Chapter Eleven: Master Xuan Cang

Faced with the relentless assault of silvery light, the spiritual energy within Zhang Xiao’s body dwindled at an ever-accelerating pace. Even with two Life-Continuing Pills left in his hand, they would not sustain him for much longer. The thought made Zhang Xiao unwilling to follow the jade pendant’s advice to simply endure, for who could know how much spiritual energy was sealed inside the Starlight God-Extinguishing Array? If it could last ten days or more, even if he advanced to the Nascent Soul stage, it would be futile. With a flash of golden light between his brows, his avatar swiftly separated from his true form. For a moment, sacred Buddhist chants resounded, and Buddha’s radiance bathed the space. The avatar’s cultivation was not inferior to Zhang Xiao’s own; with the assistance of the Buddha’s Golden Wheel, it even surpassed him. It seemed only a short while before the avatar could cultivate the Prajna Sutra to the sixth layer. Zhang Xiao’s true self gripped the Five-Colored Cloud Banner, pouring spiritual energy like a river into it, tightly shielding both himself and his avatar.

Meanwhile, the avatar sat cross-legged, a golden sword slowly emerging from the Buddha Wheel above his head. “Swift!” The avatar’s eyes snapped open, pointing into the void. A golden sword shot forward, slashing into the air. “Boom!” His cultivation now far exceeded what it was during the Nine Sects Grand Competition. The golden sword, accompanied by endless Buddhist chants, shattered the encroaching silvery light into dust. A spatial rift was opened by the sword. Zhang Xiao quickly recalled the golden sword, withdrew his avatar, and with a flash, darted into the slowly healing spatial fissure. In the next moment, Zhang Xiao found himself atop a stone platform.

At that instant, his face was as pale as gold leaf, and both his spiritual energy and Buddhist power were nearly depleted. Upon entering the spatial rift, Zhang Xiao discovered there was an array within the array in the Starlight God-Extinguishing Array. He had managed to tear open a spatial rift with the golden sword formed from the Buddha’s Golden Wheel, only to find another killing array inside. Had he not continually infused spiritual energy into the Five-Colored Cloud Banner, a single wave of attacks would have been enough to bring him low. Even so, his spiritual energy was halved in the process, frightening him so much that he hurriedly swallowed a Life-Continuing Pill and once again had his avatar wield the golden sword to open another spatial rift, finally escaping the accursed array. No sooner had he exited than Zhang Xiao, not daring to delay, sat upon the stone platform and began to meditate, circulating the Taiyin Profound Splendor Sutra to suppress the rampaging spiritual energy within.

Though he had escaped danger, the repeated use of the Buddha’s Golden Wheel, even with the support of Life-Continuing Pills, had drained Zhang Xiao’s spirit. At the moment of his escape, this exhaustion caused him to lose control of his spiritual energy, resulting in a violent surge. Had Zhang Xiao not persevered with sheer force of will, he might already have perished from spiritual energy overload. He sat thus for seven days, guiding and calming his spiritual energy. Gazing at the golden core within his dantian, Zhang Xiao pondered bitterly: the Taiyin Profound Splendor Sutra was surely not the top-tier technique of Maoshan Sect. The phenomenon of spiritual energy rampage was referred to in the Sutra as energy backlash. The Sutra’s spiritual energy, unlike the five-elemental energies, was comprised of pure yin; if one’s mind was not steadfast, the higher one’s cultivation, the more likely such backlash would occur. The Sutra described several pills and methods to strengthen the mind. Zhang Xiao’s spirit, since crossing the Devil Cult’s Heart-Tempering Path, had been as steady as a mountain, and his cultivation had soared ever since.

With the assistance of a supreme and pure yang technique like the Prajna Sutra, he had never experienced such an issue; eventually, Zhang Xiao forgot about it altogether. This time, however, repeated use of the Five-Colored Cloud Banner and the Buddha’s Golden Wheel had thoroughly taxed his heart and spleen, resulting in energy backlash that nearly cost him his life. This made Zhang Xiao consider whether he ought to prepare pills to steady his mind, lest he face such peril again. He exhaled deeply, suppressing the matter in his heart, and lifted his gaze to survey his surroundings. There were no arrays left—only a tightly closed stone door in the distance. Delighted, Zhang Xiao took out the jade pendant and carefully compared it. Indeed, this stone door was the entrance to the treasure room of the cave residence. Yet, what treasures lay within, Zhang Xiao could not say; the jade pendant neither described the contents nor explained how to open the door, leaving him perplexed.

Zhang Xiao summoned the Five-Colored Cloud Banner to guard him and advanced slowly toward the stone door, not out of excessive caution but because he had suffered enough; he feared some hidden high-level array. But his worry proved unnecessary, for he reached the door unharmed, not even a single mechanism in sight. Facing the stone door, Zhang Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief. Inscribed above the door were four archaic characters: Xuan Tian Cave Residence. Zhang Xiao gently pushed at the door, but no sooner had his hand touched it than a powerful suction force surged forth. Startled and cursing his carelessness, Zhang Xiao tried to pull his hand back, but the force was irresistible. Worse yet, his spiritual energy was being steadily drawn out, flooding into the stone door. It felt as if the door were a dried-up ocean, and his spiritual energy but a bucketful of water, vanishing in an instant. Watching his energy dwindle, Zhang Xiao grew anxious, about to take out his last Life-Continuing Pill—his sole remaining one, which he was reluctant to use but had no choice. Just as he was about to swallow it, the suction abruptly ceased, and his lost spiritual energy was returned to him. Zhang Xiao rejoiced but dared not move rashly, only withdrawing his hand once all the energy had returned.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!” The stone door slowly opened a crack. Zhang Xiao, overjoyed, stepped inside, not forgetting to keep the Five-Colored Cloud Banner by his side. Beyond the door was a true palace of gold and jade, grander than even the Maoshan Sect. Bridges of seven-colored rainbows spanned between pavilions, stone tigers and dragons flanked a majestic main hall, and an ancient aura from the distant past washed over him. More exhilarating still, the spiritual energy here was abundant, nearly matching that of Maoshan, making Zhang Xiao briefly suspect he had wandered into another sect. Carefully ascending the tiers of steps, Zhang Xiao entered the magnificent hall.

Twelve jade columns, glowing softly, illuminated the entire hall; carved with dragons and phoenixes, spiritual energy twined around them like living things. Clearly, these were supreme treasures, now serving as pillars. Zhang Xiao could not help but covet a piece. The floor was paved with top-grade black crystal, prized in artifact refinement—its glossy, dark shine made standing upon it a uniquely pleasant experience. As Zhang Xiao stood in awe, his eyes narrowed, gazing toward the front of the hall. There, upon the throne, sat a man in golden armor, smiling serenely. Though his hair was silver-white, his face showed no sign of age, making it impossible for Zhang Xiao to guess how old he truly was. The only certainty was that the man was of Chinese descent.

Zhang Xiao hurriedly cupped his hands in greeting: “Greetings, senior! Forgive this junior for trespassing upon your residence.” The man remained unmoved, continuing to smile at him. Zhang Xiao’s brows furrowed, and he extended his spiritual sense toward the man. After a moment, his expression grew strange as he walked forward, only confirming upon reaching the man that he had already passed away in meditation. Zhang Xiao breathed a sigh of relief; though he knew not who this was, he was certainly a cultivator of astonishing power. On the table before the man lay three jade scrolls and a command token. Zhang Xiao picked up one scroll and probed it with his spiritual sense.

“Seven Transformations of Xuan Tian Technique.” Zhang Xiao’s expression shifted as he examined it more closely, growing ever more astonished. This was a top-tier technique, its cultivation methods far superior to his own Taiyin Profound Splendor Sutra. The spells it recorded were extraordinary, possessing incredible power. After withdrawing his spiritual sense, Zhang Xiao examined the other two scrolls. One was a treatise on array formations, containing the crafting methods for various strange arrays; the other held a message. Zhang Xiao stood there, reading it carefully, and after a long while put the scroll away. Gazing at the man before him, Zhang Xiao’s heart was filled with wonder, joy, and gratitude.

It turned out this man was Master Xuan Cang, whose cultivation was only a step away from ascending to immortality. Yet, he had not ascended, and instead, he wreaked havoc in the cultivation world, slaughtering sects until ghosts wailed and gods wept. In ancient times, the cultivation world was not as it is now—there were myriad sects and countless masters; Nascent Soul cultivators abounded, and there were hundreds of ascension-stage experts. Yet Master Xuan Cang single-handedly subdued the entire realm, eradicating dozens of sects. The reason: in his youth, he had obtained a technique from the primordial era, a manual of the Daoist Master Duobao, but somehow the secret leaked, and dozens of sects joined forces to seize it. Master Xuan Cang escaped, but his dual cultivation partner was slain, her soul destroyed. Knowing he could not avenge her, he hid away and devoted himself to cultivation, eventually mastering the Seven Transformations of Xuan Tian Technique. Relying on its might, he left corpses strewn for miles and rivers of blood. But his reign did not last. The sects represented the legacy of immortals from the celestial realm; when he destroyed dozens, their fury was predictable. In the end, they sent thirteen loose immortals to kill him. Not only did they fail, but Master Xuan Cang slew seven of them and fled overseas. Ultimately, wounded beyond recovery, he remained in seclusion here for one hundred seventy-eight years, until he passed away in meditation.