Darkness arrived earlier in the north than in the south. Evening came and went quickly, giving way to night. The reason was that the snow didn’t like the sun, and the dome of heaven didn’t like dusk. As a result, the sky turned pitch black very quickly. And the night was long.

Xu Qing stood outside his tent in the garrison, looking into the night in the direction of South Phoenix. The continent was very, very far away.

I wonder how Chen Feiyuan is doing. And Tingyu. With them around, Teacher’s grave will be well-attended to. 1

Xu Qing stepped into his tent. Sitting down cross-legged, he sighed and closed his eyes. After calming his heart, he took out the clay bottle.

I hope this works. Placing the bottle to the side, he took out the black iron skewer that had been with him for so long. He was intimately familiar with every angle and line of the skewer.

Back in the slums, one of his scholar teachers had said, “The older people get, the more sentimental they are.”

Xu Qing didn’t completely agree with that. After all, he wasn’t very old, yet he was very sentimental. Whether it was people or things, as long as they lent him a helping hand, he would never forget them. Feeling a bit emotional, he put the iron skewer into the clay bottle. Then he cast his senses into the bottle as well, to keep tabs on what was happening.

Almost immediately, he sensed a stream of golden energy stirring in the bottle. It was like a mist that swirled around the iron skewer, some of it entering the skewer, but most of it flowing on its surface, making it stronger. It was a slow process. The night had passed, and the haze of dawn filled the sky by the time the energy disappeared. All of it had entered into the skewer.

Xu Qing took the skewer out of the bottle and held it in his hand to examine it. He looked closely at every square inch of it, and afterward, he smiled. The large cracks which had appeared on the skewer were mostly gone. Of even greater significance was that the overall quality of the skewer was better than before. It was almost like it had been reforged.

Of course, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior had more authority on the subject than anyone, so after Xu Qing summoned him, he took a long moment to inspect it.

.

“Milord,” he said confidently, “I can tell the quality of the skewer has changed. It’s similar to when a cultivator achieves a breakthrough. The same type of thing has happened to the skewer. Going forward, it should transform from being a prized treasure into a magical device. Furthermore, thanks to the way I augmented it, once it’s a magical device, then it will be as powerful as any spirit weapon! In fact, you might as well just say that it already is a spirit weapon! All it needs is some time to mature.”

Xu Qing nodded thoughtfully.

The septenary goldmetal energy had been expensive, but getting more would obviously be the fastest way to complete the process. That said, Xu Qing wasn’t sure that he’d even be able to find enough of that specific type of energy to buy.

I might as well take a look around. Also, I can take a shot at climbing the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar. Maybe I can get some of that septenary goldmetal energy on my own.

Having made that decision, he put the skewer away and closed his eyes to meditate. When the sky was bright, he opened his eyes and went out into the city to scour the markets for septenary goldmetal energy.

It was just as he had expected. The unique energies from the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar did exist, just not in great quantity. After shopping for an entire day, he only managed to buy three streams of energy. Based on his calculations, if he wanted to elevate the black iron skewer to a higher level, he would need at least thirty streams.

With such matters on his mind, he headed back to the garrison. Along the way, he went to the same daoist altar as before. Just like the previous day, that old man was there lecturing about the dao of plants and vegetation.

“Nightcorpse morning glory, also known as poisonous mountain rootmottle, refers to the stalk and root of feverfew veined turtledove chrysanthemums. It is a woody vine-type plant found in ravines of shady yin-type mountains, usually in chilly streams or jungle thickets…” 2

His voice sounded ancient and wise. However, there were fewer rogue cultivators gathered by the altar today compared to yesterday. There were only a dozen or so this time. Xu Qing listened to the lecture for a while, then left. This time, he left a spirit stone behind.

Time passed. Half a month.

During that time, more and more human disciples from various sects arrived at the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar. As a result, the city grew more crowded and energetic. More and more cultivators were climbing the pillar on a daily basis.

However, the person who continued to remain in first place was Li Ziliang from the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society. He would soon surpass 2,400 meters. Of course, the higher one climbed, the more difficult it became to get higher.

He had issued three more dueling challenges to the coalition, all of them addressed to Xu Qing.

Xu Qing ignored them. Other than shopping for septenary goldmetal energy, he spent most of his time at that daoist altar before returning to the garrison. That was his routine for the time being.

Eventually, the old man started giving lectures about pill concocting, whereupon Xu Qing took to sitting down for entire lectures. Grandmaster Bai had focused on plants and vegetation, and didn’t instruct Xu Qing much in pill concocting. For the most part, Xu Qing was self-taught in that regard, by means of trial and error. Though he had a measure of success, generally speaking, he felt that pill concocting was a weak spot for him. He listened carefully to the lectures. Nowadays, he was fairly clear-headed, but occasionally he found himself daydreaming about past times in the scavenger basecamp.

He felt more than ever that the unprepossessing old man had a high level of skill in the dao of alchemy. After all, it usually took only a single statement of his to suddenly give Xu Qing immense new insights.

“Using the principles of yin-yang polarity in alchemy is only the start. The dao of alchemy is deep and profound; to date, humans have amassed 6,000 pill concocting techniques.

“I don’t hold any of those techniques on high. The reason is that they’re only external manifestations of alchemy. In other words, all they can do is teach you skill in the principles of yin-yang polarity. Real skill is not about concocting and refining, but rather, about using plants and vegetation.

“All of you remember this: there are myriads upon myriads of paths. But there is only one dao. Therefore, skill in the dao of alchemy comes down to your foundation. With that foundation, you can experiment to find what methods are most suitable to you. In the final analysis, it’s best to take the simplest methods and mix them into something effective.

“In my opinion ‘concocting’ and ‘refining’ are simply ways of bringing out the best medicinal aspects and combinations of plants and vegetation. All of the concocting methods are matters of skill when it comes to pill concocting. But what I hope is that cultivators who study my alchemy techniques can understand what’s under the surface. That is the true way to achieve lasting success.”

Xu Qing listened in a daze, and for a brief moment, that old man actually became Grandmaster Bai in his eyes. He sat straight and listened carefully. As he did, he came to a much deeper understanding of the dao of alchemy as well as plants and vegetation. There was no question that his skill in those things was improving as a result.

What was more, he now realized he had a system upon which to build. His foundation had been forged by Grandmaster Bai, and it was incredibly sound. After that, he was completely self-taught. Through the chaos of trial and error, he had built on his foundation, focusing primarily on the dao of poison. Because of that, his overall system of the dao of alchemy had not collapsed.

Listening to this old man’s lectures had helped him to get rid of the weeds and keep the flowers. Now, he had a clear direction to pursue.

It was similar to what Master Seventh had told him upon taking him to seek enlightenment from the Ghost Emperor mountain. Now, Xu Qing had another ‘god’ in his heart, shining light on the dao of alchemy.

Xu Qing felt happy. More happy than he had been in a long time. He felt like he was filling up with rich and meaningful knowledge. However, unexpected events can easily catch someone off guard, and that was what happened with Xu Qing’s studies.

There was something he needed to handle.

It boiled down to certain conflicts that weren’t incredibly serious, but still had to be addressed. There was friction between disciples from the Eight Sect Coalition, specifically the Dark Serenity Sect and Seven Blood Eyes, and disciples from the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society. And it related to Xu Qing. Rumors had been spreading like wildfire regarding how Xu Qing was ignoring Li Ziliang’s challenges. And of course, those rumors weren’t sitting well with the coalition disciples. As a result, it was only natural that friction resulted.

At a certain point, some disciples from the Dark Serenity Sect and Seven Blood Eyes actually got in a tussle with some disciples from the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society. Li Ziliang ended up stepping in to stop the fight, and unceremoniously arrested the coalition disciples, roughing them up in the process.

Then he sent a message to the coalition saying that before he would release the arrested disciples, Xu Qing had to come and apologize to him in person.

This was obviously an attempt to force Xu Qing out into the open.

News traveled fast. As disciples from other sects became aware of the situation, it quickly became the biggest news of the day. After all, Xu Qing had refused all of Li Ziliang’s challenges up to this point. People who didn’t know Xu Qing assumed it was a show of weakness on his part. And now everyone was wondering what Xu Qing would do in response to Li Ziliang’s actions. Would he flee?

“How annoying,” Xu Qing murmured, frowning. Of course, he wasn’t annoyed at the coalition disciples, but rather, at Li Ziliang. It was obvious that Li Ziliang was throwing his weight around in the hopes of standing out to the swordsages. It wasn’t a bad plan. However, arresting people and roughing them up was a bit excessive. And when people went overboard in matters like this, it meant that something unusual was happening.

Xu Qing thought long and hard about what that unusual aspect might be. For example, did Li Ziliang challenge him so many times because he had some ulterior motive? Based on his lackadaisical attitude, it didn’t seem like he had some complicated plan underway. He was just trying to force Xu Qing to fight. And considering it wasn’t a fight to the death, Xu Qing could only surmise that Li Ziliang wanted to test him out and see what he was capable of.

Whether it was in the slums or the scavenger basecamp, or even when he was first starting out in Seven Blood Eyes, Xu Qing had only ever had one way of dealing with threats. And that was to make sure his opponents never got a second chance to threaten him. He would always kill them the first time around.

One of the things he hated most was being forced to end a fight without killing his opponent. After all, it only made sense that an opponent who survived a fight with him would hate him more than before, thus creating a big grudge. And if that person kept getting stronger, then they would be a potential calamity.

Therefore, Xu Qing took out his transmission jade slip and sent a message to Sir Bloodsmelter.

“Patriarch, it’s prohibited to kill other cultivators in the area surrounding the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar. Does ‘the area surrounding’ the pillar mean everything? Or just Netherflight City?”

There was a moment of silence before the patriarch responded.

“Just the city. Look, boy, you… ah, whatever. Do what you have to do.”

Xu Qing nodded. He clasped hands respectfully to the old man lecturing on the daoist altar, though he knew the old man wouldn’t notice. All the old man did was lecture, and he never paid attention to what was going on around him. That said, Xu Qing valued etiquette. After offering his respects, he flew up into the sky like a bolt of lightning. Once he was out of the city, he hovered in midair and spoke in a voice that echoed into the city.

“Li Ziliang, I challenge you to a fight to the death. Do you accept?”

In response to his words, the cultivators in the city erupted into chaos.

1. Xu Qing last spoke to Chen Feiyuan in 👈

2. Nightcorpse morning glory was a key part of one of the most pivotal events in the early part of the story. Do you remember what it was? If you forgot, you can check 👈