The northern boundary of Azure Mist City marked the abrupt end of civilization. Beyond the massive iron gates and watchtowers lay a desolate, vast wilderness where ancient mountain chains pierced through the heavy, grey clouds like jagged dragon teeth.
This was the entrance to the Primeval Ghost Forest.
For centuries, the forest had earned a grim reputation throughout the province. It was a chaotic domain where wild spirit beasts roamed, ancient poisonous mists pooled in subterranean valleys, and lawless rogue cultivators laid lethal ambushes for unsuspecting travelers. Yet, despite its fatal dangers, thousands of mercenaries, alchemists, and sect disciples risked their lives entering its dark perimeter every year, drawn by the allure of ancient medicinal herbs and untamed spirit veins.
The pale morning light had barely broken through the eastern horizon when a lone figure stepped out from the misty forest trail.
Li-Wen wore a practical, dark grey traveling robe with heavy leather armguards bound around his wrists. On his back, he carried a simple travel pack containing the iron chest with the Twin-Lotus of Ice and Fire, the satchel of three hundred spirit stones, and several basic purification herbs.
His posture was relaxed, his footsteps light and entirely silent against the damp pine needles covering the forest floor.
Li-Wen paused at the edge of the tree line, looking back one last time toward the distant, towering walls of Azure Mist City.
"The news of Blood Axe's death and the destruction of his mercenary squad will reach Young Master Bai by noon," Li-Wen analyzed quietly, his dark golden-tinged eyes gleaming with cold wisdom. "The Bai Clan will suspect my involvement, but without solid evidence or a known location, they will be forced to waste their manpower scouring the city's outer districts. That gives me the time I need."
He turned back toward the dark, dense canopy of the ancient forest.
"First, I must find a completely secluded, high-grade earth-spirit cave within the outer perimeter to process the Twin-Lotus and forge the Ignis-Frost Astral Rune. Once the third rune is complete, my physical foundation will cross two hundred thousand jin, and my internal Ki capacity will shatter the Fourth Stage barrier."
With a soft rustle of fabric, Li-Wen's body blurred into a shadow, leaping effortlessly into the dense, foggy canopy of the ancient banyan trees.
The interior of the Primeval Ghost Forest was dark, cold, and suffocatingly humid. Towering ancient trees, their trunks as thick as carriage houses, stretched hundreds of feet into the sky, their sprawling branches interlocked so tightly that only scattered needles of pale sunlight managed to reach the mossy ground below.
A thick, bluish-grey mist hung low over the mud, carrying a faint, sickly sweet aroma—the low-grade poisonous vapors generated by decaying spirit vegetation. To an ordinary Second-Stage or Third-Stage cultivator, breathing this mist without a protective pill for more than two hours would cause severe internal organ erosion.
However, as the blue mist drifted toward Li-Wen, the faint, golden resonance of the Abyssal Bone Rune on his spine flared beneath his skin. The heavy earth magnetic aura naturally compressed the air around him, forming an invisible, microscopic barrier that repelled the poisonous vapors three inches from his face.
Li-Wen traveled deeper into the forest for nearly twenty miles, bypassing the outer perimeter where common mercenary squads set up camp.
Using his vast, ancient Divine Sense, Li-Wen constantly scanned the surrounding terrain, reading the subtle vibrations of the earth lines and spiritual energy currents beneath the soil. While ordinary cultivators relied on crude maps, Li-Wen possessed the memories of a God Emperor—he could locate subterranean spirit veins by simply feeling the warmth and density of the rock formations beneath his boots.
Two hours later, deep inside a narrow, jagged stone ravine covered in thick black moss, Li-Wen stopped his movement.
"A natural dual-element spirit node," Li-Wen murmured, looking down at a steep, hidden fissure between two massive granite boulders.
The subterranean fissure dropped sixty feet down into a dark, secluded limestone cavern. What made this location extraordinary was its natural geography: a freezing underground mountain stream ran along the western wall of the cave, while a small subterranean geothermal spring bubbled softly against the eastern rock face.
The natural collision of cold subterranean water and warm geothermal heat created a balanced, perfectly enclosed spirit chamber—the ideal environment to harmonize the dual nature of the Twin-Lotus of Ice and Fire!
Li-Wen dropped lightly into the fissure, landing silently on the smooth cave floor.
He didn't immediately begin his cultivation. Instead, he pulled several basic array flags from his pack and placed them at five specific structural points around the cave entrance. With a flick of his forefinger, he injected a strand of Ki into the flags, activating a low-tier Mist-Concealment and Sound-Isolating Array.
A faint, translucent ripple spread across the entrance, blending the fissure seamlessly into the surrounding granite rock face. From the outside, even an Eighth-Stage Ki-Refine expert passing right above the ravine would see nothing more than solid stone and smell nothing beyond wild moss.
Satisfied with his preparations, Li-Wen walked over to a flat, dry stone platform in the center of the cavern, sitting down cross-legged.
He placed the iron chest before him and opened the heavy lid.
BOOM!
The six-hundred-year-old Twin-Lotus of Ice and Fire flared with brilliant, contrasting luminescence! The fiery crimson lotus petal radiated a gentle, intense heat that illuminated the damp cave walls in amber light, while the translucent, icy-blue vine emitted a frost mist that instantly froze the moisture on the nearby rocks into delicate ice needles.
"Six hundred years of dual elemental absorption," Li-Wen observed softly, his dark pupils reflecting the red and blue radiance. "If consumed directly by a normal mortal cultivator, the chaotic clash of extreme fire and absolute ice would shatter their Dantian and freeze their blood vessels into ice shards. But under the guidance of the Void Sovereign Technique, it will become the perfect divine foundation."
Li-Wen raised his right hand, making a swift, blade-like chopping motion with his palm.
SWISH!
A precise needle of gold-tinged Ki severed the two halves of the spirit herb at their exact central root junction. The crimson lotus landed smoothly in his right palm, while the icy-blue vine hovered steadily above his left palm, supported by a thin layer of magnetic force.
Li-Wen closed his eyes, inhaling slowly.
"Ignis-Frost Astral Rune... open!"
RUMBLE!
Li-Wen opened his mouth and swallowed the crimson lotus petal whole!
The moment the fire-element essence touched his throat, it exploded into a torrent of liquid volcanic heat! A scorching, bright red aura burst outward from Li-Wen's chest, heating his skin until it turned a deep, flushed crimson. The temperature inside the small stone cavern rose dramatically, drying the damp moss on the walls in a matter of seconds.
Li-Wen's facial muscles twitched slightly, but his mind remained as cold and calm as absolute zero. He manipulated the internal Ki of his Dantian, wrapping his spiritual breath around the violent fire energy and forcing it down along his ribs toward his sternum.
Without giving his body a single second to adapt, Li-Wen opened his mouth again and inhaled the icy-blue vine!
CRACKLE!
An extreme, bone-chilling wave of arctic frost rushed into his chest, colliding head-on with the volcanic fire energy!
Inside Li-Wen's chest cavity, two unstoppable elemental forces clashed with terrifying violence. It felt as though a volcano and a glacier were violently colliding inside his heart, threatening to tear his flesh, muscle tissues, and ribcage into microscopic dust!
"Harmonize!" Li-Wen roared inwardly, his soul consciousness flaring with supreme authority.
The golden divine fragment of his God Emperor Soul vibrated within his spiritual sea. The ancient memory of the Void Sovereign Technique unleashed a hidden gravitational field. Deep within his chest, right above his heart bone, the chaotic fire and ice energies were forcibly compressed together, swirling into a high-speed, dual-colored vortex!
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Li-Wen's heart beat with thunderous force. Blood that was half-scalding red and half-frost blue pumped through his veins, washing over his skeletal structure.
The first celestial rune on his upper spine (the Blood-Vein Spirit Rune) flared with golden light. The second rune on his lower spine (the Abyssal Bone Rune) hummed with heavy purple earth resonance.
And now, right in the center of his chest bone, a third ancient pattern began to carve itself into his living skeleton!
Lines of fiery crimson and icy frost interwoven in a perfect, divine star-shaped diagram—the Ignis-Frost Astral Rune!
Hours bled away into the dark quiet of the underground cavern.
Sweat poured from Li-Wen's forehead, freezing into tiny ice crystals on his cheeks before being instantly evaporated by the sudden surges of thermal heat. The agony of having one's chest bones repeatedly melted by extreme fire and frozen by arctic frost would have driven a normal cultivator completely insane. Yet Li-Wen sat like an ancient stone statue, his posture erect, enduring the refining furnace of his own body.
By the time the sun set beyond the distant mountains above, a loud, resonant chime echoed from inside Li-Wen's chest!
DING—!
The dual vortex of fire and ice completely vanished into his chest bone.
On his sternum, a radiant, star-shaped rune settled into his flesh, glowing with a deep, mesmerizing violet-red luster before slowly fading beneath his skin.
BOOM!
A explosive aura wave burst outward from Li-Wen's body, shattering the loose rocks along the cavern walls!
Li-Wen opened his eyes. His left pupil flared with a piercing, arctic blue light, while his right pupil flared with a deep, volcanic crimson flame!
He stood up smoothly. As he stretched his arms, a series of crisp, thunderous bone pops echoed through his body, sounding like a string of firecrackers going off simultaneously.
He lightness clenched his left fist. A thin layer of razor-sharp, blue frost covered his knuckles. He clenched his right fist, and a intense, concentrated crimson flame wrapped around his fingers!
"The Ignis-Frost Astral Rune is complete," Li-Wen murmured, feeling the terrifying, newly balanced power circulating smoothly through his flesh. "My raw physical strength has breached another threshold, rising from one hundred and forty thousand jin to a staggering two hundred and ten thousand jin (210,000 Jin)!"
Not only had his physical mass and skeletal density doubled, but his internal cultivation had also shattered the bottleneck! The vast residue of dual-element energy had flooded into his Dantian, expanding his internal energy ocean and pushing his cultivation directly from the Third Stage of Ki-Refine into the Peak of the Fourth Stage of Ki-Refine!
With two hundred and ten thousand jin of physical force combined with Fourth-Stage dual-element Ki, Li-Wen could now easily crush an Eighth-Stage Ki-Refine expert with a single casual palm strike!
Li-Wen looked at his hands, feeling the profound harmony of fire and ice within his body.
"Now, my basic self-defense foundation is secure," Li-Wen reflected, his gaze becoming deep and contemplative. "However, returning directly to Azure Mist City right now is unwise."
He walked over to the cave opening, looking out through the translucent concealment array at the darkening forest outside.
"The Bai Clan, the City Governor's Estate, and even the envoys from the Imperial Capital will be hunting frantically for the mysterious youth who possessed a Tier-Three pill recipe," Li-Wen analyzed smoothly. "If I return now, I will be drawn into endless, meaningless battles against major factions before I can fully consolidate my foundation."
A cold, clever smile curved his lips.
"An experienced hunter does not fight every wolf in the forest at once. He vanishes into the shadows, lets his enemies waste their strength searching empty air, and grows stronger in secret."
Li-Wen recalled the geographical maps of the province he had studied in the Wu Clan's library.
Beyond the northern border of the Primeval Ghost Forest lay a remote, quiet territory—a vast agricultural valley known as the Green River Region. It was a low-profile border area far away from the major martial sects and noble city clans, dotted with small peaceful villages, tea plantations, and quiet trade towns.
More importantly, because of its rich soil and humid river climate, the Green River Region was home to hundreds of minor herbal markets and local medical clinics where common people sought treatment for wild wilderness illnesses.
"A small, quiet town where no one knows the name 'Li-Wen'..." Li-Wen thought, his eyes shining with sharp intelligence. "I can assume the identity of a simple, low-profile travelling doctor or herbalist. I can treat common illnesses, gather rare local herbs without drawing suspicion, refine high-grade pills in absolute peace, and quietly build my own secret wealth and resource network."
While the arrogant clans of Azure Mist City turned the city upside down searching for him, he would be living a calm, low-key life in a quiet border town, steadily pushing his cultivation toward the higher realm!
"By the time the Family Assessment arrives in three weeks," Li-Wen murmured, stepping out through the hidden cave array into the cool night air. "I will return to Azure Mist City not as a target, but as an absolute sovereign whom no one can touch."
Li-Wen pulled a simple black cloth cloak from his pack, wrapping it around his shoulders to cover his navy robes. He adjusted the wooden pack on his back, turned his footing toward the deep northern trail of the forest, and leaped silently into the dark canopy, heading toward the Green River Region.
See you in next chapter...