Chapter 1

Evernorth Lu Region.

Scattered white snow swirled with cold winds, leaving the world in a boundless haze.

Suddenly, the plain yet desolate toll of a bell rang out, a sound that seemed to come from high in the clouds, heavy and ancient as it echoed across the north.

At the same !time, in the depths of the Lakhfrig Mountains, many figures shot towards the sky on flying swords, while in a desert millions lof miles away, a youngster slowly opened his eyes……

**

Miniwest Lu Region, a land almost completely covered by the yellow sands of the Gobi, was situated in the southwest of the Sept-Frag World. To its north, there was a large city which saw 20 hours of sunlight a day, and thus, was christened as Megasun City. i Although this city was located next to the borderlands, many shops existed within its walls. It had numerous cultivators and was a flourishing, bustling place.

Twenty kilometers away from the city was Minisun Town. Currently outside the town gates, a crowd of villagers gathered around, everyone giving their two-cents as they chitter-chattered like a hyperactive nest of chicks.

“Did you hear? That bell in Frostcloud Sect rang!”

“You’re talking about the Jadecloud Bell, right? The divine artifact that legendary Daoist-Master Jing Yuan restored?”

“Yes! That Jadecloud Bell. I heard it weighs as much as nine giant whales, not only able to divine fortunes and misfortunes, but also predict fate. A pity that when Daoist-Master Jing Yuan passed away a hundred centuries ago, the Jadecloud lBell followed him into slumber. But a month ago, it tolled again! Right now, the cultivators in the city are all discussing this matter.”

One person asked with trepidation, “It can’t be…that Daoist-Master Jing Yuan came back to life?”

The surrounding area abruptly became quiet.

“How’s that possible?” Seeing a group of men honestly rack their brains thinking about this question, a large-mouthed village woman rolled her eyes towards the heavens. “I also know about that Daoist-Master Jing Yuan you’re talking about. He was struck by Ninth-Heaven tribulation lightning a hundred centuries ago, went boom bam pop, and didn’t even leave a skeleton behind. Coming back to life? Pshaw!”

That village woman then popped a fava bean into her mouth, loud crunching noises crackling as she chewed that crispy, stir-fried bean. In concert with her what she had said, this made all the men inexplicably feel a bit chilly.

The person earlier wasn't convinced and countered, "Mortals like you and I, we don't understand the abilities of the immortals. My guess is that he came back to life!"

This uncle, you hit the bullseye. A youngster not far away quietly gave him a thumbs-up.

This boy was around 10 years old, had pretty and deli cate features, skin white as alabaster, and a pair of particularly quick-witted eyes with large, black pupils. He appeared innocent and pure, as if a rich family's young master, yet he was shoddily dressed and his ap pearance strange-black hair carelessly bunched to gether and barely wearing any clothes from head to toe, only a wolf pelt wrapped around his waist.

He grasped a dead desert wolf in one hand, which at tracted everyone's curious scrutiny. Seeing how the wolf's corpse dragged on the ground without any dig nity, it was hard to believe that this was once a level-1 fero-beast.

Right now, that youngster looked calm, but since much earlier, raging waves and storms rampaged inside his heart. When he woke !up, he didn’t lunderstand how the snowy plains turned into a desert, and now, a hundred centuries had passed? And he became a “legendary”existence?

Yes, this youngster was precisely the main focus of the gossip, Daoist-Master Jing Yuan; he really came back to life!

That year, while mending his cultivation technique at a secret domicile in the Ninefract Snow Mountains, he unexpectedly evoked his lightning tribulation, and with zero preparation, was smote into dust.

He should have vanished into oblivion, but his soulmind was absorbed into a blue jade shaped like a phoenix, something he found in the Mesoprimal Cryptospace[1]. The jade preserved a thread of pure-qi dating back to the creation of the world inside it, and with that pure-qi as nourishment, his riddled-with-holes, heavily damaged soulmind was able to mend. Then one day out the blue, his consciousness returned again.

He remembered !he was called Jing Yue and initially, an extremely ordinary shepherd boy. The year he was 10, he obtained a set of cultivation techniques by chance, and from then on, stepped onto the path of pursing the greater Dao. A thousand years later, Jing Yue became the cultivation world’s famous Daoist Jing Yuan, established jFrostcloud Sect, and gathered countless disciples and grand-disciples under its name.

While he had recalled the past, the blue jade physically morphed into a boy of around 10 years old, and it was then that Jing Yuan was reborn.

Step by step, he walked out of the desert, came to Minisun Town, and heard gossip that made him shiver, his heart a mess with all that had changed.

Jing Yue urgently wanted to go into town and ask, Just what happened these hundred centuries? He went past the crowd, arrived at the town gates, and inquired, “Mister Guard, how much does it cost to enter?”

“One tael of silver.” Seeing the youngster’s cute and fair as snow looks, the guard’s attitude became more amicable as he faintly smiled. Then, he noticed that the boy was dressed like someone who had come from the desert. However, the astral-winds there were difficult to withstand even for level-8 or level-9 Body Forging adults, so how could someone this young endure? Also, what’s the deal with that desert wolf?

“I don’t have money and need to sell this wolf first,” Jing Yue boldly replied with confidence, clearly not embarrassed in the least.

What the guard perceived as fierce, desert wolves were merely en route rations for Jing Yue. He’d eatisome wolf meat when hungry and drink some wolf blood when thirsty, to the extent that later, the wolves would flee with their tails between their legs as soon as they saw him. Only with great difficulty did he capture this not-so-smart one which he intended to sell.

The reason why he didn’t fear the desert’s astral-winds or level-1 fero-beasts was because the blue jade had, unexpectedly, transformed into the rarely seen Omnispirit Body. That meant all his acupoints were open from the start, letting him directly skip past the Body Forging stage.

Dragging the wolf‘s corpse, Jing Yue turned around and walked towards the marketplace he had just passed.

Although called a marketplace, it was merely ten-some mat-stalls[2] peddling wares on the ground. Most of the sellers were nearby villagers with no money to enter a proper city, but still wanted to earn some money. So, they came to this relatively populous Minisun Town and set up stalls outside its gates.

Jing Yue wasn’t in a hurry to sell. First, he freely strolled around and saw that people mostly sold plants and herbs, with some also offering the hides or furs that they cured themselves.

Suddenly, Jing Yue halted, noticing an unusual vendor. That was an old man with grizzled hair who wore simple but very clean clothes, which made him conspicuously stand out from the surrounding villagers.

With one look, Jing Yue saw through the other’s level-2 Qi Condensation cultivation. Normally speaking, it was impossible for a lower-leveled cultivator to determine a more powerful one’s strength, but despite Jing Yue going through a rebirth, he still retained his former Tribulation Passage spirit-sense. Only, his physical body wasn’t able to keep up, and thus, temporarily unable to use it at full jpower.

He couldn’t help but inwardly doubt, If a person like this old man wanted to make money, he should at least do so inside Minisun Town. Why was he crammed out here with normal villagers?

The old man’s mat-stall was laid out very neatly, with the plants separately placed according to their types.

Eh? Wasn’t that the main herb needed for Foundation Establishment Pills? Pitifully laid out on the ground to sell, just like this? And so many of them? Was this his chance to steal a bargain?

The old man sensed Jing Yue’s gaze and introduced, “This is Aquafragant Flower. It can alleviate fevers, detoxify poisons, reduce swelling, and relieve pain.”

Feigning nonchalance, iJing Yue asked, “How much?”

“Ten coppers a stalk.”

“……“

So cheap! When he was stillla rogue cultivator, he also sold this herb due to the pressuring circumstances of life. In his memory, Aquafragrant Flowers sold for 100 spirit-stones a stalk, and with that as comparison, Jing Yue suddenly felt his conscience itwinge with guilt.

One should know, 10,000 taels of gold was only worth a few pieces of spirit-stones, that’s all.

“Little brother, are you buying?” Seeing the boy’s absentminded expression, the old man repeated his question, this time somewhat impatiently.

“I’m buying.” But he was penniless. “Can I use this wolf to trade?”

Just as the old man was about to reply, a fat, panting, middle-aged woman ran this way and howled at the top of her lungs, “Not good! Old man Liu, your family’s Little Pebble and the the village chief’s grandson started fighting!”

“What?!”

The old man abandoned his wares and ran off, disappearing in a flash and leaving behind only a light breeze with a wisp of medicine. For a while, Jing Yue stood rooted in place as he inwardly wondered, Does that guy still want this stall or not?

After the sun dipped towards the horizon, Jing Yue finally saw the old man’s figure again.

The iothers who set up stalls outside Minisun Town had long left. Originally, Old man Liu’s face was full of bitterness, but when he saw his own mat, just in a different location, along with the youngster he met today keeping watch next to it, his bitterness morphed into disbelief, followed by pleasant surprise.

Clearly, hejdidn’t harbor much hope in getting his things back and only came to test ihis luck.

And his luck wasn’t bad.

Just then, the youngster enveloped under the golden light of the setting sun called out very familiarly, “You’re back?”

“Yes……” Old man Liu looked down at his mat-stall and surprise flashed across his eyes; the sackcloth was completely bare. Where were the herbs? It couldn’t be that this youngster took them?

As soon as this thought crossed his mind, Old man Liu instantly felt ashamed, somewhat unable to look the boy in the eye.

Jing Yue, who had an overpowered spirit-sense, could naturally sense this. In direct response, he picked up the bamboo basket on the ground. With copper coins piled up inside, it made clink-clink-chink noises with his every move.

“Your money, no need to go suspecting everything. I sold all the herbs for you, a total of 2620 coppers.”

“……“

Old man Liu felt even more ashamed now.

His eyes traveled from the sackcloth mat, to Jing Yue, then finally to the bamboo basket, utterly unable to comprehend. How did the boy accomplish this?

He really wanted to consult the other on this matter, but after meeting those clear, star-bright eyes, he ended up not saying anything.

It’s probably the face, right? he reckoned.

As if guessing his thoughts, the youngster explained, “I tapped my fingers and divined. Today mainly favors the east, so I moved the stall’s location.” He then sighed, “Alpity I’m not very isuited to doing business, so even with monopolizing a good feng shui spot, I could only earn jso little.”

Jing Yue’s tone held regret, as when he discovered that Aquafragrant flowers were sold everywhere, he had no choice but to give up lhis plan of bargain hunting. Who would have thought that a hundred centuries later, the price of an formerly expensive herb would actually fall through the floorboards. Now, not only was it abundant in quantity, but more importantly, people didn’t seem to know of its uses?

Could it be that some cultivation knowledge and legacies have become lost?

Old man Liu threw the youngster a complicated look. If this still wasn't considered suited........

Heart filled with admiration, he hesitantly offered, "Really, thank you very much. I heard that you wanted to enter the town today. How about, you take 1000 of the coppers? Can be exchanged for exactly 1 tael of silver."

As someone with an honest conduct, Old man Liu was increasingly more ashamed now, feeling that he was taking advantage of a child. The other helped to guard his stall and sell his herbs, yet he still had the nerve to take the bigger cut? But it couldn't be helped; he des perately needed money.

Jing Yue pondered for a bit. With one tael of silver, after entering the gates, he wouldn't have money to stay at an inn. Therefore, he refused. "No need for money."

"Don't be modest, I-"

Jing Yue interrupted, "I want to borrow a place to to sleep."

Old man Liu blinked.

"I don't want to sleep outside again."

He wanted to cultivate, wanted to find a quiet and safe location to guide qi into his body.

Jing Yue was a person who did as he pleased. After he cultivated to some success in his last life, he always did whatever he wanted and spoke in a straightforward manner as well. Even facing someone at the second level of Qi Condensation with his present self, he didn't feel the need to beat around the bush.

"This......" He really wasn't being modest, huh, Old man Liu inwardly muttered, appearing a little hesitant.

worry, I promise I won't cause you any trouble. "Don't worry, I promise I won't cause you any trouble. If not," Jing Yue knit his brows, recalled what he believed to be the most vicious oath in this world, and pledged, "if not, then let Heavenly Lightning smite me."

Rumble---

As soon as those words came out, muffled thunder rolled across the sky. The two of them simultaneously looked up, then silently met each other’s eyes.

The world was quiet, sans the the remnants of fading thunder.

Author’s notes:

This novel’s level setting:

Body Forging – Qi Condensation – Foundation Establishment – Golden Core – Amethyst Aula[3] – Heaven Locus[4] – Ad Void[5] – Tribulation Passage

***

[1]: 秘境, a pocket dimension cultivators can go into to hunt for treasure. I think the common translation is “secret realm” but this is fantasy and I’m not 100% satisfied w/ that + wanted a one-word translation so I went with cryptospace

[2]: 地摊, a street “stall” that pretty much involves putting a blanket on the ground w/ the stuff you’re selling on it, and that’s it. But seriously, if you know the official term for this, please tell me.

[3]: 紫府, it’s some inner palace that houses your mind/soul located between your eyes-ish (I think?) and also one of the levels of heaven in Daosim, so you tell me how to translate this rip. Aula is sort-of latin for palace and also some part of the brain, so that’s why I chose it

[4]: 洞天, means paradise, locus is latin for location

[5]: 返虚, means returning to the void/emptiness, and ad is again latin do you see a pattern here