Proud Sword Soaring Clouds

Many people who thought they knew Uncle Fu well stared, dumbfounded, at the normally refined, elegant, and kind-faced old man. They never imagined such decisive, harsh, and iron-blooded words could come from his mouth.

Ling Wu and several other officers from the Lightning Legion felt their blood boil. They shot to their feet, and Ling Wu declared loudly, "Young Master, bring on the elixir! Even if I lose my head, it'll just leave a scar the size of a bowl! If I'm truly that unlucky, I'll find you again in twenty years, Young Master, and I'll still be your loyal subordinate!"

"That's right, Young Master! We aren't afraid! We won't hold you back!"

"Sect Leader, I'll take it!"

"I'll take it too!"

Even Mo Qing, whose aristocratic air had grown stronger over the years, couldn't help but turn red in the face and shout at the top of his lungs.

Just then, Li Fu spoke up timidly, "Can I... not take it...?"

SWISH!

All eyes fell upon the elegant nobleman, Li Fu. His usually calm and composed face was slightly flushed, but he continued, "Shushan City still needs an administrator! I only hope that when my time comes, the Young Master might grant me one of those elixirs that preserve one's memories. In my next life, I will still be your subordinate, Young Master!"

Ling Xiao looked at the impassioned crowd and gestured for them to settle down, his eyes filled with emotion. Everyone in the room—with the sole exception of the no-longer-young Li Fu—even his mother, Lady Ling, and his younger sister, Ling Yun'Er, had declared they would take the elixir.

Ling Xiao said in a deep voice, "Thank you for placing so much trust in me!" Then, glancing at the somewhat awkward Li Fu, he chuckled. "Li Fu, I understand. You're worried that if everyone takes the elixir and something goes wrong, chaos will ensue. I understand your choice."

"Thank you... Young Master!"

With tears welling in his eyes, Li Fu stood and gave Ling Xiao a deep bow. Years ago, with nowhere left to turn in his hometown, he had left everything behind and come here. He had expected to live out the rest of his days as a humiliated slave, never imagining he would encounter such a fate. His loyalty to Ling Xiao was second to none.

But everyone makes their own choices, and Li Fu's was not wrong. He simply didn't possess the same burn-the-boats courage as Huangpu Yue. The kind of agony Ling Xiao had just described had terrified the nobleman, who had known little hardship in his life. Therefore, he would rather manage the city for Ling Xiao, ensuring his lord had nothing to worry about from behind. 'Then, in my next life, I can start my cultivation from childhood!'

He wasn't lying. 'If I can truly retain the memories of this life in the next, then even if I'm born on the Western Continent, hundreds of thousands of miles away, I will come back to find Ling Xiao! I will find Shushan City!'

Because this place was his true home.

「That same day」

Ling Xiao shut himself inside the Shushan Sword Sect's massive Alchemy Room. The Urgently Cold Treasure Cauldron was continuously scorched by his Samadhi True Flame, its once pitch-black body now glowing cherry-red. If not for the protection of the surrounding array, the entire Alchemy Room would have been incinerated by the immense heat.

Ling Xiao used his Spiritual Power to manipulate the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures within the Urgently Cold Treasure Cauldron. His expression was steady as he continuously added various supplementary ingredients.

What he was refining now was an elixir that could rapidly increase a person's power. It was called the Heaven-Ascending Pill. Ling Xiao had seen its formula in his past life, in the Shushan Sect's Alchemy Collection, and had memorized it on a whim.

All the formulas in the Shushan Sword Sect's Alchemy Collection were guaranteed to be effective and thoroughly tested. Any formula that hadn't been proven would never have been included.

Therefore, even if many formulas had become obsolete because their ingredients were now extinct, no one ever doubted their authenticity. They were the life's work of Shushan's past patriarchs.

The Heaven-Ascending Pill, as its name suggested, made one aspire to the Celestial Realm. This elixir's effects were incredibly potent, and there were no restrictions on who could take it. In other words, whether you were a common mortal or a cultivator—even a cultivator at the Tribulation Crossing Stage—you could take it, as long as you weren't afraid to endure the immense pain.

However, what cultivator who had already reached the Tribulation Crossing Stage would willingly seek out such suffering? The elixir's agonizing trial ignored one's cultivation level, affecting everyone below the Mahayana Stage. In other words, as long as you had not reached the Mahayana Stage, you were guaranteed to experience that terrifying ordeal of pain.

The Alchemy Collection didn't record why the patriarch who created this elixir refined it, but its effects—and its horrors—were documented in great detail.

If a mortal could endure the process, their cultivation would, at a minimum, leap all the way to the Golden Core Path. If, during that agony, they managed to comprehend a sliver of the Celestial Dao, it was even possible for them to break directly into the Nascent Soul Stage.

But how many people would be willing to make such a life-or-death gamble for power?

It was no wonder Shangguan Yutong thought they were all insane. In the end, she couldn't resist the temptation to try it herself.

'Isn't a person's life just sailing a boat across a sea of suffering? There's no fundamental difference between those who stay on the boat and those who accidentally fall in and drown.'

'Unless... you can escape the sea of suffering entirely and break free of its constraints.'

According to the records, only one person had ever refined the Heaven-Ascending Pill in the early history of the Shushan Sword Sect. Back then, Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were not yet so scarce in the Cultivation Realm. After that patriarch succeeded in refining it, he didn't take it himself. Instead, he gave it to someone who was considered hopeless at cultivation.

This hopeless case was born in the Cultivation Realm to parents from a renowned cultivation family. But unexpectedly, the child they gave birth to was a Stone Infant.

In other words, the child was born without meridians, making cultivation utterly impossible. He wasn't even expected to live for long.