Stranger Danger

“Huh…”

Uncertain subconsciously caught the stone mirror, his Buddhist heart feeling quite unstable right now.

Even with his strength, he failed to sense when and how Ye Qing had disappeared.

There was no energy spread, no spatial ripples, nothing. One moment he was there, and the next… poof!

He did not think this was possible. If he had not been watching Ye Qing, he would not believe it was possible for a person to vanish into thin air in this manner.

After taking a moment to calm himself down and mulling over his options, Uncertain ultimately chose not to inject his true qi into the stone mirror.

It was because he couldn’t be sure where Yi Pin and Ye Qing had disappeared to.

Was it an opportunity?

Or was it a crisis instead?

Since he couldn’t be sure, the wisest decision here was to stay behind and play the role of a lifeline. If the duo encountered some sort of danger, and he was able to detect it from his side, he would be free to lend them a hand. If everything was fine, he could enter the stone mirror later.

“Amitabha…”

Hand gripping the stone mirror, Uncertain sat down on the boulder and slowly closed his eyes.

……

The moment Ye Qing injected a wisp of true qi into the stone mirror, he immediately felt as if sky and earth had turned upside down, time was spiraling out of control, and all he could see was primal chaos. When his vision recovered, his mouth opened slightly with astonishment.

It was because what he was seeing had exceeded both his expectation and imagination.

He was standing on a cloud and looking up to a plethora of floating mountains. The light of treasures was shining brightly from their peaks. He could smell the fragrant scent of celestial grass and divine medicine and see the light of rare objects and precious resources dyeing the firmament in all sorts of colors. He also saw divine pills illuminating their surroundings with their radiant colors, celestial birds soaring through the sky, and auspicious beasts running through the woods.

……

Above all else, the land was filled with some sort of spiritual qi, except it wasn’t spiritual qi—at least not entirely. It was something purer, stronger, and more profound than spiritual qi.

Enveloped by the unknown qi, Ye Qing felt his body relaxing, and his mind clearing up in just the blink of an eye. The malaises affecting his spirit and physical body vanished without a trace, and the many heart demons skulking about his mind were gone just like that. Not only that, he could clearly sense some sort of worldly rule and martial will within the qi. It was mysterious to say the least.

Ye Qing had a feeling that practicing here would be a hundred times, no, a thousand times faster than normal. One day of cultivation was probably worth several hundred days, maybe even several years of effort back in the outside world.

More importantly, this land wasn’t tainted by the Nine Nethers Demonic Qi like the Kunlun Ruins, nor were there any Nine Nethers Demons. This was more like the celestial realm he was expecting when he first arrived at the Kunlun Ruins.

“Celestial qi! This is celestial qi!”

It was at this moment an exclamation of surprise came from the distance.

Ye Qing traced the voice and saw Yi Pin standing on a patch of clouds with a look of pleasant surprise on his face.

“What is celestial qi, brother? Do you know where we are?”

Ye Qing flashed and appeared before Yi Pin, asking.

“Celestial qi is the essence of the world and the qi of all spirits. It is the root of all arts, the foundation of all ways, and the beginning of all celestials.”

Yi Pin subconsciously answered Ye Qing’s question even though he was clearly distracted, “When everything began, and Primal Chaos first came to be, clear qi rose to the top and became celestial qi, and dirty qi sank to the bottom and became murky qi. The rest lingered in the middle and became indistinguishably mixed. That is why all living creatures are born with natural flaws and muddiness in their body.”

“To practice martial arts is to absorb qi into one’s body, mend the flaws, and shed one’s mortal shell. That is why a warrior’s body grows purer, and their foundation more flawless as one climbs up the cultivation level.”

“Celestial qi is the culmination of clear qi. Perfectly pure, it is compatible with the base of the Heavenly Way and the root of all arts. A warrior or cultivator who desires to attain perfection in their Dao and become a celestial must utterly eliminate the murky qi inside their body, mend the flaws in the physical foundation, shed their mortal shell, and forge their celestial root and celestial body. This cannot be done with mundane origin qi or spiritual qi, however. Only celestial qi, a type of qi that is perfectly pure, can do it. This is why celestial qi is the foundation of the celestial way, and why there is no longer any celestial today even though there used to be countless of them.”

“In ancient times, the world enjoyed an abundant amount of spiritual qi. Celestial qi was a rare commodity even back then, but it definitely existed. Thanks to it, warriors and cultivators are able to forge their celestial root and celestial body and become a celestial. But after the Great Tribulation came to pass, the world underwent a drastic change. Spiritual qi ran dry, and celestial qi is no more. As a result, the path to celestialhood, longevity and Immortality is completely broken.”

It wasn’t until Yi Pin had finished his explanation that he finally realized something. “Brother! You’re here?”

“You just noticed?”

Ye Qing couldn’t help but roll his eyes a bit. His reaction speed was unbelievable even for an old man.

Yi Pin seemed to know where they were though.

“Do you know where we are, brother?”

“You don’t? We’re inside the stone mirror,” Yi Pin answered.

“The stone mirror? You’re saying that this whole land… exists inside the stone mirror?” Ye Qing exclaimed in astonishment.

“Yes. If I’m not mistaken, the stone mirror is probably some sort of Xumi divine object. You know the idiom, ‘A Xumi world may exist inside a mustard seed or a speck of dust?’ Or how Nature’s Shells carry a much bigger space that they appear to? The concept is the same, though of course this stone mirror is much, much more profound than a Nature’s Shell since it could accommodate living people and an entire world. It is not inferior to the legendary Human Seed Bag, World Sleeve, Mustard Seed Pearl and more.”

It was like the floodgates were opened. Yi Pin would spend the next five minutes explaining the Human Seed Bag, World Sleeve, and Mustard Seed Pearl. Long story short, they were all powerful ancient artifacts containing pocket worlds capable of supporting entire ecosystems.

After Yi Pin was done with his explanation, he said, “If I’m not mistaken, the celestials of the Kunlun Ruins are the ones behind this. After realizing that they could not resist the corruption of the Nine Nethers Demonic Qi, they deposited all of the celestial plants, divine medicine, precious resources, extraordinary treasures and more inside this mirror. Then, they sealed themselves inside and cut the mirror off from the outside world so that the Nine Nethers Demonic Qi would not be able to corrupt them.”

“You’re saying that the celestials of the Kunlun Ruins are here?!” Ye Qing exclaimed in surprise.

“They must be!” Yi Pin declared with absolute certainty.

“The celestials…” Ye Qing murmured before asking, “Do you think we should pay these celestials a visit, brother?”

“What for? There are bad eggs among celestials too, you know?”

Yi Pin scoffed while sucking in deep gulps of celestial qi and pointing at the priceless treasures on the mountain. “You see that? That is the good stuff. They are much more reliable than a so-called celestial.”

“Perhaps you’re right.”

Ye Qing wondered if it was his imagination, but he felt like Yi Pin’s qi, essence and spirit was becoming stronger as he inhaled the celestial qi. Not only that, he seemed to be growing younger as well.

The celestial qi was profound, but it could not compare to the mother of all qi, the Profound Yellow Mother Qi as a matter of course. Still, it was greatly beneficial for his martial cultivation.

The treasures on the floating mountains were all things that were lost to the human world as well. To call them priceless and rare would be an understatement.

“What are we waiting for then? Let’s go!”

Yi Pin flew toward a floating mountain right after he said this. Some of the mountains were big, and some of them were small. They were floating in the sky by some sort of unknown power.

There were no arrays, restrictions, or even dangers on the mountains, however. They easily landed on the mountain Yi Pin chose.

Even before they landed on the mountain, they could see the silhouettes of divine dragons and hear their roars. It was quite stunning to say the least.

It wasn’t until they landed on the mountain that they realized that the illusion was created by a strange grass.

The grass was about one meter tall and golden purple in color. It was also crooked and bent like a soaring divine dragon.