Zhen Yong was confused for a moment before enlightenment dawned, “I know you. A-Aren’t you that Di Zhong?”

“I do hope that young master Zhen Paohui is doing well.”

****

“Stop!”

Shu!

A group of young cultivators were chasing a figure in the dead of night. However, they were unable to catch him. It wasn’t his speed that allowed him to outrun them, but his use of the terrain.

If it wasn’t enough that the dense brushes of the forest they were in made it hard to spot the fleeing figure, there was also the fact that he leapt from tree to tree.

“Hisss!”

“Damn it!” One of the cultivators cursed when he saw what they ran into.

It was a snake-like magical beast. It was covered in dark purple scales that glinted even in the moonlight. Its long tongue that hissed every now and again leaked venom that caused steam to rise from the ground it dripped on.

It hissed furiously at the cultivators that entered its territory.

“T-That’s a rank 2 violet-armoured serpent king!”

“There he is!” one of the cultivators pointed to the person they were chasing now a faint shadow due to the distance that opened up.

“Let’s get him!”

One cultivator got too close to the beast, causing its head to rear back before striking with blinding speed.

“Aaaah!”

“Careful! This is a magical beast known for being extremely territorial and vicious. I don’t know how he got past it, but we need to deal with it before we can give chase!”

So said, so done, for as soon as this revelation was verbalised, the violet-armoured serpent king attacked the entire group with unmatched fury.

Boom!

Bam!

Before long, the sounds of battle erupted, but the escaper didn’t care. He got what he wanted by now, and that was all that mattered.

After running for a little less than an hour, the escapee came to a cave that was out-of-the-way. The entrance was set up in such a way that one would easily pass it by and be none the wiser.

The figure looked around with an elevated wariness and after making sure that no one was watching; the figure entered the cave.

Moving near the end of the cave, the figure carefully opened what he held in his grasp. It was a flower… similar to a lily of some kind. Obviously, this was no ordinary plant, though, as one could see the petals of this flower radiating a faint white light that painted the cave in a dim glow.

“Heaven’s Drop, I’ve got it!” the figure said in a trembling voice, the excitement clearly evident in its voice.

The figure pulled back the cloak that hid his face from view, revealing the young, handsome face of… Lu Pei!?

It was Lu Pei, the same young man who was discontent with the Copper Destiny he possessed. The same Lu Pei who was humiliated by some cultivators after he set out to try to search for some miraculous encounter. The same Lu Pei who had the fortune or misfortune of encountering a Di Ming, a race shrouded in mystery. Whose intentions spanned eras and epochs with world-changing corollaries to sign their work.

“Alright, here I go!” Lu Pei sat down cross-legged and after taking a deep breath, he carefully held the stalk of heaven’s drop and tilted it so that the point of one of the petals was pointed towards his mouth.

Soon enough, a single bead of glistening crystal clear dew came rolling down the middle of the petal. Before long, it rolled off into Lu Pei’s mouth.

Plip…

“Hmmm, it tastes a bit sweet,” Lu Pei said after smacking his lips. “All of that for just a single drop o-”

Whoosh!

“Whoa!”

A powerful gust of wind kicked up in the cave!

The minute the drop of dew entered his body, the energy within was released. A powerful surge of spiritual qi tunnelled through Lu Pe’s body like an out-of-control carriage!

He quickly composed himself and closed his eyes, focusing on the sudden influx of energy and the best way to circulate it.

“Ugh!”

Lu Pei grit his teeth in an attempt to control it. He wanted to forcefully direct it through the main starting qi meridians for circulation via the great path so he could send it towards the empty vessels surrounding his tan’tien.

All nine vessels needed to be filled if he wishes to bring his tan’tien to life. As of now, he had four vassals filled owing to his many adventures in the forest.

He was told many things by that creature a few weeks ago. He was advised by it before it disappeared that he needed to get stronger as fast as possible. So he couldn’t tarry in these lower realms.

He needed to advance quickly and reach higher heights!

“Ack!”

He coughed up a mouthful of blood after a failed attempt to curb the energy to his will, but he didn’t dare lose focus.

After all, the Di Ming he encountered back then made sure to inform him it wouldn’t be here to save him.

It was cryptic in its manner of speaking. Lu Pei still found the situation much like a dream. The Di Ming changed his destiny and though he wasn’t entirely sure what level it was, it was at least a five opened meridians silver destiny, maybe even gold!

The pain was excruciating, but he would bear it all over again for his current achievements. Without him asking, it told him that he was needed as part of a grand plan that affected not just the continent, but the entirety of this heaven and earth.

His destiny needed to be changed to change the destiny of this world. To keep it from being drunk upon by a thirst that should have no right to be quenched.

“Pwah!”

Another mouthful of blood was spat out, following another failed effort to control the energy.

‘This is not working! If I allow the energy to run rampant like this, I’ll explode before I even get the chance to use it to increase my cultivation!’

He was told to get Heaven’s Drop by the Di Ming. The problem was that Heaven’s Drop was something that was normally only useful for cultivators at the tan’tien saturation realm and above, and even then it would need to undergo several dilutive processes.

For a vessel qi gatherer like Lui Pei to take it was nothing short of seeking death. So why did Lu Pei do something so risky where the chance of death was high?

This was owed to the Di Ming, as it advised him that he should be able to survive and that if he didn’t walk the line of life and death constantly to push his growth to the maximum that he would be left behind and that such an occurrence would end in his death.

He wasn’t sure why, but he trusted the Di Ming’s words and could feel something encroaching upon him. As a result, he needed to survive this or his will to defy his heaven-given destiny would have been a joke and nothing else.

However, he couldn’t deny that he was unable to control this much energy! Worse still, if he didn’t do something, he would truly suffer an undeserved death!

‘Wait!” A thought suddenly occurred to him. ‘Who says I have to control the entirety of this energy. A bit by bit should work!’

This revelation came to Lu Pei after he thought rationally about what he was trying to do. At the end of the day, the energy he was trying to control was something meant for tan’tien saturation realm experts and above.

With him being a vessel qi gatherer, there would, of course, have been no way for him to control that much energy. It was too far above his own current realm.

However, a small amount should be no problem. After all, though man cannot control the raging river, thou art allowed to drink from its fury.

As a result, Lu Pei wasted no time, the energy was causing great harm to his body but he needed to focus on his more immediate goal.

Shi! Shi! Shi!

Strands of spiritual qi were being stripped from the torrential energy and being diverted towards the starting qi meridians for circulation through the great path!

Lu Pei kept a close eye on the first few strands and once this small amount of spiritual qi was successfully refined, they were then fed to the fifth vessel.

‘Success!’ Lu Pei was ecstatic! A wide smile made its way across his face when he felt his fifth vessel filling up!

“Argh!” he spat out a grunt of pain when a mini-explosion took place within his body!

The energy was starting to wear and tear away at his meridian channels. Even his skin was split in several places as blood started to flow.

‘I need to hurry!’

There was a whole lot of energy with very little place to go in his body. As a result, the energy was starting to wreak immediate havoc all over!

He raced to diverge strand after strand towards the circulation of his great path!

Though these were mere strands of the river-like spiritual qi coursing through his body, they were incomparably pure and concentrated. As a result, they had a boon-like effect on something on the level of mere vessels.

This caused the following to make much more sense…

Fifth vessel! Empty, halfway, filled!

Dum!

Sixth vessel! Empty, halfway, filled!

Dum!

Seventh vessel! Empty, halfway, filled!

Dum!

Lu Pei’s cultivation base skyrocketed! He even found it hard to temper the foundation before it moved on of its own accord. However, his discipline was strong, so he made sure to use the abundant energy within to strengthen his foundation.

Nevertheless, there was too much energy left while he just reached the limit of the Qi Gathering realm!

‘No!’

Vrrrm!

Lu Pei’s body trembled as the energy came to a head and, with nowhere left to go, his body began to expand, the prelude to self-explosion!

‘No! Come on!’

He gritted his teeth as he desperately tried to use the energy to rush all the way to the tan’tien saturation realm, but it didn’t work!

However, this was to be expected, the tan’tien saturation realm could only be achieved by using the spiritual qi from within the nine vessels to bring to life the tan’tien!

As of now, this mass of spiritual qi was no longer a boon, but a poison as it reached the point where his life was in great danger!

‘Damn that thing! I’ll find it when I’m a ghost and haunt it for the rest of my afterlife!’

Shing!

Suddenly, a resplendent golden light filled the room as the ‘King’ character on Lu Pei’s forehead came to life!

While the ‘King’ character displayed its radiance, the swelling of his body came to a sudden stop before it started to… recede.

“What the-”

Lu Pei was surprised as he observed the current state of his body. He could see all the surplus energy that was so tyrannical before being dragged via the meridian channels towards a specific point.

It didn’t take long for him to realise that the concentration spot was his Ajna chakra point. In other words, it was the middle of his brow.

‘The ‘King’ character from before! What’s it doing!?’ Lu Pei not being an idiot, realised that it was the ‘King’ character on his forehead that was responsible for saving his life!

Within a few seconds, the energy that was about to kill him was absorbed by the ‘King’ character. The golden radiance died down shortly after, returning the cave to its previous state.

“Gasp!”

Lu Pei didn’t realise that he stopped breathing at some point as he laboured to catch his breath. His robes were soaked with sweat as he truly came close to death this time around.

He eventually calmed himself down and stared at the dark cave ceiling for a while before a sense of accomplishment welled up within him.

“Hehehe… Hahahahahaha!” a burst of raucous laughter erupted in the cave!

The feeling of cheating death combined with his arrival at the peak of the vessel qi gathering realm resulted in him losing himself in joy, excitement and everything else.

It took quite a while for him to calm down, and it only happened after his cheek started to hurt from laughing so much. It had been a while since those specific muscles went through such a workout, but he couldn’t say he didn’t like it.

Upon feeling the massive amount of energy in his body, he clenched his fist in the darkness before declaring to himself.

“Now I need to ready myself to enter the tan’tien saturation realm!”