Chapter 375 – Settling In, A Battle of the Apex - Part 2

By now the three women knew everything about Li Yuan, save for Yan Yu’s situation and his eternal youth. Even the flame he carried within himself was laid bare.

After a brief demonstration they could only gape, speechless.

Yao Jue watched the streaming flames coiling under his skin. “Master, are you some kind of walking

meat field?”

Jing Shuixiang felt his aura for a long moment. “Your Yang energy is unbelievably pure. Released, it condenses into a strange force—purity honed to the extreme, like a ghost realm’s deadly Yin energy. Kept inside, though, husband, you’re basically a top rank meat field, a living furnace of vitality.”

Yao Jue giggled, eyes bright with mischief. “Don’t move a muscle, we want to grade your

premium cuts.

”

Li Yuan could only sigh. Keeping the flame within his heart burning yet sealed inside his muscles, he felt his body grow noticeably heavier, the meat beneath his skin packing itself tight as iron.

And then, right there on the mattress, the three women began to cultivate around him.

Half a day later, Cui Huayin opened her eyes first. “He’s a fifth rank meat field,” she announced, “though a touch purer than the usual fifth rank.”

“...” Li Yuan had no words.

Jing Shuixiang arched an eyebrow. “When you said this barren land held meat fields for our training...you didn’t mean your own body, did you?”

Li Yuan cleared his throat. “Of course not. I’ll show you the real place. Ping'an will be coming too.”

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Five figures cut through blowing snow. Soon a dark mountain region loomed ahead.

Long before they arrived, everyone but Li Yuan tensed. A dreadful Yin aura oozed from the range, like some colossal nightmare beast lying in wait. Even seasoned fifth rank experts felt their hearts race and skin crawl.

Ping'an, who barely remembered Yan Yu, shuddered. “The Yin energy here is almost as thick as Happyland...”

Jing Shuixiang nodded gravely, then looked to Li Yuan. “Such dense Yin energy can only mean a large ghost domain. A meat field must be nearby too.”

Li Yuan answered with a single nod, then held up a hand. “I want you to memorize the following rules—

“First, no lying about anything.

Second, waste nothing during your meals, not even a grain of rice.

Third, show proper filial piety. No cursing your parents.

Fourth, do not enter fully enclosed spaces, not even a hut.

Fifth, if you see someone peddling rouge, ignore them. Don’t buy a thing.”

The four listeners fell silent, shaken. Five separate rules; even without any

supplementary

rules, that already made the place terrifying. They could only imagine how many people had died to discover them.

They immediately memorized all the rules, but they couldn’t help but feel a little off about this ghost domain. Why did all these rules seem oddly virtuous?

Soon, the air began to warm. The farther they flew, the hotter it grew, until half a cup of tea later a glowing expanse appeared below, resembling a farmland on fire. Rows of skinned, crimson ox-beasts sprouted from the soil, pure flesh radiating heat like a forge.

“Fifth rank meat field!” Ping’an blurted, eyes shining. He’d planned to step back from his cultivation and stay beside Xue Ning until her final days. But with a training ground like this he could cultivate and fulfill his filial duty. His own children, too, could grow strong here. At last, they truly had a home.

Tiny in stature but oldest in years, Jing Shuixiang mused, “Five distinct rules mean at least five ghosts. A single fifth rank meat field can’t form on just that.”

“Six ghosts.” Li Yuan corrected, “One of them kills in a...very special way. None of you can trigger it.”

Everyone blinked in surprise.

Yao Jue clapped in delight. “You figured that out without being harmed. That’s amazing!”

Li Yuan went on, “A ghost domain appears first; the meat field condenses later. A top quality meat field spawns lesser offshots. In time, this one will rise to fourth rank. New fifth and sixth rank patches will branch off, more than enough for your cultivation.”

All four nodded. If they had all still been sixth rank, it would’ve been difficult to settle down here even with a meat field. But now they were fifth rank. From fifth and fourth rank, progress depended more on tempering and experience than on practicing a cultivation technique. It was like a finished boat entering open water. As long as it was kept upright, it would reach the far shore.

Li Yuan laid out tasks. “You guys can start cultivating for now. Then when you all have some free time... Ping’an, I want you to sketch out the diagram for the Return-Willow Technique. Shuixiang and Huayin, you two do the same for the Cycle of Withering and Growth. Yao Jue, you try drawing one for the Evergreen Art as well.

“When the life chronicle is complete, we’ll rebuild the Holy Tree Temple here, safely away from trouble. But no outsiders must learn of this place. One whisper could bring endless ruin. Especially you, Ping’an, no loose tongues.”

The young man scratched his head and laughed. “Dad, secrecy is my crowning virtue! Do you think I’d blab?”

Li Yuan ignored the clowning and asked, “Still feel that watching gaze lately?”

Ping'an shook his head, grinning. “Nope. Guess it really was just all in my head. Clearly, I’m a lot more comfortable when I’m near my parents.”

Li Yuan fell silent. The earlier sense of surveillance had been strange; its disappearance did not soothe him.

That day the four trained in high spirits. Night fell; the three women drew lots. Yao Jue

tragically

pulled the short stick and skipped off, radiant, to warm her master’s bed.

Afterward, Li Yuan hauled Ping'an out for drinks. He laced the wine with plenty of burning heart flowers, got the boy utterly plastered, blindfolded him, and streaked through the sky to the black market ghost domain.

At the membrane’s edge a blue robed woman stood, sleeves hanging, staring into the dark.

Li Yuan set his son down. “This is Ping'an.”

Yan Yu turned, serene and cool. “He’s grown.”

Li Yuan explained the situation about Ping’an feeling a gaze on him. She listened, then examined the sleeping youth for a long moment.

“No ghost marks, no ghost items tracking him, no other probing threads. His spirit is remarkably stable, more so than anyone I’ve seen. And he’s still growing stronger.”

Li Yuan nodded. “Good.”

After chatting a little longer, he retrieved six more whitewood caskets, slung his sleeping son over one shoulder, and delivered the boy back to his wives.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

A month later, deep winter arrived.

Snow now drifted even over the Holy Tree Temple.

High on the White Bamboo Hanging Bell Tower, the innermost door swung wide. Out strode a tall man in an azure robe patterned with ink-black plum blossoms. It was Qing Hancheng.

Barely contained excitement blazed across his face. The moment daylight hit, his pleasure split into a wolfish grin, and then—

He threw back his head and howled with laughter.

Clenching both fists, he savored the power of two souls knitted into one, as if two Qing Hanchengs had melted together, though still not quite seamless.

“Just one more earth-shaking battle?” he muttered, eyes half-closed, tasting the missing sliver of harmony. “Yes...one last struggle and I’ll be whole again. Now, who shall I fight?”

After a moment’s thought, he summoned Jing Baikou.

“Send word across the jianghu. Qing Hancheng has left seclusion. Anyone who wishes may challenge me. And track down that fellow called Bubba. If he’s still alive, tell him to pick the place. I’ll be there.”

He needed an opponent unentangled with his own affairs. He was already in league with the Lotus Cult; it wouldn’t do to butcher his own allies.

And talents like Gu Xuejian he meant to recruit, not ruin, especially now that she had stepped into fourth rank and would soon face the same bottleneck.

“Powerful people should only mind their own, not fuss over their so-called

alignment

. History is written by the victor, and when the coming Grand Union of Yin Yang dawns,

I

will be first to break into the exalted upper three ranks”

As for today’s supposed treachery?

He

would decide how history recorded it. Surely Gu Xuejian, his strongest deputy, would sunder the truth and not shackle herself with childish notions of good and evil.

Still smiling, Qing Hancheng stared into the snowy distance, plotting.

First, he’d ascend fully into third rank, then head south to gauge what the Emperor and the Lotus Cult had brewed. Next, he’d seize a seat at the council table.

The Emperor kept General Lu Xuanxian and Imperial Tutor Zhao Gutong at his side, and the Lotus Cult boasted four formidable cult leaders. Yet now he didn’t fear any of them at all.

“After breaking through, I should keep my fresh third rank power a secret. It will be a trump card meant only to be revealed when the moment calls for it.”

However, a lone hero was a poor hero. Once the Grand Union of Yin and Yang arrived, anyone without followers would suffer. The Five Elements Alliance and the twin Buddhist-Daoist orders looked likely to fall, ripe for him to harvest subordinates. After all, he was still nominally part of the Five Elements Alliance himself.

“Best to refrain from wholesale slaughter... I’ll prune only the truly stubborn ones.” Qing Hancheng’s mind whirred through contingencies and angles.

Jing Baikou felt the raw, unveiled might pulsing off the temple master and could not suppress a shiver. Bowing deeply, he withdrew to carry out the orders.