After making a pact with Meng Chun, Jiang Li left the Mysterious Secret Realm. He lingered invisibly at the entrance for a moment, listening to countless cultivators outside boasting that they had received the Human Emperor’s personal guidance. Those who failed to enter the Second Trial Layer were so envious that their eyes turned bloodshot.
Serves you right for being obsessed with the pleasures of the First Layer—what beauties, what worldly power, what heavenly treasures—how could any of that compare to receiving the Human Emperor’s enlightenment even once? That is a fortune one will benefit from for a lifetime!
Of course, those who had entered the Second Layer tacitly avoided mentioning another matter: that in their overconfidence, they had dared to challenge the Human Emperor himself, only to be thoroughly taught what “being human” meant.
Realizing their folly, they decided it would be wise to bribe Qin Luan and Song Ying—the only two who were likely to spread such disgrace. Qin Luan, finding that they avoided the subject so deliberately, easily guessed their intentions. He sat down at the gate of the mystic realm, waiting leisurely to collect his hush money.
Interestingly enough, Yuan Wuxing also appeared at that moment. Now a Nascent Soul Cultivator, he stood among the middle ranks of the major sects. After parting ways with Jiang Li, he had spent two months consolidating his cultivation.
When he heard that his own final disciple, Qin Luan, had entered the Mysterious Secret Realm, he hastened there at once, fearing that the boy would be bullied by cultivators of other sects. But facts proved Yuan Wuxing had worried too much.
Because Qin Luan held leverage over the other sects’ disciples, they hardly had time to protect their own reputations—none dared bully him at all.
“Master!”
“Little Luan!”
“Master, you’ve grown stronger!”
“Little Luan, you’ve grown taller!”
After ten years apart, master and disciple finally reunited. The scene was touching, filled with affection—nothing at all suggested that Qin Luan had ever taken his master for an Inner Demon and ruthlessly beaten him during his trial.
“Little Luan, let me tell you—I met the Human Emperor Jiang in Green City!”
“Master, let me tell you—I met the Human Emperor Jiang inside the mystic realm!”
Both teacher and pupil spoke at once, practically shouting over each other, each trying to show off their fortune. For a moment, the air was filled with embarrassment so thick one could slice it with a sword.
“Seems fate ties the three of us quite closely.”
Jiang Li materialized before them, greeting master and disciple with a relaxed tone. Yuan Wuxing instantly realized that no one else around could see Jiang Li. Clearly, Jiang Li had used a concealment spell.
Jiang Li said with a cheerful smile, “I didn’t come for anything special—just to tell you two something. Qin Luan has a chance to compete for the position of Human Emperor. So does Yuan Wuxing.”
Yuan Wuxing blinked, astonished. He possessed decent talent, true, but his temperament had never been ideal. Yet after following Jiang Li and witnessing firsthand how he had handled the Jiang Yixing Demonic Path case, his mental state had matured greatly.
Now—he truly did have the qualifications to compete for the throne of the Human Emperor.
“No other business. I’ll take my leave.”
Having stirred the pot, Jiang Li disappeared once more, leaving behind an awkward silence between master and disciple.
“Master, this disciple has recently gained some insight. I wish to go out and temper myself for a while. But the temple cannot be left unattended—you should stay here at Clear Wind Monastery to guard it.”
“Little Luan,” Yuan Wuxing retorted, “this teacher has now reached the Nascent Soul Realm. How could I let myself be trapped here? Only by wandering the Nine Provinces and broadening my horizons can I further my path. You’ve lived alone here for ten years, and surely have deep feelings for this place. Better you stay here.”
“You left ten-year-old me in this monastery, neglected me for ten whole years, and now you have the face to say that?”
“I left precisely to seek a breakthrough! Without reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, who would’ve protected your cultivation path?”
Days later, when Song Ying eagerly ran up to Clear Wind Monastery, she found the main gate tightly shut, a single notice pasted upon it: Master and disciple have set out to travel the Nine Provinces. Date of return undetermined. Song Ying, seeing that, also bade her own master farewell and set off in pursuit of Qin Luan’s trail. …
“Now calculating mission rewards.”
Even though Jiang Li had experienced countless storms throughout his journey, he couldn’t suppress the excited thrum in his chest when he thought of finally stepping into the Celestial Realm. Hadn’t the entire purpose of enduring that cursed System been to use its spatial transmission function to reach the Celestial Realm?
[Please accept the Storage Ring with a capacity of five hundred cubic meters.]
Since one storage ring couldn’t hold another, Jiang Li tucked the System’s mini-capacity storage ring into his robe and didn’t bother to inspect it further.
[Activating Source Point Reading Function. The Host may now, by consuming Source Points and touching the cover of any book, memorize all its contents. The number of Source Points consumed depends on the complexity of the material.]
Jiang Li thought for a moment. That function, at least, seemed slightly useful—not a complete waste. But he doubted he’d have many occasions to use it.
[Activating Spatial Transmission Function. The Host must—] “Teleport me to the Celestial Realm!”
Jiang Li spoke the words he’d been longing to say.
[Please provide the coordinates of the Celestial Realm.]
“…Hm?”
Jiang Li, normally very confident in his hearing, thought his ears must be failing him. He repeated, louder this time: “Send me to the Celestial Realm!”
[Please provide the coordinates of the Celestial Realm.]
“You mean to say—out of the vast Celestial Realm—you don’t even know the coordinates yourself?”
“If I knew the damn coordinates, I could go there myself! Why would I need you?”
Jiang Li snarled through gritted teeth, finally bursting out in angry roar. His black hair whipped about violently; murderous intent surged around him like a rising tide. Within a thousand-mile radius, the very Spiritual Qi froze in place.
He was truly furious. Ever since acquiring this broken System, he hadn’t received a single truly useful function or treasure from it. The entire Qi Refining novice gift pack had been a scam; even the exchange shop offered less than his own storage.
Worthless map fragments, Spirit Tools that exploded from a drop of blood—it was all trash!
Counterattack System?
More like High-blood-pressure System! Seething, Jiang Li threw a furious punch into the air. The space before him split open with a deafening crack, forming a gaping void of utter darkness—its depths unfathomable, perhaps stretching into another world entirely.
If Jiang Li knew the spatial coordinates of other worlds, he could simply punch his way through one by one. Who needed a spatial transmission function then? He had once commissioned Old Buddha of Mount Sumeru to search for the Celestial Realm’s coordinates precisely because that enlightened one could traverse the void itself.
Of course, the baleful things that drifted in the void—Gales of Void Qi, turbulent currents and the like—were enough to terrify ordinary cultivators. But those were threats only to those below the Tribulation Transcendence Stage. True Immortals and Mahayana cultivators could cross the void with their physical bodies unharmed.
Jiang Li had always refrained from rashly attempting such a journey himself out of one fear—that he might lose his direction. If he could not find the Celestial Realm nor return to the Nine Provinces, that would indeed be the cruelest fate imaginable. And without coordinates, such a disaster was almost certain.
[Unknown world detected. Would you like to initiate transmission?]
The sudden voice of the System startled Jiang Li. He pointed toward the spatial rift his punch had created and asked uncertainly, “There’s another world on the other side of that?”
[Yes. The System has detected an unidentified world through the rift. Would you like to initiate transmission?]
Oh?
So the System wasn’t entirely useless after all! Jiang Li’s spirits lifted.
“Can I return afterward?” he asked cautiously.
Given how unreliable this System was, he had to confirm. If he couldn’t come back, he might end up like that castaway called Robinson, forced to write his own Human Emperor’s Drifting Chronicle.
[The System has recorded the coordinates of the Nine Provinces World. Return transmission is possible.]
“What are we waiting for, then? Transmit me at once!”
Jiang Li exclaimed, his joy overflowing. With his worries gone, his spirit surged. Perhaps the world beyond was the Celestial Realm itself!
[Insufficient Source Points. Transmission impossible.]
“Damn it!”
(End of Chapter)