Chapter 646: Fellow Daoist, May Your Journey Be Peaceful! (II)

"When I gather enough resources to reach Perfected Mastery of Foundation Establishment, I will return to the sect, choose a second-tier top-grade cave residence, and cultivate for a century. Before my lifespan ends, perhaps I can still break through to the Golden Core Realm!"

That was Miao Wen's dream, and he truly nearly grasped the chance to fulfill it. That chance was brought about by Dan Chenzi, also known as Luo Chen; an alchemist who had risen unexpectedly from among the rogue cultivators. In Miao Wen's eyes, he represented boundless fortune and endless opportunity.

Unfortunately, an unforeseen battle shattered everything.

Within the bronze mirror, scenes unfolded one after another. Miao Wen and Luo Tianhong stood beside Elder Pang Renxiong, maintaining the defensive formation against the three Ghost Kings. The battle raged fiercely, but in the end the formation collapsed and the cultivators within were annihilated.

Luo Tianhong fell on the spot, and Miao Wen suffered grievous wounds. It was only because he was familiar with Dahe Market's inner city that he could keep his life; sheer luck and good knowledge of the local geography allowed him to slip out of that ghost city.

Yet as he fled, the yin qi of a shattered ghost king was struck apart by Pang Renxiong. The yin qi invaded his body. Miao Wen, who was already on the verge of death, could not resist the corruption. The yin qi remnants of the ghost king's will seeped into his mind, twisting his spirit until he lost control of himself.

Half-conscious and driven only by instinct, he fled toward a place his heart remembered as safe: Cloudless Mountain's Magnetic Essence Valley. He thought that, if he could recover there, he could return to the sect and report what happened in Dahe Market. Perhaps the merit would earn him recognition once more.

However, his wounds did not heal, and his condition became worse. The ghost king that had been sealed beneath Dahe Market for centuries was no ordinary ghost. Even the faintest trace of its will was vast and dreadful. Its instinct to survive drove its will to fight Miao Wen for control of his body. Even as a fragment, it was far beyond his ability to resist.

"If only I had reached clarity of the sword heart during Foundation Establishment, then even the full will of a Ghost King would never have had the power to break me. I should never have strayed," Miao Wen murmured bitterly. Though his eyes were tightly shut, bitter tears were dripping down his cheeks. A black halo wrapped around his divine soul.

"Mirror Flower Water Moon, disperse!" Luo Chen commanded.

Crack...

The water mirror shattered, and the reflections of flowers and moon disappeared without a trace. The old man slowly opened his eyes and stared at his hands, his expression complicated. The calluses once left by years of sword practice had long vanished. A life of comfort had softened his hands, and even after forty years of mental turmoil, the Foundation Establishment cultivation he had once possessed still preserved the pale smoothness beneath the grime.

He lifted his head and looked toward the tall man standing before him with a bronze mirror resting in his hand. The man's aura was unfamiliar, yet his features carried a hint of an acquaintance, leaving Miao Wen momentarily uncertain. "You are... Luo..."

"Greetings, Steward Miao. It has been a long time," said Luo Chen.

Miao Wen's lips moved, but his frail state no longer allowed him to extend his spirit consciousness to gauge Luo Chen's cultivation. Still, the feeling that the other could kill him with a single flick of the finger was definitely no illusion. He gave a bitter smile and suddenly asked, "What is the date now?"

"We're in 3449," Luo Chen answered.

The words struck Miao Wen like a bolt of lightning out of a clear sky. His body swayed as he murmured, "Forty years... It's been forty years...."

He lifted his head again, looking at Luo Chen as though wanting to speak yet unable to find the words. But as if reading his thoughts, Luo Chen said calmly, "In that battle long ago, Pang Renxiong fell, and Dahe Market turned into a ghost city. But he did not truly die. His resentment caused his divine soul to veer toward the ghostly path, transforming into a third-tier ghost king."

"I knew Elder Pang would not die so easily," Miao Wen said with a weak sigh. "When he built his foundation, he had achieved clarity of the sword heart. Even as his body died, he had the strength and will to survive and turn to the ghost path."

"Clarity of the sword heart?" Luo Chen raised an eyebrow.

He had already learned of that term earlier through Miao Wen's memories revealed by the Divine Ghost Heartmirror. Miao Wen nodded slightly, but he avoided the topic and shifted the conversation to other matters. Luo Chen saw no reason to press the matter, and instead briefly recounted the major events that had taken place in the Jade Cauldron Domain over the years.

He spoke of the Falling Cloud Sect's Supreme Elder, Han Zhan, advancing to the Nascent Soul Realm, and how that breakthrough had stirred wars among the upper sects. Miao Wen listened in silence, his eyes reflecting a tangle of emotions. There was a trace of longing within them, mingled with faint fear. Yet by the end, his expression turned calm and composed.

"I was never your friend," he said quietly. "In the past, I used Heart Peering to pry into your darkest side. Now, you used that Divine Ghost Heartmirror to restore me to my true self. To repay resentment with virtue... Such a thing doesn't sound like something you would do so casually. Since you were honest enough to tell me all this... I suppose my death is certain."

Luo Chen pressed his lips together and fixed him with a steady gaze. After a moment, he smiled openly. "Indeed."

He had no reason not to admit it. From the get-go, he'd had no intention of letting Miao Wen survive, much less helping him do so.

In the past, Miao Wen might have groveled for his life. Yet after forty years of such half-life-half-death torment, now that his mind had finally cleared, he no longer feared death.

"Whether you kill me or not, I will not live more than two years with my divine soul in this condition. Being possessed by a ghost king's soul fragment is not something that can be endured with no repercussions."

He looked at Luo Chen and smiled faintly. "But since you went to such lengths to awaken me instead of just ending my suffering, I suppose there is something I can do for you."

Luo Chen nodded. "I need the pure yin qi within your body."

"The ghost king's primal yin qi?" Miao Wen asked in surprise. Then his eyes shifted toward the timid young girl drifting in the surrounding black mist. Her form was almost completely solid, appearing no different from an ordinary cultivator. Yet with his personal experience, he could clearly recognize the thick ghostly aura surrounding her.

"For her?" he asked.

"Yes," Luo Chen replied.

"If she absorbs the ghost king's primordial yin qi from me, her path to the Ghost King Realm will be smooth," Miao Wen said.

"Indeed it will. You know... She is also a rogue cultivator who died within Dahe Market's inner city."

Miao Wen was taken aback, then sighed and shook his head. "Very well. Tell me what to do. I'll cooperate fully."

"It's simple. We'll coordinate from within and without."

Luo Chen explained in detail the method of extracting the yin qi. In truth, with his Clean and Soul Intimidation mastery, he could extract the yin qi from Miao Wen's body regardless of whether the latter allowed it or not. However, the quality of that yin qi was too high. Any slight mistake could cause it to scatter and escape. Moreover, the lingering will of the ghost king within it made matters worse. If Bai Meiling absorbed it by accident, the consequences would be disastrous. Thus, Luo Chen required Miao Wen's cooperation to crush the ghost king's will from within. Only then could Bai Meiling safely absorb the primal yin qi.

Having struggled against that will for decades, Miao Wen knew exactly how to deal with it. Before long, the two began their work. Strands of black yin qi drifted out from Miao Wen's body and flowed toward Bai Meiling, who sat cross-legged beneath the Soul-Nurturing Banner.

A full day passed in the blink of an eye. Night soon covered the land in darkness. The peculiarity of Magnetic Essence Valley spared them from the threat of wandering demonic beasts; otherwise, spending a night out so openly in the wild would have definitely resulted in an unwanted encounter.

When dawn was just about to break, Miao Wen suddenly shivered. The ghost king's yin qi that had lingered in him for decades was completely purged. Meanwhile, Bai Meiling appeared drunk with power; she mumbled something to Luo Chen before slipping back into the Soul-Nurturing Banner.

As Luo Chen put away the banner, the utterly drained Miao Wen looked at him in disbelief. During that long night of cooperation, he had glimpsed Luo Chen's cultivation.

"You've reached the late stage of Foundation Establishment?" he asked weakly.

Luo Chen did not attempt to hide it and said plainly, "I am at the eighth stage. Another ten years of steady cultivation, and I'll reach the ninth."

Miao Wen opened his mouth but found no words to speak. Beyond the peak of the ninth stage came Perfected Mastery, and beyond that lay the Golden Core Realm. It was something he had only ever dreamed of achieving. Yet Luo Chen was already so close to reaching it? Moreover, he was still so young! What kind of impossible fortune had this man stumbled upon?

Yet when his gaze fell on the streaks of gray among Luo Chen's hair, his lips pressed into silence. He knew Luo Chen's aptitude all too well. The young man had a five-spirit-root constitution, perhaps a hundred times worse than his own. And he was well aware that Luo Chen had no powerful backers in the cultivation world; for someone like him to have reached this point at such an age, and to be able to speak of great events in the Jade Cauldron Domain with such calm precision, as though he had witnessed them all firsthand, was nothing short of incredible.

Miao Wen understood it now. There was no such thing as blind fortune—there had never been such a thing. It was merely that Luo Chen had endured countless trials, forging his path one step at a time.

A thin layer of morning mist drifted through Magnetic Essence Valley. The faint chill in the air brushed against Miao Wen's skin, and for the first time in decades, he truly felt the cold. Perhaps it was not the chill of the morning dew that made him shiver, but the coldness in Luo Chen's gaze.

Miao Wen parted his lips and asked softly, "Can you wait a little longer?"

Luo Chen's eyebrows shot up. "It's been four decades. What difference does an hour make?"

Miao Wen lowered his gaze to his filthy, tattered body, then looked up toward the faintly lit sky above. For a moment, it felt as though he had returned to those youthful days—broom in hand, sweeping fallen leaves from the mountain path before dawn.

"If my senior brothers were to see me like this, they would probably laugh at me again," he said with a weary smile.

Luo Chen froze in silence.

***

At the summit of Cloudless Mountain, white clouds drifted lazily as a gentle breeze passed through. From below came the echoes of beastly roars, mingling with the deep rustle of pine forests. In the far distance, the Lanchang River surged endlessly, its currents unchanged through the ages.

A crimson sun rose from behind the clouds and slowly climbed into the sky. Miao Wen sat upon the peak, his long hair tied and his beard neatly trimmed. Though his hands were dry and thin, they were clean, and they peacefully rested on his knees. His gaze remained fixed on the rising sun with solemn attention.

When the sun fully broke over the horizon, his lips curved into a faint smile. Then the light in his eyes dimmed, and his head gently fell.

Luo Chen stood beside him with a jade scroll in one hand and, in the other, Miao Wen's storage pouch, which the latter had unlocked for him. He remained silent as he watched the scene unfold.

After a long moment, a streak of azure flame descended upon the old man's body, reducing it to a small heap of ash. With a sweep of his sleeve, Luo Chen gathered the ashes and soared into the air.

When he passed over the Lanchang River, his hand rose in a salute. "Fellow Daoist, may your journey be peaceful!"