Chapter 799: Refining The Cemetery

Li Xiaofei could feel the surging battle intent radiating from the gathered souls. It was the kind of fighting spirit that endured even after hundreds of years of death, the unwavering desire to return to the battlefield.

“If Heaven has truly fallen, then it means... the battle at the Southern Heavenly Gate all those years ago...” Li Lan sighed softly, then turned to regard Li Xiaofei. “Now that you’ve gained the qualifications to enter the Star Battlefield and seek out the lost Heaven, it is your duty. We will go with you and return once more to the sea of stars.”

Li Xiaofei was stunned and asked, “You all... will go with me?”

Li Lan nodded. “We have slept here to wait for your growth. Now that the time has come, it is only natural that we accompany you back to the stars.”

There was a tremendous amount of information hidden within those words. Li Xiaofei pondered deeply, sensing that he had become part of a greater scheme.

He was just about to ask more when Liu Shaji interrupted him with a chuckle. “Little brother, don’t ask too much. You’ll understand when the time comes. We’re not here to mess around with you, and we sure as hell won’t harm you.”

Li Xiaofei nodded, choosing not to press further. Instead, he asked, “Can you all leave the cemetery now?”

After all, it had seemed earlier that these soul forms were bound to the place.

Li Lan shook her head and replied, “The cemetery is our resting place and our anchor. Until we are fully revived, we cannot leave.”

Li Xiaofei frowned slightly and said, “Then...?”

Li Lan smiled slightly and said, “We cannot leave the cemetery, but the cemetery itself can leave with you.”

Huh?

Li Xiaofei was even more confused.

At that moment, Liu Shaji offered a more detailed explanation. “This cemetery was personally forged by His Excellency Li Mu, the Holy Martial Emperor, using materials from the God-Burial Grounds deep within the stars. It is, in fact, a divine artifact that can be as vast as the stars or as small as a grain of sand. Now that you’ve reached the Yin-Yang Realm, you’ve met the minimum threshold to begin refining and controlling it. Once you refine this place and absorb it into your Yin-Yang Eyes, you’ll be able to carry the entire cemetery with you.”

Now Li Xiaofei finally understood. After that, it was Hua Xiangrong who personally taught him the method to refine and assimilate the cemetery. As the wife of Li Mu, she was most familiar with the inner workings of the cemetery and its secrets. Though her appearance was veiled by the ever-present mist, her voice was as clear and gentle as spring water. It was soft and melodious, like the voice of a virtuous and graceful noblewoman.

Li Xiaofei paid close attention, and after half a day of earnest study, he finally grasped the ritual of refining the cemetery. The other souls gradually dispersed, each returning to their resting places beneath their gravestones. Only Li Lan remained behind.

“Once you’ve completed the refinement of the cemetery,” she said solemnly, “you may depart to seek the lost Heaven.”

Her gaze was serious as she gave him one final warning. “All of us reside in slumber within the cemetery. If you encounter a foe you cannot withstand, you may summon us into battle. But remember, this can only be done when the Energy of Life within the cemetery has reached its full capacity. If not, the summoning will fail. Forcing a summon under low energy conditions will severely weaken our combat strength, possibly to just a tenth of our full power, and there’s even a chance some of us may perish permanently.”

“Energy of Life?” Li Xiaofei asked. “What is that? How can I gather it?”

Li Lan gave him a detailed explanation and then returned beneath her gravestone, her presence retreating into silence once more. Left alone, Li Xiaofei stood there deep in thought for a moment. He then activated the ritual technique and began the process of refining the cemetery.

One hour later, a deafening clap of thunder echoed through the skies above the White Deer Academy’s back mountain. Lightning flashed, crackling through the clouds as countless teachers and students looked toward the source of the disturbance.

In that instant, the thick, mysterious milky-white fog that had long enveloped the back mountain suddenly vanished. And with it... the entire Cemetery of the Ancestors.

“Something’s wrong; the cemetery is gone!” A startled voice rang out from the distance.

Someone had noticed the disappearance of the Cemetery of the Ancestors. The upper echelons of the Academy quickly rushed over and found a shocking scene.

The location where the cemetery had once stood was now a massive crater that was dozens of kilometers wide. There were piles of yellow soil and broken rocks, as if some unfathomable power had ripped the entire region up from the ground and taken it away.

“What on earth happened here?”

“The cemetery’s gone... did it just fly off into the sky?”

No one could make sense of what they were seeing. Everyone was left in utter disbelief.

The matter was quickly reported, even alerting the Dragon Group. But in the end, the incident was never fully investigated... and quietly faded into obscurity.

***

Beyond the Solar System, in Chongque City.

“So this is the Outer World?” Hu Yuer walked beside Li Xiaofei, her eyes filled with curiosity as she took in the streets and buildings of Chongque City. She said, “It doesn’t look all that different from the cities on Earth.”

Li Xiaofei was patient with her and said, “Chongque City was modeled after Earth from the very beginning. You can even find reflections of some classic Earth landmarks scattered throughout the city. Of course, it’s divided into zones, modern, ancient, and future. The zones are named sequentially, Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, and so on. The Jia District is the central core area...”

Li Xiaofei and Headmaster Hu had just returned to Chongque City. Instead of heading straight for the City Lord’s Office, he decided to show her around a bit, to let the curious fox take in the atmosphere and satisfy her inquisitiveness.

Li Xiaofei himself was also curious to see whether anything had changed in Chongque City during his absence.

In his hand, he idly toyed with an object that resembled a piece of dark jade carved into the shape of a miniature mountain.

This black jade ornament was about the size of a baby’s fist. Its shape was rough and irregular, but under Li Xiaofei’s touch, faint glimmers of light shimmered along its surface. If one looked closely, the base of the ‘mountain’ had a small portion, about half a finger wide, that glowed with a delicate, milky-white luster.

As he chatted with Hu Yuer, Li Xiaofei was also deep in thought. This piece of black jade shaped like a mountain was, in fact, the Cemetery of the Ancestors.

He had taken it from White Deer Academy after completing the refinement ritual. The cemetery could be enlarged or shrunk at will, and now it sat in his palm as a toy-like object. He could store it within the Black Hole of his internal world with a mere thought, which would nourish and stabilize it.

What Li Lan and Liu Shaji had referred to as the Yin-Yang Realm was simply another name for a Black Hole level lifeform. A Black Hole was born from death itself. The death of a star birthed a black hole. Life and death, yin and yang, separated only by a single thought. The name made perfect sense. And beyond the Yin-Yang Realm, there were still further realms awaiting.

Li Xiaofei glanced at the white glow forming at the base of the jade mountain. He already understood that it was the Energy of Life he’d been told about.

The Cemetery of the Ancestors absorbed this Energy of Life as a natural process. He didn’t need to actively do anything. Once the entire jade mountain turned crystalline and snowy white, it would mean the energy was fully gathered, allowing him to summon one of the soul forms residing within the cemetery. But Li Xiaofei was still researching what exactly constituted the Energy of Life.

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

An hour later, Li Xiaofei returned to the City Lord’s Office. Having only recently taken over Chongque City, he hadn’t yet had the time to properly establish his rule, so the City Lord’s Office was still rather desolate. It was nowhere near as lively or well-staffed as it had been during Song Jinglun’s era. But Li Xiaofei actually preferred the quiet.

However, upon returning today, he immediately frowned. Something felt... off. He had barely taken his seat when the female warrior, Luo Ge, arrived in a rush.

“There’s been a situation,” she said, looking him straight in the eyes. “You’d best brace yourself.”