Transcending the Nine Heavens

A cloud of dense fog appeared in the empty hall. The form of Li Chunbo, the Elder Master of the Li Clan, reappeared.

 “What’s the matter?” The other three also reappeared at the same time.

 These four seemed to be one body. They went everywhere together. When they appeared, they all appeared together; when they disappeared, they all disappeared together.

 “The Li Clan is finished.” Li Chunbo heaved a heavy sigh.

 “What do you mean by that?” There was a look of great shock on the countenances of the other three.

 A bitter laugh escaped Li Chunbo. His expression was bleak. “Look at what the current leader of the Li Clan has become… Scheming and shrewd, with profit as his top priority and fame the only thing in his eyes.”

 “The Li Clan has gone bad.” Li Chunbo stated dispassionately, “There’s no longer a need for it to exist anymore!”

 One of the three black-clad figures replied with a reluctant tone, “Big Brother, the clan is something which you’ve put your whole heart into your entire life. And they are your descendants as well! This is the bloodline legacy of the Li Clan.”

 “Not anymore.”

 Shaking his head, Li Chunbo repeated sorrowfully, “Not anymore…”

 His hands behind his back, he took slow steps over to where he was previously and took a seat. There was a nostalgic look in his eyes. After a long while, he finally said, “Back then, Eldest Uncle had said that true legacy was the passing down of this character!”

 The other three showed profound respect at once!

 They knew that the person whom he was talking about was the previous Nine Tribulations Sword Master!

 But at the same time, they were also mystified. ‘True legacy was the passing down of this character’— Did this mean that… bloodline was not of importance?

“If one is diligent and possesses a just and upright heart, why would one need to take a shortcut? How can the difficulty in achieving great things possibly lie in the distance required to get there?”

 Li Chunbo sighed. “What a hero of a lifetime passes down is of course a fearless and noble spirit! If there comes a day where this fearless and noble spirit degenerates and becomes synonymous with being despicable… Then it does not matter even if we lose such a bloodline legacy.”

 “Because the legacy has already become a kind of disgrace.”

 Although that was what Li Chunbo had said, his eyes still revealed pain and grief.

 “After I had founded the clan, I walked the martial world and finally managed to reach great heights! When I was a third-grade Supreme Martial Artist, I went into seclusion to cultivate. Three thousand years later, when I came out of seclusion, the place was still the same, but the people had already changed!”

 “At that time, I penned and left behind ancestral teachings to educate future generations. But my body was close to crossing the boundary of immortal and mortal and my internal energy was churning and in a mess, so I went into seclusion once more… It was only slightly over ten years ago that I came out of seclusion again.”

 “But the Li Clan is no longer the Li Clan I know!”

 “Today, I even used this huge treasure trove to test how far the Li Clan would go. To think that they are this despicable.” Li Chunbo smiled passively. “Back then, my Ninth Uncle, Zhuge Weixiao, had once predicted the future of the Li Clan — Ten thousand years of prosperity come when spring rivers surge; mediocrity surfaces once the waves cease. Who can foretell events over ten thousand years? All within these heavens and earth depends on sentiment!”

 “I’ve never understood the meaning behind these lines. But today, I finally do.”

 Li Chunbo passively cast his glance toward the skies outside. There was solitude in his eyes. “My name is Chunbo¹ and I founded the Li Clan. Thanks to the great name of my father, we became one of the Nine Super Clans. This is the meaning of ‘Ten thousand years of prosperity come when spring rivers surge’. And now, it has indeed been ten thousand years!”

 “Yet the name of the current clan leader is Wubo¹. The Li Clan was founded by Chunbo; since there are no longer any waves… Can the Li Clan still survive?”

 Li Chunbo smiled bitterly. “That is why…’Mediocrity surfaces once the waves cease’.”

 “This is our fate!” Smiling passively, Li Chunbo rose to his feet and stepped out of the doors. “The fate of my Li Clan! The fate of I, Li Chunbo!”

 The moment he stepped out, he disappeared, as if into smoke.

 The other three black-clad figures looked at each other in a loss. This time, however, they did not disappear along with him.

 “Big Brother seems rather downhearted.”

 “Understood.”

 “But this is the Li Clan’s ten-thousand-year-old legacy. How can we watch on and not do a thing as it gets destroyed?”

 “You’re right.”

 “Even though Big Brother doesn’t intend to interfere, how can we not?”

 “Exactly!”

 “No matter what, we can’t just watch as the Li Clan goes up in smoke…”

 …

 Chu Yang’s place of residence was a spacious building in the core grounds! It was a standalone building in an elegant environment. In this world of snow and ice, there were actually a few stalks of rarely seen greenery in the courtyard.

 The building was constructed with ten-thousand-year-old Mysterious Ice. Not only was it not freezing cold, but it was also pleasantly warm.

 Inside, there was a large swimming pool that could fit more than ten people swimming at the same time. Rare warm jade filled the base of the swimming pool. Even if ice water was poured into the pool, the water would also warm up quickly.

 Typically, out of those who could afford to stay in this place, which of them wasn’t immune to heat and cold?

 Therefore, these things were purely just for enjoyment.

 However, Chu Yang wasn’t here merely for enjoyment; he was here for something else. In the middle of the warm jade in the pool was a tiny hole. A pleasant warmth emanated from the hole.

 This was Earth Core Fire!

 When Chu Yang was about to leave the south-east, Yue Lingxue had once taken special care to inform him, “There are always treasures of extreme Yang in the coldest places! In the coldest place of the Li Clan where buildings are formed by Mysterious Ice with warm jade as the base, Earth Core Fire emanates from within. I had once stayed there for a period of time when I visited the Li Clan back then. However, at that time, I hadn’t comprehended the absorption of earth energy for cultivation yet and ended up missing the opportunity.”

 “I am likely the first person to have comprehended the cultivation of earth energy in the whole of the Nine Heavens; nobody else knows of it. Therefore, even though the Li Clan is in possession of one of the purest sources of earth energy, the Earth Core Fire, they definitely do not attach much importance to it. If not, they wouldn’t use it merely as a hot spring and bathing area.”

 “Actually using such a precious treasure to entertain their guests… Doesn’t that just make one not know whether to laugh or cry!”

 “If there ever comes a day where you can enter the Li Clan, you must make full use of the opportunity! It has an immeasurable impact on the Heavenly Sensor and Yin-Yang balance of one’s body!”

 Chu Yang had always kept his words in mind!

 His seemingly agitated bellows of demands earlier were all for nothing but this!

 And now, after a series of coincidences and chance encounters, sure enough, he managed to fulfill his wish.

Chu Yang only had a pair of shorts on right now. He jumped into the swimming pool. When his soles came into contact with the area where the Earth Core Fire was, he circulated his energy to test how it felt. As expected, he felt comfortable throughout his whole body. He couldn’t help but be overjoyed.

 He shouted, “The few of you, bring in 2,000 Purple Crystals and place them at the side of the pool. Then wait outside after that!”

 At the side stood a few attractive and slender white-robed girls waiting upon him with blushing faces. Every one of them was a one-in-a-thousand beauty.

 Yet now, they had all been sent here to wait upon a man in the bath. Even though the girls were extremely embarrassed, they didn’t dare to resist. When they heard Chu Yang’s order, they were overcome with immense relief. They hurried out and carried Purple Crystals over, placing them one by one at the side of the pool. When the crystals piled up into a tall tower, Chu Yang finally permitted them to leave and they hurried out.

 “Bring in 2,000 Purple Crystals every two hours, got it?” Chu Yang instructed them imposingly.

 “Understood.”

 This ‘successor to the Purple Crystal Clan’ then placed his hand atop the Purple Crystals at the side of the pool. When he took a deep breath, purple aura suddenly surrounded his body! Circulating his energy, he inhaled deeply. At once, a glowing purple radiance filled the area above the pool. The brilliant sheen of the purple vapor obscured his form in the water.

 Wisps of purple vapor surged toward and into Chu Yang’s nostrils…

 Under the cover of his actions, he discreetly aimed the Yongquan acupoint on the base of his foot at the tiny hole where the Earth Core Fire was and stepped onto it. Then, he activated the Nine Heavens Divine Technique at full force and started to absorb fiercely!

 In just a matter of seconds, everyone in the vicinity who happened to be bathing all felt like the water in the pool seemed to have turned colder, as though… the temperature had gone down by quite a few degrees…

 In the shadows.

 Two people watched him closely as they communicated with each other via telepathy.

 Against this Sword Supremacy, how could the people sent to watch him be just anyone? These two were fifth-grade Supreme Martial Artists!

 “Looks like he’s going to absorb the energy of Purple Crystals without holding back tonight in preparation to break through the Purple Crystal mine tomorrow.”

 “Most likely. However, his way of absorbing Purple Crystals is really unique…”

 “Yes, not only is the method strange… the speed is also very frightening! In such a short time, tens of crystals have already disintegrated… Surely this guy can’t be suffering from the Purple Crystal Hand?”

 “Definitely not! Lang Yilang’s Purple Crystal Hand is incurable. In addition, once injured, one can only absorb Purple Crystal energy through the palm. However, he’s doing it through the nostrils… This method is totally unheard of.”

 “It’s really strange!”

 “Is this guy really going to absorb 10,000 Purple Crystals in one night?”

 “Surely not…”

 The two Supreme Martial Artists whispered to each other in the shadows.

 Naturally, Chu Yang’s powerful divine sense had already discovered their presence long ago. However, he pretended to be unaware and simply absorbed the energy within the Purple Crystals with all his might. It was as if his nostrils had transformed into the great ocean and all those wisps of Purple Crystal energy surging toward him were rivers. Every wisp was absorbed by him and vanished without a trace.

 Purple glow shone and covered the entire pool, obscuring everything from view!

 But in truth, Chu Yang was absorbing the Earth Core Fire at full force with his eyes closed! How could Chu Yang not take the opportunity to absorb as much as he could when this good stuff was something which even Yue Lingxue sighed over in regret?

 As for the source of the power extracting the Purple Crystal energy… The Sword Spirit was currently using the tip of the Nine Tribulations Sword, which was resting against the Purple Crystals, to extract the enormous amount of spiritual energy of the universe contained within these 2,000 Purple Crystals and using Chu Yang’s meridians as a medium to transfer it into the Nine Tribulations Space…

 With this method of extraction, not just 2,000 Purple Crystals, even 20,000 Purple Crystals… could also be fully extracted by the Sword Spirit in one night without any problem!

 But obviously, he couldn’t show them something as crazy as that at the moment. In addition, the Li Clan was quite the scrooge, only providing him 10,000 pieces a night…

 Only… providing 10,000 pieces! If Li Wubo were to hear this, he would definitely curl up and weep bitterly.

 10,000 pieces a night is stingy? You must understand that these 10,000 pieces were meant for you to use over a few months…

 As he continued to absorb the energy, the facial expressions of the two Supreme Martial Artists watching him in the shadows also became more and more exciting. Their mouths gaped bigger and bigger.

 Oh my god! He really absorbed the spiritual energy of the universe within 2,000 Purple Crystals inside two hours?

 What the f*ck, what kind of monster is he…

 The color of the Purple Crystals surrounding him became duller and duller… At last, when almost two hours had passed, 2,000 Purple Crystals that had already lost their luster disintegrated simultaneously with a crash, covering the ground in dust!

 “Bring in Purple Crystals! Why are all of you dragging your feet!” bellowed a certain Purple Crystal successor furiously.

 Frightened into silence, the girls hastily came in with Purple Crystals again. When they saw the Purple Crystal dust surrounding the pool, their little mouths gaped so wide that they could each fit a duck egg!

 They were gone?

 Really gone?

 But what they didn’t know was that in Chu Yang’s eyes, this didn’t even count as having gained anything. The true gain was the Earth Core Fire which he had absorbed during these two hours. Right now, it had already given his Dantian a somewhat burning sensation…

 The Nine Tribulations Sword seemed very excited, twisting and turning back and forth in this temperature…

 In addition, under the smelting of the Earth Core Fire, those two strands of Primordial Real Silk in Chu Yang’s Dantian actually seemed to have come alive. They were filled with luster from head to toe…

 ………