Chapter 47#

The Otherworldly Heavenly Master of the Apocalypse#

“Junior Brother Qin, now that you’ve completed the formal initiation ceremony, there are some things I can tell you. Come with me,” Lu Heng said.

Qin Yi followed Lu Heng to the back mountain of the sect. At the end of the long bluestone path stood a steep cliff. Below the cliff, clouds and mist swirled about, making it impossible to see what lay beneath. One could only gauge the depth of the ravine from the howling wind that rushed upward.

“Jump down,” Lu Heng said, turning around.

“What?” Qin Yi wondered if he had misheard.

“Don’t be afraid.”

Qin Yi had wanted to say that he wasn’t afraid, but then he saw Lu Heng extend a hand toward him.

“Take my hand.”

With somewhat complicated feelings, Qin Yi silently admitted to himself that he was afraid, and placed his hand in Lu Heng’s, gripping it tightly. That hand was slightly smaller than his own, with long, slender fingers. The skin on the palm was not delicate — it was probably covered in calluses worn in over years of holding a sword. This hand that was nothing soft but rather brimming with strength made Qin Yi hear his own heart pounding fiercely.

Don’t let go. No matter the cycle of life and death, never let go. A thought surfaced inexplicably in the depths of Qin Yi’s heart.

In a daze, Qin Yi leaped together with Lu Heng into that divine valley, led by the hand. The howling wind in his ears brought him back to his senses, and to his surprise, his mood was remarkably calm.

With a flash of golden light, the two figures in midair vanished without a trace.

Deep within a cavern, the patterns on the cave walls glowed faintly several times, and two silhouettes appeared out of nowhere.

The moment his feet touched solid ground, Lu Heng felt a refreshing sensation seep into every pore of his body. Although the Spirit Source had been stolen, the array still retained rich spiritual energy, barely sustaining the operation of this teleportation formation — though it was far from enough to protect the Heavenly Master Sect.

Lu Heng led Qin Yi deeper into the cave, giving him a rough account of everything concerning the Heavenly Master Sect along the way, including the matter of the Spirit Source. The long cavern, almost without their noticing, had reached its end. At the far wall, a vast mineral vein spiraled like a great dragon, its head and tail both plunging into the ground. The vein shimmered with flecks of luminescence — an unknown mineral of some kind.

“This is the ley line of this world,” Lu Heng said, stepping forward and gently touching a foot-long gap on the ley line’s surface. “This is where the Spirit Source was originally stored.”

Seeing Lu Heng pause, a trace of regret flickering across his face, Qin Yi understood that some memory had surfaced. He wisely refrained from urging him on.

“The Spirit Source has been nurturing the ley line for thousands of years, and the line was just on the verge of generating spiritual energy. What a pity…” Lu Heng sighed.

Back when the passage had collapsed, the founding ancestor of the Heavenly Master Sect had left a way out for the people of this continent. This Spirit Source was a treasure that even cultivators in the cultivation realm would fight over — a creation of heaven and earth. When the great powers departed, they laid a grand array deep within this ley line, with the Spirit Source at its core, to continuously nourish the world’s ley line. Moreover, whenever cultivators of the Heavenly Master Sect gained insight into the laws of heaven and earth, they would come to this place to share their understandings with the ley line.

Generation after generation of the Heavenly Master Sect, spanning thousands of years, had done the same thing — all so that the world would one day generate its own spiritual energy, capable of activating the spiritual roots dormant within the bloodlines of its people. By then, even if the seal between this world and the demon realm were destroyed, the people of this world would have the power to defend themselves.

Yet that thief had destroyed millennia of the Heavenly Master Sect’s efforts in a single stroke.

“How did that thief manage to get deep into the ley line?” Qin Yi asked.

“That’s what I haven’t been able to figure out either. By all rights, the array wouldn’t accept anyone who isn’t a disciple of this sect. However, I do have a suspect.”

Lu Heng laid out all the suspicious points about Jiang Sile, including the demon that had appeared out of nowhere. However, when it came to the matter of rebirth, he was warned by the little assistant and had no choice but to drop it.

Qin Yi fell into thought. Although Jiang Sile was his childhood friend, he was not the type to listen blindly or trust without question. Jiang Sile had indeed been acting very strangely lately.

“Le has really been off these past few days. His temper was never great, but he was never this reckless and willful,” Qin Yi said, reviewing recent events. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that something was wrong with Jiang Sile.

“Demons amplify the evil desires buried deep in people’s hearts. They feed on malice — hatred, jealousy, and those other negative emotions are their favorite sustenance,” Lu Heng said.

“That’s strange. Le had a smooth life growing up. Even in the apocalypse, A-Mu and I were always looking after him. How could so much malice have taken root in his heart?” Qin Yi couldn’t quite make sense of it. “Besides, he used to depend on A-Mu so much, but recently he’s been full of hostility toward him. It’s truly bizarre.”

Lu Heng watched this man earnestly wracking his brain in bewilderment. He had initially thought Qin Yi simply didn’t want to expose the relationship between Mu Fei and Jiang Sile out of concern for awkwardness, but now he realized — Qin Yi genuinely believed that Mu Fei and Jiang Sile were nothing more than childhood friends.

This man is remarkably obtuse. Lu Heng found himself troubled as well.

“Perhaps it’s because of Pan Rongxi,” Lu Heng offered, dropping a hint.

“That Pan Rongxi, his motives are indeed rather crooked. But A-Mu insists on protecting him, and I haven’t caught him doing anything I can hold over him — it’s really hard to deal with.” Qin Yi stroked his chin. “But even if A-Mu has been giving Pan Rongxi extra attention, Le’s reaction seems a bit extreme, doesn’t it?”

Lu Heng gave up. He abandoned his attempt to enlighten this man whose train of thought ran in the straightest possible line: “That demon is hiding very deep. I haven’t thought of a way yet to draw it out without harming Jiang Sile’s life.”

“Then isn’t Le in a very dangerous position? It looks like we can’t leave him at the base — who knows what kind of trouble that demon might cause. Better to keep him nearby and monitor him closely,” Qin Yi said.

“That demon is currently in a weakened state. And the fight with me last time should have exhausted its demonic energy. It probably won’t come out to cause trouble for the time being,” Lu Heng said.

Afterward, the two returned to the sect. Now that Qin Yi was an official disciple of the Heavenly Master Sect, he needed to select a cultivation technique suited to his elemental attribute to practice. What Lu Heng had taught him earlier was only the most basic introductory technique. More advanced methods would have to be chosen by Qin Yi himself from the Scripture Pavilion.

Before entering the Scripture Pavilion, Lu Heng tested Qin Yi’s spiritual root. Just as his abilities suggested — a Fire-Attribute Supreme Spiritual Root. After Qin Yi went inside, Lu Heng waited outside the door, his mind wandering to the matter of spiritual roots among these ability users.

In this realm, spiritual energy had been severed, and by rights, these people’s spiritual roots should never have been activated. Yet now, with demonic energy leaking through, the vast majority of people had been corrupted into demon-folk, while a small minority had awakened their spiritual roots and gained what were called “abilities.” Could demonic energy also activate spiritual roots? Combined with the crystal cores found inside demon-folk brains earlier, a hypothesis took shape in Lu Heng’s mind. Could spiritual energy and demonic energy be mutually convertible? If he could find the method of conversion, then fulfilling the commission of sealing the passage would finally show some promise.

Lost in thought, Lu Heng saw Qin Yi walk out holding three jade slips in his hand.

“What techniques did you choose?” Lu Heng asked, a touch curious.

Qin Yi simply opened his palm and held the jade slips out to him.

Lu Heng picked up the first one. It bore the characters Samadhi — this technique was indeed suited to Qin Yi.

The second was the Spirit-Forging Art, focused on cultivating the spiritual sense and its offensive applications. Qin Yi was born with a powerful spiritual sense, making this technique exceptionally fitting for him.

The third…

Lu Heng was about to pick it up for a closer look when Qin Yi pulled his hand back: “It’s a supplementary technique — some miscellaneous arts. Sigh, it’s gotten dark already. Take out that braised meatball canned food from your storage bag. I’ll cook some noodles for you. After all the toss today, my stomach’s been growling…”

Only when the mention of food came up did Lu Heng realize he was genuinely quite hungry. He let Qin Yi’s blatant change of subject go and obediently took out the rations Qin Yi had packed before they left, along with the portable stove.

Watching the noodles steaming in the pot, Lu Heng remembered something: “Every new disciple receives an initiation allocation. Medicines and elixirs are long gone, but a storage bag should still be usable.”

“There’s something I wanted to discuss with you earlier, but since I wasn’t an official disciple yet, it didn’t seem appropriate to bring up,” Qin Yi said, his expression turning serious.

“Hm.” Hearing the gravity in Qin Yi’s tone, Lu Heng reluctantly tore his gaze from the noodles and settled it on Qin Yi’s face.

“Earlier, I was scratched by a zombie and was almost infected, but I managed to force the demonic energy out using a technique. At the time, I was thinking — although ability users have stronger resistance to demonic energy than ordinary people, if the injury is severe enough, infection is still inevitable. I watched helplessly as many brothers, after being infected by demonic energy, chose to take their own lives.”

Perhaps memories resurfaced — Qin Yi’s hands clenched into tight fists, veins standing out on his arms.

“Senior Brother Yun, can this technique be taught to some of our most trusted people? I know the principle of ‘a man’s wealth is his own ruin’ in these chaotic times. But those brothers who have followed me through life and death — once I know there’s a way to avoid infection, I simply cannot stand by and watch them die.” Qin Yi looked at Lu Heng with pleading eyes.

“Before Master sent me down the mountain, he entrusted me with the task of passing on the Heavenly Master Sect’s legacy. But I’m not very good at dealing with people. Now that you’ve officially joined the sect, the matter of selecting suitable disciples is yours to handle.” Having said this, Lu Heng turned his gaze back to the pot.

These noodles seem ready to eat.

Qin Yi’s face lit up with joy. Seeing Lu Heng’s eyes glued to the food again, he quickly grabbed a bowl, ladled noodles into it, and started feeding his senior brother.

The two sat across from each other, eating noodles. Qin Yi pushed most of the meatballs from his own bowl over to Lu Heng’s. Honestly, just watching this person eat improved his appetite enormously — the meatballs didn’t matter one way or another.

Lu Heng was not the least bit coy. He picked up a meatball, placed it in his mouth, and let a satisfied expression show.

The moonlight was gentle, the atmosphere warm.

Qin Yi couldn’t help but feel a spark of interest in casual conversation: “Speaking of which, why is the sect called the Heavenly Master Sect? In my view, this sect should be one of those legendary cultivation sects, right?”

“Actually, our sect originally had no name. Later, when disciples went down the mountain to handle incidents caused by leaking demonic energy, the people they encountered called them ‘Heavenly Masters.’ Over time, that became the sect’s name.”

“Demonic energy leaking?”

“Mm. Leaking demonic energy triggers rather eerie phenomena. In your terms, it would probably be called…” Lu Heng tilted his head. “Hauntings?”

Qin Yi blinked, then burst out laughing: “So all those legends were actually true! When I was a kid, someone told me stories about hauntings and Heavenly Masters, and I flat-out said it couldn’t be real. Back then we made a bet — whoever was wrong had to bark like a dog. Who knew that now I’ve become a Heavenly Master myself.”

“Did you swear an oath during that bet?” Lu Heng asked suddenly.

“Swear? I can’t remember. Probably, yeah.” Qin Yi spread his hands. “Kids always liked to say stuff like ‘If I go back on my word, may lightning strike me down,’ didn’t they?”

“A cultivator must not swear oaths to the Heavenly Dao lightly. Once sworn, such oaths cannot be broken.” Lu Heng looked at Qin Yi with a serious expression.

Qin Yi recalled what he had just said, and his face turned green: “So… to keep my promise, I have to bark like a dog?”

Lu Heng nodded.

Qin Yi was silent for a long time, but he didn’t dare underestimate the profound rules of the Heavenly Dao.

And so — the mighty, all-powerful Boss Qin of W Base, the man whose word was law — was heard to part his thin lips and utter a single word: “Woof!”

After barking like a dog, Qin Yi looked at the way Lu Heng’s eyes burned with suppressed amusement and wondered if he had just been tricked. But then he noticed the laughter lurking in Lu Heng’s eyes and the slight curve at the corner of his mouth, and decided that even if he had been fooled by this person, it was no big deal.

At the Heavenly Master Sect, the two junior and senior brothers shared a heartwarming moment. But over at W Base, the winds were rising and dark clouds gathering.

Jiang Sile buried his face in a washbasin, trying to use the icy water to clear his head. He lifted it and looked into the mirror. The young man reflected back had delicate features and fair skin — clearly someone who had been pampered from childhood. But now dark circles hung heavy beneath his eyes, his sclerae were threaded with blood vessels, and his lips were cracked and dry. He looked utterly haggard.

Jiang Sile wiped the water droplets from his face. He hadn’t slept well for days. Ever since hearing that voice last time, he had begun dreaming — reliving the most desperate moment of his past life over and over again.

Jiang Sile stepped out of the bathroom. Mu Fei had left early in the morning. The fact that Jiang Sile hadn’t been able to sleep at night these past few days had deeply worried him, so he had gone out early hoping to trade for some calming herbal medicine.

When Mu Fei had left, Jiang Sile had still been drowsy in bed. He recalled how Mu Fei had pulled the blanket up over him, then touched his forehead, before quietly slipping out the door. When he woke, the bedside held neatly laid out clean clothes, just as it did every morning. On the table, a thermos contained warm white congee.

Jiang Sile sat on the edge of the bed, his mind replaying scene after scene, his thoughts drifting. He retrieved a small velvet box from his storage space and gripped it tightly in his palm. It was the gift Mu Fei had given him on his eighteenth birthday.

“Oh my, how do I have the honor of you gracing me with your presence today, busy man? I’m truly flattered.”

“Happy birthday, Xiao Le.”

“I’m honored that you, such a busy person, still remember a nobody like me’s birthday.”

“Xiao Le.”

“What’s this? Is it that limited-edition ring I mentioned last time…”

“Mm. I didn’t want to use my family’s money to buy something this important for you, so I’ve been cold-shouldering you lately. I’m sorry.”

A sharp sting in his palm snapped Jiang Sile back from the memories. He looked down — the warm velvet on one corner of the small box had worn away, revealing the sharp edge beneath.

Jiang Sile recalled something Qin Yi had said to him not long ago.

Qin Yi had warned him: even with a precognition ability, one must not become overly reliant on it, for no one could guarantee that events would develop one hundred percent along the foreseen path.

Perhaps, things were different from his past life now. At least, Mu Fei hadn’t risked his life to obtain a healing-attribute crystal core for Pan Rongxi. Pan Rongxi hadn’t used that opportunity to awaken an ability and cement his position in the team. On the contrary, Pan Rongxi seemed to have been somewhat marginalized lately.

Jiang Sile turned the matter over and over in his mind, and concluded that he still couldn’t let go of the twenty-some years of feelings between him and Mu Fei. He decided to go find Mu Fei and talk.

Upon spotting Mu Fei in the distance, Jiang Sile was about to call out to him — when he saw someone run out of a nearby building. Mu Fei waved at the person; they had clearly arranged to meet in advance.

Pan Rongxi.

Jiang Sile ducked behind cover. Torturously, he watched Mu Fei smile warmly at Pan Rongxi, then saw Pan Rongxi hand over a package of something.

Jiang Sile watched as Mu Fei said something with that same gentle smile, and Pan Rongxi shook his head. Then Mu Fei’s hand rose and settled on Pan Rongxi’s head.

Jiang Sile could hold back no longer. He charged out, shoved Pan Rongxi aside, snatched the package from Mu Fei’s hand, and smashed it to the ground with all his might.

A scattering of herbal medicine everywhere.

“Xiao Le!” Mu Fei didn’t have time for words. He crouched down at once, scrambling to pick up the hard-won medicinal herbs.

“So this is what you meant by finding medicine for me — meeting up with this bitch!” Jiang Sile ground his heel viciously into the herbs on the ground.

“Xiao Le! What the hell is wrong with you!” Even a clay figure has three parts of temper. However good Mu Fei’s disposition, Jiang Sile’s actions ignited his anger. “Rongxi and I spent the entire morning going door to door, begging people to trade for these herbs!”

“Who cares about your herbs! This bitch never had a mother since childhood, was poor as dirt yet still managed to go to university — who knows where that money came from. These herbs passed through his hands; I don’t want them — they’re filthy!” Jiang Sile pointed at Pan Rongxi, venting all his rage.

“Jiang Sile, apologize!” Mu Fei’s anger was fully provoked by Jiang Sile’s reckless words. He sprang to his feet, no longer caring about the herbs scattered on the ground.

But at that moment, Pan Rongxi spoke: “Mu Fei, it’s fine. Le must just not have been resting well these past few days, and his emotions are unstable — that’s why he’s like this. Don’t blame him.”

“Who the fuck asked you, you stupid bitch, to open your mouth!” Seeing Pan Rongxi standing in front of him, blocking Mu Fei, Jiang Sile lost all reason. He delivered a vicious kick to Pan Rongxi’s back.

Pan Rongxi lurched forward from the blow, lost his balance, and toppled toward the roadside. His forehead struck the edge of a flower planter with a heavy crack. Blood immediately streamed down his face, and he lost consciousness.

Mu Fei had no time for anything else. He scooped Pan Rongxi up in his arms, cast one disappointed look at Jiang Sile, and hurried away.

Jiang Sile sank to the ground, his head buried between his arms, his shoulders trembling slightly. Just as he’d expected — everything was still the same as in his past life. How naive he had been to think things might be different, to think he could give Mu Fei another chance.

Jiang Sile clenched the small velvet box in his hand once more, and in the end, hurled it into the nearby trash can without hesitation.

At least, in the final moments of his past life, someone had remembered him. Someone had avenged him.

The one he should have held onto — should have been that person.