Tiandao awoke in a place he did not recognise, and a body that was not his. He stood and tried to recall what he last remembered... 

 

He remembered his spirit went into deep stasis in the depths of the Goldensword Mountains. 

 

HIs mind digested what little he knew. Something must have happened for his spirit to be dislodged from the Goldensword Mountains and sent into this body. But his spirit was cursed,  never able to inhabit a body able of cultivating! 

 

He closed his mind and checked, and he knew for a fact he could. The curse of the Unknown God was nowhere to be found! After at least 6 million years since the primordial wars, finally, did the curse give way, consumed by time?

 

“It seemed the fates finally gave me the chance to strike back.” Tiandao smiled, and thought of his ancient enemies, the Beast Gods and the Vampire Gods. “But seriously, what year is it? How many years has passed?” 

 

Tiandao possessed the body of a boy of 18 years old, malnourished and weak, with no special dispositions. This type of body was a dime a dozen, truly almost all peasants in the nine worlds possessed such a body. Why was he out here in the woods, away from everyone? Those were questions that Tiandao momentarily considered and then shoved it to the back of his mind. Right now, he had a chance to change the world, and he was going to take it.

 

-

 

Tiandao soon walked to a nearby town, and found out some rather unsettling things. It’s been 24,800 years since the day he went into stasis, and they’ve had 4 different Heavenly Emperors since then, all of them human, but only the first two were from clans he knew. He was in the Great Mortal World, but the Goldensword Mountains were in the Ancient Beast World. How did his soul travel so far? 

 

He had many questions but focused on the date. Because the next battle for the Mandate of Heavenly Emperor would be soon. A hundred or so years to go. 

 

Tiandao smiled, after living millions of years supporting others in their battle for the Mandate of Heaven, it was now his turn to do it. 

 

There was no sect in this town, the nearest one was the Iceflower Peak Sect, also a name he did not recognise. Sects rise and fall over the thousands of years, but he had to be careful. It would not do if the servants of the Beast Gods and Vampire Gods catch him before he is ready to face them. 

 

He frowned as he talked to the merchants and travellers. Most of the sects he recognised in this part of the world had been thoroughly destroyed a few thousand years ago. He cursed. Did they know he went into stasis?

 

He considered his options, and decided he had no time to waste. His cultivation would not be optimal, and he would have to destroy his cultivation and redo his cultivation in the future, but for now, he cannot afford to be defenseless. The heavens are not kind to the weak.

 

He closed his eyes and sat in a typical lotus position, and started sensing his body. In the world, cultivators had many things to focus on, each contributed to their strength. There is the soul realm, which the bulk of the cultivators worked on, and determined the general realm of the cultivator. There is also the physique which covers both body and bone, blood and qo, and the mind palace. Each had its own advantages and strengths, but a good cultivator would work on all of them. To be able to challenge the Gods, he would need to be amazing at each and every one. 

 

The soul realm was the vessel of the soul and in his mind, took the form of a replica of his own person, standing still on an island in a vast lake. At the moment, the soul was nothing more than a ghostly, floating thing. It would gain more features and realism as his strength improved, and eventually, even create a second body.

 

The lake is the realm which nourished that replica, the soul. The mind palace at this moment is nothing more than a small crystal floating high above the lake. The physique was a statue, it stood next to the person. As of, there was nothing. The blood and Qi were vast flowing things that moved and weaved in and out of the lake, like transparent pipes. They are all connected, and they reinforce each other, but a budding cultivator usually starts with the lake. 

 

But Tiandao had the memories of a million years, and even though a lot of it has been sealed away throughout the nine worlds, he could still manage this. 

 

He closed his eyes and started collecting Qi. When a person collects Qi, it would appear in this inner space as small sparks of light. They would then move the spark into his soul, and the soul is where the Core would be built. Again, this is conventional knowledge. He brought the Qi in, but did not immediately put it into the soul. Instead, he waited until there were at least a hundred of it, and then moved them into the blood. The blood vessels that criss crossed his inner realm glowed faintly, and their flow increased. 

 

Next, he gathered another 100 or so, this took a few hours, and this time, he added it to the small crystal that floated high up. It glowed, and then grew. Over the next few days, he stopped just for lunch and dinner, eating whatever scraps or fruits he could find in the forest around him, even leaves, and then returned to cultivating. 

 

After two weeks, the blood vessels that carried Qi throughout his body now moved relatively quickly, and the mind palace was no longer just a tiny speck. It was now a large basketball sized crystal. At its greatest, the mind palace would be the size of vast palaces, a world of its own. The mind palace was where all of a cultivators' soul weapons are kept. 

 

He was ready to ascend to the first realm. But first, hunting. He walked around the town, and searched for scraps. He was nothing more than a street rat in the eyes of townspeople, but it did not bother him. 

 

Eventually, through sheer luck he found the skull of a lesser spirit beast. A restaurant had thrown it away after cutting all the meat. He took the bones and went back into the forest. He closed his eyes and willed the mind palace to absorb the skull. It did.

 

The skull now appeared in the mind palace. Someday he would repeat this process with far better and stronger spirit beasts. For now, this will have to do. 

 

He crushed it, the skull collapsed into a small white marble, and after that, into bone dust. The dust swirled around the mind palace. 

 

Over the next two weeks, he absorbed more Qi, and this time, mixed a bit of bone dust into the Qi, and added it to his soul. The dust of the spirit beast would give his soul additional strength, at least twice as much as a conventional cultivation method. The once ghostly soul then gained a bit of color and definition. He had done it, he had broken through to the first realm of cultivation. In an instant, the once dark inner realm had a dim glow. It would turn bright over time, and eventually, the lakes would have islands where he could keep certain types of herbs and plants. 

 

In this world, a cultivator's inner world was a world of its own, and each one tried to strengthen it. 

 

Now that he has reached the first realm, he would have to start hunting and mining. He had a few ideas of what physique he had to build, but that would depend on what resources he had in this area. Most of the rare resources were hidden in vast secret realms, and he would have to reach the fourth realm before he could even attempt them. His plan was to reach all the way to the seventh realm, and then use the exceptional materials he could obtain at that level to rebuild his entire cultivation from scratch. For now, this is the foundation he had.

 

He returned to town, and hoped to plot his next step.

 

-

 

"Mingde." Tiandao used a fake name. He could not take chances, not with the Gods. 

 

"Yes." He said and bowed at the merchant. He had a simple spear at his side, a simple leather armor made from regular hide. Escort duty. Equipment entirely supplied by the merchant company  "Anything you wish me to do?"

 

This job needed plain muscle, most of the foes would be regular bandits. The goods they had were also of the mortal realm, nothing a cultivator would desire. "Pass this to the passengers at the last carriage, and tell the passengers we will be arriving in Quanyu City in a day." 

 

Tiandao nodded, and walked to the last carriage. It was quite a convoy, about 12 carriages on horses in total. They had 30 guards, including himself. The last carriage looked like any other, so he knocked on the door. "The head merchant has a document for you, and wishes to inform you that we will arrive in Quanyu City in a day."

 

The door to the carriage briefly opened and Tiandao saw three people inside. Two older men, and a beautiful lady. But in one glance he could tell the lady was really sick, and something was gnawing at her soul.

 

Tiandao bowed and passed the parcel to one of the older men. He had enough sense to realise that these two older men could flatten all of them at that very moment. 

 

"Tell the merchant we received the message. Here's a tip." The older man passed him a single silver coin. 

 

"Thank you." Tiandao quickly walked away. But he remembered what he saw. The lady was clearly suffering from at least two Blackblood Qi-Larvae infestations in her inner realm, and it most probably lived within her blood and her lake. If not removed, she will die when the larvae reach its 6th stage. From the coloration of her skin, and the fact that she took a mortal wagon instead of flying, that meant the larvae was at the 3rd stage. She would have another year left.. 

 

Tiandao walked back to where he was stationed, and did not say anymore. The merchant looked at him and demanded. "Give me the tip."

 

"Half."

 

The merchant laughed. "Fine."

 

-

 

Quanyu City was significantly larger than the earlier towns, and is home to the Thousand Spears Sect and also the Herbal Gardens of Quanyu, an independent herbalist school. Of course, it made sense why those men tried to come here. Surely they know of her disease?

 

Anyway, Tiandao's goal was to quickly ascend to the 2nd realm, and to do so, he needed the materials and resources that only a larger city could provide. 

 

The merchant paid Tiandao as promised, but was short of half a silver. He cursed inwardly. Damned calculative merchant. Still, small money, enough to pay for some food. First, he explored the streets. Quanyu City did not exist 24,000 years ago  back then, as far as he could recall, this area was nothing more than a jungle and a lake. But such is how the world changes. 

 

The Thousand Spears Sect had a large castle and keep in the center of the city, the Sect Master is the ultimate ruler here, though administration is often left in the hands of the appointed officials. 

 

"Sect Trials in five months." Tiandao muttered to himself. 

 

-

 

Tiandao found an unused cave in the outskirts of Quanyu city, and soon made it his little cultivating cave. He had slightly less than five months to go. Truly, the surroundings of Quanyu city had a good variety of wild herbs that Tiandao quickly used to accelerate his cultivation. He practiced and cultivated every day for four months, upgrading and expanding his mind palace, and improved his blood vessels. 

 

It was then he sensed a presence nearby, brought by the flowing Qi around the cave. He closed his eyes and focused. It was a lady. The same lady that he saw briefly in the carriage a few months back.

 

She was walking unsteadily, her presence was weak and she emitted absolutely no Qi. At first, he did nothing and merely continued to observe her, listening to the news brought by the Qi. An hour or so later, she collapsed. 

 

Tiandao paused his cultivation, then quickly carried her back to the cave, and when she woke up, she looked at him like she saw evil.

 

“Why did you carry me here?” The girl’s face was covered in purple-black blotches, a sign that the Blackblood Qi Larvae had somehow reached the mid 4th stage. But wasn’t it just the 3rd stage a few months ago? Unless the healers screwed up, this reeked of intentional sabotage. Someone was out to get her.

 

“You fainted.”

 

She paused. “You... shouldn’t touch me. The Qi Larvae inside me is infectious.” Indeed, at the 4th stage, the Qi Larvae already started to spread spores through her skin, which could infect those nearby. But Qi Larvae at the spore stage is absolutely easy to fight off, one just merely needs to burn it the moment the spores land in one’s body. Tiandao could do it when he’s asleep! 

 

No, more importantly how did she even get infected in the first place?

 

He looked at her, and looking at why she walked into the woods defenseless, he sort of guessed. “You’re trying to kill yourself, isn’t it?”

 

Some of her hair had already fallen off, and half of her tongue was black. One of her eyes was bloodshot, but with black blood. Honestly, most people would avoid her, because she looked absolutely scary at this stage. She looked at Tiandao, “...yes.”

 

“Hmmm.. that's strange. Surely the healers could help you? Suppress it, if not cure it.” Had the healing arts degraded so much in just a few thousand years? 

 

She laughed, as if she was laughing at herself. “Do you know what it takes to cure my Qi Larvae infestation? Bloodfire Sun Stone! A 7th realm artefact! The Azure Flower Sect would only procure such items only for Senior Elders if they performed an act of great merit! A Core Disciple who lost her master like me won’t even have a chance!”

 

Seemed like his initial hypothesis was close. Internal conflict was the cause. 

 

She laughed, some more, it was a crazy laughter, of a woman who has lost it. Tiandao looked at her, and easily lifted her hand. At her present stage she was extremely weak. “Strange. What did the healers do? It should not have degraded so quickly."

 

She looked surprised at his action, but before she could answer. 

 

“Did the healers, or any elders give you a Yin energy pill or some kind?"

 

Her eyes widened, more out of surprise that this strange man could guess something so accurately. "Yes... a month ago. The elder said it could freeze the larvae, which it did for only a week, then it got worse after that. A Silverleaf Pill."

 

"Hmm, seems like that elder wanted to kill you then."

 

She cursed. "Yes. I know. I have less than a month to live. The healers couldn’t do anything. Not when my infestation has reached the 4th stage. If it was in the 3rd stage, they could perhaps use the Sunflower Seed Extract to suppress it. The healers could not do anything! Nothing!”

 

Tiandao wondered why the healers couldn’t do anything, there were many ways to deal with Qi Larvae... surely they couldn’t have forgotten? “Really?"

 

“Nothing. The chief healer shook her head and told me to prepare a will.” 

 

Tiandao laughed, this was a heavenly opportunity. If the heavens gave such an opportunity, who was he to refuse? All he needed to do was make a bit of changes to his plan. He looked at her again. “You’re a Fourth Realm?”

 

“Was.” With the infestation at the 4th stage, she’s pretty much a weakling. At the 3rd stage the infection made her mortal. 

 

“Let’s make a deal.” Tiandao offered. “I’ll cure your infestation within 2 years.”

 

The lady laughed. “I’m dead in a month.”

 

Tiandao looked at her, he stared and did not laugh, and the lady realised then that he meant it. “Of course, I will suppress your infestation, and then cure you. I assure you I can and will cure you.”

 

She looked at him. “And what would it cost me?”

 

“You’re an attractive woman, and you know people. So, I want you to be my woman, consort, and ally.”

 

She froze. At this point she no longer saw herself as attractive, not with the black blotches that covered so many parts of her body.  “You want to touch a woman with 4th stage Qi Larvae Infestation?” It’s usually madness, since during intimacy, the Qi Larvae would easily be able to enter the partner’s Qi Vessels. 

 

Tiandao looked at her, their eyes locked. “Yes. You have nothing much to lose, perhaps except your chastity.”

 

She laughed hysterically.  “I can’t believe my ill fortune. To think I would be propositioned in such a way, when I am at death’s doorstep.” She weakly raised a fist. “Who have I pissed off to deserve such ill fortune?”

 

Tiandao smiled. “I actually think this is a great opportunity for you.”

 

She continued laughing. 

 

“What do you say?” Tiandao looked at her, his eyes serious, that he meant it. Those eyes of tremendous certainty made her stop laughing. She looked at him, and realised he meant it. Was she going to take a chance?

 

“...I want revenge on those who poisoned me, and those who killed my master.” She took a deep breath and then responded, as something in her heart stirred at the certainty of this man. There was an aura, a presence she felt that flicker of a moment. Like this man could do it. 

 

Tiandao nodded. “Deal.”

 

She looked at him thoughtfully, a part of her could not believe what she just heard. But then, at this point, at this juncture, perhaps this was fate playing with her. She nodded. “...Deal.”

 

“Good. Well, it seems my plans will have to change.” He walked closer to her, unafraid of her infestation. “Firstly, do you have money? Qi-stones?”

 

She nodded and retrieved a pouch. There was a decent amount in there, the wealth of a Core Disciple with some merit. 

 

“What’s your name?” 

 

“Jun Liyun.” 

 

“I’m Mingde. Wait here. I’ll be back in four to five hours. I will need to purchase some materials.”

 

-

 

He used her pouch to purchase huge amounts of Yangqi Leaves, and barrels of Horned Bull’s Blood. He brought it to the cave, along with a large rug big enough for two, a few pillows and a blanket. He spread the rug on the floor to make a large makeshift bed. 

 

“What...” Liyun looked at him, bewildered. “Are you doing?”

 

Tiandao started pounding the Yangqi Leaves until it turned into a paste, and mixed it with the Bull’s Blood. He boiled it briefly to cook it, and then drank a huge cup. Then, he started cultivating for a good 4 hours.

 

In his inner realm, he condensed the huge amount of Yang qi into a small glowing sun that floated right next to his mind palace, and moved around it in an orbit. He decided to cultivate the [Nine Suns Immortal Arts], a cultivation method that uses and generates a lot of Yang qi.

 

Then he looked at Liyun, and walked close to her. He drank another mouth of the paste. Then, he started undressing her. 

 

She was shocked, frozen by what he did that she didn’t resist. “...what’s happening. Surely you don’t mean to touch me when I’m like this.”

 

Their eyes met, and Tiandao didn’t flinch. “We’re going to copulate.” Tiandao easily lifted her up and placed her on the thick rug and blanket. She is, after all, defenseless. It was a makeshift bed in the cave, and placed her head on the pillow. Her body was covered in black and purple blotches, a sign that the larvae infestation had reached the 4th stage. He took everything off, and inspected her carefully. 

 

The 4th stage infection was really bad, and he felt the spores land on his body. But the small sun in his inner realm burned the spores just as it entered. This was not the first time she has been thoroughly undressed, but somehow she felt the sexual tension in the air was intense. 

 

“At the 4th stage of Larvae, the Yang Qi must be injected directly into your body, and I will have to control its movement within your body to maximise its effect.” He explained. "I had just changed my cultivation to a Yang Qi focused method, and it will help to suppress your condition."

 

She wasn’t stupid, and she got it instantly. Why didn’t she think of something like this? She stared at him. “Really? Will it work?” She was a core disciple at the fourth realm, and at their level she had a good grasp of all the basic and intermediate concepts. Using a Yang focused body and Qi and that foreign Qi to cure her, that sounds possible.

 

Yet she still hesitated. Tiandao gently tapped her on her blotched, blackened cheeks. “Look at yourself, and tell me, what choice do you have?” 

 

Liyun paused. “Wouldn’t you get infected too?”

 

“I have my ways. Now, are you willing to get to it?” Tiandao smiled, his body brimming with Yang Qi. Liyun was on her back, on the rug, her mind a mix of hope and doubt. 

 

He leaned in to kiss her blackened lips. Her lower half was almost entirely black, as if her entire lower body was gangrene. It’s a horrifying sight, but Tiandao had lived for millions of years and had seen a whole lot worse. 

 

Then his penis entered her blackened vagina, and he began to push his Yang Qi into her body. The sun in his inner realm glowed. Liyun felt his Yang Qi enter her inner realm, their bodies now intertwined. Tiandao sensed that her inner realm was covered in Qi Larvae, it was everywhere, in the lake, on her soul island, and even on her mind palace. Yet, the worst part was that the Qi Larvae had mainly taken hold of the meridians and the blood vessels. Those were the entry points to all cultivators, and those were now blocked off by the larvae. It was because of that she lost almost all of her strength, her Qi unable to enter or exit to body. It's metaphorically turning off the tap by blocking the main pipe.

 

He had a lot of work to do. He moved his Yang Qi, however little it was, shaped it a hammer, and started to squash the larvae that clogged the meridians. Based on his estimates, clearing the meridians would be the easiest, but flushing the larvae out of the blood vessels would be a lot harder. For now, his focus was to save her life and remove the parts that would kill her. He squashed them  bit-by-bit, and felt it was too slow. 

 

He decided to detonate his Yang Qi instead, and the brief Yang Qi explosion torched the Qi Larvae. Each explosion and destruction of the Qi Larvae caused her to feel like something popped in her belly, and as much as she sought to deny it, it felt heavenly and orgasmic. The next hour so, he just kept at it, injecting more Yang Qi and detonating them where the Larvae concentration was strongest. She had never felt this kind of sexual bliss, and he continued to pound her.

 

After two hours, she gave in to the pleasure, and collapsed. 

 

-

 

She woke up a few hours later, still naked save for a thick blanket covering her body. She strangely felt better, but she wasn’t sure. Tiandao walked over and passed her a cup of water. 

 

“We’ll need to do this daily, for at least a month.” Tiandao said. “My Yang Qi still needs time to reduce the infestation. 

 

She blushed at the thought that they would have to sleep together for at least a month. But she quickly tried to act professional about it, and asked. “But... why don’t you get infected?”

 

“I’m constantly circulating the Yang Qi within my own body as well, and my cultivation method is naturally immune to low-tier Qi Larvae. But just in case, I will need more Yangqi leaves. Until I tell you that you are cleared to cultivate, do not attempt to cultivate or use any Qi. Using Qi will spread the larvae to areas I’ve previously cleared.”

 

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