Chapter 47: Have You Ever Heard of the Great Sage Who Defied the Heavens?

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Fang Wang set aside the Manual of Spirit Shaping.

Creating a temporary Heaven’s Spirit Stone was a daunting task, requiring rare and unusual materials. It was far more practical to find a place where the spiritual energy was so dense it formed a vortex, then set up a special formation to achieve an effect comparable to a Heaven’s Spirit Stone.

With his prodigious memory, Fang Wang committed several key points to heart, then rose to action.

Before arriving, he had exchanged for the largest spatial storage pouch available at the Taiyuan Sect, precisely so he could gather as many rare treasures as possible on this journey.

He landed in the forest beneath the cliff, and the moment his feet touched the ground, he was drawn to some vividly colored flowers and fruits. He took out the Compendium of Earthly and Heavenly Treasures that Gu Li had given him. He had only memorized the illustrations and page numbers, not the entire contents in detail.

He flipped directly to a certain page and began comparing.

“Deer-Yellow Fruit, an excellent fruit for strengthening one’s qi and blood. Not bad, I’ll take it,” Fang Wang thought delightedly. To find a reward right at the start was a good omen. Guided by the Compendium’s advice, he avoided the poisonous thorns of the surrounding weeds and easily plucked the Deer-Yellow Fruit.

From then on, Fang Wang’s pace was unhurried, as if strolling through the woods.

It was his first time collecting the treasures of heaven and earth, and he was quite excited, feeling as though he were playing an adventure game.

In this life, apart from cultivation, it had always been a rush from place to place, never truly relaxing. In terms of actual age, he had lived for a millennium, most of it akin to imprisonment. Without proper relaxation, he feared he would develop inner demons.

The forest was vast, with trees taller than those outside and undergrowth so dense that some patches even rose above Fang Wang’s head.

An hour later, he had gathered a fair amount, though none of it could truly be classified as heavenly treasures—merely good materials.

To break through to the Spirit Pill Realm, he would need certain rare treasures, and even among those, the right attribute was crucial. The more attribute-rich spiritual energy he could absorb during the breakthrough, the stronger the resulting spirit pill would be, and it would also alter the nature of his own spiritual power.

Within Zhou Xue’s Manual of Spirit Shaping, she had advised Fang Wang not to focus solely on fire attributes. It was best to gather treasures of all five elements, achieving a balance. She hadn’t explained why, but Fang Wang was willing to trust her.

Perhaps spirit pills with a single attribute could make a cultivator stronger in the early stages, but to become immortal, one must ultimately reach the harmony of heaven and nature—and what is that but the unity of the five elements?

When the five elements are united, countless new attributes can be born.

Suddenly.

Fang Wang halted; he could faintly hear the sound of a woman weeping. As a cultivator, he was not prone to hallucinations.

A woman who could enter the Celestial Sage’s Grotto would hardly be brought to tears so easily. Could it be a monster at work within this place?

Fang Wang felt no fear—in fact, he was rather expectant. Demons, too, cultivated; some of the greater ones could even form demon cores, which were valuable materials for a cultivator’s spirit pill.

He immediately moved toward the source of the sound, activating his Breathless Nature Technique to mask his presence.

As he advanced, the mysterious weeping grew ever clearer, and soon Fang Wang could sense the presence of demonic energy.

There was no doubt—it was a monster!

Yet the distance was greater than he had anticipated.

After traveling several dozen miles, he spotted the edge of the forest. He slowed his pace, leaping silently through the branches.

It was obvious—the weeping had been meant to lure him in.

His right hand gripped the hilt of the Azure Sovereign Sword, his movements agile as a monkey but light as a wild goose, not making the slightest sound.

Reaching the forest’s edge, he used the dense foliage for cover and peered beyond. Ahead lay a mountain ridge, its slopes sparsely vegetated and strewn with rocks of various sizes.

His eyes quickly locked onto a figure halfway up the mountainside—a woman in white, standing on a broken cliff, her hair loose and wild, face hidden. In her right hand, she held a green snake, and it was the snake that was making the weeping sound, eerily like that of a woman.

Fang Wang frowned. The green snake exuded an incredibly potent demonic energy—the strongest he had sensed thus far. The woman in white, however, seemed utterly devoid of any aura; closing his eyes, he would not have sensed her at all.

She stood motionless, the snake trembling in her grasp, its cries even more pitiful, making it easy to imagine a gentle, wronged woman sobbing inconsolably.

Fang Wang could not gauge the woman’s strength and dared not act rashly.

He observed patiently and soon spotted a block of dark yellow stone embedded in the cliff behind her.

Earth Essence Ore!

A treasure for crafting magical artifacts, also usable for spirit pills. Earth Essence Ore was rich in earth-attributed spiritual energy, and it was likely that what he could see was only a small part—perhaps the whole mountain was laced with it.

Fang Wang began to plot. He had to find a way to slice off a piece.

If only someone else would emerge to test the waters!

Just as the thought formed, a whistle tore through the air. Fang Wang’s eyes snapped to the source—a flying sword shot out from the forest in another direction, speeding straight for the woman in white.

So fast!

Faster even than Xu Lang’s sword!

In a blink, the sword was before the woman, halting instantly with its tip less than five centimeters from her head. The blade trembled, unable to move further.

Whoosh—

A figure leapt from the woods—a young man in black, whom Fang Wang instantly recognized as a disciple of the Hanging Sky Sword Sect.

Their disciples wore black robes with a sword motif on the back; the number of swords indicated rank. This man bore five swords—he was a personal disciple.

The black-clad youth sprang forward, seizing the hilt of his sword. His left hand formed two fingers, sending a blade of sword energy shooting out. It struck the woman in white, passed through her, and smashed into the Earth Essence Ore behind, sending shards flying.

He tried to leap back with his sword, but found it held fast by an invisible force, his face turning ashen.

He leapt away, abandoning the sword. In midair, both hands wove techniques, sword energy spiraling around him and shooting skyward. His right hand raised, fingers pointed to the heavens, and the sword energy gathered at his fingertip, coalescing into a massive blade five fathoms long.

All this happened in the space of a heartbeat.

With his palm as sword, the youth slashed at the woman in white. The giant blade crashed down like divine wrath, striking her with full force.

The ridge quaked violently, sword energy exploding in all directions, slicing deep gashes even into the trees at the forest’s edge.

Fang Wang’s pupils dilated; the black-clad youth’s face was grim. His sword energy hovered above the woman’s head, unable to fall.

Slowly, the woman raised her head, revealing a face of ghastly pallor—exquisite in its beauty, yet so white it sent chills down the spine. Her eyes were numb and lifeless as stagnant water.

Suddenly, she released the snake. It fell, tried to flee, but she stepped on it. The snake convulsed, then lay still.

Sensing mortal danger, the black-clad youth turned and fled.

Sword energy encircled him like a flying sword, and he vanished into the forest. The woman in white drifted upwards and vanished into thin air.

Now was his chance!

Fang Wang sprang into motion, becoming a streak of white light that shot to the cliff. With a single stroke, he cut away a chunk of Earth Essence Ore and stowed it in his pouch.

Before leaving, he glanced at the half-dead snake, hooked it with his foot, and gripped its head in his left hand to avoid being bitten, then flew off with it.

To avoid pursuit by the woman, Fang Wang immediately employed the White Rainbow Flight Technique, fleeing at full speed.

He was elated—such fortune, and he had only just arrived. Heaven truly favored him.

The Earth Essence Ore would make an excellent spirit pill ingredient. The green snake, brimming with demonic power, might yet contain a demon core. He would have to dissect it and see!

His White Rainbow Flight Technique was incredibly swift. He sped a hundred miles, passing two disciples of other sects who, upon witnessing his speed, were so startled they scattered in different directions.

After fleeing two hundred miles, Fang Wang finally slowed, scanning for a suitable place to rest.

At that moment, a chill spread down his spine, and a cold voice sounded behind him:

“Have you ever heard of the Celestial Sage’s Heaven-Slaying?”

He turned and saw the woman in white standing less than three meters away.

An unimaginably dangerous distance.