Volcanic Age

"The Plum Blossom Order Sword, the Phantom Bow Swordsman…" a voice called out.

It wasn't a low voice, but it was unmistakably that of a man.

"How entertaining."

A chuckle filled the air. However, the man's voice was as cold as ice.

He sat on a magnificent throne perched at the top of a hundred-step staircase. Only the tips of his feet were visible.

"..."

Beneath the Dark Heavens Association Leader, the four remaining leaders of the Seven Stars Division lay still, not even breathing. In particular, the expression of the one-armed Blessed Existence was grim.

This can't be happening.

Everything that had happened so far was like a nightmare itself.

In less than a year, two of their long-prepared master plans had been ruined.

The shock he was feeling right now had begun around this time a year ago. After the death of Vast Gate, there was the delivery of the Prajna Divine Art to the Shaolin Temple and Meng Gang's death, which led to the collapse of the Green Dragon Stockade, one after another.

Although he had definitely been angry at the time, Blessed Existence thought that he could make up for it if he handled the next master plan properly.

The plan needed not only an incredible amount of time but also immense effort and money. It was far too important to abandon.

As expected of someone with a meticulous personality, Blessed Existence managed the plan without being arrogant, putting all his heart and soul into it while paying close attention to any and all possibilities.

Then came the day when the wind blew so fiercely it chilled to the bone—the day the Sin Against the Heavens plan began.

That plan had taken a lot of effort in many different ways. After all, he had to move half of the Eight Gates of the Evil Dao, the backbone of the Evil Dao, to accomplish it.

It was a grand plan for the future of the Dark Heavens Association, so significant that the Association Leader had gotten directly involved. Failure was not an option.

However, the plan had been ruined by the appearance of an elder of the Xia Wu Sect, or rather, the variable called the Phantom Bow Swordsman, who ended up killing Twisted Melody.

Blessed Existence hadn't expected Dan Libai's rebellion to succeed. He had simply wanted to weaken the Evil Valley's power through a prolonged civil war.

In fact, he had used many hands to make this happen. He had manipulated countless variables to the point that his hair was falling out.

And yet, after all that, something like this happened.

While he had expected the rebellion to fail, the result was so different from what he had wanted.

Instead of weakening the Evil Valley, the puppets of the Dark Heaven Association were suppressed without being able to exert much force.

In other words, the spies and moles that he had invested in for years disappeared overnight without being of any use.

Worst of all, he had lost Twisted Melody, one of the leaders of the Seven Stars Division.

When he had first heard this news, it had been so shocking that he had doubted his ears.

The great failure of the rebellion, the death of Twisted Melody—everything that had happened made his blood pressure rise. It felt like a dream, to the point where he couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't. 𝙧

However, it was real. None of it had been a dream. He wished it weren't true, but in the end, his prayers were meaningless.

To make matters worse, the Evil Valley Master had only ended up slightly tired, not fatally wounded as planned. As expected from his meticulous nature, he persistently searched for the remaining spies in the Evil Valley and dealt with them.

Blessed Existence had wanted to track down that bastard called the Phantom Bow Swordsman and tear him to pieces, but he had vanished without a trace after the rebellion ended.

The consequences of this failure to the Association didn't need to be mentioned. He didn't even want to see or hear it.

His attempts to recover were in vain. The Evil Valley Master wasn't an easy opponent, and in the end, he lost more than half of his team.

His target for revenge had disappeared, and he wasn't able to obtain anything he wanted.

Then, just days ago, the worst possible news arrived, and all of the leaders of the Dark Heavens Association had gathered in one place.

The Head Archivist was killed?

If Blessed Existence was the brain of the Association and Warped Valor was the right arm, then the Head Archivist was the left arm.

He wasn't just a left arm either. He was the head of the Archive, which was comparable to the seven organizations under the domain of the Seven Stars Division.

Since the establishment of the Association, the Archive's role in collecting and managing elixirs and cultivation resources used to make money, persuade new allies, and consolidate power, had been extremely important.

That was the reason why it had been excluded from any of the major plans and was allowed to act independently.

As such, it had naturally had a strong leader, who was second only to Warped Valor in strength, the strongest after the Association Leader.

It was rumored that the Head Archivist's qi reserves had surpassed Warped Valor's. It was hard to believe that he was dead.

Zhou Xuchuan…!

Blessed Existence gritted his teeth.

The Plum Blossom Order Sword.

That name appeared again.

Starting with the mess made of the Seven Swords War, which Blessed Existence had carefully planned, that brat had been interfering with everything. Just hearing his name again made his blood pressure rise.

These so-called heroes of the realm were taking turns stirring up the Dark Heavens Association. To make matters worse, the existence of the Association had been exposed.

"Please kill me!"

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Blessed Existence slammed his forehead against the floor with such force that blood splattered from his torn skin with every hit.

"The Plum Blossom Order Sword and Phantom Bow Swordsman. Those two can no longer be considered just thorns in our eye."

The Dark Heavens Association Leader was an arrogant person who thought that the murim played in the palm of his hand. Not only was it incredible that those two figures had caught his eye, but to believe that he even recognized them as the Association's enemies.

"Put their names on the same tier as the Ten Empyrean Overlords in the Slaughter Register, and kill them even if it means we have to make some sacrifices."

"We have received your order!"

The remaining four members of the Seven Stars Division disappeared.

"Hmph… what a terrible mood," the Dark Heavens Association Leader muttered in displeasure.

The time and effort he had put in had been wasted. It would have been even stranger if he wasn't feeling irritated.

More than anything, he was most displeased that the Association's existence had been exposed ahead of schedule.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

He had been looking forward to seeing how the Righteous Faction, Evil Faction, and Demonic Path would react once he appeared to laugh at them after they exhausted each other in battle.

Zhou Xuchuan.

Tracking down the Phantom Bow Swordsman would take time.

So he decided to draw out the Righteous Faction hero first.

****

It was common for a master to enter secluded cultivation to absorb enlightenment on his own.

It wasn't strange at all for a master to enter seclusion for a week, or even two, without emerging.

However, the Divine Physician, who wasn't a martial artist, was dissatisfied.

"Could he have fallen into cultivation deviation and be left in critical condition?"

He was curious about his reaction after taking the Divine Pill of the Au Co.

He was so impatient that he moved to kick down the door and enter. However, Duan Hecheng and the others, who were acting as Zhou Xuchuan's dharma protectors, stopped him.

"Don't you realize you could cause a huge problem if you're not careful, Divine Physician?"

In the case of normal qi circulation, any distractions were fine as long as one wasn't physically bothered. However, it was different in the case of absorbing enlightenment.

If the environment in which one obtained enlightenment changed even the slightest, there was a chance that one could lose focus, even with the most gentle of noises.

While something like that wasn't always bound to happen, even if it happened by chance, no one would complain if the person who caused the loss of enlightenment was taken as one's enemy from that point on.

Moreover, it wasn't some Second Class or First Class martial artist, but a Harmony Realm Master who had entered secluded cultivation because he felt the beginnings of enlightenment fall upon him.

While the Divine Physician wasn't a martial artist, he still worked around many of them. Hence, it wasn't as if he was unaware of such common knowledge.

It was just that his curious and questioning nature as a doctor made him feel needlessly impatient.

"Tsk."

With a click of his tongue, he reluctantly stepped back. But his irritation was short-lived. That evening, as though the heavens answered his restlessness, the tightly shut door opened.

"Oh! Are you finally done?"

The Divine Physician greeted Zhou Xuchuan as if he had been waiting for a hundred years.

"It's been a while." Zhou Xuchuan replied, his hair disheveled.

His clothes were tattered and worn, but despite his ragged appearance, his eyes were calm and clear, just like a tranquil lake.

"You've done well, Great Hero Zhou."

Duan Hecheng also greeted Zhou Xuchuan, his face bright with relief.

"By any chance, have you been standing as my dharma protector all this time?" Zhou Xuchuan asked in surprise.

He remembered Duan Hecheng standing in front of the door when he locked himself in the cultivation hall to take the Divine Pill of the Au Co.

While he wasn't sure how much time had passed, it seemed as though it had been quite a while. So, he couldn't help but be surprised to see Duan Hechang standing in the same spot.

"We took turns standing as Dharma Protectors with the Tang Family, so don't worry. Rather, looking at your eyes, it seems as though you really have achieved something…"

"It's not anything impressive…" Zhou Xuchuan said, scratching his head in embarrassment.

"So you really did achieve something! Truly, congratulations!"

Duan Hecheng smiled happily as if he had been the one to reach enlightenment. It wasn't just empty words but true sincerity.

He's a good person.

A martial artist who was young enough to be his son had grown stronger once again.

An ordinary person would feel jealous of that, but Duan Hecheng congratulated him sincerely without any falsehood.

"A happy event indeed, truly happy. But more importantly, you look terrible."

On the other hand, the Divine Physician congratulated him politely, then grabbed his wrist and read his pulse with sparkling eyes.

"It could be a big deal if there's something wrong with your body, so you should be looked at by a physician immediately. Wouldn't you agree?"

This medicine-crazy old man.

Zhou Xuchuan stuck out his tongue as if he was fed up with the old man. Well, one would have to be this crazy to become a Divine Physician.

"How long has it been since I entered seclusion?"

"It's been half a month. You're interrupting me, so keep your mouth shut."

Zhou Xuchuan felt like complaining but he held himself back.

Half a month?

Since it had been a closed-off space, he hadn't been able to tell how much time had passed. While he had vaguely thought that a week had passed, it seemed as though more time had passed than he had thought.

The Divine Physician read his pulse with a serious expression, one that he had never made before, and finally opened his mouth to speak.

"While your qi reserves still don't match your age, strangely, it hasn't increased much compared to before."

The Divine Physician tilted his head as if he found it strange.

The Pure Stalactite Milk had been used for harmonization, so it wasn't strange that he hadn't obtained any cultivation from it. However, the Divine Pill of the Au Co was different. As the person who had refined it, the Divine Physician knew best how vast the yang qi contained within it truly was.

However, Zhou Xuchuan's increase in cultivation after absorbing it was less than he had expected.

As the Divine Physician looked at him in confusion, Zhou Xuchuan nodded as though he had expected this outcome. Then he turned to Duan Hecheng who was standing behind him.

"Great Hero Duan, I'm sorry, but could you step aside for a moment?"

"Understood. I'll wait upstairs."

Duan Hecheng didn't take offense at being asked to leave and went up the stairs to the ground floor.

When only the two of them remained in front of the underground cultivation hall's entrance, Zhou Xuchuan drew the sword from his waist and slashed his own arm.

Blood welled up from the wound, forming a crimson line as the Divine Physician silently observed.

Before even a second passed, the Divine Physician let out a cry.

"I see! So this is the true identity of immortality by fire!"

After wiping the blood away with a rag, the skin that the sword had torn returned to its original state.

"The singularity of the Extreme Yang. To think taking it to the extreme leveraged the source of one's vitality to maximize one's ability to recover!"

Au Co was an immortal fairy. However, the principle of her power was in the realm of the divine. It wasn't a realm humans could ascend to.

Even so, her descendants had inherited her blood, and while they may not have been immortal, they recovered faster and aged slower than ordinary people. However, they weren't satisfied with this.

In order to somehow become closer to their ancestor, the Immortal Au Co, they conducted various experiments and studied formulating elixirs using her blood.

The result was the Divine Pill of the Au Co. By maximizing one's vitality with the fire of the Incarnation of Fire, the extreme yang qi, one would gain regenerative powers close to immortality. In short, it was an acceleration of one's recovery ability.