Volume 1, Chapter 73 – Opening the Heavens

The skirt felt a bit tight the moment she put it on, but once Innate true qi flowed into it, it quickly adjusted to the right size.

After tying the sash at her waist, Shi Lan continued channeling Innate true qi into the White Crane Skirt. The nine immortal cranes embroidered at the cuffs and collar began to circulate across the fabric, then finally detached from the skirt and started circling around her.

A hazy layer of cyan light wrapped Shi Lan within it. After sensing it for a while, she flicked her fingertip, and one crane turned into a streak of cyan light that shot out, punching clean through the wall and leaving a fist-sized hole.

The White Crane Skirt was indeed a defensive and offensive artifact in one. After moving around for a bit, Shi Lan felt a trace of satisfaction. Wearing a skirt was much more comfortable than she’d imagined—aside from a touch of awkwardness.

Compared to how comfortable her body felt, that little bit of embarrassment had already been tossed aside.

Shi Lan sat down on the bed and began carefully feeling out the changes in her body.

The most direct sensation was that the spiritual qi in the surroundings seemed to have formed a very close connection with her. With just a thought, she could draw it into her body.

After sweeping her awareness through her body once, Shi Lan opened her eyes, did a bit of counting in her head, and a hint of delight flashed through her gaze. As expected, ever since stepping into the Innate Realm, she had “cut off the red dragon”—things like menstruation were now completely gone from her life.

Shi Lan closed her eyes again and began circulating the Jade Tempering Art. Innate true qi started to transform, and with the art’s operation, it strengthened her body bit by bit.

After about half an hour, her true qi was spent, leaving a hollow emptiness inside.

Shi Lan stopped circulating the Jade Tempering Art. The spiritual qi around her poured into her body almost like a flood, rapidly transforming into Innate true qi. In less than a quarter of an hour, she was back to full.

Letting out a long breath, Shi Lan’s eyes grew a little complicated. She had already reached the point of surviving without grain; she no longer needed food to live—spiritual qi alone was enough.

She had been in the Lingyang Realm for less than a full year, and without realizing it, she had reached the legendary realm from Earth where “those who live on qi have immortal spirits.”

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Coming back to herself, Shi Lan pulled up the system panel and began checking her remaining quest rewards.

Host: Shi Lan

Cultivation: first stage of the Innate Realm

Root Bone: 9 (Innate spiritual body, a once-in-a-millennium talent.)

Cultivation Arts: Vajra Divine Fist (mastered), Jade Tempering Art (fourth tier)

Divine Ability: Heaven’s Eye Qi-Sight (three-star)

Strength Evaluation: Some minor achievement

Reputation: -750 (unknown nobody)

Giving her status panel a quick once-over, Shi Lan froze. “System, what’s this reputation?”

【Reputation represents how much the common masses acknowledge the host.】

“Then why is my reputation negative?” Shi Lan felt a bit baffled.

【The host currently has a slight bad name in the outside world.】

A slight bad name…

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Shi Lan thought it over, then didn’t bother dwelling on it. She opened the system’s temporary storage.

Now that she had entered the Innate Realm, she needed a cultivation art for the realms ahead. The Jade Tempering Art was, at the end of the day, only a Body Tempering method.

There were no booklets or manuals in the temporary storage, only a single, slightly yellowish point of light.

“What’s this…”

A hint of doubt flashed in Shi Lan’s eyes as she tapped the light.

Rumble…

Shi Lan felt a thunderous crash echo through her mind, and a stream of visions began to flash past at high speed.

In a chaotic universe, a towering figure stood with a giant axe in hand, feet braced across the Nine Heavens, countless colossal silhouettes circling around him.

Indescribably obscure voices echoed, as if trying to dissuade him from something.

Looking at those massive figures, Shi Lan’s body instinctively felt a faint sense of kinship.

The towering figure moved. The giant axe in his hand rose slowly, and as it did, his already-massive body began to grow again, until he stood billions upon billions of li tall.

Compared to him, the titanic figures that had been circling at his side now looked like mere ants.

A single streak of axe qi stretched out for endless billions of li, carrying an apocalyptic might that could destroy worlds as it slashed out in blinding radiance.

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In that instant, the universe changed color!

The giant axe in the figure’s hand shattered inch by inch, clearly unable to withstand such terrifying power.

The many colossal figures surrounding him were torn to ash by the aftershock of that single stroke of axe qi.

In the boundless chaos of the universe, a single thread of light appeared. That axe strike had split the entire cosmos.

In the next moment, the crack carved by the axe qi began to heal, as if it would soon close up again.

The giant figure lifted one foot and, in an instant, crossed endless billions of li, arriving before the crack and bracing it open with his own body.

The slowly healing fissure was held in place by his boundless might. Not only did it stop closing, it actually began to widen.

Day after day passed, and with each day, the crack grew a little wider. The giant’s body grew taller along with it.

Gradually, the clear, light yang qi in the universe began to rise and became the heavens, while the heavy, turbid yin qi began to sink and condensed into the boundless land. The entire cosmos was completely split in two.

The distance between sky and earth grew greater with each passing day. The giant held up the firmament with his hands and trod the earth with his feet, his body growing taller by a fraction every single day.

No one knew how long this went on, but eventually the distance between heaven and earth stopped increasing. The giant’s body stopped growing as well.

Another long stretch of time passed, and the yin and yang, clear and turbid qi of the universe completely separated. The towering figure holding up the sky began to come apart.

His left eye became a blazing sun hanging high in the heavens, ruling over all the purest, fiercest yang qi. His right eye became a silver moon, governing the gentlest, softest yin qi between heaven and earth. The two took turns in the sky, overseeing the balance of yin and yang in the world.

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Each strand of hair became a star, orbiting this boundless land day and night.

His body hair became grass and trees. The blood flowing from his veins turned into countless raging rivers, adding a bit of life to the barren earth.

His bones became endless mountains and lands. His bone marrow sank deep underground and turned into countless mineral veins.

When his flesh completely crumbled, the vast power of his primordial spirit dispersed as well, turning into dense spiritual qi, leaving only a pure soul behind.

Of his three souls and seven spirits, the seven spirits also scattered, merging into heaven and earth and becoming nourishment for the world. But when the three souls were about to dissipate, something unexpected happened.

During that long process of dissolution, the three souls seemed to develop independent wills of their own. They no longer wished to sacrifice themselves for this world and instead chose to preserve their own existence.

The three souls each wanted to devour the others to grow stronger, but because their strength was evenly matched, they fought for countless years without outcome. By that time, the first living beings had already appeared on this barren land.

These beings were all reincarnations of powerful existences. The colossal figures in the chaos from before had each preserved a shred of imperishable true spirit, clinging to life through the great calamity of the cosmos and only reemerging after heaven and earth had stabilized.

After the three remnant souls nearly let someone else take advantage of them in one battle, they stopped fighting among themselves and each went their own way, casting themselves into new lives and beginning to walk this land.

Three souls and seven spirits—three clear souls, seven turbid spirits.

For that reason, the three later took new names: Yuqing, Taiqing, and Shangqing…