Qingyun Sect.
Atop Chixiao Peak—
Daoist Qingxuan only exited seclusion once a week to give a lecture, each session lasting two hours.
After the lecture, he allowed another hour for answering disciples' questions about their cultivation struggles.
At this moment, beneath the ancient pine tree at the peak—whose age no one could remember—many disciples had gathered.
The lecture had just concluded, and now came the Q&A session.
Lu Changtian was the first to rise. After performing a full formal bow, he looked at the blue-robed figure beneath the pine and asked:
"Master, I heard that the Sect Master's personal disciple, Zhao Lingtian, had his dantian shattered in a fight with a demonic cultivator. The Sect Master is now sparing no expense to try to heal him… Is it really impossible to restore a broken dantian?"
At these words, a flicker passed through the eyes of the others gathered.
Because Zhao Lingtian wasn't the only one to suffer a shattered dantian.
There was also their former fifth junior sister—Li Qingran.
Daoist Qingxuan, eyes shut in repose, cracked open a slit as he stroked his beard and replied calmly:
"A broken dantian is not entirely unfixable—but it requires a certain ancient divine pill.
With that pill, even a shattered dantian can be fully restored.
Without it... it's harder than ascending the heavens."
Lu Changtian asked eagerly, "May I ask, Master—what is this pill called?"
Daoist Qingxuan enunciated each word slowly and clearly:
"The Primordial Heaven-Mending Pill."
A murmur swept through the disciples.
Just the name sent shivers down their spines.
It sounded—amazing.
Daoist Qingxuan continued, his tone turning more instructive:
"Everyone is born with a fixed dantian. That is destiny.
Dantian quality varies: it determines how much and how pure spiritual energy one can contain.
Though it's less critical than the spiritual root early in cultivation,
as you advance, it begins to matter greatly.
In ancient times, when spiritual energy was abundant, dantians were ranked from ninth-grade to first-grade.
Ninth being the weakest, first the best.
A first-grade dantian could refine energy rapidly, absorb spiritual power like a vast ocean, and convert it to the purest form.
Back then, the quality of a disciple's dantian could determine how far they might go in life."
Zhang Hanxiao stepped forward confidently, patting his stomach:
"Master, how would you grade my dantian?"
He always thought it was excellent—his cultivation had gone smoothly, and his spiritual energy felt strong.
Daoist Qingxuan merely gave him a side glance, then sneered,
"You?"
"Unranked."
Zhang Hanxiao: "..."
A wave of laughter rippled under the pine tree.
His face turned dark. He wanted to crawl into a hole.
Daoist Qingxuan snapped, "What are you all laughing at?
Most of you are unranked. Only Lu Changtian barely qualifies for seventh-grade.
In the ancient era, with rich spiritual energy,
you'd all be cleaning up beast dung as outer sect janitors.
Only now, with the decline of qi in the Cangyun Realm,
have dantian quality and influence weakened.
That's the only reason you lot got into the inner sect or earned personal tutelage."
Silence fell. Faces turned pale.
Daoist Qingxuan, having thoroughly roasted his disciples, finally returned to the main point:
"A broken dantian is like spilled water—impossible to retrieve.
But… of the 49 heavenly patterns, one remains hidden.
In the ancient days, an alchemist extracted this sliver of chance from Heaven-Mending Stone,
and refined it into the Primordial Heaven-Mending Pill.
This pill could change one's fate.
Not only can it restore a shattered dantian—it can even enhance its quality.
And that's just the mortal-grade version.
The effects of the immortal-grade version… only that ancient alchemist would know."
The disciples were left breathless with yearning.
If only I had that pill… I'd hand it straight to the Sect Master, and never have to worry about resources again!
Lu Changtian was fired up:
"I heard an ancient minor secret realm will open in Central Continent next month.
It includes a beast battlefield and reportedly even an ancient cultivator's cave.
Maybe… just maybe, we could find that divine pill there?"
Daoist Qingxuan gave a small nod.
Though inwardly, he wasn't optimistic—
even in ancient times, the Primordial Heaven-Mending Pill was rare.
But exploring secret realms was still good training.
"Go test your luck," he said.
With that, he waved his sleeve to dismiss the disciples.
"Lecture's over. Return to your caves."
—
BOOM!
Suddenly, a pillar of green light shot skyward from Mount Wanqing, piercing through the mist.
It soared up into the heavens, like a divine column connecting the earth to the sky.
All across the Cangyun Realm, cultivators looked up in shock.
"Pill light forming a pillar?! Spiritual fragrance filling the air?!"
"A divine pill is emerging!"
"It's coming from Mount Wanqing! Let's go—maybe we can still make it in time!"
Back at Chixiao Peak, Daoist Qingxuan's eyes snapped open.
In the next instant, he shot into the air, rushing toward the source of the green light.
From the other main peaks of Qingyun Sect, more powerful figures took flight.
Around Mount Wanqing, every cultivator with any strength was mobilizing.
—
[Immortal-grade "Primordial Heaven-Mending Pill" has appeared, causing a global phenomenon. Spend ¥18 to conceal your presence and hide the heavenly signs?]
"…Huh?" Chen Huai'an stared at the prompt on his phone.
Of course!
That light beam was just short of shouting "come loot me!" to everyone nearby!
Dots filled the map—dense red markers, and more appearing by the second.
His scalp tingled just looking at it.
Thankfully, the game system hadn't pushed him too hard to spend again, likely out of respect for the 90,000 yuan he'd already dropped.
Still… why couldn't hiding heavenly signs be free?!
Grinding his teeth, Chen Huai'an paid the ¥18.
[Concealing heavenly signs...]
The green pillar vanished.
Even the fragrance of the pill in the air disappeared instantly.
Daoist Qingxuan, who had been closest, halted mid-air in confusion.
His divine sense swept the area like a tide—but he found nothing.
"Wait… isn't that Li Qingran?"
His sense passed over the nearby hut, spotting a familiar figure inside.
Daoist Qingxuan remembered she had been expelled—first from Chixiao Peak, then from the sect entirely.
Zhang Hanxiao said he had escorted her down the mountain to return to the mortal world.
So why was she still in Mount Wanqing? Trying to die?
"Heh. Think squatting here means you can return to the sect?"
Daoist Qingxuan sneered.
Frustrated by the fruitless search, and in a foul mood,
he chose to ignore her.
He scanned the area again. Still nothing.
Two possibilities.
Either someone had already taken the divine pill—
or someone had hidden its heavenly signs.
Either way, that cultivator wasn't someone he could afford to offend.
---
Far below, at the edge of the forest, the Sect Master Wu Duantian of Qingyun Sect bowed deeply toward the mountains.
"Senior, may I humbly request an audience?
If you possess the means to refine such a divine pill,
please allow me to trade anything for a pill that can restore a broken dantian!"
He waited.
But no voice answered. No one emerged from the misty forest.
Wu Duantian's face dimmed.
"Sigh—"
With no other choice, he turned back.
The great cultivators all departed.
Only a few rogue cultivators and wide-eyed juniors still wandered Mount Wanqing, hoping to strike it rich.
None of them knew—
That the divine pill which had shocked the entire Cangyun Realm
was now lying casually on a humble wooden table.
And beside that table, in the corner—
a young girl huddled, trembling and completely stunned.