The Eternal Alchemy Canon seemed to have a specific trait, even if the name was nothing to brag home about.

For example, the Heavenly Opening Six Erosions was pretty ordinary. It didn’t didn’t even have the words “divine”, “immortal”, “emperor”, or “supreme” in its name. These six moves, however, had nearly toppled the rule of the Great Ming dynasty!

How many still remembered the great explosion that shocked the world back then? A secret classified as one of the Three Great Unsolved Mysteries?

Dragon’s Form, Tiger’s Shape for instance was just like a book casually sold at the side of the street. On the cover and spine of such a book, the four words “secret martial arts collection” of all kinds of meridians was plain and ordinary, a done deal.

However, the power of this unknown thing was so strong! Apart from the Heavenly Opening Six Erosions, Xu Yangyi had no moves now that could compare with Splitting Air! It was a direct attack that could even tear a road through a mountain!

A heavy sword without edge, wielded with great skill and technique. A return to the natural truth of an unpolished gem, the Dao taken as master through nature.

These skills no longer needed the decoration of names. After experiencing their might, all would choose them as long as they weren’t an idiot.

Xu Yangyi didn’t continue cultivating, instead closing his eyes in meditation. The qi density here wasn’t low. There was some benefit to meditation.

Moments ago, he could feel that his body’s capability had been put to the max. With Innersight, he could now see that his muscles resembled screws, twisting up little by little. Furthermore, these muscles led straight to his shoulders and abdomen. If he hadn’t immediately stopped, his muscles would’ve twist his bones into pieces like two intertwined fried dough twists.

Xu Yangyi gradually used qi to calm his aching arm. After a couple hours, his arm was finally at rest, but a third of his right hand was still in a lot of pain. Due to the sudden twist, his veins were on the verge of rupturing and his arm was just as red as carrot.

He fished out a medicinal pill without pause and popped it into his mouth. It was a Qi Condensation pill he had refined back then, but only now had his muscles been injured. His actions could be considered an appropriate medicine for his illness.

Another four hours passed, his complexion becoming a little better. He then opened his eyes and got up.

“I’ve learned first-hand the power of a physique divine ability… but this foundation is going to be so rough it’s going to be scary. Right now, I might only be able to hold on for two seconds, so my limit… is two claws. This, will be my other card.” His gaze turned to everyone else. “It’s already been over two days, why aren’t they awake yet?”

As if he heard Xu Yangyi word’s, the first person sat up in the next second.

Cui Xusheng’s first reaction was to vacantly open his eyes and blink. His upper body then sprang up like a pin cushion, and he shuddered as he looked as his hand. “I’m still alive… I’m still alive? I’m not dead?!”

“You’re not dead.”

A voice was heard beside him. Cui Xusheng screeched, almost out of reflex, “Who?!?!”

At once, his fist encased in yellow spirit light swung out, but Xu Yangyi gently tapped out and Cui Xusheng’s body tumbled over powerlessly.

His expression wasn't dismayed, but rather looking at the sky in a trance. A few seconds passed, and he let out a soft chuckle, his laughter then gradually becoming louder and louder. Over the course of several seconds, his laughter had already transitioned into wild, joyous howls.

“Hahaha! Hahaha!” His laughter caused his chests to rise up and down again and again. “Still alive… I’m still alive…”

With his fill of laughter, he finally sat up, appearing to be laughing and crying. Xu Yangyi calmly floated in front of him. Once Xu Yangyi saw that Cui Xusheng had steadied his emotions, he asked, “What did you encounter?”

“A dream,” Cui Xusheng said without almost any hesitation, “A dream… it was definitely a dream! A horrible nightmare! I can’t think of anything else that can change so erratically apart from a dream!”

“Master Xu, did you know…? That feeling was the worst thing I saw in the past. In the next second, that thing would show up… Nothing made any sense whatsoever. I was pretty much doubting if I was still alive, but I managed to walk out in the end.”

“The last thing I met… was you! It was just like before you go to sleep, what you’re scared of the most. You think about it during the day and dream about it at night. I was on guard against you, so you appeared in the dream… Really, apart from a dream, there’s nothing that can change like that… It doesn’t even make any sense! It goes against all of the world’s principles!”

Xu Yangyi nodded and said nothing because his spiritual sense felt that the second person had also woken up.

Moonless.

Moonless's face was ashen. Once he sat up, he took a deep breath, but immediately groaned. He clutched his belly and lay down. Three seconds later, he shakily lifted up his hand. The ground was covered in bloodstains! 

“How is this possible?” He clenched his teeth as he looked at his hand, a low snarl coming from his throat. “This thing doesn’t fit with any cultivation principles… how could it carry over to reality?”

“The injuries that I sustained inside were completely reflected on my own body… This doesn’t make any damn sense!”

A medicinal pill flew over in front of him, and he brushed it with an eye, swallowing it down without the slightest hesitation. Afterwards, his gaze brightened and his complexion gradually turned rosy. He shut his eyes and entered meditation. Ten minutes later, he opened his eyes and looked to Xu Yangyi complicatedly.

He didn’t know what kind of medicinal pill it was, but… its effect was marvelous! In entering the mouth, the pill soon became a warm current that quenched the dantian. He dared to confirm that with merely this medicinal pill he would strike it big with second-rate and third-rate clans!

[1]

And these clans were the exact targets that consumed the most pill-elixirs! It was just like those apex pill-elixirs, not many could afford them!

This child… if he can return to Earth, his future is bound to be full of promise. I… am better off not becoming his enemy. The Dao of Pills, huh… It hasn’t appeared for a hundred years now. Even if I can kill him, do I dare to? Am I willing to?

He asked himself several times, and the answer he received each time was a resounding no! No! And no!

“What did Fellow Daoist encounter inside?” Xu Yangyi asked quietly, not caring for Moonless’s state of mind.

Moonless’s complexion ashened again. He fell into a gloomy mood for quite a while and gritted out, “It was like a dream or illusion… all of it was impossible… Gods and buddhas filled the sky, yet they were only Foundation Establishment… The land where I was transformed in the blink of an eye, a so-called ‘theft of the heavens and exchange of the sun’, something that not even Core Formation masters can achieve. This place… is very strange!”

One after another, the others woke up in the following several dozen minutes. However, all of them had lost strength. The even better spirit-masters were seriously injured.

The final seven people seemed to be comfortably asleep, quietly lying down on the stone buddha’s palm.

Zhao Ziqi had also awakened. Evidently, he had also experienced some unspeakable matter. His complexion was as pale as clay.

Ziqi, are you alright?

 Xu Yangyi cautiously said in his spiritual sense. 

Did you make any gains on the giant buddha?

Nonetheless, Xu Yangyi had never expected that Zhao Ziqi’s response would make him gasp.

Giant buddha? B-But I never went to a giant buddha with big bro?

Xu Yangyi felt a cold air on his back, and quickly followed up, 

We just encountered Nalan Liusu… 

No… I never encountered Nalan Liusu! Nalan Liusu… w-wasn’t she killed by you, big bro?

Xu Yangyi heaved out a long sigh and said with terrible graveness, 

Then did you see that old man with only a mouth on his face?

No… big bro, is that what you ran into?

Xu Yangyi remained quiet.

Thump… Thump… 

He only felt his heart beating at the side of his ear.

Since beginning to end… Zhao Ziqi had never been with him!

In that case… who was it that had been with him?!

Xu Yangyi felt this creature at his back like the tip of a blade. He’d actually spent a few hours with some unknown being!

The other’s appearance might’ve been with him in that “fantasy” realm. There, the rules were completely different. That “Zhao Ziqi” had followed him in his spiritual sense all along, as if it was like nothing else. Without any omen, the scene morphed in an instant, and he was left alone. But although he was calm and steady, he couldn’t see a slight tear in the events! It was quite likely… that he'd already been separated from Zhao Ziqi before entering the stone room! Something else had taken the earth master’s place and concealed itself at his side!

All of a sudden, he stopped.

In his mind, the bodhi seed rapidly spun. Just now, he seemed to touch upon some matter. An extremely important matter! As he was about to continue pondering, seven anguished groans rang out around him in the next second. They almost happened to echo in sync. 

Third Tiger, Fourth Rabbit, Sixth Snake, Eighth Ram, Tenth Rooster, Eleventh Dog, and Twelfth Boar… the bodies of the seven high spirit-masters started to oddly float in the air. Their limbs stretched out to the utmost, but speechlessly, there wasn’t a hint of pain on their faces. Only in slumber did they slightly furrow their brows as they dreamed of a nightmare.

However, in Xu Yangyi’s eyes, the bodies of these seven living people were already pulled out to extremes! The sound of cracking bones echoed through space. He could imagine what the scene would be five seconds from now!

“This…” Bewildered, Mu Yang looked all around. “How is this possible… They’re, they’re…”

Zu Huai’en took a deep breath, but Moonless’s hand blocked the front of him just as he was about to hurry over.

“Master…”

“Shut up.” Moonless was solemn-faced. “I’m not scared of you courting death, but if you die we’ll be at a fraction of power less.

“I had my spiritual sense out just now. I dare confirm no one's here!”

“No one?!” Shao Yufeng cried out in surprise, “Then… then how do you explain this?!”

“It might not be a person,” Xu Yangyi coldly said and flicked out with a finger. A ring of white light protected everyone inside. He pointed over to the wall, and said, “Take a look yourselves.”

Everyone shifted their gazes over. With a mere glance, muffled cries of alarm quickly rose and fell.

Following Xu Yangyi’s finger, they saw that on the wall… the limbs and head of each person floating in the air was being pulled at by a pair of shadow horses!

And these horses… were skeletons without heads! This could be clearly seen from the shadows on the wall!

A punishment of headless skeletal horses tearing off each body part!

Could it be… 

Zhao Ziqi suddenly spoke out, 

The seven of them… entered the same place?

There was no explanation. In the next second several heavy popping noises rang out, and a shower of blood sprinkled through the air.

In this twinkling, ten black spirit threads shot out from Xu Yangyi’s dantian! His gaze stirred, and he looked to where all the threads dived into. Quick to act, he calmly stepped back, far away from everyone.

1. “Strike it big” - an idiom meaning “to find a source of water at both left and right”.

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