Chapter 25: The Celestial Seed of Destiny

Innumerable paper coins drifted down from the sky, accompanied by pallid prayer flags that stretched into the distance alongside gravestones and burial mounds.

A campfire flickered on the mountain path.

"[Little Green Deer Trickery]."

Chen Xuan carefully compared the two Qi-circulating diagrams that had appeared in the Minor Underworld. Finding no discrepancies, he committed them to memory. Among the four disciples of Green Deer Mountain slain by Wang Chan, two had cultivated Green Qi, and both had learned the same traditional trickery of Green Deer Mountain.

"Next, it is time for the Dream of Yellow Millet."

After Lady Mysterious Cat finished managing the underworld affairs of the four disciples, she immediately straightened her posture and sat with solemn dignity before Wang Chan's headless corpse, as if performing a grave and momentous task.

It was the first time Chen Xuan had seen the Mysterious Cat adopt such a cautious demeanor.

"Whoosh!"

The next moment, the small jade plaque tied to the red cord around the cat's neck rose slowly into the air. It unfolded like a miniature book, pages fluttering, and emitted a beam of golden radiance.

"Is that a book?"

Chen Xuan was startled. Following the Mysterious Cat's gaze toward the jade book suspended in the air, he saw columns of ancient seal script written vertically in dark ink.

"Ancient Peach Blossom Spring Relic Site, recorded by the emissary of the Houtu Underworld, observer of the Mandate of Heaven Immortal Seed—Taiyin Lineage, Demon-Cat Thirteen."

At the very top of the page, a line of golden text was inscribed.

Chen Xuan came from humble beginnings and had only learned to read a few characters while studying martial arts in Willow Town. Thus, he could not recognize most of these ancient seal characters, and could only guess at their meanings through inference.

"Third thousand six hundredth year of the Ancient Chu Ling Bird calendar, ninth day of the Month of Coating, the Six Desires Heaven emerged into the world... retreated into the Southern Wilderness..."

The Month of Coating was the twelfth month.

Following this line of golden characters was another column of seal script:

"On the same day, Dream of Yellow Millet fell and perished at Ox Horn Mountain in the Southern Wilderness. The whereabouts of his soul are unknown; perhaps there is more to the story..."

"[True Scripture of Yellow Millet] is nowhere to be found; this path is severed..."

Chen Xuan felt a jolt in his heart. What did it mean that the soul's whereabouts were unknown?

Moreover, he had clearly committed the entire [True Scripture of Yellow Millet] to memory—how could it be nowhere to be found?

Just as he was puzzled, a cyan-golden star-light suddenly flew out from within Wang Chan's body and fell into the small white jade book.

"Swish, swish!"

As if someone were wielding a brush in the void, characters rapidly appeared on the jade book. Chen Xuan watched as they emerged one by one:

"Ambitions high as the heavens, life fragile as paper. Dream of Yellow Millet—Low-grade Immortal Pill!"

Lady Mysterious Cat’s magnificent eyes narrowed. Her plum-blossom-like paw immediately closed the jade book, concealing the evaluation. She muttered to herself:

"The path of the Dream of Yellow Millet is severed, but the subsequent ties of fate and fortune may yet stir up storms..."

"Still, the minor ripples caused by a single low-grade Immortal Pill are of no consequence."

"The future situation of the Ancient Chu State will depend on these people from the Six Desires Heaven!"

Listening to the Mysterious Cat’s soliloquy, Chen Xuan felt a turbulent storm rising within his heart.

"In this world, there are quite a number of these strange and peculiar Mandate of Heaven Immortal Seeds."

According to the Minor Underworld's assessment, the Dream of Yellow Millet was merely a low-grade Immortal Pill; there must be existences of a much higher order above it.

"Swish!"

Having finished her task with grave seriousness, Lady Mysterious Cat’s tense form relaxed.

She turned her head to look at Chen Xuan, who was resting with his eyes closed nearby, and wondered aloud:

"Is he going to sleep here tonight? With a pile of dead men?"

Lady Mysterious Cat curled her lip, revealing a sharp feline tooth. She could not understand why Chen Xuan did not leave after the battle. What kind of peculiar habit was this?

"Strange and freakish. I suspect your secrets are no fewer than those of the Dream of Yellow Millet."

She had watched Chen Xuan all the way from Willow Town and knew many things about him. Now that the Dream of Yellow Millet had died at his hands, she was firmly convinced that Chen Xuan was no ordinary Qi practitioner.

"..."

Chen Xuan remained silent, thinking to himself that she would naturally wake up once she left.

Lady Mysterious Cat eyed him suspiciously for a few moments, then turned and bounded away at high speed... She was busy tonight; there were still other corpses at Little Stone Lake that needed tending, and she could not linger here any longer.

The black mist receded, and the Minor Underworld vanished.

"Eh? What happened?"

Chen Xuan was shocked to find that even after the Minor Underworld had departed, his "Heart Fasting" state had not ended—he still possessed the vision of the Mysterious Cat!

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The earth retreated rapidly in Chen Xuan’s field of vision. In moments, over a dozen miles flashed by, and a vast lake, clear as a mirror, gradually came into view.

Little Stone Lake!

Chen Xuan was astonished; he had followed Lady Mysterious Cat all the way to Little Stone Lake!

"These are also people from Green Deer Mountain. Eh, the wounds on the corpses..."

Lady Mysterious Cat’s exclamation reached his ears. "This was Chen Xuan’s doing as well!"

The cat leaned down to inspect the bodies of Brother Chu and the others. Recognizing the wounds caused by the Gold-Virtue White Qi at a glance, her eyes widened in shock.

Only then did she realize that tonight, Chen Xuan hadn't just killed the Dream of Yellow Millet—he had already clashed with Green Deer Mountain long before that!

In a trance, an imagined scene surfaced in her mind: this young man named Chen Xuan walking out of Willow Town on a snowy night, trekking across hundreds of miles of frozen wilderness, chasing all the way to the Southern Wilderness, slaying four disciples of Green Deer Mountain under the moonlight, and then, without pause, hunting down the Dream of Yellow Millet...

"Counting it up, in just over half a month, eleven Qi practitioners have already died by his hand."

Lady Mysterious Cat muttered to herself, her mind in turmoil. In the long years she had spent patrolling the mortal world, it took a very long time to encounter a killing god who carved a path with blood, seeking only to clear his own mind.

Chen Xuan, however, was not concerned with the cat’s musings; he was contemplating the nature of "Heart Fasting."

"It must have been a change that occurred after entering the Dream of Yellow Millet. The capabilities of Heart Fasting have been enhanced."

"Even when the Minor Underworld is absent, I can still possess the Mysterious Cat."

Chen Xuan began to test the limits of this ability. Before long, the Mysterious Cat finished her work, and Chen Xuan continued to follow her as she departed.

The earth and forests retreated rapidly in his field of vision.

"Twenty miles..."

After the Mysterious Cat had traveled approximately twenty miles away from Chen Xuan’s physical body, he began to feel his vision gradually blurring, and was eventually forced to withdraw from her body.

The Heart Fasting state ended.

At the same time, Chen Xuan was stunned to see a point of light in his vision representing the cat's current position, like a moving coordinate, still continuing to distance itself from him.

"This point of light represents Lady Mysterious Cat’s movements."

"As long as she is within twenty miles of me, I can directly possess her body."

Chen Xuan pondered, muttering, "With this ability, I no longer need to remain at the scene of a slaughter. I can enter the Minor Underworld to obtain trickery inheritances from afar..."

Moreover, the Mysterious Cat had become his eyes. If the opportunity arose, he could use her to observe the situation in the surrounding environment...

This was an incredibly convenient ability.

"If the Heart Fasting continues to strengthen and its range continues to expand in the future... will I even be able to see the sun, which looks like a dragon's eye in the sky, and those immortals reaching out from the clouds to drag bronze chains, with absolute clarity?"

Chen Xuan’s thoughts soared.

"Heart Fasting is divinely miraculous, with more capabilities waiting for me to uncover... It is no less impressive than the Dream of Yellow Millet."

Chen Xuan even felt that the level of Heart Fasting was far above that of the Dream of Yellow Millet.

Because, in Wang Chan’s dream, there was no such thing as Heart Fasting at all!

In the dream, the "Chen Xuan" had initially practiced the Little Fire Bird Trickery, rather than relying on Heart Fasting to obtain the Little White Ape Trickery from the Minor Underworld...

The Dream of Yellow Millet could not foresee the changes brought about by Heart Fasting!

Yet Heart Fasting could directly enter the Dream of Yellow Millet and even see the hidden [True Scripture of Yellow Millet] within!

The more Chen Xuan thought about it, the more logical his deduction seemed. But immediately, a deep question began to linger in his mind.

"The Dream of Yellow Millet, the Six Desires Heaven... all have been recorded by the Minor Underworld. Why hasn't Heart Fasting?"

Chen Xuan was puzzled. "Are they practitioners of the Mandate, and am I, Chen Xuan, not one? Or is it that even the Minor Underworld cannot detect the existence of Heart Fasting? Hmph, so much for that."

After thinking it over and feeling his head begin to ache, he wisely gave up on the contemplation. He had never liked pondering such matters.

He climbed the mountain to inspect the Green Deer Mountain camp.

"Gurgle~"

Soon, he found a clean pot in the camp, set it over the fire, and began to prepare the Over-the-Mountain Treasure Fish he had captured.

He intended to consume this potent blood-medicine.

"Hmph!"

In a daze, Chen Xuan heard a faint, elderly cold snort from behind him. He instantly tensed his body and looked back.