Heavenly Wheel Ascension

Zhi Xuan emerged from the shadows of the ancient trees, stepping calmly toward the center of the crater. His boots trod upon the remains of grey robes that were now nothing more than worn, ownerless rags. He gazed at the figure of His Majesty, sensing their soul connection, which was now far denser and heavier.

"The second pillar," Zhi Xuan murmured, his eyes fixed on the mark on His Majesty’s forehead. "Incredible. Five Weaver Transformation experts did not leave a single drop of blood for this soil, exactly as I intended."

His Majesty slowly turned his head. His bi-colored eyes stared at Zhi Xuan with a depth capable of making an ordinary practitioner lose their sanity. No words escaped his pale lips, but a vibration of thought rippled into Zhi Xuan’s consciousness—a sensation of a thirst recently quenched, yet simultaneously a warning of a power becoming increasingly difficult to contain.

His Majesty looked forward again, raising his right hand and staring at his own palm, which still radiated remnants of a purple aura. With a swift motion, he punched the air in front of him; space cracked slowly and tore open into the void of the Great Constellation. His Majesty stepped through and vanished behind the closing rift.

Zhi Xuan stood frozen for a moment, letting the silence of the Forest Spirit Land creep back around him. However, the silence this time was different; the forest seemed to be holding its breath, bowing in deep fear toward the lingering remnants of the Ancient Devil's authority. He flicked his sleeve, erasing the traces of energy that might still glow above the sunken earth.

He closed his eyes, allowing his senses to expand to the northern limits of the forest. There was no longer any threatening presence of life. Those little rats had become fertilizer for the second pillar, and the karmic trace that should have attached to the killer of Ancient Clan members had been swallowed entirely by His Majesty’s void. To the outside world, those five Weavers had simply evaporated from history.

"Oh? Night-Petal Root Fruit?" Zhi Xuan muttered, sensing something in the distance. "Here... spiritual fruits like this often appear in places filled with death."

Zhi Xuan shot off like a shadow cutting through the mist, moving toward the heart of a hidden valley behind a row of dead trees. There, atop a blackened boulder covered in poisonous moss, a climbing plant with silvery-purple tendrils was tightly coiled. In its center hung two fairly large fruits.

The Night-Petal Root Fruit was heart-shaped and dark purple, with skin resembling snake scales. "Larger than what I obtained back then when forming the Nirvana puppets," Zhi Xuan whispered.

"Look around you, boy," Ruo Xianxue said suddenly from his sea of consciousness. "Each tree here contains the corpse of a practitioner swallowed by the Forest Spirit Land's vegetation. Take them; I can see at least a few Soul Transformation bodies that have been settling in this vegetation for hundreds of years."

Zhi Xuan swept his gaze across the silent valley. The Great Saint was right; behind the shriveled bark and hanging vines that looked like nooses, awkward protrusions resembling human silhouettes were visible. These ancient trees were not mere vegetation, but living wooden coffins, sucking the remaining essence from the unfortunate practitioners who had lost their way.

"Shen Ruolan did not lie, it seems—truly predatory vegetation," Zhi Xuan muttered. "However, only two Night-Petal Root Fruits have appeared here. I will only need two practitioner bodies."

Zhi Xuan moved his finger, summoning the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk. The disk glowed, emitting a spiritual wave that swept his surroundings. Zhi Xuan hovered in the air, clasping his hands, and in a single breath, the trees around him peeled away under the pressure of the Six Paths, the wood melting away within dozens of zhang.

At least dozens of bodies fell simultaneously with a haunting thud to the ground. The falling corpses looked like dried wax statues, their skin a withered grey with robes that had merged with the wood fibers. All of them had completely lost their souls and consciousness, leaving only perfect, empty vessels.

"What a waste, cultivating only to be swallowed by a tree," Zhi Xuan muttered as he retracted his disk. "Pathetic."

Zhi Xuan landed amidst the expanse of stiff bodies. His eyes swept coldly and stopped in front of two bodies wearing the remnants of robes that looked like those of a sect's disciples, both possessed frames that remained sturdy despite being drained for centuries.

"These two are good enough." Zhi Xuan waved his hand, bringing forth the divine cauldron. "As for the others, I will store them inside the cauldron first."

The resonance from the bronze cauldron vibrated, creating a suction that swallowed the dozens of dry bodies into the vacuum within. Zhi Xuan then focused his attention on the two chosen bodies now hovering before him. He returned the cauldron and instead brought out the Ruthless Heavenly Banner.

The banner hovered in the air, and Zhi Xuan immediately sat cross-legged. He moved his fingers, plucking the two Night-Petal Root Fruits, which immediately floated in front of each corpse. Zhi Xuan formed a mudra; the imagery of the demon warrior chamber within the Ruthless Heavenly Banner rippled, emitting a thick aura of slaughter.

Zhi Xuan sharpened his Divine Sense, piercing the grey cloth of the banner and catching the two densest clumps of demon soldiers. "You shall have new vessels."

Two clumps of pitch-black smoke shot out from the tears in the Ruthless Heavenly Banner, letting out silent shrieks that could shake the soul of anyone who heard them. The spirits of the demon warriors writhed greedily, sensing the empty bodies waiting to be inhabited.

Zhi Xuan did not let them act wildly. He struck his hand against the ground, triggering lines of golden characters to lock the space around the two corpses. "Enter!" he commanded coldly.

The two spirits dove sharply, possessing the dry bodies through their ears and noses. Instantly, the previously stiff bodies began to shake violently. The sound of bones shifting and joints stretching was sickening in the silence of the valley.

Zhi Xuan wasted no time. He snapped his fingers, causing the two Night-Petal Root Fruits to explode into an emerald-colored liquid mist. The liquid enveloped the two bodies, seeping through the shriveled skin and filling the void of muscles that had long since withered.

"Nirvana, give these bodies a name that death will never forget." Zhi Xuan flicked his fingers, and two droplets of his own blood shot toward the foreheads of the two bodies.

The blood soaked into their foreheads, creating a mark shaped like a glowing red line resembling burning embers. Instantly, the tremors in the bodies stopped. The resulting silence was no longer the silence of a corpse, but the quiet of a newly sharpened weapon.

Slowly, the eyelids of the two bodies opened. Their pupils glowed with slowly rotating Nirvana runes. Their skin, once grey and wrinkled, tightened and turned as hard as black steel. Theua two figures rose with synchronized movements—stiff, yet containing a terrifying explosive power.

"Perfect," Zhi Xuan said. He waved his hand and brought out one more puppet king from the banner. "Three Yama Kings in my hand. Northern Yama, Western Yama, Eastern Yama."

The three figures stood motionless before Zhi Xuan. The cold aura emanating from their bodies caused the dew on the surrounding leaves to freeze instantly. The two new puppets created from the vegetation of the Forest Spirit Land, together with the puppet king that had long inhabited the Ruthless Heavenly Banner, now formed a triangular formation that locked the airflow in the valley.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Zhunnath... Xi'wàngmang... Rhun'veth... Naum'worr..." Zhi Xuan formed a Taiji mudra, creating a seal. He sent the seal into the two newly born puppets, instantly making their eyes close again.

Zhi Xuan flicked his sleeve, and in an instant, the three Yama King figures were sucked into the darkness of the Ruthless Heavenly Banner's cloth. The banner rolled itself up and shot back into his storage bag.

"Quite draining," Zhi Xuan muttered. "Though the two new puppets do not have droplets of Ancient Heavenly blood like the Northern Yama, at least they will remain sufficiently strong puppets."

He paused for a moment, his brow furrowing. "However... my puppets are still at a low level; even Soul Transformation is the limit for a Yama King. If they were to fight a Weaver stage, they certainly wouldn't last long."

"I do have the body of a mid-stage Weaver," he closed his eyes, his Divine Sense creeping into the Divine Cauldron. "That old man Lin—his body has the highest cultivation I have ever taken. However, I cannot risk failure by turning a Weaver into a puppet without knowing exactly what is required."

Zhi Xuan exhaled, the aura around him fading as he stood up. "Never mind, I will delve into this another time. Time does not wait for me in Chi Di."

Three days was not a long time for a practitioner, but for Zhi Xuan, every second was preparation for facing the dragon in its den. He did not immediately leave the Forest Spirit Land. Instead, he chose to meditate at the peak of the tallest ancient tree, letting the Chi Di wind, rich with fertility, wash over his body and soul.

Dawn of the third day broke. Zhi Xuan opened his eyes, the sapphire in his pupils flashing sharply. He rose, straightened his black-and-white robes, and with a single stomp, he shot toward the forest's outer boundary, leaving the darkness of the Forest Spirit Land behind for the magnificent civilization. His steps covered thousands of *li*, cutting through the clouds to reach the promised place.

"Chi Di..." Zhi Xuan muttered, sighing softly. "I forgot—I don't know where the territory of the Ancient Shen Clan stands. I didn't bring a map because that Holy Maiden didn't say anything."

Zhi Xuan halted in mid-air, standing still atop a thin clump of clouds. A strong wind buffeted his robes, but his thoughts were focused on a small, annoying oversight. Below him, the expanse of the Chi Di Plains stretched out like a green carpet embroidered with the golden threads of the morning sun.

The fertility of this region was a stark contrast to the dryness he had imagined from its name; gentle mountains were covered by dense forests radiating pure spiritual essence, while large rivers meandered like dragon veins cutting through the land.

"Incredible, truly incredible," Ruo Xianxue hissed, her voice mockingly low. "Coming to a foreign land, then isolating yourself to form the opportunity for the second pillar's ascension for your main body. And now? Finished making puppets and you're lost in this land?"

Zhi Xuan snorted softly, ignoring Ruo Xianxue's sharp sarcasm echoing in his sea of consciousness. He gazed at the vast horizon, where several practitioner cities appeared as small dots in the distance. Although the spiritual essence in Chi Di was dense, the Ancient Clans' territories were usually protected by blurring formations impossible to penetrate with the naked eye.

"That Holy Maiden is truly cunning," Zhi Xuan hissed, the corner of his lip twitching between annoyance and amusement. "She intentionally let me descend without a guide, forcing me to find my own way or... forcing me to reveal my presence so she could fetch me with the grandeur she desires."

"Senior need not worry," Xiao Die's voice suddenly appeared with a soft hum. "Xiao Die can lead Senior."

Zhi Xuan was silent for a moment, looking at the heavenly moth emerging from his robe collar and now fluttering before his face. "Xiao Die, you know the way?"

Xiao Die flapped her transparent wings, sprinkling grains of silver light that looked like stardust in the morning air. "Did Senior forget? Xiao Die is an essence predator. In this fertile plain, there is one point where the flow of spiritual essence gathers with extreme density, forming a vortex only possessed by high-level bloodlines. That must be the Shen Clan's residence."

Zhi Xuan froze slightly, then a thin, almost invisible smile appeared on his face. "I almost forgot your natural ability, Xiao Die. Very well, I'm counting on you this time."

Xiao Die hummed softly and shot onto Zhi Xuan's shoulder. Zhi Xuan immediately sped off; this time his shadow raced ahead while his body followed. Xiao Die’s wingbeats created a thin ripple in the air, guiding Zhi Xuan across the increasingly grand horizon of Chi Di. As they moved further from the boundary of the Forest Spirit Land, the air around them no longer felt oppressive; instead, it was filled with the fragrance of celestial flowers blooming amidst steep cliffs.

After traveling thousands of li, the view before Zhi Xuan began to change. The clouds that were once pure white now glowed golden, influenced by the grand formation enveloping the core region. Behind the fading curtain of mist, a sight appeared that could shake the soul of any practitioner.

A floating city so vast it seemed endless rose behind the horizon, supported by nine giant mountains whose peaks were shrouded in eternal snow and divine light. Magnificent palaces with green jade roofs and white marble walls were neatly lined, radiating an authority that could only be held by a clan that had ruled for tens of thousands of years. In the center of the city, a single tower shot through the clouds, its circular peak resembling a crown supporting the sky.

"The Shen Sky City," Xiao Die whispered, her wings vibrating intensely from the extraordinary energy pressure ahead. "Senior, that is where the vortex is."

Zhi Xuan halted exactly at the outer boundary of the formation's territory. He could see the energy flowing like rivers of light in the air, forming a transparent protective dome that fortified the entire city. Thousands of practitioners on flying swords and celestial beast mounts were seen entering and exiting through the strictly guarded gates of light.

The sky suddenly grew overcast, and a drizzle of rain fell upon the Chi Di soil. Zhi Xuan only looked up for a moment and then appeared before the city gates. He walked lightly, each step not splashing the rainwater. It was as if Chi Di welcomed him by sending the rain.

"A rain formation?" Zhi Xuan murmured. "Like mortals watering their plants in the fields."

Zhi Xuan stood before the giant gates. The rain falling in the Shen Sky City was no ordinary rain; every drop contained purified spiritual essence, as if the entire city were a giant refining cauldron showering its inhabitants with prosperity.

The gate guards wearing bronze armor immediately leveled their spears as they sensed a stranger's presence. However, before words of expulsion could leave their mouths, a royal carriage pulled by four Celestial Deer shot through the rain from inside the city.

The carriage stopped right in front of Zhi Xuan, splashing rainwater that smelled like nectar. The purple silk curtain was pulled aside, and a woman holding an umbrella painted with plum branches stepped down. It was not Shen Ruolan, but a high-ranking attendant wearing the signature purple clothing of the Holy Maiden’s residence.

"Master Gu Fengyan, the Holy Maiden has been waiting at the Ancient Shen Clan," the attendant said while bowing respectfully, as if Zhi Xuan's arrival was exactly at the foretold time. "The Holy Maiden also gave a decree that you might experience difficulties if walking alone. Therefore, I was sent as a guide."

Instantly, the name "Gu Fengyan" spread like wildfire. The practitioners and guards were stunned, their eyes and ears disbelieving what they saw and heard. The crowd moving in and out of the gates split immediately, too shocked by the arrival of the Ancient Clan carriage but also by the figure they had been discussing.

"He... Gu Fengyan?!" a choked voice came from one of the practitioners. "He is already in the Chi Di Plains—the figure who shook the Yao Gu and Xing Luo Plains. And then, that unforgettable moment where he stood alone challenging the Ancient Han Clan before the Nine Ancient Clans."

"The bearer of two Banners of Calamity," one practitioner retreated and hid behind another. "The figure whose name is spoken throughout the Plains is now right before my eyes. He walks... as if he is one of us."

"Look at his gaze... like a sword blade just out of the refining furnace," whispered an old practitioner, his voice trembling so much the wine gourd at his waist clinked. "A presence like this—truly the figure who destroyed the southern region of the Yao Gu Plains!"

"Shouldn't he be fleeing from Han Shanshan’s pursuit?" another countered in disbelief. "How dare he show up at the Shen Clan gates with such a calm stride? Has he tired of living, or does he truly hold the life of the heavens in his hand?"

A young man wearing the uniform of a Shen Clan branch sect stepped back, his eyes wide with fear. "Guards! Why are you just standing there?! That is a fugitive of the Ancient Han Clan! If we let him in, isn't that the same as inviting the Han Clan's wrath to our lands?!"

"Silence, you brat!" snapped the leader of the bronze-armored guards, though his hand holding the spear trembled slightly. "The Holy Maiden’s decree is law in this territory. If the Holy Maiden says he is a guest, then even if the God of Death comes, we must still open the doors!"

"Gu Fengyan... It really is him," murmured a veiled female practitioner, her eyes fixed on the black-and-white robed figure. "The lone figure who dared to tear the face of the Ancient Clans. Today, the history of Chi Di will record a foreign name treading upon the establishment of our ancestors."