Vast, boundless, the starry sky holds myriad phenomena—yet I alone remain.
A white expanse stretched before him, as though it would bury Li Guanyi completely, scattering his consciousness and drawing him back to his physical self. It resembled that primordial era when ancient men, gazing up at the stars, were struck senseless. Li Guanyi's awareness teetered on the edge of slipping into a pure dream.
But at that moment, a familiar melody resurfaced within his spirit—one he had heard countless times while playing the qin over the years.
This wasn't an external sound.
It was the residue and imprint left in the depths of his soul after years of daily, ceaseless qin practice.
It had become a fundamental part of his being. Even in a muddled state of consciousness, the music would not fade. This was what was known as the Qin Heart—a rare and precious essence among the myriad philosophies of the Hundred Schools. It might have no direct use in war or chaos, but it was no less valuable than the famed Dao Heart.
It had nothing to do with martial arts or killing. One might say it was "useless." But it served to keep the heart anchored—to remain unshaken in the face of worldly madness and bloody turmoil.
"Don't let yourself be turned into a frenzied beast by this chaotic world, Tanuki child…"
Li Guanyi seemed to hear Murong Qiushui's soft singing as she plucked her qin when he was three years old:
"The harmonics reflect the heavens, the pressed notes mirror humanity, and the scattered notes are the same as the earth."
"Tanuki child, do you remember this?"
The qin melody lingered.
When Li Guanyi played the qin, his spirit would always focus. A decade of hard training had engraved this melody into his soul. Even amidst the overwhelming, chaotic force of this space that should have made it impossible to keep one's mind together, Li Guanyi's will stabilized after just two breaths.
The qin music gradually settled deep into his heart.
He raised a hand and touched his forehead. "Why did I suddenly think of my aunt's music?"
"…Where is this place?"
He lifted his hand and saw white cloud-like energy drifting across his palm. Looking up, a massive golden sun appeared suspended in the sky. Rays of golden light rippled across the cloud of sea-like waves.
Where exactly was this place?
Li Guanyi walked forward slowly. In his ears, he heard tiger roars and dragon calls. He turned toward the source of the tiger's roar. As he advanced, the white clouds parted to reveal a massive white tiger, solemn and majestic. Its fur was longer than that of a normal tiger, and its tail bore streaks of gold.
The tiger gazed at Li Guanyi.
Then it took a step forward, and as it drew near, its body shrank.
Eventually, it reached a size roughly equal to Li Guanyi's height—still far larger than an ordinary beast.
It gently touched its forehead to his. A golden aura flowed into his spiritual platform, and in that instant, an indescribable truth dawned on Li Guanyi. The natural knowledge that had always existed in heaven and earth now became something he could comprehend.
The power of the stars in the sky descended to the mortal realm, each with its unique traits.
The most gifted martial artists would perceive these natural truths and use them to forge divine techniques and ultimate arts.
This was what people called comprehending nature.
At the moment of his breakthrough, Li Guanyi had entered this state.
This was the power of the White Tiger's Seven Lodges. Past patriarchs of the White Tiger line had inherited this strength, and each had interpreted it differently. As the stellar force surged within Li Guanyi, he instinctively began to perceive the power of starlight.
The White Tiger constellation governs slaughter.
Li Guanyi raised a hand.
In this illusory yet seemingly real realm, golden energy gathered at his fingertips. It coiled in a violent spiral, faster and faster, until it formed a golden bolt of piercing, armor-shattering power.
He flicked his hand.
The bolt shot through the distance like a tiger's fang, shrieking through the air.
The White Tiger's manifestation slowly stepped back, solemn and dignified. Li Guanyi looked around as the clouds began to surge violently.
A thunderous rumble followed. The clouds parted, revealing white jade flooring beneath his feet and intricate runes spreading outward from where he stood.
Then he saw—around the White Tiger manifestation—there coiled a Red Dragon, and resting solemnly nearby, a Black Tortoise.
The Red Dragon was glowing.
The Black Tortoise seemed real but had no divine glint in its eyes.
And then there was a blank pedestal.
Four mighty manifestations surrounded Li Guanyi, who stood at their center.
He was surrounded by lofty, divine figures of myth—the Four Symbols of the heavens—who all gazed upon him.
The mist dispersed. Ahead, he saw a long path stretching toward a distant height—mountains and rivers reaching their peaks. The path was lined with dense clouds and shadowy silhouettes. At its summit sat a majestic jade throne.
A jade throne above the Four Symbols.
Li Guanyi instinctively took a step forward.
Crushing pressure immediately slammed down on him. His shoulders sank under immense spiritual weight. The jade stairs beneath his feet cracked and crumbled. He fell.
And then…
Li Guanyi snapped awake.
He saw the jagged texture of mountain rock above, and the sound of a creek flowing over stones filled his ears. He gasped for breath—then heard a calm voice soothing his unrest:
"You've awakened."
He turned to see Yaoguang kneeling nearby, reading a book.
She was no longer wearing her hood. Silver strands fell quietly around her temples. Her robe was stained with blood.
Li Guanyi looked down. His wounds had been treated, neatly bandaged with clean cloth. With his post-breakthrough body, the pain was gone—only a tingly itch from the rapidly healing wounds remained.
Yaoguang looked up at him. "You've entered the realm. Try to sense the changes in your body."
They were on a rocky slope near the stream. Li Guanyi looked around and immediately sensed a difference—it felt like an extra sense had been granted to him. Or as if, for the first time, he could instinctively perceive a mysterious force in the world.
He clenched his fist. His physical power had grown significantly.
More importantly, he felt a destructive force lingering in his palm—ready to erupt with greater might than ever before.
He had reached the realm.
He could feel it.
The bronze cauldron in his heart gave a low hum. A misty aura filled his gaze.
To his right, a white tiger's paw pressed on the ground—a five-foot-tall, seven-foot-long tiger pacing in slow steps, almost real. To his left, a ten-foot-long red dragon coiled silently, flickers of firelight flowing across its scales.
And the bloodstained boy sat calmly between them.
No one else could see this scene.
But Li Guanyi could feel it clearly—his power. Like knowing exactly how hard a strike would land just by holding a weapon.
Now, he could draw upon internal energy to summon the world's elemental force.
Even without martial arts, his spiritual manifestations could empower his weapons and limbs.
The White Tiger granted sharpness and defense to his attacks. The Red Dragon infused his strikes with searing fire. Ordinary weapons couldn't endure prolonged use of that fiery energy.
But the real potential of this power still needed to be tested in battle.
As for the Black Tortoise, perhaps because he had not yet fully inherited the Yin-Yang legacy…
The lazy old tortoise—an imprint left by the mysterious elder and the ancient turtle—didn't even bother to show its head. Li Guanyi remembered the elder's words: seek him again after breaking through.
He recalled what he'd just seen:
The Black Tortoise. The blank pedestal. The jade steps. The distant jade throne.
He instinctively placed his hand on the bronze cauldron at his chest. Something told him that vision was connected to this relic.
Within the cauldron, the Jade Elixir had already accumulated to nearly full.
That brief moment of battle had nearly topped it off.
If not for the final stage usually requiring something special—such as contact with a divine weapon or witnessing a supreme technique like Yue Qianfeng's—he suspected it might already be overflowing.
Breakthrough. Jade Elixir. Manifestation. Dream.
So much had happened at once.
Li Guanyi calmed himself. "Did I break through here just now?"
Yaoguang answered gently, "No."
Her tone remained serene: "You were brought to the secret realm. But the intense stellar energy there was unfit for healing, so I brought you back here. General Xue left words: only once you've fully stabilized your breakthrough, practiced a matching technique, and made progress…"
"Will you enter the secret realm with me?"
Li Guanyi raised an eyebrow.
With Yaoguang?
He recalled the bow's records—General Xue and the Yaoguang of five hundred years ago from the Star-Gazing School of the Eastern Continent. He began to understand.
Now that he had broken through, he could draw deeper power from the bow.
Xue Shenjiang's Arrow of Cold Light had long been one of his hidden trump cards.
But that could wait until he returned to the Xue estate.
There was something more urgent now.
Li Guanyi turned toward the surviving assassin. The man still wore a black hood.
He seemed unnaturally calm—completely silent.
"No wonder he's an assassin," Li Guanyi muttered.
He removed the hood. The assassin's bruised face was contorted in panic. His mouth moved furiously, shouting something, but no sound came out. A faint shimmer of light sealed his lips tightly.
The more he struggled, the more terrified he became.
Li Guanyi was stunned, then turned to Yaoguang.
She had donned her hood again, only two silver locks and her pale chin exposed. Her voice remained gentle and still:
"What just happened could not be seen. Nor could your breakthrough be interrupted."
"You may rest easy. Everything was safe."
The starlight sealing the assassin's mouth dissolved.
Now able to speak, he cried out frantically: "I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"
"If you'll let me live—even cripple me, cut my tongue, sever my tendons—I swear I'll never expose anything about you!"
He gasped for breath, staring at the bloodstained teenager and the white-haired woman.
Li Guanyi said calmly, "Aren't you supposed to be tight-lipped?"
The assassin countered: "I kill for money. No need to die needlessly. Killers aren't fanatics."
Li Guanyi wasn't sure whether that made the man more or less professional.
The assassin composed himself. "That crossbow bolt in your shoulder—that was me. If you've kept me alive, you want information. I'll give you everything I know."
"But only if you promise to let me go afterward. I'll write down the last details and bury them under a rock. Otherwise, if there's no hope of survival, I won't cooperate."
"I'd rather die now."
Yes, professional.
Yaoguang replied: "Please wait a moment."
She raised her pale hand and traced a golden rune into the air. It flowed into the assassin's forehead.
His voice halted immediately.
Yaoguang turned her head slightly toward Li Guanyi, her silver hair falling softly. "You may ask now."
"He will not speak a single lie."
Terror filled the assassin's eyes.
Li Guanyi asked, "Who are you? Where are you from?"
"Wen Xi," the man answered quickly. "Disciple of the Knightly Mo school. Chen Kingdom, outer division."
The Mo School had many scattered disciples. Some had strayed into narrow paths of vigilante justice—and the most extreme had become assassins.
"Who sent you?"
The man's face twitched. "The Grand Chancellor…"
"Zantai Xianming."
"He said the Xue family was too powerful—interfering in national affairs. The Xue concubine is pregnant. If it's a boy and becomes the Crown Prince, the Xue family could overturn the court and dethrone the Empress."
"He wanted us to kill Xue Daoyong. And, if possible, drive away Yue Qianfeng."
Li Guanyi recorded all this.
Then he asked, "Do you have any proof?"
"Can you still write a confession?"
To offer up to the old general. A token of goodwill.
The assassin looked pale and replied, "You severed my tendons."
Li Guanyi paused. Perhaps he'd been too thorough earlier.
He glanced at Yaoguang.
She met his eyes. Then turned her gaze toward the assassin's face.
Her tone was tranquil, her voice even: "I can use Yin-Yang techniques to bind his presence to a spiritual imprint. If we place that imprint into a jade stone, breaking the jade will recreate this moment."
Li Guanyi's eyes lit up.
He pulled out a bottle of medicine from General Xue—mostly healing and restorative pills—and swallowed one. Then he handed the jade vial to Yaoguang.
After the assassin tearfully recounted everything, Li Guanyi finally asked what mattered most:
"Ten years ago—did you… did you hunt down a woman carrying a three-year-old child?!"
The assassin's face turned ghostly white.
(End of Chapter)