Chapter 125: Qi Wu Mansion, Entering the Second Realm (Bonus Short Chapter)

In the 431st year of the Ming era, spring had arrived.

At the third phase of the Rain Water solar term, plants began to sprout and stir.

The spring rain nourished the earth, and all living things thrived, brimming with vibrant life.

At Wufu Mountain,

Shi Tongxuan had already set up a humble dwelling.

Shi Tongxuan and Cheng Xin Zhan sat cross-legged inside the small hut. Though it had a thatched roof, the fine, continuous spring rain still seeped through, the droplets carried by the wind landing softly and coolly upon their faces.

Shi Tongxuan gazed at the nearby saplings. It seemed this divine entity had already taken root here. The green shoots atop the plants were about an inch tall, with dewdrops formed by the rain, a sight that filled him with joy.

“Hm?”

Turning to look at Cheng Xin Zhan beside him, Shi Tongxuan sensed a vast vitality radiating from the boy.

The hut, constructed with wooden pillars and a reed roof, responded to the vibrant life force emanating from Cheng Xin Zhan; the wooden posts began to take root, sprouting bark and fresh green buds!

It appeared that the Wood Mansion was being established.

To open a Wood Mansion in less than half a year was truly swift.

Yet, considering the contemplation of the Wood Lord, cultivating beside a divine tree during the Rain Water solar term, it was in perfect accordance with the harmony of heaven, earth, and man—a predictable occurrence.

However, Cheng Xin Zhan’s eyes remained closed. Within his inner world, even more wondrous transformations were unfolding.

Inside his heart mansion, within the Bright Palace, the Star Officer of the Pleiades opened his eyes. A ray of solar fire shot forth from them, transforming into a surging river of fiery crimson gold that surged out of the heart mansion.

The fiery river flowed into the Lung Mansion.

In the grand underground mausoleum of the Ming Emperor, a golden qilin also opened its eyes. Seeing the fire river rushing toward it, the qilin did not retreat but instead stomped forward to meet it.

Bathed in the sea of flames and unafraid of the scorching heat, its scales and horns shone more brilliantly than ever.

The qilin absorbed all the fire, its entire body glowing as though reborn through the flames.

After swallowing the solar fire, the qilin opened its mouth again, spewing forth a gloomy golden light.

The golden light pierced into the Spleen Mansion, where mountains stretched endlessly—three great mountains and five sacred peaks all contained within. The golden light crashed into the mountains like a meteorite.

The earth trembled and the mountains shook violently.

Prince Bingling of Meditation Spirit was startled awake. Seeing the mountains quiver, he immediately formed a hand seal. The mountains obeyed his command, stabilizing instantly and suppressing the golden light underground.

Moreover, the mountains absorbed the golden light, assimilating the metal nature within, becoming even more solid and steadfast.

With another change of hand seal, Prince Bingling summoned a cloud of murky earth light rising from beneath the mountains, drifting into the Kidney Mansion.

Within the Kidney Mansion, the Moon Palace hung like the moon in the sky, shifting and elusive. Now, the murky earth light transformed into a yellow cloud that firmly supported the Moon Palace.

Inside the Moon Palace, the Emperor of the Moon opened his eyes and began to perform incantations. The cold well within the palace connected directly to the yellow cloud, drawing earth energy and transforming it into cold water.

The cold water flowed out from the well into the Liver Mansion.

The cold water gathered there, forming a vast, azure sea.

Gradually, however, the water receded, revealing a fairy mountain within the sea.

This mountain was called Fangzhu. At its summit, blue clouds gathered into a magnificent canopy.

Above the blue clouds stood a divine figure, crowned with the three-dimensional crown and clad in nine-colored cloud robes—it was the Eastern King, the Wood Lord.

Facing eastward, where a glowing red sun hung high in the sky, the Wood Lord listened to the tide of the azure sea. He extended a finger toward the sun, from which a stream of azure light overflowed like a blue rainbow, linking the mountain isle to the red sun.

The blue rainbow plunged into the sun, yet in fact, it appeared within the heart mansion.

The blue rainbow landed in the blood river, which instantly surged and roiled, waves of blood towering high. But upon closer inspection, these towering waves were not blood but flames.

The fiery waves shot skyward, spilling out of the heart mansion and rushing into the lung mansion, disturbing the qilin.

...

This cycle repeated endlessly.

Fire river, golden light, yellow cloud, cold water, blue rainbow.

The five colors of radiant light traveled swiftly among the five mansions, growing faster and faster, merging into one, transforming into a five-colored auspicious cloud.

The five-colored cloud drifted through the inner world until it reached a void beside the heart mansion.

Though seemingly a void, this place was actually fortified by thick barriers. Though the five-colored cloud appeared light and ethereal, it contained immense power.

“Boom!”

A tremendous sound echoed through every corner of the inner world.

The void shattered into countless fragments, like colored glass reflecting brilliant hues under sunlight. The barrier fragments shimmered with endless iridescence under the display of the five-colored cloud.

With the barrier broken, the void revealed a faintly translucent cavity, which, bathed in the fiery glow of the heart mansion nearby, appeared a deep crimson.

This was the Crimson Palace.

The five-colored cloud surged into the Crimson Palace, transforming into a cloud bed.

Henceforth, this would be the place where the infant was nurtured.

With all five mansions opened and the five vital energies surging into the palace,

In the seventh year of his cultivation, Cheng Xin Zhan broke through the first realm.

His thoughts entered the Crimson Palace, where beneath him lay the cloud bed, seemingly in the heavens, while above were concentric ripples resembling a lake surface, as if on the earth itself.

But Cheng Xin Zhan knew that the ripples were not water, but his life cycle.

Counting carefully, he discerned ninety-eight colorless ripples within—indicating that with his innate constitution, even without cultivation, he would live a full life free of illness or calamity, reaching ninety-eight years in natural death.

Outside the colorless ripples were five layers of ripples in red, white, yellow, black, and blue, with thirty, seven, thirty, thirty, and thirty ripples respectively—corresponding to the order in which he had opened the five mansions.

The Heart and Kidney Mansions governed all the body's essence and blood, and their inner spirits were masters of yin and yang stars. Thus, opening them would each add thirty years to his lifespan. The Wood Mansion, ruled by the Wood Lord, also increased his life by thirty years thanks to the vitality it brought.

By logic, the Earth Mansion should add less than thirty years, but Cheng Xin Zhan suspected that because its inner spirit, Prince Bingling, held a position in the underworld, fate had granted him additional years.

As for the Metal Mansion, ruled by the martial and decisive spirit, adding seven years of life was perfectly reasonable.

Beyond these five layers, there was another ring of crimson ripples, totaling sixty.

Opening the Crimson Palace added exactly one sexagenary cycle of life.

Looking closer, Cheng Xin Zhan saw fifty-two of these ripples had turned gray. Among them, twenty-two represented his actual years lived, while thirty represented the years lost during the moment his true calamity struck and he opened the Heart Mansion, where all the vitality added to the Heart Mansion had been consumed to resist the destructive energy assaulting it.

Therefore, he could clearly see that his total lifespan was two hundred eighty-five years, fifty-two already used, with two hundred thirty-three years remaining.

This was what it meant to know one’s destiny.

Yet two hundred thirty-three years was not much, for most of the life-extending apertures in his life repository had already been opened. Only the openings of the Yellow Court and Purple Gate remained to lengthen his years.

This meant that before consolidating his foundation and forming his elixir, his lifespan would no longer increase—only diminish throughout the second realm.

Upon entering the third realm, he would no longer even know if each elixir refining would sufficiently increase his lifespan to carry him through to the next.

Between life and death lay great terror, so heart demons frequently plagued those in the third realm. Few ever attained the fourth.

It was at the very moment the five-colored cloud burst open the Crimson Palace within Cheng Xin Zhan’s inner world that,

Outside, above Mount Sanqing, five auspicious clouds appeared from nowhere, in red, white, yellow, black, and blue, encircling Wufu Mountain as their core.

Upon each cloud stood a divine figure.

On the red cloud stood the Star Officer of the Pleiades, with a mirror wheel behind his head depicting the great sun shining at midday.

On the white cloud stood the golden qilin corpse, its mirror wheel showing the scene of the mountain of knives and hell.

On the yellow cloud stood Prince Bingling, with the mirror wheel portraying endless mountain ranges.

On the black cloud stood the Emperor of the Moon, his mirror wheel showing the surging tides of the vast sea.

On the blue cloud stood the Eastern King, the Wood Lord, with the mirror wheel revealing towering ancient trees.

Yet the five clouds emitted such brilliant light that the divine figures were almost entirely obscured, their true forms hidden. Only the five mirror wheels shone like suns suspended upon the clouds, illuminating all directions.

At the first sign of this extraordinary apparition, Ji Hehe, Dong Shouren, Lu Duxing, You Wei, and other masters capable of invoking the mountain-protecting great formation simultaneously activated the Cloud Ban Formation to conceal the phenomenon.

Inside Wufu Mountain, Shi Tongxuan watched the swirling clouds above Mount Sanqing, clapping his hands and laughing heartily.

At this moment, Cheng Xin Zhan had just opened his eyes and saw his master smiling and pointing at him.

“You, breaking through your realm today without a word—have caused quite a stir for everyone.”

(End of chapter)