The heavy leather pouch felt deceptively light in Li-Wen's palm, yet the metallic clink of high-purity gold coins inside resonated with a satisfying clarity. He paused at the threshold of the grand residence, looking back over his shoulder at the sweeping eaves of the Wu Estate.
Wu-Wen's heavy, defeated sigh still echoed in Li-Wen's ears. The man—this mortal merchant who happened to share part of his name—looked at his own flesh and blood with the hollow eyes of a father who had already buried his hopes. In his previous life, before he slaughtered his way through the nine heavens and drenched the celestial pillars in the blood of arrogated deities, Li-Wen had long forgotten what mortal familial bonds felt like. To a God Emperor who had survived a war spanning millions of years, human emotional ties were as fleeting as dust on a mirror.
Gamble? Drugs? Hedonistic waste? Li-Wen's lip curled into a microscopic sneer of cold disdain as he stepped onto the cobblestone streets of Azure Mist City. The previous occupant of this vessel was not merely weak; he was an absolute disgrace to the concept of cultivation. A fifteen-year-old youth who had not even aligned his internal meridians, squandering his family's wealth on self-destructive ruin.
Yet, as he walked among the mortal crowds, his mind returned to the echoing voice that had pierced his consciousness during his rebirth—the voice of the Time God. The celestial realm was not merely a battleground of physical strength; it was a delicate balance. Even in victory, Li-Wen's absolute dominance had threatened to tear the fabric of reality itself. Was his sudden rebirth a divine punishment or a temporal contingency plan? It mattered little. The path remained unchanged. He would climb back to the peak, step by step, and this time, he would shatter the heavens so thoroughly that not even the concept of time could restrain his absolute decree.
First, however, he needed to repair this pathetic excuse for a vessel.
Azure Mist City was a bustling commercial hub situated at the foot of the Cloud-Piercing Mountain Range. Because of its proximity to the spirit-rich primeval forests, it was a primary gathering point for merchants, mercenaries, and low-level cultivators seeking fortune. The streets were lined with wooden stalls selling everything from low-grade spirit beast hides to crude iron weapons coated in poison. The thick scent of roasted monster meat mingled with the bitter tang of raw herbs hanging in dried bundles outside medicine shops.
Li-Wen completely ignored the flashy, multi-story alchemy pavilions that catered to wealthy young masters looking for quick vanity pills. Those grand establishments charged double the price for watered-down concoctions designed merely to look impressive while offering minimal spiritual benefits.
Instead, he turned down a narrow, damp alleyway where the smell of burning charcoal, wet moss, and sulfur grew noticeably stronger. At the very end of the shadows stood a dilapidated, three-story wooden building with a faded signboard: The Hundred Herbs Hall.
He pushed open the heavy oak door. A small brass bell jingled overhead, breaking the quiet hum of the dusty room.
We aren't taking any more credit, young master Wu, a dry, raspy voice called out from the darkness before Li-Wen could even take two steps inside.
Sitting behind a massive counter made of dark ironwood was an old man with a hunched back and a pair of thick glass lenses resting on his bulbous nose. He was wearing a faded grey robe stained with dark potion residue. This was Old Man Chen, a retired, low-tier alchemist whose reputation in the city was colorful at best. Some called him a fraud who sold failed potions; others called him a bitter lunatic who refused to follow standard pill-refining methods.
I am not here for credit, Li-Wen said calmly, his tone devoid of the arrogant whining the old man was likely accustomed to hearing from the original owner of this body.
Old Man Chen paused mid-motion, adjusting his brass glasses to squint through the dim lighting at the young boy. The youth standing before him had the same pale face of Wu-Wen's useless son, but something was subtly wrong. The posture was unnaturally straight, the shoulders relaxed yet perfectly poised, and the eyes—normally dull and nervous—were as still and deep as an abyss at midnight.
No credit? Chen grunted, laying down his brass scales onto the table. Then you must have finally squeezed your father dry. What do you want? More Clearing-Mind Incense to wake you up after another night of squandering at the pleasure houses?
I require raw herbs, Li-Wen replied smoothly, placing the leather pouch of gold onto the wooden counter with a heavy thud. And I will select them myself.
Chen's left eyebrow twitched at the distinct sound of gold. He pulled open the leather pouch, his greasy fingers quickly counting the gleaming coins. A hundred gold taels. A neat sum for a boy who doesn't know the difference between a high-grade spirit grass and a roadside weed. Fine. You can look at the common wooden drawers. But if you dare touch the sealed spirit-boxes on the top shelf, I will throw you out into the street myself.
Li-Wen did not waste his breath arguing. He closed his eyes briefly, expanding the thin thread of Divine Sense he could currently squeeze from his fragile soul. To a former God Emperor, analyzing the spiritual structure, age, and purity of simple herbs was as effortless as breathing.
He walked over to the tall wooden cabinet containing hundreds of tiny drawers. His fingers moved with practiced efficiency, pulling open drawers without even looking at the handwritten labels on the front.
Three stalks of Seven-Leaf Viper Grass... normally discarded by ignorant fools due to its mild venom, but when neutralized by heat, its fiery nature violently opens dormant meridians.
Two ounces of Cold-Iron Root... dried for at least five years, brittle, yet containing dense earth-element energy.
Half a Liang of Crimson Blood Flower... low grade, poorly harvested by gatherers, but the core vascular node is completely intact and rich in vital essence.
Li-Wen threw the chosen herbs onto the counter in rapid succession. Old Man Chen watched him, his initial cynicism slowly turning into a mixture of bewildered irritation and rising anger.
Hey! Boy! What utter nonsense are you selecting? Chen barked, slapping his open palm onto the counter hard enough to make the brass scales rattle. Viper Grass mixed with Cold-Iron Root? Are you trying to blow up your stomach? The toxicity of the Viper Grass will react violently with the cold iron element and turn your intestines into ice and fire! If you drink a brew made of those ingredients, you will be dead before sunrise, and your father will come dragging his personal guards to burn my shop down!
Li-Wen did not even look up as he picked up a small black stone mortar from a side shelf. Your knowledge of alchemy is completely limited by the rigid, flawed formulas written by third-rate masters three thousand years ago. You treat herbs like solid blocks of lifeless stone, ignoring the intricate flow of their internal elemental Qi.
What did you say?! Chen's face flushed a deep red. Third-rate masters? I studied at the regional Alchemist Guild for twelve years! I am a certified Grade-One Primary Alchemist!
And yet you are eighty years old, stuck permanently in the First Stage of the Ki-Refine realm, with black poison spots rapidly accumulating on your inner palms, Li-Wen said coldly, turning his intense gaze directly onto the old man.
Old Man Chen froze instantly. His right hand instinctively twitched, hiding his palms beneath his long sleeves. How could this brat possibly know about that? The black spots were a terrifying secret he had guarded viciously for two decades—a direct consequence of a failed pill-refining process that had permanently clogged his spiritual veins and destroyed his chances of ever advancing his cultivation.
You... Chen stammered, his arrogant composure instantly deflating into a mix of shock and paranoia. How do you know about my palms? Who told you?
Your breathing is shallow, your right shoulder slumps because your primary liver meridian is completely blocked, and the skin beneath your eyes is turning a dead gray, Li-Wen said, his voice flat, like a physician reciting a list of symptoms to a dying patient. You have been using low-grade Heat-Dispersing Leaves to suppress the pain, but all it does is drive the furnace toxin deeper into your bone marrow. In three months, your legs will go completely numb. In six, you will be paralyzed from the waist down, dying in agony as your veins turn to ash.
Old Man Chen felt a wave of icy sweat break out across his spine. The boy standing before him was not speaking like a spoiled brat. He was speaking with the absolute authority of an ancient grandmaster looking down upon an ignorant child.
Is... is there a way to clear it? Chen asked, his voice trembling slightly, forgetting entirely that he was speaking to a fifteen-year-old delinquent whom the whole city mocked.
There is, Li-Wen said, grabbing a sharp brass knife and expertly slicing off the venomous outer thorns of the Seven-Leaf Viper Grass, leaving only the fine purple vein running through the exact center of the leaf. Provide me with a clean bronze cauldron, a set of silver acupuncture needles, and three drams of Spirit-Refining Fuel. Do it now, and I might consider fixing your ruined veins while I refine my own medicine.
Chen stood frozen for a long beat, his mind racing. Every logical instinct told him that this was complete insanity. But the absolute confidence in the boy's eyes—eyes that possessed an ancient, crushing depth—overrode his common sense.
Follow me to the back room, Chen whispered rasply.
The back room of the shop was thick with the scent of dried charcoal, ancient herbs, and stale alchemy smoke. In the center sat a medium-sized bronze pill cauldron resting on a solid stone pedestal. It was crude, full of minor structural flaws, and completely lacked high-grade array formations, but to Li-Wen, it was more than sufficient for the lowest rank of mortal medicine.
Li-Wen stood before the cold bronze cauldron. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the absolute frailty of his current body.
Ki-Refine Stage One. That was his immediate target today.
Currently, his body possessed zero spiritual energy. He was a pure mortal. Normally, an ordinary person would need to meditate for months under the guidance of a master just to sense the faint Qi scattered in the atmosphere, drawing it slowly into their Dantian to forge their very first spiritual thread.
Li-Wen did not have months. He did not even have days to waste on such primitive methods.
Watch closely if you wish to learn something real, Li-Wen commanded quietly.
Old Man Chen stood near the closed wooden door, clutching his long sleeves tightly against his chest, his heart hammering violently against his ribs.
Li-Wen did not use the Spirit-Refining Fuel to light the furnace underneath the cauldron. Instead, he calmly placed his right palm directly onto the cold bronze surface of the vessel. He focused his immense consciousness, reaching into the deepest recesses of his immortal soul—where microscopic fragments of his former God Emperor Consciousness still lingered, completely immune to physical limitations.
A microscopic spark flared in the darkness.
A tiny, razor-thin spark of pure golden light flickered at the tip of his forefinger. It was not ordinary spiritual Ki. It was pure, unadulterated Divine Will—the signature authority of a ruler of the heavens.
The instant that golden spark touched the cold cauldron, the air inside the closed room grew impossibly heavy. The atmospheric pressure soared as if an invisible mountain were suddenly suspended over the building. Old Man Chen dropped to his knees with a loud thud, gasping frantically for air, an instinctual, primal terror gripping his soul. It felt as though a supreme deity had just cast a fleeting glance toward this tiny room.
Li-Wen tossed the processed Viper Grass, the Cold-Iron Root, and the Crimson Blood Flower into the open cauldron simultaneously.
Simultaneous insertion?! Chen managed to choke out from the floor, his eyes wide with horror. They will explode! Their elemental attributes conflict violently!
Conflict only exists when there is no absolute force present to command them into submission, Li-Wen replied calmly.
With his right hand controlling the internal temperature via his thread of Divine Will, his left hand moved like a spectral phantom. He crushed the herbs into precise cellular fragments, forcing the fiery toxicity of the Viper Grass to wrap around the icy coldness of the Iron Root, locking them together in a perfect balance inside the Crimson Blood Flower's fluid.
The bronze cauldron vibrated violently once, sending a low hum through the stone floor. A dense, milky-white steam erupted from the top vents, carrying a fragrance so intoxicatingly pure that merely inhaling it made Old Man Chen's clogged meridians tingle with warmth.
Li-Wen struck the side of the cauldron with the flat of his palm.
A crisp metallic sound rang out. Three perfectly round, jade-colored pills flew out from the top opening, hovering briefly in the air before landing cleanly in a small porcelain dish Li-Wen had prepared on the table.
They were not smooth like normal low-tier pills. On their pale jade surfaces were faint, silver, lightning-like patterns that seemed to pulse with faint spiritual life.
Pill... Pill Veins?! Old Man Chen gasped, his eyes bulging as he scrambled up from the floor. Top-tier quality! No, this is Supreme Grade! A primary-grade medicine with intact Pill Veins? Even the Grandmaster of the regional Pill Association can only produce a pill with veins once every hundred attempts!
Li-Wen picked up one of the warm pills without a word of self-congratulation. To him, producing a Supreme Grade low-level pill with such crude materials was actually somewhat embarrassing.
Eat one, Li-Wen tossed one of the jade pills directly toward Old Man Chen.
Chen caught it reflexively, his hands trembling. For... for me?
It is a Body-Cleansing Marrow Pill, Li-Wen said, popping the second pill directly into his own mouth. It will burn out the accumulated poison in your primary veins and force your stagnant Ki to circulate. As for the third pill... I will keep it for later use.
Old Man Chen did not hesitate any longer. Driven by desperation and awe, he swallowed the jade pill whole.
Instantly, Chen's wrinkled face flushed a dark red. A surge of intense, burning energy flared in his chest, exploding outward into his limbs. He let out a choked roar of pain and surprise as thick, foul-smelling black sludge began oozing rapidly out from the open pores of his hands, neck, and face—the toxic residue of twenty years being violently purged from his body.
While Chen was groaning and sweating on the floor, undergoing a painful transformation, Li-Wen sat cross-legged on the cold stone floor, closing his eyes as his own pill dissolved in his stomach.
The moment the Body-Cleansing Marrow Pill melted inside Li-Wen, a wave of fiery, refined medicinal energy surged through his digestive tract.
For an ordinary youth, this sudden influx of raw power would have ruptured their weak spiritual veins. But Li-Wen's consciousness possessed the profound experience of a million years of supreme cultivation. He commanded the raging power with absolute mastery.
By the supreme authority of the Void Sovereign Technique, open!
Li-Wen expertly manipulated his internal breath, using the surging energy like a heavy battering ram. It slammed directly into his blocked spiritual gateways with ruthless efficiency.
An audible pop echoed from inside his spine. His first meridian was forcibly shattered and cleared of all impurities.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
In rapid succession, the second, third, fourth, and fifth meridians shattered open under his command. The atmospheric Ki floating in the room was suddenly drawn toward Li-Wen's body, forming a visible, swirling vortex around his small frame. His short black hair whipped wildly in the generated spiritual wind.
His pale skin flushed with a healthy glow. The lingering physical weakness and the foul remnants of the drugs the previous owner had indulged in were instantly vaporized and expelled through his pores in tiny wisps of grey vapor.
Ki-Refine Stage One!
Ki-Refine Stage Two!
Ki-Refine Stage Three!
The overwhelming momentum did not halt until the medicinal energy was completely consumed by his expanding Dantian. In less than half an hour, Li-Wen had leaped from a frail mortal straight into the Third Stage of the Ki-Refine Realm!
He opened his deep eyes. A sharp, divine golden glint flashed in his dark pupils before vanishing into the shadows. He stood up smoothly, lightly stretching his physical limbs. A satisfying series of sharp popping sounds echoed from his spine and arm joints. His muscles were lean, dense, and packed with compressed, refined spiritual Ki.
On the floor nearby, Old Man Chen was gasping for air, covered in a layer of foul black filth, but his face looked at least fifteen years younger. His breathing was deep and smooth, and his long-stagnant Ki was moving freely through his arms once more.
Chen looked up at the young boy standing tall before him, his gaze filled with pure reverence and fear. He scrambled onto his knees and slammed his forehead heavily against the cold stone floor.
Master! Please... take this old man as your humble disciple! Chen cried out, his voice hoarse with emotion. I was blind! I failed to recognize a true immortal walking among mortals!
Li-Wen looked down at the kneeling old alchemist, his expression cold and indifferent.
I do not take disciples in this world, Li-Wen said plainly. Your talent is far too poor, and your age is far too advanced. However... you have proven somewhat useful to me today.
Chen did not feel insulted; in fact, he felt immensely relieved. Whatever Master commands, this old man will execute without question!
First, clean yourself. You smell like a decaying corpse, Li-Wen ordered, adjusting his sleeves. Second, keep everything that transpired in this room today an absolute secret. If a single rumor about my pills or my sudden cultivation reaches the outside world before I am ready... not even the gods in heaven will be able to save your soul from being erased.
I swear upon my Dao heart! I swear upon the spirits of my ancestors! Chen panicked, slapping his own chest hard in earnestness.
Good, Li-Wen said, walking over to the counter and carefully picking up the third Body-Cleansing Marrow Pill, wrapping it neatly in a square of soft white silk. I will return in three days. Prepare the following rare herbs for me: ten stalks of Iron-Skin Grass, five drops of Dew-Drop Essence, and a whole Spirit-Ginseng that is at least fifty years old. Use the rest of my father's gold taels to pay for them.
Yes, Master! I will search every market in the entire city immediately! Chen promised enthusiastically.
Li-Wen nodded once, turned on his heel, and walked out of the store, leaving the transformed old alchemist bowing repeatedly to his retreating back.
The late afternoon sun was beginning to dip rapidly behind the jagged peaks of the Cloud-Piercing Mountains, casting long shadows across the streets of Azure Mist City.
As Li-Wen navigated the winding alleys on his way back to the Wu Estate, his newly refined senses picked up subtle environmental cues that his previous body would have completely missed. The soft crunch of a heavy leather boot on gravel thirty paces behind him. The rhythmic breathing of two distinct individuals moving parallel to his position on the wooden rooftops above.Tails, Li-Wen thought, a cold smile touching his thin lips. Three people. Low cultivation bases. The strongest among them is merely at the Fourth Stage of the Ki-Refine realm.
Instead of heading toward the wide main avenue where the city guards actively patrolled, Li-Wen deliberately turned down a quiet, dead-end alleyway bordered by high stone walls covered in dark ivy.
He stopped directly in the center of the empty lane, turning around with absolute calm to face the alley's entrance.
You can come out now, Li-Wen said, his clear voice echoing lightly against the stone walls. Your stealth techniques are as loud and clumsy as a herd of frightened bull-beasts crashing through a forest.
Three tall figures dropped down simultaneously from the roof above, blocking the alley's only exit.
They wore dark leather armor, their lower faces hidden by black cloth masks. The leader, a broad-shouldered man with a jagged scar running across his forehead, pulled out a long, curved steel saber that glinted in the fading sunlight. This was Gu-Tao, a known mercenary working for the notorious Black Bear Gang—a powerful local syndicate that controlled the city's dark underground gambling dens and extortion rackets.
Well, well, Gu-Tao sneered, eyeing Li-Wen with surprise and contempt. The little trash master of the wealthy Wu family actually managed to notice us? It seems you aren't completely blind from all that expensive wine you drank last night.
Who sent you to follow me? Li-Wen asked smoothly, his hands resting casually inside his wide sleeves.
Gu-Tao laughed loudly, a rough, grating sound. You owe fifty heavy gold taels to Boss Bear from your lost dice bets last night, little boy. Your merchant father arrogantly refused to pay the gang's debt collectors when we visited his office this morning. So, Boss Bear personally commanded us to cut off your right hand as an initial interest payment to teach him a proper lesson. But seeing as you just walked out of the Hundred Herbs Hall... you must have some gold left on you, don't you?
Fifty gold taels? Li-Wen quickly recalled the original owner's foggy memories. The foolish boy had indeed been set up by the Black Bear Gang in a rigged dice game the previous night. They had drugged his wine and forced him to sign an illegal debt contract while he was barely conscious.
I have gold, Li-Wen said softly, taking out the small leather pouch—now containing only a few remaining silver coins—and swinging it lightly by its leather string. But scum like you are not worthy to touch even a single copper piece of my wealth.
Gu-Tao's small eyes narrowed sharply, his expression darkening into pure malice. Little trash, you seem to have completely forgotten who you are talking to in this dark alley. In this city, money without absolute physical strength is just an open invitation for a brutal death. Boys, break both his weak legs first! Then we will slowly slice off his hand!
The two mercenaries standing on either side of Gu-Tao lunged forward instantly. One drew a sharp poisoned dagger aimed directly at Li-Wen's shoulder, while the heavy mercenary swept his iron-toed boot toward Li-Wen's knees, attempting to permanently shatter his leg joints.
To an ordinary fifteen-year-old youth, this synchronized attack would be fatal.
To Li-Wen, who had commanded celestial armies, their movements were moving in absolute slow motion, plagued by dozens of critical flaws.
Li-Wen did not even draw a weapon. He took half a calm step back, his body shifting smoothly like a wisp of smoke in the wind.
The poisoned dagger grazed empty air.
Before the surprised attacker could recover his balance, Li-Wen's right hand shot out like a striking dragon. Two fingers, rigid as iron and heavily infused with the newly refined Ki of his Third Stage, struck the mercenary precisely on the side of his thick neck—the vital Wind-Gathering Acupoint.
A dull thud echoed. The mercenary's eyes instantly rolled back into his head, and he collapsed onto the hard stone floor like a sack of wet flour, his breathing cut off as his nervous system collapsed.
The second heavy attacker, horrified by his comrade's sudden downing, tried frantically to pull back his swept leg, but Li-Wen was already occupying his blind spot. Li-Wen stomped his heel lightly yet precisely onto the man's planted knee joint.
A sickening, loud crack echoed through the narrow alleyway. The second mercenary let out a blood-curdling scream of agony as his knee bent backward at a grotesque ninety-degree angle. Li-Wen followed up seamlessly with an open-palm strike aimed straight into the center of the man's chest.
A dull explosion of air sounded. The shockwave of compressed Ki shattered the man's sternum, sending his broad body flying ten feet backward through the air before he slammed heavily into the solid brick wall, dropping unconscious while spitting a mouthful of blood.
The entire violent exchange took less than three full seconds.
Gu-Tao stood completely frozen in place, his hand gripping his steel saber so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Cold sweat poured down his scarred forehead, soaking his black cloth mask.
Third Stage of the Ki-Refine Realm?! Gu-Tao screamed inwardly in absolute horror. How is this possible? Yesterday this pathetic kid was a sickly fool who couldn't even lift a heavy iron training sword! Where did this terrifying martial skill come from?!
Li-Wen slowly stepped over the groaning mercenary on the ground, his cold gaze locked onto Gu-Tao's trembling frame.
You said earlier... Li-Wen spoke in a quiet voice as he closed the distance, that money without strength is an invitation for death. I quite agree with that simple philosophy of the mortal world.
Gu-Tao roared in sheer panic, swinging his curved steel saber in a wide horizontal arc aimed straight at Li-Wen's exposed neck, pouring every drop of his Fourth-Stage Ki into the blade. Die, you monster!
Li-Wen did not dodge the incoming steel. He simply raised his right hand casually, catching the flat of the blade directly between his forefinger and middle finger.
A sharp metallic clink echoed in the quiet alley. The heavy saber strike came to a complete stop in mid-air. The kinetic force generated by the Fourth-Stage Ki evaporated into nothingness, failing to move Li-Wen's fingers even a millimeter.
Gu-Tao's eyes almost popped out of their sockets in sheer disbelief. He caught my full-power saber attack... with just two bare fingers?!
Li-Wen twisted his two fingers slightly to the left.
A loud crack shattered the silence. The iron saber exploded into a dozen jagged steel fragments that rained onto the stone floor.
Before Gu-Tao could comprehend what had happened, Li-Wen reached out with blinding speed, grabbing the scarred mercenary by his thick throat and slamming him violently against the brick wall. The stone cracked under the impact.
Gu-Tao dropped his useless, broken sword hilt, clawing frantically at Li-Wen's slender wrist, but Li-Wen's grip felt like an unyielding vise made of solid tungsten.
Tell your 'Boss Bear', Li-Wen whispered, his pale face mere inches from Gu-Tao's suffocating features, that if he wants my family's gold, or my hand, he should come get it himself in broad daylight. But if he dares send any more annoying flies to bother my path... I will personally erase the Black Bear Gang from the map of Azure Mist City overnight. Do you clearly understand my words?
Gu-Tao choked out a desperate nod, his bloodshot eyes filled with absolute terror.
Li-Wen tossed him aside onto the ground like a piece of useless street trash. Gu-Tao hit the dirt, scrambled frantically to his feet without ever daring to look back, and ran out of the dark alley as fast as his legs could carry him, completely abandoning his two unconscious comrades behind.
Li-Wen calmly dusted off his silk sleeves, adjusting his collar with care. He looked up at the darkening sky where the first stars were beginning to twinkle, feeling the cool evening wind against his face.
The first step of my grand return is officially taken, Li-Wen thought to himself, a dark fire of ambition burning deep within his immortal eyes. Three full stages of Ki-Refine in a single afternoon. Soon... very soon, this tiny city will no longer be large enough to hold my shadow.
He turned smoothly and walked casually out of the alley toward the Wu Estate, ready to face whatever political storms and family rivalries awaited him in his new mortal life.
See you in next chapter.....