Heavenly Wheel Ascension

Zhi Xuan turned his head slightly, gazing at Ji Haoxuan with a flat yet piercing stare. The presence of the Young King from the western region did not cause his aura’s pressure to ease; on the contrary, the air in the Main Square grew even colder.

"She is not mine, but someone from the past," Zhi Xuan said coldly, facing Ji Haoxuan fully. "Harvesting a sacred body as a cultivation furnace is something I would not interfere with if it were any other woman. However, Zhao Xue is someone I know, and that Bei Yun can search for another body after this."

Bei Yun’s face twitched violently, his burning shame now mixing with overflowing rage. "Another body? You think an Ice Sacred Body can be found on the side of the road like a pebble?!" he shouted with a raspy voice. "Ji Haoxuan! Do not interfere! This is the business of East Tiger City!"

Ji Haoxuan took a long breath. "Brother Bei, if you still value your life and the continuity of this city, my advice is... release her."

"Y—You... you are defending him?!" Bei Yun was startled, his eyes darting between Ji Haoxuan and the figure of Zhi Xuan, who stood like a monument of death.

Zhi Xuan ignored their debate. He turned fully to face Zhao Xue. The woman now stood unsteadily, her hand clutching Zhi Xuan’s robe sleeve as if afraid the figure before her would vanish again like smoke.

"Why are you here, Zhao Xue?" Zhi Xuan asked, his voice softening yet still carrying a heavy authority. "The Zhao Kingdom is in the Xing Luo Plains, yet you have reached the foreign Chi Di. Why would a swordswoman like you travel this far?"

Zhao Xue coughed, spitting out the remaining blood from her throat. "The last time I guarded the border, I gained the opportunity to enter a large sect and went to the northern region of Chi Di. There, I cultivated until the peak of the Soul Transformation stage. However, my master was killed by Bei Yun’s uncle, and that bastard Bei Yun brought me here until I ended up like this."

"So that is how it is," Zhi Xuan murmured, his voice nearly inaudible amidst the whistling wind of the square. "This world is indeed small, and the law of the jungle knows no borders between plains."

Zhi Xuan turned toward Bei Yun, his eyes flashing cold and emotionless. He then shifted his gaze back to Ji Haoxuan. "I am taking this woman. If the lord of East Tiger City wishes to collect the debt of his nephew, I am also not a man who will run."

With that, Zhi Xuan released a brief surge of peak Weaver Transformation pressure that billowed as heavy as a mountain, before he faded away while carrying Zhao Xue, darting off and leaving the chaos behind.

Ji Haoxuan stood frozen, his sacred robes fluttering violently. He touched his rapidly beating chest; the spiritual essence within his body had briefly frozen when the brown-robed man looked at him. Beside him, Ji Yuanyi, his younger sister, stared at the sky where Zhi Xuan had vanished with eyes flashing with both longing and dread.

"Brother... that pressure," Ji Yuanyi whispered with a trembling voice. "This, this is the pressure of a peak Weaver Transformation. This pressure is similar to what our elders possess; a figure that high, walking among us as if he were part of us."

"Not just an ordinary Weaver, Yuanyi," Ji Haoxuan replied in a low voice laden with acknowledgment. "His pressure is pure; I feel as if I have just encountered someone worthy of being called an old monster. He hides a dragon within his frame."

"Heh, that Bei Yun finally got hit," a low laugh came from the Young King named Wei Tianfeng. "Besides, who would dare offend a figure like that? It’s insane; even the peak Weaver Transformation stage is rare, and that existence just now was as terrifying as a Divine Transformation figure."

"Wei Tianfeng, you are exaggerating," said another Young King, named Wu Xinghan. "But you are not wrong about calling that existence almost like a Divine Transformation presence. Well, a figure like that should have come for the Banquet of Heavenly Secrets, right? Yet he had to encounter a woman problem because of that Bei Yun."

"Brother Xinghan is right," added his younger sister, Wu Xingyan. "Although I am a mid-stage Weaver, that pressure just now... was like an existence almost equal to the arrival of an Ancient Clan Holy Son, so ancient and appearing like an old monster who has cultivated for hundreds of years."

"Look at Bei Yun’s face; he looks like he just swallowed horse dung," Wei Tianfeng laughed uproariously, ignoring the pale expression of the host. "Young Master Bei, do you still want to claim that Ice Sacred Body? I can lend you a tracking talisman ordua if you are brave enough to face that palm from earlier."

"Shut up, Wei Tianfeng!" Bei Yun roared while wiping the blood from his face. "Elders! Why are you just standing there?! That figure took this city’s prisoner! That is a slap to the face of the Bei Clan!"

"Young Master, wake up!" one of the Protector Elders landed with ragged breath. "That... was a peak-stage Weaver! East Tiger practitioners do not even possess an existence of that level. If we pursue him, East Tiger City might not see the sun tomorrow morning."

"Uncle, was that man the 'Black-Haired Devil' that woman spoke of?" Ji Yuanyi turned to a middle-aged man who had been standing silently behind her brother. "That name... sounds like the title of a demonic practitioner."

"Titles are just names, Yuanyi," the uncle replied in a heavy tone. "But one thing is certain: his aura is like a bottomless abyss, like a butcher who has no hesitation. Only someone who has looked death in the face can possess that kind of calmness when facing a regional ruler."

"Brother Haoxuan, do you think he will appear at the Banquet of Heavenly Secrets tonight?" Wu Xingyan asked while straightening her shawl. "If the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets truly invites all the experts in Chi Di, a figure that great cannot possibly be missed."

"It is hard to say, Xingyan," Ji Haoxuan answered while staring at the cracked floor tiles. "Practitioners of that level usually do not care for mortal banquets. However, if it is true that he is interested in seeking traces of the Underworld in Huang Tu, then the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets is the only gateway."

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"Cih, peak Weaver Transformation..." Wu Xinghan snorted, though his eyes radiated an uncovered sense of envy. "He does look older than us, though. But he looks youthful and his frame is not ordinary. How can someone cultivate to the peak Weaver stage without the support of a major clan?"

"Perhaps he is one of the monsters who has been cultivating in seclusion all this time," a wandering cultivator chimed in from a distance. "I heard some old monsters often send their disciples to test the Dao Hearts of the Young Kings."

"Old monster or not, he has already disrupted the city's atmosphere," Wei Tianfeng glanced at Bei Yun, who was now being surrounded by guards. "Hey, Bei Yun! You’d better prepare the best wine tonight to make up for our boredom. Watching you tremble before that wanderer was entertaining enough, but my stomach needs more real food!"

"Go to hell, Wei!" Bei Yun shouted, but his voice had lost its fangs. He turned to his elders, his voice lowering. "Immediately send a message to the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets. Ask who exactly that 'Black-Haired Devil' is. I want to know who dares to piss on my head in my own city."

"It seems tonight will be a very long night," Ji Haoxuan murmured while turning toward the inn. "Yuanyi, let’s go. Do not let your aura be affected by the remnants of killing intent left here."

"But Brother, I still want to know..." Ji Yuanyi looked back once more toward the empty execution stage. "Why did he save that woman? Just because they 'knew each other in the past'? In the cultivation world, a reason like that sounds so... naive, yet somehow it felt very real when he was the one saying it."

"That is called karma, my little sister," Wu Xinghan interrupted while walking past them. "Often you do not know what is in the minds of experts at that level, and you do not know what they will do next. Let us see if that 'naivety' holds when the Ancient Clan envoys arrive at the banquet tonight."

"If he shows up at the banquet," Wei Tianfeng grinned widely, "I will be the first to toast him. Someone who can turn Bei Yun’s face deathly pale is a good friend in my eyes!"

Meanwhile, hundreds of li from the hustle and bustle of East Tiger City, in a hidden valley shrouded in thick mist, Zhi Xuan’s shadow solidified. He landed lightly on a patch of grass wet with dew. In his arms, Zhao Xue’s frame felt light, as if she were made only of a fragile weave of essence. Zhi Xuan placed Zhao Xue under the shade of an old tree whose roots embraced the rocks.

At that moment, Ao Sheng manifested in his human form, standing before Zhao Xue with a face that was pale and melancholic, a departure from his usual arrogant expression. He looked at Zhao Xue, the older sister figure who had once protected him before he met and followed Zhi Xuan.

"Sister Zhao Xue," Ao Sheng whispered, dropping to the ground and kneeling. "It’s Lin Mu, Sister."

Zhao Xue slowly opened her weary eyes. Her blurred vision began to clear, catching the figure of the youth before her. She was stunned, her trembling fingers rising, hesitant to touch Ao Sheng’s face in his human form—the same face, yet now more mature in Zhao Xue’s eyes.

"Lin... Mu?" Zhao Xue’s voice broke, nearly resembling the whisper of wind passing through dry branches. "No, Ao Sheng... you, you are still staying with Zhi Xuan?"

"I am fine, Sister. I have experienced many things during this time with Senior Zhi," Ao Sheng replied with a raspy voice, golden tears pooling in his eyes. "I have followed him all this time, cultivating by his side. I never expected to find you in such a humiliated state in Chi Di. After we parted that day, after my awakening, I have always missed you, Sister!"

Ao Sheng clenched his fists, his eyes flashing with golden lightning. "I will surely burn down that East Tiger City; how dare they treat Sister Zhao Xue like this!"

"Ao Sheng, that is enough," Zhao Xue said, stroking the youth's jaw. "I am already fine. I won't fall easily just because I was bound by that bastard Bei Yun."

Zhi Xuan waved his hand, bringing out a bottle containing recovery pills—the remnants of the supply Shen Ruolan had intended for her disciples. He floated the jade bottle to Zhao Xue, and it landed right in her palm.

A thick, fragrant herbal scent immediately wafted out when Zhao Xue opened the stopper, a scent capable of calming turbulent spiritual essence. Without hesitation, she swallowed one pill. Instantly, warmth flowed from her solar plexus, spreading to all her cracked meridians.

"Thank you... Zhi Xuan," Zhao Xue said, her voice now possessing more weight than before. "I truly did not expect to meet you here. You have also walked such a long way."

Zhi Xuan leaned his body against the old tree trunk, folding his arms across his chest while staring at the fading horizon. "This world never stops turning, Zhao Xue. I used to think you would go to the Ancient Zhu Clan and become Zhu Qinglan’s disciple as you desired. Yet you chose your own path instead."

"Holy Maiden Zhu," Zhao Xue whispered, her voice calm. "I did not. Although I indeed wanted to join an Ancient Clan back then, my path felt broader standing outside the Xing Luo Plains. Hundreds of years have passed, and I have endured until now."

"Hundreds of years is but a blink of an eye for those chasing eternity, yet for a mortal heart, it is a very heavy burden," Zhi Xuan said. He looked at his own palm, where the lines were faint under the twilight light. "You have pierced through your limits, Zhao Xue. Reaching the peak of Soul Transformation without the support of a major clan in a foreign land like Chi Di... that is an achievement worthy of respect."

Zhao Xue tried to sit up straighter, the chill that usually radiated from her body now more controlled thanks to the recovery pill. "I just didn't want to become forgotten dust. But seeing you earlier... peak Weaver Transformation pressure? Zhi Xuan, you have truly surpassed that time. Back in the Zhao Kingdom, you were already like a monster, but now, you are a walking calamity."

"I have also heard many faint rumors about you, whether in Yao Gu or Xing Luo," Zhao Xue continued, her eyes fixed on the horizon. "Bound as a Dao Protector for Holy Maiden Zhu and Holy Maiden Ye, yet you truly cannot stay still and enjoy the Ancient Clan resources you should be able to obtain. But I understand; someone like you would die if you did not wander."

Zhi Xuan chuckled lowly, a laugh that sounded hollow and dry. "Enjoying Ancient Clan resources? Zhao Xue, you know well that the gold given by great clans always has hidden chains. I would rather drink cheap wine by the roadside than sip heavenly nectar that would snare my neck forever."

He stepped toward the edge of the valley cliff, watching the clumps of mist beginning to crawl up to cover the bottom of the chasm. "As for Zhu Qinglan and Ye Xishui... they are merely stopovers in this long journey. Our relationship is more complex than just protector and protected. But you are right; I would die if I stopped stepping forward."

Ao Sheng, who had now calmed down slightly, helped Zhao Xue lean back more comfortably. "Sister, after you recover, what is your plan? If you have no destination, why not just come with us? Senior Zhi is heading to Huang Tu to seek traces of the Underworld."

Upon hearing the word "Underworld," Zhao Xue’s pupils contracted for a moment. "Huang Tu? So the rumor is true... the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets is gathering the Young Kings to open the veil of that barren land."

She looked at Zhi Xuan with a serious gaze. "Zhi Xuan, you must be careful. The Banquet of Heavenly Secrets tonight is not just an ordinary meeting. I heard from Bei Yun’s guards’ conversation that the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets has found a path to the remnants of the Underworld itself."

"The path to the Underworld is not just a path; it is a hell that welcomes you," Zhao Xue continued. "Therefore, I was also hesitant at first to attend such a banquet besides being Bei Yun’s prisoner. But now, I also have no great purpose other than collecting Bei Yun’s uncle’s debt for my master."