in her heart; as a first transformation Feather Transformation Stage practitioner, her literary qi was like a fist.

After a day of growth, her literary qi should have increased by... fifty percent???

Xiang Ziyu stared blankly at the literary qi in her chest; this had saved her at least ten days of hard work.

'Could I be the legendary peerless genius?'

The moment the girl had this thought, she immediately rejected it.

After all, she knew her own aptitude from the first half of her life all too well; although she could be considered one in ten thousand, it was not to the point of such daydreaming.

Holding the idea of verification, the girl began to focus on cultivating and nurturing her own literary qi.

But after an hour passed, the cultivation speed, which should have accelerated through active cultivation, only increased the literary qi by the size of a thumb.

'As expected...' The girl turned her head to look at the youth beside her, whose face was like a sculpture.

Eliminating all impossibilities, the reason for her accelerated cultivation could only be because she had stayed inside this fellow's body for a while.

At that time, this fellow had blocked her with his spine for at least two incense sticks; could it be because of that?

The girl had, after all, participated in the research work targeting Fang Can; of course, she knew the story of Fang Can being the number one Cauldron and Ye Qingshi becoming number two on the Ascending Dragon List.

'Could such a thing truly be possible? Is this fellow like a treasure herb?'

Xiang Ziyu was greatly shocked, glanced at Fang Can, and silently made a resolve.

How can one get tiger cubs without entering the tiger's den? Indeed, I must find another chance to drill into this youth's chest cavity and probe this fellow's depths.

In a dark chamber somewhere in Great Chu, Xiang Longtao, like a sick dog, licked his wounds alone in a corner.

At this moment, his body had multiple shattered bones; all his subordinates had been slaughtered by Fang Can and kicked out of Fangcun Mountain, truly reaching the darkest moment of his life.

Of course, what annoyed him most was his other head.

'Royal brother, what do you think, what do you think!'

The head growing from his neck spoke in a sarcastic tone: 'You claimed to be invincible at your own realm, yet why are you so downcast?'

'Shut up, I told you to shut up.' Xiang Longtao roared, somewhat losing his composure: 'Once I enter the First Turn, I will naturally wash away today's humiliation.'

'Hahahaha, Xiang Longtao, you are now like a stray dog by the roadside; just one failure and you are so broken. When that youth enters the First Turn, do you think you can defeat him?'

'With your current state of mind, even if you step onto the Path to Ascend Heaven...'

Before the female head could finish, Xiang Longtao forcibly pressed it back into his body.

'Once I remove this demonic obstruction from you, I will surely ascend another level.' Xiang Longtao spoke coldly, forcing his mind to settle as he prepared to forcibly break through to the Path to Ascend Heaven.

Yet the state of mind he displayed caused onlookers to silently shake their heads, feeling he still needed tempering.

(End of this chapter)