Chapter 220 - 218: Ten Thousand Li

The lone flame of the lamp was no bigger than a bean.

It illuminated only the upper half of Chen Qingyang's body and a corner of the long table before him, leaving the rest of the inn's furnishings shrouded in darkness.

CLIP-CLOP...

The frantic clatter of hooves echoed from the street, followed by the groaning and creaking of a passing carriage. Faintly, the sound of a woman's weeping drifted in. 'So much for a peaceful night,' he thought.

He spread a few sheets of paper on the long table. The flame flickered, and in the dim, yellow light, he saw the words written upon them: Ten Thousand Miles in One Breath Technique.

Tomorrow, he would venture into the heart of the Demon Sect's territory. No matter what reassurances Master Qing He had given him, there was no guarantee he wouldn't run into trouble. He could put aside his other Dharma Gates for now, but he absolutely had to master this escape technique.

He first went over the Dharma Gate in detail in his mind. It was devoid of Immortal Qi and lacked the ethereal quality of the Void Step Introduction. It also didn't involve the Five Elements or Yin and Yang, so it couldn't merge with his True Essence to conserve a great deal of energy when using the Wind Control Skill, unlike the Yin Yao Step and Yang Yao Step.

It was none of those things. It was only fast.

It was lightning-fast, as swift as a fleeting shadow. Just as its name—Ten Thousand Miles in One Breath—implied, it was brutally direct. There was nothing to it but pure speed.

Chen Qingyang pondered for a long time. He felt the drawbacks of such a Dharma Gate were also extremely obvious. Because of its single-minded pursuit of speed, the method for channeling energy was both too direct and too intricate.

The directness would cause the user to consume a colossal amount of True Essence, while the intricacy demanded an exceptionally powerful grasp of the Power of the Divine Soul. If either was lacking, the technique's potency would be drastically reduced, making it incredibly difficult to learn.

'However, perhaps these aren't shortcomings of the Dharma Gate, but my own shortcomings.'

'Compared to the Golden Core True Monarch who created this Dharma Gate, my Cultivation Realm is appallingly low. I don't possess such a formidable Power of the Divine Soul, let alone such vast reserves of True Essence. It's only natural that I would see the technique as full of flaws.'

He even felt that the description—"leaving one's shadow behind while crossing a thousand miles in an instant"—was an exaggeration.

Since he couldn't fully grasp it yet, he decided not to begin his Cultivation of it for the time being and instead continued to study it. After reading it a few more times, he began to perceive the power of wind within the text.

When riding the wind, the wind itself could sometimes become a source of resistance. But the Wind Control described here meant truly harnessing the wind as a force, causing all resistance to vanish and achieving a state of true, unfettered freedom.

Feeling as if he had struck gold, Chen Qingyang became more and more engrossed. After reading it several more times, he realized it also seemed to incorporate other forces, like lightning, all precisely coordinated to push the concept of speed to its absolute limit.

'It seems my own understanding was too shallow after all. This is the technique of a Golden Core True Monarch; how could it be anything less than extraordinary?'

Without realizing it, Chen Qingyang read the manual many more times, comprehending various forces within it. The next step was learning how to orchestrate these forces to achieve a perfect balance.

The prerequisite for achieving this was a powerful Power of the Divine Soul…

'Fortunately, that's one area where I don't fall short!'

Comprehending a brand-new Dharma Gate was a process. In his mind, an idea formed from nothing, grew into a concept, hit a bottleneck, broke through it, and then hit another…

At that moment, a RUMBLE went through Chen Qingyang's mind. It was like parting the clouds to see the clear sky; he had gained a preliminary grasp of the Ten Thousand Miles in One Breath Technique.

[Ten Thousand Miles in One Breath Technique: (199/50000)]

He had gained 199 points of progress right from the start, a testament to his improved comprehension. Seeing the Dharma Gate's upper limit was a full fifty thousand didn't particularly faze Chen Qingyang.

He already knew this was a technique practiced by a Golden Core True Monarch; its starting point was simply too high. It was only natural that he would find it difficult to master.

It wasn't like Dharma Gates such as the Great Soul Scripture or the Danxia Nourishing Truth Sword Manual, which could be mastered gradually, from low levels to high. The Ten Thousand Miles in One Breath Technique had no such thing as a Low Tier.

'This will have to do for now,' he thought. 'I'll slowly improve it once I have an Immortal Seedling in the future.'

Setting all this aside, Chen Qingyang saw the first light of dawn breaking outside. He grabbed a handful of Spirit Stones and sat in meditation to recover his energy. He had expended a great deal in order to grasp the Dharma Gate. When he opened his eyes again, it was already noon.

Before setting out, he opened the envelope Master Qing He had left him and reviewed its contents.

The elegant script was clearly the Master's own. It explained certain matters in great detail, but the general gist was to provide support to the Yong Kingdom and, most importantly, to investigate the recent movements of the Demon Sect's Netherworld Peak.

There was no mention of him in the letter, which meant Master Qing He hadn't deceived him. The task she had assigned him was, in fact, just a simple delivery.

'Sometimes he was admittedly overly cautious, but it was an ingrained part of his personality, and difficult to change.'

Chen Qingyang recalled his time at the Four Golden Peaks, when the Demon Sect had infiltrated the Golden Summit and successfully turned a Foundation Establishment Master. He himself had interfered and disrupted that plot. Then there was the matter of the Profound Light Association. After a thousand years of conflict between the two sects, it was only to be expected that they would have spies embedded in each other's ranks.

That inn named Qingfeng, he figured, must be a Daoist Sect outpost within Demon Sect territory.

His thoughts drifted to Lin Qingxuan, the young woman who had been drawn into the Demon Sect because of those events. She had once been as delicate and graceful as a willow in the breeze, a lotus rising from the water. Yet when he met her again, she had armor embedded in her very flesh, treating her body as an artifact and walking a path of transformation identical to the armor itself.

'The Nine Nether Mechanic Divine Palace is sandwiched between the Tai Xu Sect and the Yu Xiao Demon Sect, but it lies in a completely different direction, so it isn't close to here. Given her unique nature and disposition, her Cultivation has probably improved even more by now.'

Once he was out of the city, a mere thought was enough to activate the Ten Thousand Miles in One Breath Technique. His figure vanished instantly. Within a single breath, he had already appeared several dozen miles away.

It was so fast, faster than Chen Qingyang could have imagined. After a dozen more breaths, he was already hundreds of miles away. The only problem was the immense consumption of True Essence, so great that he had to stop, take out Spirit Stones, and circulate his energy to recover.

He continued on his way until evening fell.

The vast Cyan Nether River stretched out before him.

Green waves rippled across its surface, periodically churning up whitecaps nearly ten feet high. The waters were so treacherous that even Treasure Ships would have difficulty navigating them. Peering straight ahead, he couldn't see the opposite bank, as if he were standing on the shore of a boundless ocean.

A golden moon hung in the sky, its light pouring down in countless golden shimmers that made the river's surface seem all the more magnificent.

Chen Qingyang sent out his Conscious Fish to measure the distance. His Yu'er reached its maximum range, but he still couldn't see the opposite bank. The current was so turbulent that it was impossible for even a small island to exist in its center. It was as if the entire world had been reduced to nothing but water.

He traveled onward. After covering about a hundred miles, his Conscious Fish finally spotted a range of continuous, verdant mountains ahead. They were just as high and perilous as the land on this side of the river. A place like this would naturally be uninhabited.

He thought of Heyang City; he still had to travel several hundred more miles.

After traveling a total of two hundred and fifty miles, Chen Qingyang finally crossed the Cyan Nether River. He carefully sensed the ambient Qi Mechanism, feeling no difference from Nine True Mountain. Both were lands where "Spiritual Qi is absent for ten thousand miles, and no Dharma can be found among a thousand mountains." To seek the Immortal Dao, one had to enter the gate of an Immortal.

As he continued onward, Chen Qingyang grew more cautious, sending his Conscious Fish to scout the path ahead. He didn't run into any Demon Sect Disciples, or even see another living soul.

'That makes sense,' he thought. 'In such a vast land, a few Daoists are like a few grains of rice scattered across the immense world. No matter how those grains roll around, how could they ever bump into one another? Not unless all the grains were consciously gathering at a specific location.'

'Master Qing He must have given this careful consideration before sending me,' he concluded.

He rested for another night along the way. By the next day, the mountains began to level out, the rivers flowed less turbulently, and the vegetation grew tamer. Farmland appeared, and with it, signs of human settlement.

He saw a small town nestled against a hillside. A crowd of people had gathered on that same slope.

They were humans, just like him, yet their actions were something else entirely.

His last trip to Duling City had been a real eye-opener for Chen Qingyang. He had even seen mortals with missing limbs use the Armor Manipulation Skill to complete their bodies, giving him a sense of what mechanical ascension might look like.

Thus, he was equally curious about the local customs of the Demon Sect. He landed in an unseen spot and walked toward the crowd.

He had long since changed out of his Vermilion and Purple Attire. Though he carried a sword on his back, his coarse cloth robes made him look like an ordinary wandering swordsman.

An Ancient Temple stood halfway up the mountain. It was a place of vibrant color; in addition to the painted walls, countless strands of Red Silk fluttered in the wind.

Several hundred raggedly dressed commoners knelt there in worship, each holding a stick of incense. Their expressions were pious, their eyes seeming to glow with fervor.

Chen Qingyang shifted his gaze to the divine statue. It had three faces and six eyes, representing the three phases of life: youth, middle age, and old age. The young girl's face was deathly pale but held an eerie smile. The middle-aged face was flushed red, glaring like a wrathful guardian. The old face was black, heavy with the aura of death, and devoid of any hint of life.

He could sense a Qi Mechanism hidden within the statue. This was a Divine Dao Technique, the very path that Xu Baoling cultivated.

The one leading the commoners was a Profound Robe Daoist. He was gaunt and withered, clutching a Talisman and chanting an incantation.

"With the first bow, open the Yin Department Gate. With the second, call the Nine Nether Soul."

"With the third, offer blood from the heart. With the fourth, sacrifice the life in hand."

"Living souls shall enter my Array, and dead spirits shall heed my command."

"Yin and Yang reverse their course, and all eternity shall become the Netherworld…"

The Daoist's tone was long and drawn-out. While it reeked of charlatanism, Chen Qingyang still understood the gist of it. It shared some similarities with the Cultivation Techniques of the Yu Xiao Demon Sect he was familiar with.

Finally, the Profound Robe Daoist aimed his Sword Point at the crowd. "The auspicious hour has arrived! Perform the great ritual!"

The commoners rose in a wave, bringing forward two children—a boy and a girl—and pushing them before the Profound Robe Daoist.

The children, at a loss, looked around in terror. "Mama!"

The cry was directed at a nearby woman. Her face held a zealous glow as she spoke with utmost piety, "If you suffer in this life, you won't have to suffer in the next. My child, this is what your mother prayed for. May your journey be peaceful…"

There was even a hint of joyous relief in her expression.

"Mama, I'm scared…"

the little girl whispered timidly, because she had seen it clearly: the Profound Robe Daoist's sword had already sliced across the boy's neck. Blood sprayed out, spattering the divine statue.

"No, no…"

Perhaps the girl's mother wanted to say that she, too, was afraid, but she couldn't get the word out. The tip of the sword flashed across the girl's own neck. Her eyes went wide, and then she moved no more.

It wasn't that Chen Qingyang wanted to stand by and do nothing. But he knew this was surely not the first time such a thing had happened. He had no way to rescue the two children; even if he took them away, they would likely meet a similar fate elsewhere.

Just then, a crimson light of Blood Fiend shot out from the statue. It soared into the air and streaked across the sky. Chen Qingyang hastily sent his Conscious Fish to follow it, intensely curious about its destination.

In just a few moments, it reached the town at the foot of the hillside.

This town was much more prosperous than the mountain village. Many of its inhabitants wore fine clothes and had the look of the well-fed. In the very center of town stood an altar with another divine statue, and the Blood Evil Qi was absorbed right into it.

Then, from within this statue, Chen Qingyang detected another stream of energy.

Following this new energy stream, his consciousness traveled onward. He saw another town, and dozens of mountain villages, all linked together like an intricate Array formed by these countless statues.

'They're absorbing the Power of Faith and the power of blood sacrifice.'

This wasn't surprising. It was likely that one of the Demon Sect's peaks specialized in the Cultivation of such a Dharma Gate.