Chapter Ninety-Six: The Dust Pearl [Monthly Ticket Request]

Lying amid the blossoms, Li Yang closed his eyes and gathered his spirit. The bones throughout his body began to tremble faintly with his breathing.

A stream of golden glimmer drifted out from those shattered bones, carried by that peculiar vibration, and seeped into the cells all around him.

Fed by that golden force, the cells within Li Yang’s body began dividing at a furious pace, their metabolism accelerating by dozens of times beyond its normal state.

At last, after an hour had passed and the sun had climbed high overhead, raising the temperature on the floating island little by little, Li Yang let out a long breath of murky gray-white air.

With a thought, a porcelain flask appeared in his hand. He tipped out a bright, pearly pill the size of a longan and swallowed it. Feeling the warmth spreading through his abdomen, he looked down at the split skin across his body, now crusted over with hard scabs, and could not help but nod in satisfaction.

“Brother Li, it’s time to eat!”

At that moment, the one called Crippled Leg came over with several of the men from Ever-Victorious Mountain, lifted the stretcher out of the flower bed, and carried it toward the center of the floating island.

“Ha! Brother Li, your wounds are healing fast indeed. At this rate, I’d wager you’ll be fully recovered in less than a week!”

Seeing the scabbed-over wounds on Li Yang’s body, Master Luo came up carrying a bowl of rice and exclaimed in amazement.

“You flatter me, Commander Luo. The injuries on my skin may look frightening, but they are only surface wounds and not serious at all. What is truly severe is the damage inside—the bones and blood. That is the real cause of my weakness.”

Faced with Luo Laowei’s surprise, Li Yang smiled patiently.

As his cultivation steadily advanced, the distance between him and ordinary people widened more and more, and it became increasingly difficult for him to treat them with genuine ease. The gulf between their worlds was simply too great; how could a dragon ever have the patience to befriend ants?

When he first met Master Luo, Chen Yulou, and the others, his cultivation had still been shallow. But after years of acquaintance and this shared ordeal, Li Yang felt far more patient toward them.

“Come, Brother Li, let this old Luo feed you!”

Looking at Li Yang lying on the stretcher, Luo Laowei split his broad mouth in a grin and squatted down with the large bowl raised in his hand.

“Move aside. You’re so clumsy and heavy-handed, and you want to feed Brother Li? Better let Flower Spirit do it!”

Just then, Chen Yulou came over, seized Luo Laowei by the arm, and nodded to Flower Spirit beside him. “Brother Li will be in your care.”

“Fellow Daoist Li...”

Flower Spirit nodded to Chen Yulou and came over with her small bowl. Looking at Li Yang’s handsome profile, she could not help but flush and called to him softly.

“If you don’t mind, just call me Big Brother Li. ‘Fellow Daoist’ sounds too formal.”

Seeing her shy, maidenly manner, Li Yang could not help finding it somewhat amusing.

In his former life, when he had been plain in appearance, he had naturally never received such treatment. Looking at it now, he had to admit that old saying was true: beauty is justice. A handsome face really was an advantage.

“Big Brother Li...”

Seeing the gentle smile on Li Yang’s face, Flower Spirit gradually grew less shy. She spooned the meat broth from the bowl to his lips one mouthful at a time, her large eyes fixed on him with shining intensity.

“Cough...”

At that moment, Partridge Whistle slowly walked over. Seeing that his junior sister had not noticed him at all, but instead was staring at Li Yang with flushed cheeks and watery eyes, lost in some private reverie, he could not help clearing his throat softly.

“Senior Brother...”

Startled by the sound behind her, Flower Spirit seemed to wake at once, like a deer frightened from the thicket. Noticing Partridge Whistle standing there at some point, a flicker of panic crossed her face. She covered her red cheeks and ran off.

“Please forgive my junior sister for making a spectacle of herself before Fellow Daoist Li.”

Partridge Whistle looked after her and shook his head, letting out an inexplicable sigh.

“Brother Partridge Whistle is far too courteous. Flower Spirit is still young in heart, pure and romantic. How could that be called a spectacle?”

“Alas... I’m only worried about my foolish junior brother...”

Partridge Whistle looked at Li Yang, a strange glimmer flashing in his eyes as he spoke in veiled terms.

Li Yang could only give a wry smile, unsure how to answer.

Naturally, he understood what Partridge Whistle meant. Plainly put, he was afraid Li Yang might steal away his beloved junior sister and leave his junior brother heartbroken.

He was also using the words to remind Li Yang that if he had no feelings for his junior sister, it would be best to keep his distance and not wound the girl’s heart. After all, a maiden’s affections are always like poetry. If they quarreled over this and made matters unpleasant, it would only make things awkward among them later.

“All right, let us not speak of this. Fellow Daoist Li, has that Precious Orb of the Divine Dust been obtained?”

Seeing that a trace of awkwardness had risen on Li Yang’s face, Partridge Whistle did not linger on the topic. Instead, he asked solemnly about the Precious Orb of the Divine Dust.

“Brother Partridge Whistle, rest assured. The Precious Orb of the Divine Dust is now in my dimensional satchel.”

When the golden toad swallowed the Coffin of the King of the Realm in one gulp, Li Yang had separately placed the Precious Orb of the Divine Dust into his dimensional space. As for the King of the Realm’s corpse and that spiritual lingzhi of the immortal fungus, the gluttonous toad had simply digested them outright.

If it had not known that the orb would be of great use to Li Yang, the golden toad would probably not have let it go either.

Since ancient times, the three-legged golden toad had stood for taking in but never giving back. Who had ever seen anyone snatch food from its mouth? If it were not for Li Yang’s overwhelming might, trying to pry anything out of his hands would be nothing but a fantasy.

“The Precious Orb of the Divine Dust!”

Seeing the fist-sized bead in Li Yang’s hand, like an eyeball in shape, Partridge Whistle’s face was instantly filled with excitement, joy, and exhilaration. Even his whole body began to tremble faintly.

For the people of the Zagrama tribe, the Precious Orb of the Divine Dust had become an obsession carved into their bloodline. A wish carried for thousands of years had now, in a single stroke, been fulfilled. The orb lay right before his eyes; one could imagine the depth of the emotion surging in Partridge Whistle’s heart.

After receiving the orb, Partridge Whistle lifted it high in both hands and dropped to his knees with a thud like a mountain toppling and a jade pillar falling. He let out a burst of guttural cries, and before long tears were streaming down his face.

Li Yang knew he was paying homage to the ancestors of the Zagrama tribe and reporting this long-awaited good news to them.

At some point, Chen Yulou, Luo Laowei, the junior disciple, Flower Spirit, and the others had gathered around as well. Looking at Partridge Whistle kneeling on the ground, laughing and crying at once, all of them wore solemn, silent expressions.

When had they ever seen Partridge Whistle like this? In their minds, he had always been the same Partridge Whistle—cold, quiet, weathered, full of hidden burdens, and never one to smile or joke, as though an unseen mountain were always resting on his shoulders.

After a long while, once Partridge Whistle had cried himself exhausted, Flower Spirit and the junior disciple helped him away to rest.

“You boy, do you know the origin of that Precious Orb?”

Just then, the Purple Firmament Daoist, who had remained silent since yesterday, suddenly spoke.

“Senior, I thought you had gone back to sleep. I called for you for half the day yesterday, and you gave no answer!”

Hearing the voice in his mind, Li Yang closed his eyes and focused his consciousness inward, his spirit climbing onto the diagram formed by the Six-Winged Golden Centipede. Looking at the spirit of the Purple Firmament Daoist seated cross-legged within his sea of consciousness, he spoke.

“Sleep? This old man only sleeps when he is too bored. Ordinarily, sleep has little meaning for me.”

“My spirit source has already been ruined. With the passage of time, I will only grow weaker and weaker, until one day I am entirely erased by the five declines of heaven and man within my soul. For me, sleep would merely waste what little time remains.”

With a somewhat complicated look at Li Yang, the old daoist continued in a grave tone: “In truth, yesterday I had already prepared myself for death. I was ready to use the last trace of my spirit power to help you survive that disaster. After all, if you died, my own spirit would have nowhere to go. Exposed to heaven and earth, it would be extinguished in an instant. Better to fulfill you, boy, one last time.”

“It is not that serious, is it, Senior? Even if your spirit is down to its last wisp, you could still seize another body and return to life!”

“You boy, everything about you is good, except that you are far too suspicious. If possession were truly useful, would this old daoist have sat in meditation for a thousand years inside the grotto heaven, waiting for a chance to do it?”

To the seasoned old Purple Firmament Daoist, Li Yang’s caution was of course impossible to hide. He snorted with disdain and said, “This old daoist’s spirit source is already exhausted. Setting aside whether possession is even possible, even if it were, it would consume what little spirit power I have left and give the five declines within my soul an opening. It would only make my death come faster!”

“Senior, there is no need to explain. How could I possibly doubt you? If I did, I would never have invited you to live within my sea of consciousness.”

Having his little thoughts exposed by the old daoist, Li Yang could only smile awkwardly.

“Hmph. Hypocrite...”

The old daoist glanced at Li Yang, his face full of disdain and contempt, and went on, “And yet, it is precisely someone as hypocritical as you who possesses such overwhelming fortune. At times I cannot help thinking that the heavens truly are unjust.”

With that, the old daoist sighed and looked at Li Yang with mixed emotions—envy, jealousy, and admiration all at once. Only after quite some time did he speak again, slowly: “Do you know why I did not speak last night? In truth, I could not understand it myself. Perhaps it was merely jealousy. Do you still remember when I once said that the supreme inheritance of my Purple Firmament Divine Thunder Dao, the Primordial All-Heaven Thunder Canon, had never been mastered by anyone? Do you know why?”

Seeing the puzzled look on Li Yang’s face, the old daoist continued, “Exactly because it lacked the innate yin and yang qi. That innate yin and yang qi belongs exclusively to the Primordial Phoenix and is a divine substance of legend. To cultivate the supreme thunder art of my line, the Primordial All-Heaven Divine Thunder, one must have the blessing of this innate yin and yang qi.”

“As the saying goes: thunder is the pivot of yin and yang, the guiding principle of all creation. The heavenly pivot and the earthly mechanism, the yang thunder and the yin thunder, the pivot in yin and the mechanism in yang—thunder gives birth to thunderous killing, thunder is benevolent while thunder is malevolent. Thus, thunder and lightning are yin and yang!”

“Yesterday, when this old daoist saw your innate yin and yang qi, my feelings were so complicated they were no less than Partridge Whistle’s feelings upon obtaining the Precious Orb of the Divine Dust. Surely you can understand?”

Hearing the old daoist’s explanation, Li Yang finally understood. So that was why the Daoist had seemed so strange today.

At the same time, his own excitement surged anew. He had never imagined that the innate yin and yang qi could have such marvelous use. The wondrous thunder art recorded in the Primordial All-Heaven Divine Thunder Canon had long since made his mouth water, yet he had never had the chance to grasp it.

To think that this yin and yang qi was the key to the Primordial All-Heaven Divine Thunder. No wonder the Daoist had said that no one had ever successfully cultivated it.