Jing Qian strolled into the hidden chamber.
As the saying goes, a cunning hare keeps three burrows.
The turtle-shell furnace outside might have looked valuable, but in truth, it held only seven Firefiends.
This chamber, however, was Yang Jia's true treasure vault.
The petty thief who arrived before him clearly hadn't discovered it.
At the center of the chamber sat a massive cauldron, blazing with Fate Fire.
Jing Qian swept his Worldly Insight across it, and key information surfaced before his mind's eye:
Fire-Eye Furnace
Grade: Blue-Rank Furnace
Anchor: Shark's Tear
Remaining Lifespan: Nine Years
It was a seventh-rank Life Furnace, priceless by any measure.
For a moment, Jing Qian was speechless.
A sixth-rank merman, burning Fate Fire, enslaving its kin truly, Yang Jia had been nothing less than a great traitor of the seas.
In Jing Qian's understanding, the system of Fate Fire and Life Furnaces was a cultivation path unique to humanity.
Humans and demon-spirits were cultivated in entirely different ways.
Sea demons and mountain ghosts were born with Innate Patterns, their mana flowing from bloodline alone. They did not need Life Furnaces.
But the human-forged system of furnaces and fire had countless marvelous uses beyond entry-level cultivation, offering immense aid to advancement.
Thus, whether human or demon, the desire for furnaces and fire was universal.
Yet the Divine Dynasty had strict laws: the methods to build furnaces were a secret heritage, forbidden to be taught to demons.
This was humanity's greatest technological barrier, the cornerstone of their advantage.
It was precisely by leading in foundational cultivation technology that humans had seized the prime lands of the Yingfutu World, driving sea demons and mountain ghosts into desperate corners.
Still, while the techniques could not be leaked, finished furnaces could always be stolen.
Indeed, many powerful demons possessed fine furnaces of dubious origin.
This Fire-Eye Furnace of Yang Jia, who knew how it had been acquired?
With it, Yang Jia had refined and stored Firefiends far more efficiently.
Jing Qian stood before the furnace, crooked a finger, and tore open a rift in space. Out popped the black-cat spirit, Xi Li.
"How about it, Xi Li?" Jing Qian asked. "Can this furnace fetch a good price?"
"Of course, of course!" the cat cried.
"In the Kitchen-Halls, any finished Life Furnace sells well even if it's only a White-Flame rank.
"Master, when will you come with me to the Kitchen-Hall? Ever since I told them you could do Fate Divination, they've been letting me inside.
"There are even quite a few who want you to read their destinies. You mustn't let me down if you do, I'll get chased out, and I'll lose face as a big cat!"
Jing Qian chuckled and said:
"First, move this furnace into the Void Realm. Extract the Solar Dragon-Scale Firefiends within and store them. Take all the Fate Fire too.
"Later, I'll follow you to the Kitchen-Hall and sell this furnace off."
Obedient, Xi Li pounced atop the Fire-Eye Furnace. With his spirit-power, he unraveled the geo-spiritual bindings woven into it.
This was something only a Furnace-Spirit could do.
Had Jing Qian attempted it himself, moving the furnace intact would have been an arduous task.
Inside the Fire-Eye Furnace were fifteen Solar Dragon-Scale Firefiends, along with six Blue-Blood Fate Fires, a fortune by any standard.
At higher levels of cultivation, gold and silver lost much of their meaning. Fate Fire was the true hard currency.
For those above the eighth rank, it was an absolute necessity.
Once Jing Qian condensed his Dharma Aspect, each eighth-rank Azure-Wing Fate Fire he absorbed would raise his Life-Essence limit by one.
It was the most efficient way to increase mana capacity, though also the most expensive.
Given his multitude of Life Patterns, Jing Qian's potential limit exceeded two thousand Azure-Wing Essences.
At present, his mana reserves were barely one percent of that.
If he relied solely on gradual accumulation, it would take unfathomable time to reach his ceiling.
He would need to earn, to trade, to make deals in the Kitchen-Halls and buy up Fate Fire in bulk.
Xi Li worked for half an hour before finally disassembling the Fire-Eye Furnace and moving it into the Void Realm.
Jing Qian had struck a major windfall. Pleased, he linked with his Little Ghost marker, and in a flash of void-jump, crossed ten thousand miles back to the Dingyuan.
Each such leap across ten thousand miles cost him precisely one Azure-Wing Essence fair price, no cheating.
Though the trip there and back consumed more than half of Jing Qian's mana, it saved him tremendous travel time. What's more, it was silent, unseen, and an unseen hand behind the curtain. With just a little planning, he could stage plenty of "surprises." A most useful trick indeed.
He dismissed his Little Ghost, then stepped out of the cabin.
The ghost had already steered his ship back toward Hunzhou Island, yet had not docked along the Hun River.
Not because Jing Qian hadn't ordered it, but because it was simply impossible.
The Hun River itself had been cut off.
Not only the Dingyuan, but eight other treasure ships also drifted loosely at the river's mouth, unable to land.
Lifting his gaze, Jing Qian saw on the towering bulk of Hunzhou Island a tide of brilliant spiritual light bursting forth.
Activating Worldly Insight, he saw it clearly: his old friend, the Island Whale, now transformed into a great Roc, was still locked in battle with the Li Dragon.
By his reckoning, the two great Violet-Eyed Beasts had been fighting since the start of the Yin Year, months on end, yet still without a victor.
Judging from the field, the Roc had the upper hand.
Though its aura had weakened, it bore no serious wounds.
The Li Dragon, on the other hand, was torn and battered, plucked nearly to shreds.
Its most grievous injury: both of its massive eyes had been gouged clean through by the Roc's talons.
Around Hunzhou Island, mountains had been reduced to rubble by their struggle, the landscape a scene of devastation.
Below, the ships adrift were the remnants of Hunzhou's fleet, returning from the Oceanic Feast of the Yin Year.
They had set out twenty-six strong, mighty, and proud.
Now, barely a handful limped back, battered and forlorn.
On three of the treasure ships perched the elders: Shenpeng, Jingwei, and the Six-Eyed Golden Toad, all powerful Longevity Realm cultivators.
The remaining six ships were scattered around them.
Jing Qian steered the Dingyuan in a graceful arc, drawing alongside one of the vessels.
Leaping across, he landed upon its deck.
There stood seven or eight battered cultivators, all bearing wounds.
Jing Qian approached one man, looked him up and down, and let out a mocking laugh.
"Well now, Steward Qian. How careless of you.
"I did warn you better to guard your own hands than go grasping at what isn't yours."
The man he addressed was none other than his old acquaintance, Qian Yuan.
Qian, too, had commanded a ship in the Oceanic Feast.
But the Qian clan, though they had only just taken over the Zheng Branch of the Jing family's holdings, lacked deep foundations.
When faced with seventh-rank corpse-ghosts, their ship was devastated.
Though Zhu Shou had dragged Qian Yuan out alive, all the core cultivators of his clan had perished.
Even Qian Yuan himself had his Dharma Manifestation torn apart, one arm gone.
And now, to see Jing Qian standing before him whole and hale was enough to make his eyelids twitch with rage.
Ironically, it was thanks to the Qian clan that Jing Qian had escaped greater misfortune, for when they assumed the Jing family's responsibilities in his absence, it spared him further persecution.
But still
With a face like iron, Qian Yuan rasped,
"Jing Qian… you're alive!"
"Why then did you not return to the island?"
Had he known this youth still lived, he would never have rushed to seize Jing clan property after hearing that She Dizang Island had been destroyed with no survivors.
Jing Qian bowed slightly and replied smoothly:
"Steward, the winds and waves of the Yin Year were fierce. I lost my way for a time. With corpse-ghosts roaming the seas, I sought a hidden place to cultivate.
"But as for the task you entrusted to me, rest assured, I did not delay.
"The moment I left the island, I pressed forward without pause, and in the end, I delivered Master Miaojue to She Dizang Island in time to reunite with his kin.
"Were it not so, he might have missed the final performance.
"I myself witnessed the fall of She Dizang Island, what a spectacle it was!
"And Master Miaojue, to pass together with his friends and family… surely he left without regrets."
"Steward Qian, do tend your wounds. Another day, come to the Jing Pavilion, I'll serve you tea."
With that, Jing Qian's figure flickered and vanished back onto the Dingyuan.
Qian Yuan stood there, eyes dark and venomous, staring daggers into his back.
For years, he had schemed against the Jing family without fail, dragging a great house down into ruin.
Yet ever since Jing Qian's return from the sea, his own plans had faltered, turning against him, leaving him trapped with no way forward.
But Jing Qian cared little for Qian Yuan's response. His tone and manner had shed any semblance of respect for the steward.
This Yin Year had given him too much. His strength had grown, and with it, his mindset shifted.
With power in hand, fewer and fewer things could bind him.
Back aboard the Dingyuan, Jing Qian summoned the Little Ghost once more to mind the ship.
He himself slipped into the dimensional folds, drifting unseen toward where Shenpeng and the others gathered, ever eager to join the drama.
Though his cultivation was beneath theirs, it surprised him that the great officials of the Hunzhou Prefecture had yet to step onto the island.
Of Hunzhou's five chief administrators, two were Supervisors, three were Heads of Departments.
One, Tao Qian, was burning his lifespan to command the Li Dragon.
The other four now stood together upon the deck of the Hunyi.
Among them, Wu Liuyuan, head of the Artisan's Office, a master craftsman of Hundred Refinements, usually kept to the background.
Now, he stood shoulder to shoulder with Ling Mingji, Zhu Shou, and Li Yuan.
Hidden in the shadows, Jing Qian listened as the four conversed.
Li Yuan was speaking:
"Tao the Academic is the eldest of our bureau, his years long and his lifespan deep.
"He's been driving that Li Dragon for three months now.
"If it were me, I'd be lucky to last a month.
"But if you wait for him to die before you land, you'll delay too much.
"Remember, on the last day of the first month after the Yin Year, the Divine Dynasty will hold its merit tallies.
"If Friend Ling intends to succeed Luo Yaozhi as Governor, you had best move swiftly."
"And besides, the Roc is no easy foe. Let's not waste any more time."
But Ling Mingji, radiating confidence, replied:
"No need to worry. Give me three days before the merit tallies, that's all I ask.
"The Roc has only just ascended; its foundation is thin. It's already at its limits.
"If it doesn't retreat soon, it will exhaust its very source.
"As for old Tao, how long he lasts doesn't matter. With the Roc here, it's already certain he'll burn his lifespan to ashes for the island's sake. His heroic sacrifice is foregone.
"And if he refuses, I'll make sure he does."
Thus did Ling Mingji speak, deciding, with a single word, the life and death of a Prefectural elder.
Yet his words stirred no reaction at all from the three great cultivators at his side.
They only stared in silence at the tug-of-war between the dragon and the roc.
Although Hunzhou Prefecture was the weakest of the Divine Dynasty's many prefectures, its staff was the smallest, and its factions were sharply divided.
Among the "three bureaus and two supervisors," Ling Mingji and Wu Liuyuan, head of the Artisan's Bureau, were steadfast allies.
Meanwhile, Zhu Shou of the Maritime Bureau and Li Yuan of the Civil Bureau were as inseparable as shadow and flame.
Only Tao Qian, the Academic Dean, had been a staunch supporter of the late Governor Luo Yaozhi.
Though Luo Yaozhi's cultivation and status had been the highest, he was a mere rogue cultivator who had clawed his way into the Spirit-Suppressing Realm, a background looked down upon in the strict hierarchy of the Dynasty.
Thus, men like Ling Mingji and Zhu Shou, backed by powerful clans, had always kept their distance from him.
The three factions' quiet rivalries ran like undercurrents beneath Hunzhou's surface, leaving the waters ever-turbulent.
For years, they had managed to maintain a façade of harmony.
But this Yin Year changed everything. Luo Yaozhi perished in tribulation, leaving the Governor's seat vacant.
That vacancy awakened the ambitions of Ling Mingji and Zhu Shou.
Worse, the sea monster clan's Yang Jia suddenly went mad, burning through its entire foundation to breed so many high-grade corpse-ghosts.
The carnage to Hunzhou's human cultivators was immense.
Yet once the Yin Year passed, the Dynasty's merit tallies would bring unimaginable wealth and honor to those who survived.
The two rival factions, led by Ling Mingji and Zhu Shou, had already resolved to wipe out all remnants of the Governor's party.
That purge had already begun during the Oceanic Feast.
Hunzhou had launched twenty-six ships. Only eight returned.
Fully half of those losses were the result of scheming by the prefecture's own great cultivators.
Now, every loyalist of the Governor and Tao Qian had been drowned beneath the waves.
The wily Tao Qian had seen the danger and insisted on staying behind, anchoring the island with the Li Dragon.
In past years, this duty had always belonged to Wu Liuyuan.
But this year, Tao Qian leveraged his seniority to seize the task, no doubt fearing that if he set sail, he would never come back.
No one could have foreseen that, after so many years of relative peace, a six-rank Whale Roc would descend upon the island itself.
Now Tao Qian found himself in a truly impossible position.
And the four great cultivators had no intention of saving him; unless they bled him dry, there was no way they would set foot on the island.
Watching their cold discussion, Jing Qian gained a new understanding of Hunzhou's political landscape.
In his sea of consciousness, the remnant soul of Luo Yaozhi was nearly wrung dry.
But from Luo's memories, Jing Qian had already sketched a new plan for maneuvering on the island.
Whether that plan could take shape, however, remained to be seen.
The great cultivators continued to watch as their colleague's lifespan burned away.
For a Longevity Realm cultivator, there was nothing more agonizing, more despairing, than seeing centuries of hoarded lifespan squandered to ash.
And in despair, people will do anything.
At last, when Tao Qian's lifespan truly reached its end and death loomed, he looked down from the Prefecture Hall and saw his peers watching coldly from below, indifferent to his fate.
In that instant, malice flared within him.
He suddenly severed his control over the Li Dragon, cutting off the flow of his life force.
The massive spirit construct, under his final command, simply collapsed onto the mountainside. It lay still, jaws wide, no longer resisting.
Then Tao Qian, with body drained and vitality gone, crawled out from the Prefecture Hall and, without a backward glance, dove straight into the dragon's belly.
He had abandoned the field, forsaking all of Hunzhou, deserting like a coward.
The Whale Roc, having fought bitterly for months and now nearly spent, seized the opening with glee.
In a flash of light, it hurled itself toward the Prefecture Hall.
Its talons tore apart the protective wards.
Then its beak smashed down upon the Academics' quarter, the courtyard that housed the Prefecture Furnace.
With a thunderous crash, buildings collapsed, and spiritual currents went wild.
The Roc tore free Hunzhou's only Violet-Flame Furnace, the prefecture's single most vital resource.
Channeling the last of its power, it clutched the sixth-rank furnace in its beak and shot into the sky as a streak of light.
The Roc clan's escape arts were unmatched; this Whale Roc was faster even than Jing Qian's Bian Yuan Weiyang.
No one present could react, and none could even hope to stop it.
"How dare you!"
Ling Mingji's roar shook the sea.
That Tao Qian had committed such treachery, leading to the Prefecture's furnace being stolen
This Violet-Flame Furnace was the heart of Hunzhou's cultivation.
Now it was gone. With Hunzhou's meager resources, forging another in short order was impossible.
Ling Mingji immediately transformed into his Divine Roc Form, soaring upward toward the Li Dragon.
With the Whale Roc gone, only that battered, half-dead construct remained.
He dove into the ruined Prefecture Hall, dropping into the seat Tao Qian had just vacated, the very vine-woven chair that controlled the Li Dragon.
Soon, a strange cord unfurled from Ling Mingji's body, stretching out toward the vine-woven chair.
The moment the cord and chair touched, the cord dissolved into a stream of liquid spiritual radiance and seeped into the seat.
This was Ling Mingji's Subduing Dragon Spiritual Construct, the very Construct he relied on for forging fate.
Its power was unique, crafted to counter the lineage of true dragons.
And at this very moment, upon his body, it perfectly suppressed the Li Dragon.
With his current cultivation, once the dragon was subdued, his ascension to the Spirit-Suppressing Realm would be complete.
He even carried two Spiritual Constructs within him. The moment he advanced, his divine powers would surpass even the former Prefect, Luo Yaozhi.
Under his control, the Li Dragon stirred once more, coiling its massive body into a great serpentine formation, then fell still.
Ling Mingji, without hesitation, set his path of ascension into motion.
Thus ended the six-rank battle.
With the departure of the great beasts' aura, the Hun River returned to its normal flow.
The treasure ships scattered below began, one after another, to re-enter the river and sail back toward the island.
Jing Qian watched the spectacle for some time but never revealed himself. After gleaning all the key information he needed, he returned to the Dingyuan vessel.
His ship joined the fleet, drifting with the current into the Hun River, beginning its long-awaited voyage home.
When Ling Mingji completed his advancement and claimed the Prefect's seat, all of Hunzhou would inevitably enter a new era.
Jing Qian felt no fear; on the contrary, he even looked forward to it.
Cultivation was precisely about weathering ceaseless change and sharpening oneself on hardship.
He sat quietly within his cabin, beginning a new round of practice.
The Ghost Seal Pattern he had reforged was nearly perfected, already approaching the extreme of the Violet Pupil rank.
He casually pulled out another lump of "yin-bone jelly" and bit into it, continuing his cultivation while delving into the vast trove of secret arts within the Nether Cycle of Yanfu Paths.
Each time he studied, fresh revelations arose.
But suddenly, a faint tremor rippled across the Hun River.
The tremor grew stronger with each passing breath, and Jing Qian sensed it was rising from the vast ocean beneath the river.
Before he could probe further, a strange sound drifted from afar.
With a flick of power, his ears caught it clearly.
It was like a chant, half hymn, half mantra:
"No thought, no thought!"
"Without measure, without measure!"
"No fruit, no fruit!"
"All impermanent, all impermanent!"
The phrases looped endlessly, their meaning obscure, their source unknown.
Jing Qian stepped from his cabin, gazing toward the direction of the tremor.
He opened his Worldly Insight, and his vision stretched to its utmost.
Far across the boundless sea, a tiny white speck appeared no bigger than a grain of rice.
But with each passing quarter-hour, it grew larger: from rice grain, to soybean, to date pit, to goose egg.
The white speck was hurtling toward Hunzhou Island with terrifying speed.
At the same time, the chanting grew louder and clearer, and what began as whispers soon resounded like thunder.
And with his keen sight, Jing Qian finally saw what it was.
The white shape was a colossal White Elephant, vast as a mountain, striding across the sea.
The tremors beneath the Hun River were the resonance of that titanic beast treading the ocean floor.
Half its body was submerged, yet it moved upon the waves as though walking firm ground.
Through the lens of Worldly Insight, a cascade of information shimmered upon the White Elephant's body:
[Spiritual Construct: Elephant God]
[Subjugation Requirement: Pattern of Gods and Ghosts, Pattern of Mountains and Seas, Pattern of a Hundred Beasts]
[Lifespan Burden: One day per day]
This was no mountain fiend nor ocean demon; it was a rare, otherworldly Spiritual Construct!
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