Mu Chen swallowed hard, still pinned under the gravitational pressure crushing his body, completely helpless.
Su Qingyue kept looking down at him with cool indifference. "How is it?"
"I... agree!"
The woman in front of him smiled wide and swept her hand to the side, dissolving the gravitational pressure.
Slowly, Mu Chen was able to breathe again, though he still coughed up blood as an aftereffect of the pressure lifting.
He got back to his feet, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and looked ahead. He and Su Qingyue were close to the same height, though Mu Chen was still slightly taller.
But in terms of power, Su Qingyue had him beat without question. With nothing more than a wave of her hand, she had brought a whole group of cultivators to their knees with gravitational pressure.
"All of you, move away from my palace," Su Qingyue said.
The other cultivators pressed their hands together, bowed their heads, and without a word, flew away from Su Qingyue's silver palace.
Once they were all gone, Su Qingyue snapped her fingers and raised a silver-white barrier that sealed off the entire palace. The Tianyin Sect cultivators were taken aback.
"What is the Grand Sect Leader actually planning?"
"I don't know... but knowing her personality up until now, this is definitely strange."
From inside the flying palace, Mu Chen could clearly see the round barrier wall wrapping around the silver palace.
He stepped to the edge of the palace and looked down, watching as the underside of the palace was also sealed within the barrier.
Mu Chen was still lost, confused, and completely out of his depth with everything that had happened to him.
He was just an ordinary archaeologist who happened to get trapped in a mysterious chamber. He never imagined it would open an entirely new path for him.
"I don't understand any of this."
"What is it you don't understand, Mu Chen?" Su Qingyue asked, settling back into her grand throne.
"All of it. This power. The sects. This world."
Su Qingyue narrowed her eyes, sitting with her head resting in her hand, elbow propped against the armrest of the throne. She didn't take her eyes off Mu Chen.
"Everyone knows about sects, cultivation, and power."
"Except you aren't everyone," Su Qingyue replied.
Mu Chen looked over, meeting Su Qingyue's gaze again. Su Qingyue exhaled slowly. She had already suspected something was off about him.
"I have been cultivating for thousands of years, witnessed countless spiritual roots, and observed every corner of this world. I know this world far better than you ever could."
Su Qingyue raised her hand, and white qi energy gathered in her palm, forming a small orb. She flicked it toward Mu Chen with an elegant motion. It shot forward too fast for him to avoid.
Mu Chen flinched, but he felt his body begin to adapt to the white qi energy orb naturally. No pain. No tightness. Even the fear in him started to ease, replaced by a quiet calm.
"The core of power in this world is patience. Patience of the mind, the heart, the emotions," Su Qingyue said.
"With patience that is properly controlled, you can become whatever you want to be."
"What was that just now?" Mu Chen asked, feeling his body begin to radiate a faint white aura.
"Sit down. Calm your mind. Never be afraid of anything," Su Qingyue instructed.
Mu Chen had no idea what she meant by it, but he did it anyway. He sat cross-legged on the palace floor, closed his eyes, and began steadying his breath.
He let go of every fear and anxiety, set aside his worry over his teammates, and worked to align his heart and mind to accept what was happening around him.
Su Qingyue was impressed. Through the qi orb she had released, she could clearly see that Mu Chen's spiritual root was unlike most people's: strong, stable, and most importantly, active.
"You have the best qualifications I have seen, even better than someone attempting cultivation for the very first time."
"Does that mean it's a good thing?"
Su Qingyue floated gently down from her throne and stopped in front of Mu Chen. She sat cross-legged directly across from him, without a sound, without any movement that might break his concentration.
"Your spiritual root is already active. I don't need to do anything about that. But I will help you make it easier to channel qi through your meridians."
She formed a hand seal and directed her white qi energy toward Mu Chen's forehead. Mu Chen began to feel a shift inside his body.
"This is going to hurt a little. Try to hold on."
Mu Chen nodded. He didn't know exactly what Su Qingyue was going to do, but he could feel qi energy beginning to pour into his body, just like what was described in the ancient texts.
What Su Qingyue said was right. His body started to ache, as if every joint was being torn apart and every vein was on fire. Mu Chen coughed up blood. Su Qingyue moved quickly.
She formed another hand seal, activating a recovery formation while continuing to help Mu Chen open his spiritual root. With the formation in place, the pain in his body began to ease.
They kept at it for ten minutes. Su Qingyue narrowed her eyes as she noticed a glow of qi light shining from Mu Chen's body.
Within seconds, a burst of qi energy went off and Mu Chen felt a wave of relief wash through him. The aching faded. The pain in his body settled down.
Through Su Qingyue's eyes, she could see that Mu Chen's spiritual root was healthy, active, expanding, and ready to take in qi for future cultivation.
"Congratulations, Mu Chen!"
"The spiritual qi flow is now connected to your spiritual root. You can begin cultivating," Su Qingyue said.
Mu Chen opened his eyes and examined both of his hands carefully. He could faintly see a pale gold-white qi aura radiating from his body, not in large amounts, just a trace.
The woman pulled a technique scroll from her bag of holding and held it in her hand. Before she could give it to him, Mu Chen turned and spoke up.
"Wait, Fellow Daoist Su Qingyue," Mu Chen said. Su Qingyue paused.
"The cultivators from the red-uniformed sect wanted to kill me, but you protected me. What are you actually planning?"
Su Qingyue went quiet for a moment, letting the white qi light at her fingertips fade as she continued to look at Mu Chen.
At first she had thought Mu Chen was just a simple, ordinary man who would always obey without asking too many questions. Su Qingyue was confident enough in her looks to assume he would be easily drawn to her.
But now she was seeing another side of him, a sharper side, one that wanted to know the real reason behind why Su Qingyue had accepted him as her disciple.
"Flowing from your body is a golden qi energy unlike anything other cultivators possess," Su Qingyue answered.
She stood and walked gracefully to the edge of the palace, looking out. "Thousands of years ago, golden qi was the most powerful, stable, and dominant energy in existence. Incredibly versatile in its use."
"The ancient records describe golden qi as originating from a single ruling bloodline, one whose power was feared even by the heavens."
"That was the Ancient God Clan."
Mu Chen's breath caught. He stood and moved beside Su Qingyue. "The Ancient God Clan?"
"Yes."
"In the beginning, all energy belonged to the Ancient God Clan. But after their fall, the qi energy split into five, matching the five elements of nature."
"To this day, every cultivator carries qi with an affinity for a certain element. Not one of them possesses the original qi energy."
Su Qingyue turned and looked at Mu Chen, her hand rising to touch his cheek. Mu Chen still wasn't used to Su Qingyue's affection and the gentle way she handled him, but pulling away would only end badly for him.
"The golden qi energy you carry is what we call Primordial Origin Qi."
"So you protected me because I'm valuable and you can't let any other sect have me?" Mu Chen asked.
Su Qingyue smiled, then turned back to look outside. "More than that."
"I felt an energy resonance when you stepped out of those ruins. The other cultivators couldn't feel it. Only I could."
"Why?" Mu Chen asked.
"Because I am bound to the Ancient God Clan."
Mu Chen's breath caught again. If Su Qingyue truly was a direct descendant, he was genuinely curious about what kind of life she had lived across all that time.
"At a certain realm, I cannot break through due to a lack of Primordial Origin Qi. I have searched every corner of this world for it, all for nothing."
Su Qingyue let out a small laugh. "I never expected it... that the qi energy would belong to someone who hadn't even begun cultivating yet."
"Is heaven mocking me? Is it showing me that I am no match for it?" Su Qingyue asked, her eyes drifting up to the sky on instinct.
Now everything made sense to Mu Chen, and it was easy enough to piece together. Simply put, Su Qingyue had taken him on as her disciple for one reason: she needed his energy to break through to the next realm.
"Do you understand now, Mu Chen?" Su Qingyue asked.
Mu Chen exhaled slowly, staring ahead with careful eyes. He stayed silent. Everything Su Qingyue had said was clear to him.
Put plainly, she was planning to use him for her own benefit. That was never going to work in his favor.
In a situation like this, refusing someone as powerful as Su Qingyue was the same as knocking on death's door.
But Mu Chen hadn't come here to be used by anyone.
He would make use of Su Qingyue's knowledge of cultivation and everything else, right up until he had enough power to push back against her.
Mu Chen had no intention of becoming Su Qingyue's energy source.
"I understand. But I'm nobody in the world of cultivation. I don't even know how to transfer Primordial Origin Qi to you."
Su Qingyue turned and smiled, taking a small step closer to him.
Her attitude shifted all at once, far more forward than before. Both of Su Qingyue's arms wrapped around Mu Chen's neck.
Mu Chen was startled, but he knew he couldn't pull away from Su Qingyue. Her face was so close to his that he felt awkward, and every so often he caught the faint, sweet scent of her.
"There is another way..."
"What?" Mu Chen asked, confused.
"Dual cultivation!"