“Yes, it seems you noticed the problem,” the man had said.

Hearing the phrase, Qian Yu nodded and replied coldly, “1st plague 30,000 years ago. 2nd plague happened 10,000 years ago. 3rd plague was a little under 5,000 years ago. The 4th plague… could happen any day now.” Qian Yu struggled to say the last few words.

“Yes, smart. However, don’t worry too much about it. It's pointless to worry about such a thing. Instead, we should focus on improving your strength right now. I don’t know much about  your history, but I can tell that your upbringing wasn’t exactly the best. This has caused your heavenly constitution to go into slumber and not be activated.” The man stated Qian Yu’s biggest predicament at the moment.

“Hmm, I guess that is true. While growing up, I only had rice and vegetables most of the time as we weren’t well off,”. Qian Yu sighed. While his grandpa was a doctor, the villagers were usually poor and medical expenses needed to be covered for as well. Other than that, his grandpa tried to save money for his future or any unexpected accidents that came up so they didn’t really have meat everyday.

The man however, didn’t look bothered, “It’s not a big deal fortunately. During the countless years I have been here, the quality and quantity of the qi in the world has risen exponentially. As such, I can simply reawaken your heavenly constitution that is dormant right now by using the surrounding qi and my mastery and understanding of the lightning and chaotic laws to create an environment to nourish it. The only matter is that it will take a lot of time but fortunately, this soul has enough power to have someone in the body refinement realm stay for a while.”

“How long exactly?” Qian Yu was curious. While he knew that he had to awaken his potential, he wanted to know how long it’ll take to mentally prepare.

“Probably a couple years, but it wouldn’t take that long in the real world. One of my cultivation techniques was related to time and space, so I can alter time laws in my soul world. One year would be about a day outside,” the man explained.

‘What the…’ Qian Yu was astonished. ‘Just who is this guy?’ he thought. What he was able to do didn’t sound like what a mortal could do. Instead, he felt more like a god! Gritting his teeth, he asked about the man’s background, “Who are you truly? Are all Martial Emperors this strong and heaven defying?”

On the other hand, the man replied, “Hahaha, I will tell you later, we will begin now.” As he said that, the aura around him. Space warped chaotically as lighting from the sky came down at the man. At that point, the man touched Qian Yu’s forehead before Qian Yu instantly lost consciousness. 

The man closed his eyes as he focused on evoking his soul world. Slowly days turned into months as months turned into years.

By now, half an hour had already passed in the real world. Zhao Xieren was still in tears and quiet as an inner sect elder brought them back outside the camp. Of course, the others weren’t faring so well either. 

Upon arriving back at the tents, the disciples were supposed to go get treated, however, they ran into Elder Bai who was one of the persons in charge of treating the disciples. 

Looking at Zhao Xieren’s group, Bai Jia looked for a certain figure, ‘Huh he’s not here?’ 

Running towards Zhao Xieren, Bai Jia pulled Zhao Xieren away from the group, “Little sister Xieren, what happened?” 

Dazed, the soulless eyes of Zhao Xieren recovered some thought as she saw Bai Jia talking to her. “Elder Sister Jia, *sniff* Qian Yu was pushed off a cliff thousands of feet high. I’m so stupid, I should have just surrendered earlier. What am I doing?” she continued to cry and curse herself. 

Yet at this point Bai Jia was already long gone heading towards the inner depths of the forest.

Just a few minutes had passed as she arrived at the place where Zhao Xieren had surrendered. Looking down, she saw the remains of a battlefield as she descended past the cliff and down the gorge. 

After arriving at the bottom of the ravine, she walked around for a few minutes without finding anything. Yet suddenly she shivered as she felt someone watching her. 

“Come out,” Bai Jia said. At this time, two water serpents had already surrounded body as she prepared for a fight. 

After a few seconds, a charming laugh sounded out, “Hehe, it makes sense that you are from the Bai Family. Turns out this is where you have been recently.”

Frowning, Bai Jia turned her head in the direction of the voice. While she knew her background was prestigious, it didn’t mean that she could easily be identified with just the summoning of two water serpents. There were countless cultivation techniques that could have very similar martial skills yet her identity was easily exposed. 

“Who are you?” Bai Jia cautiously asked the shadow hiding in the dark. 

Walking out from the shadow, the moonlight revealed an astounding beauty. Bai Jia had always been confident in her own looks yet she couldn’t say that she was more beautiful than the woman in front of her. 

Smiling, the lady laughed as she said, “Don’t worry, we have always been on good terms with those from the Central Union.”

“We?” Bai Jia was confused at first. After a few seconds, she thought of the other country that was directly connected with her background before saying, “The Dark Empire?”

On the other side, the lady just smiled and didn’t say anything. 

Seeing that, Bai Jia continued, “May I ask why someone like you are here?”

Hearing her question, a playful and devilish smile appeared on the woman’s face as she replied, “Naturally, I’m just waiting for my hubby. He even did some stuff to me while I was sleeping.” Technically, she wasn’t wrong...

Hearing her reply, Bai Jia’s face turned red as a tomato as she tried her best to calm down. ‘Damn vixen,’ she thought to herself.

“Hehehe,” the lady giggled before she got serious, “Truth is, it seems he met some lucky encounter with a remnant spirit of a Martial Saint or even a Martial Emperor”. 

‘Qian Yu really?’ Bai Jia thought to herself. Concentrating, she felt a faint trace of chaotic and lightning qi nearby. 

“Why are you here then?” she frowned as she resumed her aggressive front towards the woman in front of her. By now, she was pretty sure about the identity of the adversary in front of her. A woman who was notorious for her beauty and seductive and playful character. She had one person in mind.

“Hmm, you can say I’m interested in him,” she smiled as she showed no intention to back down. 

Hearing her words, Bai Jia's head started aching. Naturally, she wouldn’t believe that this interest was good. Gritting her teeth, there was nothing she could do and she wasn’t so confident to take on the woman who she knew was a realm above her, a Martial Lord.

Silently, the two women distanced themselves as they started cultivating while they waited for Qian Yu.

Meanwhile, years passed inside the mysterious Martial Emperor’s soul world. 

In Qian Yu’s soul world, what should be a completely blank piece of slate, had lightning chaotically sparking every now and then.

Finally, the cocoon of lightning surrounding Qian Yu dissipated as a figure awoke from inside. As he opened his eyes, Qian Yu felt the change in his body. It only took him a few seconds to realize that he had directly skipped past the body refinement stages and was now at the 1st stage of qi gathering. However, he could tell that wasn’t the only difference as his body felt a little different. 

Indeed, after the heavenly constitution regained its power, it naturally cleansed and strengthened Qian Yu’s body. More specifically, it improved his meridians! There was nothing too special about meridians. Your meridians were determined the moment you were born and although it was one of the factors that determined one’s so-called “talent”, it wasn’t that important unless you, of course, had crippled meridians and couldn’t cultivate. It was just that nobody could really improve their meridians unless they had special encounters like Qian Yu or were extremely rich so nobody bothered too much about it.

As Qian Yu stopped focusing on himself, he looked at the man who had given him this opportunity. Yet he was obviously more transparent than before and Qian Yu knew that his soul had weakened tremendously.