Chapter 560: A Different Kind of Broken Engagement
The old man considered this flame to be extraordinarily precious. He had sought out this strange flame from the miasmic lands in the extreme south of the continent, where it was rumored that the ancient divine beast, the Vermilion Bird, had once left its subterranean aura, thereby leaving behind a cluster of strange flame.
The shadow flickered, and there seemed to be invisible ripples of power subtly influencing the old man. Unable to help himself, he spoke his innermost thoughts aloud.
“My strength is merely at the Qi King realm. Without top-grade pills, I fear I have no hope of reaching Qi Emperor in this lifetime. But this time, with this high-grade Earth-tier strange flame, the Vermilion Bird Flame of Southern Li, plus the three high-grade, five-thousand-year-old Ethereal Flower petals gifted by the Tuoba family to use as a medicinal catalyst, there’s a very good chance of successfully refining the True Emperor Pill.
“It’s just that I am over three hundred years old, and my soul power is waning. This is a major hidden danger.
“There are three treasures in pill refinement: the first is fire, the second is materials, and the third is the soul. I now have good fire and good materials, but my own soul power is insufficient. It’s like a child trying to push a large cart; problems are bound to occur.”
The old man gritted his teeth, finally making up his mind. He walked into the treasure room within his cave dwelling and took out a round, reddish-orange pill with faint blood-like streaks, cradling it in his palm.
His shadow had quietly stood up, simply crouching silently on his back, yet the old man noticed nothing.
“A Tier 6 pill, the Soul-Fortifying Pill. My friend Hanchan Yexiao obtained it by chance from the Sky-Rending Ruins. There is no prescription for it, but according to ancient texts, this kind of pill can greatly enhance soul power and the Qi Cyclone in a short period. However, it comes with irreparable flaws.”
He hesitated back and forth before finally walking over to the alchemy furnace. Steeling his heart, he swallowed the pill. His soul power and Qi Cyclone suddenly surged wildly, and his nostrils began to bleed.
“I don’t care anymore. There won’t be another chance. I am already over three hundred years old. If I don’t break through now, I’ll likely turn to dust in a hundred years at most. When it’s time to gamble, one must gamble!”
The Vermilion Bird Flame of Southern Li suddenly flared up from a small sprout, engulfing the entire alchemy furnace, before slowly weakening into a gentle, simmering fire.
Blood also began to trickle from the old man’s ears. He trembled all over, looking extremely uncomfortable.
The shadow remained crouched on his back, quietly observing everything. The old man seemed to be trying his utmost to control it, but his soul power seemed to have become too strong. With a loud bang, the Vermilion Bird Flame of Southern Li actually exploded, not only shattering the alchemy furnace to pieces but also plunging the old man into complete despair.
He lay stiffly on the ground, bleeding from his seven orifices, not far from death.
Only then did Ace reveal his figure. He said in a low voice:
“I merely used your shadow to infiltrate. You brought all of this upon yourself. You wanted to gamble with your life without understanding the true efficacy of the pill you consumed. Soul power that is too explosive simply cannot be meticulously manipulated, and this pill is not suitable as a reinforcing auxiliary pill during alchemy.
“You weren’t gambling; you committed suicide.”
The old man stared fixedly at the suddenly appearing Ace, his eyes wide and bulging. Ultimately, he died without saying a word.
Ace paced around the room a few times, turning the old man’s corpse to ashes, and murmured, “The Qi Cyclone cultivation method of this world is quite unique. The known Heaven-tier cultivation methods lead straight to Qi Ancestor, which is Level 3. However, I can also faintly sense Level 4 existences in this world, which means there is a high probability one can cultivate to Level 4. This is indeed a unique Great Dao, and it can just help me deduce the path of Blood Essence and Heart Fire.
“It’s just that the alchemy they take so much pride in is too crude. Even wizard apprentices probably wouldn’t think much of it. Everything is just empirical summaries, with very little research-based innovation.
“What is the elemental composition of the pills? What kind of elemental reactions occur? When should supernatural memes be injected? What are the methods for optimization?
“All of this requires wizards to bring about a revolution.”
Ace pushed open the doors of the cave dwelling, his eyes bright and piercing. He had already assumed the old man’s appearance and attire. Familiar with the way, he walked towards Goddess Peak, where the Sect Master resided. Throughout history, all Sect Masters of the Tianlan Sect had been women. For nearly thirty thousand years, the sect had not produced another Qi Ancestor powerhouse; the last one was their Supreme Sect Master.
The old man was an executive elder of the Tianlan Sect. After being announced, he met with the Sect Master, Feng Huayu, without any hitch. She was a woman of outstanding grace, appearing to be around thirty years old, but in reality, she had lived for nearly a thousand years. She was a Qi Emperor powerhouse, though regrettably, her lifespan was nearing its end.
“Elder Longming, weren’t you recently refining the True Emperor Pill in secluded cultivation? Have you already achieved results?”
The current Sect Master, Feng Huayu, asked with a smile.
Ace bowed slightly and said in a low voice, “I indeed have results and was just about to report to the Sect Master. However, I must ask you to dismiss your attendants.”
Feng Huayu didn’t suspect him. She clapped her hands, dismissing the female disciples standing by, and then said, “You are still as cautious as ever. Go ahead, what did you discover?”
At this moment, Ace’s eyes flickered with multicolored light, and the dream mist instantly spread. With just a single look, he seized Feng Huayu’s mind. Without dawdling, Ace cut straight to the chase and extracted the entire contents of the Tianlan Sect’s Heaven-tier cultivation method, the Lan Heart Heaven-Controlling Art, as well as the secrets of the Divine Lan Combat Technique, from Feng Huayu.
“As expected, the Sect Master doesn’t possess the general principles. There’s no general principle for the cultivation method, nor for the combat technique. Although if given some time, it wouldn’t be impossible for me to deduce them, it’s just too troublesome.”
Ace directly snapped Feng Huayu’s neck, reverted to his true form, and abruptly appeared at the top of the mountain-guarding grand formation. He held high a Star Noble Phantasm—it was precisely the phantom of the Demi-god Noble Phantasm projected over.
The scorching star instantly descended like the end of the world, turning the entire Tianlan Sect into a expanse of ruins. Nearly ninety percent of the sect’s disciples died instantly, and most of the survivors were severely injured.
The Supreme Sect Master of the Tianlan Sect, Situ Xiu, abruptly flew out from the ruins, wielding the Lan Heart Sword and charging towards Ace to kill him.
“What kind of demonic villain dares to infiltrate my mountain gate and destroy the four hundred thousand year foundation of my Tianlan Sect!”
Ace easily dodged the sword qi slashed by the opponent and said mildly, “I promised someone to come here and fetch a treasure.”
Qi Ancestor Situ Xiu burned with fury and shouted loudly, “What treasure are you fetching? Had you spoken plainly, my sect might not have refused. Destroying my mountain gate—this is the act of a bandit.”
As she spoke, she recklessly unleashed slashes of sword qi. Ace just stood there quietly, unmoving. The sword qi inexplicably vanished beside him, and in the blink of an eye, appeared in Situ Xiu’s blind spots using inconceivable methods, leaving her battered and exhausted.
Situ Xiu had lived for nearly two hundred thousand years and was a veteran Qi Ancestor who had experienced countless major battles. Yet at this moment, she was at a total loss. Although she had seen a maverick who claimed to be able to “return an attack with an attack,” that Qi Ancestor could only use a miraculous Qi Cyclone to catch others’ moves, spin them around, and return them.
A situation like this, where attacks abruptly disappeared and abruptly reappeared, was simply something she had never seen or heard of before.
Situ Xiu felt this was incredibly tricky. The stronger her moves, the more inconceivably they would be returned to her. She suddenly didn’t dare to use many of her ultimate moves. She could only maintain a vigilant stalemate and asked cautiously, “Does Your Excellency have any ties with the Qi Ancestor from a hundred thousand years ago known for returning attacks, Tianmu Shenxue? I had a personal friendship with Qi Ancestor Tianmu. Perhaps this is all a misunderstanding.”
It wasn’t impossible to rebuild the sect after it was destroyed. As long as she wasn’t dead, in another thousand years, a brand new Tianlan Sect would be born.
Ace smiled faintly. What he used was a combination of the Gravity Distortion Technique and the Gravitational Lines of Force Jump Technique. If space were compared to a piece of paper, a high-mass object would form a gravity well, just like placing a heavy object on the paper, effectively distorting the “paper” of space.
Through this method, it was possible to fold space along certain curved paths, thereby achieving faster-than-light jumps. This was different from the spatial magic that Ace could currently use but not comprehend; this was a great magic completely based on existing magical theories.
In fact, spatial magic might share similarities with this magic that distorted and folded space. Ace had compared the representations of many runes, and there were indeed some resemblances, but also many differences.
Without going into the specific details, this method of distorting space relying on hypergravity could indeed achieve miraculous spatial jumps. Not only that, but it could even form super-strong gravity in a short period to completely distort and crush the opponent to death.
Ace wasn’t in a hurry to use lethal magic. He hadn’t obtained the general principles yet. The dream mist was still spreading, waiting for the moment to pull the opponent into a dream.
“I know nothing of Qi Ancestor Tianmu. I am merely entrusted by someone, and I am fulfilling that trust.”
After speaking, Ace demonstrated his strength. A massive amount of mana was injected, constructing a small gravitational binding field near Situ Xiu. In an instant, Situ Xiu was immobilized, her expression one of great shock.
Intimidated by Ace’s power, Situ Xiu couldn’t help but ask, “What were you entrusted with?”
Ace said, “Very simple. I need the general principles of the Lan Heart Heaven-Controlling Art and the Divine Lan Combat Technique!”
His voice, mixed with the dream mist, instantly shocked Situ Xiu’s mind when she was unsettled and powerless to resist. Situ Xiu fell into a dream and involuntarily revealed the contents of the general principles.
In the ruins of the Tianlan Sect’s mountain gate, seeing their Supreme Sect Master bound and unable to move, the survivors who could still crawl were frightened out of their wits. They struggled to crawl out of the former holy land, which was now a flaming hell on earth.
“The Tianlan Sect is doomed. A sect with a history of four hundred thousand years, destroyed in a single day!”
“Stop sighing and hurry up and run. We are just ants; the big shot might not even notice us.”
“We’re dead. This is definitely an exceptionally powerful hostile faction. We’re all dead.”
“Whether you die or not isn’t up to you. Flee with all your might, and even if you die, you’ll have no regrets!”
…
Some disciples with fragile minds directly smashed their heads and killed themselves. Some were very unyielding and actually tried to launch a suicide charge at Ace, only to be instantly crushed by the distorted gravity. More people fled frantically. Ace didn’t pay them any mind. His vow was not to kill everyone in the Tianlan Sect, but to ensure that Ming Yan, who obtained the Heaven-tier cultivation method, would have a chance to grow.
After confirming the correctness of the general principles, Ace blew gently. Situ Xiu was instantly frozen solid, and then, with a bang, turned into specks of starlight and dissipated into nothingness.
“Since I have the item in hand, there’s no need for this place to exist anymore. The war between worlds has already begun at this moment.”
Flames containing the solar First Flame descended from the sky, turning the entire Tianlan Sect into an ocean of fire. This flame was so strange that if people who cultivated Qi Cyclones saw it in normal times, they would probably treat it as a source of strange flame.
…
Guangding City, the Ming Family.
A month had passed since Ming Yan broke free from Ace. In just a short month, he had advanced from the 3rd Stage of Qi Power to the 7th Stage. The speed was simply unbelievable.
Ming Yan’s strange issue of leaking Qi Power was finally mysteriously resolved. The people who used to mock him the fiercest now became the ones trying hardest to curry favor with him. Female peers from distant branches of the family, like Ming Mou and Ming Yue, who once looked down on him, were now incredibly passionate towards him.
Having experienced great ups and downs in life, although Ming Yan was still a youth, his understanding of the ways of the world had greatly improved. He no longer bothered dealing with his clan members but wholeheartedly focused on improving his strength.
“Strength is the root of everything. My Ming family’s ancestral cultivation method allows one to cultivate up to the Grand Qi Master realm. As long as I work hard, once I become a Qi Master, I will travel the entire continent. There must be a way to obtain better cultivation methods. As for interpersonal relationships, heh, with strength, they naturally attach themselves to me, and similarly strong people will show goodwill. If one lacks strength, even begging every day is useless.”
Thinking of this, Ming Yan’s movements became even swifter. His younger brother, Ming Zhu, saw this and smiled gratifyingly.
“Brother has finally pulled himself together again. I must also continue working hard so I won’t be easily surpassed. The Twin Heroes of the Ming Family of Guangding City—this title sounds pretty good. I’ll have Old Fang stir up some public opinion in the city and make up some nursery rhymes. When it comes to building momentum, Brother is still far behind me.”
Just at this moment, a team of fierce cavalry entered Guangding City. Their speed was unhurried, escorting a luxurious, almost extravagant carriage in the middle, slowly approaching the Ming family mansion.
Half an hour later, Ming Yan’s father, Ming Zhan, sent a servant to notify Ming Yan to go to the main hall.
“Eldest Young Master, I heard a distinguished guest has arrived. Moreover, the Master seems very unhappy, so please be prepared.”
Not understanding the situation, Ming Yan followed the old servant to the main hall. He knocked respectfully on the door, and only after hearing his father call out “Come in” loudly did he gently push the door open and enter.
His father, Ming Zhan, sat in the main seat. To his right was a beautiful young girl with bright eyes and white teeth, skin like creamy jade, and an exquisitely beautiful face. The girl’s attire was extremely gorgeous, and there was a haughty air about her features. Seeing Ming Yan enter, her pretty eyes seemed to faintly contain anger that she was trying hard to suppress.
To Ming Zhan’s left were three clan elders. All of them were Nine-Star Qi Masters, their strength quite formidable.
A person stood behind the young girl. He was very burly, with bulging temples and an intimidating aura, looking like someone not to be trifled with.
Ming Yan walked slowly, respectfully greeting his father and the clan elders. To his surprise, his father, Ming Zhan, slammed the table angrily and shouted, “You rebellious son, kneel down immediately!”
Ming Yan didn’t understand why, but it was inconvenient to disobey his father in front of everyone. He slowly knelt and said calmly, “Father, please forgive your son for his rudeness. I do not know when I provoked such great anger from you.”
Fuming with anger, Ming Zhan was just about to speak when the young girl suddenly stood up. Stepping in her brand-new, small leather boots with white edges and black soles, she walked tap-tap in front of Ming Yan. Bowing slightly to Ming Zhan, she said, “Uncle Ming, please let me speak for myself.”
Then the girl crouched down, staring at Ming Yan. The anger in her eyes almost spurted out as she suppressed it and asked calmly, “Do you know who I am?”
Ming Yan stared closely at the girl. Her appearance was indeed exceptionally exquisite, her figure perfect. She looked somewhat haughty, yet still made one feel she was adorable. However, he genuinely didn’t know her and said firmly, “I don’t know you.”
The girl’s anger seemed to be ignited. She stood up and said furiously, “You haven’t even met me, so on what basis did you write a letter breaking off the engagement? Am I, Tuoba Yanran, really so unbearable? Am I that easy to insult?”
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