“The dead can still store qi?”

Big bro… Zhao Ziqi inhaled deeply. Since his and Xu Yangyi’s spiritual senses were linked, Xu Yangyi could sense the other’s present excitement. Take… Take away a few coffins. If my guess isn’t wrong…

The light of Xu Yangyi’s eyes minutely flickered. The living and dead were very simple.

Storage ring.

This object could store all inanimate organisms. However, if something was alive it couldn’t be placed inside no matter what.

After several minutes, Xu Yangyi reached the seaside and focused in on three coffins facing him. He weaved through seals and cast a spell. In the next second, the coffins vanished without a trace, already received into his storage ring.

“No signs of life… but if there are no signs of life, how is qi being stored?” At this moment, even he felt the matter to be completely unbelievable! Such a situation violated an iron law of cultivation concluded by Earth, an undefiable law: inanimate objects were unable to store qi!

Xu Yangyi quietly departed. After an hour, he had already appeared in an abandoned building. He waved his hand again, and three heavy thuds echoed. Three coffins emerged in the room.

“I want to see what you really are,” he took a deep breath and slightly flicked out. Three coffin covers flew off in unison.

His pupils abruptly shrunk.

“This…” He studied the inside of the coffins, gravely. Inside… there were no corpses! Instead… there were three seemingly jade, yet not jade, sculptures!

Their appearances was human, but they had shrunk down to only a foot in size! From top to bottom, their bodies were lustrous and crystalline, pure and sparkling! They were jade-green in color, yet they each contained a visible orb of qi inside that was roughly the size of a fist.

Although the sculptures were small, they were carved with exquisite delicacy. Among the trio, there was old and young. The elderly figure had a fist-sized orb of qi. The youth, however, only had a finger-sized orb. They were all dressed in well-ironed suits and their faces were serene, to the extent that a flower had been left on each of their chests. Every crease on their suits, every wrinkle on their faces, and even every strand of hair was clearly visible.

“This…” Xu Yangyi’s gaze slightly flashed, and he picked up a jade sculpture. “Is this really a jade sculpture? Or actually a corpse?”

They’re corpses, but they’re not ordinary corpses! Zhao Ziqi’s voice couldn’t be any more excited. These… areremnants from the early Ancient era!

This is mentioned in established mythical history. Zhao Ziqi was so excited that he drifted out in his soul form. He was like mist. One could only make out an outline, and he said in excitement, According to legend, China had too, too many citizens during the Age of Legends. Later on, the Yellow Emperor became the absolute master of ancient China’s citizens. At that time, the Desolate Flood hadn’t ended yet, and demonbeasts were rampant. It was a true age of when god and man danced together![1]

However, China’s territory at the time wasn’t great, and there were many, many demon clans or other kinds of people in their surroundings. In the wake of China’s expansion of citizens, these demons and others started to be slowly forced to migrate outwards. They had their own mighty figures and constitutions that were different from normal people, but none of them were opponents for China’s citizens!

The Zhao Clan originates from the Eastern Han. Our first clan elder was appointed as one of Cao Cao’s wealth repossession officers back then. Each of our generations has a practice of recording strange stories and various things. In addition to our forerunners’ occupation, we know a lot of things that the cultivation world wasn’t able to record… Because of his over-excitement, Zhao Ziqi’s fog form was trembling. [2]

That’s right! An ancestor once recorded that after the unification of China’s first dynasty—the Qin dynasty—all the other clans disappeared… Zhao Ziqi sucked in deeply, his voice starting to drift. Big bro… the crux of the entire history lies here… I suspect this is also the true origin of the Lesser Thousand Realms’ formation! [3]

Xu Yangyi was silent for three seconds and his mind quickly sparked. He said in an astonished tone, “Lesser Thousand Realms… were formed from the mighty cultivators of those ancient clans establishing a world?”

YEAH!!! Zhao Ziqi shouted passionately, That’s the only theory! And that’s also what the Zhao Clan’s ancestor believed!

Xu Yangyi’s gaze was like fire, and he mumbled to himself for a brief moment, “But that’s under the premise that establishes the Age of Legends as true.”

“Ziqi.” He looked deeply at the youth. “We came out of Danxia Temple together. You know what’s down there, as well. Senior Xiaoqing has lived for thousands of years, and those years are also cryptic and ominous. She never officially admitted it, but she confirmed that Jiang Ziya existed. Still, she never verified the Godseal War.” [4]

Zhao Ziqi immediately stammered and nodded. Yeah…

No one spoke. Everyone knew that the approximate matters from 5,000 years ago simply couldn’t be verified in the modern age. Yet once confirmed… perhaps the cultivation philosophy of the entire Greater Thousand Realm known as Earth would topple over!

The Jade Emperor confirmed! [5]

The Most High Laozi confirmed! [6]

Chiyou confirmed! [7]

And where of the footprints of immortals?

Cultivators who ranked among immortals were all confirmed! This illustrated that cultivation’s path was far above Core Formation! Even farther beyond Nascent Soul!

Although there were many things, they were already indirectly and directly explained as likely having existed in history. For example, why would Sun Wukong’s sculpture appear for Xu Yangyi’s Foundation Establishment? The Wolfbane was also a legendary being! And while science could already provide an explanation… then what was the demon body at Nanzhou?

Nonetheless, this was only a theory, absent of the most direct evidence. If this destroyed history was found, it simply wouldn’t shake up the modern Cultivation Civilization without conclusive evidence. No one dared to speak irresponsibly about such matters, either.

Everyone knew how great the collapse this proof would bring. Xu Yangyi and Zhao Ziqi were somewhat silent. After an extended period of time, Xu Yangyi then laughed, “Then what about this?”

This is quite possibly the Yuenü Tribe. Zhao Ziqi said with certainty this time, A tribe from the long river of destroyed history. Countless mortal archaeologists have found their vestiges. They last appeared in present-day China’s Jiangnan region. However, there’s a different record in our Zhao Clan’s ancient tomes.[8]

It’s said… that the people of this tribe weren’t alive. They existed in a state between life and death… and once they died, they transformed into jade sculptures that contained all the qi that they’d cultivated. Big bro…this qi is different from all other qi! Back then, the Yuenü Tribe could be considered a major clan because of their constitution’s specialness! Their qi could be accepted by any constitution and any arcane effort!

Xu Yangyi stared vacantly, and his gaze soon brightened. He sighed wistfully.

This was too hard to believe!

Zhao Ziqi didn’t explain the matter clearly, yet he listened and understood. Each cultivator’s qi was just like a blood type. The same blood type could be transfused with the same blood type, yet the Yuenü Tribe’s qi was equal to a universal blood among blood types—O-type!

No wonder… Xu Yangyi shook his head and laughed. In a time period when all sides were struggling for dominance, such a clan could still seek survival amidst a crack. Yet once a great united dynasty was born, perhaps they would be immediately whisked away to laboratories.

And they could also take this qi and imbue it in a cultivator’s body and instantly advance the receiver’s realm! Therefore, this clan’s probability of raising a great cultivator were hundreds to a thousand times better than the other clans! Zhao Ziqi said.

Xu Yangyi sighed, “An ordinary man is without crime, yet treasuring a jade ring becomes a sin. If this really is the Yuenü Tribe, it’s not strange that they escaped here.” He also had an even deeper level of thought in his heart. Perhaps… the Realm Anchor and Star Position hadn’t been lost, but instead “someone resolute” had specifically forced the Clearcloud Realm to break away from Earth.

Hold on… Without missing a beat, he looked to the three jade sculptures. They could be paired with any arcane effort… In that case, wasn’t that to say…

The Eternal Alchemy Canon!

Presently, he had no fire seed… and if this qi could be delivered to him...

His gaze looked to the boundless and limitless ocean outside and the floating coffins that stretched all the way to the horizon. Maybe… he could still advance here!

“No…” Just as his voice fell, the bodhi seed in his mind revolved at great speed. He thought of another matter. “The person behind Zu Huai’en came here much earlier than me, there’s no way he didn’t find this out. With several decades worth of time, his realm is enough to scrape this entire continent’s qi. It wouldn’t be the least bit strange if he cultivated to Great Circle Foundation Establishment, but how is he actually at just the middle stage?”

Upon reaching this point in his thoughts, without a moment’s pause, he channeled all his spiritual force to his five fingers and forcefully slammed down on a jade sculpture.

Cracking noises rang out, and his finger slipped on the glossy jade sculpture, and yet…

It wouldn’t break!

Using his Foundation Establishment spiritual force, these jade sculptures surprisingly hadn’t shattered by a single chip! They were as good as new!

Big bro… The Yuenü Tribe has a legend… so that outsiders wouldn’t covet their qi after they died… only those of the tribe’s direct bloodline are allowed… otherwise, outsiders have no way to activate the jade sculpture…

Oh, so I’m that outsider. Angry in heart, Xu Yangyi took the sculptures and returned them to their coffins. He looked on at the the veritable mountain of spiritual force before his eyes, but he was unexpectedly unable to use it. Without a fire seed, his cultivation wouldn’t advance an inch. How could something like this not make someone depressed?

It was at this moment that a muffled humming noise suddenly came from the ocean’s surface. This sound was like a mountain. It didn’t come from the sky, but rather from underground!

“It has begun…” Meanwhile, at the side of a lonely peak on the coastline, a pair of aged eyes opened. “Another ten-year cycle… has come…”

“But this time… you won’t have such luck again. Although you had the foresight last time to make the Realm Anchor disconnect… how will you be able to run with a spirit-object of this grade with your current cultivation?”

“It… is certainly still inside this realm.”

His gaze looked to Baizhai City. “Fellow Daoist, you’ve arrived as well… I believe that you’ll surely make a decision after today… The Sky Burial Festival lasts for an entire month…”

Big bro… what’s going on? Zhao Ziqi asked doubtfully, yet Xu Yangyi had already stood up. He faced the sea’s direction and mumbled quietly to himself.

Zhao Ziqi turned and glanced, yet his entire fog form shuddered. He looked at the ocean incredulously, unable to say a word.

On the ocean surface… on the first day of the Sky Burial Festival, this first batch of tens of thousands of coffins unexpectedly ascended little by little as they carried threads of seawater!

Like so, they slowly began to hang in the air and drift. Very soon… they formed a river of black coffins and steadily advanced towards a fixed direction in the sky!

Swoosh… Swoosh… Swoosh… In the air, nine fireballs that were hundreds of meters in size unhurriedly appeared. Presently, the cheers coming from the beach reached the zenith!

The river of coffins started to slowly float and form a massive black flood in the sky. They flowed towards an unknown place.

On the ground, bursts of loud clamor quaked the heavens and rang out. Countless candle flames were lit at the same time. The masses began to sing an unknown song, yet Zhao Ziqi and Xu Yangyi were both in a terribly serious mood right now.

“Do you feel it?” Xu Yangyi murmured. The wind on the ocean’s surface blew on his clothing and caused it to ripple in the breeze.

Zhao Ziqi took a deep breath and nodded silently.

In this sea of coffins, there was a spiritual force… an extremely powerful spiritual force that was pulling these coffins to its side, like a black hole!

Spoiler Meme

1. The Yellow Emperor, the semi-mythical ruler of ancient China. He is said to be the originator of Chinese culture. 2711-2598 BCE. The Desolate Flood legend has been mentioned in the past, also somewhat semi-mythical. Many heroes and gods were said to have tried to stop the flood. Traditionally dated to the 3rd millennium BCE.

2. Cao Cao, a famous warlord from the Three Kingdoms era.

3. Remember, Qin dynasty ran from 221-207 BCE.

4. Reminder: Jiang Ziya was the semi-mythical advisor of King Wen of Zhou, who would eventually form the Zhou dynasty that would end the Shang dynasty. Said to have lived during the 11th century BCE. Remember… Jiang Shang and then Sun Bin. 500 years before Zhuge Liang and then 500 years later Liu Bowen… until finally Xu Xuan…

5. In Chinese myth and culture the Jade Emperor is considered one of the representations of the First God. In Daoism, he is considered the assistant to Yuanshi Tianzun, the primeval lord of the heavens. In one myth, he created humans. In another, he is the head of the Godly Pantheon, yet not responsible for creation.

6. Laozi, the founder of Daoism. Chinese philosopher. Author of the Dao De Jing. Estimated era 500 BCE.

7. Tribal leader of the Nine Li Tribe. During the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors era, he lost against the Yellow Emperor.

8. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything about the Yuenü Tribe in Jiangnan. Might just be a made-up clan based on a real one.