Heavenly Wheel Ascension

Zhi Xuan allowed Yuyan Die to vanish into the folds of his robe, merging back into the silence he had built. The sun finally sank behind the horizon, leaving the Chi Di sky draped in a haunting deep purple. The caravan party resumed its movement after their captain gave the signal in a tone that was much lower and more respectful than before.

"Please, Master... Zhang," the caravan captain said as Zhi Xuan approached. He bowed deeply, nearly touching the ground. "We will begin the night journey. If Master is willing, there is an empty seat in the main wagon that is more comfortable."

"I prefer to walk," Zhi Xuan answered shortly.

Throughout the night journey, silence enveloped the caravan. Only the creaking of wooden wheels and the heavy footsteps of the draft beasts broke the quiet. The young guard who had previously been so vocal now walked at the very front; occasionally, he glanced back with a face that looked like someone who had just seen the God of Death taking a casual stroll.

Two days passed in the same rhythm until finally, on the eastern horizon, the silhouette of a giant city began to appear. East Tiger City stood firm with walls built from black basalt, carved with tiger patterns that seemed alive under the morning sunlight.

"We’ve arrived," the captain murmured with uncontrollable relief. "East Tiger City. Finally, the spiritual stones can be delivered without issue."

Zhi Xuan looked up, staring at the soaring city walls. However, his eyes were not on the city's architecture, but on the rows of luxurious carriages and low-flying palanquins around the main gate. Powerful and fierce energies radiated from there, each carrying the distinct identity of different major sects and clans.

After parting ways with the caravan, Zhi Xuan faded and reappeared in the middle of the city. His steps were calm as he observed the grandeur of East Tiger City, which appeared not like a mere trading hub, but a civilization of high and ancient cultivation.

Zhi Xuan walked amidst the crowd, his tattered brown robe contrasting with the cloud silk and sacred beast fur coats worn by cultivators from all corners of the plains. The figure in black-and-white robes beneath the outer cloak moved through the crowd, his tall frame giving him a better vantage point.

"Hah, East Tiger City is always like this," whispered one practitioner to his friend. "So many people arriving, especially with the faces of the Young Kings coming for the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets. Over and over, talented practitioners are treated like gods."

"What can be done? Isn't that a common matter?" replied the friend beside him. "I heard the young ruler of this city, Bei Yun, loves to ensnare women; even the women belonging to the Young Kings often do not escape his grasp."

"The young ruler of the city, huh?" murmured another practitioner, his brow furrowing slightly. "Young blood only wants to have fun, but regardless, he is a great genius with quite a bit of promise."

"Speaking of Bei Yun, didn't you hear the commotion in the Main Square since this morning?" The practitioner in green robes lowered his voice, looking left and right warily. "Word is, he just captured a female wanderer from the northern regions. Not just any wanderer, but a swordswoman who possesses a Sacred Body."

"A Sacred Body? No wonder Bei Yun is acting crazy," his friend replied, shaking his head. "But haven't the Young Kings started to arrive? If that woman belongs to one of them, East Tiger City could turn into a sea of blood overnight."

"That’s the problem! The woman isn't affiliated with any major sect, yet she carries a snow sword with extremely pure intent. Bei Yun wants to make her his nineteenth concubine, or worse, turn her into his Cultivation Furnace."

Zhi Xuan, standing just a few paces behind them, felt a strange pulse within his sea of consciousness. The mention of it triggered a small ripple in his recently stilled Dao Heart.

"Senior, do you feel it?" Ao Sheng’s mental transmission sounded very serious, devoid of its usual joking tone. "The sword aura lingering in the air... it is very thin, yet I recognize it. This is the chill of the Thousand Winters Sword."

Zhi Xuan did not answer, but his previously casual stride changed direction toward the city's Main Square. His mind drifted to the figure of a woman he had once met under the sky of the Zhao Kingdom, a woman with a gaze as cold as ice yet as sharp as a sword blade.

In the Main Square of East Tiger City, the atmosphere was far more suffocating. A large stone stage usually used for criminal executions was now filled with a yellow light binding formation. In the center of the formation, a woman knelt with her hands shackled by essence-absorbing chains.

Her face was deathly pale, yet her chin remained held high. Her long hair was disheveled, and her light blue robe was torn in several places, revealing wounds from energy lashes. In front of her stood a handsome youth in gold-embroidered robes radiating arrogance—Bei Yun.

"Still stubborn, Zhao Xue?" Bei Yun smirked, his fingers playing with the edge of a silver dagger. "Your Ice Sacred Body will be wasted if you let it rot in my dungeon. Surrender, become my concubine, and I will give you resources you’ll never get as a wanderer."

The woman named Zhao Xue spat toward Bei Yun’s feet. "You... are merely a mole hiding behind your clan's walls. If my Master were still here, your head would have long since decorated the peak of a snow mountain."

PLAK!

A sharp slap landed on Zhao Xue’s cheek, snapping her head to the side. Fresh blood trickled from the corner of her lip, but her eyes still flashed with an unyielding sword light.

"Master? You mean that old fogey who died at the hands of my uncle?" Bei Yun laughed uproariously, his laughter echoing across the square now filled with hundreds of spectators. "In East Tiger City, my word is heavenly law! Hey, guards! Drag her to my secret pavilion. Tonight, I shall taste the coldness of this Ice Sacred Body!"

This tale has been pilfered from NovelFire. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The spectators around the Main Square held their breath; some turned away out of pity, while others watched with a hungry gaze for the spectacle of suffering. In the elevated observation pavilions, several young practitioners sipped their tea without any interest in intervening.

"Bei Yun truly has no shame," remarked a youth with a folding fan in his hand. "Capturing a rogue practitioner in the midst of the Young Kings' arrival? Is he trying to show off his authority as a host?"

"Leave it be," replied his companion, a sturdy man with a greatsword on his back. "That woman indeed has a rare talent, but in Chi Di, without a strong mountain to lean on, a beautiful body only becomes a curse. It’s not worth offending the Lord of East Tiger City for the sake of a wandering woman."

On the stage, two Soul Transformation guards stepped forward, their rough hands ready to drag Zhao Xue’s helpless body away. Zhao Xue closed her eyes, one hand clutching the stone ground beneath her until her nails broke.

"Master... forgive your useless disciple..." she whispered hoarsely, a cold tear freezing on her cheek before it could fall.

"Take her!" Bei Yun ordered with a dismissive wave of his hand.

However, before the guards' hands could touch Zhao Xue’s shoulders, an incredibly heavy pressure suddenly fell from the sky, as if a mountain had just been placed upon the Main Square. The low chatter of the crowd vanished instantly, replaced by a haunting silence where even a heartbeat sounded like the beating of a war drum.

Footsteps that were calm yet boomed within the soul were heard coming from the crowd. People instinctively parted, creating a path for a tall man in a brown robe walking with an unshakeable rhythm. Each of his footfalls left fine cracks on the stone tiles of the square, radiating an aura so cold that frost began to creep along the ground.

Zhi Xuan stopped right in front of the execution stage. His calm face looked at the kneeling Zhao Xue, then slowly turned toward Bei Yun.

"Release her," Zhi Xuan said. His voice was not loud, yet it echoed in every corner of the square, cutting through Bei Yun’s authority like a blade slicing silk.

Bei Yun was stunned for a moment, his eyes narrowing in scrutiny. He felt something strange; the man before him looked like an ordinary wandering practitioner, yet his courage to stand before the Young City Lord of East Tiger City was a form of madness.

"Who are you? How dare you interfere in my business on my own land!" Bei Yun barked, his face turning red from the insult in front of so many people. "Guards! Break his legs and throw him into the beast cages!"

The two guards who were about to drag Zhao Xue immediately changed their target. They leveled their energy spears, lunging toward Zhi Xuan with the peak speed of the Soul Transformation stage. A fierce yellow light enveloped the tips of their spears, ready to pierce the chest of the brown-robed man.

Zhi Xuan merely raised one hand, and instantly a burst of silver light surged from his palm, striking the two Soul Transformation guards and sending them flying into the air. Zhi Xuan clenched his palm, and a black hole appeared in the air, swallowing the two guards.

The silence left by the disappearance of the two guards was more terrifying than any energy explosion. Where there should have been a broken raga or spilled blood, only a hollow void remained; the black hole closed with a subtle hissing sound.

Bei Yun stepped back, his handsome face now deathly pale. An uncontrollable tremor crept from his fingertips. "You... what kind of technique is that?! Who are you?!"

Zhi Xuan did not answer. He stepped up onto the stone stage, each step shattering the yellow light binding formation woven by the city elders. The energy threads snapped like spiderwebs beneath his boots.

"Black-Haired Devil..." Zhao Xue looked up, her weary eyes trembling as she saw the tall figure standing with his back to the morning sunlight. Though that face was covered by a foreign aura, the profile of his back, straight as a sword, awakened a memory buried deep in the Zhao Kingdom. "Is it... truly you?"

Zhi Xuan stopped right in front of Zhao Xue. He reached into his brown robe and brought out a black bamboo sword that looked tattered and fragile. With a slow but authoritative movement, he slashed the bamboo blade against the essence-absorbing chains binding Zhao Xue’s hands.

TINGGG! The chains shattered into pieces as if made of fragile ice. The spiritual essence that had been drained suddenly exploded outward, flowing back into her parched meridians.

"Stand up," Zhi Xuan said flatly. "A swordswoman should not let her knees touch the ground just because of these little rats."

Zhao Xue felt a warm energy crawling from her wrists, neutralizing the painful chill of the previous shackles. With her remaining strength, she supported herself against the stone surface, slowly rising even though her body and soul were still trembling.

"Black... Haired... Devil..." Zhao Xue hissed, her voice full of disbelieving recognition. "You... it really is you?"

Zhi Xuan did not answer verbally, but the sharp corner of his eye gave a silent acknowledgment of the identity he had long since left behind. He flicked his brown robe, a movement that instantly created a transparent barrier between himself, Zhao Xue, and the rest of the world around them.

"PRESUMPTUOUS! HOW DARE YOU!" Bei Yun roared, his anger now overcoming his fear. As the son of the city ruler, he could not allow his dignity to be trampled in front of the Young Kings. "Elders! Kill him! Crush every inch of bone in his body!"

From behind the shadows of the buildings around the square, three figures in bronze armor shot out. They were the City Protector Elders, experts who had long remained secluded. The air in the Main Square suddenly became so dense that low-level practitioners began to vomit blood from the resulting aura pressure.

"Die, Interloper!" one of the Elders shouted, his hand forming a giant flaming tiger claw seal, lunging down from the sky as if to level the entire stone stage.

Zhi Xuan looked up; he raised one hand, and dark clouds appeared as if about to strike. From the void, three giant hands with lava-like veins emerged. Those three hands simultaneously punched the three experts in the sky, sending them flying back before the claw technique could even land.

The three high-level experts were thrown like kites with severed strings. The sound of the lava fists striking their bodies created a shockwave that swept away the dust in the Main Square, leaving behind deep, spreading cracks. The Young Kings who had been sitting calmly now rose in unison, their teacups shattering from the unmeasurable energy pressure.

Zhi Xuan remained standing with one hand raised, his brown robe now fluttering violently, revealing the black-and-white robe beneath that radiated a mysterious purple glow. His sapphire eyes were now cold as eternal ice, staring toward the sky where the three Elders struggled to stabilize their positions with faces full of horror.

"I have no grudge with East Tiger City," Zhi Xuan hissed, and a shadow of thousands of swords suddenly surfaced behind him before vanishing. "As long as the Young City Lord releases this woman, I can forget what you have done today."

"Release her?" Bei Yun laughed hysterically, though his eyes were wide with terror seeing his three Protector Elders just pushed back with a single hand movement. "Who do you think you are?! In Chi Di, anyone who opposes the Bei Clan ends up as fertilizer in the wheat fields!"

One of the Young Kings, named Ji Haoxuan, and his younger sister appeared amidst the chaos. Ji Haoxuan stepped forward calmly, each movement radiating the elegance of a genius from a major sect. His robes looked sacred, marking his status as a genius practitioner from the western regions of Chi Di.

Beside him, a young girl with keen eyes—his sister, Ji Yuanyi—stared at Zhi Xuan with an uncovered look of curiosity, as if trying to dissect the mystery behind the brown robe that had suddenly appeared and shaken the heavens of East Tiger City.

"This Senior," Ji Haoxuan said, bowing slightly with a fist-in-palm salute. "Please calm yourself. East Tiger City is the host of the Banquet of Heavenly Secrets. This misunderstanding is not something that only happened this once. If that woman belongs to Senior, then Bei Yun will release her."