Heavenly Wheel Ascension

The guards remained silent for a moment, staring at the bamboo sword Zhi Xuan held. The object looked fragile, more like a village child's toy than the weapon of a practitioner capable of surviving the fierce Chi Di wilderness. A small burst of laughter erupted from the young guard who had been the loudest before.

"A bamboo sword? Hey, Wanderer, are you planning to scare off fire wolves with a tree twig?" the young guard's laughter sounded dismissive. "This world is not kind to those who possess nothing but a stalk of bamboo."

Zhi Xuan did not return the mockery with words. He merely sheathed the bamboo sword back beneath his brown robe with a movement so calm it was as if the laughter around him were nothing but the rustle of wind passing through leaves.

"Leave it be," said the uncle holding the reins, turning his gaze forward again. "As long as he does not disturb us, let him walk."

The caravan party began to move again, road dust billowing high under the heavy footfalls of the beasts pulling the wagons. Zhi Xuan walked at the very rear, the rhythm of his steps remaining steady, not falling behind yet making no effort to draw closer.

When midday arrived, they stopped briefly at a riverside. Zhi Xuan stopped at a distance, his body leaning against a large tree, his eyes closed in silence.

The sun crawled toward the peak of the sky, scorching the Chi Di horizon until the air seemed to vibrate from the heat radiating from the red earth. Beneath the shade of the lush, large tree, Zhi Xuan was not truly asleep; his sharp senses crept like a spiderweb, catching every breath of the guards and the gurgling of the clear river water.

Beneath his brown robe, the light cocoon enveloping Yuyan Die pulsed softly. Zhi Xuan could feel the butterfly’s consciousness beginning to stabilize, though her essence was still very fragile.

"Well, they are only practitioners of the First Ember to the Organ Transformation stages," Ao Sheng’s voice echoed through mental transmission, the small dragon hiding within the folds of Zhi Xuan’s robe to avoid causing a commotion. "The Trade Alliance, huh... doesn't Senior Li Chen hold power there?"

"Perhaps, he said long ago he intended to go to Chi Di," Zhi Xuan thought, his eyes still closed. "But we will not seek him out unless we require something."

"Senior is right," Ao Sheng snorted softly in Zhi Xuan’s mind. "Besides, showing your face before people who know you will only drag that Holy Maiden’s net back around our necks."

Zhi Xuan did not answer; he opened his eyes and moved his fingers, holding a gourd of fragrant wine and raising his hand, taking a slow sip. The aroma of the wine spread thinly, carrying a warmth that spread to his cold veins.

In the distance, the caravan guards began roasting large game meat, occasionally glancing toward Zhi Xuan with inquisitive stares. To them, the tall man leaning against the tree was like a ghost accidentally lost among a group of humans.

SRAK! SRAK!

The sound of rustling dry leaves and splitting bushes approached, revealing three Red Lions, Azure King rank beasts. The three beasts appeared with manes blazing like eternal fire, their fangs—as long as a human palm—emitting hot steam that scorched the surrounding foliage.

"Red Lions! Stand guard! These beasts are equal to the Organ Transformation stage!" shouted the caravan captain in a raspy voice, his face instantly turning pale at the hungry stares of the three predators.

The guards immediately drew their weapons; the clinking of metal filled the air, creating a tense atmosphere by the river. A circular formation was quickly formed to protect the wagons laden with spiritual stones, but the hands holding their spears trembled.

"Everyone! Don't daze out! Take positions on the left side!" roared the caravan captain while lifting his bronze shield engraved with defensive runes.

The three lions roared in unison, a vibration carrying a heat wave that made the river water boil for a moment. One of the lions, the largest with a scar on its face, shot forward with a speed that blurred the vision. It targeted the hindmost wagon—the position where Zhi Xuan was leaning calmly.

"Hey! Wanderer! Run!" shouted the young guard; though he was terrified himself, he couldn't bear to see the tall man torn to pieces without a fight.

Zhi Xuan still held his wine gourd, his calm eyes merely glancing briefly at the lion leaping toward him with bared fire claws. To him, the speed of these Azure King rank beasts was no faster than the fall of a single leaf in autumn.

One second before the fire claws touched his head, Zhi Xuan shifted his body one inch. Only one inch, but it was enough to make the large lion pounce into the empty wind. With a movement that looked lazy, Zhi Xuan merely flicked his finger and slapped the lion with his wine gourd.

BUKK!

The sound of the impact was dull, yet its effect was like the strike of a giant hammer dropped from a mountain peak. The gourd did not break; instead, the Red Lion’s frame, weighing hundreds of jin, was sent flying sideways, smashing into the large tree behind Zhi Xuan until the trunk cracked and the leaves fell like rain.

The lion had no time to roar in pain. Its neck was bent at an impossible angle, and the fire in its mane was extinguished instantly, as if doused by a will colder than death. It lay lifeless, its mighty raga now no more than a pile of meat that had lost its essence.

The entire caravan froze. The captain, who had been about to charge forward, stopped with one foot still in the air, his mouth gaping wide. The two other lions, which had been preparing to pounce on other guards, suddenly stopped. The fur on their backs stood on end, and their beast instincts screamed of danger.

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Zhi Xuan took another sip of his wine calmly, a drop of clear liquid flowing from the corner of his lip before he wiped it with the back of his hand.

"This wine... is a bit too strong," Zhi Xuan murmured lowly, his voice clear amidst the haunting silence. "Never mind."

The clear liquid remaining on Zhi Xuan’s hand was flicked toward the two remaining lions. The flick of his finger looked trivial, yet the wine droplets shooting through the air transformed into crystals that sliced through space with a hiss that stung the ears. Before the two lions could even turn their bodies to flee, the wine droplets pierced their foreheads, leaving small, clean holes without a single drop of blood managing to splash out.

DUG! DUG!

The two giant frames collapsed simultaneously, the red dust of Chi Di billowing thinly around their now stiff carcasses. The fire on their manes died out completely, leaving behind a faint burnt scent and a silence that choked the chests of the caravan guards. Zhi Xuan rose for a moment, lifted the large lion's body near him, and shouldered it.

Zhi Xuan walked with a step that remained light despite the massive Red Lion’s frame on his shoulder. He walked toward the center of the caravan crowd, which was still frozen like a row of human statues. Under the terrified and awestruck stares of the guards, he set the beast’s carcass near the still-burning campfire.

"This is my travel fee, no change required," Zhi Xuan said flatly, then turned and walked toward the riverbank to be alone.

Zhi Xuan’s calm footsteps left a trail of silence behind him. The caravan guards remained motionless, their eyes shifting between the fallen lion carcasses and the back of the brown-robed man. The caravan captain was the first to snap out of it; he swallowed hard, his throat feeling dry as if he had just swallowed desert sand.

"T-travel fee?" whispered the young guard, his voice cracking high from shock. He stared at the lion carcass in front of him, then at his own hands, which were still trembling violently. "He killed three Azure King rank lions with wine droplets and a gourd?"

The uncle holding the reins who had previously belittled Zhi Xuan now sat weakly on the wagon wood. He knew very well that an Azure King rank Red Lion was not an opponent that could be defeated by luck. To him, the sight just now was not a fight, but an insult to the laws of nature.

"Killing Azure Kings... is he at the Five Elements rank?" whispered the reins-holding uncle. "No, I cannot see what his cultivation is."

The young guard scratched his head, his previously arrogant face now filled with regret. "I mocked him earlier... I said he would scare off wolves with a tree twig. Captain, do you think he’ll cut off my head while I’m sleeping later?"

"If he wanted your head, you’d have been ash since that flick of his finger, you stupid brat!" the caravan captain snorted, though he himself could not hide the tremor in his hands. "He said this was a travel fee, and he didn't want change! Therefore, if we gave back the hunt he provided, it would be an insult. Consider this a blessing from heaven, and say nothing more."

Meanwhile, on the edge of the clear river, Zhi Xuan sat cross-legged on a flat rock jutting into the water. He let his feet be washed by the cold flow, a contrast to the Chi Di heat. Xiao Die appeared in her moth form, sitting on Zhi Xuan’s knee while watching the river current.

"Senior, you are too generous," Xiao Die remarked while fluttering her wings. "That beast possessed quite pure fire essence. If you gave it to that greedy dragon, he would certainly be very happy."

"I don't need essence from a little cat like that," Ao Sheng replied, his voice sounding lazy. "But Senior, you intentionally showed your fangs a bit so they wouldn't dare disturb you as we approach East Tiger City, right?"

"I only need them to approach East Tiger City without being too conspicuous," Zhi Xuan replied softly. "Besides, I am interested in what was discussed. Huang Tu, the land of the barbarians, and beneath it, the existence of an underworld. I used to think of it as mere wind because I did not go to see it."

"But now," Zhi Xuan continued, his eyes fixed on the sunset horizon. "I want to see it again after so many dragons and phoenixes want to go there."

The sun began to slant westward, refracting a thick orange light onto the river ripples, as if the water flow had turned into liquid gold. Zhi Xuan washed his hands, which still carried the scent of wine, letting the cold water absorb the remnants of heat from the Red Lion’s fire essence that had brushed against his aura.

"Huang Tu..." Zhi Xuan murmured. The memory of being there made the hairs on his neck stand up, and he shook his head slowly. "No, that is in the past."

"Senior... you’re thinking about Xu Han suddenly turning into Holy Maiden Feng, aren't you?" Ao Sheng’s voice seemed to suppress a laugh, vibrating to the point of annoyance. "If I were in Senior’s position back then, I’d keep thinking about it too. Xu Han, the crane daoist who looked like a heavenly practitioner—who would have thought it was the skin of a Holy Maiden."

"Well, who could guess that a man like Xu Han was actually a Holy Maiden beneath it all?" Xiao Die added. "But imagine if Senior had to be close to a flamboyant man. Goodness, Xiao Die cannot even think about it. That Xu Han acted like a flamboyant man in Huang Tu back then, puih!"

Zhi Xuan closed his eyes, letting Xiao Die’s grumbling and Ao Sheng’s suppressed laughter fade along with the sound of the small waterfall upstream. The image of Xu Han—the figure who once accompanied him in the midst of the barren Huang Tu with an attitude too refined for a man—now felt like a sour joke of destiny.

Zhi Xuan cleared his throat for a moment, returning his face to normal. "Holy Maiden Feng indeed managed to deceive me once back then. But it will not happen a second time."

Zhi Xuan rose from the riverbank, letting the water dripping from the edge of his robe dry in an instant under the fierce Chi Di heat. He no longer thought of the grey past in Huang Tu, but focused his attention on the pulse of energy behind his robe. The cocoon wrapping Yuyan Die began to thin, emitting an intoxicating floral scent—the hallmark of desire.

The energy cocoon shattered without a sound. A butterfly with six-colored wings—now duller yet possessing denser silver streaks—flew out. It circled Zhi Xuan’s head three times before landing on the tip of his finger.

"Master... I thank you for this gift of a second life," Yuyan Die’s humming voice sounded. "Though my cultivation was wounded by the severance of that soul trace, I do not regret it."

Yuyan Die fluttered her six wings; immediately, a small circle emerged, forming a silk bracelet that merged onto Zhi Xuan’s wrist, resting beside the silk bracelet belonging to Xiao Die. This was the sign of an indirect soul contract from an insect.

Zhi Xuan looked at his wrist, where two silk bracelets—one belonging to Xiao Die and one glowing belonging to Yuyan Die—were perfectly encircled. The presence of this new soul contract brought an odd energy resonance; a blend of pure life and death aura and the misleading mist of the six desires.

"Desire Nightmare has become a part of your shadow, Senior," Xiao Die murmured. She landed back on Zhi Xuan’s shoulder with arrogance, yet she couldn't hide her satisfaction at seeing a higher species now submit to the same master.

"You are certain you wish to follow me?" Zhi Xuan whispered, his eyes fixed on the butterfly atop his fingers. "I am not someone who works for the Ancient Clans, and I have a promise with your former master—between my destruction or the future destruction of the Ancient Han Clan."

"Yuyan no longer has a Master besides you, Master Gu," Yuyan Die’s voice crawled softly into Zhi Xuan’s soul. "I also know of your twenty-year promise, between the scythe and half of the Ancient Han Clan’s wealth. After seeing you myself, I was reckless and foolish to dare challenge you by coming here."

"But Yuyan does not regret it, nor do I curse my own foolishness," Yuyan Die continued. "For standing beneath the palm that holds the Banner of Calamity, Yuyan knows Master will walk higher than the Ancient Clans."