My Debauched Devotion - Chapter 33

Chapter 33: A Precipitous Change

The Emperor’s Caliber was also called Divine Saint’s Faculty. It was the best talent before becoming an immortal that one could have in the Dao-Ending Period and gave one the best chance at ascending to immortality.

The world used to suspect Lingzhou Yue of having a Divine Saint’s Faculty, but she had quelled the guess with her superb idleness.

It was said that there were no more than 10 people in the whole Zhenling Continent who had been discovered to possess the Divine Saint’s Faculty!

Even Ye Fan, who had been incredibly blessed by destiny, was a certain distance away from actually having the Divine Saint’s Faculty.

Abruptly, like an aged tree that bloomed, Qian Junzi’s dry, bottomless, pitch-dark eyes flickered with a flare of light.

The flame twinkled before it slowly dimmed. Qian Junzi closed his eyes eventually, the corners of his wrinkled mouth curling up into an almost unnoticeable smile.

Then—in the Chaotic Tower, Xiao Ran reached the Qi Refining Great Perfection, a perfect peak!

It was a hidden level that was not only impossible to reach in the Dao-Ending Period but was also never achieved even during the prime era.

This was not some Divine Saint’s Faculty or a higher-tier immortal physique. This was the Gift of God’s Will that was above all living souls! Basically, it was divine.

This was Xiao Ran’s first time in the Qi Refining stage. He was not exactly deft at it, so he was feeling his body float as it blended with heaven and earth, as well as the way of the Dao and nature.

Clarity—that was the only word he could think of.

When he had picked up the Art of Resonance previously, he had felt like he had penetrated heaven and earth as well. Due to the mortal divine sense, however, his sensing distance had been too short and he had not felt what he was feeling right now: like he was one and moving with everything in this world.

Was this spiritual power?

He could feel the flowing spiritual energy in the world and sense the core spiritual quality of every living creature, even the emotional change deep within their soul.

The feeling was akin to Zhao Zhongxiang[1]’s rich baritone voice speaking beside one’s ear. “Spring arrives with its warmth and blooming flowers, and everything is slowly awakening. As the wet, rainy season approaches, a heavy storm showers the parched land and lifeforms are roused into activity…”

Xiao Ran’s hair was tousled, and his face was radiating, as if shunning the darkness in the tower.

As a wall formed around his dantian and his reservoir of Qi came into existence, a saturated ripple spread instantly through the dark tower and engulfed the entire Sword Plain and the central mountain in an extremely thin coat.

It even went into the mountain guarding array hidden in the air, making the surface of the array glow with iridescence that ranged mainly around a light green hue as the hemisphere lay over the Zongzhi Mountains.

It felt like… a strange phenomenon from heaven!

Bo Yunzi, Moxia Zhenren, and Huangfu Qun, who had been repairing and maintaining the mountain guarding array, raised their heads in unison before they unleashed their divine sense.

Someone had ascended into the Qi Refining stage!

It was someone from the Sword Plain!

Someone inside the black tower!

Xiao Ran!

He had reached the Qi Refining stage after three days in the sect?

While the three men were astounded, what Xiao Ran had said during the Elder meeting abruptly resonated in their ears.

“It’s not fortunate that Master found me among a sea of people. She’s wise enough to recognize talent, and she’s seen something others couldn’t… It’s something incredibly crucial. I can’t state it explicitly yet, but it’s attracted the attention of powerful beings like the humanoid Wraith. This shows how important it is, and it may be relevant to the future of the Dao-Ending Period.”

He had not been bluffing!

The quality of his Qi Refining level was also… Was this the legendary Divine Saint’s Faculty?

On the array point of the central mountain…

There was a hint of a smile on Bo Yunzi’s airy androgynous face.

“Interesting. In regards to the sect, I wonder if this is fortunate or…”

On the array point of the Sword-Tempering Mountain…

Moxia Zhenren was grinding the stone cave’s array point with a deep, meaningful look.

“Divine Saint’s Faculty… That’s why he was able to comment on my sword fence. If Junior Nephew Xiao joins the Sword-Tempering Mountain, I won’t have to watch that rascal every day. Too bad he got into the Sword-Wielding Mountain and wielded a sword with Lingzhou Yue. That’s dangerous.”

On the array point of the Commandment Hall…

His scowling face was grim and solemn as Huangfu Qun heaved a long sigh.

“Still water runs deep. Looks like I misunderstood Elder Lingzhou’s careless façade.”

At the Purple Maple Ridge of the Hundred Herb Hill, Yinyue Zhenren, who was cultivating medicine for the Sect Leader, noticed the oddity in the array too but was unable to discover Xiao Ran, who was kilometers away, because she was not running the array personally.

Nonetheless, she received the news from Bo Yunzi shortly—Xiao Ran was now refining Qi!

Shock filled her soft eyes.

“How could a body that’s averagely gifted in the Five Elements refine Qi? If there isn’t a Heaven-Tier Flood Dragon Qi-Cultivating Pellet, unless he… has Yue’er’s tidal physique… it would be impossible to do that so soon, right?”

…

On the Sword Plain of the central mountain…

Everyone was looking up at the iridescent sky. Whenever the sky showed signs of an anomaly… it had to mean that God’s child was being born!

The Rainy Sword Array, the Netherking Punch, the Chaotic Nine-Dragon Tower… Was it Ye Fan?

The morning wind blew as a five-colored gleam scintillated. Ye Fan hovered over the black tower loftily when he noticed something unusual within the tower.

“How’s that possible!”

A moment later, the black tower began to shake unnoticeably.

Ye Fan cultivated with an incantation gesture to resist the quake, but it was futile… The tremor grew in intensity and turned violent in the blink of an eye!

By the time the crowd realized that something was wrong, the Chaotic Nine-Dragon Tower had crumbled and disintegrated during the contorting quake before vanishing into thin air.

What was that?

Their attention was drawn back to the platform.

Xiao Ran stood on the ruins of the tower with his hair draped over him. His dark robe and black strands fluttered as a faint spiritual pressure ran around him.

Qi Refining!

Junior Uncle Xiao had practiced Qi Refining in the tower?!

The spectators gasped, unable to form words due to this thunderbolt.

He had reached the Qi Refining stage in three days! What kind of sick talent was that?

It came as no surprise that he had been able to defeat two Qi Refining disciples in a row and stay unscathed despite Ye Fan’s frenzied punch…

The Sword-Wielding Elder’s foresight was remarkable, and her teaching standards were otherworldly! She seemed laid back when she did not do a thing, but once she taught someone, the result was astonishing!

The disciples thought that they had wrongfully blamed the Sword-Wielding Elder…

While standing higher in the air, Ye Fan was furious.

‘This is too odd. Even if he’s prodigious and entered the Qi Refining stage at the last second, there’s no way he could break my Chaotic Nine-Dragon Tower… This man is bizarre!’

Without hesitation, Ye Fan took out his sword.

“Eight-Point Exorcising Sword Array!”

Eight rays of sword light expanded from eight swords, moving through the sky and earth at once and shining on the Sword Plain as though it was night time. As the eight swords formed a circle and created a formidable wall of spiritual pressure, they trapped Xiao Ran and rendered him immobile.

The eight blades came down simultaneously and aimed straight at Xiao Ran. Staying still like a large bell, Xiao Ran remained stationary, only raising his hand to unsheathe his sword, which was at his hips. When it was halfway out, he sheathed it again immediately.

A ray of sword energy slithered up in that split second and soared into the sky.

Initially, the cry of the sword was not significant. Soft as a mosquito’s buzz, it got drowned by the wind. Then, the howl split the air in the blink of an eye, its speed laced with the billowing gale. When one heard it again, the sword cry was sharp and clear, resonating in the clouds and tearing through that dimension.

Ye Fan’s gaze froze. It was too late.

A flash of a sword tremor erupted in his sea of Qi! It shattered even the wall of his dantian!

Splurgh!

Blood splattered in the air before Ye Fan lost his composure and fell right down on the ground, dropping in the shambles in front of Xiao Ran.

Walking past him, Xiao Ran said lightly, “You wanted to kill me just now, didn’t you?”

“You…”

Ye Fan’s ribs were broken and his organs were crushed, but he still cultivated with a secret technique to secure his dantian lest his cultivation base dropped.

Leaning against a huge rock, he scoffed with effort, “This disciple dared to… advance knowing Junior Uncle’s ability. Junior Uncle, you instead kept your cultivation base concealed and slashed at my pool of Qi. You are acting like the strong bullying the weak. If you’re good, why didn’t you accept Senior Sister’s challenge?”

He had kept his cultivation base concealed?

The crowd was alarmed, as they did not know who to believe.

Then, a soft female voice came drifting from the sky in the west.

“Who’s talking behind my back?”

People looked toward the source of the voice.

A petite figure in light green came speeding on a sword in the air, hovering above the Sword Plain in a flash.

Thin legs fit snugly in white bamboo-fiber chiffon, and the innocent little face of the voice’s owner was tinted with shock as her doe eyes looked down at Xiao Ran.

Had he entered the Qi Refining stage?

Master really kept secrets!

“Senior Sister Jiang, you came just in time!”

As if seeing his savior, Ye Fan circulated his energy to catch his breath.

“Junior Uncle Xiao is picking on the inner sect, not knowing that Senior Sister Jiang is the elite of the inner sect. Senior Sister, I’m asking you to fight for justice for the Inner Disciples.”

Chuyan pursed her lips with her hands on her hips, replying in disdain, “Who’s an Inner Disciple? I’ve joined the Sword-Wielding Mountain!”

The crowd gasped in surprise.

“Does that mean the Sword-Wielding Elder took in a second Direct Disciple?”

“Or was… Junior Uncle Xiao kicked out?”

Ye Fan thought that it was strange, but his bloodshot eyes were still ardent with hope.

Chuyan landed gently like a fairy, standing respectfully in front of Xiao Ran as she presented him with a green bamboo jade slip.

“This disciple’s mountain-transferring jade slip has been settled. Please have a look, Master.”

“…”

That shut the crowd up. They looked at each other speechlessly with wide eyes.

Beautiful Senior Sister Jiang was now Junior Uncle Xiao’s disciple?

There was a buzz in Ye Fan’s head before he lost his composure instantly, his pool of Qi dissipating and blood getting spat from his mouth before he collapsed stiffly and convulsed.

The two Disciplinarians in the air rushed over to rescue him.

Chuyan stood beside Xiao Ran obediently, adding to her master’s honor and pride in public, while Lin Yunzi snaked his way out of the crowd and did his best to maintain his usual demeanor in order to mask his fawning nature. He did not even mention that he had recommended secret weapons to Xiao Ran yesterday as he bowed before the latter and cupped his fists in reverence while complimenting him. “I’ve lived several hundred years in vain, never expecting to witness Junior Uncle’s divine talent when I have one foot in the coffin. If I die, I’ll die without regrets.”

Luosheng flew down from the sky to approach Xiao Ran and end the battle.

Things had exceeded his understanding threshold, and he could only barely maintain his composure.

“Looks like our sect’s gaining a blessed elite, which is a reason to rejoice. It’s extremely fortunate. My master was brusque during the Elder meeting yesterday, but I hope Junior Brother Xiao has taken no offense.”

Xiao Ran replied, “I don’t mind.”

A violently furious voice then came from behind them.

“Gah… It’s just you? I have the Divine Saint’s Faculty! I—I am the chosen one!”

The crowd turned to look at that man. Ye Fan was wrathful, and a golden glow was snaking around him as his limbs convulsed. He was on the edge of either breaking down or ascending.

“Oh no!”

Luosheng shouted, “He’s risking forming a core. Stop him!”

The two Disciplinarians were about to seal Ye Fan’s dantian when Xiao Ran hollered, “Stay away from him!”

It was too late.

A white eye cracked in between his eyes, where he had been bleeding, as Ye Fan’s body decayed continuously into a dark void, rapidly sucking in both Golden Core Disciplinarians.

“A Wraith!”

[1] Zhao Zhongxiang was a well-known news anchor and host whose rich baritone voice was distinct and recognized across mainland China. The dialogue references to shows he hosted, Animal World, and Human And Nature.