Silence. The first second passed and no light shone, followed by the second second but still nothing happened. The fifth second passed and the Star Stone remained a solid chunk of pitch-black rock. Chu Xinghe pressed his hand harder, furrowing his brow. He tried to imagine energy, tried to force his blood to flow faster. But the result was nil. The crystal stone gave no sign whatsoever.
The smile on Lu Changkong's face froze. Su Wan frowned deeply. Xie Kun scratched his bald head, looking confused. "Is the stone broken? Try lifting your hand and pressing it again!"
Chu Xinghe obeyed. He lifted his hand and pressed it back down hard. Still, not a single ray of light emerged. In fact, the Star Stone felt increasingly cold, as if rejecting his presence.
Yu Ding released a raspy laugh that sounded like the grinding of rusted metal. "Hahaha! Stupid! The stone isn't broken! This boy's meridian channels are sealed as tight as the walls of the universe! Not a single spiritual pore is open. His bones are heavy and his blood is filthy with pure mortal dust!"
"Impossible," Su Wan murmured, stepping forward and grabbing Xinghe's wrist. She injected a thread of pure Qi into Xinghe's pulse. A moment later, she withdrew her hand quickly as if stung. Her face was filled with disgust.
"How is it?" Lu Changkong asked coldly.
"Absolute mortal trash," Su Wan answered mercilessly. "The essence I injected couldn't even enter before vanishing, swallowed by the mortal filth in his body. He has no root seed, no elemental affinity, and likely can never form an Immortal Lotus due to his pre-Heavenly Origin stage."
Hearing the words from Su Wan's lips, the atmosphere by the river changed instantly. The warmth of the fragrance that previously surrounded the cultivators seemed to vanish, replaced by a chill far more piercing than the mountain wind. The gaze of the experts, which was once full of greed and curiosity, now dimmed, leaving a look that viewed Chu Xinghe as no more than a pebble on the side of the road.
Xie Kun snorted loudly, a thin plume of smoke coming from his nose. He turned away from Xinghe with a rough motion. "Tch! A waste of time. I thought he was the leader of this group because of his fake calm attitude, turns out he's just an earthworm that can't even crawl to a tree branch."
"Truly strange," Elder Mei chuckled cynically while stroking Xin Yan's head, who was still trembling nearby. "His seven companions seem as if they've been washed by the holy water of heaven, but this one... he is as if cursed by the heavens. How is it possible for someone at the center of such a primordial energy fluctuation to remain a true mortal? Even a pig should have gained a bit of enlightenment being there."
Chu Xinghe withdrew his hand from the Star Stone. His palm felt numb. He could feel the gazes of his friends—some full of sympathy like Han Dong's, but others, like Li Wei who now stood near Yu Ding, began to show a different look. In this new world, the dividing line between master and ant had been drawn clearly in a matter of minutes.
Lu Changkong looked away. His interest in the youth evaporated completely. In the world of cultivation, weakness is the greatest sin, and having no spiritual qualifications at all is a curse that doesn't even deserve pity. He flicked his wide sleeve, turning his back on Chu Xinghe.
"Leave him," Lu Changkong ordered Su Wan coldly. "The Forest of a Thousand Purple Leaves never lacks for mortal corpses. Tonight, let the low-level beasts handle the rest."
Hearing that decision, Han Dong's face paled. He took one step forward, opening his mouth to protest, but a very heavy air pressure from Elder Yu Ding slammed directly into his chest. Han Dong fell to his knees, his breath caught in his throat.
"Little rat, how dare you step without permission," Yu Ding hissed with squinting eyes. "You are now property of our sects. If you dare care about that pile of mortal trash, I don't mind cutting your legs off right now."
Li Wei covered his face while crying silently. Xin Yan turned her face away, unable to look at Chu Xinghe. Zhao Lin and Yun Hai bowed deeply, their bodies shaking violently. No one dared to speak. Their survival instinct took over, forcing them to accept the reality that in this cruel new world, the friendship bonds from Earth meant nothing before god-like entities who could kill them with a glance.
Chu Xinghe stood still. He wiped the trace of fresh blood from the corner of his lips caused by Lu Changkong's aura pressure earlier. His gaze was straight ahead, seeing his friends now surrounded by the experts from the four major powers. Just as Yu Ding prepared to order the chariot to turn, an incredibly melodious woman's voice halted their movement.
"Wait a moment." The voice came from the second woman standing on the giant blood lotus with Elder Mei. This woman stepped down gracefully. Her thin red silk robes fluttered gently, revealing a perfect silhouette and skin as white as porcelain. Her raven-black hair was left flowing down her back.
The woman's eyes were an enchanting ruby red, radiating charm as well as a deadly danger. She was Lian Ji, one of the protectors from the Blood Lotus Valley. Lian Ji walked slowly past the river rocks, her steps light as if her feet did not touch the ground. Her gaze was fixed on the Star Stone lying silent on the flat rock.
Xie Kun furrowed his bald brow, which was filled with veins. "What now, Lady Lian? Don't tell me you're interested in bringing a piece of dead meat back to the Blood Lotus Valley. A man without meridians isn't even worthy to be used as a dual cultivation furnace by your outer disciples."
Lian Ji smiled thinly. "You all are too quick to jump to conclusions. Your knowledge has been blinded by your own arrogance."
Lu Changkong stopped his steps and turned. "What do you mean, Lady Lian?"
The woman in the red robe stopped right in front of the Star Stone. She pointed at the pitch-black crystal surface with a slender index finger. "The Star Stone is the manifestation of the raw essence of the universe. Even when a crippled human or an idiot touches it, this stone will surely give the slightest reaction. A dim glow, a streak of murky light, or at least a change in temperature. Never in the history of sect testing has a Star Stone gone completely dead and rejected a touch like a common river stone."
Lian Ji's words made the atmosphere silent. Su Wan, standing near Lu Changkong, looked at her own hand which had been stung while trying to check Chu Xinghe's meridians. She indeed felt something strange, a blockage of energy much larger than mere mortal filth.
"So what are you trying to say?" Yu Ding asked suspiciously. "Don't say this boy is a walking corpse!"
Lian Ji shifted her ruby-red gaze toward Chu Xinghe. The youth returned her gaze warily. "I once read an incredibly ancient parchment scroll in the highest floor of the Blood Lotus Valley's Secret Pavilion," Lian Ji's voice flowed slowly, carried by the night wind and clearly heard by everyone. "That scroll recorded a strange phenomenon regarding one type of physique that is naturally hated and cursed by the laws of heaven. A body that rejects all forms of external essence, because the blood within the body itself is too proud to accept foreign energy."
Lian Ji paused, letting the tension hang in the air. "That physique is called the Ancient Emperor Body."
The name sounded completely foreign to the ears of the experts. Xie Kun scratched his thick jaw. "Ancient Emperor Body? What kind of old myth is that? I've never heard that name in the ranks of spiritual constitutions in the Eastern Heavenly Realm."
"You haven't heard of it because the history of that physique was forcibly erased by the rulers of the past," Lian Ji replied calmly. She then looked at Lu Changkong. "Brother Lu, Junior Su Wan earlier only provided essence to this youth's wrist. Outer meridian paths can be deceiving. I suggest you ask Junior Su to check directly into the center of his life vortex. Check his heart and chest cavity by force."
Lu Changkong was silent for a moment. His eyes narrowed, considering the possibility. If the filthy youth in front of him truly possessed a legendary unknown physique, letting him live in this forest could be a fatal mistake for the Heavenly Cloud Sect in the future.
Lu Changkong looked at Su Wan and nodded slowly. "Junior Sister Su, do as Lady Lian said. Examine his chest cavity. Do not hold back your power. If his mortal body explodes because it cannot withstand your pure essence, consider it his fate."
Su Wan bowed respectfully. Her face turned ice-cold again. She stepped forward toward Chu Xinghe. Seeing the woman in the blue robe approach with a hand glowing with deadly energy, Chu Xinghe reflexively moved his foot back. He tried to turn and run toward the forest. However, before he could take even one step, layers of air pressure fell from all directions, pinning his feet to the ground. His body was stiff, unable to move a single finger.
"Stay still, ant," Su Wan warned.
Su Wan stopped right in front of Xinghe. She formed a hand seal with her left hand, while two fingers on her right hand glowed with a bright blue light. Without any warning, Su Wan thrust her two fingers directly into the center of Chu Xinghe's chest, right above his heart.
"Uargh!" Chu Xinghe's eyes widened. A pain beyond description exploded inside his chest. It felt as if a giant red-hot steel nail had just been driven through his ribs, tearing his lungs and burning his heart. Su Wan's pure essence forced its way in, trying to find the main meridian path hidden behind the mortal flesh.
Cold sweat drenched Xinghe's entire body in the blink of an eye. The veins in his neck and forehead bulged like writhing worms. He tried to scream, but his vocal cords were locked by the paralyzing pain. His mouth opened wide, expelling fresh blood that dripped heavily onto his dirty clothes. His friends shrieked in horror. Han Dong tried to crawl forward, but an invisible force kept pressing his head into the river rocks. "Stop! You're killing him!" Han Dong shouted hoarsely.
Su Wan ignored the screams around her. She continued to push her pure essence deeper, breaking through layers of blood and bone. Suddenly, Su Wan's face changed drastically. Her eyes radiated extreme shock. In the depths of the youth's chest, right around his pounding heart, Su Wan found something obstructing her energy. It was not a rejection from flesh, nor a blockage of filth.
It was an energy entity that was very dark, ancient, and radiated an aura of endless killing intent. Shring! A reflection of black power exploded from within Chu Xinghe's chest. The energy was very wild and savage. Su Wan was thrown back, dragged five steps before she managed to balance her body. The woman held her trembling right hand. The tips of her two fingers were charred, emitting black smoke that smelled foul.
"Junior Sister Su!" Lu Changkong stepped forward. A sharp aura immediately locked onto Chu Xinghe, who now fell to his knees on the ground, coughing and spitting black blood.
Su Wan steadied her chaotic breathing. Her beautiful face was deathly pale. She stared at Chu Xinghe with a look of pure horror. "There is... there is something in there. Senior Brother Lu, there is a curse... its shape resembles rusted dragon chains that tightly lock his entire chest cavity and heart meridians. My pure essence was almost completely swallowed by the killing aura of those chains."
Hearing Su Wan's report, the faces of the sect experts turned tense. Even Xie Kun and Yu Ding took a step back, assuming a defensive stance. An energy chain that could burn the pure essence of a Heavenly Lotus level cultivator? Residing inside a mortal human body? This was an irrational anomaly. Lian Ji smiled widely. Her smile was full of satisfaction and deep pity. She walked slowly around Chu Xinghe, who was struggling to catch his breath on the dusty ground.
"Rusted dragon chains," Lian Ji murmured slowly. "My guess was correct. This youth is the heir of the lineage most cursed by heaven and earth."
"Speak clearly, Lian Ji. Do not play riddles," Xie Kun growled impatiently.
Lian Ji stopped her steps. She looked at the stars in the night sky for a moment before beginning her tale. Her voice flowed, carrying the weight of ancient history that had long been buried.
"Long ago, in an era unrecorded in any history, the heavens above us were not divided into ten heavenly realms. The world at that time was ruled by an unparalleled existence called the Great Emperor. The owner of the Ancient Emperor Body was the manifestation of absolute physical dominance. It is said that their bodies were so strong that they could tear through the void of space with their bare hands and swallow heavenly tribulations as drinking water."
Chu Xinghe coughed softly. His vision was blurred. The pain in his chest still throbbed madly. "However," Lian Ji continued, her tone turning dark. "Unsubmissive power eventually triggered fear. The existence of the Great Emperor threatened the order of the universe itself. According to secret records, the Six Great Kings of the Forbidden Realm... mysterious entities that can tolerate the laws of karma... finally intervened. They surrounded the Great Emperor at the end of the River of Time."