Heavenly Wheel Ascension

Zhi Xuan narrowed his eyes. The mention of the Heavenly Sutra fragment triggered a small ripple within the sea of his consciousness. Moreover, he remembered the Great Emperor Zhetian—a figure he had glimpsed briefly before, though only as a majestic vestige upon the lands of Huang Tu.

"So that's it," Zhi Xuan hissed, his head spinning with ancient recollections. He neutralized his expression, fixing a sharp gaze on the blind old man. "Great Emperor Zhetian, a mortal weaver woman who ascended to become an Emperor. So, are you saying that the final records of Zhetian’s ascension to the Upper Realm are stored within the Pavilion of the Heavenly Path?"

The blind old man stopped his rhythmic tapping. The atmosphere inside the teahouse suddenly turned ice-cold, as if the name Zhi Xuan had just uttered carried a weight of natural law too heavy for such a small space. Other practitioners in the corners of the room instinctively held their breath; their ears perked up even as their bodies remained frozen.

"You know more than I imagined, Zhang Shui," the blind man whispered, his cloth-covered face leaning forward until he was only inches from Zhi Xuan. "Correct. Zhetian was not born from the womb of an immortal clan or the golden blood of gods. She was merely a mortal weaver who wove her own destiny from the stars until she stitched the very heavens into her robe."

He took a long breath, the scent of cooling tea mixing with the smell of ancient dust. "Hundreds of thousands of years ago, no one could confirm whether it was true that Great Emperor Zhetian ever set foot on this land. No one lives long enough to prove it. However, the two sects are not just eyeing the earth veins and spiritual springs. They want to confirm if that fragment truly exists there."

The old man pulled out a scroll so ancient and secretive that it seemed to threaten his life just by being opened. He placed it on the table with exaggerated care, as if handling a still-beating heart.

"This... is one of the secrets of how the Pavilion of the Heavenly Path has survived for millennia," the blind man whispered, his voice barely audible. "It is said that even the mere footprints of the Emperor turned the ground she trod upon into sacred land, untainted by time."

Zhi Xuan stared at the worn scroll, his dark sapphire eyes seemingly able to pierce through the layers of yellowed parchment. On his shoulder, Xiao Die fluttered her wings gently, sensing the faint ancient aura radiating from the scroll.

"Only footprints, yet enough to sustain the breath of a sect for thousands of years," Zhi Xuan murmured. He did not touch the scroll immediately. To him, any artifact related to a Great Emperor always carried heavy karma. "If the fragment truly exists, why has the Pavilion of the Heavenly Path regressed to this point? A mere Soul Transformation practitioner was enough to bring their leader to death's door."

The blind man let out a discordant chuckle, a sound like dry branches scraping together in the dead of night. "Because power without lineage is a curse, Zhang Shui. The Pavilion of the Heavenly Path had Divine Transformation experts in its glory days, but whenever they sought to step higher into the Sacred Passage realm, misfortune would strike without a known cause, until their elders gradually flickered out."

"It was as if Heaven itself withdrew its blessing," the blind man continued, his trembling fingers tracing the edges of the scroll. "Every time a genius appeared in that Pavilion, they would vanish or suffer a horrific cultivation deviation. Over time, their grand techniques were lost, leaving only a group of disciples guarding an empty shack, ignorant of what they were truly protecting."

Zhi Xuan remained silent, but his mind was in turmoil. He recalled Ruo Xianxue’s words about how karma serves as a cloak for those at the summit. If the Pavilion of the Heavenly Path truly held a fragment belonging to Great Emperor Zhetian, then their decline was not mere bad luck, but a deliberate suppression by natural laws.

He turned to look at Mu Chen, who stood paralyzed with a pale face. The youth seemed to have just realized that the burden he had been carrying was not just guarding a small sect, but protecting a secret capable of upending the entire floating continent of Cang Hai.

"Mu Chen," Zhi Xuan called out, causing the youth to startle. "How many disciples are left in the Pavilion of the Heavenly Path?"

Mu Chen swallowed hard, his throat feeling as dry as desert sand. He tried to count, but the number was so pathetic he was ashamed to speak it before the man who had just saved his master.

"Only seven people, Senior," Mu Chen answered, his voice nearly drowned out by the wind outside the tavern. "The three you saw earlier, and four others who are female disciples still at the First Ember stage. We... we are the remnants of those who have nowhere else to go."

"Seven people," Zhi Xuan muttered. He then turned back to the blind old man. "This scroll—give it to me. Name your price."

CRASH!

From the entrance of the teahouse, two practitioners with solid Five Elements cultivation emerged, carrying elemental laws that were only midway through enlightenment yet already enough to suppress someone of Mu Chen's Blood Transformation level.

The two practitioners wore moss-green robes embroidered with black bamboo patterns on the chest—the unmistakable hallmark of the Black Bamboo Sect. One of them, a tall man with a thin mustache, looked over the tavern with a gaze full of contempt while his hand rested on the hilt of a sword made from steel-bamboo joints.

"Blind old man, you truly don't know your place," the tall man’s voice boomed, vibrating with sharp wood-element essence. "Selling secrets about the Pavilion of the Heavenly Path in territory we’ve already marked? Have you grown tired of breathing mortal air?"

The blind man did not seem surprised, though his fingers tensed on the scroll. "Guests from the Black Bamboo Sect... this shop is neutral. You are violating the unwritten law of information seekers."

"Law?" The other practitioner, who had a round face covered in scars, laughed mockingly. "The law belongs only to those with sharper swords. And you, Mu Chen, the little rat from the Heavenly Path... so you brought a stranger to buy that piece of junk? Hand over the scroll, or your head will decorate your sect's gate by tomorrow morning!"

Mu Chen trembled violently; the pressure from the two Five Elements practitioners was like a mountain crushing his lungs. He tried to draw a breath, but the spiritual essence around him seemed to have frozen under the enemy's authority.

Zhi Xuan remained sitting calmly, not even glancing at the newcomers. His hand still hovered over the ancient scroll. "I hate it when my conversations are interrupted by the barking of wild dogs," he said flatly. His voice was quiet, yet strangely, it pierced through the elemental pressure released by the two practitioners.

The tall man narrowed his eyes, finally noticing the ordinary-looking man in brown robes. "You... who are you? How dare you speak so insolently before core disciples of the Black Bamboo Sect!"

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"Zhang Shui," Zhi Xuan replied curtly. "And this scroll already belongs to me."

"Yours? In your dreams!" The round-faced man stepped forward, his hand exploding with earth-element aura that transformed into black energy tendrils as sharp as thorns. He swung his energy claw toward the table, intending to seize the scroll and crush Zhi Xuan’s hand in one move.

"You are simply delivering your lives to me before I could come to you," Zhi Xuan murmured calmly. He raised a single finger, and a burst of smoldering reddish light laced with flashes of lightning tore through both Five Elements practitioners.

BOOM!

The two Black Bamboo Sect practitioners didn't even have time to shout a warning. The light pierced their essence shields as if they were nothing more than wet paper. The entrance of the shop was destroyed up to the roof, leaving a gaping hole as the two practitioners slowly disintegrated when Zhi Xuan lowered his finger.

Wood dust and debris from the shattered roof floated in the air, but strangely, not a single speck of dust dared to land on Zhi Xuan’s brown robe. The silence following the explosion was far more terrifying than the sound of destruction itself. On the wooden floor, now riddled with holes, the two practitioners had vanished, leaving only two piles of black ash that still emitted sparks of reddish lightning that slowly flickered out.

The blind old man fell silent, his hands frozen on the table. Though his eyes could not see, his divine sense had just captured a flash of Law so pure it made his soul tremble. "That power... what was that?" he whispered hoarsely. "Not an element, nor a mortal technique. It was a judgment."

Mu Chen fell to his knees, gasping for air. He stared at the spot where the two Five Elements practitioners had stood—men he usually regarded as invincible giants, now erased with a flick of a finger as if they were merely flies bothering someone's meditation.

Zhi Xuan ignored the horror around him. He picked up the ancient scroll with a majestic motion and tucked it into his robe. He moved his fingers, weaving threads of law that mended the shop, restoring it to its original state. Then, he looked at the blind man again.

"So, what is the price for this scroll?" Zhi Xuan asked in a calm voice, as if the scene just now was not worth mentioning.

"P-price?" the blind man’s voice shook. He took a deep breath to steady his nearly shattered soul. He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing. "Young man—no, Senior Zhang... after what I have witnessed, mentioning a price in spiritual stones would be an insult to you."

Zhi Xuan sighed, as if he disliked having too many threads of karma without repayment. He raised his hand, and a Five Elements disc appeared, floating toward the ceiling and enveloping the shop in a revolving formation.

"I do not like being in debt," Zhi Xuan said. He turned and walked toward the door, glancing briefly at the still-kneeling Mu Chen. "Mu Chen, stand up. If you are terrified just by witnessing a killing, then sooner or later, you will be buried alongside your sect mates."

Mu Chen jerked; the reprimand was like a douse of ice water that extinguished his fear while igniting a spark of realization in the depths of his heart. He immediately stood up, though his joints were still stiff, and bowed deeply toward Zhi Xuan’s back. "This disciple accepts Senior's teaching!"

As the shadows of Zhi Xuan and Mu Chen vanished past the doorway, the silence in the shop was broken by a collective gasp, as if everyone in the room had just been allowed to breathe again. The blind man remained frozen, his hands fumbling in the air as if trying to catch the lingering traces of energy left by Zhi Xuan.

"This formation..." the blind man’s voice cracked, and tears began to seep from behind the black cloth covering his eyes. "It is equivalent to the protection of an entire sect. What is that youth's cultivation? To bestow a gift like this is worth hundreds of years of life."

The practitioners in the corners who had been frozen finally began to move. An old man with a rusted sword slung at his waist stood up with trembling knees. He walked toward the spot where the Black Bamboo practitioners had turned to ash.

"Even the dust doesn't dare resist the wind," the swordsman murmured, his voice heavy with profound dread. "What law did he use? I have lived for eighty years and traveled five floating lands, but never have I seen life taken so cleanly. No groans, no lingering resentment in the air. Only... a return to nature."

Meanwhile, outside the tavern, the mountain wind blew harder, carrying the scent of rain that had yet to fall. Zhi Xuan walked with a steady pace, his brown robe fluttering slightly. Behind him, Mu Chen followed with a bowed head, every step now carrying a new weight.

"Senior Zhang," Mu Chen finally mustered the courage to speak once they were far from the information shop. "Those two practitioners... they were core disciples of Du Tianzong. Their deaths will be known immediately through their life tablets at the sect. The Black Bamboo Sect will not remain silent."

Zhi Xuan stopped for a moment, looking toward the mountain peaks shrouded in grey mist. "Let them come," he said without turning. "I don't have the time to knock on their gates one by one. Good fertilizer will always deliver itself to a sturdy tree."

The sentence hung in the thin mountain air, carrying a chill sharper than the ice on the highest peaks. Mu Chen could only remain silent, his skin crawling at how Five Elements practitioners were regarded as nothing more than fertilizer by the man before him.

Zhi Xuan arrived at the steps leading to the Pavilion of the Heavenly Path. He looked up and frowned, seeing a fat man shaped like a water barrel rolling down the stairs. Behind him, disciples of the Pavilion were chasing him with shouts of irritation.

The fat man slid down the steps like a runaway ball of meat, his undersized green robes flapping to reveal a bulging belly. His round face was drenched in sweat, but a lewd grin was still stuck on his lips.

"Ow, ow! My waist!" he yelled while trying to brake his momentum with his hands and feet.

Behind him, two female disciples of the Heavenly Path Pavilion ran down the stairs, their faces flushed red with anger. One held a broom as if it were a legendary sword, while the other threw small stones with a vengeance.

"Duan Niu! You lecherous pig! How dare you spy on us bathing in the back spring!" shouted the girl with the broom, her voice shrill enough to split the mountain silence. "If I don't break your legs today, I'm not a disciple of the Heavenly Path!"

"E-eh, wait a minute, fair maiden!" Duan Niu finally managed to stop just a few steps in front of Zhi Xuan’s feet, panting like an ox that had been plowing all day. "I wasn't spying! I was just... observing the flow of water essence in the spring to help your cultivation! It's research, for Heaven's sake!"

"Research my foot!" the other girl snapped, throwing a pebble that hit Duan Niu square on his broad forehead. "You even brought a light-reflecting mirror! Don't you run, you fat pig!"

Mu Chen, standing beside Zhi Xuan, stepped forward with a face full of immense embarrassment. He massaged his temples, wishing he could vanish on the spot.

"Duan Niu... you did it again?" Mu Chen hissed, his voice thick with frustration.

Duan Niu looked up, his small, squinty eyes blinking as he saw Mu Chen. His gaze then shifted to the foreign figure in brown robes standing like a pillar of heaven beside him. Instantly, the goofy smile faded, replaced by a suspicious scowl.

"Mu Chen, who is this guy?" Duan Niu asked, struggling to stand up while patting the dust off his massive belly. "This man's aura... is very bland. Did you pick up another wanderer to fill a vacant seat in this rickety shack?"

Zhi Xuan merely looked at the fat man with a flat gaze, but inwardly, he was slightly surprised. Despite Duan Niu's messy appearance and disgusting behavior, Zhi Xuan could feel a very stable flow of essence within the man's frame—a foundation far sturdier than those of the practitioners in the market.

"Senior Zhang," Mu Chen bowed slightly toward Zhi Xuan, trying to explain in a low tone so the girls wouldn't overhear. "This man is Duan Niu. He... he is a rogue practitioner who, for some reason, has been hanging around our pavilion for the past few years."

Mu Chen took a long breath. "Even though his behavior is revolting and he often peeps on our fellow disciples, when the Black Bamboo Sect attacked last year, he was the one who stood at the front gate and held off three of their elders until Master could activate the formation. He's... strange, but he's the only outsider who occasionally protects us."

"Protect?" Duan Niu snorted, resuming his faked arrogant expression. "I don't protect you! I just don't like it when the beautiful view at the back spring is ruined by those smelly black bamboos! Besides, who's going to give me food if you all become mine slaves?"

The two female disciples caught up to them, their breathing heavy. Upon seeing Zhi Xuan, they froze for a moment, captivated by the aura of tranquility radiating from him.

"Brother Mu Chen... who is he?" asked the girl with the broom, her voice suddenly dropping, her face—once red from anger—now slightly blushing from shyness.

"This is Senior Zhang Shui," Mu Chen answered firmly. "He just saved Master's life and is now our Shadow Elder."