Yang Ze didn't know where he was or what he was supposed to do. Neither did he want to find out. He just wanted to be left alone.
There was a saying that the sharp pain of the heart does not vanish with the turning of the seasons, but is worn down by the river of time until it becomes a silent shadow within one's being.
It wasn't easy for Yang Ze to overcome his grief. Every passing second, every passing minute, felt like a struggle to live. There were times when he just wanted to find something to end his misery, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Just like the woman said... If he died too, then Lan'er would truly be forgotten. He wanted to stay alive for her. So that in this world, there could be someone to grieve for her, to remember her for who she was.
"Isn't there a saying that immortals can even bring the dead back to life?" Muttering to himself, Yang Ze's eyes suddenly burst out with a spark of life. There were all kinds of rumours about the immortal cultivators. Perhaps they might have exxigrated. But how could there be smoke without fire?
The more he thought about it, the rapid his breathing got. If he could resurrect Lan'er... The moment this thought came to his mind, Yang Ze stood up and began to pace around in the room. It was like a sprouting seed that was impossible to suppress.
Perhaps for those without spiritual roots, it might have been an impossible task. But for the current him... thinking about the 'Heavenly Dragon Art' in his memory, he immediately sat cross-legged on the floor, closed his eyes and began to perform the set of exercises.
Currently, he could only view the first three volumes of the Heavenly Dragon Art that represented the first three realms of cultivation. He didn't know just how strong every realm was, but this didn't deter him from cultivating. If he couldn't resurrect her after reaching the third realm, he would practice till he reached a realm where he could do it.
The process was relatively simpler than he initially imagined. There was no pain, no feeling of tiredness. The essence of the 'Heavenly Dragon Art' was to breathe with the world, so that the spiritual qi around one wouldn't be a foreign object.
Yang Ze slowly began to inhale and then exhale according to the first volume. In doing so, it didn't take him long to enter a trance, where he could feel the world around him. It was such a weird feeling that he wasn't able to describe it in words.
It was as if he was standing inside the room, except everything was blurry, except the bright orbs of light of all colours floating around him. Amongst them, the most prominent were the white orbs. He tried to touch one of them, and the moment his hand came in contact with it, he felt his entire body tremble with excitement. It was as if someone who had been wandering in the desert for decades came into contact with a pond of cold water.
The feeling was extremely satisfying, though it still fell off compared to what he experienced with that silver-masked woman.
"Mmmm." Moaning in comfort, Yang Ze kept on touching them. After a while, he realised that he didn't even need to touch them; he could just try to attract them towards him. And sure enough... it worked.
Yang Ze was now sitting with his eyes closed as the dense white light that was invisible to the naked eye enveloped him.
At the same time, inside his body, a thin line spreading from his left leg to his heart began to form.
Yang Ze didn't know how long he had been in this state. If not for the constant vibration of that token, he might have stayed like this for an even longer time.
"What is it now?" Anyone would be annoyed after being woken up from such a state, much less Yang Ze, who was already trying his hardest to cultivate as fast as possible.
Picking up the token, he was about to see what the fuss was all about when he heard an impatient sound in his ears.
"Is it Yang Ze?" It was a man's impatience voice.
"Umm." Yang Ze didn't know where the voice was coming from, but this didn't stop him from speaking out loud.
"It is me."
"Took you long enough to pick up your communication token." The man complained in a grumpy voice before speaking further.
"Anyway... You need to report to the main hall. You have been assigned to some new duty."
"Remember to come as soon as possible."
Without waiting for Yang Ze to reply, the communication cut off while Yang Ze kept on looking at the token in his hand.
"Is this an immortal treasure?" He couldn't help but mutter in surprise. To be able to speak to each other without being in person and at such a distance... Truly... an immortal treasure.
Yang Ze carefully placed it inside his robe, almost near his heart, before standing up. And the moment he did, he was surprised to discover that his strength had improved by leaps and bounds.
His eyes, which had previously been unable to see in this darkness, could now see everything clearly, from the row of ants in the distance to the buzzing fly almost ten meters away.
"Was the world always this vibrant?" There were even colours that he hadn't seen before. He just stood there in a daze for a while before focusing back on his physical strength.
He first walked to the bed that was almost five times his size, and grabbed it on one end before putting all his strength into it.
If it were the Yang Ze of the past, not to mention lifting it, he wouldn't have been able to move it. But the current Yang Ze...
Without even using his full strength, he lifted it easily like lifting a dry twig.
Yang Ze had a feeling that if he wished to, he could instantly throw it away like a rag or just twist it into powder.
Such overwhelming strength was something that he never dared to think about.
"And this thing..." Not only did his physical strength increase by leaps and bounds, but he even felt a constant flow of current in his body. Yang Ze knew exactly what it was.
"Spiritual Qi." The most important thing that a cultivator needs. For ordinary cultivators, their spiritual roots will be the ones to convert, store and regulate the spiritual energy in one's body. But for the current Yang Ze, it was the thin white line spreading from his leg to his heart that did it.
"Spiritual Vein" In the Qi Refining realm, while others need to form a spiritual platform, Yang Ze need to form these spiritual veins to progress further. One vein means he has officially stepped into the first stage of Qi refining.
"Only eight more to go." Once he condensed eight more viens, he would be qualified to step into the foundation building stage that represented a change to a higher living form.
Taking a deep breath, he gazed out of the window into the distance and muttered to himself.
"I will definitely bring you back, Lan'er."
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The Shen family, one of the four major families of the Redlead city, was located in the eastern part of the city. There were numerous water streams flowing throughout the family that gave quick and easy water access to everyone, from a high-ranking member to a servant.
No one knew exactly how big this family was. And in the centre of the family grounds was the Main Hall.
When Yang Ze first arrived there, his mind was awestruck.
It was a huge tower, roughly twenty stories high, and the width was almost five hundred meters in diameter. The strangest thing was that such a large tower was usually invisible from every direction.
Only when someone comes near it and steps inside the layered walls circling around it would they be able to see its true majesty.
"This... this..." Yang Ze couldn't even finish his sentence before someone patted his shoulder.
"First time here?" It was a man in his mid-twenties who was examining Yang Ze from top to bottom.
"Senior." Yang Ze saluted him before nodding in response.
"Mmm.." The man was extremely satisfied with the respect Yang Ze had shown him and just for that, he wasn't going to make it difficult for him like he usually did for the newcomers.
"Where do you want to go?"
"Uhm... I am here to report for duty." Yang Ze replied truthfully. But at the same time cursed the man who spoke to him on the token for being such a useless bastard. Where was he supposed to go without any directions?
"I see." The man in front of him just nodded in response before waving his hand towards him. "Follow me."
As the two of them slowly made their way towards the tower, Yang Ze initiated the conversation.
"Seniot, I am Yang Ze. May I ask for your name?"
"You can call me Brother Che." Shen Che replied in a casual tone.
"Then... Brother Che... Can you tell me more about this place?" This was what intrigued him the most. The biggest building he had ever seen was the city hall. But compared to the tower in front of him... that thing looked like a box of cardboard.
"Let's just say this is the lifeblood of the entire Shen family." With a smile, Shen Che began to explain slowly.
"There are over thirty floors, each one reserved for a certain group of people. The bottommost hall is where family missions are posted. The one above it is a free market where people from the Shen family trade. Similarly, the further you go up, the more things you will witness."
Yang Ze just kept on nodding like a chicken while listening to his explanation. It seemed that whatever he knew about the Shen family while working as a servant was just the tip of the iceberg. After all, it was a cultivation behemoth. How could it be compared to normal mortal families?
After standing in front of the massive entrance gate, which was blocked by a translucent layer of light, Shen Che took out his token, signed Yang Ze to take out his and took a step further. The moment his body touched the layer of white light, he disappeared immediately.
Yang Ze followed suit and soon found himself standing in a large area that was bustling with people.
"This is..." The entire area was covered in stones that gave off a hazy glow. Even though he was inside the tower, he felt like he was walking in the sky while surrounded by countless stars.
The more he looked around, the more he found himself in awe. He had never imagined that one day, he would be able to see things like this.
Shen Che just smiled at his reaction. When he first arrived in this place, he too was awestruck by this scenery.
"Let's go." Patting him on the shoulder, he took Yang Ze towards the large hall where hundreds of people were entering and exiting.
"Name?"
"Yang Ze."
"Age?"
"Eighteen."
Standing in front of an old man, Yang Ze answered the questions of the old man, who then asked for his token.
"Toke,n please."
After holding Yang Ze's token, he covered it with his own spiritual qi before closing his eyes. It wasn't until five minutes had passed did he opened his eyes and gazed deeply at the boy in front of him.
"Interesting." Stroking his thin, long white beard, the old man let out a wretched smile before tapping his token a few times and throwing it back to him.
"You have been assigned as the personal steward of Shen Yulan. Report to her." With these words, he waved his hand, signalling Yang Ze to leave.
The moment the old man spoke, Shen Che's expression changed drastically as if he had heard something terrifying. He first looked at the old man and then at the boy beside him in disbelief.
"This.. this..." He wanted to say something, but upon noticing the death glare of the old man, swallowed back his words.
"Then, I will take my leave." Right now, the only thing he wanted to do was to run away. But before he could take a step back, the old man waved his hand, and with it, his entire body froze.
"Take him to his new place." The old man spoke softly, but Shen Che heard his next words right beside his ears.
'And don't you dare tell this brat anything. Just keep quiet.'
Yang Ze first looked at the old man and then at Shen Che in confusion. He could hear the first few words, but after that, he only saw the old man's lips moving without any sound.
"Let's hurry up." Without waiting for him, Shen Che grabbed him by the arm, pulled him towards himself and rushed out of the tower as fast as possible, all the while constantly pitying about his upcoming fate.
"What a sin... what a sin... another sacrifice for that wicked witch?"
The more he thought about it, the more he felt sorry for Yang Ze. In the end, he could only hasten his speed as the two of them made their way towards their new destination.