Realms In The Firmament

In those days, Ye Xiao dressed up as a young lord of a wealthy family clan and wandered around on the streets every day. However, he never stopped thinking about the ranking lists that he had marked down in his heart.

All the lists.

Ye Xiao thought that these ranking lists were all very important, so he must remember them all in his heart!

He looked quite casual, enjoying his spare time on the street, but in fact, he had done a great effort in those days. He worked so hard that ordinary people, even most superior cultivators in the Human Realm Upon Heavens could never imagine.

As he dug deeper into his thoughts, he finally had an image of the society of the Human Realm Upon Heavens.

It seemed a small copied world of the Human Realm Upon Heavens was forming up in his head.

Because he had earned more and more money in those days, he wouldn’t hesitate to eat the valuable materials anymore.

Endless pure spiritual qi got into his body from the air. Endless water spiritual qi entered his Jing and Mai from the liquor he drank. Endless pure beasts spiritual qi entered his body when he ate…

The East-rising Purple Qi seemed to enter a dynamic time. It was improving bit by bit. It was still slow, but ten times faster than usual!

Ye Xiao could clearly feel that his cultivation was going up. He was turning more and more powerful.

However, he was still cautious. He didn’t want to get involved in any fights or training.

He knew that it was not enough!

There were no fights of practice in this world, only fights of life and death!

Ye Xiao didn’t want to take that unnecessary risk.

The Dark Evil Spirit was so busy that he barely stopped moving. In those days, he had been moving around the big City of Chaos over ten times. He was measuring…

He didn’t even have time to drink some water.

It seemed the follower must always be more energetic than the leader.

…

The message that was sent out by the auction mart of the Brotherhood Alliance exploded the entire Limitless Ocean at some point.

Well, at least it boiled up some areas of the Limitless Ocean.

The Brotherhood Alliance had their men all over the Limitless Ocean. The message spread extremely fast in the Limitless Ocean when they wanted to spread it. Some furthest areas hadn’t received the messages yet, but those within ten thousand miles around the City of Chaos had been shaken by the message.

“Star Trace Iron! We have a huge piece of it, which is as big as a human fist!”

“Brocade Steel! We have it too!”

“Feather Bronze! We got Feather Bronze too!”

“Great Dao Gold, we have it too! It is on sale soon!”

“Chaos Silver! We have it too! It is also on sale soon!”

The great auction was going to start about half a month later in the City of Chaos.

Five special metals were like five huge bombs exploding in the Limitless Ocean.

Cultivators in the martial world, at high cultivation level or low cultivation level, some even at supreme levels, were all gathering over to the City of Chaos, day and night.

Star Trace Iron! Brocade Steel! Feather Bronze! Great Dao Gold! Chaos Silver!

Did anybody want them?

Definitely!

It was a waste of time to ask such a question!

Everybody in the world wanted to have such metals! Who didn’t?

They especially wanted to have the Great Dao Gold, the Chaos Silver, and the Star Trace Iron, because these three were known to be the most incredible metal that could definitely boost one’s cultivation level up. People heard a lot about them in the stories because they hadn’t appeared in the market for too long!

These were the real heavenly-level treasures.

Whoever had any of these metals could improve their weapons into a growing divine weapon, with weapon souls.

It was a huge enhancement in power.

Superior cultivators all knew that if the weapon could grow stronger along with the owner, it would always fit the owner no matter at what level the owner was…

In other words, the weapon with a soul became a lifetime partner.

In fact, the divine weapon could even twice the owner’s power, and helped the owner to break through the boundary to an upper level! It broke the limitation of the cultivator’s cultivation level!

For cultivators in the Limitless Ocean, it was definitely an irresistible attraction!

They couldn’t resist it!

The first day, the message hadn’t been spread far, so everything was just like usual. The second day, when the message spread out, some cultivators had already rushed into the City of Chaos for the auction. On the third day, all the inns in the City of Chaos were out of rooms.

Cultivators who came to the City of Chaos later had to find themselves some tents as their temporary residence…

However, even so, people still kept crowding into the City of Chaos.

They all had the same thoughts in their heads. There weren’t many things on sale for the auction, but those things were all extremely valuable. They might not have enough money to get any of them, but they still wanted to try their luck! Perhaps, they were lucky enough to get some of the metals when two powerful groups of people were fighting for them. Perhaps somebody would throw a piece of those metals away to draw away the enemies but turned out to throw it into the weak one’s hands. ‘What if people throw it just into my hands?’ Some of them thought.

These cultivators had all kinds of weird thoughts in their heads. They all believed they could be lucky, that they could get some of the five special metals. ‘Those are mine! I am destined to own them! It is my fate…’

Ye Xiao casually wandered out a shop of medicines, and there were some medical materials in his hands.

On the opposite of the shop, there was another shop that was named ‘Heavenly Great Dan Beads’ .

Heavenly Great Dan Beads was a shop that sold only dan beads. It was a special business in the Limitless Ocean. Dan-makers who worked for the sects produced dan beads and gave them to these shops for sale. The dan-makers would get money or materials as a return…

Ye Xiao had changed his face, and he walked casually into the Heavenly Great Dan Beads.

This time, he disguised himself with the face of an ordinary man. It would be difficult to see him if he was among the crowd, but it was easy to tell that he was a rich man.

All he wanted was to look like a normal guy with a lot of money!

In the Heavenly Great Dan Beads, an old man who was skinny and shaky walked over to him, looking frustrated.

When he walked over to Ye Xiao, Ye Xiao could clearly feel the death qi on the old man!

“Death qi?”

Ye Xiao looked at the old man’s back with confusion and said, “That man is not going to live long.”

Behind his back, the shopkeeper was holding a spiritual beast meat steamed bun in his hand. He felt sorry for the old man and said, “What a shame. He used to be such a great cultivator but now becomes a dying old man… How the heavens fool people around…”

Ye Xiao heard it. ‘He used to be a great cultivator?’

‘What kind of a man he was, how powerful he was, to be called a great cultivator?’

‘A dying man who used to be a great cultivator. Isn’t he the man I need?’

A guy on a side curiously asked the shopkeeper, “Boss, who is that? Was he really a great cultivator?”

Ye Xiao looked at that guy and couldn’t help praising him in his heart.

‘I was just going to ask the same question, but it would be weird if I do because I don’t know your boss. Clever boy, you just asked the question for me. You asked it right in time!’

“The old man looked so old and weak. As you can see, he doesn’t have a long time to live anymore. The glory has passed over him to the old days… In fact, he used to be the famous Single Foot Great Thief three hundred years ago, the Cyclone Saber, Qiu Luo. Qiu Luo used to dominate the tens of thousands of miles around the Dark Water River with the saber in his hand. He was a hero who had reached level four of the Divinity Origin Stage. If only he hasn’t been through that tragedy, and he could have lived a wonderful life with his incredible capability.”

“What tragedy? What could possibly make a man like that become so miserable?” The guy asked again.

Ye Xiao almost wanted to step forward and kiss that guy on his face. That was so sweet.

“As I was told, Qiu Luo met a lady and he fell in love with her. The second when he saw that woman, he decided to quit the martial world for a peaceful life. They got married and he was ready to leave the martial world… However, it must be his fate that fooled him around. The woman was a disciple of a super great sect. Unfortunately, the son of the prime master in his sect was in love with the lady too. The prime master’s son pursued the lady for a long time, but the lady eventually chose the Single Foot Great Thief.”

“The son of the prime master was totally pissed. He killed the lady, who was also his junior disciple sister, in many cuts with the saber, and then he led several men to get to Qiu Luo. Together, they defeated Qiu Luo and left the incurable poison inside the poor man’s body, the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm.”

The shopkeeper made a sigh and said, “That young master told Qiu Luo, he said, ‘I am not going to kill you. I want you to hate me for the rest of your life, knowing that there is nothing you can do to hurt me. I want you to watch yourself rot, and you won’t give up living, because you haven’t made vengeance yet. It is the most difficult thing to live in desperation… I wonder how long you can endure this.’

“‘I want you to suffer to the last second of your life!”

“‘I want you to beg for death!”

“And then the young master left with a wild laugh.”

“Qiu Luo was severely injured. He was woeful because of his beloved wife’s death. The incurable poison was deeply hidden inside his body. He was suffering both physically and mentally. The Heaven’s Corrupting Worm was incredibly powerful. If the worm doesn’t get suppressed down in time, it would invade into the man’s spiritual mind and soul. There is no medicine that could remove it.

“If… If the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm entered one’s spiritual mind and soul, it would permanently stick to the spiritual soul. Even if he dies, the worm will follow the soul to his next life. It keeps torturing him all the lives to come. The worm was weak before it entered people’s bodies. Cultivators in Divinity Origin Stage could easily kill them. Otherwise, the worm should have become higher than just eighty-seven in the Special Worms Ranking List…”

“However, when it enters one’s body, even cultivators in Saint Origin Stage could hardly kill it.”

The guy who kept asking the question was frightened. In fact, even Ye Xiao was a bit frightened.

‘I can’t believe there is actually such a malicious worm in the world. There is actually such a venomous person in the world!’

‘Killing is to end one’s life, and that is all. That young master actually tortures somebody for life afterlife. How venomous!’

“Qiu Long was hit by the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm. After recovering from the wounds, he was a lot weaker than he used to be. Every time when the moon is full, the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm will run wild inside him. It sucks up the spiritual energy inside him. That’s another thing a Heaven’s Corrupting Worm does to people.”

“The worm will get used to the man’s cultivation technique after the early stage. It will eat the spiritual energy for living. When it finished eating all the spiritual energy, it will turn to the spiritual mind, the soul, and the soul’s origin. In the end, the worm will hide in the soul’s origin, and follow the man to his next life. The only thing he could do to free himself from the worm was to destroy his own soul! That’s the only way!”

“In the beginning, Qiu Shi used the anesthetic elixirs which cost him all the money he had saved in the old days, and then he tried to remove the worm bit by bit. It was the only practical way to deal with the worm as it is known. However, as time passed by, the anesthetic elixirs did not work well anymore. It failed to work on the worm inside him… Besides, he was broke…”

“His old friends all had lent him money, but as they gave him money, again and again, none of them would lend him anything. It was a bottomless hole. They knew it was never going to be filled. Besides, they knew they could never get their money back… Nobody would like to do that forever. Lend it to the one in need, but never to the one in poverty. Everybody knew it!”

“His life is going to an end now. He came to our shop today only to ask about the old man who owns this shop. The old man hasn’t come to the shop for quite a long time because of Qiu Luo. The old man used to be friends with Qiu Luo, and he had done whatever he could to help Qiu Luo. Because he hurt his sect’s interest to help Qiu Luo, the sect imprisoned the old man. We can’t offer Qiu Luo any help anymore… Besides, no elixirs we have could help him anyway. Even though we feel sorry for him, even though we want to help him, there is nothing we can do…”

In the end, the shopkeeper made a long sigh. He felt so sorry about it.

“Is he going to wait for death? Is it the only thing he can do?” The guy was young, and he was moved by the story.

“It could be quite a fortunate thing for him to die sooner…” The shopkeeper made a sigh and said, “The young man who did all this to him has become the prime master of that sect. He is such a powerful man now. Qiu Luo will never have the chance to do anything to the prime master. Think about it. I am afraid he can’t even defeat an ordinary man… I think it is better for him to die soon… He will be free from the pain…”

“Death may not be much better for him…” The guy stared at the shopkeeper and said, “The Heaven’s Corrupting Worm… Doesn’t it keep staying with him for the lives to come after death… Death won’t help him…”

The shopkeeper was stunned. He had no words to say anymore and just made a long sigh. He took a bit bite on the big steamed bun in his hand and made another long sigh.

As he sighed, he suddenly turned to Ye Xiao. Looking at Ye Xiao, he smiled and said, “My honorable guest, may I ask what I can do for you? What is it that you need? We are not a big shop, but we have all the normal dan beads for cultivators.”

Ye Xiao was going to leave the shop after getting enough information, but the shopkeeper got him. He looked around and pretended to be in pain. He said, “I am not here to buy anything… My friend, can I use your toilet? I… I don’t feel right… I… I think I am going to sh*t my pants…”

The shopkeeper was eating his delicious steamed bun. As he heard what Ye Xiao said, he was annoyed. He looked at the steamed bun in his hand and felt disgusted. With an angry shout, he said, “No! Get out of here!”

Ye Xiao rushed out to the door. – Shoot! –

The shopkeeper was still murmuring abuse behind Ye Xiao’s back.

But Ye Xiao had gone far like a strong wind.