The Qilan Nation’s territory spanned thousands of kilometers, but it was only considered an ordinary human nation in the Changyu Great World.
The capital city of the Qilan Nation had a population of a million. It had many cultivators and was quite a thriving city.
“A new bookstore has opened here?”
“It looks pretty good.”
Customers felt enticed to enter the newly opened bookstore when they walked past the streets.
There was a shop assistant and the boss inside the bookstore. The boss was dressed plainly and read in a corner. As for the assistant, he tended to the guests.
The boss was none other than Qin Yun!
“I have already been out for three centuries. I have been seeking the Human Spirit in the human world and have accumulated some insights, but it is still insufficient. This time, I’ll spend a few decades in Qilan Nation’s capital as a bookstore’s boss. I hope I can gain something and be able to figure out the Great Dao of Man in one fell swoop.” Qin Yun was filled with anticipation.
He stopped thinking as he began reading leisurely.
Books were the crystallization of human wisdom.
Humans were spread throughout the Three Realms, so they naturally had countless books. Although the bookstore only had books from the Qilan Nation, many of them were quite interesting.
“Boss, your assistant can’t make the call,” shouted a middle-aged man. “I’m buying many books. I want these ten plus books. Sell them to me cheap. It’s not like I’m offering something too low.”
“Boss, he wants a 40% discount,” whispered the assistant hurriedly.
Qin Yun smiled at the middle-aged man. “Sir, you are clearly a knowledgeable man, but this shop of mine needs to pay rent. 40% won’t do. 30% is the most I can give.”
“Do you even know how to do business?” The middle-aged man was rather displeased.
“I really can’t offer lower than that. Really.” Qin Yun shook his head, not feeling vexed at all.
The middle-aged man selected three books and said, “Alright, it will be these three books. If you give me a 40% discount, I’ll buy more.”
Qin Yun smiled as he handled the customer.
…
After one full day of handling all kinds of customers, the bookstore shuttered for the day.
Behind the bookstore was a residence.
Qin Yun lived upstairs while the assistant lived in one of the side rooms below.
“Qilan Nation.” Qin Yun gazed through the void while in his room as he set his sights across the entire city.
He was accustomed to observing after so many years in the secular world. He chose this capital city also because it had all walks of life.
While observing, Qin Yun saw two young beggars in a dilapidated house in the west city’s slums.
“Brother, you are finally back. I’m starving.”
“Look what I brought back?” A beggar who looked a little taller took out half a mantou which looked a little dirty and handed it to his younger brother.
“A mantou?” The other beggar’s eyes lit up. He received it and immediately tore it, handing half of it to his brother.
“I’ve already eaten and am already full,” said his elder brother.
“Full?” His brother was still young as he felt puzzled.
“Yeah.” He rubbed his tummy which looked a little bloated.
His younger brother nodded and immediately began chomping down on the food.
He watched with a smile. “No one is snatching it from you. Eat slowly.”
“Okay.” His younger brother nodded.
Soon.
The brothers fell asleep as they curled up under a torn straw mat.
“Groan.” The elder brother was jolted awake from his hunger. As he looked at his brother beside him, he used the torn straw mat to cover his brother properly before going back to sleep.
“He is willing to starve just to give his younger brother something to eat? They are only two young beggars. How long can they last in the capital of the Qilan Nation?” Qin Yun watched silently and commanded with a thought.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two blurry beams of light flew into the young beggars’ bodies.
Both of them had dreams of an immortal imparting cultivation Dharmic formulations to them. When they woke up the next day, they found themselves rejuvenated. They even had their strengths increased.
Their fate… changed from that moment forth.
…
Qin Yun watched the mortal world and would occasionally take action. He simply needed to will it and was willing to do it.
On his twelfth night as the bookstore’s owner in Qilan Nation.
Qin Yun heated up a flask of alcohol and drank it as he continued watching the Qilan Nation’s capital.
This time, he saw the yard of an inn.
In the yard stood a linen-clothed elder. A beam of light descended and materialized into a man with gorgeous clothes.
“You actually haven’t forgotten me.” The elder’s expression was cold.
The man bowed immediately and smiled. “Master, please accept your disciple’s bow!”
“Do you still remember what I told you?” The elder looked at his disciple.
The man felt a little embarrassed, but he continued smiling. “Master, I have already cultivated to the Skyimmortal realm. I’m a preceptor of the Qilan Nation and enjoy a carefree life. Is there any wrong with that? I haven’t done anything evil.”
“Have you forgotten the vendetta of our sect?” said the elder angrily. “You only know how to enjoy yourself without cultivating properly. Do you know that many of your fellow disciples are now suffering in the Disarray Star Sea?”
“I know, I know,” said the man immediately. He said in exasperation, “But that fiendish demon is a ninth firmament Skydemon. I’m only a second firmament Skyimmortal. The gap between us is just too huge. The heart is willing but the flesh is weak.”
“You have the nerve to say that? Your wings have hardened and your strength is not weaker than mine. You know I can’t teach you a lesson, so you decided to gallivant,” said the elder in a rage. “I painstakingly taught you for three centuries, believing you to be a rare genius. I groomed you with full dedication, hoping you would be able to cultivate to the ninth firmament Skyimmortal realm, so that you can one day seek revenge and rescue your suffering fellow disciples. But what did you do?”
“Master.” The man’s expression sank as he said gloomily, “You have always been forcing me; I’ve long had enough of it. I came here to visit you today as a kind gesture, but here you are again, reprimanding me.”
“Forcing you?”
The elder said furiously, “Three centuries of guidance was done by force? I’m not making you seek revenge now. I just do not want you to forget the vendetta. I want you to focus on cultivation, so that you can reach the ninth firmament Skyimmortal early. By reveling in enjoyment, there’s no hope for you to even reach the fourth firmament Skyimmortal realm! By doing so, you will never be able to rescue anyone. Do you know what kind of days your uncle-masters and grandmasters are experiencing? They are experiencing a living hell as slaves in the Disarray Star Sea.”
“Alright, that’s enough,” said the man coldly. “If there comes a day I reach the ninth firmament Skyimmortal realm, I’ll avenge and rescue them. As for now, I’ll be leaving first.”
With that said, the man left as a stream of light.
The elder sneered when he saw this scene. “Hahah, Ximen Sha, you painstakingly taught him for three centuries, only to end up teaching an ingrate. You were truly blind. Blind!
“Fine, I’ll find other disciples.
“I’ll recruit new disciples.
“Regardless, be it ten or a hundred thousand years, I, Ximen Sha, will one day kill that fiendish demon and rescue my senior brothers and junior brothers, as well as master and company.
“Master, Senior Brothers, Junior Brothers… I will not give up.” The elder clenched his fist tightly as he left in the form of a wind.
Qin Yun had seen all of this remotely.
“Disarray Star Sea?” Qin Yun was somewhat surprised as he calculated with his fingers.
“There are six powerful demons in the Disarray Star Sea. The one they are referring to is likely Cave Lord Venom Cloud.” At Qin Yun’s realm, along with fact that the Seven Stars Great Dao was great at inference, he immediately learned of everything from an inference.
In terms of inferring the heavenly secrets, even many perfected Great Dao existences were not Qin Yun’s match.
It was very difficult to keep secrets from Qin Yun, an expert who was good at inferring the heavenly secrets.
“I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t done the inference. It’s truly staggering. This Cave Lord Venom Cloud is an ordinary ninth firmament Skydemon. She’s not famous in the Three Realms and keeps a rather low profile. However, her means are diabolical. She deserves death!” With a thought, Qin Yun made the decision to rid the world of this fiend.
The Skyimmortal, Ximen Sha, who had been working hard for tens of thousands of years, did not know that his conversation with his disciple had caught Qin Yun’s attention.
What he had always been dreaming of was about to happen.
…
The Disarray Star Sea was in space.
There were a large number of asteroids floating and revolving around a region, making the vast area like a maze. It was also why the area was called the Disarray Star Sea.
Due to the rich Heaven Earth Essence Qi here, it attracted many experts to establish cave abodes here. For instance, Cave Lord Venom Cloud was one of the top three experts in the Disarray Star Sea. Ninth firmament Skydemons… were typically a force to be reckoned with.
“Oh?”
Cave Lord Venom Cloud’s graceful figure slumped into her throne as she gently knitted her brows. She was feeling somewhat puzzled.
“Why has the Disarray Star Sea’s Heaven Earth Essence Qi turned chaotic in the past few days?” She looked far into the distance. “The source of the disturbance seems to come from that direction. That is where the deepest depths of the Disarray Star Sea is. Even I would get lost if I entered. Should I take a look?”
She was rather hesitant about the matter.
And in the deepest depths of the Disarray Star Sea, there was a spheroid stone about ten feet wide inside a asteroid half a thousand kilometers wide.
Crack. Crack.
The spheroid stone gradually produced cracks on its surface.