Realms In The Firmament

Qiu Luo suddenly started to shout with his bloodshot eyes filled with rage,

“Yes! You are young! You have a long life ahead of you! You have a bright future to come! You will meet a lot of opportunities! What about me? I have nothing… Nothing… Why? Why do you have to hurt me before I die? Why do you have to bring me pain? Why do you have to humiliate me like this? Why do you have to rip off the disguise on my shameful heart!”

“I have my own reason to stop you from your stupid suicide. Believe me, it is meaningless for me to hurt a man who is useless to the world. However, there is a question. What if I can cure you?” Ye Xiao calmly said.

“You can cure me? What if you can cure me?” Qiu Luo was shocked, and he automatically repeated the words Ye Xiao just said.

“I can cure you. I can save your life. I can enable you to take your own vengeance.” Ye Xiao coldly said, “Well, but you don’t seem to need my help. You have given up on yourself. What I can do is meaningless for a man who has given up on hope.”

Qiu Luo was shocked.

“Just think about it. Your beloved Juan’er will be waiting for you down in the netherworld, and she will be disappointed when he found out the truth that you killed yourself. She will still pretend to be happy, and she will tell you that she doesn’t care whether you have to take revenge for her or not.” Ye Xiao blandly said and then threw a jade bottle on the ground.

That jade bottle hit the floor and cracked in front of Qiu Luo.

Qiu Luo looked at the jade bottle, and then his eyes started to glow in the lights that had never been in his eyes before.

He was a useless man at the end of his life. It was true that he was nobody now.

However, it didn’t mean that he had also lost the knowledge he used to have.

Inside that crystal jade bottle, there was a dan bead, which was floating around inside the bottle.

It was like a living thing, which glowed with some colorful clouds.

Qiu Luo stared at that jade bottle, and he couldn’t move his gaze away anymore.

“Supreme Dan!” These two words were the only thing that was left in his head at the moment.

If he got the dan clouds, the worms would be gone.

When the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm entered a man’s body, no matter how powerful and capable the man was, there was nothing to do to stop it from digging deeper. It was difficult to cure, but it didn’t mean there was nothing in the world that could cure it. There were no medicines in the world that could save him, but some poison could save him. The special Pure Toxin Dan at supreme level could remove the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm from one’s body!

The Heaven’s Corrupting Worm would eventually swallow the infected cultivator’s soul and spiritual mind because it was powerful, but it could be stopped by the poisonous dan that contained the chaotic energy of greatness in cultivation.

There was always a nemesis to one thing!

When the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm met the supreme poisonous dan, it would only surrender!

However, everybody knew that such supreme poisonous dan only existed in myth!

After all, in the Human Realm Upon Heavens, it seemed no dan-makers could make supreme dan anymore.

Supreme Dan had become an extinct art in the Human Realm Upon Heavens!

Even though there might still be some supreme dan beads in the world, they were too precious for Qiu Luo. Not to mention this dying old man, even when he was in his strongest days, he couldn’t even get one. Supreme Dan was already so rare, and the supreme poisonous dan was even more difficult to find!

Although medicine and poison were always opposite to each other, poison experts were always medicine experts. Well, it was quite different in the area of dan-making though. An expert of medicines might not be good at making dan beads, not to mention making poisonous dan beads, not even supreme poisonous dan beads.

However, Qiu Luo had never thought that when it seemed the end of his life was about to come and when he had decided to end his life, he actually got to see a supreme dan bead with his own eyes.

The supreme dan bead in the jade bottle wasn’t the poisonous supreme dan that could help him remove the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm. However, Qiu Luo thought about what Ye Xiao just said, and how Ye Xiao threw out a jade bottle of a supreme dan bead in it. Qiu Luo was sure this young man had the poisonous dan bead, which meant he really was able to help him on getting rid of the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm!

One might say that the young man just gave him an illusion, but he knew it was impossible. He believed he had nothing that the young man wanted that was worthy of a supreme dan bead. He believed nobody would use a supreme dan bead to just fool him around!

At that moment, the fire of hope was rising up again in Qiu Luo’s heart. The old man’s eyes were filled with warm tears. The desperation in his heart had turned into joy.

He felt like he was dragged from hell and then ascended to heaven. It almost broke him down.

As he opened his eyes and raised up his head, he saw Ye Xiao moving to the door. The young man in the white clothes was leaving.

“Wait!” Qiu Luo loudly said, “Please, stay.”

Ye Xiao stopped.

He must be stopped. He definitely should. That was the reason why he came to this place. He did feel pity for the old man, but it was not the sympathy that brought him here. In the world of cultivators, the weak always got beaten. It was nature’s law. Qiu Luo was piteous, but Ye Xiao had seen somebody living much worse than him.

After all, bigger fist obtained bigger power. It was the iron rule in the world, no matter in the Land of Han-Yang, the Qing-Yun Realm, or in the Human Realm Upon Heavens. Therefore, Ye Xiao would never come to help Qiu Luo only out of sympathy. He wanted the old man’s life. One supreme dan bead meant nothing to Ye Xiao, but it was precious for anybody else!

Behind him, Qiu Luo was gasping. His voice sounded along with the wind flow, sounding like a windchest.

Qiu Luo had gotten close to Ye Xiao.

Ye Xiao didn’t say a word.

Qiu Luo directly got down on his knees when he had moved close to Ye Xiao.

And he heavily kowtowed to Ye Xiao.

Ye Xiao took a deep breath and said, “What is it that you want?”

Qiu Luo didn’t answer, he just kept kowtowing while hitting the floor with his forehead. It was bleeding.

“Do you want me to help you?” Ye Xiao asked.

“Yes, I do.”

“Do you want me to deal with the worm inside you? Or do you want me to help you kill your enemy?” Ye Xiao asked.

Qiu Luo stayed quiet because he was thinking. ‘Get rid of the worm? Or take revenge?’

It was two different things, totally different things.

“Revenge!” Qiu Luo gritted his teeth and hit his head on the floor so hard that his blood stained the floor.

He chose to take vengeance over surviving the worm.

Vengeance was definitely the absolute priority for Qiu Luo at the moment. It was more important than his life.

Ye Xiao frowned, but in his heart, he was glad.

One choice, one future. Qiu Luo had made a choice, and that choice had decided his future!

“Vengeance…” Ye Xiao took a breath and said, “What can you offer me, as an exchange?”

Qiu Luo raised up his head. His face looked so old, and he looked nervous all of a sudden.

‘That’s true… What do I have to return for such a great favor? What can I do for him? Why would he help me?’

‘Commiseration? Pity?’

Ye Xiao looked at Qiu Luo, who was lost in thoughts. After a while, Ye Xiao made a long sigh and said, “Look. That supreme dan bead is an Antidote Dan bead in supreme level. It is not that good, but it will free you from the sufferings for some time.”

Ye Xiao was walking away while talking.

“Just use your time to think about it. Think. What do you have to do to return the favor? What can you offer me?”

“There are a lot of piteous men in the world. I can’t take care of them all, can I?”

“Be careful. Think carefully. What do you have that is useful for me? What do you have that can earn you my help?”

“Come to find me when you have the answer.”

Ye Xiao said, “Qiu Luo, it is fate that brought us together here, so I will promise you one thing. If you choose to kill yourself, I will still find out where your enemy is and kill him someday in the future.”

“You have my word. I make the promise, not because of you, or because of my kindness. I am not a nice man. The truth is, I hate those bastards who force ladies to be with them.”

“Well, if you make the other choice, I will respect it too.”

“I believe you understand. This is the Human Realm Upon Heavens. I can’t do much for you. It won’t be realistic. I am not that powerful.”

“Anyway, you have to be careful. Think before you act. Think deeper.”

“I live in room number three of the Earth in the Brother’s Inn.”

Ye Xiao said the last few words through mind connection.

Ye Xiao just finished talking, and Qiu Luo didn’t have time to say anything. Ye Xiao had already flew up like a cloud.

He then disappeared afar from Qiu Luo.

Qiu Luo’s skinny hands were shaking. He kept holding the jade bottle in his hands tight.

He was breathing heavily, as if he couldn’t breathe, and would be choked to death at any second.

After a while, he finally calmed down. In his eyes, there was a sharpness that hadn’t been with him for a long time.

Qiu Luo opened the bottle and put the dan bead into his mouth without a second thought.

“I was in a hopeless situation. I was dying. Why would I hesitate since I have hope now? He gave me hope, so I won’t hesitate! I am not a coward!”

Qiu Luo had a clear mind, and he made the decision without hesitation.

After all, what Ye Xiao indicated was actually quite obvious.

‘I will kill your enemy for you even if you choose to end your life.’

‘If you don’t want to die, and you want to do it with your own hands, there will be a price to pay…’

As Ye Xiao said, Qiu Luo understood. It was the Human Realm Upon Heavens after all.

Nobody was obligated to help anybody.

If Ye Xiao said that he would help the old man without asking for anything in return, the old man definitely would not believe him.

Even though Qiu Luo already had nothing valuable to offer, he still wouldn’t believe Ye Xiao would help him for nothing!

That was why Ye Xiao tried to be frank. He was being honest, and Qiu Luo naturally believed him.

“I am not a nice man.”

When Qiu Luo thought of these several words Ye Xiao said to him, his hoary face cracked a smile.

He still looked miserable, but at least he laughed.

It wasn’t a bitter smile, but a sincere smile!

When the dan bead got into his body, a warm flow rose up from his dantian.

After that, the warm flow became tides hitting over his entire body, running upward.

The Heaven’s Corrupting Worm seemed to feel the threat, so it started to move faster than it ever had been…

At the same time, the extreme pain abruptly hit every inch of Qiu Luo’s body.

He screeched loudly and then passed out.

…

When Qiu Luo woke up, he realized that he was in quite a comfortable condition. The worm actually stopped torturing him after bringing pain for countless days.

Qiu Luo tried rising up a spiritual qi, and he felt the pumping energy flow rushing up from his dantian.

The energy flow started from the dantian and rushed into his Jing and Mai all over his body.

His old and cracked body was actually filled with power again.

He felt it and he understood it, that this power in him was a thousand times weaker than what he used to have in his prime days. However, he hadn’t had such vigorous energy inside his body for at least fifty years!

At this moment, tears filled his eyes. He started to cry out in warm tears.

“Juan’er, wait for me! I have it now… Hope! There is hope…”

…

“What can I offer him? What price can I pay?”

After the rapture, Qiu Luo crawled in his small bed and got lost in thoughts again.

‘The young master… He helped me, saved me… He has brought me hope… What does he want from me?’

‘I am already this miserable… What do I have that is valuable?’

‘Is it my body? Is it my soul? Is it my heart…?’

Qiu Luo thought for a while and made up his mind in the end. There was no hesitation.

…

The next day, the early morning, the light had just driven away from the darkness.

The Dark Evil Spirit suddenly heard some hasty sound of a man’s footsteps. It was moving toward his room. Whoever it was, he was walking fast. The man must be trying to lower down the sound, but the Dark Evil Spirit could still hear it.

Whoever was approaching, he was quite skillful. However, the footstep was weak. It wasn’t any powerful cultivator.

The man didn’t stop at the room of the Dark Evil Spirit. He passed the Dark Evil Spirit’s room and directly went to room number three of the Earth zone.

The Dark Evil Spirit was frightened, so he quietly got out of the room through the window and turned back to watch.

All he could see was a skinny old man who looked ragged and shabby. He was bowing down to the room number three of the Earth zone with respect. He raised one hand to knock the door, slowly but decisively.

‘The man is on his knees. Is he here to seek refuge with us?’ The Dark Evil Spirit almost stared his own eyes out of his eye frames.

He had been working so hard for days to recruit followers. The first thing he had to do was to stay covert. He barely got any candidates because he couldn’t widely publicize it. He still needed quite some time before he recruited anybody.

‘How come the young master just went out for one day, and now people come and kneel down in front of his room?’

‘What the hell is going on?’

‘Well, the old man is unbelievably weak though. He is no better than those cultivators who are born with broken Jing and Mai. Even though he comes to follow us, what can we get from him?’

The door quietly opened.

Ye Xiao was right there.

He looked at Qiu Luo, who was kneeling on his knees.

“Have you thought through it?”

“Yes, I have.”

Ye Xiao didn’t say any more words, just turned around and returned to the room.

Qiu Luo stood up, followed Ye Xiao in, and closed the door behind.

“This is surprising. How come you suddenly have a decision now? I thought you already lost hope, so you would probably choose to die, or you might use that dan bead to recruit some good men who would fight for you so that you can start a battle against your enemy. After all, the supreme dan bead is precious. To buy some help with the dan bead should be the most efficient way. I just never thought that you would come to me this early!”

Ye Xiao said, “I am sure that something I said has touched your heart. However, I wonder what exactly it was that touched you.”

Ye Xiao’s eyes looked cold.

Qiu Luo took a deep breath and said, “Young Master, you… You said that you were not a nice man.”

Ye Xiao’s eyes looked profound, calm, and peaceful.

“You may not be kind. You may not be a nice person. However, I am sure you are a man with honor. You said that you would kill my enemy for me even if I chose to die. That means so much to me. What you promised me would only be proven true in the future, but I believe you will do it!”

Qiu Luo seriously said.

“That’s why I came.”

“I have nothing, nothing at all. I thought for one whole night and couldn’t find anything that could be useful for you, Young Master. In fact, even when I was at my prime time, you wouldn’t want anything from me. It is definitely a waste to use a supreme dan bead to hire a middle-level Divinity Origin Stage cultivator.”

Qiu Luo raised up his head and said, “I have thought about it carefully. I realized that all I have is myself, my heart, and my loyalty.”

“Yourself… Your heart… Your loyalty…” Ye Xiao repeated in a low voice.

“That’s right. Me, and my heart, and my loyalty.” Qiu Luo looked pretty calm, and he said, “I don’t know who you are, Young Master. I don’t know where you came from. I don’t know what you need, and absolutely have no idea what you are going to do.”

“But I can promise one thing. If you need somebody to die for you, I, Qiu Luo will go first, without hesitation. No questions asked!”

First! No hesitation! No question!

Ye Xiao slightly took a breath.

In a low voice, he seriously said, “Give me your loyalty, and I will let you take your vengeance. I will let you kill the man you want, and drink his blood for a feast.”

“Thank you, master!” Qiu Luo was shocked, and then he kneeled on the floor and kowtowed.

And then he stood up, spit out a mouthful of fresh blood. A flash of the blade in his hand shined, and he cut his own finger. Blood ran out from the wound on his finger, and he touched the floor with the wounded finger.

“The blood from my heart. The oath I swear to heavens.”

“Qiu Luo’s life belongs to you, my Master.”

…

‘The blood from my heart. The oath I swear to heavens!’

Ye Xiao was shocked. He had learned a lot about things in the Human Realm Upon Heavens from the Dark Evil Spirit in those days, so he knew that it was the most serious vow in the Human Realm Upon Heavens when one said the words, ‘The blood from my heart. The oath I swear to Heavens.’

“I need more people to work for me. I need my organization to expand. But you are not needed for now. You are in a terrible condition right now.”

Ye Xiao thought for a while and said, “To thoroughly remove the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm, you need the poisonous dan in supreme level. However, the toxin it requires is not easy to find. We have to wait for the opportunity. But I can do something to suppress the Heaven Corrupting Worm inside you, and it will help you recover your power.”

“It is rather difficult to recover in a short time. You have to understand this.”

Qiu Luo totally understood. How could he not?

Prolonged illness makes a doctor of a patient. He knew his own condition very well. He knew that he had become a completely useless person. How could a useless man return to his prime time in just a short time?

If Ye Xiao told him one dan bead could bring him back to the top, he would know it was a lie!

Ye Xiao always did things soothing and clean. He never used people who he couldn’t trust. Once he decided to accept somebody, he would do his best to help the man.

In Ye Xiao’s eyes, Qiu Luo was a good man.

Qiu Luo quit the martial world when he was at his prime time, only because of the love he had for his wife. Ye Xiao couldn’t say that it was the right thing to do, but it was definitely something great.

It proved that Qiu Luo wasn’t a bad man. At least he never stopped fighting for one good thing.

He had been suffering for a long time and didn’t give up, which meant he was quite a tough man.

If he could be loyal to the relationship with his wife, he was a man with loyalty. Ye Xiao wouldn’t doubt it.

That was why Ye Xiao started to help Qiu Luo with his illness right away.

He took out three supreme dan beads that reformed one’s Jing and Mai and gave them to Qiu Luo.

Qiu Luo wasn’t poisoned by any normal toxin. His spiritual energy in the body was wasted by the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm, so his Jing and Mai were blocked and even broken. The Supreme Antidote Dan he gave Qiu Luo had removed the impurity inside his body. What should be done next was to rebuild and strengthen the connection of his dantian, spiritual energy, Jing and Mai. That would be the foundation for Qiu Luo’s full recovery!

Qiu Luo didn’t have a strong foundation in cultivation anymore. When he took the dan bead and got all the impurity removed inside him, he had regained his power back. However, his Jing and Mai couldn’t hold any spiritual energy anymore!

How could a broken building hold up the pressure? The first thing to do was to rebuild the foundation of the building so that the frame became stable and strong. Without a strong foundation, he was never going to regain his power back!

Qiu Luo started to create supreme energy, which woke up the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm inside him. The Antidote Dan he took was powerful, but it was not the bane to the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm after all. After resting for one night, the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm had gotten used to the power from the Antidote Dan. Even though it was still terrified by the Antidote Dan, the fear couldn’t stop it from chasing after the spiritual energy. After all, the energy was the source of its life!

Ye Xiao surely had prepared for it. He poured the energy of the incredible East-rising Purple Qi into the points of some gold needles. The gold needles easily pushed the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm to the corner inside Qiu Luo’s body. The Heaven Corrupting Worm was forced to sleep now.

The Heaven’s Corrupting Worm was fierce, but it wasn’t that powerful. What it was fed with was only the spiritual energy of Qiu Luo. Therefore, the East-rising Purple Qi definitely crashed the worm thoroughly. In fact, Ye Xiao was too weak to bring about the best result. If he was

stronger, the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm might be destroyed by the East-rising Purple Qi!

As the Heaven’s Corrupting Worm was suppressed, things became much easier. Ye Xiao gave Qiu Luo ten supreme dan beads that increased one’s cultivation power. It boosted Qiu Luo up.

Qiu Luo used to be powerful, so he had experience and a strong mindset for power. His Jing and Mai were almost fixed. All he needed was some supreme energy. The ten supreme dan beads could increase one thousand years cultivation for a man in the martial world…

Now he had given Qiu Luo ten, which meant Qiu Luo would definitely be more powerful now. The energy given by the ten supreme dan beads would help him to regain his prime power back.

What was ahead of Qiu Luo, he had to face it on his own.

Not that Ye Xiao didn’t want to help him, he just wasn’t able to. A good cook couldn’t make steamed rice without rice. Erhuo was sleeping. There were no more supreme dan beads to help Qiu Luo with his improvement.

Not only Erhuo but also the golden hawk were sleeping in the Boundless Space after the thunder trials while he was ascending.

He had no idea when they would wake up again.

“This is Qiu Luo. My new follower that I recruited just now.” Ye Xiao called the Dark Evil Spirit over and said, “From now on, you two must get along with each other. Qiu Luo, this is the Dark Evil Spirit. You must listen to him, and follow his command.”

“There is something that you have to do perfectly. What I ask is perfection. I don’t care how you are going to do it, I just want a perfect result.”

Ye Xiao was solemn, and the two followers promised at the same time.

“The Cyclone Saber? Qiu Luo?” The Dark Evil Spirit shrank his eyes and said, “With the saber, it comes with the fire. It burns the cloud, and here comes the cyclone. Are you Qiu Luo, the Cyclone Saber?”

Qiu Luo smiled bitterly and said, “It was… It was quite a long time ago. I can’t believe you remember it, Brother Dark.”

The Dark Evil Spirit sighed and said, “Master, I think Brother Qiu Luo needs to change his look. What do you say? Should I give him a new identity? Or let’s get him a disguise?”

Apparently, he knew about Qiu Luo’s sad story.

Qiu Luo’s eyes flashed with a hit of pain.

Ye Xiao stepped forward and stared with a flash of cold light in his eyes at the Dark Evil Spirit. He said, “That is totally unnecessary. Qiu Luo has joined our force, which means he is one of us now. His story continues with us.”

“People of the Grey Parasol Sword Sect may not come, but if they do, and if they come against us, we will do whatever it takes to fight back. Not everybody has the right to come to us and shout with arrogance. If they come, they should better get ready for the strike that we prepare for them!”

Ye Xiao coldly said, “To be honest, I don’t want them to come yet. I want Qiu Luo to go up to the Grey Parasol Sword Sect and kill everybody. If they come earlier, their men would be killed by people of our force, the Monarch’s Hall.”

The two followers were both frightened and shocked, and they bowed to agree.

They could feel the strong heroic aura of their young master.

The Dark Evil Spirit absolutely believed what Ye Xiao said. The Grey Parasol Sword Sect was only a second-string sect in the world. The great Ye Clan could easily wipe them up with a few words!

Qiu Luo didn’t understand though.

The young master was mysterious and unbelievably wealthy, but he didn’t seem to be powerful in cultivation. Besides, he only had two followers, the Dark Evil Spirit, and Qiu Luo. They were only two Divinity Origin Stage cultivators in the middle level.

With their current power, it was difficult to even defeat the prime master of the Grey Parasol Sword Sect, not to mention all the men in the Grey Parasol Sword Sect… However, Ye Xiao looked so confident…

‘What is going on?’

‘Isn’t it too opinionated?’

The Dark Evil Spirit noticed the confusion in Qiu Luo’s eyes. When he left the room with Qiu Luo, he whispered to the old man and said, “Master is a young lord from the Ye Clan…”

That meant a lot. It was astonishing.

“The Ye Clan? The Ye Clan…” Qiu Luo didn’t realize how astonishing it was yet, so he repeated the words in confusion.

He was troubled for one whole day.

That night, when he finally realized what it meant, he shouted in shock.

“The Great Master Ye? Master of the late generation of the Great Master Ye?”