Jing Qian's figure leaped into the dimensional void, watching closely to gauge the effect of his strike.
That sword-light was like a needle through the throat, piercing deep into the Elephant God's neck. It shredded through every layer of its defensive power, drilling along its spinal core and plunging into the brain.
In the blink of an eye, the sword thread burrowed into the elephant's skull and detonated.
A surge of overwhelming Exorcising Might bursts forth, shattering the Elephant God's life pattern and casting it into utter silence.
Strictly speaking, this Spiritual Construct was now dead.
Only if its master, Xiang Yu, poured in rare and precious materials to reconstruct its life pattern could it ever be revived.
But how could Jing Qian possibly allow that chance?
With a flicker, his body vanished. The power of Sumeru surged, and in an instant, he had crossed hundreds of thousands of li, descending into the Ghost Sea.
There lay a natural yin-nexus, a place where the mortal world and the Sea of Vital Energy touched, spawning yin-qi. It was akin to the qi-core Jing Qian had planted inside his Void Realm.
Within that yin-nexus, a handsome young monk suddenly coughed a mouthful of blood.
Xiang Yu's life-bonded Spiritual Construct had been slain. No matter the distance, the backlash struck instantly, gravely wounding him.
He had been lurking here, waiting to ambush survivors of the Yanfu Path, never expecting his home base would be the one ambushed instead.
Desperate, he pulled out a rare treasure-pellet from his storage and swallowed it whole. But just then, a sixth-rank great ghost burst out of the void, manifesting a monstrous specter that lunged to devour him.
Xiang Yu's face paled. At once, he unleashed his Dharma-Manifestation Armament, meeting the ghost head-on.
Still, he could not shake the gnawing sensation like a thorn in his back, like a bone stuck in his throat. It left him restless and uneasy.
So he pushed his power to its very limits. Vast torrents of Violet-Eyed Life-Essence surged through his dharma-form, inflating the image of an elephant-headed Buddha to shield him. Only then did he feel a trace of security.
But what he could not see was that, lurking in the dimensional depths, three more sixth-rank great ghosts circled, eager to strike at any moment.
At their side, Jing Qian held another thread of sword-light, weaving layer after layer of buffs onto it with his "budget" version of the Ghost-Devouring Technique.
So wary was he of Xiang Yu that he had already reinforced the sword-light three times. By the fourth, the thread grew unstable under the weight of enhancements, and he stopped.
With a sweeping gesture, three of his Nine-Linked Ghosts darted forth from the void to join the assault, hemming Xiang Yu in on all sides.
At last, Jing Qian bore the true air of a ghost-tamer cultivator.
Even so, Xiang Yu held his ground. Though one against four, he showed no signs of collapse.
He was, after all, a Spiritual Construct Disciple of the Temple of Impermanence. Though he hadn't qualified for the trials of the Spirit-Cleansing, his combat power was extraordinary. Ordinary monsters and fiends of his level could never match him.
Still, his thoughts were only on returning to Hunzhou to check on the Elephant God. He had no desire to linger. Fighting as he retreated, he edged toward the boundary of the yin-nexus.
The nexus was vast, large enough to hold a small city. It was separated from the mortal world by a fog-wreathed membrane that trapped oceans of yin-qi within.
As Xiang Yu slipped through the misty veil, he suddenly felt something threadlike coil around him.
A moment later, a tightness seized his scalp, and then he knew nothing.
The once-promising sixth-rank monk of the Spirit-Suppressing line met his end like a reckless rider at a crossroads, beheaded by an unseen wire. His brains and blood painted the ground.
Hunzhou's newly appointed prefect was no more. From Xiang Yu's body, a purple-jade seal and a golden relic shot skyward, ready to flee the scene, only for a rift in the void to rip open and swallow them whole.
The rift widened, consuming not only the seal and relic but Xiang Yu's corpse and every drop of blood, leaving not a single cell behind.
With this, even the Temple of Impermanence would find no trace of his fate.
Officials of the Divine Dynasty were all-powerful cultivators, often wandering through secret realms in search of fortune. A missing seal would not draw notice at once.
Only after ten cycles of the Ghost Year, if no records of merit or reward surfaced, would the Merit Ledger report him missing. Then, through a long and winding bureaucracy, another replacement might eventually be appointed.
Thanks to Jing Qian's strike, Hunzhou would remain masterless for a century or more, free for him to carve as he pleased.
And Xiang Yu's death triggered a cascade of upheavals.
On Hunzhou Island, the Pagoda Prefecture trembled violently, its foundations near collapse.
The Elephant God's silence and Xiang Yu's fall shattered the island's geomantic balance. The existing life-furnace system teetered on the brink of ruin.
On the third floor of the pagoda, three sealed life-furnaces quaked, their bindings straining to breaking.
Beside them, a sleek black cat clutched a bronze seal, already waiting.
In its paws lay Jing Qian's ninth-rank official seal, enough to exert some influence over Hunzhou's furnaces.
Xili, the cat, had been stationed here under orders, ready for this very moment.
As the prefect perished and the furnaces convulsed, Xili struck.
Who better to subdue life-furnaces than a furnace-spirit?
With the official seal to channel authority, and with shadow-furnaces already buried in place, Xili wrested full control.
The entire system of Hunzhou's life-furnaces was remade.
Now centered on the three shadow-furnaces, the network drew away all the earth's qi once monopolized by the Elephant God.
From then on, sixty percent of Hunzhou's abundant spiritual energy flowed directly to Jing Qian.
Within the Void Realm, the Void Furnace roared, its production of fate-flames multiplying severalfold.
The leap in power sent Xili bounding with joy:
"We're rich, we're rich, we're rich!"
"No, wait"
"We are rich already! Already rich! Already rich!"
Jing Qian quietly reappeared inside the Void Realm. Seeing the progress of the life-furnaces, he couldn't help but feel delighted.
The surge of spiritual energy would accelerate the Void Realm's evolution.
And the growing accumulation of fate-fire would, once he condensed his dharma-form, allow his life-essence cultivation to advance rapidly.
For Jing Qian, all of this was the true foundation of his path.
He turned to Xili the cat and said:
"Keep a close watch over Hunzhou Island for me. If there's any trouble, notify me at once."
With that, he turned and walked over to the Good Corn Sprout.
The little seedling, barely three inches tall, had stretched out a root over a meter long, wrapping it around Xiang Yu's corpse. The root burrowed into the body, greedily draining its blood and power.
Jing Qian asked:
"Little Corn, this was a sixth-rank cultivator. Is that enough for you to produce another seed?"
"Not even close! Way too little!"
"This guy didn't even earn the lowest title rank. I'd need at least ten more like him before I'd have my fill!"
Jing Qian curled his lip. He decided to first test whether fishing the void would yield results before sinking further investment. If the losses were too great, he'd have to cut off the corn spirit's rations; there's no point wasting precious cultivation resources.
Bending down, he retrieved a jade bone from Xiang Yu's body and crushed it in his hand.
At once, a wisp of gray smoke burst forth, merging into the Void Realm.
It was a rare seventh-rank storage treasure, the sort only a scion of a great sect like Xiang Yu could ever wield.
With this acquisition, the Void Realm's area expanded by more than a sixth.
In one corner, a pile of Xiang Yu's personal treasures had also been absorbed into the realm. Jing Qian didn't bother to examine them carefully, but one glance was enough to see they were worth a fortune enough to buy at least three Hunyi-class ships.
He found himself preferring to befriend human cultivators after all; killing them was simply more profitable.
But he was about to set off for the heart of the Divine Dynasty.
There, reckless actions like this would draw too much attention, too much risk. In civilized lands, he would need to behave himself for a while.
Once his gains were secured, he shifted again and crossed space.
This time, he returned to the Mo Tian Wheel docks in Haizhou. By his own reckoning, he had been away less than a day and a half.
Jing Qian marveled once more at the sheer absurdity of his Sumeru Divine Power, utterly beyond balance. Space itself now bent differently for him; "a thousand miles in a step" was nothing unusual.
He had swung back to Hunzhou on a whim and laid the groundwork for a stable rear base. Now he could pursue greater ambitions without worry.
Stepping off the Dingyuan, he returned to the Lin family's dock. There, Lin Dong was waiting with a richly dressed man at his side.
Seeing Jing Qian emerge, Lin Dong hurried forward and said:
"Senior, I've already found a buyer for you. This is Lord Man, steward of the largest shipyard in Haizhou. His network is vast; he can meet all your requirements."
Jing Qian gave a nod, lifting his gaze to the steward. He found the man's cultivation was already at Dragon-Elephant Consummation.
The robed man spoke:
"Fellow Daoist, I know this ship. It's one of Hunzhou's war vessels. I don't know how you came by it, but as long as you have the proper records, I can buy it outright."
"If you lack the documentation, however, then I can only dismantle it for parts; the price would drop sharply."
Jing Qian drew a golden-inscribed plaque from his robe and handed it over.
The steward examined it, then nodded.
"The paperwork is in order. The sale can go through!"
"Your ship is a high-grade seventh-rank treasure vessel. In Haizhou, such a craft fetches a price of 30,000 gold ingots."
"Lin Dong tells me you want to exchange for eight hundred sets of Whitefang sea-beast materials. I've already had them prepared. You may collect them from my store, or I can have them delivered to your ship."
"As for the balance, I'll convert it to 23,000 gold ingots. Will that suffice?"
Jing Qian nodded, agreeing to the deal.
Seventh-rank warships, though valuable, were hardly easy to sell. Not only was the cost prohibitive, but maintaining a crew capable of commanding such a vessel was beyond most buyers.
On Hunzhou Island, such a treasure was unsellable at any price. Only here, in an Upper Continent, could it find a market.
To Jing Qian, the ship was bulky and conspicuous, unlike the nimble Dingyuan. Better to trade it away for materials to rebuild his Wave Tides life pattern.
The deal sealed, the steward ascended the Hunyi to inspect it, visibly excited.
Meanwhile, under Lin Wan's guidance, Jing Qian went ashore to collect the eight hundred Whitefang materials.
Together, they crossed the top of the Mo Tian Wheel and walked over a bamboo bridge, finally setting foot on Purple Bamboo Island.
Beneath his feet sprawled the root system of the mighty Cloud Bamboo, a fourth-rank spirit plant. Even the lightest touch revealed the dense spiritual power coursing within.
Through the eyes of his Worldly Insight, every bamboo root glowed with starlight, radiant and dazzling.
In the Divine Dynasty's system, every one of the twelve Upper Continents and twenty-four Military Continents hosted such formidable, external-path Spiritual Constructs at their cores.
These mighty Outer Dao Moon Spiritual Constructs served both as guardians of their territories, protecting the land and its people, and as regulators of earth's qi, which they channeled to nourish other Spiritual Constructs.
They were the true foundations of the Divine Dynasty, treasures beyond price.
Even among the Twelve Upper Continents, this Cloud Bamboo ranked in the top five most powerful Spiritual Constructs.
Jing Qian had previously witnessed both the First and Fifth Fruits of the Cloud Bamboo, each possessing their own wonders. Now, at last, he stood before the true body of the Cloud Bamboo itself:
Spiritual Construct: Cloud Bamboo
Category: Outer Dao Moon
Grade: Fourth Rank
Suppression Requirement: Manifestation of Gods and Ghosts, Manifestation of Bamboo
Lifespan Burden: Seven days per day
With this single Cloud Bamboo, Cihang Temple could foster at least twenty-four powerful Spirit-Suppressing, a clear display of its strength.
Guided by Lin Wan, Jing Qian traveled along the bamboo's vast roots.
Each root, as thick as ten men abreast, lay across the ground like a slumbering azure dragon, its surface shimmering faintly with starlike grains of light.
These colossal roots formed an incredibly intricate road system. Without someone like Lin Wan, who had grown up here, it would be impossible to navigate.
After twisting and turning through the labyrinth, they entered a refined residential district.
Houses grew in harmony amid the interwoven roots, their light waxing and waning in rhythm with the bamboo's breath of qi.
Passing beneath spiral root-arches, they ascended to higher levels of the root system.
The entire Purple Bamboo Island was built around the Cloud Bamboo, divided into three root-layer continents:
The lowest, where Jing Qian currently walked, was the realm of mortals.
The second layer, above, was home to resident cultivators.
The highest layer was the exclusive domain of Cihang Temple, off-limits without invitation.
After another thirty li, they climbed through a root-archway onto the second layer and emerged into a bustling marketplace.
This bazaar dwarfed Hunzhou's sea market; it was the beating heart of commerce in Haizhou.
Instead of immediately collecting his materials, Jing Qian told Lin Wan:
"Wait here. Let me look around first."
He strolled through the market streets.
Here, there were no monopolies. Shops and stalls of every kind crowded the lanes, varied, colorful, and strange.
Jing Qian treated it as a thorough market survey, sweeping everything with his Worldly Insight. He recorded product types and prices, carefully compiling all the data.
This market, in scale and richness, fell neatly between Hunzhou's sea market and the great kitchens of the dynasties. His horizons widened, and he gained much.
Finally, he condensed all the information into a single ledger and cast it into the Void Realm, instructing Xili to transmit it back to the Hunzhou merchants.
Soon, he would lead Hunzhou into true intercontinental trade.
These price records would prove invaluable for preparing the merchants' goods.
Only after this did he enter a quaint, antique-style shop.
"Uncle Yan," Lin Wan called ahead, "I've brought a guest to collect materials!"
An older man in his fifties, bent over his accounts, looked up and greeted them warmly.
"Ah, little Wan, you're here! See to the guest first, I'll bring the goods."
Eight hundred sets of Whitefang sea-beast materials took up half a room when stacked.
Uncle Yan loaded them onto a cart and wheeled them over in neat, orderly rows of jade-white boxes.
With a sweep of his hand, Jing Qian stored them all in the Void Realm.
At last, he had gathered every material needed for Wave Tides' ascension.
This trip had been more than worth it.
Leaving the shop, he turned back toward the Mo Tian Wheel. On the way, he asked Lin Wan:
"I'd like to travel the Heavenly River Waterway to Yingdu. Can you arrange it?"
"Of course, senior," she replied. "It's still the down-current days. In five days, the up-current will begin, and you can then ride the river straight to Yingdu."
"You may choose to sail your own ship, or take a passenger vessel."
"Arrange me a berth on a passenger ship. Somewhere quiet."
"Consider it done!"
Back aboard the Dingyuan, Jing Qian retreated to his cabin. In truth, his figure flickered, and he crossed instantly into the vast ocean depths.
Of the nine Linked-Heart Ghosts, four still roamed the Wraith Sea. The remaining five had spread across the oceans, searching for sea-monsters.
After days of roaming, one finally found prey worth mentioning.
Amid the endless sea, even a sixth-rank ghost could easily be lost.
Jing Qian, hidden in a dimensional fold, discovered a seventh-rank sea-cucumber demon sprawled in a trench, feeding on qi from a sea spring.
Such wild demons, having ascended by bloodline alone, were always among the weakest of their rank.
Without hesitation, Jing Qian unleashed a sword-thread, cleaving down from its head.
This sword carried the law of life-shortening. Splitting the creature in two, it siphoned away its purest vitality.
That influx of energy surged into Jing Qian's body, extending his lifespan by a full seven years!
He was exhilarated.
A sword that killed while also granting longevity, an unimaginable gift.
To awaken the Longevity life pattern before even condensing a dharma-form was a fortune beyond compare.
Throughout all of Pure Yang Ruins, even in the old days of Pure Yang Heaven, no disciple had ever achieved such a feat.
This life-shortening and life-bestowing sword was his alone, an unmatched art.
For Jing Qian, lifespan was the most crucial resource for advancing his Life Pattern toward the realm of Heaven's Mandate; the more, the better.
Yet the efficiency of harvesting lifespan through his life-shortening sword was only about one percent. In truth, it wasn't that high.
But compared to short-lived humans, the sea-demon clans possessed far more abundant lifespans.
Just by slaying a single seventh-rank sea demon, he had gained seven full years of life. Jing Qian could hardly restrain himself from storming straight into the demon kingdom's heartlands and slaughtering to his heart's content.
With a flick of his finger, he sent his marker-ghost plunging deeper into the sea.
The Void Realm expanded, drawing in the slain demon's carcass. Its flesh and spiritual power could be fed to the Corn Spirit.
Factoring in the cost of traversing space, only seventh-rank demons were worth his effort.
But such demons were exceedingly rare along the frontier between human and demon forces. To find more, he would have to push into the deep seas.
The vast Ocean Realm housed a demon kingdom founded by upper third-rank sea monsters, a power in its own right.
The truly noble-blooded, high-cultivation sea demons all dwelled in the deep sea.
Jing Qian could only rely on his ghosts to probe slowly and cautiously.
After harvesting the sea-cucumber demon, he produced a piece of Whitefang material and cast it into the waters of the Ocean Realm. With a ripple of spiritual power, his Tidal Wave Life Pattern advanced one more step in its reforging.
Since the up-current days had not yet begun, he had just enough time to push this Life Pattern to its peak.
Five days passed in a flash. Jing Qian succeeded in bringing Tidal Wave to perfection.
Now, in his most complete state, he returned to the Dingyuan. When the appointed hour arrived, he stepped out of the cabin once more.
With a wave of Sumeru's power, he drew the entire Dingyuan back into the Void Realm. The sudden disappearance of the massive ship nearly made Lin Dong and his sister's jaws drop.
"Let's go," Jing Qian said calmly.
The siblings led the way, and Jing Qian followed close behind as they made their way once again onto Purple Bamboo Island, heading toward the Heavenly River Waterway.
The up-current days were about to begin, when the colossal waterfall before them would transform into a skyward river.
This shift of a river spanning the entire Divine Dynasty's territory was fueled by an unfathomable force of spiritual power.
The Ying Clan, having ruled this domain for countless years and even outlasting two major rivals, clearly possessed foundations of unimaginable depth.
The three of them traveled until they reached the base of the Heavenly River's falls, where the descending waters gathered into a vast lake.
On the lakeshore, countless ships were already docked, packed tightly together.
Only eighth-rank or higher treasure ships could withstand the journey upriver, and even then, their helmsmen had to remain utterly focused, exercising extreme caution.
Since it was Jing Qian's first time navigating the Heavenly River Waterway, he didn't insist on captaining his own vessel. Instead, Lin Dong arranged passage aboard a passenger ship that regularly traveled to Yingdu.
This vessel, the Xingjiang, was piloted by a seventh-rank cultivator at the Longevity Stage. With ample lifespan remaining, he planned to ferry ships for centuries to amass wealth for refining his own spirit machine.
The Xingjiang offered fair prices and comfortable accommodations. Jing Qian claimed a spacious top-deck suite for his quarters for the ten-day voyage.
Now, mingling among the other passengers, he stood on deck, waiting to witness the grand spectacle of the river's reversal.
Activating the full power of Worldly Insight, he observed the Heavenly River with all his senses.
At high noon, the fifteen-day cycle of the river's reversal finally began.
A surge of overwhelming spiritual force erupted from the waterfall above, then vanished in an instant.
The river itself froze in place for several seconds before suddenly reversing course.
The process was smoother than Jing Qian expected, almost as if it had happened unnoticed.
But precisely this seamless shift from stillness to motion revealed the staggering power behind it.
Watching the scene unfold, Jing Qian felt his horizons expand. His anticipation for the journey to Yingdu only grew stronger.
For years, he had drifted about in a backwater military continent with no proper sects, few true cultivators.
Now, he was bound for the Divine Dynasty's heartland, stepping onto the true stage of geniuses and powerhouses. It felt like a small-town scholar breaking into the imperial ministries.
With a burst of power from the helmsman, the Xingjiang leaped from the shore into the Heavenly River.
The ship surged upward with the current, soaring into the clouds. Before them stretched an endless celestial river, carrying the vessel swiftly along.
Within five days, any ship entering the river during the up-current days could ride its flow straight to Yingdu.
For ships like the Xingjiang, among the first to set out, the journey would take no more than ten days, covering a million li in that time.
To drive a ship one hundred thousand li per day, such was the unimaginable speed of the Heavenly River!
-support me in Patreon for more chapter, 55+ chapters in there
patreon.com/LordoftheReader