The living area contained only a bluestone bed, a bluestone cabinet, two cushions carved from white stone, and several earthenware jars and sea bowls. These implements were clearly handmade, yet every line etched upon them possessed a natural fluidity, imbued with a startling beauty. The study held more furnishings: a long stone desk, two bookcases woven from purple-silver bamboo, and a five-stringed Yaoqin hanging on the wall, its body ancient and dull, clearly having seen many years. On the desk lay three neatly rolled scrolls of pale silver cloth. The bookcases held only three bundles of bamboo slips tied together.

Everything in the rooms was spotless, as if just cleaned. This eerie scene made Gu Xichen’s scalp tingle; the place was almost obsessively clean.

After pondering for a moment, Gu Xichen cautiously unrolled the three cloth scrolls on the desk. It was impossible to tell what material these pale silver scrolls were made of; each appeared to be only as thick as a wrist when rolled, but when unfurled, they spread out to three feet wide and twelve feet long. The scrolls were densely covered with tadpole script characters, each the size of a date pit, detailing three cultivation manuals. However, the wording was archaic and dry, making them exceedingly difficult to comprehend. After reading only the first seven or eight lines of the incantations, Gu Xichen felt a sharp pain shoot through his brain.

“Some extraordinarily profound cultivation method, but structured in four-character phrases—truly obtuse,” Gu Xichen shook his head, then turned to the three bundles of bamboo slips.

What was recorded on the bamboo slips was much simpler, mainly consisting of three sets of formulas for refining various alloys. But the descriptions were bizarre to the extreme; Gu Xichen felt like he was reading ancient scripture again.

For instance, one alloy, called ‘Nine Thunders Vermilion Copper,’ primarily used ordinary copper ingots. After undergoing more than ten inconceivable refinement steps, it could actually ignore the impact of heavenly thunder!

“Ignoring lightning attacks? Even a Roman first-tier warship wouldn't dare claim that! If surrounded by a thundercloud storm, even a Roman first-tier warship would weep!” Gu Xichen’s facial muscles twitched. He repeatedly shook his head, saying, “Madman. Whoever wrote this is a madman. How is that possible? Ignoring heavenly thunder? Ha, meaning ignoring all electrical attacks? That’s absurd!”

Yet, vaguely, Gu Xichen knew this might actually be true.

Everything in this valley was far too mysterious. Gu Xichen’s intuition told him that the incantations on these three scrolls and the alloy recipes on these three bundles of bamboo slips held immeasurable value.

Weighing the three bundles of cloth scrolls in his left hand and the three bamboo scrolls in his right, Gu Xichen gave a strange laugh: “It seems this matter has blown up!”

After calculating for a while, Gu Xichen smiled faintly and began reciting the incantations from the scrolls and the alloy formulas from the slips. In barely half an hour, tens of thousands of characters were perfectly memorized.

Taking the scrolls and slips, Gu Xichen left the study and headed for the thatched hut to his left.

This hut was empty save for a fire eye on the floor. The owner of this place had somehow inlaid a slab of red jade, six feet square, into the ground. Upon this jade slab, small blocks of red Zakkara energy crystals were set in the pattern of the Innate Eight Trigrams. At the very center of the jade slab was a hole about the thickness of a small bowl, from which a plume of pale golden flame, about three feet high, erupted silently, burning still like solidified colored glaze.

Pale golden flames—Gu Xichen had never even heard of such a thing. Suspended within this pale golden flame was a semi-transparent sphere of white liquid. Occasionally, this liquid mass would tremble slightly, sending out ripples.

Standing at the doorway of the hut, Gu Xichen hadn't detected anything strange about the place, but the moment he stepped onto the red jade slab, a wave of heat washed over him. In just one breath, Gu Xichen felt as if his body were about to ignite. Large volumes of sweat seeped out of him; the sweat streamed down his body and evaporated into steam before it could even touch the ground. With a hiss, the long hair Gu Xichen had stimulated his potential to grow via the Dao Embryo suddenly burst into flames. As a flurry of ashes drifted away, Gu Xichen was burned back into a bald man.

Startled, Gu Xichen hastily retreated two steps. As soon as he stepped off the red jade slab, a wave of coolness washed over him, and the terrifying heat vanished without a trace.

Frowning, he stepped back onto the jade slab, and the wave of heat rolled toward him again.

Gu Xichen’s expression lit up. He casually tossed the three pale silver cloth scrolls toward the pale golden pillar of fire. Like snowflakes dissolving in water, the three scrolls vanished without even producing a wisp of smoke, utterly nullified by the fire column. Gu Xichen let out a cold laugh, weighed the bamboo slips in his hand, pondered briefly, and then threw two bundles into the fire column as well; the bamboo slips were similarly turned to nothing.

Not daring to step onto the red stone slab again, Gu Xichen searched the thatched hut carefully. Finally, on the red jade slab directly to the north, he discovered an extremely thin piece of jade, upon which a few words were carved in miniscule script. The general meaning conveyed was that this pale golden column of fire was something the owner here had summoned, referred to as the ‘Golden Crow Heavenly Fire.’ The seed of the fire lay beneath the jade slab, and unless one possessed sufficient power, one should never dream of subduing it, nor should one ever approach it. The semi-transparent white liquid sphere within the fire column was a weapon refined by the owner. Because the owner’s allotted time was running short and the weapon was still lacking the final tempering, it had been deliberately left here to await someone with destiny.

This treasure, which appeared spherical, was called the Ruyi (As-You-Will). If one had sufficiently strong power, one could freely command it to transform into various weapons. However, if one’s strength was insufficient, it could only temporarily transform into a single weapon. The owner also stated that this Ruyi condensed the essence of his entire life’s artifact refinement, the crystallization of his life’s effort. Whoever was destined to receive it must never use it to commit evil, lest they incur heavenly retribution.

“Heh!” Gu Xichen’s eyes brightened. He pondered for a moment, then followed the method recorded on the jade slip, bit his tongue until it bled, and sprayed a drop of his vital essence onto the slip. Afterward, he carefully tossed the jade slip toward the golden pillar of fire. The slip flew into the fire column, and a seven-colored halo began to spread from the depths of the jade. Gu Xichen’s vital essence transformed into a mist of blood within the seven-colored halo, and the halo slowly enveloped the Ruyi, cradling the blood mist.

There was a flash of white light before Gu Xichen’s eyes. Before he could react, the white liquid sphere shot toward him. A strange feeling of kindred spirit emanated from the sphere; Gu Xichen vaguely sensed it was a living thing. Shaking off the bizarre notion, Gu Xichen reached out to grasp the liquid sphere as described on the jade slip, simultaneously imagining in his mind the weapon most suitable for him at that moment.

The Ruyi trembled, and it split into two liquid masses that enveloped Gu Xichen’s hands separately. An instant later, two extremely thin gloves encased his hands, extending all the way up to his elbows. Gu Xichen attempted to move his fingers; the joints operated with complete flexibility. The two gloves felt as if they didn't exist at all.

“Good, a magnificent item!” Such miraculous craftsmanship nearly made Gu Xichen shout aloud in astonishment, but he quickly stabilized his mind. There were too many esoteric things in this valley to be surprised by anything.

Frowning, Gu Xichen thought for a moment longer, then began imagining the form of a short sword. But this time, despite imagining until stars flashed before his eyes, the gloves showed no change whatsoever.

“As expected, my strength is insufficient. It can only remain as gloves for now. However, my primary skills reside in my hands; a weapon is unnecessary anyway.”

Smiling faintly, Gu Xichen lightly placed his hand on the ground. This time, he did not use any Gang Qi (True Energy), yet his right palm plunged into the bluestone floor nearly a foot deep, as easily as a red-hot iron blade slicing through butter. Gu Xichen froze, staring blankly at the gloves on his hands—transparently thin, almost invisible—his heart hammering wildly.

With a loud cry, Gu Xichen bolted out of the hut. He raised both hands and hacked furiously at the mountain rock beside the hut. His hands acted like a pair of peerless divine weapons, effortlessly cutting the dark mountain rock into fragments. He didn't need to waste any Gang Qi; the gloves themselves were enough to cleave metal and shatter iron.

Gu Xichen then carefully touched his own body. The gloves felt soft and smooth against his skin, not even scratching his fine body hair. This was a divine weapon imbued with spirit.

“Marvelous!” Gu Xichen roared toward the sky, a surge of exhilaration rushing through him. He casually struck his back toward the mountain cliff with a Zhan Yun Zhang (Cloud-Slicing Palm).

A large area of purple wisteria on the cliff silently disintegrated into dust, and a palm print several meters deep appeared clearly on the rock face. Gu Xichen’s eyes jumped. The Gang Qi he had just exerted could barely have carved a palm print a meter deep into the cliff, but this Ruyi seemed to have amplified his palm strike, making the impression nearly twice as deep as Gu Xichen had estimated.

“A fine treasure, a fine treasure!” Gu Xichen raised both hands and laughed heartily.

After his excitement subsided for a while, Gu Xichen remembered the seed of the so-called Golden Crow Heavenly Fire beneath the red jade slab. He returned to the hut and cautiously attempted twice to approach the pale golden pillar of fire, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not get within three feet of it. The temperature within that three-foot radius was already enough to melt gold and refine iron; being merely flesh and blood, Gu Xichen dared not harbor any more thoughts about the Golden Crow Heavenly Fire seed.

Disappointed, he grasped the single remaining bundle of bamboo slips and left the hut. Glaring at the fire column, Gu Xichen muttered to himself, “I can’t touch you? Heh, perfect!”

This time, Gu Xichen walked into the cave marked ‘I Go Alone.’

He proceeded straight down the passage for over three hundred zhang (a Chinese unit of length), arriving at a marvelous location. It was a deep, square well, about ten zhang wide and long, extending straight up to the mountaintop. Standing inside the well, one could clearly see a small patch of sky visible above. This deep well connected directly to the outside world, yet, just like the three thatched huts, this place was also completely free of dust, appearing as if someone cleaned it constantly.

On the smooth inner walls of the well, countless fist-sized Zakkara energy crystals were inlaid, forming a map of the celestial stars. As soon as he entered the deep well, Gu Xichen felt his ‘Realm’ tremble with joy. The intense energy aura within this well was something even Gu Xichen could clearly sense. The energy vortices within his one hundred and eight major acupoints began to spin rapidly once more, pouring abundant energy into his body from the one hundred and eight acupoints, surging along his meridians straight toward his Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness.

But Gu Xichen couldn't spare time for cultivation. He could only stare blankly at a line of ethereal, flowing tadpole script on the well wall directly in front of him—‘The Qi Refiner of Mount Zhongnan, Wo Chen, attained Dao here.’ Beneath this line of tadpole script, large as a water tank, lay a set of clean, pale-moon-colored Daoist robes, a white feathered crane cloak, pale green silk sash, Cloud-Treading Boots, and a jade Daoist coronet. This set of garments floated quietly beneath the line of tadpole script, as if an invisible person resided within the clothes.

Gu Xichen knelt and bowed before this set of clothes, his heart filled with an indescribable emotion.

How did this Qi Refiner of Mount Zhongnan arrive on this planet? And how did he learn of this planet’s existence?

“Senior, forgive me. Your junior is in dire straits and borrows your garments for use today. I presume the Senior is already a master who has soared through the void, and would not cling to worldly objects. Please do not blame me!”

After bowing deeply to the set of robes and coronet, Gu Xichen cautiously reached out. The Ruyi gloves emitted a faint white light, and Gu Xichen easily retrieved the set of clothes suspended there. Flipping them inside out, he found the robes were perfectly clean, without a speck of dust or grime. Gu Xichen secretly praised Daoist Wo Chen for being so diligent in washing clothes, then contentedly donned the robes.

Having solved the problem of being naked, Gu Xichen finally had the leisure to appraise this deep well.

From bottom to top, the well shaft, roughly one thousand five hundred meters high, was inlaid with Zakkara energy crystals, and the quality of every single crystal was more than a hundred times superior to any Gu Xichen had seen before. Each crystal was almost perfectly transparent, and the stored energy within each was astonishingly immense. Gu Xichen estimated privately that the energy contained within the Zakkara energy crystals in this single deep well was definitely comparable to the energy contained in tens of thousands of cubic meters of standard energy ore.

“Siren, just wait! I’ll be back to dote on you immediately!”

“Heh heh,” Gu Xichen chuckled strangely, sitting cross-legged in the center of the deep well. Wisps of purple mist continuously sprayed out from between his eyebrows.

A colossal amount of energy surged out from the countless Zakkara energy crystals. The purple mist, entwined with a frenzy of multi-colored energy, formed a terrifying energy cyclone in the deep well. Endless energy poured into Gu Xichen’s Sea of Consciousness in his Purple Mansion. The star map deep within his sea of consciousness grew brighter and brighter, and the massive Taiji energy vortex grew larger in volume and clearer in hue.

Eventually, energy absorption reached a limit. Among the countless golden raindrops rapidly circling the Taiji vortex, a single golden star suddenly flashed.

A massive surge of energy rushed toward this golden star. Gu Xichen’s soul origin felt as if it had been brutally struck by a blade. Approximately eighty percent of his soul origin was restored by a mysterious force into the purest, most primordial soul power, wrapped in wisps of rich purple energy, and rushed toward the continuously flickering golden star.

Boom! Blood spurted from all seven orifices of Gu Xichen, and he clutched his head, howling madly. Anyone suddenly losing eighty percent of their soul origin would be in excruciating pain, dying from the agony. Gu Xichen felt as if every cell in his body was constantly exploding, the pain so intense he wished he could simply die.

Yet, the strange thing was that if an ordinary person lost eighty percent of their soul origin, they would have long since scattered their soul, but Gu Xichen was still alive and well, his mind perfectly clear, with no abnormality save for a slightly obscure fluctuation in his spiritual power. It felt as if an obese man weighing eight hundred jin had suddenly slimmed down to just over one hundred jin—he could regain the weight at any time with sufficient nutrition.

A ray of purple light shot out from between Gu Xichen’s eyebrows, and a figure nearly three meters tall slowly materialized from the purple light.

The towering figure looked around. He seemed slightly hesitant, muttering to himself, “This is… uh… the aura surrounding this place… Is this ‘Wandering Immortal Star’? Hmm, I can’t quite recall.”

The Realm Puppets created by Siren were ‘puppets’ without independent thought, entirely controlled by him. But the person Gu Xichen summoned using a massive expenditure of energy seemed to possess his own consciousness and knew many things Gu Xichen did not.

Shaking his head, the big fellow tilted his head back and opened his massive mouth toward the sky. Beams of dazzling bright light surged out from the individual Zakkara crystals, pouring violent energy directly into the man’s body.

Gradually, the big fellow’s body became more solidified, soon becoming indistinguishable from a living person.

The big man wore a yellow turban on his head, his face like red jade, and his full beard resembled steel needles. His three-meter-tall physique was burly and powerful like a wall, his muscle-bound upper body bare. Below, he wore a battle skirt embroidered with patches of colorful clouds, but centered on the skirt was an embroidered image of a flying bear rearing up to roar at the red sun in the sky!

With a soft hum, the big man snorted two jets of white air from his nostrils. He reached out to grasp the bright light shooting from the Zakkara crystals, and a thick iron chain slowly began to form indistinctly within the light.

“Couldn’t find any good materials, so I’ll settle for a handy tool,” the big man muttered in a deep voice. He slowly wrapped the iron chain, as thick as a small bowl, around his body in coils.

Gu Xichen, spitting blood from all his orifices, took quite a while to recover. He climbed up from the ground, panting, his forehead drenched in cold sweat like thick paste.

The big man’s tall, powerful frame stood before Gu Xichen. Gu Xichen stared dumbly at the muscular, imposing figure that seemed beyond human, while the yellow-turbaned man stared blankly at Gu Xichen.

After a long pause, the big man suddenly let out a roar like muffled thunder. The immense sound almost caused the extremely weak Gu Xichen to pass out. The big man heavily knelt on one knee, cupping his fists in salute toward Gu Xichen: “Exalted One, what demon dares to injure you? Allow your subordinate to capture it, cut it into ten thousand pieces, and cast it into the eighteenth layer of hell to be forever unredeemed!”

Drip, drip. Blood continued to trickle from Gu Xichen’s nose. His face twitched for a moment, and he asked dazedly, “You are?”

The big man cupped his fists and replied in a deep voice, “Exalted One, how can you not remember your subordinate? Your subordinate is Xin Jia, a Sky Patrolling Strongman from the First Battalion of the ‘Zhen’ character division in the Grand Sovereign Yellow Prime Heaven, the first heaven among the thirty-three heavens!”

Clang! Gu Xichen’s jaw nearly dislocated. He stared blankly at the big man, and a thousand thoughts suddenly raced through his mind.

By all appearances, this should not be a mindless puppet summoned by a Realm Master, only obeying orders, right?

Gu Xichen narrowed his eyes, examining the imposing figure calling himself Xin Jia from head to toe. He cautiously asked, “Say that again, who are you?”

Xin Jia threw his head back and shouted, “Your subordinate is Xin Jia, the Yellow Turban Strongman of the First Battalion of the ‘Zhen’ character division in the Grand Sovereign Yellow Prime Heaven!”

Hiss! Gu Xichen sucked in a cold breath. His head felt an intense, throbbing pain.

Xin Jia then asked casually, “Exalted One, why have you descended to the mortal realm on this Wandering Immortal Star? Has this Wandering Immortal Star uncovered some kind of heavenly treasure? Such a minor matter—why must the Exalted One exert His sacred toes?”

Gu Xichen blinked. He looked up just in time to see three ground-attack aircraft from the Holy Unicorn Mercenary Corps slowly flying overhead.

“Xin Jia! This honored one has been bullied!”

Gu Xichen began to laugh, a harsh, grating sound.

××××××××××××××××××××××××××××× No more to say, recommend votes… votes, votes, votes… Smack!