Volume One: First Steps on the Path Chapter Ninety-One: The Secret of Bewildering Glow

Qi Yi grew instantly tense at the words, his expression shifting in a restless storm as though he were searching for the right explanation.

Ye Junze was not in a hurry. He waited patiently.

After a moment, Wen Yu, standing nearby, said in a low voice, “Brother Qi, there’s really no need to hide this, is there? Besides, Brother Junze doesn’t seem like a bad person to me. Why not tell him? He might even be able to help us.”

Qi Yi lowered his head and pondered the matter, weighing the possibility of Wen Yu’s suggestion. After thinking it over for a while, he seemed to make up his mind and gave a small nod, settling on an answer. Then he leaned toward Wen Yu and murmured, “All right, then let’s do as you say.”

Having said that, he looked at Ye Junze and apologized, “Forgive us for keeping you waiting, Senior.”

Ye Junze waved it off, showing that he did not mind.

Seeing this, Qi Yi composed himself and faced Ye Junze again. With proper respect, he began, “The reason is that the Ruins of the Enchanted Glow Star, where we are now, once possessed a civilization of cultivation several decades ago. But one day many years ago, something happened on this planet. Almost overnight, all the spiritual energy on the planet vanished without a trace. Stranger still, as that spiritual energy dispersed, all the humans, beasts, and every other form of life on the planet also disappeared mysteriously, leaving no sign behind, as though they had never existed here at all. This incident caused quite a stir at the time. Many people came to investigate, but none found anything. So it became an unsolved mystery, and even now there is still no answer.”

“Spiritual energy disappeared?” Ye Junze said in surprise. “But I can clearly feel a very dense concentration of it here.”

He did not voice the rest: otherwise, how could I have managed to fly through the air?

Qi Yi replied respectfully once more, “Exactly. That is the main reason we came here to investigate. With your cultivation level, Senior, you must also have noticed that the current Enchanted Glow Star is filled with remarkably dense spiritual energy.”

Ye Junze nodded in agreement, then signaled for him to continue.

“We came here because the Shangyang Continent sensed some recent disturbances on Enchanted Glow Star and, through certain means, detected signs of spiritual energy recovery here. So the two of us accepted a mission from our clan to investigate the abnormalities on Enchanted Glow Star,” Qi Yi continued.

“I see,” Ye Junze said thoughtfully.

“That’s right. That’s the full situation,” Qi Yi said with a nod.

“Then have you discovered anything yet?” Ye Junze asked.

Qi Yi shook his head. “With the cultivation levels we currently possess, the only thing we can determine is that the spiritual energy on Enchanted Glow Star is growing denser and denser. As for why this has happened, the two of us are unable to uncover the exact reason. Right now, all we can do is collect as many samples as possible and leave the investigation to the elders of our family when we return.”

“That does make sense,” Ye Junze said with a nod.

Seeing her brother and this Brother Junze speaking so happily, Wen Yu could not help but break into a foolish little grin, as though she were thinking of something amusing.

Hearing the sound, Qi Yi immediately looked at Wen Yu and asked with concern, “What’s wrong, Yu Mei? Are you feeling unwell anywhere?”

“Oh, no, no, I’m fine,” Wen Yu said quickly, waving her hand to show that she was all right.

Qi Yi frowned in confusion. “If you’re fine, then why are you grinning like that?”

“Brother Qi, just leave me alone. I really am fine,” Wen Yu said again, still waving her hand, though she clearly had no intention of explaining further.

“You child,” Qi Yi said, shaking his head helplessly. Then he looked back at Ye Junze and said, “Senior, we still have some collecting to do, so forgive us for not being able to keep you company for the moment.”

Ye Junze waved a hand. “No matter. Go ahead. I still have some matters of cultivation to work out.”

“All right, then we shall not disturb you any longer,” Qi Yi said respectfully. Then he beckoned to Wen Yu. “Wen Yu, let’s go attend to our proper work first. Do not trouble Senior.”

At those words, Wen Yu’s mood instantly drooped, and she looked rather reluctant. Turning to Ye Junze, she said, “All right then, Brother Junze, wait for us. I’ll come find you and play with you again later.”

Hearing the girl’s sweet words, Ye Junze smiled and nodded. “All right, I’ll wait for you here.”

At once, Wen Yu’s downcast mood lifted again. She smiled brightly and said, “Then it’s settled, Brother Junze. If you lie, a puppy will eat your nose.”

Qi Yi’s eyelid twitched at her words. Although Ye Junze did not seem to mind much, he still scolded her, “Yu Mei, do not be rude.”

“I know, I know,” Wen Yu said, sticking out her tongue cheekily and making a face.

Qi Yi sighed helplessly and once again turned to Ye Junze. “Then, Senior, we will take our leave first.”

Ye Junze waved them off. “Go on.”

Only then did the two of them rise and head off in another direction to carry out their own tasks.

After watching them leave, Ye Junze mulled over everything he had just heard, pressing it into the back of his mind before setting it aside.

“Come to think of it, I still haven’t gotten familiar with the attack methods of the Nascent Soul stage,” he thought.

Feeling a surge of interest, he went on, “Why not use this time to get acquainted with them? Let’s see whether they can be combined with my previous teleportation and flight techniques for unexpected results.”

With that in mind, Ye Junze began reviewing the offensive methods he already possessed.

The Lingxu Sword, the Thought-Reading Guidance, the Little Cauldron, and some of the spells he had learned in the Void Mirage Realm...

Ye Junze nodded. “There are quite a few. It just seems that I need to become more familiar with using them in a Nascent Soul manner.”

“Then I might as well start with the Little Cauldron. I’m also quite curious to see what power it has now that I’ve reached the Nascent Soul stage.”

Thinking this, Ye Junze looked at his palm, where the golden imprint of the small cauldron was suspended above his hand.

Just seeing it reminded him of something else. Come to think of it, ever since arriving in this dream, the Lingxu Sword, the Little Cauldron, the storage space, the storage artifacts, and various other things could all be used normally. Yet the Void Mirage Realm could not be sensed at all, and even the connection with Dream Origin seemed to have been severed.

Ye Junze had tried many times before to communicate with the Void Mirage Realm and Dream Origin, and every attempt had ended in failure. Unable to figure out the cause, he could only conclude that it was due to the special nature of this dream, and so he stopped dwelling on it. Instead, he focused on becoming familiar with his attack methods.

He circulated his spiritual energy and summoned the Little Cauldron from the mark on his palm. The cauldron floated quietly above his hand.

But in Ye Junze’s perception, the Little Cauldron now felt distinctly different from before. Perhaps because he had reached the Nascent Soul stage, the aura it emitted after being summoned was incomparably stronger than before. Merely looking at it gave the impression that it contained something unimaginably terrifying within.

Feeling the boundless might contained within it, Ye Junze could not help but feel pleasantly surprised. After thinking for a moment, he infused spiritual power into the cauldron, and it floated up from his palm. Then, just as it had during his assessment before, it rose higher and higher before hurtling toward a huge boulder in the distance.

At the very moment the Little Cauldron struck the boulder, the entire mass split apart in an instant. But that was not the end. After shattering into fragments, the broken stones crumbled again, until everything had turned to powder. Only then did it stop. The dust that rose afterward drifted slowly back down.

Naturally, the two people in the distance who had been collecting something also noticed the tremendous commotion Ye Junze had caused, and both turned their eyes toward the place where the Little Cauldron stood.

“Wow, Brother Qi, is that the power of the Nascent Soul stage? It really is formidable,” Wen Yu said with shining eyes, her face full of admiration.

Qi Yi had also felt the overwhelming might in that instant. Looking at the scene Ye Junze had created, he said in astonishment, “It would seem so. The Nascent Soul stage truly cannot be underestimated.”

Ye Junze himself, having caused all this, was naturally quite satisfied as well.

I only used a little bit of force, and it already has this kind of destructive power. If I go all out... now that is something worth looking forward to, he thought.

Then he beckoned to the Little Cauldron. As if responding to his summons, it flew back along the same path at incredible speed and returned to where Ye Junze stood.

Seeing the Little Cauldron settle once more in his palm, Ye Junze praised it softly, “Well done.”

“Let’s rest for a bit for now,” he said, then withdrew the cauldron. It returned once more to the form of a mark, resting in the center of his palm.

After putting the Little Cauldron away, Ye Junze said again, “Since the Little Cauldron is done, I might as well get familiar with the others too.”

With that, he thought back over the spells he had mastered before and began trying them again.

The resulting noise and commotion only grew greater, and Qi Yi and Wen Yu’s expressions made that plain enough.

From shock at the beginning, to blank astonishment afterward, and finally to a sort of accustomed calm, the two of them eventually looked almost numb, raising their heads only perfunctorily to glance over now and then, with no further ripples of emotion.

As for Ye Junze, having tried repeatedly, he was naturally very satisfied with what he had achieved. Even he had not expected that once he used those old techniques at the Nascent Soul stage, their power would rise by such a terrifying degree. His heart was naturally filled with delight.

Then he thought of something else, and a thoughtful look appeared in his eyes. He murmured to himself, “Perhaps now I can try that one?”

As he spoke, he gave a low cry: “Lingxu Sword!”

The moment his voice fell, a crisp and piercing sword cry rang out, and a small sword hovered before Ye Junze.

It was indeed the Lingxu Sword.