Tap, tap.

The sound of footsteps suddenly echoed in the vast underground space.

As if inside a hollowed-out mountain belly, a high platform rose from the ground like an altar, with a massive bronze mirror embedded at its top. The surface of the bronze mirror seemed covered with countless layers of dust, not a single ray of light penetrating through.

At the center of the bronze mirror sat a set of withered bones, clothed in robes that remained perfectly intact.

The moment those footsteps entered, the bones suddenly emanated a hazy golden light. After the radiance passed, the skeleton sitting on the altar’s bronze mirror had transformed into an extremely gaunt yet flesh-and-blood elder.

His dried, wrinkled skin indicated an age far beyond ordinary people.

Lifting his eyelids, the elder’s gaze turned toward where the sound came from.

Fudao Shanren led the way, with Sect Master Zheng Yao behind him, both walking toward the altar.

Their steps weren’t hurried, yet they had reached the base of the altar in an instant.

Fudao Shanren’s face was shrouded in dark clouds. Without speaking, he directly lifted his foot and stepped up, ascending like climbing a celestial ladder. When he landed, he was already at the altar’s edge, though he didn’t step onto the bronze mirror itself.

Bending down, he placed the person he carried in his arms onto the bronze mirror.

“Fudao…”

A hoarse voice, like dried bones grinding against each other.

The elder slowly spoke, his turbid gaze falling on Fudao Shanren, as if it took him a long time to recognize him.

Fudao Shanren hadn’t heard such a form of address in a long time.

So this was why he so detested these old immortals—they made his seniority seem small!

However…

He still had to pay proper respects.

Fudao Shanren cupped his hands: “Disciple of Yashan, Fudao, pays respects to Old Ancestor.”

“Old Ancestor” smiled slightly: “Unwilling and reluctant. How many years has it been since I’ve seen you? Hundreds of years ago, that boy Zheng Yao told me you went out to relax. Finally returned, eh? Relaxing for three to five hundred years—that’s quite long indeed.”

“This old man loves to relax when he wants to relax. Old Ancestor, you’re just jealous.”

Fudao Shanren cursed “old immortal” in his heart again, glanced at the massive bronze mirror beneath the elder, then looked at Jian Chou lying on the mirror with blood traces at her lips.

At this moment, Jian Chou’s eyes were tightly closed, just like when he first found her lying in a coffin.

The scene from that time kept floating in Fudao Shanren’s mind, and that strange feeling grew stronger.

He spoke: “Knowing Old Ancestor is busy with myriad affairs, I, Fudao, won’t waste words. I’ve taken a new disciple with exceptional talent—Foundation Establishment with a Tianpan, and she can operate battle discs at will. She’s probably a Heavenly Void Body. But I’m not certain, so I request Old Ancestor to act, borrowing the power of the All-Sky Mirror to observe the truth.”

“Heavenly Void Body?”

On the wrinkled face that had shown no expression, the elder finally frowned, looking down at the person lying on the bronze mirror.

A young woman.

So Yashan had female cultivators now.

“A Tianpan is already a shocking genius among geniuses; a Heavenly Void Body is something that might not appear once in tens of thousands of years across the Nineteen Continents… For this girl to possess both a Tianpan and Heavenly Void Body simultaneously—something’s not right…”

Of course, something’s not right.

If it were right, why would I come to you?

Fudao Shanren grumbled internally, anger rising boundlessly.

“Either heaven’s favor or heaven’s jealousy…” the elder murmured, becoming curious about Jian Chou before him. “The All-Sky Mirror’s power has been channeled underground—I can’t use much of it. What heaven decides, we are powerless to change. Since you already know she has a Tianpan and is a Heavenly Void Body, what more do you want me to investigate?”

“I request Old Ancestor to observe her Three Souls and Seven Spirits.”

His voice was low and heavy, making his entire being seem heavy.

Fudao Shanren looked like he’d been struck by frost.

The elder was puzzled: “What’s worth observing about souls and spirits?”

…This old immortal.

If not for the other’s overwhelming cultivation and sky-high seniority at Yashan, Fudao Shanren would have thrown a chicken leg at him long ago.

“I dug this girl out of a grave. She was buried in a place where wind gathers and qi accumulates—a dragon’s lair. Her soul wandered outside her body. I borrowed the qi-gathering effect of that dragon’s lair to reunite her spirit and soul—it was her fate not to die. This old man saw she had an affinity with me, so I took her as a disciple. Now she has both a Tianpan and Heavenly Void Body—I fear there’s some unusual circumstance involved.”

Places where wind gathers and qi accumulates inevitably produce spirits and monsters.

Once Fudao Shanren explained, the elder immediately understood.

He frowned: “You go down first.”

This meant he agreed.

Fudao Shanren wanted to say something, but finally glanced at the unconscious Jian Chou lying there and leaped down directly.

Yashan Sect Master Zheng Yao had been standing below without going up.

Seeing Fudao Shanren descend and having heard their previous conversation, he lowered his voice: “Every time I come down here, I feel it’s eerie. Sigh, Old Ancestor is only relatively kind to you.”

Kind?

Bullshit!

Fudao Shanren snorted coldly: “He’s just been suppressed down here too long—hundreds of years without seeing people, so his temper’s improved a bit when he suddenly encounters someone.”

Zheng Yao was left speechless by this retort, touched his nose, and didn’t dare provoke further trouble, only saying: “Though Old Ancestor has no flesh and blood left, only a skeleton, he still has some human feeling. But I thought Master Uncle was going to do something heaven-defying to change fate—I didn’t expect it was just asking Old Ancestor to observe Senior Sister’s soul and spirit. Couldn’t you do that yourself? No need to come here…”

“Observe? What would this old man observe with?”

Fudao Shanren was so angry that he rolled his eyes directly.

“Already dropped to Soul Separation—observe what bullshit.”

At that moment, Zheng Yao suddenly froze.

His eyes flickered as he stared at Fudao Shanren: “I… Master Uncle, I didn’t mean it that way…”

“I know you didn’t mean it that way. Dropped is dropped—it’s no big deal.”

Looking up at the high altar, Fudao Shanren knew it wouldn’t be a quick matter, so he sat down with a thump.

Cultivation has nine realms and nine heavenly levels.

Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Soul Separation comprise the first five levels; Worldly Entry, Void Return, Bounded Realm, and Heaven Connection comprise the final four levels.

Three hundred years ago, Fudao Shanren was at Worldly Entry; now he was at Soul Separation, having dropped from the sixth level back to the fifth.

Ordinarily, it seemed like dropping just one realm, but in the eyes of great cultivators, it was like falling from heaven to earth.

The reason was simple: it was all about cultivating the heart.

In the nine heavenly levels of cultivation, Soul Separation served as the dividing line. Before Soul Separation, one cultivated the “body”; after Soul Separation, one cultivated the “heart.”

In the first five heavenly levels, when one’s power arrived and opportunities came, breakthroughs were possible. But when breaking through Soul Separation to reach Worldly Entry, an extremely dangerous dao tribulation would appear, which cultivators called “Heart Questioning.”

After the “Heart Questioning” tribulation, the defeated would be utterly destroyed, while the successful would soar to great heights.

From then on, power became secondary, while comprehension and perception became paramount.

Before Soul Separation, it was the cultivator’s “body” transcending the mortal world; after Soul Separation, it was the cultivator’s “heart” transcending the mortal world.

Therefore, falling from Worldly Entry to Soul Separation wasn’t simply dropping one realm.

Having finally climbed up with great difficulty, three hundred years later, he not only didn’t advance but regressed—clearly there were problems with his state of mind.

Such a thing, if spoken of, no one in the entire cultivation world would dare believe it.

Yet all of this was happening before Zheng Yao’s eyes.

He hesitated, wanting to take back his previous words, but unexpectedly, Fudao Shanren seemed completely unconcerned.

Now, at only the Soul Separation level, Fudao Shanren’s cultivation of the “heart” was insufficient—how could he observe someone’s “soul and spirit”?

In the end, he could only seek help from Old Ancestor.

Zheng Yao sighed, walked over to sit beside Fudao Shanren: “So, Master Uncle, you suspect something went wrong when gathering her soul back then?”

“Not wrong, but reincarnation.”

Fudao Shanren pulled out a chicken leg and slowly gnawed on it.

“The Human Realm Island is different from our Nineteen Continents’ land. The Nine-Headed Bird is dead, so our cultivation world has no reincarnation. But the Human Realm Island still has reincarnation… When people die, their Three Souls and Seven Spirits return to reincarnation. Where I found the girl Jian Chou gathered wind and accumulated qi, so her soul didn’t scatter. Sixty years ago in the Extreme Domain battle, I learned a technique from those ghost things, so I could gather mortal souls… It was just a small technique. The Extreme Domain has always been mysterious—this old man knows the how but not the why.”

The Nine-Headed Bird is dead, so the cultivation world has no reincarnation.

Therefore, when cultivators die, it’s truly the end of the body and the dao.

All of this was related to that battle sixty years ago. Zheng Yao listened without interrupting.

“When I found girl Jian Chou, she had already been dead for three days…”

This statement sounded rather strange.

After Fudao Shanren finished speaking, he was also stunned for a while.

Then he touched his chin with his greasy fingers, suddenly pondering: “Say, could this be a good method for mass-producing geniuses? Kill people, bury them in a decent place, then wait a while before digging them up, gathering souls to revive them, and thus gain Tianpans and Heavenly Void Bodies?”

“…”

Weren’t they just discussing Senior Sister Jian Chou’s matter properly?

How did the topic suddenly shift to such brutal subjects?

Zheng Yao didn’t react for quite a while. He truly felt that in terms of dao practice, he was still far, far behind Master Uncle Fudao!

This ability to change topics in an instant without even blinking—he didn’t have it.

However…

Zheng Yao adopted the same posture as Fudao Shanren, stroking his chin and pondering: “Actually, it’s not impossible. A batch of disciples cultivated this way would be practically invincible.”

Think about it—what was Senior Sister Jian Chou’s speed?

Thirteen days to complete Foundation Establishment with a Tianpan, then cultivating a mysterious Dao Seal that she could use skillfully with tremendous power, and she could even use it from various parts of her body—heaven-defying!

If there were a dozen more Senior Sisters like Jian Chou…

Zheng Yao couldn’t help but fantasize, his eyes glowing.

While the two below chatted increasingly unreliably, the elder they called “Old Ancestor” above slowly raised his palm.

The bronze mirror he sat upon suddenly emitted a long “hum,” vibrating, and the dust covering it was gradually shaken off by the vibrations, forming a mist-like cloud.

Golden light spread out like flood waters from a calm lake.

Jian Chou lay on this lake of golden light.

The elder closed his eyes, and in that moment, he returned to skeletal form.

His right arm’s five gray-white finger bones pressed down on the All-Sky Mirror’s surface, creating ripples like water. The ripples continuously undulated, and Jian Chou’s body began to emit a faint radiance.

It was impossible to describe exactly what kind of radiance it was—seemingly corporeal yet incorporeal.

Strand after strand of vapor-like essence drifted from her brow…

In the entire vast underground space, all other areas seemed hidden in a deep void, with only this altar being real.

Golden light blazed forth, illuminating in all directions.

Thus, one could gradually see clearly that this space had a ceiling—mountain, rock meandered, stalactites hung down, reflecting the hazy light from the altar below, becoming real as well.

Directly above the altar’s front, part of a great sword’s tip was visible, as if it had been inserted there for a long time, its bright blade covered with stone.

Behind the altar stood a massive prismatic column, also like a sword’s body, piercing straight down from the ceiling to the underground, penetrating the entire underground space!

Fudao Shanren borrowed this golden light to look around.

He knew exactly where this was—where the sword tip showed above was the location of Yashan’s Sword Drawing Platform.

This place was beneath Yashan’s Lingzhao Peak, its existence known to almost no ordinary disciples.

Gradually, the golden radiance illuminating the surroundings dimmed and dispersed.

Fudao Shanren snapped back to attention, looked up, stood up, and with a flash of his shadow, appeared on the broad altar.

“Finished?”

At the All-Sky Mirror’s center, the elder slowly withdrew his hand while opening his eyes. The skeleton gradually filled with flesh and blood again, and the pale five-finger bones became five aged, wrinkled fingers.

He nodded, saying gravely: “This girl has a deficient soul and spirit.”

“…”

Fudao Shanren was left speechless, his suspended heart not settling but being suddenly pierced by an invisible sword.

There was a deficiency.

The elder seemed unable to see Fudao Shanren’s expression, his turbid eyes mixed with too much complexity and vicissitude.

“I heard what you two were saying earlier. After death, the soul and spirit leave the body, wandering in the world, while the physical body becomes an empty shell that gradually rots and disappears, turning to earth and dispersing in the world. This is a kind of ‘fusion’—complete dissolution. Meridians fuse with sinews and bones, acupoints hide in flesh and blood, ultimately becoming one, either eaten by insects, snakes, rats, and ants, or eroded by wind, frost, rain, and snow.”

“Corpses have no meridians, no acupoints.”

“But she came back to life…”

Fudao Shanren stared at the lying Jian Chou, finding it hard to accept.

The elder nodded: “Precisely because you gathered her soul did she come back to life. When people live, flesh becomes full, meridians separate, and acupoints emerge. But her soul and spirit are incomplete…”

“The Three Souls can leave the body, and the Seven Spirits return to the body. If the Three Souls and Seven Spirits aren’t present, how can a person live?”

So if soul and spirit were deficient, how could Jian Chou possibly die and be reborn?

Fudao Shanren also had his doubts.

The elder said: “Of the Three Souls, the Heaven Soul lacks three parts, the Earth Soul is complete, the Life Soul lacks one part; of the Seven Spirits, the first spirit Tianchong, second spirit Linghui, third spirit Qi, fourth spirit Li, and fifth spirit Zhongshu are all complete, while the seventh spirit Ying lacks three parts.”

He had already observed Jian Chou’s current soul and spirit condition earlier and had been extremely surprised then.

“Her Three Souls and Seven Spirits are all present, but not complete. That she could gather soul and spirit to return to her body and revive was your good fortune in encountering a wind-gathering, qi-accumulating lair where her soul wandered without being taken away. But such lairs easily produce spirits, monsters, and ghostly things—encountering a living person’s soul and spirit, eating a few parts is not impossible.”

Precisely speaking, this was the most likely possibility.

“So though she can live, her soul and spirit are deficient. Though her flesh is full, it’s empty form only—meridians don’t separate, acupoints don’t emerge. Inside her body, there are fundamentally no meridians. All so-called cultivation matters are just empty imagination, created from nothing by spiritual power. Where she thinks, there are meridians, there are acupoints.”

If this statement were thrown out publicly, it would be shocking!

Jian Chou, who achieved a Tianpan, actually has no meridians or acupoints in her body!

Zheng Yao was already dumbstruck.

The elder’s aged gaze fell on Fudao Shanren.

“So your disciple, if she had seen diagrams of human meridians and acupoints before cultivation, would assume her own body’s meridians and acupoints were the same, thus creating meridians and acupoints in her body that had already dissolved into a ‘corpse.’ As long as she thinks it, it will exist, so as long as she has greater confidence in her calculations when deducing, she will succeed, so she can light up all Kunxian lines.”

Fudao Shanren stood there, not speaking for a long time.

Having cultivated for so long, he wouldn’t fail to understand the meaning of these words.

Precisely because she had no meridians or acupoints in her body, everywhere became meridians and acupoints, so with that Dao Seal, as long as she calculated the trajectory correctly, she could succeed directly on the first attempt.

Using legs, using hands—there seemed to be only slight differences in power.

But…

A bitter taste rose on Fudao Shanren’s tongue.

“But above Soul Separation lies the Heart Questioning tribulation, and reaching Worldly Entry means cultivating the heart…”

The elder was also silent for a long time, then slowly nodded.

“So your disciple, below Soul Separation, cultivates at shocking speed, practices Dao Seals at will, and if fighting others, would certainly have extremely strong attacks. Below Soul Separation, she’d rarely meet opponents. But when Heart Questioning comes, certain death awaits.”

Below Soul Separation, I rarely meet opponents.

When Heart Questioning comes, certain death awaits.

Only because Jian Chou’s soul and spirit were deficient—she couldn’t cultivate the heart, much less withstand the dangerous Heart Questioning dao tribulation!

Fudao Shanren said nothing more, only bent down to lift Jian Chou, stepping directly out to appear over ten zhang away from the altar.

He walked forward, his steps heavy, his gaunt body like a drawn bowstring, tightly strung.

As if he didn’t maintain this tension, he would immediately collapse.

Watching Fudao Shanren gradually disappear into that void darkness, Zheng Yao stood in place without moving.

The elder sighed long, quite complexly.

“Six hundred years, and his cultivation is regressing… Why torture himself so?”

Hearing this, Zheng Yao turned back: “Master Uncle has always had this temperament.”

“Always?” The elder couldn’t help but laugh, his voice heavy. “His dog temperament is much better than before.”

Dog temperament…

Only you would dare say such a thing.

Zheng Yao didn’t dare respond, only bowing to the elder: “Old Ancestor, now that Senior Sister Jian Chou has a Heavenly Void Body and deficient soul and spirit, is there truly no method to complete them?”

“All matters related to soul and spirit involve heaven’s dao mysteries—only the Extreme Domain can provide answers. But after the battle six hundred years ago, Yashan has exhausted all its elite forces and can no longer afford to inquire…” The elder slowly closed his eyes. “Heaven’s favor, heaven’s jealousy—there’s no difference. If this girl wants to live longer, she might as well cultivate more slowly.”

As his words fell, his eyelids had completely closed.

Thus, his flesh gradually disappeared, leaving only an aged skeleton on the massive altar’s All-Sky Mirror.

Zheng Yao watched for a long time, thinking of Fudao Shanren’s heaviness when leaving, and also sighed long time.

He too slowly walked into the darkness and disappeared.

Soon after, ripples appeared on Lanyue Hall’s floor.

Zheng Yao’s form gradually solidified as he stood in Lanyue Hall. Looking around at the emptiness, Fudao Shanren had probably already taken Jian Chou back.

***

When she opened her eyes, the surrounding light was somewhat blurry.

Jian Chou couldn’t quite react.

This was her room.

In that strange jade bowl, a bright flame still burned, never extinguishing.

Jian Chou sat up, feeling comfortable throughout her body with no discomfort whatsoever.

She tapped her temples, carefully recalling, and vaguely remembered fainting from exhaustion while testing the Dao Seal in Lanyue Hall.

Now appearing in her room, Fudao Shanren must have brought her back.

Regarding the strange phenomena that appeared then, Jian Chou couldn’t understand—legs worked, palms worked too? That was truly a strange Dao Seal.

She rose from the bed and walked to the door, discovering that the place she had smashed through that day had been completely repaired. The massive leg-shaped hole had left no trace on Yashan’s mountain wall.

When Jian Chou opened the door, she glanced sideways at the wooden plaque hanging beside it. The elegant patterns spread, and the three characters “Scripture Pavilion” were gone—returned to the plaque were the two characters “Jian Chou.”

It seemed Fudao Shanren had already put away the Scripture Pavilion.

Standing at her doorway looking down, it was dusk with colors gathering, yet continuous streams of various radiance flew down from the mountain wall to Lingzhao Peak.

Before Returning, Crane Well stood quite a few people—Jian Chou roughly counted about twenty.

Fudao Shanren sat beside Returning Crane Well with both feet in the water, holding a thin bamboo pole in his hand, teasing the big white goose floating on the water’s surface.

The big white goose twisted its neck, too lazy to deal with this fool, paddled twice in the water with its webbed feet, then turned its rear toward him and swam aside.

A golden glass-like stream of light fell beside him. Fudao Shanren was quite impatient and didn’t even turn his head: “Really, stop asking me! Those Golden Core fellows who lost their artifacts, if they have legitimate reasons, can take them to open the Armory. If not, let them find their way! Annoying or not?!”

“…”

Jian Chou was startled, looked around, and only saw Qu Zhengfeng among that group of twenty-odd people.

Qu Zhengfeng also saw Jian Chou and nodded slightly to her across the crowd.

Jian Chou nodded in return, smiled, then turned back and directly patted Fudao Shanren’s shoulder: “Master!”

Fudao Shanren wanted to swing his bamboo pole at her, but unexpectedly, when he turned around, he saw Jian Chou.

This was truly a huge surprise!

At that moment, his facial expression was somewhat embarrassed.

But quickly, Fudao Shanren showed a face full of gritted teeth and indignation: “You, Jian Chou girl! Sleeping so long, and just after waking up, you come to scare your master! You do love bullying old folks!”

Uh…

Jian Chou particularly wanted to ask: Do you count as an old folk?

She was afraid of being beaten, so she held back.

“Didn’t I just wake up and see it was especially lively outside, and see Master down here, so I came over? Plus, I have a few questions to ask Master.”

The Dao Seal was no small matter—Jian Chou had to know the why of it.

Fudao Shanren’s eyes rolled around, and he sighed wearily.

He propped his elbow on his leg, bent his waist down, cupped his chin in his palm, and looked at Jian Chou with rolled eyes: “You slept for six days. This old man has been busy for six days and finally got a moment of peace. Can’t you spare your master? How about I find you something to do?”

An idea suddenly emerged.

Jian Chou became curious: “What thing?”

Seeing an opportunity, Fudao Shanren quickly turned toward Qu Zhengfeng’s direction and shouted: “Second Brother, come here!”

Qu Zhengfeng was talking with other Yashan disciples. Hearing the call, he waved to the disciple before him and walked toward Returning Crane Well, bowing before Fudao Shanren: “Master.”

Fudao Shanren pointed at Jian Chou: “Opening the Armory today—this girl still doesn’t have a handy magical artifact. Take her to pick one.”

Armory, magical artifacts?

Jian Chou immediately understood—so many people gathered here were going to select magical artifacts.

Did Yashan’s artifacts not come from personal searching but from the sect?

She turned to look at Qu Zhengfeng, completely putting the Dao Seal matter out of mind for now.

Qu Zhengfeng was startled, following Fudao Shanren’s gesture to look sideways at Jian Chou.

Indeed, that day on the Sword Drawing Platform fighting Zhou Baozhu, Jian Chou could only produce a Liwai Mirror and didn’t even have a sword, so in the end…

She could only use her legs.

*Cough.*

Now, the matter of Senior Sister Jian Chou “kicking at the slightest disagreement” was well-known among all Yashan disciples.

Some mischievous ones had even given Jian Chou a new title: Yashan Leg-Drawing Sect.

The Sword-Drawing Sect’s swords, the Leg-Drawing Sect’s legs—both fine titles!

Thinking of the various rumors from recent days, Qu Zhengfeng’s eyes also flashed with flowing light.

After pondering briefly, he spoke: “Indeed so. Senior Sister Jian Chou is now a notable figure in our Yashan Sword-Drawing Sect. If she still doesn’t have a sword, it really wouldn’t do. Then, as Master says, when opening the Armory this time, let’s take Senior Sister Jian Chou along.”

Drawing swords at the slightest disagreement—how could one be without a sword?

Jian Chou looked toward the group of disciples standing behind Qu Zhengfeng—all Yashan disciples, mostly with low cultivation, mostly at Foundation Establishment, though there seemed to be a few at Golden Core.

When she turned to look, everyone was watching her with gazes that held the feeling of looking at a legendary figure.

Jian Chou felt her scalp tingle slightly, quickly withdrew her gaze, and thinking of “sword,” her heart already held an indescribable feeling.

I can have a sword too?

A smile unconsciously appeared on her lips. Jian Chou respectfully bowed to Fudao Shanren: “This disciple thanks Master greatly. Then…”

Turning to look at Qu Zhengfeng, she smiled: “I’ll trouble Brother Qu to take care of me.”

Qu Zhengfeng nodded: “Please follow me, Senior Sister. We’re about to depart.”

Jian Chou followed him into that group of Yashan disciples.

Fudao Shanren sat beside Returning Crane Well, his feet wrapped in water, cool all over.

Watching Jian Chou standing among those many Yashan disciples, he slowly lowered his gaze.

Invincible below Soul Separation.

How glorious did that sound?

Just like Jian Chou now—countless eyes watching, countless hearts looking up, countless rays of light illuminating her…

“Sigh…”

Sighing long, Fudao Shanren felt his head beginning to ache.

Another stream of light descended. Shen Jiu stood beside Fudao Shanren, glanced at the group about to leave Yashan, couldn’t help frowning, and spoke: “Master, in the Central Domain’s Left Three Thousand, word has already spread that our Yashan’s newly entered female cultivator achieved Foundation Establishment in thirteen days with a Tianpan.”

“Word has spread?”

Hearing this, Fudao Shanren felt like his scalp was about to explode.

How was this possible?