Chapter Eight: Senior Brother, Please Wait

The Yin Nether Sect possessed eight great secret realms, each one a complete world of mountains and rivers. Aside from the two claimed by the sect master's lineage, the remaining five lineages each held their own exclusive secret realm, with one final realm shared among them all. Ji Feichen took the token bestowed by Master Heiliu and headed to the Black Lineage’s Xuanming Secret Realm.

The Xuanming Secret Realm was a world of ice and snow, filled with the chilling energy of Black Sha Xuanming. It was said that when Wujin Mountain had still stood in the Northern Territories, the essence of the northern Xuan Ying had been extracted and refined to create this place.

To possess a mountain range that could be moved was the Yin Nether Sect’s proudest achievement. It was this mobile mountain gate that had allowed the sect to repeatedly escape the purges of the Xuanmen. And the eight great secret realms had been crafted from the underground spiritual veins of the Eight Desolations of Shenzhou. Each secret realm, with its vastly different properties, served the cultivation methods of the Yin Nether Sect.

At the entrance to the Xuanming Secret Realm, two disciples of the Human Immortal level stood guard. In terms of generation, these two were peers of Ji Feichen, disciples of one of his senior uncles.

Master Heiliu had cultivated for centuries, his disciples coming and going in waves, most seized by him to aid his cultivation, with only a few fortunate enough to be spared. At present, he had only two newly advanced Human Immortal disciples. Ji Feichen, with his considerable potential, had also drawn his master’s attention—Heiliu intended to force his growth, to make him into a demon dragon to pull his chariot.

The two guards examined the token and let Ji Feichen pass without trouble, though their expressions were peculiar, as if they had already foreseen his fate.

“It’s a pity, this lad is Uncle Heiliu’s disciple. Uncle Heiliu is not one known for generosity; he must have ulterior motives for granting this token.”

“Yes, I fear this boy won’t live long,” they murmured, before resuming their watch at the gate.

Within the secret realm, the baleful energy was thick as fog. A single day’s cultivation here was worth ten days outside. The baleful aura here was even stronger than that in the Kanming Hall. Out of the pristine snow rose jet-black jade pillars, each one chained with iron links. Every pillar was a node of the secret realm, drawing up the black baleful energy from the earth for cultivators to use.

Ji Feichen found an unoccupied jade pillar. Placing his hand on the chain, it automatically unfastened, revealing a passageway leading underground.

Below the pillar was a secluded chamber, simply furnished with a stone table, stools, and a bed of cold jade. Disciples of the Black Lineage would sit upon the cold jade bed, drawing on the yin chill to cultivate, which was doubly effective and suppressed distracting thoughts.

Ji Feichen sat cross-legged, his palms facing upward, and began to circulate the “Xuan Sha Demon Dragon Scripture”. Turning his gaze inward, he saw a layer of elixir fluid accumulated in his dantian, around which a shadowy dragon coiled. The black baleful energy from outside surged swiftly into his dantian, becoming part of his own power.

“After comprehending the true nature of the Dao, my cultivation speed has clearly increased.” The dragon soul drew in the black baleful energy, ten times more efficiently than before. With such rapid progress, Ji Feichen was confident that within ten years, he could reach the peak of Refining Essence into Qi and attempt to form his Core.

Moreover, it was not just his sea of qi and dantian—he also possessed the ancestral cavity, the Niwan Palace.

Having cultivated the “Supreme Cloud-Forming Jade Dragon True Explanation”, he had opened his own Niwan Palace, the greatest benefit of this method.

The Niwan Palace was a feature of Xuanmen cultivation; practitioners of the Yuanmen’s ten paths did not cultivate the Niwan Palace, focusing instead on refining their physical bodies. In the end, they fused their demon souls with their flesh—so long as the body remained, they could achieve immortality. Even a severed limb could easily regenerate. Killing a demon after they became Earth Immortals was a laborious task, for their bodies would not decay, and even being torn into pieces might not kill them.

By contrast, the greatest weakness of the Xuanmen was the Niwan Palace. If someone found a way to seal it, most of the Xuanmen’s arts could be rendered useless.

Now, Ji Feichen's body was aligned with the Dao of the Dragon. The dragon soul opened a sea of qi in the dantian, condensing his elixir power into a vast lake. Black waters surged and mist hovered above. From the great lake upwards, past the residence of the Five Emperors, up twelve stories, the dragon soul entered the Niwan Palace and transformed into the visage of the Supreme Lord.

Immortal bearing, Daoist bones, the Supreme Lord’s three-foot white beard floated, holding a yin-yang dragon whisk fan, dividing yin and yang, ordering heaven and earth, suffused with Daoist energy—the very ancestor of the Xuanmen. Above the divine avatar arose the Dragon Court Celestial Palace: grand palaces, many-tiered towers, with the Supreme Lord dwelling within, guarding the true self.

The “Supreme Cloud-Forming Jade Dragon True Explanation” called the Niwan Palace the Heavenly Valley, the Purple Mansion, the Yellow Court—the seat of human consciousness. The so-called Supreme Lord’s form was Ji Feichen’s own consciousness, his spirit, residing in the Dragon Palace, resonating with the great lake below.

From the great lake to the Dragon Palace, a channel was established. The dragon soul would descend from the palace to the lake, and return again, completing a full cycle.

With each cycle, vast amounts of black baleful energy flooded into Ji Feichen’s body. First, it was transformed into power within the lake, black rain and mist pouring down. Then, the dragon soul plunged from the dragon path, drawing power from the lake, ascending the dragon path, and returning to the Niwan Palace. Next, the refined power would spill out of the lake, drawing up black mist along the dragon path into the Dragon Palace, then pouring back into the lake. Through such repeated refinement by the dragon soul, Ji Feichen’s power became pure and free of all impurities.

Time passed unnoticed as ten days of cultivation slipped by.

Dark mists roiled over the great lake, the dragon soul soaring above as if attempting to condense a golden core.

Ji Feichen opened his mouth and spat out a jet of power, which rose before him into a three-foot column of water. This column was formed of droplets of spiritual elixir, eight thousand in total, which in the air assembled into a black dragon that gave a long, resonant cry before returning to his body.

“These few days of arduous cultivation are worth a month’s work under normal circumstances.” Condensing power into spiritual water—most newly advanced Human Immortals could manage only ten thousand drops, a measure of one’s strength.

In the Yin Nether Sect, those at the early stage of Shedding the Mortal could condense three thousand drops; the mid-stage, three thousand to ten thousand; in the late stage, one would attempt Core Formation, starting from ten thousand.

By comprehending the true nature of the Dao, Ji Feichen had stepped directly into the late stage of Shedding the Mortal, though his power had lagged behind. Only after these days of hard cultivation in the secret realm did his strength finally match his realm.

“After this visit, if I continue to feign ignorance about my breakthrough, it will only arouse suspicion.” Thus, Ji Feichen used the Azure Tide Pearl to lock away half his power, presenting only a portion so he could claim to have reached the mid-stage of Shedding the Mortal.

Afterward, he left the secret realm to report to Master Heiliu.

“A breakthrough? Hm, very good.” Master Heiliu’s gaze swept over him, a force probing Ji Feichen’s body. “You currently have four thousand drops of Ming Spirit Water within you—a solid foundation.”

“Master, I wish to visit the Sutra Pavilion to study the thunder arts of the ‘Dragon Canon’.”

“Thunder arts? Those are but auxiliary skills. What could be more important than your cultivation? You’ve just broken through; you should press on and strive to condense your dragon pearl and transform your body.”

A chill ran through Ji Feichen’s heart; he understood his master’s eagerness to find a dragon seed to pull his chariot.

Master Heiliu, seeing Ji Feichen’s silence, realized he might be appearing too impatient, possibly arousing suspicion. So he changed his tone: “Still, it’s good for you to learn these methods. Dragons command the clouds and rain, summon wind and thunder; thunder arts are required learning for both Xuanmen and Yuanmen. You must take them seriously.”

Ji Feichen exchanged a few more polite words, then left the cave to study in the Sutra Pavilion at Kanming Hall. Though Master Heiliu harbored ill intentions toward him, as his direct disciple and the grand-disciple of the Kanming Hall’s master, Ji Feichen was free to browse the collections without interference, so long as he did not remove any texts.

He flipped through the “Xuan Sha Demon Dragon Scripture.” The black cover depicted a ferocious dark-gold demon dragon, surrounded by countless intricate patterns, themselves a kind of curse: anyone who removed the book from the pavilion would be struck down by a deadly curse.

The thick tome rivaled the dictionaries of his previous life.

The first half of the “Dragon Canon” detailed cultivation techniques, which Ji Feichen skipped in favor of the latter sections. These contained twelve blueprints for magical treasures described in the Demon Dragon Scripture.

Among them was his own “Darklight Xuan Sha Heaven-Shaking Dragon God Mace,” as well as other treasures like the “Ten Earths Sun-Shattering Dragon Lock” and the “Nine Nether Azure Sky Ming Dragon Boat.”

He glanced past these, searching for the recorded spells.

Of the spells in the Demon Dragon Scripture, Ji Feichen had only learned the “Dragon Scale Armor” and the “Water Control Mantra.” The former allowed him to manifest dragon scales at will, and the latter allowed him to condense spiritual water within his body—Ming Spirit Water, which could eventually become the Nine Nether Weak Water.

Now he searched for thunder arts, looking for those compatible with the Demon Dragon Scripture.

While the scripture belonged to the path of cold and darkness, it also contained fierce and domineering arts. Among the thunder spells were the “Black Sha Yang Thunder,” “Xuanming Yin Thunder,” “Gui Water Divine Thunder,” “Ice Soul Xuan Thunder,” “Dragon Sky Divine Thunder,” and others, nine in total.

Upon seeing these, Ji Feichen weighed his options: “Xuanming Yin Thunder is the secret art of the Yin Nether Sect; using it would immediately reveal my identity. When traveling outside, I must appear as a righteous cultivator, not exposing myself through such obvious techniques.”

The Water Control Mantra he practiced manipulated the threefold baleful Ming Spirit Poison Water, which, at its peak, could be transformed into the Nine Nether Weak Water. If unleashed, it could annihilate even the soul of an immortal. But the black water invariably carried the aura of the Yin Nether Sect—impossible to conceal. Therefore, Ji Feichen rarely used it.

The same was true for most thunder spells; using them would give him away at once. After careful consideration, he chose the Gui Water Divine Thunder.

The ten Heavenly Stems—jia, yi, bing, ding, wu, ji, geng, xin, ren, gui—were universally recognized among immortals and demons alike. Spells such as the Yi Wood Divine Thunder or Bing Fire Divine Thunder were commonly used by all. The Gui Water Divine Thunder, representing yin in the five elements, was perfectly suited to Ji Feichen’s needs.

He memorized the incantation for the Gui Water Divine Thunder and also the method for forging thunder beads and talismans.

At last, he returned to his dwelling to cultivate.

In the days that followed, Ji Feichen dedicated himself to cultivation, training in thunder arts and refining his power.

Three months later, his cultivation was stable; his power condensed into ten thousand eight hundred drops of Ming Spirit Poison Water—a true advance into the late stage of Shedding the Mortal, ready to attempt Core Formation.

One day, as he was refining the Gui Water Divine Thunder in his cave, a voice called from the entrance: “Senior Brother Feichen, Master requests your presence.”

He opened the cave’s protective wards to admit a boy of seven or eight in embroidered robes. The boy’s lips were red, his teeth white, his features delicate and refined—the personal attendant of Master Heiliu.

“Master is looking for me? Do you know what it’s about?” Ji Feichen casually offered the boy a few drops of Star Dew.

“There’s an old saying: ‘Even a servant in the prime minister’s household holds rank.’” Having come from Earth, Ji Feichen understood this well. He maintained good relations with Master Heiliu’s attendants, often learning of his master’s intentions in advance.

The boy, delighted by the gift—each drop of Star Dew marked with a starry spirit pattern, brimming with spiritual energy equivalent to a full day’s cultivation—smiled and replied, “It’s nothing special. The old master has a task for you. You’re going down the mountain again, Senior Brother, and you’ll profit handsomely. Don’t forget your little brother when the time comes.”

“Down the mountain?” Ji Feichen mused. Was his master planning some new scheme?

He made his way to Kanming Hall to see Master Heiliu, who, stern-faced, tossed him a crimson-gold talisman and a vine cage. “Go to Black Moon Cave in the southern frontier and bring me back the demon fox there.”

“Ah?” Ji Feichen was taken aback, never having seen his master so urgent.

“Hurry up and go!” Master Heiliu immediately ordered him to leave.

As Ji Feichen descended the mountain, a woman’s voice called out behind him, “Senior Brother, please wait!” Her voice was tender and lingering, as if calling to a distant lover, plaintive and moving, imbued with a charm that made it hard to refuse.

Ji Feichen paused for a moment, then quickly quickened his pace and left without looking back.