In Haojing, Yuan Qi, the half-finished bell, and Jin Buyi examined the scene. The courtyard where Su Yan had lived was now bare ground — the entire building gone, vanished into thin air.
Jin Buyi plucked a feather and breathed on it. The feather burst into roaring flame that traced the scars in space, sketching a cube in the air.
The cube's six faces were covered in strange patterns — the runes of the Heavenly Dao. Someone had used a Heavenly Dao technique to cut the entire space around Su Yan and carry it away!
The burning feather snapped its fire shut and, with a whistle, dove into the void.
Where it vanished, the space rippled like water.
"I sent a clone of my feather to follow the direction of the teleport," Jin Buyi said slowly, leaning on a radiant divine blade. "The energy they left behind was only enough for one feather. No more."
He showed no worry. "This has happened many times before. Rest assured — I will find him."
"I'll help!" Yuan Qi offered.
The half-forged bell floated up. "One of you forgets things, the other loses his memory now and then. I can't trust you two to go alone."
Yuan Qi said, "Bell Lord, you're only half a body. Stay here. Let Grandma Chanchan finish you, then catch up."
The bell laughed. "Crippled as I am, my mind is sounder than yours. Without me, you'll stumble into all sorts of trouble! Besides — won't Grandma Chanchan follow anyway?"
Zhu Chanchan sneered. "Why would I follow you? We're not close. I'm a subject of the Zhou Son of Heaven. I must stay and build Haojing. Not my affair!"
She turned and left.
The bell wasted no more time. "No delay then! Lord Jin, lead the way. We depart!"
Jin Buyi swept his wing; his twin blades stuck into the ground. "Climb on."
Yuan Qi and the bell scrambled onto his back. Yuan Qi said cautiously, "Lord Jin, please don't roast little me."
Jin Buyi beat his wings and rose, calling back, "Hold tight!"
Flame erupted around him. His wings beat once, and he became a streak of rainbow light, tearing through the sky — the far end of the arch already a thousand li away.
He raced after his burning feather, crossing tens of thousands of li in moments, threading between mountain ranges. Then the three-legged golden crow slowed and settled on a peak that stood like a withered tree, grooming his feathers at leisure.
"Who are you?"
Jin Buyi was startled to find a serpent and a bell hidden in his plumage. "How did you two get on me?"
Yuan Qi and the bell went cold. "Lord Jin, don't you remember little me? I'm Yuan Qi, and this is Bell Lord! We're searching for A-Ying. He's gone — you tracked him with your feather. Only you can find him now!"
Jin Buyi stared at them, white feathers trembling. "I know nothing of any feather. I don't know you... A-Ying, where are you? A-Ying?"
The two were at their wit's end when a green mountain flew in and landed on a peak with a boom.
Zhu Chanchan stood atop it, laughing. "How did A-Ying restore his memory before? We do the same!"
"Grandma Chanchan!" Yuan Qi and the bell were overjoyed.
The bell suddenly remembered: Jin Buyi had always had a poor memory. Su Yan had left him Primal Dao Essence and used Mud Pill secret-realm longevity medicine to rouse the old bird's body, and only then had Jin Buyi's memories slowly returned.
He explained, and Zhu Chanchan and Yuan Qi each fed Jin Buyi longevity medicine. In a moment, the old crow remembered everything. "No time to waste! We move now!"
Zhu Chanchan summoned the Flying Peak and resumed hammering the bell, laughing. "Aside from Haojing, I hate leaving artifacts half-made."
The bell felt quite comfortable under her hammer. *Chanchan is a responsible craftsman after all. I misjudged her — I thought she'd stamp her mark on me secretly... wait a moment!*
His mind pricked. *How did Chanchan catch up so fast? She must have sensed the artifact to find us so quickly... it must be Seven Lord! She's marked him!*
Su Yan woke from a dream, his head splitting. He sat up sharply, clutching his brow, a flood of memories rushing in.
The body he now wore had belonged to another Xu Ying — the same name — fourth son of Xu Menglong, Prince of Xiang of the Great Xia nation.
But he was born of a concubine, and his days in the Xu household had never been easy.
Su Yan pressed his forehead. A deep scar ran across it. He remembered now: the body's previous owner had been a patient, wary boy, always terrified that his brilliance would get him murdered by his own siblings.
The power struggles inside a great clan were brutal. In a family like the Prince of Xiang's, with royal blood, the fight for succession was outright bloody.
The original owner had let slip that he was a martial prodigy — and had been ambushed for it.
According to the body's memories, he had lain on his sickbed for over two months, his wounds never healing.
Then he heard that his mother had been killed. Grief and fury reopened his injuries. He died.
Su Yan felt a pang of regret. *Your name is Xu Ying, and so is mine. I slipped into your body by accident, borrowing your corpse the moment your soul scattered. Heaven willed it — let me live on in your skin. From this day...*
He climbed out of bed and stood, a sharp light flashing in his eyes. *I am Xu Ying, fourth young master of the Prince of Xiang! Rest easy, wherever you are — I'll live well in your name. I'll avenge you!*
*A new life. Here I come! Ha— wait, who am I?*
He froze, trying to recall how he had come to this world. His home had been Sujiaping. Sujiaping had burned. He had died in the fire.
His soul had drifted, he knew not how far, until a powerful pull yanked him into this body.
"Forget it! From today, I begin anew!"
Confidence swelled. Then a technique surfaced in his mind: the Great Xia Dragonfinch Art. Despite the name, it cultivated saber qi.
It had nine stages. The body's owner had reached the seventh before his saber qi leaked out, was discovered, and was ambushed.
"This world's pinnacle is called the Nine Transcendent Stages — the ninth is the Land-Bound Immortal! Once this Xu Ying pushes the Dragonfinch saber qi to the ninth stage, he can enter the Transcendent stage and reverse back to true Transcendence."
Su Yan sorted through the dead boy's memories. *Young as he was, he reached this level. Remarkable talent. Pity he was ambushed by some strongman of the Second Transcendent Stage.*
Footsteps sounded. He looked up — an old man with a careworn face came in carrying a bowl of medicine. The bowl clattered to the floor.
The old man stared at him, shock and joy warring on his face. His voice cracked with sobs. "Young master... you're awake..."
Su Yan found him in the body's memories: Fu Yi, his mother's most loyal old servant.
"Uncle Yi. I'm awake." Su Yan's eyes burned with confidence. "Don't worry, Uncle Yi. I won't let myself be endangered again. This time, I'll live again — avenge Mother, and take back what's mine!"
Old Fu Yi smiled through tears, wiping his eyes. "If the young master is resolved, this old servant will support you to the death!"
"I won't disappoint you, Uncle Yi."
A sharp light flashed in Fu Yi's eyes. "This old servant has been investigating in secret. The one who ambushed you was a Transcendent expert hired by the eldest young master, Xu Hao — Jin Peng, of the second Transcendent stage, of the Grand Mentor's school!"
Su Yan snorted, hatred burning in his eyes. "Jin Peng?! Uncle Yi, leave Jin Peng to me!"
Fu Yi looked up, baffled. "Young master..."
"Uncle Yi — if I'm not mistaken, you're a Transcendent expert yourself, aren't you?" Su Yan said calmly. "You served my mother, protecting the two of us all along. You could take Jin Peng easily. But I want to avenge myself."
Fu Yi wept again. "Young master... you've truly grown up."
"Uncle Yi, I'm no longer the boy I was."
Fu Yi wiped his tears, his face resolute. "Since the young master is set on this, I won't interfere. Young master — your lady mother's death is tied to something else. I'll go investigate. Mind yourself these days!"
"Rest assured," Su Yan said calmly. "Now that I'm awake, no one can harm me again!"
Fu Yi turned and left, deeply moved, murmuring, "My lady, do you see? The young master has grown up. At last, he's grown up..."
After he left, Su Yan stepped out of the room.
In the Prince of Xiang's manor, servants sneered and mocked the boy. He let it wash over him like a breeze, unconcerned.
"I must cultivate hard and break through Transcendence soon! With two lifetimes of experience, standing out in this world won't be hard! Eldest young master, Grand Mentor's disciples — wait for me! I'll be like the Dragonfinch of Great Xia, startling the world!"
...
Old servant Fu Yi hurried out of the manor. The Great Xia capital was rich and bustling, crowded with Transcendent experts, dragons and snakes mixed. Fu Yi wore his careworn face into a teahouse, where a woman in red robes and a white-haired old man sat playing chess by the window.
The moment he was out of sight, the worry vanished from Fu Yi's face. Every wrinkle seemed to bloom. "Yutang, Beichen — you two are comfortable. I just put on a grand performance at the Prince of Xiang's manor!"
He poured himself tea and drank deep.
Yutang laughed. "How did it go? Did he remember his past lives?"
Fu Yi's wrinkles bloomed with joy. "Of course not. He's fully convinced he's the fourth young master of the Prince of Xiang, and he's plotting to avenge himself and his mother."
Beichenzi burst out laughing. "The Will of Heaven god found a world like this — thin spiritual energy, no qi cultivators, not even nuo masters. Xu Ying will fade into the crowd here."
Yutang sighed. "If this life lets him fulfill his wish and fade into obscurity, perhaps that's a kindness."
"For us as well," Fu Yi said.
Su Yan secluded himself in the manor and worked the Great Xia Dragonfinch Art. *This is the finest art in the Prince of Xiang's house — refining qi and blood into saber qi, the Dragonfinch circling the blade. Fierce! But to reach Transcendence, this may not be enough...*
The thought had barely formed when he sensed something wrong with the art.
"Refining qi and blood into a Dragonfinch — that's not the root of the martial path."
It struck him. "The root of the martial path is people using their own bodies against enemies, against nature, against tyranny, against Heaven. What use is refining qi and blood into a bird? One should cultivate the self!"
He stirred his qi and blood, his intent pure, body and will as one, and drove the Dragonfinch Art — but he stripped it down, discarding the bird and keeping only the saber intent!
He threw a punch, and saber qi burst from his body. Within him, the Five Sacred Mountains roared, his five organs blazed, the Heavenly River surged faster, marrow flowing. He bathed his body in it, and the Dragonfinch Art cycled several times — reaching the eighth stage in one breath!
In moments, he pushed it to the ninth. He did not stop. Saber qi turned to Transcendent True Qi, and he stepped into the Transcendent stage!
He sank into cultivation, forgetting time, forgetting his enemies, racing through the First, Second, and Third Transcendent Stages...
Fu Yi sipped tea and watched the chessboard.
To the people of this low martial world, they were lofty old immortals, invisible to mortal eyes. Their divine arts could bend heaven and earth; a thought could reshape any mind.
This world posed no threat to them.
And the Will of Heaven god watched over this place. There was no risk at all.
Suddenly, a vast and ancient aura spread through the capital, forming a faint rainbow over the city, brilliant in the sky.
Fu Yi, Beichenzi, and Yutang all looked up. Ancient consciousnesses stirred awake across the capital, colliding with one another:
"Someone has achieved the Transcendent Extreme."
"In twenty years, he is the only one."
"Like us. I sense the Dao of the Primal World rejoicing, resonating with the birth of a Transcendent."
...
Fu Yi and the others caught these voices. Yutang, who knew a little of this world, said: "This is the heaven-and-earth omen of breaking through the Nine Transcendent Stages. To reach this step is to be the strongest in this world."
They looked away, unconcerned.
Fu Yi said, "In a few days I'll visit Xu Ying and tell him his late mother had another history — she was a holy maiden of a secret sect, and I was her sect's guardian. Now that she's dead, he is our sect's holy son."
He grumbled, "Don't just play chess, you two. Go find a suitable sect in this world."
Beichenzi waved it off. "Finish this game first. This world is lowly — finding a sect to match will be simple enough. If we can't, we'll take any sect and rewrite everyone's memories to forge Xu Ying a lineage. Not much trouble."
Fu Yi supposed he was right and stopped pressing.
In the manor, Su Yan broke through to the Ninth Transcendent Stage and thought: *I've reached the pinnacle of the Transcendent stage. Yet I still feel something beyond the ninth... Could it be that the Nine Transcendent Stages are not merely nine?*
He kept studying the martial path. His stances no longer followed the Dragonfinch Art; he created his own. His qi and blood took their own roads.
Thus he broke through the Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth stages...
When he surfaced from this martial awakening, he had raised Transcendence to the two hundred fifty-third stage.
"How strange. Above Transcendence, there seems to be more!"
He continued to cultivate, forgetting time, diving back into the martial path.
He reached the nine hundred ninety-ninth Transcendent stage before waking from his trance and finally leaving seclusion.
Three days had passed.